Manchester University has released the results of a study on the Gold Farming industry that guesstimates its profits at $500,000 a year. According to the study, titled “Current Analysis and Future Research Agenda on ‘Gold Farming’: Real-World Production in Developing Countries for the Virtual Economies of Online Games,” the industry employs 400,000 people world wide who take home an average of $125 a month.

Manchester University’s Richard Heeks told BBC News that although the study is sound, the Gold Farming industry is “a digital underworld populated by scammers and hackers and pornographers” so it’s hard to nail down exact figures.

“It seems unlikely to be less than $200 million per year, and it could well be more than $1 billion per year,” he said.

At those figures, you’ve got to wonder why every time you log into Lord of the Rings Online, World of Warcraft or any number of other MMOs you’re assaulted with offers as soon as you step inside civilization. Of course 80% of Gold Farmers are Chinese and their cost of living and standards of comfort can be quite different than those in the US.

Although the “services” Gold Farmers offer are annoying to most, they couldn’t exist without a demand. Steven Davis, chief of game security firm Secure Play agrees that it’s not likely this plague on MMOs will die out anytime soon.

“When you get people with more money than time and time than money the two will find a way to meet,” he said.

“You could get rid of it,” he said, “but you would get rid of one of the most fundamental parts of player-to-player interaction.”

Turbine is showing up at Penny Arcade Expo 2008 to show off the first Lord of the Rings Online expansion, Mines of Moria. Moria will take players into the ruins of an ancient Dwarven wonder. While this underground city is still a place of great beauty, its now home to creatures that fear the light and thrive in darkness.

For those of you not attending PAX, Turbine has released new screenshots for Moria which I’ve included in this article for your viewing pleasure. These and other screens and videos for LotRO: Mines of Moria can be found on FileFront. Look for the expansion to hit store October 15 in the States.

These new screens from Turbine depict the Hollin Gate entrance to Moria. You may recall, providing you read the book and saw the film “The Fellowship of the Ring”, that the Hollin Gate the western entrance to Moria where the large lake outside if it contains the “watcher in the water”.

What thrills me most about The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar and keeps me coming back for more, is that Turbine has seen fit to bring all of “into” Tolkien’s world. We get to interact with the face, places, and monsters we were so enthralled with in the books. The Mines of Moria expansion will only make the game better, and I for one am ecstatic that we do not have much longer to wait.

For more images of from the Mines of Moria expansion and Hollin Gate, click here.

If you have not figured out that I am extremely excited over the Mines of Moria expansion for Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar, then I am not as easy to see through as I initially thought.

Every time a screen comes out for the game, it is a constant reminder that Fall is just a scant few weeks away and I will soon be able to see the enormous underground Dwarven complex with its vast network of tunnels, chambers, mines and huge halls deep within the Misty Mountains. Just think of all the neat places within Moria that are part of Tolkien lore that we will be privy to: The Doors of Durin, Dimrill Gate, Chamber of Mazarbul, the Bridge of Khazad-dûm, the Tomb of Balin, the Endless Stair and many more could be included within this expansion – the possibilities for adventure and danger are endless.

This new artwork depicts some of the environments and monsters to be added with the expansion, as well as non-player characters (Durin VI and Nain) and the first new classes to be introduced since LptRO’s launch (Rune-keeper and Warden). You can view more artwork for the Mines of Moria by hitting this link. The expansion is expected to be released for the PC on October 15.

In case you all have not figured it out by now, I play LotRO all the time. It was my first MMO, and although originally being forced to play it by our former News Editor Ron – and kicking and screaming the whole way – I enjoy the game very much.

Being a huge Tolkien nerdette I am pretty excited about the new Mines of Moria expansion, so when the trailer arrived in my inbox this morning, I was a happy girl. While the trailer is not the most informative trailer I have seen, or the best one, I am happy they have given us something nonetheless. So, if like me, you are excited about the new expansion coming out this Fall, this trailer should make you look forward to it a bit more even if it does not show us any actual gameplay.

Turbine announced today its partnership with Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment to distribute The Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria at retail in North America.  As part of the announcement, Turbine unveiled its fall product lineup which includes two titles that will be available at retail, The Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria Complete Edition and The Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria Collector’s Edition, as well as a digital only title for existing subscribers, The Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria Digital Expansion.

The Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria expands the online world of Middle-earth to let players continue the ultimate interactive adventure in the largest and most dangerous online underground environment ever created.  Players will be able to explore the ancient underground cities of the dwarves, battle epic characters in the depths, face off with the Watcher, be a part of the fateful release of Durin’s Bane and more.  In addition to the Legendary Item system, The Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria features groundbreaking dual height map technology that creates a seamless, vast, and epic environment that brings Moria to life like never before. The Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria extends the challenge to new heights with two new classes, ten additional levels and hundreds of new quests.

The Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria – Fall 2008 Product Lineup:

• The Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria Complete Edition will include the original The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar game (Volume I), all content updates released since launch, and The Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria (Volume II).  The Complete Edition will be available at retail stores nationwide and offers new players who wish to journey through the most complete and authentic recreation of Middle-earth the full, award-winning  experience.

• The Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria Collector’s Edition will feature the content of the Complete Edition as well as compelling digital and physical items for collectors.  Limited quantities of the Collector’s Edition will be available at retail outlets in a unique leather-bound book packaging and will include:

• • 3 exclusive tokens that can be exchanged for the player’s choice of 8 different in-game items
  • 22” x 22” premium quality cloth map of the Mines of Moria
  • Special gold-plated ring complete with chain and pouch
  • Mines of Moria poster
  • The Lord of the Rings Online Art and Music Collection with the official Mines of Moria Soundtrack
  • A full color Collector’s Edition Starter Guide

• The Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria Digital Expansion is a digital upgrade that will allow existing subscribers to The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar to continue the ultimate interactive adventure into the vast, terrifying and unparalleled world beneath Middle-earth.

This award-winning massively multiplayer online role playing game delivers an interactive experience brimming with life and filled with the familiar people, places and monsters from the most beloved fantasy of all time. From the picturesque surroundings of the Shire to Moria, the most fearsome underground realm ever imagined, players will experience the world of Middle-earth as never before.

The expansion is expected to be released in the Fall. Check back with us often for a solid release date.

For more of the new artwork sent to us by Turbine today from the Mines of Moria expansion, click here.

Via: Press Release

Codemasters has announced the EU release of Book 14: The Ring Forges, the latest free content update for LotRO Shadows of Angmar.

Book 14: The Ring-forges of Eregion brings a wide array of changes to LotRO, including the addition of Eregion, the continuation of the epic questline, and preparations for Moria.  Codematsers has also been hard at work adding even more player-requested features to the game.

Highlights:

• Eregion: Journey to where the Elven Rings were forged
• Epic Quest: The epic quest continues with world events that open up the adventure to every player across all servers
• Moria Prelude Quests: Aid the Fellowship of the Ring as they prepare to leave Rivendell and make their way toward Mordor.
• Dungeons: The loot dropped in all instances and raids is being upgraded, and bosses and mobs are being adjusted to make for even better play experiences! Now is the time to prepare for the dangers that dwell in Moria
• Animation Improvements: LOTRO continues to polish the experience
• Animations and sounds for each Minstrel skill using their equipped instrument (no longer just the Lute!)
• Monster play emote animations for Orc, Uruk, Spider and Warg
• New animations for 12 emotes – plus three new animated emotes

You can get the EU Patch by hitting the badge below. Full release notes are listed after the jump.

Read the full article »

The latest Developers Diary for Book 14 of Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar focuses on the instances within Angmar itself. The three new instances Urugarth, Carn Dûm and Barad Gúlaran come with some new loot to help the heroes of Middle-Earth conquer and prepare them for the Moria expansion. The Angmar Armor set is part of the new content for Book 14.

In addition to entirely new content, players will find adjustments to existing instances and armor sets in the Book 14 update. The Annúminas armor has been tweaked so that it will match the difficulty of the Annúminas instances. Raids into Helegrod will now use barter items for armor drops within the instance.

One of the changes I look forward to is the addition of repeatable quests that encourage players to revisit Epic instances. It should cut down on the time it takes for characters that haven’t done them to gather a fellowship big enough to take them on.

For the full details on which instances will be affected, read the Book 14: Instance Updates dev diary on the Lord of the Rings Online.

With the release Book 14, The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar will be ready to advance the overarching storyline to the point where the Fellowship of the Ring leaves Rivendell. this is quite a feat as the nine members of the Fellowship are currently scattered throughout Rivendell and involved in some 51 quests. A new Developer Diary explains how this will be accomplished without breaking quest chains and with as little disturbance to immersion as possible.

Although the exact details are explained in the article, basically, the nine fellowship members will continue to exist in Rivendell. They will be moved into two out of the way time-frozen interiors so that they can be found for those quests, but they will also exist in new landscape locations in Lothlórien. Read the full dev diary to see just how complicated this simple maneuver is on the Lord of the Rings Online.

Book 14: Ring-forge of Eregion, hit the LotRO servers last night, and the influx of gamers logging on to take part in the new book caused the servers to start acting, well you know how choppy and rubberbandish it can get in Bree. It was basically like that almost everywhere. At least that is the reason some of us discussed last night regarding the server issues, but Turbine should have it fixed in no time.

Mean while, Book 14, which delivers the finale to the epic story from Volume I and adds several new storytelling mechanics combined with live in-world events, will unlock the prelude quests that will lead players to the Mines of Moria, the first expansion pack to LotRO scheduled to be released this Fall.

To advance through the story though, gamers must complete a quest which requires them to collect 5 fragments of Eregion’s Lost Lore (ring-lore). Each time a player completes the quest, not only do they get a reward, but they also bring their server closer to opening the other chapters in Book 14. I play on the Nimrodel server, and so far (as of this post) we have collected 2,111/70,000 bits of ring-lore. The good news is that you can repeat the quest every few hours which will help open up more chapters for all on the server.  So, do the quest as many times as you can!

Turbine has also released a handful of new Book 14 screenshots depicting the new Moria prelude quests, which you can view below.