Last week we saw the id/Bethesda merger under parent company ZeniMax Media and there was much rejoicing, but what if Electronic Arts merged its two online game developers into one giant super developer wouldn’t that raise some eyebrows and be general cause for mass excitement?

Well that actually happened as the publishing giant reorganized a bit putting RPG mavens Bioware and long time MMO developers Mythic in the same division. While the two studios will remain mostly autonomous for the time being, they now both have a single reporting line up the chain to the big bosses and money men. That single leader? Bioware’s Dr. Ray Muzyka.

Dr. Muzyka’s ascencion to the head of the organization basically also points to the exit of Mythic’s longtime leader Mark Jacobs. According to Jacob’s blog the MMO pioneer is taking a sabatical for awhile and he leaves with a classy ‘I’m not going to dish on anything, I’m just going to thank folks and peacefully step aside’ sort of announcement – a classy response that we don’t get to see so often these days.

Regarding the future path of the now combined studio’s efforts, Dr. Muzyka indicated in an official response over on IGN that:

Anything’s possible. We can’t say it wouldn’t happen. There’s no active plans, currently to do that, but the teams at Mythic and BioWare I know from talking to all of them, they’re really excited about working together, so I think that fuels a lot of cool things.

Warhammer: Age of Reckoning is still holding strong in the WoW dominated MMO market while Bioware’s first effort – the much anticipated Star Wars: The Old Republic is still a ways off. Mythic has a lot of experience that could help the minds at Bioware pull off their vision of Star Wars and maybe even put a dent in the Warcraft numbers but only time will tell if this pairing will be all it seems.

Football season is open for the denizens of the Warhammer Universe with the launch of Blood Bowl. Based on American football, this ultra violent sports strategy game has players head for the goal lines by trickery, magic or disembowelment. Unnecessary roughness is the name of the game as the blood and body parts fly. No this is not meant for the little ones.

Blood Bowl isn’t just another Madden clone. It’s a faithful reproduction of the original board game so it has a tactical turn based mode as well. Choose from Dwarfs, Lizardmen, Wood Elves, Orcs, Humans, Skraven, Goblins, and the Beastmen and Minotaurs of Chaos to build and manage your team and take it online to compete. Just keep in mind you need the ball to score a touchdown, not the cornerback’s head.

The players that survive the bonecrushing, backstabbing drive to the goal line are some really mean pieces of work. The official Blood Bowl site is taking pre-orders for digital copies for the June 26 launch. Take a look at the Blood Bowl Launch Trailer which makes the XFL look like flag football.

In the interest of keeping the main page SFW follow the link for the gory details…
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If you’re a Warhammer Online player looking for some insight or official answers to the most commonly asked questions relating to the huge upcoming update for Mythic’s MMO then it’s probably a good day for you. Earlier today the developer published a FAQ about the changes and additions coming to the game with the update.

The FAQ covers the level requirements, how the new areas will be handled in Realm v. Realm control and discusses some details on the dungeons and lair instances in the expansion.

While I’ve not played Warhammer Online since shortly after launch (not because I dislike it, but because I only have time in my life for 1 MMO and Lord of the Rings Online already has a claim on my soul), EA Mythic seems to continue to deliver many of the features promised before launch and thanks to player feedback since.

Reading through the FAQ almost convinced me it was time to reload the client and rejoin my Dark Elf compatriots in preparation for the new content.

I don’t know how many of you are Warhammer Online players. Personally, I still play it here and there. I’ve been very interested in their Call to Arms live expansion so far, and it look like what is yet to come is even bigger than what we’ve seen so far.

Two of the upcoming releases that really catch my eye are the Land of the Dead, and the Necropolis. Luckily for me, the folks over at G4, specifically X-Play, had a really cool feature with Jeff Hickman and Paul Barnett from Mythic Entertainment. Not only is there a ton of cool information in these clips, but there is also some brand new footage of both the Land of the Dead and the Necropolis.

Check out the Land of the Dead in this Clip, and then hit the jump to see the preview of the Necropolis. Then, tell us what you think of them both in the comments!

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“Come on, dood. You know FF7 is teh greatest RPG evar!!!! Noob!”

If you’ve have been gaming for a while (long enough to self-appoint yourself the title of “gamer”), then you’ve undoubtedly involved yourself, involuntary or not, in heated debates over what you consider the “top-ten” or “greatest” video games of all time. Whether you want to admit it or not, you’ve also probably spent a great deal of energy standing your ground on the subject.

If these debates prove anything, it’s that gamers are passionate when it comes to defending their ideology of what transcends greatness.

Following up on a recent taping of X-play, Adam Sessler and Mythic Entertainment’s Paul Barnett (Warhammer Online) vent out against being repeatedly asked “What is your favorite game of all time”? While both parties make excellent points regarding how these so-called “bestest game evar!” arguments consistently devolve into mere mudslinging, I get the impression that Paul is irritated the most by this.

So it begs the question, are top-ten lists of all time truly backed by passion? Or is it just blind nostalgia?

Perhaps one may find enlightenment from “The Sess” by watching the video after the break.

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I talk weekly about the convergence of pen-and-paper gaming with the digital game space of video games but today I get to announce a convergence going in the opposite direction.. Green Ronin, publishers of the popular Mutants & Masterminds, True 20 and the current publisher of The Song of Ice and Fire RPG just announced that they will be taking the world of BioWare’s forthcoming Dragon Age: Origins and converting it into a traditional RPG.

Dragon Age, often referred to in hype releases as “the spiritual successor to Baldur’s Gate” (BioWare’s original Fantasy RPG based upon the Dungeons & Dragons Forgotten Realms settings), will be getting a “box set” release in the summer meant to introduce both the world of Thedas (Dragon Age’s setting) and the concepts of traditional role playing to video game fans.

“We’re delighted to be working with Green Ronin to explore more of the Dragon Age universe through a pen and paper role-playing game. We’re excited to deliver Dragon Age’s unique dark, heroic fantasy to our audience in a brand new way—a perfect complement to the landmark game we’re launching on PC, Xbox 360, and PLAYSTATION 3 this fall,” said Dr. Ray Muzyka, General Manager and CEO, BioWare and General Manager and Vice President, EA. “Our development teams craft rich, deep worlds, and this is an excellent way to expand the franchise.”

This is not the first RPG setting to make the transition from video game to paper – previously Everquest, Diablo, Starcraft and World of Warcraft have gotten a conversion to traditional RPG products at Wizards of the Coast and with White-Wolf’s Sword and Sorcery imprint. While none of those settings are still in active development this is the first time I can recall that an in-development video game property is getting a tabletop treatment before its even been released.

Who knows, maybe if Dragon Age grabs its audience Green Ronin and BioWare can negotiate to bring Mass Effect to pen-and-paper RPGs as well. I’d be first in line for a game based on that setting. Dragon Age feel like more of the same Tolkien derivative fantasy at this point unfortunately. You can read the full details of the press release after the jump.

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Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning’s newest live event is called the Keg End and will be running December 17th – January 5th. All armies of WAR are invited to celebrate the Dwarf New Year festival which will be filled with the things that those short, hairy little men like the best: beer, boasting and things that explode. With plenty of things to do whether you are part of Order or Destruction, you can look forward to new ways to earn drops and elite Influence rewards and fireworks will be prevalent as well as capital city pub crawls.

Looking for glory and bragging rights? Then you may wish to search the battlefields for the Golden Stein to earn the blessing of Grimnir himself and partake in its frothy goodness. However, watch your flank as the Ogres have caught the scent of blood and beer and they want both very much because, well that is just what ogres do. Also, in Realm vs. Realm, the Keg End live event also introduces a new emote – /boast – to taunt your adversaries. You can also grab a free beer and /toast your comrades-in-arms to receive special Tome of Knowledge unlocks.

If you want to learn more about the Keg End event, check out the Warhammer Online website where you will learn all the ways to celebrate the upcoming holidays in game. New screens depicting some of the live events are posted below.

The Knight of the Blazing Sun and the Black Guard are the last new classes for Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning players will see for a while. WAR Developers say plans for Orc Choppa and Dwarven Slayer are a long time out if the classes see live play at all.

Mythic devs Adam Gershowitz and Josh Drescher told Massively that any future careers will be well thought out and added because they bring something new and worthwhile to the game. Although they won’t add new classes to WAR just to throw in more stuff, they refuse to table edible halflings. They’re my kind of guys.

Read the full Warhammer Developers’ Class interview on Massively for all the details.

Simutronics, which is a creator of online game development platforms has joined forces with BioWare, to bring you the upcoming Star Wars: The Old Republic MMO using the HeroEngine. The HeroEngine, according to their website, is a developer kit which was specifically created for online games. This si not something built in house by the actual game developers, but is something anyone building an MMO can use and allows for development in real-time, enabling teams in different geographic locales to build the world and play the game live on the server simultaneously.

Most people who follow gaming are familiar with the HeroEngine, and have known for a while that BioWare would be using it on their MMO, but for the people that don’t– what the engine does is make instantaneous updates and changes to the game environment, which drops the need for nightly builds and code crunching, which supposedly cuts down on time spent on the development cycle.

Now that we got that little bit of “news” out of the way, how about EA’s CEO John Riccitiello saying during a conference call that Star Wars: The Old Republic will charge customers for micro-transactions rather than subscriptions?

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GigaMedia is heralding the launch of the official Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning website for China. With Warhammer Online launching in China in early 2009, the GigaMedia site provides fresh recruits for the WAR armies with community news and account management. The website is a trove of artwork, screens and background information on the armies of Order and Chaos for Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau as well.

The GigaMedia Traditional Chinese Warhammer Online website, the English WAR site and the FunTown blog are all open for visitation.