Released to herald the start of open beta for The Elder Scrolls Online, here’s a new cinematic trailer for Bethesda’s massively multiplayer online role-playing game.

You can sign up for beta over at the official website for TESO, which will be out this year for Mac and PC.

First posted over at The Guild-Hall.net

After Guild Wars 2’s three million activations announcement and Colin Johanson’s blog post on ArenaNet’s dedication to supporting Guild Wars 2’s live game in 2013, we are pleased to share with you additional highlights of the first update, arriving Monday 28th January.

In the first update of the new year, players will be treated to a number of new features, including:

• A new storyline will play out over the coming months, one that all players can enjoy
• New achievement currency for daily/monthly achievements and new items you can buy with the new currency. There will also be rotating daily achievements every day of the week
• Guesting to allow playing with friends on different worlds.
• One Week, Two-Team PvP Tournaments and a new PvP Map permanently added to the rotation
• Several more game improvements and balancing enhancements

More specific information on the update will be posted on the Guild Wars 2 website today.

MindArk introduces dramatically new avatar system

Gothenburg, Sweden – January 18, 2013 /Entropia Universe/ – Entropia Universe AB, the largest Massively Multiplayer Online Real Cash Economy (or MMORCE) game, announced today that MindArk has released a brand new avatar system.  This new system will bring Entropia Universe to the forefront of graphics technology in an MMO with highly detailed and fully customizable new avatars.    

The new avatars are significantly enhanced with over twice as many polygons as their predecessors for surprising fidelity.  All character textures have been heightened as well, with faces becoming four times more detailed.  Bilateral asymmetry is now a key factor in making distinctive creations as tattoos, scars and makeup no longer need to be even on both sides; and even hair has been improved so that it now moves and bounces naturally.  Additionally all avatar animations have seen improvements so they move more fluidly, with clothes and armor redone to better fit the new models.  This all allows for a much richer user experience as players in-game representations will now be much more engaging and realistic.

To add to the gameplay the avatars not only look better, but they have been optimized for better performance on all machines as well. While overhauling the creation system to introduce the high-fidelity models the developers also took the time to work on the basic user interface.  They made it far easier to customize a unique character so players can explore the world as anyone they wish.  The new system also improves the handling of different races to better represent players and their backgrounds.  The team also included pre-set appearances to allow for faster entry into the game if a player doesn’t want to spend the time on their avatar.  Upon release of the new avatar system all existing users will get a chance to re-customize their look for free.

Entropia Universe is the largest Massively Multiplayer Online Real Cash Economy (MMORCE) game in the world. Players have no monthly costs, but deposit and withdraw real funds for their adventures on any planet in the Entropia Universe. For more information on Entropia Universe or to download the free game please visit www.entropiauniverse.com. To download the new app please visit the Google Play App store at https://play.google.com/store.

AWESOME!!!

En Masse Entertainment has announced that players will now have several options for playing TERA. Included in the new revenue model is a ‘subscription-free’ option as well as an ‘elite status’ option that gives 30-days of subscription-level play. The F2P option has no level cap or content restrictions. Current and former subscribers will be given permanent ‘founder status’ with exclusive benefits. The new plan goes into effect in February.

To celebrate this next chapter of TERA, En Masse Entertainment will be launching new in-game content, including a wave-based dungeon and a PvP battleground map that introduces a new way for players to test their skills against each other. The multi-stage Crucible of Flame dungeon challenges players with a series of epic, high-level battles culminating with a new boss fight against the immense Cyclops. This dungeon offers varying rewards based on performance. Additionally, more competitive players can take off in Champions’ Skyring, an all-new three-versus-three PvP battleground with some of TERA’s best PvP gear at stake.

Head to the TERA site for more information.