MMO News Wrap-Up

If you like your MMOs, chances are there's been some news that might interest you this week. Read on for the latest goings-on, packaged up all neatly for you, regarding Aion, Kingdom Under Fire II, EVE Online, Champions Online, Warhammer Online, Star Wars: The Old Republic and Star Trek Online.

It's approaching Christmas, an expensive time of year, so now would be an ideal time to get a free weekend of gaming handed to you wouldn't it? Start the festivities early, then, because in celebration of Thanksgiving, Cryptic Studios is letting everyone play Champions Online this weekend free of charge. You can play if from now until 10am PST on Monday without spending a penny.

While you're there, why not check out the new Nemesis confrontation which is now available. We've been hearing about this feature since the game was in development, so to be able to play it at last is great - stamp out your pesky nemesis once and for all, with the help of a few friends of course.

If you do decide to to fly, swing or dig your way into Champions Online this weekend, be sure to check out the snazzy new costume accessories that were added too. New capes, hats and weapons are now available, adding yet more choice to the seemingly endless selection of costume parts. Of course, you can find out what else awaits you in last month's review.

A new game entered my MMO radar this week; the Kingdom Under Fire games, sitting firmly in the 'Action RTS' genre until now, have a rather sexy-looking sequel on the way which is said to bring an “MMO Online mode”. Having played the first game on the original Xbox, I'm pretty excited about this upcoming title. KUFII is set around 150 years after the previous game, KUF: The Crusades, and features characters and descendants of characters from the earlier games.

Blueside, the company behind the KUF franchise, released some brand new in-game footage this week, which will be showing at the G Star games expo in Korea. Check it out over on IncGamers TV, and you'll see why this could be something special if there's an MMO mode. The battles are HUGE and the special effects are breath-taking. There's some new screenshots too which you can see in the gallery. Look out for more on this game from us soon.

I'll leave talk of swords and battle-cries for just a moment and move onto something a bit more sci-fi; EVE Online players were treated to a new trailer for the upcoming Dominion expansion this week, showing off the possibilities of fleet warfare thanks to a revised communication system. The game's 12th free expansion has reshaped sovereignty, giving players better tools for both warfare and alliance.

A trailer for another space-based MMO, Star Trek Online, was released this week. The short film gives gamers a glimpse of what they can expect to see as they travel the universe. From orbiting planets to shattered galaxies, the bridge of a ship to the surface of a new world, even some multi-ship battles. Check out the trailer here.

BioWare unveiled the final two classes in the upcoming MMO, Star Wars: The Old Republic, this week. The reveal was made in a German gaming magazine, filling in fans on the Empire's Inquisitor class, a force class somewhat akin to the Emperor in the films, and the Republic's Consular class, another force user. Both classes favour casting over melee, which offers something to players that prefer the robe-wearing type of character.

The latest webcomic for SW:TOR was also released last Friday, updating the storyline that sets players up for the game, which will hopefully be out some time next year.