Real-money traders beware! ArenaNet is cracking down on those accounts who are engaging in dubious trading practices such as real-money trading in its premier MMO title Guild Wars. In our full article, you can take a look at some of the preventive measures the company is implementing to police such activities in the game. Read more on this after the jump.

You'd think that it's about time that Ultima Online: Kingdom Reborn did something in the face of free-to-play MMORPGs spawning left and right, but actually, they had something for some time now. Just in case you missed this little goodie, we'll spread the news far and wide: EA Mythic is giving out a two week free trial for players interested in experiencing a graphically improved Ultima Online with the new Kingdom Reborn client. More details at the full story.

After hearing the news yesterday about Halifax not accepting payments from World of Warcraft subscribers due to fraudulent accounts, some of you might be thinking to switch their accounts to a different bank.

However, Halifax made sure that this not entirely necessary. Know more about this after the jump!

With a little more than a week under Flagship Studios' Hellgate: London, a small host of problems have already assailed the post-apocalyptic themed MMORPG. The biggest issue encountered so far was the billing problem reported just yesterday.

Flagship Studios Senior Community Manager Kaiser Hwang said that they have been working on the clock to resolve the problem. The apology and the proposed solutions can be found by clicking the "read more" link below.

Here's some good news for those who want to try out a new MMO experience. Lockpick Entertainment has announced that starting this week, their MMORTS title Dreamlords will be free to play for a ten-day trial period.

Dreamlords lets players play the role of a Dreamlord controlling a patria, which is a fancy name for a chunk of land floating around in the game's universe. The patria has its own population and resources and will serve as a player's base of operations as they struggle to manage their territory.

The ten-day free trial is open to everyone interested. You don't need a credit card to participate and there are no strings attached, so check it out. You can join via the Dreamlords website at www.dreamlords.com.

Uhh...big whoopee? Probably for the addicted World of Warcraft player who forgets to bring cash the next time he renews his subscription, the World of Warcraft VISA card is now available to provide a better payment option for purchasing gold...err. Or something like that.

 

Together with the First National Bank of Omaha, Blizzard will be providing added offers and benefits to the plastic wallet that caters to the avid World of Warcraft gamer. Aside from an introductory 0% APR and no annual fees, the card will also offer gametime rewards for qualifying purchases, plus one month subscription-worth of World of Warcraft. Other features include:

• Purchase Protection
• Extended Warranty
• Travel Assistance Services
• Travel Accident Insurance (US$ 250,000 for you and your family)
• Up to a 25% discount at select car rental agencies

But handling a credit card is a big responsibility and no laughing matter. Pay your dues late, always maximizing your credit and other derogatory purchase activity will force the service to impose certain changes on the account terms. Hop on over to the "Read" link below to learn more.

You remember that security advisory both issued by Microsoft and the World of Warcraft about Windows' vulnerability? Hackers are apparently taking advantage of how Windows handles moving cursors and are now targeting WoW account information.

Microsoft released a patch to counter the problem that surfaced late last month. Investigators have discovered that hackers can insert their malicious codes via a number of ways. They can create a dummy site (for phishing), have other sites host the code, or hack into sites and insert the codes into it (preferrably a popular one). It was reported that a Chinese hacking group cashed in on the animated cursor flaw by hacking into the Superbowl site and inserted the spyware there.

The analysts learned that the hackers are focusing their attention toward World of Warcraft account information - which is now surprisingly more expensive than credit card information. According to Symantec, a credit card can be bought at US$ 6 while WoW account info rings in at US$ 10. When you consider rare items and gold sales, it could go up some more. Much more.

The patch to remedy the flaw was released last April 3. Be sure to run automatic updates or download the patch manually. You can't be too careful.

Have you ever thought of the possibility that MMORPGs could be used by terrorists to recruit and teach people how to blow up stuff? The Counterterrorism Blog ("The first multi-expert blog dedicated solely to counterterrorism issues") has. Here are a few snippets from an entry by Andrew Cochran.

Many of the overwhelmingly positive features of Second Life can be adapted for negative Real Life means. The rapid and potent way in which communication takes place would seem to be an ideal platform for recruitment into radical groups, especially given the age range of those engaged in the world, which is typically 18-34. The teaching capabilities of the world can clearly be adapted for use by terrorists.

You may be asking yourself (or your monitor, if you're one of those kinds of people), "How's it going to work, anyway?" Cochran has the answer.

Streaming video can be uploaded into Second Life and a scenario can easily be constructed whereby an experienced terrorist bomb-maker could demonstrate how to assemble bombs using his avatar to answer questions as he plays the video. Using the decentralized organization effect, already successfully used by SL companies, the bomb-maker and his pupils can be spread around the globe and using instant language translation tools (available in the world) could be speaking a variety of languages.

And that's not even the worst part.

...possibly by far the most useful tool currently available to radical groups is the ability to transfer in-world money between avatars that can be translated into real currency. The Second Life currency of Lindens (approximately $270L to $1US) can be bought using a credit card in one country and credited to one avatar (account) and can be given to a co-conspirator avatar in another country.

Please note that the article also mentions other MMORPGs, (World of Warcraft, for one), but Second Life is mainly used as an example because it is, in the author's words, the "purest version of a digital 3-D world."

The whole thing sounds a bit farfetched, but who knows? If the terrorists haven't thought about it yet, then they certainly know about it now. Click on the "via" link below for the full article on the Counterterrorism Blog.

If you're one of the people who didn't manage to snag one of the 2.4 million copies of Burning Crusade that got sold on launch day - or you just couldn't bear the thought of getting out of your chair, driving to the store, and buying one - then stop fretting.

Blizzard updated the official World of Warcraft website today with news that The Burning Crusade is now available as a direct online upgrade for the game. To download your copy, just log in to your WoW account, click the Burning Crusade "download now" button, and shell out US$ 39.99 using your trusty old credit card.

No more exhaustive physical activity, and while you've got your credit card out, grab a pizza or two. You can munch on it while waiting for the download to finish.

If you think launch parties are for consoles only, think again. Though EverQuest II: EoF was already released last week, it is yet to be launched with a bang so to speak. It is in this light that SOE teamed up with iGames to host events deserving of EQ II's stature.

The events would be all held simultaneously on November 25 in 50 select iGames member centers across North America, including Canada and Mexico. Food and drinks will be served for all participants while they enjoy free game time. This is not to mention the chance to win free copies of the game as well as a free promo card to create a character and play with no credit card required.

Furthermore, in-game item "The Greatstaff of the Sun Serpent" can be tried in these events together with the game's development team themselves. The winged, silent creature possesses ruby-inset eyes that make your enemies come at striking distance against their will.

Existing subscribers will just have to provide their character's name and server to participate. If that doesn't sound a party enough, EQ II t-shirts will be given to all participants until supplies last. Interested parties can click on the read link below to know where's the nearest participating center from them.