As EVE Online’s Galatea release goes live, New Eden is still reeling from one of the most dramatic events in its rich history.

Just last week the leader of the Amarr Empire, the controversial Empress Jamyl Sarum I, was confirmed assassinated at the hands of the mysterious Drifters following several major standoffs between the Amarr Navy and the powerful wormhole-dwelling forces.

Players have since held their own vigils and said their remembrances. While the mourning period will last longer, there has been much discussion amongst capsuleers of the newly announced Succession Trials.

Set for a grand finale at EVE Fanfest 2016, the Amarr Championships are part of the Succession Trials. The series of battles will feature players fighting on behalf of the heirs of the royal Amarrian houses to pick the next ruler of the largest of EVE’s major empires.

However, while anticipation may grow for that event, the Drifter threat is not over and only seems to be intensifying, as their forces have begun all-out war with the Amarrian Navy in a new feature in the Galatea release—Defense of the Throne Worlds.

Galatea isn’t solely focused on the happenings in Amarr space, and offers several other big improvements for EVE players.

• The EVE team remains committed to evolving the Sovereignty system introduced in the Aegis release. Changes include reducing the base capture time of Command nodes, giving defenders 60% control at the beginning of a capture event, reducing the cap on total nodes and the spawn rate of new ones, and replacing the Entosis Link mass penalty with a 4000 m/s speed limit when fitted.
• Updated animations and effects for many combat and support modules, including the devastating Doomsday weapons
• The first Designer SKINs have come to New Eden with the blood red “Raata Sunset” line for Caldari ships. More bold new styles will be coming in the following weeks and months.
• A more satisfying killshot: the camera will now linger over the ship you just reduced to scrap so you can enjoy your victory just that much more
• The iconic workhorse of the Gallente Federation, the Dominix, went back to the shipyards for a redesign which evolves its original utilitarian design into a truly inspiring battleship

Full patch notes, which cover dozens more improvements, can be found here.

Jagex Games Studio have announced that ‘The Abusement Park’ team secured a mighty victory in their inaugural Old School RuneScape Tournament. The event, which took place on the 15th/16th August, saw eight teams battle it out for a share of a $10,000 prize pool. Originally scheduled to take part at the start of the month, that first attempt was halted early on due to a significant cyberattack that prevented it from being livestreamed.

More than 240,000 unique viewers watched the tournament on RuneScape’s Twitch channel, with peak concurrencies in excess of 13,000 – more than double the usual figures recorded by typical Old School RuneScape livestreams! While the teams fought across a number of maps in game, a team of RuneScape experts commentated at a top secret bunker and watched the ebb and flow of battle, away from further threats of a cyberattack. The tournament was featured on Twitch’s homepage and ensured RuneScape maintained a top eight position on the platform’s most streamed list of games over the weekend.

‘The Abusement Park’ ultimately walked away victors and secured a $5,000 prize; ‘Fatality’ took the runners-up prize of $3,000; and ‘Flippergang’ secured the third-place prize of $2,000.

Webzen have announced that the mmorpg “ASTA”, developed by Polygon Games, will be available on Webzen.com later this year. Webzen recently signed their latest partnership with developer Polygon Games in order to bring the Asian fantasy mmorpg ASTA to Western players through their global gaming portal.

ASTA – The War of Tears and Winds is a lively MMORPG featuring a rich world inspired by Asian culture, and offers a unique element of Asian fantasy along with vibrantly coloured graphics. ASTA will offer players a variety of options for races, classes and characters, along with classic MMO features like PVP battlegrounds and guild battles, a broad crafting system, scenarios and quests with rich lore, a player-driven economy and rewarding dungeons.

In line with the ‘Asian Fantasy’ theme, ASTA also features a moving soundtrack. This will incorporate a harmony of Eastern and Western instruments, composed by ‘Yang Bang-ean’, a world-famous composer responsible for the soundtrack of the game ‘Aion’.

Richard Sunmyoung Moon, Head of Global Business at Webzen, states: “We are very pleased to bring this new game to MMO enthusiasts in the West through our WEBZEN.com portal. Having years of service experience with free-to-play MMO games, we will work along with the developer to continuously localise and develop the game for the Western market. We will announce a schedule for the title soon, and reveal more details regarding the lore and the game systems, as well as some truly stunning in-game assets.”

More information on ASTA will be announced on the official Webzen website.

WEBZEN have announced that the Age of Wulin will release a new expansion on 25th August, named “Chapter 7: Awakening”.

Among the features of Chapter 7: Awakening are the coveted 5th Internal Skills, a level cap increase for combat and internal skills, and new special instances to tackle.

The ancient capital of Luoyang will be the stage of dramatic events, with a mysterious plague threatening to wipe out the population. It will be up to the adventurers to coordinate themselves and accomplish important missions to save the city and its inhabitants, while uncovering the truth behind these troubles. Players will be rewarded for their efforts while unlocking access to the 5th internal skills and the new challenging zones: Jinling Incident and Qiandeng Crisis. These two zones will require players to thwart plans against the Emperor and other Great Xias. These missions will offer precious items, helping characters to reach the 5th internal skills.

Along with the release of the 5th internal skills for existing Sects, Jianghu Factions will benefit from a boost to their own internal skills.

More information about “Chapter 7: Awakening” will be revealed on the Age of Wulin website.

Jagex Games Studio creators and custodians of the fantasy MMORPG, RuneScape have announced that tickets for this year’s RuneFest fan convention have now sold out! Tickets for the event, which takes place on Saturday 3rd October at Tobacco Dock in London, were released just four weeks ago and have been snapped up by RuneScape players from countries across the world. In 2014, the same number of tickets were sold in six weeks.

Approximately 50 percent of tickets were purchased using RuneScape Bonds, rather than real-world currency, compared to 40 percent in 2014. Which if you ask me, is really, really cool.

As with last year’s event, players who have been unable to secure their tickets in time will be able to watch the proceedings live via RuneScape’s Twitch page. RuneFest 2015 is shaping up to be another exceptional showcase. This autumn’s event will be an Invention-themed steampunk spectacular with undertones of vampyric darkness, and will include exclusive reveals, Q&A panels, the legendary ‘Golden Gnome’ awards that celebrates fan-made videos about RuneScape, and other celebrations of all things RuneScape.

Up-to-date information about RuneFest 2015 can be found on the official web page.

Today, NCSOFT and Carbine Studios announced WildStar’s closed beta launch. Players granted access to the closed beta will be able to experience all of the new and improved features available in the action MMO’s biggest content update yet. See the all-new teaser video below.

“We can’t wait to have players get into beta and check out all the new content”, said Mike Donatelli, product director, Carbine Studios. “Inviting players to test all these systems is key to our success. We’re looking to them to provide critical feedback that will enable us to launch free-to-play this fall”.

The WildStar closed beta is accessible to all current subscribers to WildStar as well as non-subscribers who have received a closed beta key. Anyone can sign up for a closed beta key by visiting the WildStar site and clicking the “Sign Up For Beta” button.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTksRlLzHp0

Some of the new content and features coming in the free-to-play transition includes:

The Alpha Sanctum – A new instance that brings players into WildStar’s world storyline much earlier in the game than ever before. Featuring creative gameplay, a unique environment, and a compelling narrative, the Alpha Sanctum introduces players to the mysteries of Nexus in an unforgettable way.

Madame Fay’s Fortunes – Discover all-new treasures with Madame Fay’s Fortunes, an exciting, randomized reward system that can turn a tiny investment into big, big shinies with the help of everyone’s favorite Lopp fortune-teller, Madame Fay.

New Player Experience – A revamped Arkship and arrival sequence welcomes newcomers to WildStar and offers everyone the option of choosing where to start their Nexus adventure based on their level of MMO experience. Character creation has also been overhauled, giving players a better understanding of the choices they’re making and the customization options available.

Loyalty Program – Any player who has ever invested money in WildStar by subscribing to the game, redeeming C.R.E.D.D., or purchasing MTX items will now earn points in the game’s Loyalty Program. These reward points, which are also earned retroactively, give players access to additional gear, items, pets, mounts and more.

Quality-of-Life – A multitude of quality-of-life improvements have been added, including a revamped sprint function, navpoints to help players keep track of their next objective, daily player login rewards, and much more.

Obsidian Entertainment and Paradox Interactive have announced that “The White March – Part I,” the first expansion to Pillars of Eternity, will be released on August 25, 2015. “The White March – Part I,” revealed during E3 2015, adds a tremendous amount of new content to the Pillars of Eternity universe, and can be played alongside the original game whether players have completed the core game or not. The expansion offers a higher level cap, artifacts, new companions, new abilities, and a new realm to explore along with an expertly crafted story from Carrie Patel, author of the Recoletta series and writer on the original Pillars of Eternity, and Eric Fenstermaker, lead writer on Pillars of Eternity and one of the co-writers of South Park: The Stick of Truth alongside show creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone.

Take a peek at what waits in The White March – Part I with the reveal trailer.

Pillars of Eternity now ventures into new parts of Eora in its first expansion, “The White March – Part I,” including a selection of snow themed environments inspired by Icewind Dale. The White March – Part I offers new features for first-time players and veterans alike, including new rogue and monk companions, a party-based AI system, multi-class abilities, and many new challenges to conquer.

Redeye is the latest addition to Dirty Bomb’s roster of killer Mercs.

The dossier on Redeye’s lengthy service in the Australian SAS is a thick one. Time after time he earned field promotions for outstanding bravery, until being busted back down to Trooper for insubordination, or refusal to follow orders, or both. By the time of his discharge for “knowing too much about everyone in the regiment”, he had an average rank of corporal, but no pension. Now that he’s taken to the private sector he’s his own boss for a change. Too bad his sole employee is a total buffoon who hates his waste-of-space boss.

Redeye is a mid to long-range specialist, with team-playing abilities that can seriously hinder the enemy’s ability to attack and defend, and make his own team more efficient in battle as well.

Redeye’s Smoke Grenade is the pinnacle of non-lethal battlefield control, pure elegance in simplicity. When thrown, it creates a large cloud of smoke, completely blocking vision in the area. While anyone can walk through it, they’ll have no idea what violent end awaits them on the other side.

While the cloud of smoke will slowly dissipate over time, there’s another way to get rid of it beyond waiting patiently. Explosive damage in the area of the smoke cloud will disperse it, clearing the way and restoring the sight lines on your terms. And you’ll want to take care of it quickly, because there’s only one way to see through the smoke…

By activating his IR Goggles, Redeye can see the world based on the heat given off by objects Mercs, lighting them up easily against their surroundings. Better yet, any enemies near the center of Redeye’s vision will be Spotted, including invisible Phantoms. Spotted Mercs will have their location displayed on the HUD of all of Redeye’s allies, just like if they were seen by Vassili’s Heartbeat Sensor, making them easy pickings for your team.

What makes this ability truly lethal is that, while normal sight is completely blocked by a Smoke Grenade’s cloud, Redeye’s IR Goggles work just fine. This allows Redeye to peer through the cloud, spotting anyone standing out in the open and letting all of his allies know exactly where they need to shoot.

More details and patch notes on the Dirty Bomb website.

Webzen have announced the release of the latest expansion for Rappelz, their dark fantasy themed mmorpg.

The latest update introduces a new raid dungeon, a party matching system, class re-balancing, skills available for pets, and continued improvements to the game balance.

Adventurers can put their skills to the test in the new raid dungeon. Available through a quest and a special ticket, players will venture to the Parallel World dungeon in order to stop nefarious monsters from wreaking havoc on Gaia. This dungeon will be populated by phantoms and challenging bosses, which can be defeated to amass rewards in the form of a new set of equipment for players, and new soul creatures to add to their collection.

Finding a party has never been easy than with this update, whether for newcomers looking to explore Rappelz’s dungeons for the first time, or veterans seeking another party member for a tough instance. The party leader can create a party and register it on the party list of the interface with the name, level area, and number of members. If players are interested, they can apply and wait for the leader’s approval to be teamed up with the other members.

The pet owners will enjoy a new addition in Epic IX Part 2, as creatures will now have their own skills depending on their specialty.

Many more improvements are included with a rebalance of the classes, the addition of new quests, enchanting weapons effect modification, and much more.

To celebrate the release of the expansion, the Rappelz Team is organizing several events in-game, including login events and EXP boosts. More information about this expansion is available on the Rappelz official website.