Ongoing right now is the beta for Realtime Worlds' All Points Bulletin (APB).  Joss Davies, marketing boss, confirmed this news via email. Official statement after the jump.

An update on the official APB website reveals that  the game will now be made available for free on the PC. As to the other platforms (Xbox 360) and clients, something's also been said about those. Check it out after the jump.

It appears that Realtime Worlds' upcoming customization-heavy action MMO, APB, has finally been dated. Well, kind of anyway, since all we have is a month and not a specific release date.

It may not have registered in your radar when Realtime Worlds reacquired the license for the cops-and-robbers MMORPG All Points Bulletin weeks back. But rumor has it that APB will be pitched to Rockstar Games as Grand Theft Auto Online. More details after the jump.

While it's a fairly common practice for an MMORPG to have one company as a developer and the other as a distributor, there are cases wherein one company takes on both roles. Such is the case with Realtime Worlds, which recently regained global distribution rights to the MMORPG All Points Bulletin. More on this in the full article after the jump.

RealTime Worlds has raised another US$ 50 million from investors. The cash is rumored to be used to fund All Points Bulletin, a game revealed at the last Game Developers Conference. To find out more, head on over to the full article.

WEBZEN, a gaming development company based in Korea, just announced its list of games geared up for G-Star on November 9 to 12 at Seoul, South Korea.

Huxley (an FPS MMO powered by Unreal 3 engine),All Points Bulletin (designed by the original creator of GTA), Soul of the Ultimate Nation, Project Wiki (a fairy tale MMO that features cel-shaded cartoon animation), Kingdom of Warriors (a fantasy MMO based on a classic Chinese novel, "Romance of the Three Kingdoms"), and Parfait Station will be showcased at their booths. The lucky participants can try out Soul of the Ultimate Nations, while Huxley and Kingdom of Warriors demos will be provided.

And it seems that we aren't the only ones getting excited. "We are thrilled to participate in G-Star as it is an ideal platform to showcase WEBZEN's highly anticipated titles for the Korean market," NamJu Kim, chief executive officer of WEBZEN Inc, exclaims.

In a move that could be seen as a further testament to how commercialized gaming has been, Massive Incorporated and WEBZEN have inked a deal sealing plans to the latter's upcoming games to have in-game advertising. It's a first for both companies, with Massive deflowering the Asian market and WEBZEN a noobie in providing services to in-game advertising.

Frontlining the duo of WEBZEN production included in this tie-up is the much anticipated Huxley. The MMORPG title takes full advantage of the recently developed UNREAL3 engine to create unique gaming experience with up to 5,000 players converging in the same world.

The game's setting is an alternative future where humans have mutated and are divided into two opposing races - Sapiens and Alternative. The mutants are vying for the power Lunarities, in the process slaughtering the enemies they run against. This game is also coming out on Xbox 360.

All Points Bulletin, Huxley's brother, is a game dubbed as "Cops and Robbers MMO". Showing a glowing resemblance to the highly-successful (and controversial) Grand Theft Auto series (game was designed by GTA creators, so I guess that explains it), All Points Bulletin combines nearly limitless customization with intense urban action in a virtual city aka battleground. APB is planned for a 2008 release.

Recently acquired by Microsoft, Massive Incorporated is set to integrate real-world ad campaigns that are timely and enhance the game environment with more realism - let's just hope that happens. Imagine seeing flashing ads while you're deeply engrossed in slaying mutants or other enemies, that's just a turnoff.

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.