MMO Roundup: Last week on Massively

LotRO: Siege of Mirkwood developer tour
If you've been faithfully following along with the Lord of the Rings Online: Siege of Mirkwood beta, you may be excited by what you've heard -- or even seen yourself -- so far. The new expansion, which is set to launch on December 1st of this year (December 3rd for EU), centers around the forest of Mirkwood, just to the east of Lothlorien.

GameX 2009: Massively.com talks with The Guild
GameX 2009 was insane this weekend and we were all over the place, but one of the first groups that we set a chunk of time aside for was Jeff Lewis (Vork), Sandeep Parikh (Zaboo), and Robin Thorsen (Clara) from The Guild. We weren't missing out on catching up with those three.

A look back at Aion's first month and impressions
43,829 minutes. That's roughly how long Aion's been out in the West. Depending on your tolerance for grinding, it may or may not have felt like that amount of time passed. There's no doubt it's been a busy month full of ups and downs, so we'd like to take an extensive look back at the last 30-days and give our impressions on the game.

Star Trek Online closed beta has begun
The Star Trek Online closed beta has officially begun as of today, October 22, Cryptic Studios announced. Rekhan from Cryptic Studios writes: "If you've signed up, keep an eye on your email, as we'll periodically be inviting people to join in and share their feedback." He also pointed out that the "Closed Beta" graphic seen on the game's homepage will change to read "ACCEPTED" in big, bold letters once you're in.

Players to get hands-on time with Star Trek Online at Eurogamer Expo
Some people have already gotten into the closed beta for Star Trek Online, but for the rest of us it's going to be a waiting game. There may be good news for some of our UK-based readers, though. Those in attendance at this week's Eurogamer Expo will get to experience both ship-based action and ground combat firsthand in a Star Trek Online demo Cryptic Studios has set up. According to Eurogamer, Cryptic will allow Expo attendees to fight a fleet of Klingons and follow that up with an away mission on a planet's surface, where they will encounter the "Guardian of Forever."

Warhammer Online interview about 1.3.2
It can be safely said that every Warhammer Online player was absolutely in love with the changes made in patch 1.3.2, for a given value of "every Warhammer Online player" or a very interesting definition of "absolutely in love." Okay, the patch might not have actually been as well-received as all that. There was some controversy, more so than the usual patch day wailing and gnashing of teeth.

MMO Family: The family that groups together
Now that we've established why and how to stay plugged into your children's gaming interests, some general internet safety rules for kids and a variety of ways to choose games that are suitable for your family, you're probably ready to log in and get some XP. But if it's the whole family we're trying to consider here, we're not quite buffed and ready to pull. Gaming for kids and gaming with kids are two different things. Have you considered the benefits of fitting both into your gaming family?

Ragnar Tørnquist on what sets The Secret World apart
One of the games we've seen a lot of reader interest in at Massively is The Secret World, in development at Funcom. One of the key people behind the upcoming horror MMO is Ragnar Tørnquist, Producer and Director of The Secret World. Tørnquist recently sat down for an interview with Vladimir "Evoker" Georgiev from UGDB.com to discuss what will set The Secret World apart from other MMOs we've played.

Why You Should Be Playing Aion: Chain combat
I didn't give Aion the world's most glowing set of remarks last time I visited it, so I thought I should at least stop by and spend some time on a part of the game that I do actually like -- chain attacks. Chain attacks do many things to help Aion's combat move smoothly and efficiently. They clean up the UI, they offer flexible choices, they keep the combat looking fluid, and they're a lot of fun to pull off.