Magic in Wizard101
There are six main schools of magic and a meta-school that modifies the use of the other six. The three external schools are Fire, Ice, and Storms, and they relate to the ancient Titans that ruled the world in the Days Before (dragons, giants, and tritons). There are three internal schools, Myth, Life, and Death, which encompass the internal powers of the mind, body, and spirit. The school of Balance blends all of these. Each of the six major schools exhibits a feel and philosophy, in rhythm with its own nature. In addition, each of the three inner schools dwells in the midst of two outer schools, drawing some small part of themselves from those framing forces.
Inner Schools
The spells of the inner or internal schools focus their energies on channeling your own power, drawing on your life force to create what you need. Each school has its own particular method of doing such, but each one is fed by an internal force.
School of Death (Body)
“Timor mortis conturbat me.” (The Fear of Death Confounds Me)
Death is finality, absolutism, the study of the corporeal. All things pass eventually, and time cannot be held back indefinitely. Practitioners of the Death Art, known as Necromancers, understand this limitation and strive to face it unafraid, making the most of the time they have. Beware, though; some among its adherents grow morbid or try to cheat death through undeath. Necromancers use Whispers to hone their will, drawing on the power of courage to channel their own fears out of themselves and at their adversaries. Death sits between Ice and Storms, for the cold energy of undeath draws on those two forces.

Screens after jump (more…)

Rumble Fighter, OGPlanet’s massively multiplayer online fighting game, offers plenty of ways for players to customize their characters, but now players also have the chance to customize their own wardrobes in Rumble Fighter-style.

Beginning today, Rumble Fighter players have the opportunity to design their very own T-shirts inspired by OGPlanet’s massively multiplayer online fighting game. The Rumble Fighter-inspired designs can include up to eight colors, and should be designed to look great on the front of a black T-shirt.
Rumble Fighter players have until Sept. 10 to submit T-shirt designs on the Rumble Fighter MySpace page (www.myspace.com/rumblefighter). The following week, voting will be held on the OGPlanet forums to determine the best designs, and on Sept. 15 the top T-shirt design will be announced.

The players who submitted the top 10 T-shirt designs will each receive a real T-shirt emblazoned with the winning design.

Further details regarding the Rumble Fighter T-shirt design contest can be found at http://rf.ogplanet.com.

The First Release of the Star Wars Galaxies Trading Card Game, “Champions of the Force” Now Available

LucasArts and Sony Online Entertainment announced today the launch of the Star Wars Galaxies™ Trading Card Game and its first release: Champions of the Force.

Star Wars Galaxies Trading Card Game: Champions of the Force marks the first ever Star Wars® trading card game offered exclusively online. Available to both current and former Star Wars Galaxies subscribers*, the Star Wars Galaxies Trading Card Game provides players an entirely new gameplay experience by combining the challenge of a trading card game with the adventures and community of the massively multiplayer game. For the first time online, players can:

· Choose between the light and dark sides of the Force and build their own Star Wars Galaxies Trading Card Game decks to fight virtual matches for the Rebel, Imperial, Jedi or Sith;
· Enhance their digital card decks with 15-card Booster Packs;
· Find more than 20 “loot” cards in the first release, Champions of the Force, that can be redeemed for fantastic virtual items for use within the Star Wars Galaxies massively multiplayer game for players with a Star Wars Galaxies account*;
· Challenge their skills in story-based solo-play or against other Star Wars Galaxies Trading Card Game players in epic one-on-one matches, cooperative Heroic Encounters, and official tournaments. (more…)

NIS America announced today that Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice for the PlayStation 3 Computer Entertainment System has shipped to retailers nation
wide. Disgaea 3 incorporates features that made the original a fan favorite, while living up to its “Do anything & try everything” philosophy by making radical improvements. One such change is the new netherworld campus setting which gives the game a demented new twist to the Disgaea world.

About Disgaea 3
Disgaea 3 is a sequel to Disgaea, a hardcore, turn‐based, strategy RPG popular on the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable. In Disgaea, character units have a limit to their movement and attack ranges, based on level and weapons equipped. There are other special game factors that let you take advantage of the 3D battle map many of which are unique to Disgaea.

One of the many new feature to Disgaea®3 is the addition of a Geo Block, which creates a 3 dimensional battle instead of the traditional 2D. Much of Disgaea®3 is yet to be unveiled, but rest assured, plenty is due to arrive in the coming months.

Key Features
Geo Block ‐ A cube‐shaped terrain‐altering object. Players can use it to access and attack enemies where normally they cannot reach.
Geo Panel ‐ A group of stat‐altering elemental properties that are placed upon certain parts of the battlefield. When there are one or more colored panels on the battle grid, it means an element can affect that area. The effect can boost or reduce your unit’s stats.
Item World ‐ A special randomly‐generated battle stage within each and every item you find. By defeating these special battle stages, you are able to strengthen your items.

Massive gallery of screens and trailer after jump (more…)

Meet Alison Carroll – actress, gymnast and arguably the greatest living embodiment of Lara Croft so far.

Starr Long, the Producer of Tabula Rasa® at NCsoft® North America, talks about the newest changes to the game with Deployment 11 and the impact of Operation Immortality™.

We’ve seen a lot of attention focused on Tabula Rasa® within the last few months, culminating with the release of Deployment 11 last week and the launch of Operation Immortality™ in July. The influx of new players from our promotions has been great, and with the monthly updates we’re continually keeping our veteran players happy with new and interesting content. While we push forward with continuing to develop and promote Tabula Rasa, it’s important to examine how we’re accomplishing this and there’s no better example than Deployment 11.

starr_long.JPGWith all these new players coming into the game, we knew we had to look at our new user experience and make sure it was the best we could possibly have. We engaged in video-taped usability sessions and other metrics to determine what new players were doing and what we could do better. Then we re-examined the course of the game, as well as the storyline, to see how we could integrate new players better into our universe. When a new player finishes watching the intro trailer to Tabula Rasa, their first moments afterwards should be a continuation of that story. The new player experience needed to convey that Tabula Rasa is a science fiction game, and you’re put into the meat of the drama almost immediately. We also wanted to manage the tutorial system better, as well as the context and delivery of the gameplay tips. Our incoming players and even the veterans who have gone through the new player experience agree: it’s awesome.

Speaking of the veterans, we can’t just concentrate on the new players. Our community and support teams do a terrific job supporting a constant slew of activities for everyone to participate in, many of which the community creates themselves. There are plenty of fun events and feature exclusive content on the public test server (PTS), like the Friday Night Fights boxing matches—including a bout you might have heard about, featuring General British trading blows with Jesus Chavez. We have a player vs. player (PvP) wargame map and even something else that’s very current to the times, a Tabula Rasa-themed Olympics created by the PlanetTR fansite staff. (more…)

Highly anticipated prequel will release worldwide on September 5

GSC Game World, computer games developer, its publishing subdivision GSC World Publishing and Deep Silver, the games label of Koch Media, a leading producer and distributor of digital entertainment products, today announce that S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky has gone gold. The international release date of the game has been set to September 5th of 2008.

More information about the game is available on the official S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky channel on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/stalkerofficial

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky is a survival FPS game for PC based on a ‘what-if’ scenario of the second Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant accident. The game is created as a warning to mankind against mindless play with technologies. S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky is the official prequel to the renowned S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game by the Ukraine-based GSC Game World studio. The game is set in 2011and brings forth the events to have preceded the third campaign of Strelok to the Zone center. S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky introduces an alternative look onto the events of the original game and offers the player to try himself out as a mercenary s.t.a.l.k.e.r. in search of his own path in the world of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
Official game site: www.stalker-game.com

Scott Johnson, Olympic gold medalist, three time National Champion, and 2006 Olympic Hall of Fame inductee, has been invited to send his DNA into space as part of NCsoft’s Operation Immortality

Operation Immortality™, a project intended to collect and archive the very best of what humanity has accomplished, is creating a digital time capsule of the human race, including messages from people around the world and DNA samples from some of our brightest minds and most accomplished athletes. Scott Johnson, Olympic gold medalist in gymnastics, three-time National Champion and 2006 USA Olympic Hall of Fame inductee, now stands among those who have been asked to participate in Operation Immortality’s mission to preserve the most talented and influential people of our time, and has submitted his DNA to be added to the capsule.

Johnson, represented by 4U Management in Orlando, Florida, is most commonly known for leading the U.S. Men’s Olympic gymnastics team to victory in 1984 in Los Angeles, when he emerged out of nowhere to win the title and help the U.S. win its first gymnastics team medal since the early 1930’s. He then went on to captain the U.S. Men’s Olympic Team in the 1988 games, before retiring later that year.

Now, twenty years later, Scott is once again being recognized by being invited to add his DNA to the “Immortality Drive” and have it placed upon the International Space Station (ISS) when video gaming luminary Richard Garriott makes the exhilarating journey to the ISS on Oct. 12, 2008.
“Participating in Operation Immortality is an incredible privilege,” says Johnson. “Knowing that my DNA will be immortalized for all time and that I have been chosen as one of mankind’s most “accomplished athletes” is truly an honor.”

The “Immortality Drive,” is currently in the process of being loaded with information from people all over the world at the OperationImmortality.com website. Players in Garriott’s latest game, Tabula Rasa®, will also have their character information downloaded onto the drive.

“This is your chance to leave your mark,” says Garriott. “I’m thrilled to have Scott Johnson on board with me.”

Mankind is encouraged to submit their suggestions for humanity’s greatest achievements, and leave their immortalized message for future generations. A select few may also have their DNA chosen to join Garriott, Johnson and other icons on an out-of-this-world experience, and possibly become the future of mankind.

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Fast-Paced Action Hunting Game Can Be Played Head-to-Head or With Up to Four Players

Video game publisher Mastiff announced today that they have teamed up with developers SCS Software and Kouyousha to bring the award-winning arcade-style, multi-player hunting series, Deer Drive, to Wii™ this fall.

Deer Drive meshes hunting simulation with arcade style pick-up-and-play action and pacing for an exciting gaming experience. Deer Drive is the first deer hunting game that features two player simultaneous play. Additionally, Deer Drive features a multitude of gameplay modes, including four player party mode, true-to-life sound effects, passive and aggressive prey, and a slew of hunting weapons.

“Deer Drive is an entirely different animal when it comes to hunting games,” said Bill Swartz, head woof at Mastiff. “Most hunting games are slow moving simulations with frustrating controls. Deer Drive is all about shooting, all about pick-up-and-play fun and being a more accurate marksman and better hunter than your friends.”

Deer Drive Features:

• Arcade-style multiplayer action hunting on Wii for the first time.
• Pick-Up-And-Play: Lock, load, and take down some bucks. Just be ready to defend yourself from aggressive mountain lions, bears, charging moose and other dangerous situations.
• Multiplayer: Play head-to-head with a friend or with up to four players in Party Mode.
• Optimized to work with Wii Remote™ or the Wii Zapper™ accessory.
• Changing weather creates dynamic hunting conditions over varied terrain. Ethical hunting integral to game.
• Challenging for casual and hard-core players alike.
• Ethical hunting integral to the game