http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/showthread.php?p=2648062#post2648062

To celebrate DAoCs 5th Birthday Mythic has double all exp gained in the classic mainland zones and dungeons for a month!

http://www.camelotherald.com/more/2753.shtml

It appears that NCSoft has decided it's a good idea to sell in game 'stuff' for real money (also refer to story about guildwars skill unlock packs).  They recently announced that CoH/CoV players will be able to purchase new in game items to help their characters using real money.  Read here for details (only a few items so far):

http://www.cityofheroes.com/store/goodversusevil/gve_items.html

Well I'm finally back from the roundtable in Vegas.  I had a lot of fun and only lost $80 gambling.  I don't really feel like writing out a summary of everything said there but if you have any questions feel free to ask on the forums (I'm still under NDA on a lot of stuff... but Boooom was there and he isn't)

A breif summary of the new particle accelerator being built in Europe that could result in a whole new understanding of the universe (or blow it up).

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/topic/story.cfm?c_id=325&objectid=10400645

Being a Physics nerd myself I find the whole idea intesting but the best part had to be the little summary that was given at the bottom of the article:


MINI BANGS

 

* Scientists aim to reproduce miniature versions of the so-called Big Bang, which is thought to have started the universe.

 

* To do this they will smash protons together at huge speeds along a 27km tube known as a particle accelerator.

 

* They hope to create tiny black holes or find extra dimensions in the universe.

 

* They estimate the possibility of accidentally destroying the planet as extremely low.

 

* The risk is calculated at about 10 to the minus 40 - a 1 in 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 chance.

Specifically, for each increment of three months with an active account, players will unlock valuable in-game “items” which will come in the form of costumes, powers, badges, and more! The program is retroactive by player account and rewards will be applicable to all characters within each respective account.

http://www.cityofheroes.com/news/archives/2006/09/announcing_vete.html

A couple of upcoming events in GW:

Upcoming Weekend Fun

13 September 2006

During the upcoming weekend—September 15th through 17th—Alliance Battles will receive a boost. You'll receive double Balthazar faction for all kills, double Kurzick/Luxon faction for all kills, and double Kurzick/Luxon faction for all wins. In addition, the battle line movement will be accelerated and the line will be seen to shift hourly, rather than every three hours. Join in the fun starting at Noon PDT on Friday, September 15th.

 

Nightfall World Preview Event Announced!

12 September 2006

Today's press release announces the upcoming Guild Wars Nightfall World Preview Event, which will take place the weekend of September 22nd. The event will offer you the first opportunity to create Nightfall-specific characters from the core professions as well as the Dervish and Paragon, to try out new Nightfall skills, to explore one of the provinces of the new realm of Elona, and to test your mettle in two new arenas. You'll even get a chance to view some Nightfall in-game cinematics! So, get ready for three days of solid Nightfall, starting September 22nd at 12:01 a.m. PDT!

http://www.guildwars.com/

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6157195.html?part=rss&tag=gs_news&subj=6157195

This is basically an article about a panel at the Austin Gaming Convention with well known members of the MMO industry (including Scott Jennings former lead progammer of DAoC now with NCSoft and Matt Firor former executive producer of DAoC now founding his own new gaming company) ranting about what they hate about the industry.

Edit:  Scott Jennings was nice enough to post his rant on the internet so everyone could read it.  So here it is:

http://www.brokentoys.org/2006/09/06/this-is-my-rant-there-are-many-rants-like-it-this-one-is-mine/#more-283

http://www.camelotherald.com/more/2711.shtml

DAoC Patch 1.85 goes live with a lot of really nice changes.  Click the link above for all the details.

    One of the animals finally beat him =\

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060904/ap_on_en_tv/obit_irwin

A while back guild wars opened an online store which would allow you to purchase accounts keys from in game.  After that they added the ability to add an additional character slot for a 1 time fee of $10.  Now a new addition to the purchasable unlocks.  The ability to unlock all PvP skills (currently you can unlock they using faction points you earn in game or by doing PvE).

PvP Unlock Packs Now Available

31 August 2006

Guild Wars players now have the opportunity to purchase PVP Unlock Packs for all Prophecies skills! For $9.99 USD (€8.99, £5.99), you can unlock all of the 70+ Prophecies skills for a single profession. For $39.99 USD (€35.99, £23.99) you can unlock all 450+ Prophecies skills for the 6 professions. Once unlocked, skills can be used by any of your PvP characters. Head to the Guild Wars Official Store to take advantage of this much-requested opportunity .

The Round Table is Sold Out!  Hope you all got your tickets =)

http://www.camelotherald.com/more/2509.shtml

I was looking at the pre-order price for Guild Wars: Nightfall on Amazon.com and I saw this description, which got me more exited that all the previous videos and reviews I've seen so far:

"Customizable Heroes (party NPCs) that level up with the player, follow player instructions in combat, and use armor, weapons, and skills of the players choice. A new game type, Hero vs. Hero Battles will allow a single player to participate in PvP with hero NPCs. Two new professions: The Dervish, a scythe-wielding holy warrior and The Paragon, the guardian angels of the Elonian people. 4 new guild halls. 300 new skills. 250 Quests, 55 explorable areas, 20 new Story Missions, and three ne "

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000HCU7B8/sr=1-3/qid=1156815770/ref=pd_bbs_3/102-3065065-5251300?ie=UTF8&s=videogames

MMORPG.com had an interesting article from PAX.  It has the first detail I've seen about specing in WAR.

http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/setview/features/loadFeature/840/gameID/239/page/1

Blizzard has released a first look at the new spells and talents being offered in their upcoming expansion:

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/burningcrusade/townhall/talents-and-spells.html