Sure, there are other good things about Ultima Online as well. It’ll run on your toaster, and there isn’t any of that third-person camera view you get in today’s MMORPG titles that makes you feel uncomfortably semi-immersed. No, Ultimate Online is old school, and EA hopes that lapsed players are feeling a little nostalgic about old Britannia. At least nostalgic enough to take advantage of a little free game time.

“We’re hoping that, as part of the Return to Britannia Campaign, former players will once again rediscover the joys of Ultima Online,” said Jeff Hickman, Executive Producer for Mythic Entertainment. “UO was the first love of many MMORPG players, and it still holds a special place in their hearts after 12 glorious years. I think returning players will be pleasantly surprised to find a thriving and vibrant community from around the world ready to welcome back their former compatriots and include them in their ongoing adventures.”

Returning players will have access to all expansions through Mondain’s Legacy, so they’ll be able to create elves and hunt for mailboxes to dance naked near. Those wanting a taste of the new Gargoyle race recently introduced in the Stygian Abyss expansion are welcome to pay for it.

Visit the game’s official site to hop back onboard. The free play time runs from now until October 16th.

Our favourite blue hedgehog is already 18-years-old? It seems like only yesterday he was being placed in mediocre game after mediocre game, making millions of dollars per title on name recognition alone. Ah, how far we’ve come since that fateful day back in June of 1991, when something fresh and new stormed the video game store shelves, promising innovative game play for decades to come. I’m almost getting misty here.

While I dry my eyes, Sega Europe has been busy handing out Sonic-themed swag all morning via both Facebook and Twitter. They’ve got soundtrack samplers, stationary packs, and all kinds of Sonic junk, or at least they did when they started. Pickings are probably a bit thin now, considering they’ve been doing this since 11am UK time, but there is always hope.

Hit up the link below to find out what you need to do to possibly get your hands on celebratory goodness. Happy birthday, Sonic the Hedgehog!

Sonic City’s Sonic Birthday Giveaway! Tuesday June 23rd 2009 [Sonic City Blognik]

While other massively multiplayer online games have drawn huge numbers and then struggled to retain them, CCP’s EVE Online has spent the past six years growing. So far 2009 has been very good to the game, with the concurrent user record being broken three separate times so far, with a standing record of 53,850 online at one time in one universe. The launch of the latest expansion, Apocrypha, has drawn even more players to the game, with active subscribers passing the 300K mark in the past week. Having started off the year with approximately 244,000, that’s a 22% growth – for a six year-old game.

Along with the announcement, CCP sent along this picture of the celebration cake they enjoyed at their North American headquarters in Atlanta. I’d congratulate them, but they know I live in Atlanta and neglected to invite me over for gamecake, a transgression I’m afraid I can never forgive. Check out their full announcement below, while I curl up on the couch with a Little Debbie Swiss cake roll and cry.

Happy Birthday EVE Online!

EVE Online celebrates its 6th year of existence today—May 6th. That’s six strong years of continuous growth thanks to tireless integration of user feedback into game design and pushing to release around two major free expansions per year. Our single-shard world, where everyone plays on the same shared server, has seen tremendous benefit from having each player able to interact and affect each other player in a persistent manner. From massive fleet battles to individual bonds of trust, every pilot in EVE has the potential to rock the ship of hundreds of thousands of others by their actions.

At one population milestone we saw agreements form between alliances. At another we were able to fully turn over the economy to the players. As the population of New Eden has grown, so have the instances of emergent behaviours of its pilots. A 6 year persistant history. A living history where truly brilliant strategies have unfolded. Truly terrible betrayals unveiled. We are excited to see what will happen next.

This year has been very successful for EVE Online, thanks in large part to our latest free expansion EVE Online: Apocrypha and a return to retail. We started out the year with around 244,000 subscribers and in five short months we’ve had a 22% growth in subscribers. In the past couple days we surpassed the impressive milestone of 300,000 active subscribers. That doesn’t include trial accounts. We’ve broken our peak concurrent user record 3 times this year alone, standing now at an impressive 53,850 in the same universe. That is exponential growth. We couldn’t think of a better birthday present than having more people playing EVE Online than ever before. It is another sweet reminder of EVE’s boundless potential.

As always, we encourage you to bring your friends, family and even enemies to New Eden by visiting www.eveonline.com and downloading a free trial or by heading to your local retailer and purchasing a copy of EVE Online, which includes 60 days of game time.

The festivities start on Wednesday, April 28th, continuing through to Sunday, May 3rd. Kicking things off will be an in-game event running from 11am Eastern to midnight on Wednesday. The devs are being quiet about what is actually going to happen, promising only that “all CHAOS is going to break loose”. Also on Wednesday, players are urged to being in game around 8pm Eastern for the global anniversary address from the game’s lead designer, Matt “Postiron” Miller.

Other special occurrences celebrating five years include special secret guest appearances on the game’s test server, and a Fifth Anniversary Badge available to all players who log in between April 28th and May 31st, though only one will be available per character.

There will also be two contests running during the celebration; one for a logo t-shirt design and one for a City of Heroes video tribute. Details on both contests will be released on anniversary day.

During the entire celebration, old players are welcomed to return to the game for free in order to give their old characters a workout and perhaps consider freeing up some of the more impressive names they’ve been holding in limbo for several years. Not me, however. Sorry folks, but I’m holding on to Stonemason, Hightower, and Miss Stake as long as humanly possible.

City of Heroes® 5 Year Anniversary Celebration! [Official Website via MMORPG.com]

A woman dressed up as elven princess Firiona Vie stood off to the side looking uncomfortable at Sony Online Entertainment’s private CES unveiling of the EverQuest: The 10th Anniversary Collector’s Edition book cover.

Yes, Everquest is 10 years old, and Sony Online Entertainment is celebrating their baby with a massive hardcover book detailing the rise and leveling off of their biggest, brightest MMO star. At a private event held at CES, the company presented the cover art for EverQuest: The 10th Anniversary Collector’s Edition, a gorgeous piece of work created by master artist Donato Giancola. Meanwhile, Firiona Vie stood to the right, possibly hoping that no one who knew her would ever see this picture.

It’s actually a rather nice costume, and the book sounds interesting as well. Just not quite as interesting. It’ll be available later this year from BradyGames for US$49.99.

EVERQUEST®: THE 10TH ANNIVERSARY COLLECTOR’S EDITION BOOK EXCLUSIVE COVER ART UNVEILED AT CES IN LAS VEGAS

Sony Online Entertainment Kicks Off Anniversary Celebration for Legendary Online Video Game

LAS VEGAS, Nev. — Jan. 9, 2008 — It has been a decade since Sony Online Entertainment LLC (SOE) rewrote the rules and forever changed the video game industry with its massively multiplayer online game, EverQuest®.

To celebrate the historic milestone, today SOE held a private event at the Consumer Electronics Show to unveil the exclusive cover art being used for an upcoming book that recounts how the story of Norrath became a global phenomenon and attracted millions of players.

The art for EverQuest: The 10th Anniversary Collector’s Edition, created by master artist Donato Giancola, shows iconic elf princess Firiona Vie leading a band of adventurers into battle against an evil wizard and his enormous dragon ally in the Swamp of No Hope.

“We are thrilled that a talented artist such as Donato has created an exclusive masterpiece in honour of the celebration of the EQ legacy,” said John Smedley, president of Sony Online Entertainment. “The cover brings together a special selection of EverQuest artwork and documents the quintessence of an intensive creative process over the last decade.”

EverQuest: The 10th Anniversary Collector’s Edition celebrates EverQuest’s legacy by taking a look at the past, present and future of the brand. The book, written by veteran video game book author Rusel DeMaria, includes essays and photographs of the events, products, personalities and art that graced the world of Norrath over the years. Rich in vivid detail, each page will help tell the story of the evolution and its place in our culture.

SOE will also hold special events around the country in honour of the 10th Anniversary of EverQuest throughout 2009.

The book, published by BradyGames, will be available for purchase online and at select retailers in North America later this year for a suggested retail price of $49.99. Pre-orders are available at www.bradygames.com/everquest10.

About the artist:

Donato Giancola balances modern abstract concepts with realism in his paintings to bridge the worlds of figurative and non-representational arts. From “The Lord of the Rings” to Gericault’s “Raft of the Medusa,” Donato’s influences encompass visits to the local game shops and pilgrimages to the greatest of museums. Donato recognises the significant cultural role played by visual art and makes personal efforts to contribute to the expansion and appreciation of the science fiction and fantasy genre that extend beyond the commercial commissions of his clients. To those ends, the artist teaches at the School of Visual Arts in New York City and appears at various institutions, tournaments and conventions, from San Diego to Rome to Moscow, where he performs demonstrations in oil paint and lectures on his aesthetics.

About the author:

Rusel DeMaria is the author or coauthor of more than 60 books, most of them in the gaming field, including Myst: The Official Strategy Guide, which sold more than 1.2 million copies, as well as one of the most comprehensive histories of the industry, High Score!: The Illustrated History of Electronic Games. He founded and served as creative director for the most successful strategy guide publishing imprint in the industry and is a former senior editor and columnist for several national video game magazines.

About Sony Online Entertainment:

Sony Online Entertainment LLC (SOE) is a recognised worldwide leader in massively multiplayer online games, with hundreds of thousands of subscribers around the globe. SOE creates, develops and provides compelling

entertainment for the personal computer, online, game console and wireless markets. Known for its blockbuster franchises and hit titles including EverQuest®, EverQuest® II, Champions of Norrath®, Untold Legends™ and PlanetSide®, as well as for developing Star Wars Galaxies™, SOE continues to redefine the business of online gaming and the creation of active player communities while introducing new genres on various entertainment platforms. Headquartered in San Diego, CA, with additional development studios in Austin, TX, Seattle, WA, Denver, CO, and Taiwan, SOE has an array of cutting-edge games in development.

SOE, the SOE logo, EverQuest and PlanetSide are registered trademarks of Sony Online Entertainment LLC. Untold Legends and Legends of Norrath are trademarks of Sony Online Entertainment LLC. All other trademarks and trade names are properties of their respective owners.

Crafted lovingly by gaming legends John Carmack, John Romero, and a host of other people, some of who weren’t named John, Doom is credited with pioneering networked multiplayer PC gaming, immersive 3D graphics, and the ability for players to create and share their own custom-built expansions. The game is estimated to have been downloaded by over 10 million players over the first two years of release, with ports spanning 16 PC platforms and 11 different console gaming systems, not including source ports.

It’s been a rocky road, what with the controversy over the title’s satanic imagery and violence and one of the most horribly movie adaptations this side of Uwe Boll, but fifteen years and multiple sequels later, Doom still remains one of the most important franchises in the history of gaming. Here’s to another 15 years of hell on Mars!

Havok’s mission since their inception on 1998 has been to change the way computer and video games look and feel, and I’d say they’ve done a damn fine job, working with more than 70 developers on more that 200 titles. Along with driving the physics in games like Halo 2, Age of Empires III, and Fallout 3, Havok technology has also played a big role in movie special effects, most notably in everyone’s favourite spoon-bending epic, The Matrix.

I don’t think a month has gone by for me in the past 7-8 years where I haven’t seen that sawblade logo popping up on my television screen. I get the feeling I’ll be seeing it for a long time coming. Happy 10th, little physics guys.

Havok Celebrates 10 Years of Physics in Games and Film

San Francisco, CA (December 9, 2008) – Havok, the premier provider of interactive software for physics simulation and content development, and services for digital media creators today announced they are celebrating 10 years as a solutions provider to the gaming and film industries.

Started in 1998 when 3D graphics accelerators were rising in popularity and computing power was approximately 1/10th of what it is now, this Dublin-based company set out to change the way computer and video games looked and felt. Launching first with their physics simulation software tools SDK for games at the 2000 Game Developers Conference, Havok now offers a complete modular suite of products that help visual and interactive content developers create more realistic games and special effects for film.

“Havok was born from the idea that the emergence of realistic real-time 3D graphics created the need for realistic physical simulation,” said David O’Meara, Managing Director of Havok. Back then we were motivated by such a difficult challenge and each other’s energy. I’m happy to say the majority of the original Havok team is still with us 10 years later, still sharing the drive to provide solutions to the biggest challenging facing developers, and empowering them to create realistic and visually stunning entertainment.”

Over the last decade, Havok has partnered with more than 70 of today’s top game developers, and their industry-leading technology has been included in an excess of 200 game titles by the end of 2008 including the award-winning “Age of Empires III”, “Halo 2″, and this year’s smash hit “Fallout3″. Additionally, Havok products have been used to drive the special effects in such films as “The Matrix”, “10,000 B.C.”, and “Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix”.

“Technology has progressed a great deal since we first conceived of dynamical simulation in games,’ commented O’Meara. Computing power and the adoption of graphics cards has reached the point where many of the things we imagined back then are not only feasible, but high definition 3D visuals and real-time physics are now mainstream and expected across games, film and the Web.”

Havok’s technologies are multi-platform, enabling development across today’s leading game consoles and computers. It’s this agnostic approach that has lead to the adoption of Havok products by the majority of today’s leading publishers and developers including Sony, Nintendo, Microsoft, Electronic Arts, UbiSoft, Eidos, LucasArts, Sierra, Blizzard, Bethesda, Bungie, Valve, Neversoft, Relic, Lionhead and Pandemic Studios.

Some of the highly-anticipated games currently under development or slated for release in 2009 are Microsoft’s “Fable 2″, Namco Bandi’s classic remake “Splatterhouse”, Pandemic’s “Saboteur”, “HaloWars” from Ensemble Studios, and the new “Indiana Jones” game from LucasArts.

Havok recently expanded its software lineup with the release of Havok 6.0. As the company’s most broad suite of games middleware components to date, Havok 6.0 marks the addition of Havok Cloth™ and Havok Destruction™ to the award winning Havok Physics™, Havok Behavior™ and Havok Animation™ products. Each product forms part of an integrated suite of runtime SDKs and tools, representing the most comprehensive set of cross-platform modular tools available today, enabling game studios to deliver more compelling gameplay, character interaction and physical effects in less time.

With more than 100 games utilizing Havok’s technology slated for release over the coming year, details on Havok’s current lineup follow:

Havok Animation™
Havok Animation is a fast, flexible animation SDK that provides a rich set of general purpose animation capabilities, tight integration with Havok’s award-winning Physics SDK, and incorporates easily into existing game engines.

Havok Behavior™
Havok Behaviour is a system of software tools for developing event-driven character behaviours in a game. The Havok Behaviour product is comprised of an intuitive composition tool for artists and designers, and a run-time SDK for game programmers, resulting in “what you see is what you get” results.

Havok Cloth™
Havok Cloth is a new platform-optimised runtime SDK and toolset that significantly increases the realism of game characters and environments by enabling character designers to add realistic, physically-based drape and motion to garments, environmental objects and other deformable items like hair, bellies or tails.

Havok Destruction™
Havok Destruction is the cross-platform tool for the simulation of rigid body destruction. In addition to drastically reducing the production time and cost of creating large numbers of realistic destructible game objects, Havok Destruction provides more realism to structural mechanics, graphical effects and level design for a new game play experience

Havok Physics™
Based upon the award winning Havok Physics 2 SDK, the recently released Continuous Physics™ is an innovative technology that adds an extra level of integrity to games, and frees up production time by eliminating design limitations that stem from high-velocity game objects. Havok Physics also incorporates robust memory optimizations crucial for simulating physics in complex game environments on next-generation platforms.

The Japanese version of the Sega Dreamcast launched with a rather paltry four forgettable games: Godzilla Generations, Virtua Fighter 3tb, PenPen TRiIceLon and July. Sonic Adventure, originally planned to hit at launch, was delayed. Other titles that came shortly after, like Incoming and Seventh Cross, didn’t help matters.

Given the line-up, the Japanese launch was somewhat of a dud, far from the early success of its North American counterpart which hit almost a year later on September 9, 1999. When Sony announced the PlayStation 2, less than six months after the Japanese Dreamcast launch, it ended the console war — at least in terms of perception — before it had a chance to begin.

The Dreamcast still managed to deliver some of the best software of the generation, with titles like Power Stone, Soul Calibur, Jet Grind Radio, Phantasy Star Online, Typing of the Dead and Samba de Amigo still fondly remembered.

My first hands on time with the Dreamcast came when I rented an imported console, along with Blue Stinger and The House of the Dead 2, for a Sega filled weekend. Fortunately, those two titles didn’t dissuade me from picking up a North American console at the midnight launch.

Please feel free to share your fondest Dreamcast memories and pour out a bit of your virtual forty for this enduring casualty of the console war.

For those of you online right now, you actually have to log off, then login again to receive the award. Consult your instruction manual for directions on how to actually log off.

Obviously, that didn’t happen.

What did happen was that a fraction of the now 13 million-plus strong U.S. Wii user base went home with copies of Wii Sports, Excite Truck and The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, ushering in the Age of Waggle, changing the game forever. The rest waited in lines, camped outside electronics stores for the next shipment and watched as Wii fever swept a nation.

Since then, the console has seen major releases from Nintendo, including Super Mario Galaxy, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Wii Fit, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, WarioWare: Smooth Moves and Mario Kart Wii. Nintendo has added new platforms to its Virtual Console service, launched WiiWare, shipped a slew of hardware peripherals, and announced a sequel to the console’s biggest hit in Wii Sports Resort.

Third parties have seen success — critical or financial, but not always both — with Wii offerings like Resident Evil 4 Wii Edition, Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz, Okami, Red Steel, Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros’ Treasure, de Blob, Trauma Center: New Blood and No More Heroes. And the shovelware? Oh, God, the shovelware!

In just two years, Nintendo has gone from third place from the previous generation to an uncontested first, outpacing its nearest console competitor by nearly 2 million units. Not bad for a console that know-it-all gamers derided for its TV remote-like controller and a couple of GameCubes slapped together.

We and the Imagine Party Babyz wish you a happy second birthday, Wii.