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Sony's created an official PSone theme for your PlayStation 4
To celebrate 20 years of PlayStation, Sony unveiled a new retro-styled PS4 that just oozes nineties nostalgia. But what about the millions of us who already own a PlayStation 4? Don't worry, Sony has you covered too. If you head on over to the PlayStation Store, there's a new Anniversary theme that mimics the look and the startup sound of the PSone. The free pack is actually available for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3 and PS Vita and has just begun rolling out in Europe. Download, listen (there are a couple of other easter eggs) and enjoy.
Celebrate Naughty Dog's 30th birthday with a Precursor Orb
You might not have properly appreciated Precursor Orbs when you were gathering hundreds of them throughout the Jak & Daxter series (or their Strange Relic counterpart in the Uncharted series), but Naughty Dog's online store can help fix that. In celebration of the studio's 30th anniversary, 1,000 polystone replicas of the Precursor Orb are now available for pre-sale. The $120 replicas are approximately 10" tall by 5" wide and feature an Orb atop a base modeled after stone. While the base's front features the Jak and Daxter logo and a 30th anniversary Naughty Dog emblem, it can be turned for a more simplistic appearance. The full total for a replica will be charged once an order is placed, but refunds will be available with cancellations prior to the ship date, which is currently estimated as March 2015. Considering their digital exchange rate in the Jak & Daxter series, we wonder how many secrets can be unlocked with a real-world, physical Orb ... [Image: Naughty Dog]
Breakfast Topic: Happy birthday, WoW!
Admittedly, we're sending World of Warcraft its birthday wishes a little early -- the game officially launched on November 23rd, 2004 -- but since the 10th anniversary event kicks off today, it seems fair. Ten years is a good long run for any game, but Blizzard certainly isn't calling it quits yet. Since we're celebrating it seems like a great time to look back on our time in WoW, so today let's talk about our favorite WoW memories. How long have you been playing? What's your first memory of World of Warcraft? And will you be joining in the anniversary events to celebrate the nostalgia?
PlanetSide 2 turns two, celebrates with double XP
PlanetSide 2 turns two years old today, and if that doesn't make you feel old, well, it should! There's a dev-driven anniversary livestream going on right now, and SOE has also turned on double XP through Sunday, November 23rd. [Source: SOE press release]
World of Warplanes celebrates a birthday
One year ago this week, Wargaming launched World of Warplanes. Now, the company is celebrating the game's first anniversary by giving you a free premium plane, special anniversary missions, and discounted premium bundles that include all manner of digital goodies.
Killzone turns ten, deploys DLC gifts for Shadow Fall
Guerrilla Games is giving away a collection of Killzone: Shadow Fall DLC to commemorate the tenth anniversary of its multiple console generation-spanning Killzone franchise. Classic Killzone 2 multiplayer map "Radec Academy" returns in Killzone: Shadow Fall as a free download this week, supporting both competitive and cooperative matches. A second co-op map, "The Weapons Facility," is also available for free today. This week additionally marks the launch of Shadow Fall's 10th Anniversary Expansion Pack, which bundles new voice modules, character skins, icons, and crosshair customization options. The 10th Anniversary Expansion Pack is available as a free download for Shadow Fall Season Pass buyers, and is priced separately at $9.99. [Video: Guerrilla]
Final Fantasy XI looks forward to its November update next Monday
Final Fantasy XI is sounding the Mog alarm to let players know that on Monday, November 10th, it will be rolling out the next major update for the game. The November update contains the new Unity Concord system, challenging wanted battles, weapon skill adjustments, and additional pets for the Beastmaster. That patch will land the day before its 11/11 anniversary event titled Sunshine Seeker that's running in conjunction with the ongoing login campaign. You can get an animated and musical overview of the November update in a video after the break!
Ultima Online dares you to seek the Treasures of Doom
Ultima Online's publish 87 arrives on all shards today, bringing with it Halloween gifts as well as a fresh round of 17th anniversary gifts meant as an apology for their tardiness. The patch introduces a new Halloween event, Treasures of Doom, which funnels players into the dungeon Doom. Artifacts collected inside the dungeon can be traded to new NPC researchers stationed outside in return for brand-new titles and loot items, including named lanterns, unique slayer bonus buffs, and several pieces of high-end gear. The update also installs bug fixes for the vice vs. virtue PvP system, trade quests, and enhanced client. The game's standard trick-or-treating events run until November 19th, while the Treasures of Doom promotion continues until December 1st and won't resume again until Halloween next year.
Arcane Legends infographic reveals 15 million installs
Arcane Legends has recently released on Amazon's appstore, and to celebrate this milestone Spacetime Studios created an infographic of all of the other milestones that the game has hit over the past two years. Prepare yourself, for big numbers are coming your way: Arcane Legends has clocked 15 million installs, 365 million play sessions, 140 million play hours, and over 7.5 billion creatures slain. But if you need spiffy graphics and real-world comparisons, you'll be best served by checking out the lengthy infographic after the break. [Source: Spacetime Studios press release]
Dark Age of Camelot grants accounts free playtime for its birthday
Like its sibling Ultima Online, Dark Age of Camelot is currently welcoming old players back with free account time just in time for its October anniversary. Unlike UO, though, DAOC's Come Back to Camelot promotion extends to the most ancient of accounts and runs for two weeks only: All accounts that were inactive on or before September 24th, 2014 are eligible for 13 free days! Simply login to the account center, re-subscribe, and the 13 free days will be applied to your account automatically! This campaign will run until October 31st. Broadsword Online also touted a hot fix that permits a dozen previously unrollable race/class pairings. If you've ever wanted a Troll Warlock or Sylvan Champion, now is the time.
Return to Britannia campaign starts tomorrow in Ultima Online [Updated]
For the entire month of October, Ultima Online will be running another Return to Britannia campaign in the hopes of luring both the old guard and the new generation for the game's 17th anniversary. From October 1st through the 30th, former players will be able to return to the game for free, mirroring previous Return to Britannia events. There's a lot to celebrate in UO these days above and beyond its birthday. The game recently implemented its Publish 86 with the vice vs. virtue system, added more sea adventures, and is working on a new UI for the enhanced client. You can check out video of the 17th anniversary festivities after the break. [Update: Players are reporting that the Return to Britannia campaign is not resurrecting very old accounts.]
Dark Age of Camelot builds statues of King's Tournament champions
Have you ever fancied the notion of having a giant in-game statue erected in your honor? This egotistical dream may come true for you in Dark Age of Camelot... if you are one of the winners of the October's King's Tournament. This brand-new event in DAoC kicks off tomorrow to commemorate the game's 13th anniversary. Each of the three realms will be tracking RvR stats for everyone in the game, and at the end of the month the top two players from each realm will be crowned champion. These six winners will have a statue of their character constructed in their realm's capital city. To track the progress of the tournament, players can check out an in-game leaderboard which will be updated on an hourly basis.
Dark Age of Camelot passes the torch to a new producer
It's a season of change over at Dark Age of Camelot, as the team is transitioning from former producer Talal Saad to the new one, John Thornhill. Saad said that he's not leaving the studio, but moving into a role that oversees more than just one game. "Rather than serving at the helm of one particular game, my responsibility will be to act as advocate and to use my time and energy to focus on how Broadsword can have a bigger impact, provide more investment, and achieve greater success for multiple products," he wrote. Thornhill introduced himself as the former lead designer for DAoC and outlined what the team would be focusing on for the future. He said that there are plans for the game's 13th anniversary (including new race and class pairings), the release of patch 1.116 around the end of November, the increase to champion level 15, an addition of a casual group finder, and more interaction with the community. "Our focus is going to be updating and modernizing the user experience of Dark Age of Camelot for the foreseeable future," Thornhill promised.
Richard Garriott becomes Lord British again for Ultima Online's 17th anniversary
On September 24th, 1997, Ultima Online opened its doors, forever changing the MMORPG landscape. That was 17 years ago today, and that means it's time for cake and ice cream! Just make sure to check that cake for deadly poison. Poisoning cake and giving it to unsuspecting passers-by is actually a thing you can do in this crazy sandbox. Wanna celebrate? UO Stratics reports that the Broadsword team is hosting an in-game party tomorrow evening with some notables from UO's history in attendance. Join me for a live, in-game event on TC1 September 25th 2014 at 7pm ET! Meet Richard "Lord British" Garriot and Starr "King Blackthorn" Long at Castle Blackthorn to celebrate Ultima Online's 17th Anniversary! The anniversary parties are always a blast (Thanks to the Dark Lady). This year will be very special as both Lord British and King Blackthorn will join us. If you can't attend, it will be shown on youtube . It will also be streamed live on http://www.twitch.tv/stratics. A post on the official site also welcomes the new patch we covered last week and a new player Advisor program similar to the old Counselor program made famous in the game's early days.
Dragon's Prophet kicks off anniversary events in Europe
Those of you who remember the distant and far-off past of 2013 may recall that Dragon's Prophet launched last year. Those of you still playing the game a year later are probably very aware of that anniversary. The game launched on September 18th in Europe and September 23rd in the US, so there's still a day until the anniversary hits on these shores. But the anniversary celebrations have already begun on the European servers, possibly offering a taste of what US players can look forward to shortly. You can see a new video celebrating the game just past the break, and there are two major events running as part of the anniversary. Players can take part in the Creation Night event, which includes a variety of rewards as well as a chance at taming the Illusion Night dragon. Meanwhile, the monsters in Wynnadia and Porthis have taken to celebrating themselves, and they've gotten bigger and meaner than usual. It's unclear yet whether US players will be getting the exact same celebration events, but EU players still have time to jump in on the festivities.
Elite: Dangerous beta 2 coming September 30
Those cockpits weren't meant to look fresh off the factory floor forever; it's time to take Elite: Dangerous' ships out for another tour of duty. Frontier announced that beta 2 for Elite: Dangerous will begin on September 30th. This round of testing is being promoted as a great improvement on the last, with combat ratings, reputations, 500 new star systems, and the Lakon Asp Explorer ship added to the mix. The team is still on track for a late 2014 release for the space sim, but in the meanwhile Frontier is giving away free copies of the original Elite as part of the franchise's 30th anniversary celebration. [Source: Frontier press release]
Aion's 5th anniversary video thanks players, teases upcoming zones
While Aion's fifth anniversary celebration kicked off early with social media events, Daeva's Day -- with all its gifts and goodies -- is just getting started today. And Associate Product Manager Sean Orlikowski has shared with us a special video commemorating the occasion that highlights a bit of the journey through Atreia over the past years and thanks players for joining it. But this clip does more than just take viewers on a jaunt down memory lane; it also jumps ahead to the future! The second half sweeps through the new zones coming in the next update, showing off the places players will soon be able to visit. Go ahead and take a moment to reminisce a bit about what has been and sneak a peek at what's to come in the video below.
Blizzard releases World of Warcraft's 10th Anniversary details
So, today the folks at Blizzard posted more details about the upcoming 10th Anniversary of World of Warcraft, featuring the Tarren Mill/Southshore deathmatch BG and the revamped level 100 40 player LFR version of Molten Core. One thing we now know for sure is that Molten Core will become accessible on November 21 (a week after the launch of Warlords itself) and last until January 6th, 2015. This gives you a little more than a month to get to level 100 and run the revamped Molten Core. It's a little worrying to me that you'll have to hit 100 and run this content (remember, it's a 40 person LFR) during the holiday season, but that's what we are currently being told. Also, thanks to the folks at Wowhead we also know that there are four helmets you can get when you defeat Ragnaros - an updated Crown of Destruction and plate, leather and cloth versions. In addition, Ragnaros drops the Core Hound Chain as well. The new battleground will have a 90-99 and 100 version, and winning either version of the Southshore/Tarren Mill battleground will reward you with the Tarren Mill Terror title for Alliance players and the Southshore Slayer title for the Horde. Rated PvP play will begin on December 2nd, and the first raids will begin opening at that time with Raid Finder and Mythic difficulty opening the next week. A full schedule for the raid releases is incoming. So that's how things stand so far. Looks like you'll want to get to 100 as quickly as possible if you're looking forward to that Molten Core LFR or the Southshore/Tarren Mill deathmatch.
Wings Over Atreia: The spoils of Aion's fifth anniversary
Another year has flown by! Aion is turning five years old, and that means it's time for Daevas to enjoy cake and presents during the nearly month-long birthday bash. What goodies are in store during this year's North American festivities? Associate Product Manager Sean Orlikowski has shared with us the schedule of events that span from today until October 8th; it includes contests, buffs, double drop rates, and a special anniversary-day GM hosted event. There's also a special new Daevonian armor set for only 1 NCoin (which is practically free) that even new players can use.
Perfect World International boasts 2M active accounts, gives gift pack for anniversary
Perfect World International turns six years old this month, and even if you haven't given it a second thought, apparently the fantasy MMO is quite popular worldwide. PWE released an infographic that stated, among other tidbits, that the game currently enjoys over two million active accounts. Other interesting statistics from the infographic include a population of 51% female players and 39,787 in-game marriages performed. We've got the infographic for you after the break with a code that's good for a Jade Gift Pack in-game. [Source: Perfect World press release]
