MMORPG.com is pleased to announce the winner of the 2008 Reader's Choice Award for Biggest News Story of 2008.

In the voting for Biggest News Story, 2202 votes were cast. The editorial nominees were: Tabula Rasa's Closure, Activision / Blizzard Merger, Age of Conan Directorial Change, Bioware Announces The Old Republic, Star Trek Online Re-Announcement, and WAR Ditches Cities and Careers.

With 46.8% of the vote, the winner of the Biggest News Story of 2008 was Bioware's Announcement that their secret MMO project was indeed the rumored MMORPG incarnation of the Knights of the Old Republic frnachise, titled Star Wars:The Old Republic.

Read the Biggest News Story of 2008: Winner

CCP has announced that the record for Peak Concurrent Users in EVE Online has been broken. The new record stands at 45,186 players.

What a great way to start out 2009--a new PCU (Peak Concurrent User) record of 45,186! While we've made tremendous serverside changes in the EVE Online infrastructure with the EVE64 and StacklessIO initiatives, it is truly a testament to our loyal fans that 5 years into EVE's existence we are still breaking records and more people are flying in New Eden than ever before.

We know we'll be trying to find leftover champagne from New Year's EVE to celebrate. When we do, we'll toast to you!

Read more here.

The folks at Pirates of the Burning Sea have announced that they are holding a screenshot contest, where players have the chance to win game time and forum tittles.

To celebrate the release of our Avatar Combat revision in 1.11: The Clash of Steel, we are giving you the chance to share your best screenshots with the community and have the chance to win some prizes at the same time!

We will be selecting a winner two runners up every Friday throughout January. Winners will receive a special forum title and 3 months of free game time. The two runners up will each receive a Pirates of the Burning Sea t-shirt. All winning screenshots will also be added to our official screenshot gallery and be added to the queue of screenshots displayed on our front page!

Read more here.

TQ Games has posted information about their new VIP service in Conquer Online, which allows players a number of benefits, including remote access to warehouses, server login priority and more.

Conquer's realm is enormous. You can travel through many varied lands, like plains, islands and deserts. However, this geographical mass could become the barrier for players to access those scattered warehouses. One has to spend time and money travelling between different warehouses and artisans.

Now you never need be troubled again! The only thing you need to do is to join Conquer Online VIP Service. If you credit TQ Point Cards >=150 USD from Jan. 1st, 2008, then you are eligible to the VIP service. By Binding Accounts to the VIP service, players can gain some elite privileges. These VIP features provide VIP players with more convenience than others. But for non-paying players, don't be discouraged - we will maintain the essential gameplay balance in Conquer Online.

Recommended Privileges:

1. Remotely open the warehouses around the world of Conquer Online.
2. Remotely repair or compose the equipment even when stuck in the deepest dungeon.
3. One more time Demon Exterminators Quest each day.
4. 50% off for the PK-killed EXP loss.
5. Server login priority

Read more here.

IGG has posted an overview of the guild system in Angels Online.

The guild system in Angels Online (http://ao.igg.com/main.php) is closely linked with in-game PVP battles. Only players in a guild are qualified to occupy a totem. Powerful guilds have more chances to grab the best territory, so guild improvement should always be a top priority for successful PVP. Today, the Angels Online team from IGG (http://www.igg.com) is happy to briefly introduce their guild system for all players.

There are four ranks for guilds in Angels Online. The higher the rank of the guild, the more guild members it can hold. The guild system plays a very important role in Totem Battles, which is basically a competition among guilds. Players can donate certain materials to enhance their guild’s reputation. When their guilds rank is enhanced, the guild can then recruit more guild members. What’s more, the Guild Coffer will be available to all guild members to assist with guild members needs. Only with more guild members and reasonable cooperation among different classes can a guild win the Totem Battle.

Players whose guild possesses a territory can claim an Angel’s Gift Box from the appointed NPC every day. Meanwhile, they can enhance their totem so that they have an even better chance to win battles. Players can enhance their guild’s reputation while they are building defense towers for their totem.

Pay attention! Production players become very important in the process of increasing the guild’s reputation because they can collect the materials which are necessary to level the guild up. The guild’s reputation can be enhanced quickly if there are many players who possess high-level collection skills in the guild. Apart from production players, fighting players and magic players are the main forces in the PVP battles because of their high damage output.

When players’ Angel Credit reaches level 3, players can go find the appointed NPC in the main cities and create a guild by paying a certain amount of in-game money.

Read more here.

Outspark has announced that they are looking for players to help test their new MMORPG tittle, Wind Slayer.

San Francisco – January 5, 2009 – Outspark, a leading entertainment services company that publishes and operates massively multiplayer online games, announced today the closed beta test for its newest game, Wind Slayer. Between January 7th and 14th, players will have a chance to embark on a hero’s journey through hundreds of quests and intense battles to earn experience, treasure and prestige. Outspark encourages gamers of all ages to sign up for a free account and register for the closed beta now at www.playwindslayer.com.

The testing period offers participants the elite opportunity to be one of the first to experience Wind Slayer in its entirety. Participants will also provide Outspark with valuable feedback that will be used to further refine the game before its wider release later this year.

“Outspark offers rides for every type of thrill seeker coming to play in our virtual playground,” stated Susan Choe, CEO and founder of Outspark. “Wind Slayer’s character customization and multiplayer options combined with its side scrolling style and simple controls make the game a perfect fit for all gamers wanting to enjoy a fun-filled crusade with friends they meet in the Outspark community.”

Set on the beautiful continent of Beuritania, Wind Slayer invites adventurers to travel a diverse land filled with everything from beautiful, grass covered meadows and mountaintops to curious villages, dark caves and even an underwater city. Along the way players gain skills, weapons and experience as their characters grow stronger and choose one of the game’s six exciting classes – Warrior, Archer, Mage, Rogue, Monk and Priest.

Additional Wind Slayer Features Include:

* Hundreds of in-game items to customize your character
* Powerful skills and deadly combos to battle foes
* Hundreds of engaging in-game quests
* Intense multiplayer battles with up to 20 simultaneous players
* Beautiful fantasy worlds and captivating visual effects
* Engaging community features including chat, trade, guilds and more

Read more here.

Bioware has posted a new article which looks into the artistic style of Star Wars: The Old Republic, which they describe as “stylized realism”.

Art style is often considered one of the most important aspects of a gameplay experience. Done well, it tells a story all by itself, and evokes the mood that immerses you into the character and the environment. Since the announcement of Star Wars: The Old Republic, there has been a great deal of interest regarding the game’s visual style. We’d like to share some more behind-the-scenes information with you and show how our Art Team came to develop what we have come to call “stylized realism”.

The overarching goal of the art for Star Wars: The Old Republic is to bring concept art paintings to life in 3D. This goal has led the artists to forego the use of photographs for surface textures in favor of hand-painting every asset. The concept art also drove the game art to match its heroic and idealized proportions of the characters and environments. Part of remaining true to the classic big screen vision of Star Wars™ is not only to look like it, but also to ensure that the art feels like it on the small screen. There is a fine line to follow in being true to the realistic expec