Sony Online Entertainment's John Smedley has some advice for the future MMOs: "to change the way we do this", even including Sony's games in the statement. Most MMOs today are stuck in the current model of developing content that is quickly eaten up by locusts. This, according to Smed, has to change.

The Dragon's Prophet site has been updated with the backstory to the upcoming MMO from Infernum Games. It's a comprehensive look at the way the races came to be and how the turmoil began in the world.

SOE's taken a second crack at the MMOFPS with PlanetSide 2. Does the sequel succeed where its predecessor fell short? We offer our take in our official review!

MMORPG.com and Funcom have teamed up to bring our readers the first view of The Secret World Game Director Joel Bylos' latest letter to the community. As he sits huddled in his bunker, Joel hopes development of TSW will continue past December 21st and he's got lots of news to share if it does! Read on and get excited! Leave us your thoughts in the comments.

Sony Online Entertainment is inviting all former DC Universe Online Legendary subscribers to come back for thirty days of Legendary Membership. Players will be able to take advantage of this offer from now through January 16, 2013.

The War Z is under heavy fire from consumers on Valve's Steam gaming platform. According to a report on Develop-Online, players are alleging that the game has been released missing key features advertised on the Steam page and that it is in more of an 'alpha stage'. In response, Executive Producer Sergey Titov has taken to the Steam forums and altered the game's description on Steam.

According to Yahoo Finance, THQ has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the US District Court in Delaware. According to the filing, THQ has already secured an agreement to have assets purchased by Clearlake Capital Group.

MMORPG.com has partnered with Blizzard Entertainment to give away six copies of World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria along with three SIGNED copies of the expansion's Collector's Edition!

Heroes of Gaia is a medieval browser-based MMO that might be one of those games that is worth a first...or second look. We've been playing Heroes of Gaia and have a lot to say about a game with much more to it than might be expected. Check it out and then let us know what you think in the comments.

Thanks everyone for all your great submissions to our Lord of the Rings Online: Riders of Rohan giveaway! Today, we're ready to announce our winners, so check out the full list below!

Fallen Earth players with a bent for the ol' homestead will want to check into the game now that the v2.6 update has gone live. The update brings the much anticipated farming mechanic into the post apocalyptic game.

In our latest Independency column, we take a look at a game that has captured Cassandra's interest: Topia Online. It's a game that all work for good or, as the developer says, "the world will die". Whoa...that's a sandbox. Find out more about Topia Online in Independency and then leave your thoughts in the comments.

Spacetime Studios has announced that the holidays have arrived in Arcane Legends. The Old Jul festival honors ancient heroes and gives players the opportunity to find and slay the Jul festival goblin to score Winter Wonderland gear.

Perfect World Entertainment and Cryptic Studios have sent out a new Neverwinter trailer. This time, the Trickster Rogue is revealed. "Master of evading enemy attacks, Trickster Rogues know that the key to success is to see when to dodge and when to counter. Their tremendous agility and ability to quickly deal damage makes the them a worthy opponent to Neverwinter's most vicious monsters." Enjoy!

Once again, we present Wayback Wednesday, our recap of a great event held last week with the Dark Age of Camelot team. This time, the group heads into the Cathal Valley for fun and adventure. Check it out and then let us know what you think in the comments.

The ArcheAge Facebook page has been updated with the news that registered players can now take advantage of the character creation option prior to the open beta start in January. Players will be able to design their character, reserve its name and choose a server.

RuneScape devs have announced the 2012 holiday event for players. Called "A Stray in a Manger", the quest arc charges players with assisting Santa' Snow Imp in rounding up stray dogs to help deliver pet presents. After the event concludes, players will be able to adopt one of the strays and earn a special kennel for their effort.

The latest patch to World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria, "Landfall", has been widely hailed as a good step forward for Blizzard Entertainment. In our latest WoW Factor, we take a look at why it's an important update. Check it out before leaving your thoughts in the comments.

Funcom has announced that The Secret World has been updated with the latest patch. Issue 5: The Vanishing of Tyler Freeborn has been released and brings with it new content and "a brand new and revealing story arc".

The Ultima Online team has announced that the Atlantic server has been rolled back to a December 5th server-side save. The rollback was necessary due to "issues beyond our control" and a more current save was not available because of corruption issues. Players on the Atlantic server have been compensated with 30-days of free game time.

Mortal Online is the latest MMO to take advantage of an opportunity to be featured on Valve's Steam platform via the Greenlight program. Players are asked to "vote up" Mortal Online to make it available on the mega-game platform.

Sony Online Entertainment has announced that Pirates of the Burning Sea will be leaving its stable of MMOs on January 31st. PotBS will be developed and republished by Portalus Games, a new company made up of former Flying Lab Software employees. Characters will be carried over if a Portalus account is linked to the currently existing SOE account.

We've teamed up with ArenaNet and NCsoft to bring you a live Q&A with the Guild Wars 2 Holiday team. The topic? Wintersday 2012 of course! We'll be discussing the event only, but if you have questions about the mini-games, the jumping puzzle, the Tixx instance, or anything related to the Wintersday content, let us know in the comments! We'll collect your questions and bring them to the devs tomorrow.

For many of us, sound in the games we play is a critical component of our immersion. In our latest hardware review, we take a look at the Aperion Zona Wireless Speakers. See how they stack up and then leave us your thoughts in the comments.

Piranha Games and Infinite Games have announced that the final MechWarrior Online update for 2012 has been deployed that brings a bevy of big features online including three new mechs, a new Conquest Mode, New Year's items, an economy update and Cadet bonuses among other things. Check out the celebratory trailer and let us know what you think!

As 2012 comes to a close, some are left somewhat disappointed by the past year in gaming. But not all was gloom and doom. In her latest column, Pokket takes a look back at some of the year's most compelling stories. See what she has to say before leaving your thoughts about the new year in the comments.

We have received word of an intriguing new project being undertaken by PoetCode. The idea is to bring an interactive reading and gaming experience to player. According to what we've read, events occurring within the MMO will have a direct impact on the Dynasty of the Magi eBook series.

Wakfu players, both free and subscribers, will want to check into the game to take part in the Kwismas celebration going on from now through January 11th. The event features gifts, a new PvP area, a pair of new dungeons and more, all with holiday flair.

Knight Age players will now be able to record all of their "pupae" in a new Pupa Collection book thanks to the latest update announced by developer Joymax. The collection book will also give players additional background information about each pupa and details about their skills.

In today's Free Zone, we take a small break from the gathering of worldwide news on the F2P phenomenon and talk with Mark Jacobs about crowd source funding. Jacobs offers his expertise on how the industry will be changed as a result. Check it out and then leave your thoughts in the comments.