This issue of NCsoft's Guild Wars State of the Game is all about the events that happened during the first major third-party sponsored tournament known as the 2008 RAWR Cup Title Series. More details about the tourney at the full article!

Uberguilds Radio has announced that Tabula Rasa Community Manager April "Cuppa Jo" Burba will be on hand on Saturday, July 21, at 3 P.M. EDT for a live interview.

Fans can submit questions for the interview so if you have any burning questions about Tabula Rasa, send 'em in. Those looking for Tabula Rasa beta keys should also try to catch the interview as Uberguilds radio will also be giving free beta keys to 35 lucky listeners.

Speaking of beta keys, the Uberguilds Radio interview announcement also mentions that gamers can also get free beta keys from GuildCafe every day until Saturday, July 21. The person who has invited the most friends to GuildCafe during the giveaway period will also get a special bonus of five beta keys.

Last week, we reported on players now being able to show their stuff from the WoW Armory on a social networking website. Now, Facebook has an updated World of Warcraft Import tool from GuildCafe that allows players to search for people in the same realm.

Aside from being able to import your Armory profile to your facebook, Version 2.0 will allow players to search for people playing in the same realm as they're in. Hmm... Probable use will be to search for guildies in the same area as you are - or to find out if your in-game *cough* girl friend is really of the female species. Jokes aside, this would be a nifty tool for finding, well...friends.

Would you use this feature? If so, for what? Share your thoughts.

MMORPG gamers are invited to visit PlayerVox, a newly established online magazine published by their fellow online gamers at the GuildCafe online community.

At PlayerVox's first issue, visitors can expect feature articles from famous personalities. One example includes sci-fi writer Charlie Stross and his piece "Life's a Game, and Then You Die: the Future of MMORPGs" which details his outlook on virtual worlds in the years to come. Mr. Stross is best remembered for his novella, "The Concrete Jungle", which won the Hugo Award for "Best Novella" in 2005.

For the more guild-oriented players, another featured article in PlayerVox magazine's initial lineup is an interview with Dragons, the guild master (GM) of The Syndicate guild. Originally established in 1996, The Syndicate is currently active in the Ultima Online and World of Warcraft MMORPGs, and houses 600 members, easily making it one of the largest online guilds known today. The interview will detail Dragon's thoughts on running a guild of this size.

The magazine will also feature the essay "Anatomy of an MMORPG", written by Jon "Tarinth" Radoff. This technical piece provides for an overview of how MMORPGs are designed, built, and operated, and should give online gamers a better sense of appreciation of the virtual worlds they inhabit. Also available at the site's first launch is a guild leader management guide and a general glossary of MMORPG terms. We recommend these essays for guys still getting used to their MMORPG of choice. Enjoy your read.

Wow, leading double lives really does seem to be all the rage right now: living one life in the real world and another entirely different one in your own virtual reality.

Well, you guys have seen the uncanny virtual-life and real-life tie-ups in Second Life, right? So anyway, remember when we first told you guys about GuildCafe, the online site that provides a social network for online gamers?

They've decided to add two more to their long list of features with the recently launched home pages and RSS feeds. These will help guild and clan leaders in organizing and promoting their gaming groups, what with the private forums and event scheduling they'll be able to have access to.

The people behind the GuildCafe social network believe that their site offers guild leaders more leeway in managing their groups than the usual "guild hosting" and "guild portal" services of other sites. And with intra-guild communication, news publication, importing score and profile information, and methods for finding new recruits and appropriate opponents - well, certainly can't argue with that, eh?

Jon Radoff, president and CEO of GuildCafe Entertainment Inc. says, "One of the main objectives of GuildCafe is to meet the needs of gamers not only as individuals, but as members of a gaming universe of guild members and leaders." True enough, that seems to be exactly what the GuildCafe is doing, so we say cheers to that and hopefully GuildCafe will prove to be successful with players of World of Warcraft, Guild Wars, and other similar MMORPGs.

Good thing for Second Life players, their chosen MMO doesn't require hours of grinding just to keep up with more hardcore players. We all know this is a rather big issue for World of Warcraft and other similar titles. But because of their nature - the need to orchestrate raids, to manage clans - it is understandable that players needed to stay online for a long period of time.

This is where GuildCafe Entertainment Inc. comes in. The Massachusetts-based company recently came up with an online community, albeit in beta testing, for all MMO players. Cleverly named GuildCafe, the online site aims to provide a social network for online players so they can express their gaming alter-egos and share information with one another.

"Whether gamers are looking to join a clan or guild, create something new, connect with other gamers, or simply have their own corner of the Web to voice opinions on favorite games and play-styles, GuildCafe is the place where it will all happen," proudly pitched Jon Radoff, GuildCafe Entertainment Inc. President and CEO.

Well, we think there's nothing wrong with giving it a shot. Besides, if you don't want to socialize, you can still use the community to talk to your clans. Aside from the already mentioned, other features of GuildCafe include:

• Personal web pages where members can parade their gaming history, guild/clan memberships, avatars, and play-style preferences
• Searchable database to find friends and meet new gamers
• Friends list to keep track of buddies and navigate the social network
• Interests tagging so players with similar likes and dislikes can find each other
• Upload-and-share capabilities for screenshots, photos and artwork
• Blogging tool with RSS – top-rated blogs appear on the “What’s New?” page
• Friend wall to display graffiti-style notes containing personalized messages for members
• Private areas for inter-guild communication
• “Respect” and “Fame” points to be earned and doled out
• Questionnaires to contribute to the network of games and play-styles
• Tools to identify and influence the hot new trends in MMORPGs, first-person shooters and other online games