The year is ending, and Perfect World Entertainment seems to want their Forsaken World players to be pleased. A Christmas gift? no, but maybe better, considering the huge amount of players asking for guild bases on this interesting free-to-play MMO, currently in beta phase.

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Fresh from unveiling freebies that come with every Rift pre-order, Trion Worlds gave us a sneak peek of Freemarch, a brand-new game zone that can give the world of “The Walking Dead” a run for the title Most Zombie-infested.

Freemarch was once an idyllic pastureland but, with the opening of rifts from the planes of death and water, the undead have overrun it with disease and dark magic. Freemarch has been defiled so much that even the crypts of noble Wardens who once led the land were dug up and their spirits enslaved as an army of ghosts.

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If you’ve been following Rift: Planes of Telara and have been as impressed as we are with its beta and just need a little more push before committing to the game, well you’re in luck! Trion Worlds promises to shower you with freebies once you pre-purchase a standard or Collector’s Edition box of this plane-bending MMO.

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Finally, here it comes. Masthead Studios has just announced the Earthrise digital release date, and it’s going be next January February 4, 2011, for the joy of all sci-fi MMO fans who have been waiting eagerly for this game to come. The wait is not over, but almost. We hope Earthrise to be a good game and so Masthead does, as stated on the press release:

“The Masthead team is thrilled for the fans who have been following Earthrise closely to now be able to play the game that they have been so eagerly awaiting,” said Atanas Atanasov, producer of Earthrise and director of Masthead Studios.  “We have worked incredibly hard to make Earthrise the best sandbox MMORPG on the market, and we can’t wait for players to fully experience all of our hard work and become immersed in Enterra.”

As many of you know, Earthrise is the upcoming post-apocalyptic, sci-fi MMORPG set in the distance future, bringing an skill-based advancement, great PvP, player-driven economy and many more features through a sandbox-style.

These are some of the key features:

• Unique sandbox environment, allowing players’ actions to influence the entire game world.
• Distinctive, high-tech post-apocalyptic setting.
• Sophisticated Player vs. Player (PvP) mechanics.
• Dynamic third-person combat featuring dynamic targeting, customizable power armor and hundreds of high-tech weapons.
• Deep crafting mechanics that allow players to design and manufacture unique items from blueprints and raw resources.
• Friendly to casual players, with challenges designed for the hardcore audience.
• Single, massive world. Earthrise will run on one server for players in all regions.

For more information, go to the official website of the game. If you’re game for it, get ready, cause now the Earthrise Digital Release Date has been announced… a playable thrilling future is about to come.

(Updated to fix release date)

It gets me down, grinding.

No, I’m not talking about grinding my teeth, (though I certainly do plenty of that.) I’m talking about in-game grinding; those endless lather-rinse-repeat – do this, do it some more, now do it again, busy-work quests that are part and parcel of MMOs as we know them.

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Welcome to the last MMOries of a Gamer of this year. 2010 comes to an end and when you read next column, 2011 will already be here, with new hopes for the gaming community.

This week, I want to tell you of a special moment I’ve lived playing MMOs in these special dates. We all know MMOs never stop, are always there, always ready for us to play; so you’ll find many players in virtual worlds, even on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. What’s the point of it? Well, many players have a strong sense of community and they simply miss their online friends or their “guildies”. It’s nice to log on and say hello to your mates, taking the opportunity to wish them a happy Christmas. That’s how my story begins…

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Ready to rock those soldier suits and gatling guns? The Star Wars: The Old Republic website has given the full lowdown on the Trooper class, revealing everything you need to know about this elite Republic “Rambo”.

Get ready to pack some shock-proof gear because as a Trooper, you’ll be teaming up with Tanno Vik, a demolitions expert with a streak of rebelliousness, as he blows up targets across the galaxy’s deadliest conflict areas.

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Hello my barbaric friends. I’ll start wishing Merry Christmas to all of you who follow the festivities and, if you’re not among the group, let me at least wish you… interesting dates. I will not follow the general idea of making top lists, or making balance of what’s already gone with the fading 2010, maybe another time. This week though, I bring you something I hope you’ll find as interesting as I do.

Have you ever wondered where the developers of a game get their ideas? I think I’ve stumbled across one of the sources that served to shape and give color to FunCom’s Age of Conan. Come sit with me and let us discuss this statement…

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One of the most fun parts of creating a character on Wizard101 is choosing which school of magic your toon will use as they adventure throughout The Spiral. The Wizard 101 website has a quiz for players to take to guide them toward which school would suit their playing style and/or reflect their real life personality. Rest assured, you can pick whatever school you want to play no matter what the quiz results are!

Each school has pros and cons, and no one school is right for everyone (although The Friendly Necromancer might disagree with me.) One of the chief things to remember when weighing the pros and cons is that the school you pick will significantly affect the base amount of health (aka hit points) your toon will have before equipment boosts.

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DC Universe Online, is so close to launch. Next January 11^th 2011, all fans will create their heroes or villains, beginning their lives in the next SOE online game. One could think that everything is done and we can only wait for the days to go by, hoping for the launch date to come. That’s not SOE plans, as they want to keep the “hype flame” burning, revealing new characters for DCUO.

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