There have been many effects of Eve Online‘s decision to deal a large blow to the black market for their in-game currency by essentially making it purchasable for real money. The one that we like the most, however, is that it is now really easy to quantify actions in Eve Online to people who don’t play the game. Case in point:

In-game business machinations have lead to a player known as Bad Bobby walking away from a gutted in-game corporation with items worth $45,000. And it was all game legal.

Holy moly, it’s the fourth time I’ve seen this trailer and I’m still wetting my pants. With E3 2010 in full swing, the Star Wars franchise continues to astound geeks worldwide with their incredible game cinematic teasers, first for The Force Unleashed II and now for Bioware‘s much anticipated MMORPG The Old Republic.

In what is essentially a five-minute short film, we watch a raucous battle between Republic and Sith forces on the once-beautiful planet of Alderaan unfold. Big friggin’ guns are fired, and of course, lightsabers are swung. It’s time to see the “good guys” strike back for a change (for the ignorant and forgetful ones, the first incredible trailer detailed the absolute destruction of the Jedi Temple at the hands of Sith sabers and bounty hunter wrist-launchers).

Video after the jump.

The Korean Games Rating Board had previously given “alpha” and “skirmish” builds of Starcraft II a 15-years-old and up rating. Hoping to get a rating to match America’s Teen (13+) classification, game maker Blizzard asked for a reevaluation this month with the game’s release candidate. The same board that handed out the initial rating slapped the game with an even higher 18 and up stamp.

What on earth could have happened between the two builds, especially when Blizzard was trying for a lower rating?

Read on...

World of Warcraft fans who are hanging onto Blizzard‘s promise that the new expansion to it’s historic MMORPG will be released some time this year can take hope: members of the gaming press have started to receive beta opt-ins.

From Kotaku:

The WoW developer is “starting to gear up for the World of Warcraft: Cataclysm beta,” accepting sign ups for the early look at the expansion until April 15 for members of the media. April 15 is not the actual date the beta would go live, we should note, as Blizzard does “not currently have a date to announce for the start of the beta test.”

if you didn’t like the series finale of Syfy’s Battlestar Galactica, maybe the new Battlestar MMO will give you a chance to kill Mitochondrial Eve before it all happens again.

NBC Universal and Bigpoint have announced their new MMO based on the television series Battlestar Galactica.  Unlike World of Warcraft or Star Trek Online, the Battlestar MMO will be completely free and browser-based, eliminating the need to buy additional software or pay a monthly fee to play.  We like free.

What will gameplay be like?

Ars Technica has a post up today on the arrival of the first issue of the official World of Warcraft magazine. It’s a favorable account of its 144 pages of art and articles covering the topics of line of sight and loot sharing; interviews with Blizzard‘s CEO; and a feature retrospective.

It all sounds well and good, but here’s why we’re still skeptical:

That title is a little vague, but one must try not to be obscene.

Lego has just released a trailer for its upcoming MMO, Lego Universe, and the video is unexpectedly compelling. And by compelling, I mean really, really exciting. Video after the jump.