It’s hard to believe that four years have passed since I took my first official steps on Tyrian soil. I say ‘official’ steps due to the highly successful Beta Weekend Events leading up to the April 28th launch date for Guild Wars that helped cement my Unreal clan’s decision to throw down our guns and pick up staves and swords, determined to reign supreme in the Hall of Heroes just as we had on the war torn Unreal battlefields previously. This was an exciting time; a whole new virtual world sprawled out before us unlike anything the MMO market had ever seen.
While my initial guild inevitably shattered into splinter groups long before we could claim the highest rankings on the leaderboards, the Tyrian landscape continued to grow with a series of expertly crafted stand-alone campaigns, each of them providing a complete microcosm of weapons, armors and skills unique to their particular setting. Having recently announced that the franchise has surpassed 6 million units sold, it’s clear that the developers at ArenaNet have crafted one of the most beloved fantasy settings in online gaming.

Having been there to witness the start of the phenomenon, when it was announced that Guild Wars would be hosting an in-game celebration to mark the fourth anniversary I knew it was an event I wouldn’t want to miss. Besides, the seasonal events in Guild Wars have always been some of my favorites; just ask the friendly NPCs who are kind enough to hold onto my massive collection of hats, masks and zombie face paint that’s been handed out as rewards over the years.

Speaking of rewards, there were plenty to be had during the week-long event, including a fresh batch of birthday miniatures awarded to each character turning 4 years old at midnight on the 28th. Naturally I logged directly in with my very first Necro that I created way back on launch day in 2005. Checking my inventory, sure enough there was a shiny new box there waiting to be opened which contained an awesome new Miniature Nian that I quickly placed in my Hall of Monuments.

The Hall itself has undergone some minor improvements along with the anniversary update, most notably by letting players display their achievements across the entire account rather than by individual characters. The old display option can be toggled on at any time by speaking to Kimmes the Historian, but for those players whose achievements and collections are spread across multiple characters, the new display option is certainly a welcome improvement.

Rather than create a stand-alone event for the celebration, the fourth anniversary festivities instead marked a return of the Shing Jea Boardwalk, including the light-hearted PvP of the Dragon Arena and my own personal favorite mini-game Rollerbeetle Racing. During previous festivals I’ve been known to while away entire weekends racing around the Rollerbeetle track, and the fourth anniversary celebration was certainly no exception!  

What the celebration may have lacked in terms of new event content, it certainly made up for by introducing a lengthy list of game updates across a number of key areas. The most obvious of these is a new zone called the Zaishen Menagerie, accessed through the Battle Isles. Think of the Menagerie as an extension of the Hall of Monuments concept, a key difference being that this is a truly massive outdoor area with a focus specifically on the various types of charmable pets available to characters with a Ranger primary or secondary. Previously, the only way for players to charm a new pet was to travel to one of a handful of locations and speak to a trainer who would free up the slot. Now players not only have a means of charming the same pets again, but can do so at any previously unlocked evolutionary state to boot.

Logging in with my Ranger, I quickly swapped in Charm Animal on my hotbar to take Rover the Raven for a tour of the Menagerie. Speaking with the Saishen Keeper allowed me to add Rover to my collection of pets, as well as view complete lists of every pet type available across the three main campaigns and the Eye of the North expansion, even providing some basic information on where they could be found should I want to attempt charming any of them. From there I scampered off to see where my freshly added raven would appear on the island, a process made much easier thanks to a series of  Master of Winds NPCs interspersed throughout the zone who cast a buff called Windborne Speed when you approach. Normal movement enhancing buffs can also be used here, but I found the NPCs a nice touch considering the overall expanse of the area.

Ascending a small hill, I soon discovered a group of nests which were now populated with a group of ravens that will be available to charm again at any point in the future. Each pet type has a similar home within the zone, which I imagine looks fairly impressive the more tamed pets you add to your collection.

For those players who may not have the time to track down each individual pet type and follow the three possible evolution paths, ArenaNet also added a new Pet Unlock Pack to the online store which opens up all 26 pets across all evolution paths. A few other notable items have been added to the store as well, including such popular MMO options as Character Name Changes, Xuntai Storage Panes (in Guild Wars you can never have enough storage space!) and even Makeover Packs which allow you to alter your character’s appearance using elements across all campaigns for the first time. For those of you who feel like taking a walk on the wild side there’s also an Extreme Makeover which allows for gender changes.

Rounding out the content additions is a group of three repeatable Zaishen Challenge Quests that can be obtained at the Great Temple of Balthazar. Mission quests send you to replay storyline missions from each campaign, Bounty quests will send you to kill specific bosses at various locations and lastly PvP quests challenge you to win battles in various PvP types. The offered quests change daily for each type, and, depending on the specific quest selected, can reward players with a combination of gold, experience, faction and Zaishen Copper Coins which can be redeemed for things such as consumable items and scrolls.

One of the cooler items available through the Zaishen Coins is the newly added Equipment Packs. These add a new bag slot to your character’s inventory and come in a number of different sizes. The pack can only hold armor and weapons, but if you’re anything like me you no doubt have giant piles of green weapons and elite armor sets that you’ve been shuffling around, so the added storage space for these items is a massive improvement in that regard.

Looking forward, it’s hard to see anything less than a bright future for the Guild Wars franchise. The recent content upgrades are a welcome addition to a truly unique and expansive game world. While specific details on Guild Wars 2 remain scarce, the original game that turned the notion of subscription fees and lengthy patching processes on its ears is still going strong. 

NCsoft’s Guild Wars is the ground breaking game that not only surprised free-to-play fans but also made subscription game players take pause and wonder “What are we paying monthly fees for?” Nothing proves this more than the latest news that Guild Wars has surpassed six million units sold! To celebrate this amazing feat, new content is being added for all fans to enjoy. Read on for the details!

SEATTLE, Washington – April 24, 2009 – NCsoft®, the world’s premier publisher and developer of massively multiplayer online games (MMOs), and ArenaNet®, a wholly owned subsidiary of NCsoft and the acclaimed developer of Guild Wars®, today announced that on the cusp of its fourth anniversary, the Guild Wars franchise has exceeded six million units sold. Guild Wars is the award-winning and genre-defining series that is one of the most popular and successful online role-playing games in the industry.

To commemorate these milestones, ArenaNet has just released a major content update, including new quest content and extra storage options. Additional in-game birthday festivities will be available starting on April 28th, the official anniversary of the game. For more information on the fourth anniversary updates, go to http://www.guildwars.com/community/news.

“We are humbled by how gamers have responded to Guild Wars over the past four years, and we are proud that the game and its community have helped to continually shape, define, and expand the genre,” said ArenaNet studio head Mike O’Brien. “Our subscription-free business model has proven to be a big hit with gamers, bringing an enormous and diverse online community to the game.”

Guild Wars is one of the most successful PC gaming franchises of all time. Since its release in 2005, it has received numerous awards for its innovative design, world-class art direction and robust content streaming engine. ArenaNet continues to support the game’s thriving community with regular in-game events, updates, and community activities.

The Guild Wars universe contains three campaigns and an expansion pack: Guild Wars, Guild Wars Factions®, Guild Wars Nightfall®, and Guild Wars: Eye of the North®. Last fall, NCsoft released Guild Wars Trilogy that combines all three campaigns with additional bonus items.

For more news on the Guild Wars franchise, go to http://us.ncsoft.com/en/news/ or http://us.ncsoft.com/en/news/press-releases. For more information on the game, visit the Guild Wars website at http://www.guildwars.com. The award-winning Guild Wars franchise, including the recently released Guild Wars Trilogy, can be purchased from retailers or downloaded from the NCsoft Store at https://secure.ncsoft.com/cgi-bin/Store.pl.

Before the Western market was inundated with free-to-play Asian imports, Guild Wars was the only game that offered a free-to-play business model and constant PvP action. With over four million units of the original game (Guild Wars: Prophecies) sold in stores, there’s no denying the popularity of this free-to-play game.

Set in a medieval fantasy world, Guild Wars allows players to choose from ten different total professions. In the original release of the game, players could choose from six of these professions, with the Nightfall and Factions expansions adding two more professions each. While there is a player versus environment (PvE) portion of the game, most players play Guild Wars to engage in player versus player combat (PvP). With a level cap of only 20 levels, players can quickly become a top-tiered character in PvE, yet the main drive to hit level 20 is to earn skills that can be used in the PvP arena.

Finally, the PvP competitions are separated into seven different areas of competition, each with its own nuances and goals. Players are urged to continually play Guild Wars because large cash payouts are available to the best players of the game. The money on top of the fun of PvP continues to keep Guild Wars an incredibly popular game.

It looks like just about any game these days is getting a LEGO variant. One of those upcoming titles is LEGO Rock Band of which the E3 trailer has been released.

Check out the clip below if you want to know what it looks like:

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and TT Games bound their forces with the LEGO Group, Harmonix and MTV Games, bringing us the latest installment in the Rock Band franchise combined with the populare LEGO toys. LEGO Rock Band will provide a unique music experience for the whole family.

General information

Saturo Iwata, big boss of Nintendo, has announced a new hardware add-on at N’s E3 press conference. The thing is called Wii Vitality Sensor.

The sensor is a small piece of hardware in which you have to stick your finger. That, at least according to Iwata, ‘will make you discover your inner world’.

Iwata also said that the Wii Vitality Sensor provides a more relaxing atmosphere, something which comes in handy in this world full of stress.

Capcom was on a roll today with releasing new trailers. For Lost Planet 2 one wasn’t enough so we even got a “normal” trailer and two gameplay videos.

Official Trailer:

Set on E.D.N III planet, as the original, the snow has melted over the 10 to 20 years time between the two games, leaving a world of jungles and other such environments.

General information

We have added an easier way to sign up for the Fallen Earth Beta:

Go to www.fallenearth.com
Click the graphic “Join the Closed Beta” or click “community” on the left navigation bar
Enter a valid email address
Confirm that your email address is correct
Click submit
All submissions will receive a confirmation email letting them know they are now entered for a beta key.

It’s that easy! Tell your friends!