As part of their ongoing national tour, developers of the self-titled apocalyptic MMO Fallen Earth announced a contest where their fans will have the opportunity to choose the final tour stop. The final stop is slated for May 2 at an undetermined location and will let fans the chance to meet the dev team, demo the game and collect a surprise in-game item.

The tour consisted of previous stops in Raleigh, N.C., Baltimore, M.D. and more, including the GDC in San Francisco.

“GDC provides us with an excellent opportunity to showcase the in-game elements we have been working on since we went into closed beta,” said Lee Hammock, lead game designer for Fallen Earth. “Our testing community has been instrumental in helping us develop a more compelling game environment and we are excited to give them the opportunity to choose the last destination on our national tour.”

Fallen Earth is currently in closed beta testing and is set to launch later this year.

Blizzard today announced that it will be capitalizing on its own customers by releasing World of Warcraft-themed flavors of Mountain Dew Game Fuel.

Reflecting opposing sides, there will be Alliance Blue and Horde Red, both of which will debut this summer at your local 7-11 store. More details are coming soon.

Marvel is taking another stab at online multiplayer games, as the company has signed an exclusive 10-year deal with Lego Universe publisher Gazillion Entertainment to develop its comic book properties into MMOGs.

This report by Wall Street Journal says that the companies will share revenue of the games. They are expected to announce details on the partnership tomorrow.

The comic book publisher had a MMO in development dubbed Marvel Universe Online. It was being developed by Cryptic Studios for PC and Xbox 360 until its cancelation by publisher Microsoft over Blizzard’s dominance in the MMO market.

Square Enix today announced that the first in a series of three previously announced add-on scenarios for Final Fantasy XI will be available for purchase on March 23.

Dubbed “A Crystalline Prophecy – Ode to Life Bestowing”, the DLC will be available exclusively for online purchase through the PlayOnline viewer and will cost £7.99.

Masato Kato, who created stories and scenarios for the game, has led the creation of these content packages. The other two – “A Moogle Kupo d’Etat” and “A Shantotto Ascension” – will be released later this year.

In an official question and answer session, Blizzard thoroughly outlined dual talent specialization, an update that is coming soon to World of Warcraft.

To be included in the next patch, dual talent speccing will allow players to easily switch between two different talent specs, glyph and hotbar setups. Level 80 characters will be able to gain the ability by paying a one-time training fee.

Once gained, the talent specs can be switched at any Lexicons of Power. These lexicons will be available in major in-game cities; inscribers will be able to create an item that summons one.

“We will be launching the feature with just two specs, but depending on how we feel it works out, we might consider additional specs in the future,” said Warcraft senior designer Greg Street.

Some new screenshots from Star Wars: The Old Republic have been released, showing the homeworld of classic Star Wars character Jabba the Hutt.

Blizzard Entertainment today announced that Wrath of the Lich King, its second expansion pack for World of Warcraft, has sold more than 2.8 million copies in its first day of availability, making it the fastest-selling PC game of all time. The record was previously held by the studio’s other expansion for WoW – The Burning Crusade – released back in January 2007, selling nearly 2.4 million copies during its first day at retail.

“We’re grateful for the incredible support that players around the world have continued to show for World of Warcraft,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “Wrath of the Lich King contains some of the best content we’ve created for the game so far, and we look forward to seeing even more players log in to experience it in the days ahead.”

The expansion adds a whole new continent to explore, the Death Knight hero class and more. World of Warcraft, prior to the launch of the expansion, had more than 11 million players.

Spellborn sends word that the closed beta signup process for The Chronicles of Spellborn has ended. Players will be informed starting tomorrow the starting date of the open beta.

Additionally, the developer noted that the NDA for closed beta testers and press parties is dropped as of today. Expect to see previews and impressions pop up across the Internet.

It seems that developer Funcom will stay true to its promise, announcing that the “next major game update” for Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures will add DirectX 10 support to the popular MMORPG.

Newly appointed game director Craig Morrison wrote that the DX10 addition would not be a ‘gimmick’ to the game, noting that they are currently trying to “find the right balance between visuals and performance.”

It was not specified when the update would arrive. However, Morrison did reveal that it will feature two new dungeons aimed towards “maximum level players” and more.

Sony’s long-running and way past its prime MMORPG EverQuest 2’s latest expansion The Shadow Odyssey is scheduled to launch worldwide today. It is the fifth expansion for the franchise and will add even more content to the game. A compilation pack for gamers is now available via retail stores and digital download for $39.99.

“The storyline of The Shadow Odyssey allows players to explore uncharted regions in the virtual world of Norrath while experiencing nostalgic areas made famous in the original EverQuest almost 10 years ago,” said Bruce Ferguson, senior producer, Sony Online Entertainment. “This expansion comes on the heels of the highest selling expansion to date, Rise of Kunark, and the incredibly successful Living Legacy program, which ran over the summer months and attracted large numbers of new and returning players who are ready for exciting new adventures.”

The add-on adds more than 20 new zones, nostalgic EverQuest dungeon themes and increases the Achievement Point level cap to 200. It also adds a new Dungeon Delving mission system and five new Heritage Quests with unique rewards. Two new deities and more have added as well.

Following up from news that Ubisoft has acquired Massive Entertainment, Kotaku carries a quote from Ubisoft president and CEO Yves Guillemot saying Massive will play a key role in the publisher’s MMO strategy. However, their efforts will be less than massive, noting that they will first focus on “light” MMOs that are very popular in Asia.

Said Guillemot: "We just bought it from them since those guys have Blizzard so they didn’t need that studio as much as we do, and those guys are extremely strong in RTS (real-time strategy), so they are going to help us also get closer to the MMO space. Our goal there is to go first with light MMOs…that have been extremely popular in China but are also coming in the U.S. and Europe and are generating lots of good revenue, so our goal is first to start with light MMOs, and then in the future also come with RPG and RTS, also in the MMO space."

Funcom has launched a free update for Age of Conan, terming it the largest gameplay content addition since launch. The update adds the new outdoor area of Ymir’s Pass where players will now be able to partake in more quests, meet new characters, slay new monsters and experience a new storyline. It also adds a new dungeon – the Amphitheater – that reportedly holds “one of the most epic and memorable monster encounters ever created for the game.”

"This is an important update that opens up a lot of new gameplay content for players who have already passed the level fifty mark," says game director Craig Morrison. "In the months ahead we will introduce even more new content, and coming up soon are two exciting new high-level dungeons intended for players who have reached the maximum level. At this stage adding more content and keeping people entertained is very important to us!"

Below are a couple of screenshots from the update.

Speaking at the London World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King launch, Blizzard’s Paul Sams and Lee Spark answered questions about their unannounced MMORPG they have been tight-lipped about so far. That stance didn’t change, as they would reveal no information on the project, though they did point out the reason for the silence: it is early in development.

The duo also fielded questions about console development, which they shot down, noting that there is a “lot more that can be done on a PC.” They also talked about paid character customization in WoW, which they pointed out acts as a deterrent for users for wanting to jump between appearances and whatnot.

Said Sams: "We want to give you the ability to do this, but we don’t want you to do it all the time. The same thing goes for paid character transfer, we don’t want people bouncing back and forth. It serves as a tool for people to do it, but also as a deterrent to not do it too much, and also allows us to have the staff to be able to continually manage the population.”

The epic fantasy series The Wheel of Time by late author Robert Jordan is being transferred to movies, according to VentureBeat, who reports that Red Eagle Entertainment, the company holding the media rights to the franchise, has formed Red Eagle Games to lead development on the games.

The company hopes to make a trilogy of films on which a trilogy of games will also be made. In addition, they plan on making a massively multiplayer online game based on the franchise’s universe.

Surprisingly, platforms were mentioned: all consoles, PC, handhelds and wireless platforms. Damn, that’s ambitious! No release dates were given though.

To promote their various subscription-free MMORPGs, Nexon today announced a partnership with convenience store 7-Eleven. They will offer game disks and promotional Slurpee cups offering in-game items.

“7-Eleven is a great advocate of free-to-play online games, and now millions of its customers will have the chance to join in the fun through the pre-loaded DVDs that allow them to quickly install our games with the click of the mouse,” said Min Kim, vice president of marketing for Nexon America. “Then, once they’re in one of our games, which span from role playing to first-person shooters, they can use the Slurpee game codes to access free, exclusive content.”