Welcome to MMORPGamer.

After a great three-day weekend, it's time to delve back into the news of the MMO universe. There's a ton of news, so I'll just get out of the way.

Without further ado, the news:

Funcom has delayed Age of Conan yet again. The new date allows for eight more weeks of development, scheduling release for May 20, 2008.

Funcom is fast to mention on the game's official site that the game has already won many awards and is one of the most anticipated of the year. It said that those that stand apart in the industry are those that treasure value, as clear with Blizzard's World of Warcraft.

This comes as no surprise to me. The game has been delayed before and the changes made since that delay have been phenomenal. There's no reason a game should be released before it's ready. I'm glad some companies are finally seeing this truth. Good job, Funcom.

Lord of the Rings Online will soon receive Book 12, its next major content patch. This patch will see the addition of an outfit system and barbershop.

In terms of gameplay, the Burglar, Guardian, and Champion are all being revisited. The items that really take the cake with this Book are the new customization options.

Players will now be able to have two cosmetic outfits to swap between when not wanting to show their own patchwork armor. This is a great roleplaying feature, enabling people to dress as well or as poorly as they'd like.

The feature will only be enabled past level 20, so newbies won't be able to hop in and try it out. Also, new items will be put in the game with Book 12 to help flesh this feature out, including dresses, tunics, shirts, pants, and so on.

The second feature unveiled in this update will be the barbershop. Located at any "major social center," characters can find a barber and change their hair color and style as well as facial features. Book 12 will also feature the addition of new hair styles for everyone and the ability to pick a second facial feature.

These are features that every MMO should have. Turbine is doing a great job with the implementation of these features, promising that more avatar customization will be in LOTRO's future.

Sword of the New World received an expansion this week entitled Manifest Destiny. Manifest Destiny features five new UPCs, two new maps, fifteen new zones, new events, new items for purchase, and the new Ultimately Fabulous Competition.

The UFC is a two hour "battle royale" that happens every day three times. This serves as another pastime for those that are bored with raiding and PvP at endgame.

All in all, the expansion is huge for a game that's free to play. Details on every feature can be found on K2 Spokesperson Neume's latest forum post.

Dungeons and Dragons Online now has a 10-day trial available at the official site. A long time coming, this trial should enable people who have been wondering about this middle aged MMO.

This really seems to be coming in late, considering the small community of gamers that's holding the game afloat. If you're looking for the unique experience and want to join in the fun, head on over to the trial site.

Five days ago, a Brazilian court imposed a ban on EverQuest and Counter-Strike. The judge claimed the games incited violence and were harmful to consumers. The ban had been in effect since October 2007, but wasn't immediately implemented. The judge, Carlos Alberto Simoes, cited that the games supported "the subversion of public order, were an attack against the democratic state and the law and against public security."

In my opinion, this ban is the subversion taking place here. These games and more like them have been throughout civilized cultures of today and I have yet to see America, Japan, England, or any other country that enjoys these games fall into martial law as a result.

Here are a few shots from the current builds of Lord of the Rings Online's new character customization features. The tables may change in the final build, but this should help out all those players that need to start picking up their cosmetic items and planning their rhinoplasty.

ok this is otaku nick.

i've written in a few times before to rant and rave about things.. today is a rant.. i saw a commercial on tv for pirates of the Caribbean online. well i decided to give it a try.. it has this very nice battle system.. what i could get of it.. more on that in a bit. but anyway the story seemed nice.. and the battle system again nice.. the voice acting from what i heard of it funny and such.. and it had a good idea of how to play.. it is free to everyone.. but like games like dungeon runners you can pay for a monthly fee and get some perks.. but in this case this is where they failed.. if you don't get a pay account you can't have anything but the very basic ship.. if you don't pay for a paid account you can't do minor side quests.. here i am level 2 and i take a quest to go and collect crab shells so this woman can make soup.. well.. i start killing crabs and BAM!!! "if you want full access to this feature please upgrade now to the unlimited account plan" how is anyone supposed to do anything under so many restrictions.. plus you get 7 days able to play it full screen without ads than it forces windowed mode and puts an ad banner on part of the screen.. now not being new to the ad banner thing being a player of dungeon runners, when i heard about it i thought "hey they'll be getting paid for the ads and that'll allow more content for us free players." well i was wrong.. so you have a good game with a good storyline and character customization that just was great but its ruined because they say "free forever" yet you get almost 0 content. disney.. you fail

otaku nick signing off

That last article about Brazil really freaks me out. Some people might applaud the Brazilian government for squashing the thumbs of gamers, but I am afraid for what Americans will see from this. Will this urge a new rise to anti-game legislation and lobbying? Let's hope not.

Thanks to Otaku Nick for writing in this week. I want to stress that this column does feature letters from any interested parties. Write in on anything that you want to know about. I'll even post angry rants. I'll be waiting.

Good night,
Jake Miller (mail me)