Market research firm Parks Associate has released a study claiming subscription-based MMOs aren't dropping enough loot for its players. According to the group's Electronic Gaming in the Digital Home II study (via Worlds in Motion) only the hardcore gamers were into the subscription model, whereas the casual gamer showed "significant interest" in the free-to-play, microtransaction model.

Another part of the study found that, of the non-MMO players polled, 14% would be interested to play if they could play for free, whereas only 2% of that group was interested in subscription-based MMOs. As we always caution, studies generally aren't worth more than the pixels they're displayed on (unless it's a nice monitor, then they're probably worth less). In a recent polling at Joystiq HQ, games that are "free to play" were also seven times more likely to grab our attention than games that weren't free.

Said Director of Broadband and Gaming Yuanzhe (Michael) Cai: "World of Warcraft, with over 10 million players, exceeded expectations for subscription-based MMORPGs, but it's unlikely any other publishers will achieve the same in the near term using a subscription model." Of course, that's kind of a no-brainer even for WoW's competitors.

[Via Eurogamer]

Check out the NSFW review of Age of Conan after the break.

News

• WotLK Beta patch notes and other news
  The Beta is live -- here's all the things expected to change in the next expansion.
• The roads of Azeroth, now with biker gangs
  Hadn't heard vehicles are coming to Azeroth? Here's a two-wheeled kind to wake you up.
• Achievements officially announced for Wrath
  One more way Blizzard will keep you playing their game.
• Death Knights get new starting zone, Runeforging skill
  Information from the beta straight out of the new Death Knight starting zone.
• Death Knights at the Dawn
  Huge spoilers here, as Matthew Rossi takes you through the Death Knight lore.

Features

• Wrath beta patch notes: Paladin, part 1
  A look at what's happening with plate-wearing healers in Northrend.
• The Colosseum: Quad-boxer achieves #1 arena spot
  One person, four characters, one of the top Arena spots in the game. Fair? Read the interview, and then decide for yourself.
• Maps from the Wrath of the Lich King beta
  Here's our look at all of the maps available from the expansion so far.
• Wrath beta patch notes: Hunter
  What's up with the ranged pet class in the Wrath beta.
• Patch 2.4.3: New Grim Guzzler content
  There's a new party in BRD's Grim Guzzler -- we've got the lowdown in pictoral form.

As the Massively crew has been at E3 along with the Joystiq crew, our update this week comes a little late. (Those of you who were at last night's meetup can understand the epicBut for those of you who are curious as to what's going on in the wide world of MMOGs both at E3 and in general, here's a quick and dirty overview of the week's events!

News

---

• How to beat game piracy according to David Perry
• Pre-orders now available for The Guild DVD
• Exclusive first look at Star Wars Galaxies TCG loot cards
• Blizzard victorious in WoW Glider case
• Mythic offers FAQs for Warhammer's loss of cities, classes
• E308: Jagex teases sci-fi successor to Runescape, Mechscape
• E308: Disney Interactive Studios shows off Club Penguin on the DS
• E308: Erling Ellingsen talks patch timeframes for Age of Conan
• E308: DC Universe Online already 'released' inside SOE
• KOTOR MMO confirmed by Electronic Arts

Discussion

---

• Ask Massively: You make the call
• The Digital Continuum: Diet WAR
• MMOGology: Will mobile MMOGs evolve genre expectations?
• Nitpicking WoW to death
• The tyranny of skill training
• Behind the Curtain: Gone for good?

On a Thursday night after all the E3 shenanigans (and during our party, no less), we have word that Blizzard has begun the Wrath of the Lich King beta. Sources have told WoW Insider that the alpha phase reportedly shut down a few days ago and that invites should be going out soon for the beta. Additionally, a Blizzard site has gone live to help gamers get the beta set up. Are you one of the lucky few to get an invite? You can check out the patch notes here.

Blizzard has unveiled an achievement system -- much like Steam, Xbox Live, Trophies, etc. -- for World of Warcraft. The categories of achievements include PvP, PvE, world exploration, professions, and character development. Some are simple (give 10 hugs), some are very difficult (completing high-level raids). Additionally, there are "Feats of Strength," very difficult or now-impossible achievements that don't show up if unearned. The Feats are worth no points. No word on if the achievement points are worth anything.

[Via WoW Insider]

When Jim Lee stepped onstage at the Sony press conference Tuesday, it was the first reminder in some time of Sony Online Entertainment's upcoming super-hero MMO DC Universe Online. The title, meant to bring the world of Batman and Superman to fans of the massively multiplayer genre, has been under a communications blackout and in development for years. E3 2008 is the first substantial chance the gaming press has had to learn about the title, and our friends at Massively were naturally attracted by the smell of grouping mechanics and instanced content.

To kick things off, they've got a description of the extensive trailer that was the core of the SOE presentation. That wasn't enough for the MMO-addicted writers, so they followed that up with an exhaustive Q&A session. Follow along as DCUO Creative Director Chris Cao and SOE-Austin VP of development John Blakely explore how the game will interact with the PlayStation 3, tie-ins between DC Universe Online and the actual DC comics, and an interesting aside about how the developers are already acting like the game is 'released' inside the company. The Massively crew also has a few choice pieces of concept art from the game, from the mind of comic legends like Jim Lee - take a look below.

Gallery: E308: DC Universe Online concept art

Just a few months after Electronic Arts' purchase of the Rupture social networking site, it looks like file-sharing legend Shawn Fanning now has his moment in the sun. Fanning appeared during EA's E3 press conference today, introducing the new and improved Rupture service. It, along with the Nucleus offering, will offer new ways for players to collaborate on and compare their in-game successes. Nucleus sounds like an EA-game-specific Xbox Live-style tag. Gamers will be able to carry around their 'EA tag' around from game to game and across systems. Whether you're playing on the Wii or PC, your information will be safely stored in a central locale.

Rupture, Fanning's project, will carry this collaboration forward with an ability to track and challenge friends across games and platforms. Rupture will be open to any game developer that wants to make use of EA's API. They've already set up an informational site for developers on the Rupture website. They're also planning to extend the functionality of their in-development MMOs - a tantalizing possibility for WoW-weary MMO players.

The recently rumored game show channel for Xbox Live was officially announced at this morning's Microsoft press conference in the form of "Xbox Live Primetime." TV producer Endemol has teamed up with Microsoft to produce the new massively-multiplayer game show channel, which will include a version of the semi-popular NBC show 1 vs. 100, complete with real prizes (no word on whether host Bob Saget is involved). Primetime is part of Microsoft's new "Live Party" community channel, which includes the long-rumored Avatars. No word on what, if any, other game shows will be coming to Primetime, but we're hoping for a version of Ninja Warrior that involves rampant button mashing.

Relatively young game developer Meteor Games, founded by the minds behind the kid-friendly Flash game portal Neopets, recently unveiled their latest project -- a rather ambitious 3D MMO titled Twin Skies. Following the style of their claim to fame, the title will place you in the shoes of an adventurer who uses pets to do his or her pugilistic grunt work, though with various races and classes mentioned on their FAQs page, we imagine your character can hold their own in a ruckus.

Arguably the coolest thing about the title is the integration of various web-based minigames set apart from the actual title. For instance, winning one minigame might unlock a monster for you to use in Twin Skies, while another might reward you with valuable lewts upon your next login. While subscription fees haven't been decided upon, the game will be free to download direct from the Twin Skies site. We'll definitely be looking forward to this title's first appearance at PAX, if only to see if "my Twin Skies pets, let me show you them" really has the same ring to it.

A bit of clarification recently surfaced regarding the closure of Hellgate: London and Mythos developer Flagship Studios -- though we'd heard from an unnamed source that Flagship would be shutting its doors and letting go of "nearly everyone" on the payroll, Flagship community manager Taylor Balbi recently explained that the entire staff has been fired with a 30-day pension, paid for out of the pockets of the studio's higher-ups.

The studio's intellectual property has been turned over to two companies who had invested in Flagship throughout its short lifespan, with Mythos going to Korean gaming developer HanbitSoft, and Hellgate: London going to Comerica, a financial services company based out of Dallas. It's expected these two companies will work together to continue Asian development for these two titles -- though it's unclear whether the uber-charming Mythos will ever hit North American shores.

In anticipation of next week's E3 Media and Business Summit, we've prepared bingo cards for each of the big press conferences and some general topics. All are filled with some likely (and some not-so-likely) predictions for what the console makers and genre developers are going to be rolling out at this year's trade show.

Massively multiplayer games are bigger than ever, and so the folks at Massively.com have put together this handy guide to what we might see ... and what we might not see. This card reads like a 'who's who' of upcoming MMOs, so if you don't know who Red 5 Studios are, or didn't know that Curt Schilling's game is code-named Copernicus this is the bingo card for you. Click on through the images for their full predictions.

(Also: check out all our press conference bingo cards, including some for Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony!)

The world of Warhammer just got a bit smaller. In an interview with with MMORPG.com, Mythic Entertainment VP and General Manager Mark Jacobs (not to be confused with fashion designer Marc Jacobs) has revealed some big cuts for the Warhammer Online's launch. Namely, the capital cities for the Dark Elf, High Elf, Orc, and Dwarf factions are gone. That leaves two capital cities, Altdorf and the Chaos Inevitable City.

Additionally, four classes have been cut: Choppa (Greenskin), Hammerer (Dwarf), Blackguard (Dark Elf) and Knight of the Blazing Sun (Empire). Jacobs explained the cuts were made for quality reasons and expressed dismay over having to nix the classes. Also, to seemingly curtail any conspiracy theories, he said, "This has nothing to do with EA ... they had zero input in this ... They don't even know about it. It's not a discussion we would have with them."

The MMO-obsessed at Massively have provided explanations for the ramifications of these cuts. No indication on if any of these features will return in an update or expansion pack.

[Via Massively]

When 2K released this morning that they had bagged the publishing rights to Champions Online, Cryptic's other superhero-based MMO, we almost wrote it off as another pre-E3 grab for coverage. But then, as we combed the release, we noticed a couple of odd things. First, though they're bringing the game to the PC and 360 in the spring of next year, there's no mention of a PS3 version, which isn't so much weird as it is sad.

Also, and this is the really odd bit, the end of the release says "Champions Online for Xbox 360 is not yet concept approved by Microsoft." We have to say, we don't really get the hold-up. A superhero MMO on the 360? Yes. Rubber-stamped. Done. You see that Microsoft? That ish just got concept approved by Joystiq. That. Just. Happened.

Google's takeover of every corner of the Web continues today with a public beta of Lively, an MMO-style social networking browser plug-in. Users create a personalized avatar and gather in custom-designed rooms to walk around, chat and perform scripted animations. It's not a game per se, but users have already started turning their rooms into virtual versions of games like chess and various role-playing scenarios.

As the community evolves, you can expect Lively to evolve into a sort of Second Life-style do-anything space, with a wide array of self-styled gaming areas. The question remains: Is Google staking its claim to the future of social gaming, or is it just another Johnny-come-lately in the newest social networking fad?

[Via Massively]