MMO Roundup: Derek Smart, the art of Guild Wars 2, and more

How online gaming can change the world
Jane McGonigal (a 10-year game designer of projects such as the I Love Bees ARG for Halo 2) has a self-professed "crazy idea" -- that gamers have the potential to change the world for the better by doing what they're already doing. At her speech, people chuckle when she first says this, but twenty minutes later they're giving her a standing ovation.

Video footage of CCP's realistic cloth simulation
We've known for some time that CCP planned to use physics simulation to make the clothes in EVE Online's Incarna expansion and their upcoming World of Darkness MMO more realistic. They even gave a talk on using NVidia's APEX cloth simulation at the 2010 Game Developer's Conference. Until now, all we've seen are technical details and the occasional screenshot, which makes it hard to work out how the end product will look. Now? Now we have video.

BioWare and EA expect at least 2 million subscriptions for SW:TOR
As if the idea of 100% voiced dialogue trees wasn't ambitious enough in an MMO property, word has now come out that EA and BioWare are expecting to have two million subscriptions for Star Wars: The Old Republic. In a genre where only one game has ever exceeded two million subscribers at $15 per month, that's a very high standard to put yourself up against.

Second Guild Wars 2 concept art slideshow released
When the first slideshow video of Guild Wars 2 concept art was released, fans immediately saw the "Part 1" in the title and were thrilled to know that more was on the way. That "more" arrived Friday afternoon in the form of Part 2, a video that seemed to drop some very broad hints via current game load screens (such as one from Elona), Dhuum concept art, and an image of the Grenth costume recently made available to players.

A look into Age of Conan's Rise of the Godslayer expansion
We jumped at the chance to sit down and talk with Funcom's Craig Morrison at this year's Game Developer's Conference. Morrison, executive producer and game director for the Norwegian game maker's Age of Conan MMORPG, gave a presentation on the forthcoming Rise of the Godslayer expansion and then took a few of our questions about the additions in store for the sword and sorcery title.

Massively interviews Alganon's Derek Smart
Amidst the recent flurry of GDC announcements, it's possible for people to miss what's been coming out of some of the smaller studios. That being said, almost everyone with some game industry knowledge took notice when it was formally announced that Derek Smart would be taking charge of Alganon. It helped that Mr. Smart, well-known for his vocal nature and not shying from controversy, almost immediately took the opportunity to set the record straight regarding the management change.

A first glimpse at The Secret World
The Secret World, Funcom's upcoming MMO, has done a pretty good job living up to its name. Little bits of information here, little bits there, and that's about it. Luckily Massively was able to take a look at the game personally with a demo at GDC10. Check out the supernatural goodness!