MMO Roundup: Last week on Massively

All Points Bulletin closed beta has begun
Urban crime (game) enthusiasts, rejoice! The All Points Bulletin closed beta has begun, according to reports at both Eurogamer and Kotaku. It was rumored that the beta would begin this month and it seems there are presently three windows of gameplay a week in the All Points Bulletin CBT -- Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday evenings, says Eurogamer's Oli Welsh. Those interested in ripping up the streets as either a Criminal or an Enforcer can still apply to become an All Points Bulletin beta tester at the game's official site.

Fallen Earth fan: "Don't play Fallen Earth"
You should most definitely not be playing Fallen Earth. How can you tell? Why, because Bio Break recently posted a long article explaining exactly why you shouldn't be playing it. And this isn't coming from a fan who's just disgruntled about a certain update or class rebalancing (though the latter would be pretty funny) -- it's from one of the game's most adamant fans who has no shortage of good things to say about the game. So why would he tell you not to play the game?

We're missing something in our MMOs
Game design has certainly come a long way from Ultima Online, the first real example of what we now think of as the MMO genre. We've gone from games with no restrictions on behaviors to games where it's almost impossible to be truly horrid to other people, from ones without any real structure to a clean path of progression, from obtuse game mechanics to transparent and clear information.

Stargate Worlds site returns, but funding still tight
Over the weekend the Stargate Worlds site had planned a bit of maintenance which took their site offline on the 9th. From what we know now, the plan was that they would be migrating servers since they've been experiencing problems with their hosting. Many expected the site to be back up within a day or so - a normal time-frame for a DNS change and many cases of forum maintenance.

DDO cracks open The Necropolis and offers deals
Dungeons and Dragons Online has been gaining more and more players since opening themselves up to a F2P model. With some very interesting and varied mechanics, we couldn't be happier to see people embracing it. As is usual, the team at Turbine are running a series of special offers including 25% off on Favored Souls and Monks, 25% off of runes and more. But what's really exciting to us are these new screenshots from The Necropolis adventure pack.

Gazillion layoffs hit Romeros Slipgate Ironworks
Whatever Gazillion Entertainment's secret mastermind plot is, their next step has been to create an unfortunate situation for a suspected 50 now ex-employees at Slipgate Ironworks. The reasoning? According to Gazillion, "As part of our focus on reaching the widest possible audiences with breakthrough MMO entertainment, we decided to change the format of our project at Slipgate Ironworks to better achieve this aim," So, whatever unannounced MMO the team was working on is now canned, it would seem.

Klingons make their first Star Trek Online video appearance
Just when you thought you'd seen enough Star Trek Online space combat videos to keep you satisfied for a day or two, Cryptic Studios whips out a Klingon focused trailer that's sure to get your Pepto Bismol colored blood beating through those hardened, warrior-like veins.

Switch to free-to-play working very well for DDO
Turbine's MMO Dungeons and Dragons Online has been around since 2006, but recently enjoyed a sudden huge spike in players. Thousands more people are playing, including our own Shawn at our readers behest. This skyrocketing popularity probably isn't a mystery or a surprise to you -- Dungeons and Dragons Online announced back in June that they were going free-to-play, and the response seemed to be overwhelmingly positive.

Anti-Aliased: The mailbag edition
Well hello there intrepid Massively readers! This week, instead of my usual selection of complaints crammed into the tight space of a single column, I've decided to do something different. This Monday, I opened up a call for questions on anything MMO related on the Massively Facebook fan page, the Massively Twitter, and my own personal Twitter. You guys didn't disappoint, and you certainly sent me more than a few intriguing e-mails.

Codemasters gives planned EU launch date for Siege of Mirkwood
European Lord of the Rings Online fans are anxious to get their hands on Siege of Mirkwood, especially after Codemasters told them about the great pre-order deals being offered. Players who purchase the expansion will receive the Harbinger's Cloak, and players purchasing the expansion and the Adventurer's Pack add-on will receive the cloak and an extra mount. So they've heard the story of Mirkwood, seen the screenshots, watched the trailer, been offered some extra items with their purchase and are just left with the big question: when?