Alas, poor RF Online, we hardly knew ye. The official website for Codemasters' sci-fi fantasy RPG RF Online has announced that the game will no longer be a going concern in North America and Europe as of the 9th of November.

It is with much sadness that today we announce our intention to close the European and North American RF Online game servers operated by Codemasters. Our licence for RF Online is due to expire shortly and unfortunately, despite several weeks of negotiations with CCR, the Korean developers of the title, we have not been able to reach an agreement to renew the contract.

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Didn't get into the Age of Conan early start event? Well here's something for you to mess about with over the weekend instead. Gravity Interactive's horror-MMO Requiem: Bloodymare couldn't have picked a better time to go into open beta. Right now you can head over to the website, register an account, download the client, and there you are, fighting evil in a rather unique little setting.

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When the Stargate SG-1 based MMORPG Stargate Worlds was first announced from Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment, I had my doubts it would ever even reach the beta stage, yet here we are. The newly-formed publisher FireSky has announced that registrations for the closed beta of Stargate Worlds is now officially open. Hopeful players can head over to their website at www.StargateWorlds.com, register for an account, and have their name thrown into a giant hat from which beta testers will be chosen. They aren't asking for tech specs, so I can only assume the selection process is to be random, or perhaps by which names they like the best. Testers will be the first to enter the Stargate, and perhaps the first MMO players to utter the phrase, "Draw their fire while I complete this mini-game." My only question is can I be the James Spader Daniel Jackson, or am I going to be shoehorned into the Michael Shanks portrayal? This sort of thing keeps me up at night.

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Tabula Rasa has only been up and running for six months, but they've already lost a sizeable enough chunk of folks that they'd do anything to win you back. Since release they've had 8 new content updates, introduced alien hybrids, and added respec tokens to the mix, and for the week beginning May 5th and ending May 12th players who've passed on the action can log into their accounts and see how the game has been shaping up, completely free. I played the game a bit during beta as well as a good month after launch, and it just couldn't hold my attentions, but I'll log in next week, just in case it was just a case of bad timing.

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It's been a great first year for Lord of the Rings Online, and Turbine has an entire month of celebrations planned for one of the most successful MMO launches since World of Warcraft. It all starts with the launch of Book 13: Doom of the Last-King, which adds the frosty reaches of Forochel to the landmass and a brand-new Monster Player class in the Defiler, seen menacingly above. Monsters will be dropping rare items throughout the month that you can exchange for in-game rewards, and if returning players want to check those out they'll be allowed five days free play to see how the game has evolved since launch. Finally, special subscription plans are in effect for a limited time, with plans over 90 days in length costing only $US 9.99 a month, and the return of the launch premium lifetime memberships for only $US 199. Hit the jump for more details on the celebration of a year of l337-speaking Hobbits.

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Steve at PlayNoEvil has some interesting analysis up on the current state of gold farming in MMORPGs (though he does admit that since hard stats are difficult to come by, "any analysis is more akin to reading tea leaves"); using data provided by mmobux, he looks at the pricing trends to try and divine what might be going on in the wild world of selling gold:

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Pearl Research has released their latest report and forecast on China's market and has come up with some pretty astonishing numbers. A quick rundown: the market grew 60% in '07, reaching $US1.66 billion; they predict the market will exceed $US 3 billion by 2010; domestic games are getting as many as 1.52 million concurrent users. It's no secret the market is huge in China and continues to grow, but those are some pretty impressive numbers (and a lot of zeros). The full press release, with some extra details, is after the jump:

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We posted a little musing on books that should be made into games a while back, which spawned plenty of discussion. Now someone's gone the extra step and added screenshots and more complex mechanic ideas for Wuthering Heights: Heathcliff's Revenge, Huckleberry Finn's Xtreme Rafting, and To Kill a Mockingbird: Furor Excessum:

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I've gotten two things from this developer diary for Funcom's Age of Conan MMO. First off, it is open season on heads in AOC. If you have a head and plan on playing the game, I highly suggest you either reinforce it with a steel neckpiece of some sort, or perhaps pre-detach your head with some sort of velcro solution so it can easily be retrieved and reattached. Secondly, Funcom Senior System Designer Andrew Griffin has some amazing hair. You wouldn't think a guy with such great hair would have anything to do with all of this rampant decapitation, but there you go.

My article about the MapleStory iTCG yesterday missed some salient points, so Wizards of the Coast shot me the official launch press release to fill me in on the details. Aside from featuring the most adorable anime art on every card, the card game of Nexon's side-scrolling MMO also includes codes that unlock special rewards in the game, much like Upper Deck's World of Warcraft MMO, except that every booster is guaranteed to contain one. Rewards include coveted artifacts, news quests, and rare virtual pets, including the card-exclusive black bunny, which is driving players a little nuts. It is teh call of teh bunneh. I'm actually planning on getting my YuGiOh playing nephew to try the game out with me on Thanksgiving, so I'll be sure to let you know how that goes.

Oh, and before you correct me, bunneh is the bunny way of saying bunny. It's pronounced "boon-eh". Trust me on this. I know my bunnehs.

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