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.

GUILDFORD, UK – Jan. 18, 2013 – The day that Mayors have been clamoring for is almost here – Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:EA) today announced that the SimCity™ beta will run from January 25 – January 28. Those who previously signed up are already in consideration for access to the beta, limited slots are still available for late applicants. Eager fans who want to get an advance look at SimCity have a limited time to sign up at www.simcity.com/beta before the application process ends at 2am, GMT on January 21*. Developed by Maxis, SimCity will be available March 8 and is available for pre-order right now.
“It is always an exciting moment to share a game that is still in development with its biggest fans prior to launch,” said Lucy Bradshaw, Senior Vice President and General Manager of EA’s Maxis Label. “This beta will help the team improve the live service aspects of SimCity to ensure a smooth and user-friendly experience at launch. I want to thank everyone for signing up – we are excited to share one of our most beloved franchises with our fans.”
Running from 5pm GMT on January 25 until 8am GMT on January 28, the SimCity beta offers fans the chance to play a one hour slice of the game** and to deliver feedback that will help shape the final product. As a live service, SimCity will continue to provide updates that evolve the experience, delivering a dynamic platform that grows and expands over time. For more details about the beta head over to www.simcity.com/beta.

Developed by the renowned Maxis studio in Emeryville, SimCity delivers unprecedented depth of simulation with the new GlassBox Engine, where everything is simulated, up to 100,000 individual Sims in a city, to every Kilowatt of power pulsing through a region of cities. The model-like world and detail of the simulation make this the most responsive and personal SimCity ever. This is also the most expansive city management game yet where multi-city gameplay across regions delivers a larger playing field. Play a single city or up to 16 cities at once each with different specializations, it’s your choice. What kind of Mayor will you be?

Multiplayer is also a first for the series, which adds a new dimension to the game, as decisions impact both the city and the region, creating new ways to play by collaborating or competing to earn achievements and to top leaderboards. Whether you play by yourself, with your friends or the rest of the world, SimCity introduces an infinite world of possibilities.

SimCity has been rated PEGI 7. To stay up-to-date on the latest regarding SimCity, and to pre-order now, please visit www.SimCity.com and http://www.facebook.com/SimCity. 

*Conditions and restrictions apply. See www.simcity.com/beta disclaimer for details.
**Beta players can play the one-hour slice of the game multiple times during the beta period.

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!!!