It's a slow news day, but that's fine by me, because I'm desperately working as fast as I can so I can jump in and play the LOTRO Moria expansion. The only news today is of the World of Warcraft variety, which includes the story of a boy suffering from a seizure for playing the World of Warcraft expansion for too long, and the news that the expansion's raids have already been defeated.

World of Warcraft's Wrath of the Lich King was just released recently, and already the game has its first 80 level player - Nymh. I'm shocked that he could muster through the ten new levels so quickly, but probably only because when it comes to the MMO I play - LOTRO - it takes me forever to level. I don't know if I'm just slow or suck! So congrats Nymh on your news breaking record run...your fifteen-minutes start now.

I'm reluctant to even post this news, because every person I get to sign-up by reading this news post is one more person who could take away by own closed beta spot. Noooooo! Anyways, Aeria Games - the publisher for Shin Megami Tensei: Imagine Online - has just announced that the site is accepting sign-ups for the chance to get into the game's upcoming closed beta. The news of a Shin Megami Tensei MMORPG isn't just exciting regular MMO fans, as even non-genre fans, but fanboys of the popular series are also wanting to give the game a shot to check it out.

On a side note, you really should play Persona 3 (great game) and Persona 4 is hitting shelves on December 9th.

Resident Evil 4 is one of the most popular games of all-time, so chances are good Resident Evil 5 will continue the trend. It's been a long time coming, but zombie (okay, not zombies for the past two game, but whatever) killing fans will have their chance to dig into the latest game when it releases March 13, 2009. Besides being able to get your fix on the Xbox 360 or PS3, the release date also brings with it news that a PC version will be hitting on the same day.

I used to love Tabula Rasa, but cancelled my subscription when Age of Conan came out (of course cancelled that one too) due to a choke point in the leveling process and the lack of changes to my class. Seeing all the changes since then, however, I still haven't cared to go back and reopen my account...until now. It's been long rumored for a time, but Tabula Rasa will be taking players back to Earth, and there are already two pictures to prove it.

I wasn't a huge fan of World of Warcraft when I tried it out, but you have to give it to Blizzard for doing some creative things. For instance, a flood of zombies are infesting the game now, which is both partly a Halloween event and a nod to the upcoming expansion next month. The event actually sounds really cool, but I'd love to see a real zombie apocalypse MMORPG.

Bioware finally officially revealed they are working on a Knights of the Old Republic MMO, which is going to be called Star Wars: The Old Republic. The news, however, won't surprise anyone, as it's been one of the worst kept secrets in videogames for the past year or so. Players will be able to play as a Jedi or Sith and be able to make the same moral choices that defined KOTOR. No release date has been announced, but for the time being it looks like the game will only appear on the PC.

I really enjoyed Tabula Rasa for a spell, but I canceled my subscription when my Exobiologist was never looked at for changes, the personal assault units were never touched upon again, and I got to a level grinding choke point that annoyed the heck out of me. Well, Richard Garriott has just arrived in space, and not long after arriving he revealed a message written in the Tabula Rasa Logos system. A couple of new Logos symbols are shown, particularly one that seems to be a representation of Earth. Does this mean players will be returning to Earth as was speculated a long time ago? If so, I might actually have to re-sub to check it out.

Recently I've been tackling Warhammer Online pretty hard, putting my poor dwarf Herzog on the back burner when it comes to Lord of the Rings Online. I'm determined to get him to level 50 before the Mines of Moria expansion hits, and luckily Turbine will be helping me out, as players will earn +25% more experience when playing from October 2 thru October 6. So look for me on the Vilya server and lets earn some XP together.

The MMORPG market is a crowded one and World of Warcraft is undoubtedly the king of the crop if going on sheer numbers and pop culture recognition. It's also not a great time to be releasing a new MMORPG, considering Age of Conan was just released not long ago, World of Warcraft will have its second expansion releasing shortly, and even Lord of the Rings Online is set to release their first expansion before the year is done. Despite the crowded market and stiff competition to come, Warhammer Online releases with a bang, and shoves its way through the throng of gamers in order to stand tall as one of the premier games worthy of your time.

World of Warcraft is a game...nothing more and nothing less. Sure, it has been used in some studies before - such as analyzing the spread of diseases in a community (true story) - but to give a grant to a professor to play World of Warcraft for study in simply asinine. How does someone even justify paying $100,000 for that kind of research? For that matter, she must be a hell of a writer/speaker in order to convince people to actually grant that request.

What if you were a god and had the ability to single-handedly create and mold a race of creatures to your liking? Would your creature be a religious worshipping vegetarian or a power hungry carnivore? Would your creature have four eyes and two arms? Would your creation look like a giant penis? In Spore almost anything is possible, as you work your way from the primordial ooze and eventually into the dark recesses of space. Though there are some problems, it's still a fun look at evolution and user creativity.

I enjoyed Tabula Rasa for about two months, got to a choke point in the level grinding process, and then became annoyed by promises that never happened. My Exobiologist probably still sucks and they never did add those mechs they promised. Fail! It seems all of that was signs of things to come, as rumor has it that NCSoft might be killing Tabula Rasa in a short time.

I picked up my copy of Spore yesterday, and though I only got enough time in so far to make it to the creature stage, I'm already loving my creature's journey through the ages. It seems other people love the game too, but you wouldn't know that if you went to Amazon, as angry DRM haters have given the game 1-star ratings for that reason and that reason only. It's actually funny to read about these sad losers and how they say you're renting the game instead of owning it. The matter is silly too, for who needs an infinite number of times to install the game? I install a game once and leave it on my computer until I'm tired of it and then I delete. I've never installed a single game more than three times ever.

You know who hates Spore - bloody pirates!

World of Warcraft - love it or hate it. Regardless, a lot of fans couldn't get into Blizzcon, and thus none of the exclusives, such as a new polar bear mount. As someone who went out of his way to get a mammoth mount for Age of Conan without buying the game twice, I know the draw of a new mount. Luckily, if you can't make the show, as long as you pay the $40 for the DirectTV coverage, you'll still be able to grab the polar bear mount.