Welcome to MMORPGamer.

In light of the lack of news this week, I've dropped some fun screenshots and concept art into the column. Here goes:

Funcom announced they're using SpeedTree for the foliage in the upcoming Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures. This program creates and programs trees that look great, but don't have a high memory thumbprint.

This isn't all that surprising or renovating, as many games including Sword of the New World: Granado Espada already use it.

MMORPG.com just featured an article from Michael Fiegel, a former writer and content developer for Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising. The game was put on hold indefinitely despite high expectations from the MMO community.

The article is a great testament to the hard work that goes into creating the MMOs that we enjoy so much. As Fiegel writes: "You will never meet the young lady in the sewers. You will never discover why she's down there, or what she's looking for, or how that involves a disembodied spirit with a short temper."

I encourage you to visit the heartfelt goodbye to the game, and think twice before skipping the quest text on your next login. Whether you skip it or not, it's still served its purpose.

Tabula Rasa comes out tomorrow, and I wanted to post some screenshots from the sci-fi MMORPG. Remember that if you pre-order you get to login early.

I recently stumbled on Stargate Worlds. Since there isn't much in the way of news on the game, here's some concept art.

Hello strain.

in my opinion all forms of gold selling and farming of loot to sell should be stopped,it ruins both the economy and eventually turns away new players. Take for example Lineage 2, gold selling and buying is rampant in that game and unless you buy you can't afford anything even remotely near your level because all the prices have been jacked sky high. Granted this is because the games been out for forever and theres an over abundance of money floating around in players hands.

I'd never heard of Stargate Worlds, though I've seen more than a fair share of Stargate SG-1 episodes. I'm pretty excited to see what this game turns out to be like. I think that most MMORPGs based on already-existing licenses are more likely to succeed, simply because a fanbase already exists for them.

Speaking of MMOs based on existing content: send in some e-mail and let me know what you think on those MMOs like this that already exist. Also, let me know what licenses you wish would be developed into an MMO and why.

Until then,
Jake Miller (mail me)