Turbine today released the first screenshots of the Tower of Orthanc and the Gap of Rohan for the upcoming Lord of the Rings Online expansion, Rise of Isengard. The next expansion for LotRO will be released on Sept 27th and will open up three new areas, the Gap of Rohan, Isengard with the Tower of Orthanc, which were revealed today, and Dunland, which was revealed last week.

The Rise of Isengard expansion will also raise the level cap to 75 and introduce a new 24-player raid to name a few.  For more info on the upcoming LotRO expansion, check  out the official Isengard site.

Screenshots after the jump.

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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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Today Square-Enix revealed more information about Final Fantasy XIV’s upcoming 1.18 patch, which will include new settlements.  The new settlements or outposts, six in all, will be intended as landmarks and bases of operation for players.  There players can find useful NPCs, such as merchants or smiths and some quests to do.  Future FFXIV patches will add more enhancements to the settlements as well as bring new quests.

There will be two new settlements in each of the three main regions, The Black Shroud, La Noscea and Thanalan.  Below we have a screenshot for each of the 6 outposts and you can find more information about them and patch 1.18 on the FFXIV site.

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Today Turbine released new concept art that depicts Draigoch, the boss players will have to face off against in the new 24-player raid in the upcoming Rise of Isengard expansion for Lord of the Rings Online.  Below you can find previously released information about the Rise of Isengard expansion which will be released on Sept 27th.

Explore Three New Regions!

The time has come for you to turn eastward, toward the vale of Isengard.  Where ancient forests once flourished, a corrupted waste of metal and wheels suffers under the thrall of the traitorous wizard Saruman.  Here, in the shadows of the tower of Orthanc, gathers an army of Orcs and Uruk-hai, toiling to make ready for war. Forge ahead into these devastated lands and uncover new quests, skills, and traits as you strive to thwart Saruman’s ambition.

• Dunland – Adventure amidst the bright forests in the foothills of the southern Misty Mountains. Beware the Dunland Clans, rugged warriors tempted by the dark promise of power.
• Gap of Rohan – Battle over the legendary pass between Eriador and the plane of Rohan. This key strategic point must be defended against the ambitions of Sauron.
• Isengard – Explore Orthanc, one of the iconic Two Towers as it rises over the once beautiful Isengard valley. The once beautiful vale now desecrated beyond imagination by the Wizard Saruman the betrayer.

Advance to Level 75!

Master the Legendary New 24-Player Raid!

• Face the ancient evil of Draigoch, one of the most powerful creatures in Middle-earth! Prepare for the ultimate challenge where nothing less than the strength of an entire force of 24 heroes stands the chance of victory.

Holy crap, RIFT players have some serious artistic skills.  Today RIFT announced the winner of their “Create a Clolossus Contest”, with the winner shown above, but looking through the submissions, there’s hundreds of high quality pieces.  I’m sure Trion had a difficult time narrowing it down to the top three.
You can check out the Winners, semi-finalists and all submissions below through the links.

• Winners
• Semi-Finalists
• All Submissions

I have to say, I’m not a fan of the runner-up, the Water Colossus.  I’m not saying it’s not good, just that I think there were better ones.  Below we have the 3 winners, followed by some of my favorites.  There’s really so many good ones, you should still check out all the entries.  I just found my new desktop wallpaper

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Developer and published NHN Corp announced they will be showing off their latest MMORPG Asta, formerly known as Project E:st, at this years GamesCom trade show in Germany.  There’s not a whole lot of information about it yet, however that should change after GamesCom.  One thing we do know is that it looks amazing and is powered by the CryEngine3 engine.

For right now, we have a new trailer below and some screenshots after the jump to wet your appetite.

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The first major content update to Allods Online, since it went live in May, has been official announced as Allods Online: Renaissance.  The update is set to be released to European servers by mid to late July and will include the highest-level dungeon to the Allods universe yet.  Along with the new dungeon, a set of new features including the reincarnation system and new character creation interface are also on their way.

The new reincarnations system and high level dungeon have already been revealed in weeks prior to this announcement, however a few new pieces of info have been released today.   An all-new character creation system, which benefits from a more intuitive interface and visual overhaul, as well as more dynamic events enhancing the questing experience. Players could end up with double XP or loot bonuses, or even double the amount of monsters to fight, depending on which way fate falls, with events timed to change these conditions several times a month. In tandem with the global effects from World Threats resulting from PvP action in Astral Odyssey, Allods Online will be mixing up its universe to keep things interesting along all points of any player’s leveling curve.

Finishing off the set of additions is a set of tweaks for space-farers. Astral navigation has been revamped in Allods Online: Renaissance, with Astral ships gaining a 60% speed boost and the map system enhanced with color coding and grid overlays to make navigating the Astral space easier. However, this comes with a price – ships can now be pursued from wormhole to wormhole by terrifying demons, so only the bravest ship crews will make it to the loot-rich allods that lie within the depths of Astral Space.

Below we have some screenshots of Allods Online: Renaissance.

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The fifth issue in Champions Online new weekly content update, Dark Tower, is now live.   Each series in Champions Online new comic series will consist of six issues and each issue before must be completed before moving on to the next.

After a detour through Demoiselle Nocturne’s twisted dreamscapes, it was revealed that both Luther Black and the last group of soldiers were being held in one of the towers of the Kings of Edom. The heroes must now pursue her through the portal and rescue the last handful of survivors before the Kings of Edom arrive and the very fabric of the Qliphothic Realm unravels around them!

Below are some of the creatures players can expect to find in the Dark Tower.

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With World of Warcraft PvP season 9 coming to an end soon, Blizzard has released preview images for season 10 armor sets.  Currently season 9 is scheduled to end sometime next week, as early as June 28th.

My favorite for season 10 is the Hunter and Paladin armor sets and the worst, by far is the Warrior set. It looks like their head is stuck in a furnace.

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Hammerknell, the newest 20 player raid in RIFT, has been unleashed.  Hammerknell, once a glorious city, is now cursed by the actions of the Dwarves who once called it home. The gates to the city were sealed, turning it into a prison for a monstrosity beyond imagine, but now the ramparts of Hammeknell have been breached and the Ascended are in a race against the forces of Water and Death to expose the secrets deep within the Delve and save Telara.

The Hammerknell raid is being released with RIFT patch 1.3 which is live on NA servers and soon on EU servers.  Full details for patch 1.3 can be found on the RIFT forums.  Below we have some screenshots of what players can expect in Hammerknell.

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