Do you have an addictive personality? Playing Guild Wars all day and night, only taking a break only to shut your eyes for an hour or two before opening them again, reaching forward and flipping the monitor back to the on position. The Official Nightfall Launch Party for Guild Wars will be held in Seattle Washington on Tuesday, October 17th. Here you can mingle with 11 other lucky Guild Wars "Super Fan's", enjoying music, food and beverages.

Oh and don't forget, you will be one of the first to see the world premiere "The Making of Nightfall" and no doubt some hands-on time with the forthcoming release, 10 days ahead of when it will be available to the public! So what pray tell will you be required to do in order to make this trek with eleven other Guild Wars Fans? It's really quite simple this time my fellow gaming addicts.

Send a Email to [ contests@arena.net ] including the following information

Real Name (first/last)
Street and mailing address
Telephone number
Email address
Guild Wars user name
Date of birth

In addition you will need to include: "A statement—no more than 50 words, please—telling us why you think you are an exceptional fan of Guild Wars, and why your name should be on that exclusive guest list for the Nightfall Launch Party. Send us poetry or prose, song lyrics or simply an earnest declaration of Guild Wars devotion. We want to hear what makes you a special devotee of the game, why you want to come to the party, and why we should send you one of just a dozen coveted invitations!"

First off, I'm not one to play the fanboy role when it comes to choosing video game consoles. They all have their own unique features and games, some better and some worse but in the end they are all just fun to play. Video games from classic systems such as the Nintendo Entertainment System and Sega Genesis are obviously still alive and kicking.

However theres a group of people who are not so happy with a classic console producer. So unhappy in fact that they choose to ban this savior of so many boring days from their popular MMORPG, Guild Wars. The victim in this case, so to speak, is "Sega".

 When gamers choose to use language that would get the typical teenagers mouth washed out with soap, the game filters out the word so other gamers aren't offended. There are, no doubt a number of hypocrisies, such as the word "damn" for example.

A check was run to see if any of the other console makers were masked in this conspiracy and "Nintendo", "Sony", and "Microsoft" came up with a clean slate and were not blocked. So sad it seems, that NCsoft would shun a company invovled in such epic titles as Sonic the Hedgehog, Guardian Heroes, Panzer Dragoon Saga and Chu Chu Rocket.

Games have reached new heights in the recent years when it comes to graphics. From our lovable pixelated brothers Mario and Luigi back in the 80's to the games that are currently coming out now the graphics never stop getting better. So whats the next step you may ask? It seems that IO₂Technology is working on that one as we speak.

Thus far they have managed to display 30" diagonal holographic images in 4:3 and 16:9 aspect ratios. The latest version (2nd generation) of the Heliodisplay M2 is also interactive, allowing the users to control the image with their hands. In the video, Ritual Entertainment shows a video of SiN Episode characters displayed on the Heliodisplay M2. Holodeck displays coming from a R2D2 projector lookalike. Apparently the unit is available for rent or to buy.

Download: Heliodisplay M2 Video

Guild Wars has released a new gameplay trailer of their upcoming release titled Guild Wars: Factions. Boasting some beautiful graphics and breathtaking cinematics this looks like it could blow a breath of fresh air back into the Guild Wars series.

Here's your chance to get another sampler of what's in store for you this weekend: Download the latest Guild Wars Factions gameplay trailer! The trailer shows a glimpse of several Canthan locations, and dives into a number of intense battles, from the Eternal Grove to the Gyala Hatchery. You can grab both high and low quality versions of the new (and old) clips here, or click Read to select which clip you would like to view.

While this is typically something that we don't publicise as many internet users complain about getting too much email as it is. However, if you play or have been thinking to start playing Dungeons and Dragons Online you might want to consider signing up for the DDO monthly email newsletter. Turbine is encouraging players to sign up for their monthly newsletter which will include information on the new module.

This month's DUNGEONS & DRAGONS ONLINE™: Stormreach™ newsletter contains exclusive content about the Dragon's Vault Module, as well as the new quests coming your way in Turbine's first content update!

If you opted in for contact from Turbine when you signed up for your account or for the forums, just kick back and watch for the newsletter coming soon! If you didn't sign up or are unsure, you can choose to receive it by visiting the signup page! Don't miss out on our first newsletter since launch!

Real Time Worlds is currently developing two new games for the Xbox 360. One that goes by the name of Crackdown, and another is a MMO titled APB. While still in the early stages of development Chris Stamp and Stephen Hewitt have released some details on what players can expect when APB finally releases a few years from now.

APB appears to be a PvP Cops and Robbers game at first glance. Being concurrently developed for the PC and Xbox 360 but similar to Blizzards standpoint, they will not be combining the Xbox 360 and PC online experience. Real Time Worlds hopes to create a new and revolutionary experience for fans of classic MMO style gaming. Their idea simply put is to create an experience that will draw in players that aren't normally RPG fans. Many can remember playing Final Fantasy 7 for the first time and having the life altering experience of being drawn into a live story, captivated by the characters and eventually losing 3 or more days without sleep in order to experience everything the game had to offer. The difference is instead of a fantasy world with the likes of dragons, trolls and orcs, APB will take place in a extensive metropolis.

One thing that might shock MMO gamers however is there is a server cap of 100 users per server, this is alot less then the other massively multiplayer online games out now. Half can be the Coppers and half are the robbers. The better you get the less assistance you will need while fighting the opposition. Character models in the game will be fully customizable, you will even be able to design your own clothing. Groups will divide into squads and gangs. Each group can hold roughly 40 people. The goal of the PvP action is to take over as much city space as possible. As gangs take over areas they will be awarded with being heists and jobs to do. As cops take city areas they are given better crime fighting gear.

Gangs will head into an area and begin committing crimes. This will trigger and A.P.B. (All Points Bulletin) to a squad. This can develop into chases, arrests, firefights, and escapes. The game is NOT an RPG and players will NOT level up. However RTW will have a system in place to reward the more skilled players such as unlockables. The more crimes you stop, the better your ranking is, means cool unlockables which could be better guns or faster cars.

RTW also plans to implement a balance system which prevents higher skilled players from targeting lower skilled players by removing APB notifications for the specific gang. While there will be many more elements many features are still being ironed out, one thing is for sure, the game is planned to have a monthly fee for only play. We wait to hear more on this new MMO game.

One of the biggest complaints with WoW has been server reliability. Users have experienced delays in in their connections (aka lag) among other server problems. Blizzard aims to change all that by bringing new servers online to combat the recent issues that World of Warcraft Players have been experiencing online. The new servers will aim to boost the overall performance and experience of the game for players. The new hardware is said to be live and fully functioning starting at the beginning of April, VU games reported. The new hardware to sooth over gamers scars so they can head back into battle once more, and hopefully this time their [the users] computer will be the main performance factor.

The San Diego based branch of Sony Online has invested in an open source database company. EnterpriseDB makes an open source server database software titled Enterprise Advanced Server database. Sony plans to use the database for its online operations. The investment deal includes Sony, Charles River Ventures and Valhalla Partners. The New Jersey based EnterpriseDB develops a version of the open source PostgresSQL database software targeted at the enterprise database market. PostgreSQL is a open source database that is used on many public web hosting services as an alternate to mySQL.

Now before you go running off yelling at us because of another quasi off topic post you should realize that "it is estimated that between 3 and 5 percent of children have ADHD, or approximately 2 million children in the United States. This means that in a classroom of 25 to 30 children, it is likely that at least one will have ADHD." That being said researchers are working on using video games to help with the treatment of ADHD. Their hope is that playing video games will improve the lives of those with ADHD, which stands for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, which can be seen in people who have cognitive processing abilities.

People with these disorders experience "constant frustration," says Henry Owens, a Melbourne, Fla., clinical psychologist who recently began offering a patented video game system, which evolved from NASA technology, to some of his patients. "If they just play video games on their own, they will zone out," he says. "When they play on this system, if they zone out, the video game doesn't respond any more," acting as an incentive to improve focus and concentration.

The key here is controlling brain wave activity, which can be too slow or too fast depending on what part of the brain when a patient has ADHD. While Dr. Adesman, chief of developmental and behavioral pediatrics at Schneider Children's Hospital in New Hyde Park, N.Y.states that the treatment process is still controversial, reporting that studies have yet to show video game play with a neuro-feedback component has either a short-term or long-term benefit, despite parents' desire to explore other options in the wake of recent concerns about Ritalin and other stimulants used to treat ADHD.

He also worries that parents may abandon traditional methods of treatment, which with pharmacological and educational intervention has been proved effective. The game station, developed by San Diego company, CyberLearning Technology has already been in contact with patients in real life situations. The system is currently available for consumers to purchase directly from SmartBrainGames. The system currently has an approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Typical cost of in-office neuro-feedback treatment programs usually cost from $4,000 to $5,000, while the cool price of a SmartBrainGames system runs about $580, with in-office network provider supervision running less then $2,000. The best part, the games on the list are from the PlayStation and Playstation 2 archive, so many games will be familiar to gamers who have this disability.

After years of being hailed as a nerds sporting activity, video gaming is now taking the spotlight. In recent years pushing up and now competing with film markets to become one of the top selling commodities in the world. Online gaming is always on the rise, where the cost of servers, online support is being covered by user subscriptions and real-time in game advertisements. According to the DFC Intelligence Online Game Market Forecasts, "subscription revenue from online games was $2 billion in 2005 and is expected to grow to $6.8 billion by 2011. Furthermore, subscription revenue is only one part of the online game business equation. Advertising and digital distribution revenue are also expected to grow significantly."

Fragmentation is also a concern that was noted in the report. With 50% of online game revenue in 2005 coming from countries of Asia outside Japan, most importantly have been South Korea, China and Taiwan. NCsoft leads the way with $300 million in online revenue for 2005 alone. Many American based company's, such as Blizzard, Vivendi and Square Enix, have started on this path as well however not any seeing the light of success such as was experienced with Ultima Online.

In addition, online Massively Multiplayer Online Games have been expanding with new genres. From your classic online role playing games to the fast pace shooters such as Half Life. While it is more then apparent that MMORPG generate a bulk of the revenue casual gaming is starting to take a hold now as well.

It is predicted that North America will eventually pass Asia in online subscription based revenues in 2011. It is also speculated that in 2011 that 29% of the worlds subscription revenue will be from console systems, however Japan is expected to be almost completely PC driven. There are many potholes ahead in the road to expanding the online gaming market. Electronic Art's growth can be noted as one of the few examples that will stand out in particular. In fiscal 2005 alone, EA had generated $3.1 billion, of which $55 million was directly from online game subscription revenue. All in all the online gaming market is still one with a long road of improvements and changes ahead, time will only tell who the true beneficiaries of this large growth will be. However its beyond a shadow of a doubt that many opportunities are yet to be found in the online subscription based market.

The research done by DFC Intelligence resource services help to provide a detailed strategic analysis of the interactive entertainment industry.