For a wasteland, things certainly look pretty. The game has a fairly advanced physics engine, so it's possible to knock down plenty of objects in the world, such as fences. This can create some crazy moments in combat if you're driving madly, plowing over everything while getting shot at. It also can create some problems. It's possible to run over something so that it elevates your chassis into the air, leaving you stranded in place. Despite the danger, the physics provide some cool effects. You also get a feeling that the game's style is somewhat inspired by the classic Fallout role-playing games, themselves set in a postapocalyptic world. Hopefully, the audio that we heard is only a placeholder, as it's the weakest part of the game's overall presentation. Still, Hard Truck shows definite promise, as it looks to be a unique take on the role-playing genre. The game is due to ship later this month.

• Dungeon Siege II: Broken Worlds
• Nightwatch
• Titan Quest

Upgradeable Outposts
The current Outposts are just the beginning to world domination. They should be upgradeable, both internally (services etc.) and externally (defenses). Likewise, the conquerable Stations as well as Outposts should have a degradeable state, so that you can gradually disable station functions during a siege which need to be rebuilt from a destroyed state or repaired from a disabled state.

Skill Training - Queue or Dual training
Enabling players to either queue so that training takes the next skill level or starts training another skill up another level. Dual training enables you to have a primary long-term skill in training with a secondary short-term skill sharing the training time. After the secondary skill level has trained, the primary skill trains at 100% again.

Jonric: How much technical knowledge is required to use it (the level editor- editor's comment), and in what ways are you planning to support users?

Tom Potter: Of course, to make a level really stand out, you need to know how to use all of the more advanced options. And by their nature, advanced options might be more difficult for casual users to grasp initially - like editing water parameters, adding fog layers - so we'll be moderating forums and helping people through any problems they might encounter. We're making tutorial videos to supplement the text instructions that ship with the game. We'll also be supporting the editor in any Titan Quest updates or future products. We're dying to get feedback from everyone, and I've got my own huge wish list, so expect the editor to get better and better with time.

Steve Savicki asks: This module is not entirely hack & slash; there are some puzzles. Would you please briefly state the rewards for those who take the time to solve them?

Chris Priestly: Well there are 3 basic rewards. You will get XP, you will get a treasure reward or you will unlock a passage to a secret area with more monsters and/or treasure in it. And, as already mentioned, if you're in multiplay you'll earn points to brag over your friends that you're much smarter then they are.

Stanley Woo:Jay said I had to come back and finish the interview. I'm putting up with Chris for the community's sake. That's how much I love our community, man.

Chris Priestly: Speaking of people you are smarter than... welcome back, monkey!

If you are unfamiliar with the series, Avernum is an underground world of tunnels and caverns underneath an arrogant and nameless Empire on the surface. Over many years, the Empire has banished criminals and dissidents to this sub-world, to eke out a harsh existence in the sunless caverns. Over time, these exiles have built an entire culture with towns and settlements, fungi farms and mines - even trade with the surface. But it's a dangerous and unforgiving world full of monsters and battles with bandits and other races, such as hostile factions of the cat-like Nephilim, the lizard-like Slith and more.

One of the most attractive aspects of Sacred 2 is the ability to play both a good or evil storyline. Both campaigns are unique and offer new challenges for players as you complete one storyline and wish to explore the game further with something new. The good versus evil option also plays a factor in multiplayer games, allowing PvP environments in designated play modes.

Where Dreamfall starts to take a fall is in its gameplay sequences. In an attempt to sell Dreamfall to a wider audience, it was given an environment that the player could fully move about in, a'la Tomb Raider or God of War. What this means, however, is that while the days of pixel hunting are dead, it does become extremely tedious to get to certain items. If two items are right next to each other, players can use a cone of vision to select one or the other of the items, but it can be a chore to position yourself just right so that the cone will hit one item or the other. The cone is actually quite ingenious for a fully-3D point and click adventure game, but it would still be a bit more convenient to have a system not unlike those in many current MMORPGs, where players can both move about and use a cursor to select things. There is no map when moving about your environments, but places are small and linear enough where you can generally figure out where you need to be going without too much of an issue. Additionally, accessing your inventory is a bit odd in Dreamfall. Players can use both the mouse wheel as well as the tab key to open their inventory. However, selection between the items can only be done with the A and D keys, which makes the use of the scroll wheel a bit unwieldy. There is gamepad support with Dreamfall, and while this does make things a little bit better, I still much prefer my games with a good keyboard-and-mouse setup first.

So that's that. But second, the game design has now become something more than we planned. I mean something great - way beyond what we envisioned. I look back on our original design document, original screen mock ups and concept art and what I have in my hands today is just so much more than that. It was scary about 9-10 months ago when we scrapped alot of the quest design in favor of total dungeon exploration. And moved from our home grown engine to PopCap's Framework. Yet right now, I am completely convinced that was not only the right decision for Dungeon Delvers, it was a great decision.

Jewals: The Face Dancer is able to shape change, but it is mentioned that the illusion will break on fighting. Why and what is the shape changing then good for (e.g. being a cougar makes him running faster?)??

Co-N: I'll kick off with a question relating to the rogues and Stealth, because that seems to be on everybodies mind when thinking about rogues. Rightfully so, so I'll deal with that first. So we all get a clear view on that.

The chronicles of Spellborn handles stealth a bit different compared to other games. All rogues use deception and trickery to get the upper hand but none will be able to go invisible for an undetermined duration.

This match, which took place early in the third season of the GWFC series, featured an aggressive display from two top guilds: That Hideous Strength [THS], ranked 28th with 15 wins and 3 losses, and Black Crescent [BC], ranked 16th with 22 wins and 3 losses were the contenders. Each team sported two very similar builds, and in the end it came down to the skills each team carried that allowed them to counter the offensive capabilities of its opponents. In this typical-length match, That Hideous Strength used its skills effectively to defeat its higher-ranked opponent with minimal casualties.

The FINAL FANTASY XI Linkshell Community Beta Version is a new service that will be available to adventurers in the very near future! Now you will be able to communicate with your linkshell members from any location with Internet access!

Community Support Tools

Many tools are provided by the Linkshell Community to support the groups that adventurers have formed within the world of FINAL FANTASY XI. For example, members of a linkshell will have access to an exclusive message board, as well as an up-to-date list of current member information. The Linkshell Community will also provide a linkshell search function and a list of recently formed linkshells for each individual World.

Q: Could you please introduce yourself to the readers, what you do on the Conan project and how long you have been working on the game?

A: Hi everybody! My name is Knut Avenstroup Haugen. I create all the music for Age of Conan and I've been involved with this project since fall 2004.

Q: What is it like to create the score for a gigantic game like Age of Conan?

A: It's a lot of fun! I've always been a Conan fan and a gamer, so basically, I've always wanted to work on a project like this. It's hugely exciting to be a part of bringing the world of Hyboria to life (and in my opinion it's the most captivating and convincing incarnation so far!). Of course, it's a monumental task, but I love writing music and on this project I'll be able to create music for a whole universe! It can't get much better than that :)

Got questions? Good! Want answers? Perhaps we can lend a hand...

Ares Stratics is giving you the oppertunity to submit a question to the developers of The Legend of Ares!

All that is required of you is:

1. You have a question about The Legend of Ares.
2. You have a Stratics account.

Don't have a Stratics account yet? You can get your free membership HERE.

Once you're past all that, just go to the Ares Stratics forums and visit the "Ask The Devs" thread or just click on "Comment on this article" below this announcement. Post your question there and your done!

The 10 best questions posted will be submitted to the Ares developers for answering and will be published in the upcoming Ares Stratics interview!

Deadline for posting questions is Wednesday, June 14 at midnight (MDT). At that time the thread will be locked and no more questions will be accepted. A list of the questions that made the cut will be posted within a day or two after. Anonymously posted questions will be removed and not considered.

So put on your thinking cap...come up with a really good question or two ( you can submit multiple questions)...and we'll see ya there!

Don't forget to visit the Legend of Ares website at: http://www.legendofares.com

It could be a guy thing, but a lot of us find beefed-up cars, wreckless driving, and blowing stuff up to be irresistable, especially when all three are combined into an action-packed video game. Auto Assault takes a fairly standard MMORPG formula and applies it to sci-fi vehicles, which is definitely a departure from the swords and sorcery that dominate this genre. It's a bold effort from NetDevil, the game's developer, who are also known for their online space title, Jumpgate.

Auto Assault is set in a post-apocalyptic future where humans retreated underground to avoid a holocaust, only to emerge years later and find the surface of planet in an ongoing state of chaos. Humans, mutants, and biomeks, the game's playable races, are now on separate sides of the conflict fighting for survival. Each race has access to roughly the same 4 classes, which fall into the familiar lines of tank, healer, stealther, and pet master.

Enter Thrones of Chaos! A new MMOG title being brought to life by Loud Ant Software LLC & Nuanced Entertainment LLC.

Nuanced Entertainment LLC is geared towards the development of more in depth games where you or your party can become entangled in your own world with your own family in your own town.

Imagine for a moment, a vast online world! A beautiful , war ravaged , Medieval realm encompassed in danger , fortunes and political turmoil! An untamed world of unending strife where four distinct Empires are locked in a Millennia long struggle for dominance over the lands!

Thrones of Chaos's impending release will bring with it a world heavily focused on guilds and player vs player interaction! A family tree system that rewards long and prosperous lineages! And an opened ended and flexible skill system!

The 4-days patch we announced recently is finally ready. We will close the servers next week, from Monday the 12th at 8am to Thursday the 15th (GMT+2, Paris time).

As you won't be able to play during the patch, 4 extra days will be credited to your account.

This heavy patch includes a change in the server architecture that will allow you to meet players from other servers in Ring sessions later. Once the patch is done, your account will grant you access to Arispotle, Aniro and Leanon. You will still have 5 slots for your characters, but when creating new characters you now get to choose the server that they will play on. Characters are still bound to a server, meaning that you won't be able to play on different servers with the same character.

Are they ever going to announce a ship date?

In a word, yes. But don’t go scanning to the bottom of this log, because it’s not in here.

As we’ve noted a few times on the forums, we’ve been working on the schedule to release. Usually on a game this is a tough period, in that you have to make some painful cuts to get ready for release. In our case, it’s been exhilarating. We’ve cut some things here and there, true, but most of them are behind-the-scenes things you’d never see, or things we still intend to do after we launch (such as my supercool Officers system – sob!!). What’s exhilarating is that we have a specific date that we’re confident in. To give you an idea of where this confidence comes from, half of every milestone is reserved for bug fixing and general polish, so we’re not exactly cramming in features to the last second. Also, we’ve had very good feedback from beta, and while we’ve got a lot of improvements planned, we know we’re on a good course.

There’s a lot of excitement going around about The Fallen Dynasty and Update #24, with both coming out next week.

The past couple of weeks of the adventure pack's open beta on Test Server have really been fantastic. To those of you who make your home on our Test Server, as well as those who’ve taken their valuable time away from your normal play servers, we thank you all.

The stories that begin with The Fallen Dynasty set the stage for a series of exciting in-game live events you’ll be seeing over the summer, and those stories continue through Echoes of Faydwer this winter.

We are proud to offer the first official MMO podcast to our communities, and hope you all enjoy the first installment of our podcast series. In our first installment Community Managers, Christina "Kytherea" Delzer and Ryan "Blackguard" Shwayder talk about what's new with EverQuest and EverQuest II while Associate Producer, Leah Ruben, discusses recent happenings in EverQuest Online Adventures.

With the launch of the Twilight Forge Module, we will be introducing a new system through which players gain favor with different groups by completing specific adventures. Favor allows you access to special items and rewards; the higher your favor, the greater the rewards. This will be a dynamic system – as DUNGEONS & DRAGONS ONLINE™: Stormreach™ grows, the Patron system will grow, offering the chance for new and better rewards as well as greater ties and involvement within the various patron groups.