That figure covers any and all games requiring a subscription, so don’t go laying all the blame at World of Warcraft’s feet. Spare a little for EVE, Age of Conan and LOTRO as well.

“Despite concerns that the recession would cause consumers to reduce spending on entertainment subscription services, most forms of subscription entertainment are doing just fine,” NPD’s Russ Crupnick said in a press release. “Consumers are clearly looking to the value offered by entertainment subscriptions and like what they get for their money.”

Fallout fan Wikia The Vault believes them to be, writing today that they were acquired from an “anonymous, but reliable source” and that they’re a part of Interplay’s defence in a lawsuit filed against the developer by Fallout-rights holder Bethesda.

The screens at least appear to be in line with what the Project V13 concept art hinted at, even if the purported in-game stuff looks like a very brown, very bleak place to spend one’s online time.http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/User_blog:Ausir/Another_batch_of_V13_concept_art

The Vault blogger Ausir also has more PV13 concept art, should you be turned off by the reality of the in-development MMO.

Revealed last Friday, the Imperial Agent is a powerful player in the Empire’s ploy for universal power. Whether working in the shadows with his or her trusty sniper rifle or boldly calling in an orbital strike, the Imperial Agent has the full power of the Empire behind them at all times, in exchange for their undying loyalty.

Hit up the link for some videos of the Agent’s skills in action.

The Imperial Agent [Star Wars: The Old Republic]

The former specialises in swords and shields, specialising in close combat. The latter prefers to engage in even closer combat, using hand-to-hand fighting techniques complemented by cestus and claws, adding a little long distance with expertise in throwing implements like the chakram.

The FF XIV official site also has details on some of the MMO’s weapons, all of which players can get their hands on sometime in 2010, after Square Enix gets Final Fantasy XIII out the door.

So forgive me if I can’t come up with enough Star Trek quips or effectively weigh in on the Kirk vs. Picard debate. I can, at best, recite the lines from the J. J. Abrams film and shout out “Khan” when somebody cuts me off in traffic. Also, I can tell you about this here Star Trek MMO that’s been something like six years in the making.

What Is It?
Star Trek Online is a massively multiplayer game previously under development at the now-dead Perpetual Entertainment. Cryptic Studios picked up the aborted project in 2008 and started almost completely over for the game we have now.

What We Saw
I saw a quick demo of a space combat and ground combat before being turned loose on the mission “Stranded in Space” which combines elements of the two.

How Far Along Is It?
The game is due out February 2, 2010.

What Needs Improvement?
Canon Clarity: Licenses are a funny thing — so much so that the developer couldn’t exactly articulate to me what Star Trek Online can and can’t do as far as incorporating stuff like the Borg and Space Lincoln. They did say that the MMO should be treated as canon since it takes place in the prime timeline (the non-J. J. Abrams one) and that canon things like the Borg might show up. However, there was some confusion about the alien races that players can customise right down to the skin colour. As Cryptic seems to understand it, if a custom-made alien race gets really popular, it could become canon if enough people download it. The possibilities are heady and all; but it’s kind sad to think somebody could put a lot of work into building an alien race of their own that then magically winds up in a new Star Trek movie and they don’t get any credit for their creation.

No Catchphrases/Bridge Banter (Yet): Currently, the only talking that goes on between non-playable characters and the captain that you take the role of happens in text boxes. There’s no free-flowing banter between bridge crewmates and no way to click on individual NPCs during away missions just to chat them up. Cryptic says they’re currently looking into adding the catchphrases we’re used to hearing from the series during space combat (”Warp speed”, “Reroute power to the shields”, “Great shot kid, don’t get cocky”, etc.) — but at the moment, it’s all silent and somewhat stilted.

What Should Stay The Same?
Space Isn’t Slow: I was afraid the space combat and travel would be too much like Eve Online — where you have to wait ages for anything to happen. Instead, I was pleased to see somewhat snappy movement and reasonable physics to account for the fact that you’re manoeuvring a huge starship, not a tiny fighter craft. And while the game confines the 360 degrees of space to just forward, back, left and right for the shields, you have the full range of 360 degrees to use in movement so you can evade fire and break line of sight (and tachyon blast) by getting behind asteroids and stuff. Also, the game gives the player the ability to throttle more or less power between the four sections of the shields. This comes in handy when you’re too close to a ship about to explode and need to absorb the shock on your aft shields.

Ground Isn’t So Bad: It’s totally not regulation for a captain to take half the bridge planetside with him as an Away Team (that’s what Red Shirts are for!), but the game lets you do it anyway with your three favourite bridge crew members. While in space, these members have special abilities and buff/debuffs depending on their class (Science Officer, Communications, etc.) — but on the ground, you can outfit them with whatever weapons and equipment you like and either let the AI drive them around, or command their every move. The Away Team will still bring some special abilities with them planetside like Harvesting or Diplomacy stats you can use. But if you don’t feel like making room for them, you can always leave ‘em on the ship and meet up with other real-life buddies on some planet to shoot at stuff.

Set Phasers To Vaporize! During ground combat, when people are shooting NPCs, you’ll sometimes see a yellow icon pop up on a disoriented enemy. Pressing the secondary fire on a certain gun vaporises that enemy and it’s pretty neat. Who needs a stun function, anyway?

Final Thoughts
I wasn’t so wowed by the ground combat, but space blew me away. If this were a singleplayer game, I’d still be happy with it. But I guess with so many Trekkies in the world, it’d be a waste not to turn Star Trek into an MMO for the masses to enjoy.

All 24 careers are available, with players free to run around until they reach level 10, at which point their exploits are capped.

That’s one hell of a hook; get people in, get them juiced up on levelling, then withhold their supply until the money comes in. It’s a tried and tested sales pitch for other forms of addiction, no reason it won’t work here.

If you’re interested, the download link is below.

[Warhammer Online Trial]

The nature of Alexander Stern’s visual impairment isn’t clear from the report, whether that is total blindness or partial blindness, or some other form of sight disability. But his suit, filed in federal court in California, claims that Sony has ignored repeated requests to modify its games – the suit seems to focus on SOE’s MMOs – and that the realms Sony maintains here are essentially public accommodations as defined by the ADA.

Stern repeatedly asked Sony for the addition of visual cues to point out destinations for gamers with “disability impaired visual processing.” The suit mentions World of Warcraft and another game that, through the allowance of third-party modifications or other features, make their games more accessible to the visually impaired.

There’s also a claim that by not making accommodations for the visually impaired, Sony essentially deprives Stern and others of fair participation in selling off in-game items over SOE’s official auction site.

Sony told GameSpot it doesn’t comment on pending litigation.

Whatever the merits of the suit, and I’m sure our team of lawyers will robustly discuss them in the comments below, the action is intriguing to me in that it seems to depend on finding a virtual environment is a public accommodation. I can’t even begin to argue coherently that it is or isn’t or should or should not be. A judge could find that an MMO is a public accommodation and Stern could still lose, but such a ruling could have larger ramifications that outlive this case, for more than just Sony.

Visually Impaired Gamer Sues Sony Online [GameSpot, thanks Roberto E.]

According to a report on Reuters, NetEase – the company operating the game in China for publishers Activision Blizzard – have been ordered to “stop operating” the title, cease charging existing user’s accounts and block any new account registrations.

The GAPP claim that because of these supposed violations, the game lacks the necessary approval required to be run under China’s increasingly strict laws governing online video games.

This is the second time this year the game has been suspended in the country, with this move the latest blow in an ongoing struggle between the GAAP and the Chinese Ministry of Culture, which was behind last month’s bluster over foreign investment in Chinese online gaming firms.

Indeed, things are so messy between the two that it’s unclear whether the GAPP’s actions will even be enforced, with reports emerging that NetEase haven’t even been contacted by the GAPP, and that the Ministry of Culture have labelled the threats inappropriate.

NetEase, Activision caught up in China turf war [Reuters]
‘World of Warcraft’ Faces Goverment Crackdown In China [MTV]

Over on the Interplay website, the development team posted that some of the concept art for the still-in-work MMO have been released due to the lawsuit. So they decided to post them in their forums.

“Keep in mind that this is concept art. It’s not finalised art, but it will give you a feel for what we are aiming for with V13,” Interplay’s Chris Taylor wrote.

Welcome to the Concept Art Forum![Interplay via Duck and Cover]