Hmm now this could be an interesting one! It seems there is a group of pretty hard-core coders and SWG fans out there working really hard to create a pre-combat upgrade EMU for Star Wars Galaxies. For those in the know - this means a return to pre-CU gaming on what could have been the greatest MMORPG ever.

SWGEmu is a project aimed at emulating the official Star Wars Galaxies Pre-Combat Upgrade servers. Over the last 2.5 years we have researched and documented the protocol used between the SWG client and the Live Server. By doing this we were able to build our own server daemon from the ground up, which allows those that miss the old SWG the most, to enjoy the experience with other veterans once again. Every single line of code in our software has been written by the development team, on their own free time, with absolutely no corporate funding."

Star Wars Galaxies was released in 2003, and quickly became one of TG's strongest divisions. Under the leadership of RoadRunner, Niven and plenty more people i've forgotten our guild grew to be strong, active and respected in the game. All in all, awesome fun. That is until Sony released a combat upgrade, which did all sorts of things to the gameplay and caused at least 50% of the players to quit. Ouch.

This new attempt at emulating the pre-upgrade server environment is really exciting, because the game seriously ROCKED at that time, and if these guys succeed, we'll have the return of a truly great game again. Go check their website out and show your support. http://www.swgemu.com/

PARABELLUM is a brand new Free-to-Play massive multiplayer online First Person Shooter (MMO-FPS), it combines the best elements of FPS (First Person Shooter) and MMO (Massive Multiplayer Online) games to create an extremely unique and fully customizable gaming experience. Parabellum will be released as a free download in the first quarter of 2009.

The story is fairly simple really, you must join one of the two foremost covert reconnaissance organizations in the post-apocalyptic and broken down 2018 world:  Each of them are given contract missions and you will vie for the fate of the World.

Each mission will force you to make decisions that will have a consequence on the outcome of the operation. Instead of playing repetitious unconnected levels, you fight throughout cities wreaking havoc and mayhem during the entire mission. Important decisions where every battle can change the outcome of the global mission must be made continually by you, adding to the real time suspense.

You will begin as a novice mercenary accepting missions in some of the World's most exotic and intriguing locations. From the famous skyline of New York City to the dense jungles of South America, each mission you will gain experience and increase your abilities. You have the ability to unlock new weapons, weapon modifications and attachments, body armor, accessories and appearance with over 10,000 possible combinations.

The game will be FREE, and there is a closed beta you can sign up for. So far Claw has been accepted  and if you are interested too you can apply for the beta too! Check out the featured videos section for the Parabellum trailer movie.

Bethesda will release the "Garden of Eden Creation Kit" (G.E.C.K.) for free for the PC version of the game in December. The "G.E.C.K.," as Bethesda is calling the mod tools, will allow complete customization of Fallout 3, from building new locations to creating new characters, weapons, and creatures, and writing new dialogue. "We've always seen the original world of Fallout 3 as a foundation for even more content. Some created by us, and a lot more created by users," said Todd Howard, game director for Fallout 3. "It's fun to create your own character, but it can be equally fun to create your own adventures. We can't wait to see what the community does with the G.E.C.K."

As for the three DLC packs, they include the following:

• Operation: Anchorage. Enter a military simulation and fight in one of the greatest battles of the Fallout universe -- the liberation of Anchorage, Alaska from its Chinese Communist invaders. An action-packed battle scheduled for release in January.

• The Pitt. Journey to the industrial raider town called The Pitt, located in the remains of Pittsburgh. Choose your side. Scheduled for release in February.

• Broken Steel. Join the ranks of the Brotherhood of Steel and rid the Capital Wasteland of the Enclave remnants once and for all. Continues the adventure past the main quest. Scheduled for release in March.

The first official downloadable content (Operation: Anchorage) will arrive in January for the PC and Xbox 360 versions, but not the PlayStation 3. The two other DLC packs will follow in February and March, but no pricing details for the DLC were given (free for PC and payment for Xbox 360 offcourse).

Source: 1UP

You can look at the Capital Wasteland of Fallout 3 on Google Maps. To see what can be found on the three quarter of the map that you haven't been to yet. The map isn't completely filled yet, but everyone can help.

PS: For some reason it doesn't seem to work right now...

The writer who created the immensely successful fantasy series The Wheel of Time with 44 million copies sold worldwide, James Oliver Rigney aka Robert Jordan has been dead and gone for some time. Now scavengers gather to salvage what they can, and press as much money out of his creation as possible.

Red Eagle Entertainment, the film studio that owns the rights to The Wheel of Time, are planning to make at least three films based on the best-selling books. Starting at the first part in the series "The Eye of the World". It is rumoured that Universal has been given the task to take the book to the big screen with a 150 million dollar budget.

Red Eagle Entertainment has also announced the most recent addition to their company. Red Eagle Games, which will be given the task of publishing the nowadays obligatory game based on the film. Oh, and they have plans for an MMO aswell.

Lets all pray to the powers that be that these games and movies turn out decent, and does not completley ruin the entire series for us. Although I am hopeful I have my doubts.

full story here

Introduction
Three men have a meeting every morning at work not to discuss the work to do today, but to talk about their experiences last night in the post apocalyptic world as we know it in Fallout 3.

The Fallout Universe
In the Fallout universe America has been in a nuclear war against other communist countries. Because of the nuclear threat the government started building vaults. When the nuclear war became a reality, some people could get inside the safety of the vaults and others couldn’t.

Fallout 1 and 2 were Turnbased Strategy RPG-like games that took place in California (I actually don’t know for sure, because I never played 1 and 2, you should ask Darkvain).

System
Fallout 3 is a RPG with a thick layer of shooter sauce or actually a RPG where you don’t click on your enemy but have to aim to hit it (first or third person). A RPG always has stats and skills. Fallout 3 also has perks which also influence your ability to shoot, talk, sneak, picklock etc.

The RPG system used in Fallout 3 isn’t hard to master (which I heard wasn’t that easy in Oblivion). One of the main reasons is the best character creation and tutorial I have ever had in a game.

Atmosphere & Environment
At the beginning of Fallout 3 you experience your own birth through your own eyes. You hear your father say: “Honey it’s a …”. A menu pops up which let you chose between boy or girl. “boy”, father says, I chose to be a boy. After that your dad shows you how you will look like when you are an adult with some fancy machine. You can completely customize your character and even let it look like yourself. Which I tried, but didn’t really succeed, because I didn’t want to waste too much time with it. You can customize your face in so many ways it is even better than the one in Mass Effect. From the size, height, width, slope of your nose to your cheek bones, eyes, eyebrows, forehead, chin, everything (only haircuts and facial hair are standardized). When finished your will start the game inside Vault 101 (the game is full of these sort of cool names and things) where you further built up your character stats and learn the basics of the game. A nice example is the first thing you do in the game, learning to walk with the WASD keys and interact with your environment with the E key when you are about 2 years old. Don’t be afraid to mess up though. When you leave the Vault you can completely alter your character from buffed male to smart female.

At this moment the game starts a large open world opens up for you. I think most of you already heard, read or maybe experienced how incredibly epic Fallout 3 is. The world sucks you in like a…vacuum cleaner…? Straight from the start (even the tutorial is awesome).