Mdar

Dungeons and Dragons Online is now free to play. When I heard about this I was ecstatic and then I heard the second part, and oh god I nearly stabbed my eyes out with my hobo shiv.

DDO is now going to have two levels of subscribers, free and VIP. Turbine is also going to be adding microtransactions and from what I’ve heard from people in beta, you can buy all kinds of things for cash that will significantly help your character. My source in beta says the game is now stupidly easy.

You can read the Kotaku article here and talk it over with your fellow Graffites here

Turns out I’ve been slacking (big surprise there!) and neglected to even mention E3. It seemed that popular consensus was that E3 no longer mattered, however this year people were given something to talk about. Microsoft announced Milo and Project Natal. Forgive the video quality, but it’s the entire Project Natal demo. If you have a 360 I’m sure you’ve heard of this and you can also watch it there in HD. Oh, and here is the announcement video. 30 points for the first person that can correctly answer the unanswered question at the end of the announcement video.

Now, Milo from Lionhead studios is both awe inspiring and creepy. Milo is something, or some one, you have to see to believe. Just sit back and watch the linked video.

Also announced was Left 4 Dead 2, set for release on Nov 17th. I’ve been afflicted with both joy and contempt with this announcement. I love L4D, even though I haven’t really played much in the last month and I am looking forward to a sequel. However, after barely a year out? This seems more like a money grab than anything else but the teaser trailer did seem to boast improved graphics and the AI was supposed to be upgraded significantly as well. I know I’ll still buy this game, I’m not sure if I’ll get it first day or I’ll wait. Knowing me and my love for all things zombie, I’ll get it on launch for the PC.

We have more in our E3 2009 thread.

I’d also like to wish Star-Demon a belated happy birthday. Here’s to hoping next year goes better for ya!