A new report from Today’s Gamers International Survey, which collects information about gamers’ online spending, reveals the spending in MMOs in the US and in some of the European countries. According to the report, Americans spent £2.5 billion (appr. $3.8 billion USD) on MMOGs in 2009.

The same report puts British spending to £195 million, well ahead of France and Germany, each with £145 million and £165 million respective.

“Free to play” versus “Pay to play”

The majority of the British MMO players ..read the full article

Cataclysm rumours/info now in PC Gamer UK VERY BIG SpoilersIn the latest issue of PC Gamer (UK) is a 6 page article named '50 reasons to play Catalysm'. The vast majority of what is covered is already known/confirmed, however, there appears to be verifcation of certain rumours first made here on MMO-champion in the days before Blizzcon but that were never confirmed nor denied.

Just a note on the source before everyone starts screaming for links for scans. I don't have ..read the full article

Patch 3.3.3 - PTR Build 11655A new build has been deployed on test realms! So far it looks like the only changes are the ones from the official notes, but I'm digging.

Official Notes ChangesThe official notes have been updated once again! Quote from Blizzard staff Druid (Forums / Talent Calculator)Glyphs Glyph of Focus: Now increases the damage done by Starfall by 10%, down from 20%.

Hunter (Forums / Talent Calculator) Heart of the Phoenix: Cooldown reduced to 8 minutes, down from 10 ..read the full article

Free to Play MMORPG Aika Online will be entering Open Beta next week, according to publishers Gala-Net. We have previously held closed beta key giveaways here at The MMO Gamer, but starting March 16th, anybody can play the game.

New and returning Aika fans will be able to access a regular lineup of the exciting PvP events introduced during CB. Invading nations continuously attempt to steal valuable relics from their rivals in 1000 vs. 1000 battles, while weekly Castle Sieges ..read the full article

NBC Universal and Bigpoint announced today that they will be publishing a browser-based MMOG based on the Battlestar Galatica IP. The development will be handled by Norway-based studio Artplant.

Players will be able to choose to play as cylons or humans in a constant struggle to control the universe or just survive its perils. A blend of tactical space combat, exploration, and mission-based gameplay will provide a diverse experience. The dramatic missions will define the game’s overall storyline, enabling the player ..read the full article

Quest Online announced last week that it’s MMOG title Alganon will be removing its subscription fees ad repositioning itself as a free-to-play game with a micro-transaction market place.

QOL engaged Alganon as a Soft Launch in December for the purposes of refining the product and getting in-tune with the industry and player needs. There were two key things to do; refine the game, and review Alganon’s position in the market. QOL held back all marketing during the new year because many ..read the full article

Mastery System Preview Quote from: Eyonix (Source) Last week, we gave you an early look at the changes we’re making to the stat system in World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, and explained how these changes will ultimately provide players with more interesting gear choices and make stats easier to understand. Today we’d like to go into more detail about a brand-new feature that’s an integral part of this overhaul: the Mastery system, a set of new game mechanics designed to allow players to ..read the full article

Patch 3.3.3 - PTR Build 11643A new build has been deployed on test realms. So far it doesn't look like there are a lot of changes out there but stay tuned, test realms can be full of surprises!

Pets / MountsLil' XT finally got its own model, the name is VERY similar to Lil' K.T. and it wouldn't be surprising to see this pet appear on the Blizzard Store at some point.

On a sidenote, both Celestial Steed and X-53 ..read the full article

The weeks starts slowly because it's pretty hard to connect to the PTR these days, hopefully we will see a new PTR build very soon to fix the current issues.

Is Patch 3.3.3 going live this week?Not a chance. The last 2 ptr builds were fairly unstable and Blizzard would never risk pushing it live this week, especially with some of the developers and lead developers attending the GDC in San Francisco this week.

Blue posts Quote from Blizzard staff Healing and Mana ..read the full article

Ruby Sanctum - Info Compilation / Preview [Spoiler]Most of the Ruby Sanctum have been pushed in this patch and it looks like I have enough data in my hands for a small preview. As usual keep in mind that: This is only a preview based on game files, I could be wrong on a few things. Ruby Sanctum isn't even scheduled for release for Patch 3.3.3, it will be added with Patch 3.3.5 and a LOT of things can change in so ..read the full article

Lich King (10) Heroic World First Kill by ParagonThe Lich King finally died in Heroic Mode! Paragon finally defeated him in 10-man mode (the 5% Hellscream's Warsong was used for the kill). Congratulations to them!

From ParagonWe have now killed The Lich King on hard mode in 10-man Icecrown Citadel. Good job everyone who were on the kill and those who participated on the endless strategy discussion.

This encounter had a bug on the spirit phase which we reported 2 ..read the full article

World First Glory of the Icecrown Raider (25) by ExorsusThe russian guild Экзорсус (EU-Ревущий фьорд) is back and was the first guild in the world to complete Glory of the Icecrown Raider (25 player) a few hours ago (and before the zone-wide buff was activated in Europe, if you're wondering), they were rewarded with a brand new Icebound Frostbrood Vanquisher. They also got the World First Glory of the Icecrown Raider (10) 2 weeks ago. Congratulations to them!

Icecrown Citadel ..read the full article

Icecrown Citadel Zone-Buff is hereThe optional zone buff in the Icecrown Citadel is now available and will make the instance easier for whoever wants to use it. The buff currently increases total health, healing done and damage dealt by 5% but higher versions are in-game and will probably be activated later.

Strength of Wrynn (5%) / Hellscream's Warsong (5%) Strength of Wrynn (10%) / Hellscream's Warsong (10%) Strength of Wrynn (15%) / Hellscream's Warsong (15%) Strength of Wrynn (20%) / Hellscream's Warsong (20%) Strength ..read the full article

According to Turbine, the now free to play MMORPG Dungeons & Dragons Online: Eberron Unlimited has now surpassed 1 million new players since the game changed its business model to free to play. The game was released in early 2006 and was turned into a free to play game in 2009.

“The launch of DDO Unlimited has been a huge success and has really taken the game to a new level,” said Fernando Paiz, Executive Producer of DDO Unlimited. “As ..read the full article

Turbine, the developers of Lord of the Rings Online, released today the next major content update to its game. Book 1: Oath of the Rangers is now live for all LotRO players.

Introducing Volume III: Allies of the King – The epic story continues with Volume III which will introduce players to new lands, new threats, and new adventures, as the tide of destiny pushes them ever onwards into danger. Book 1: Oath of the Rangers begins in Rivendell, where Elrond ..read the full article

Cataclysm Stat & System Changes Quote from: Eyonix (Source) As many of you know from panels at last year’s BlizzCon and posts here on the forums since then, Cataclysm will bring about major changes to familiar character stats such as Intellect, Armor Penetration, Defense, and others, ultimately designed to make the effects of stats more easily understandable and make gear choices more interesting. As these changes will have a significant impact on how stats work and relate to one another, today we ..read the full article

Trojan succesfully hacks Authenticator Protected AccountsA new virus spawned on the internet a few days ago and seems to be the first trojan capable of hacking a WoW account protected by an Authenticator. It was confirmed by Blizzard a few hours ago. Quote from: Kropacius (Source) After looking into this, it has been escalated, but it is a Man in the Middle attack.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man-in-the-middle_attack

This is still perpetrated by key loggers, and no method is always 100% secure.

Basically, what the virus does ..read the full article

This news post will be updated constantly with new questions and answers

#BlizzChat Developer Chat on Twitter 2/26 Quote from: Bornakk (Source) Our next developer chat on Twitter is about to begin! Be sure to sign up for a Twitter account at https://twitter.com/signup and follow account @Warcraft in order to participate!

Please be sure to include the hashtag #BlizzChat when submitting your questions on Twitter so that we can find it.

Due to the limitations of providing complete answers within Twitter, all answers will be ..read the full article