Nexon today announced the open beta date for their upcoming fantasy MMORPG Dragon Nest.  Open beta will begin July 26th and continue through Aug 9th.

During the beta the level cap will be bumped up to 24, first tier class skills will become available and the in-game item shop will open up with some free item from testers.  In addition the crafting system, marketplace, friendship system and achievement will also be opened.

For those of you interested in participation, check the official Dragon’s Nest sit on July 26th to signup.

Now that the excitement over the announcement of the pre-orders for Star Wars: The Old Republic has started to fade, I wanted to point out that BioWare also announced that they “will open “Beta Test Weekends” starting this September“.  This information was released as part of the press release from earlier today, which I’m sure it was missed by many already pre-ordering their copies of SWTOR.

The press release goes on to say that these weekend play sessions will only be open to selected players as an opportunity for fans to get a sneak peek of the epic stories, worlds, quests, battles and characters in the game.

I’m assuming these weekends will be part of their open beta test phase and towards the end of the month they’ll be conducting their stress tests, which hopefully means they’ll be picking thousands of players to join in.

Also if this really is their open beta test phase, then this could mean we’ll see a launch by October hopefully.

SOE released a new trailer for the upcoming DC Universe Online update, Fight for the Light.  The trailers shows off some more of the new light-powers heading to DCUO.

If your interested, head to the official Green Lantern DUCO page for more information about the upcoming content update. DC Universe Online’s “Fight for the Light” DLC will be available for download for $9.99 this summer for PC and PlayStation 3 players.

Ubisoft announced today that their free-to-play browser MMO, Settlers Online, currently only available in Germany, is heading to France and North America. Settlers Online strategy MMO where players must collect resources, turn their villages into castles and create an army to expand their empire.

While in France the game will remain Settlers Online, it has been rebranded for North America as Castle Empire Online, which sounds very generic.

Players can register for closed beta on both sites, which are listed below.

• http://www.TheSettlersOnline.fr
• http://www.CastleEmpireOnline.com

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The long awaited Mythos PvP featured called “Lamento” is finally here. Lamento currently allows for 1v1 and 2v2 matches with the winners being awarded Lamento Points which can be used to purchase new gear, weapons, pets from the Lamento Equipment Store.

Players will need to register themselves or their teams first with the Lamento master located in Heaven Island.  Once in the arena players cannot use health potions, but bandages and grenades allowed and can watch their teammate if they should die.

It’s always fun to see what you character can do against other players, so it’s good to see some PvP action hitting Mythos.

Late last night or early this morning, which ever you prefer, Bioware officially announced that pre-orders for Star Wars: The Old Republic are now open across various retailers, which pretty much confirmed all the leaks over the last 3-4 days.

Three versions are available, Standard, Standard Deluxe and Collectors Edition.  All three included early access to the game and an in-game color stone item.  You can view the full details from the SWTOR Pre-orders page.

No released date has been announced yet, although Amazon has it listed as Dec 31st, which is definitely wrong since Lucas and Bioware would not miss the holiday shopping season.

It looks like Gamestop also mistakenly, or maybe not, posted up the pre-order information for Star Wars: The Old Republic for a brief period of time.

The collectors edition of SWTOR will retail for $149.99 and include these items with it:

• Exclusive Gentle Giant Darth Malgus statue
• Star Wars: The Old Republic game disks in collectible metal case
• The Journal of Master Gnost-Dural annotated by Satele Shan
• The Old Republic galaxy map
• Music of Star Wars: The Old Republic CD
• High-quality Collector’s Edition box

However pre-order account will also receive the following in-game bonuses and items:

• Flare Gun: Fire flares into the air
• Training Droid: Hovers at your side for combat assistance
• HoloDancer: Project your own holographic dancer
• HoloCam: Keep visual records of in-game adventures
• STAP: Sleek and unique in-game vehicle
• Exclusive Mouse Droid: Spunky Droid to join your adventures
• Exclusive Collector’s Edition Store: Unique in-game vendor with an assortment of items

Gamestop’s pre-order also confirmed the box art that was revealed two days ago stating that pre-order accounts will gain early access to the game as well as a color stone to change your weapons color.

Tomorrow is San Diego Comic-con so we’ll see if they finally make it official.

Source: Massively

Although unannounced, it seems that the new Eve is Real website is now live. For those of you unaware, the site is meant to record the virtual history of Eve Online and its players by allowing users to upload their stories, images, videos and more.

Currently there are two ways to browse the content, a “visualizer” mode that randomly displays content on the screen which reminds a bit of Minority Report.  My only issue with this mode is that when you highlight a box, it doesn’t get any bigger, which makes it difficult to see what the image is.  It’s also hard to keep track of what you viewed and didn’t.

The other mode is your normal list that you would find on YouTube or any other video site.  Much cleaner and more organized than the visualizer mode.

CCP is also launching the site with a contest aimed at getting Eve players to submit content. The top 20 images will receive EVGA GeForce GTX 460 SE graphic card while the top video will win a Alienware Area-51 PC.  Pretty nice prize if you asked me.  I wish I played Eve and had some content to submit.

CCP also has unlockable items for community members that submit content.

The latest World of Warcraft novel, Thrall: Twilight of the Aspects, is now available on store shelves. Written by NY Times bestselling author Christie Golden, the new novel follows Thrall, the former Horde War Chief, as he struggles with the ongoing repercussions of the Cataclysm.

For those interested head over to Amazon where you can purchase either a hardcopy for $15.56 or if you have a Kindle, a digital copy for $12.99.

Over ten thousand years ago, a betrayal by the maddened black Dragon Aspect, Deathwing, shattered the strength and unity of the dragonflights. His most recent assault on Azeroth—the Cataclysm—has left the world in turmoil. At the Maelstrom, the center of Azeroth’s instability, former Horde warchief Thrall and other accomplished shaman struggle to keep the world from tearing apart in the wake of Deathwing’s attack. Yet a battle also rages within Thrall regarding his new life in the shamanic Earthen Ring, hampering his normally unparalleled abilities.

Unable to focus on his duties, Thrall undertakes a seemingly menial task from an unexpected source: the mysterious green Dragon Aspect, Ysera. This humble endeavor soon becomes a journey spanning the lands of Azeroth and the timeways of history itself, bringing Thrall into contact with ancient dragonflights. Divided by conflict and mistrust, these dragons have become easy prey to a horrific new weapon unleashed by Deathwing’s servants . . . a living nightmare engineered to exterminate Azeroth’s winged guardians.

Of even greater concern is a bleak and terrifying possible future glimpsed by Ysera: the Hour of Twilight. Before this apocalyptic vision comes to pass, Thrall must purge his own doubts in order to discover his purpose in the world and aid Azeroth’s dragonflights as they face the Twilight of the Aspects.

On the RIFT PTR, players recently came across a new island, Ember Island, and a ship that is parked at the end of a dock.  Since the find, players have been speculating that the ship could mean that Ship Traveling is coming to RIFT, although most admit that’s a long shot.

Ember Island on the other hand is being rumored to be an upcoming PvP or RvR zone.  However some believe it will instead be a raid zone as one player stated there is an entrance to a cave on one end of the island that currently goes to a dead end.

Whatever it is, we won’t find out until Trion tell us, so in the mean time you can take a look at some screenshots of the ship and island and decide for yourself by continuing below.

Continued…