In the wake of City of Heroes' closure, one group of fans has decided that it's not enough to move on to a new game. The Phoenix Project aims to become a spiritual sequel and recreation of the game for players and by players, with a new trailer showcasing concept art as well as serving as a statement of purpose.

Formed by several regulars of the Save CoH movement, The Phoenix Project is the work of Missing Worlds Media, a studio composed of several independent designers, programmers, and artists united by their love of the lost game. The game is still very early in the concept stages, but the studio has already announced that it will be built using the powerful CryENGINE 3. If you're looking forward to the prospect of running around in Titan City, check out the trailer past the break, and keep your eyes peeled for an interview with the staff from our regular superheroic column, A Mild-Mannered Reporter.

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Hellllloooooo fellow Norrathians! It is I, MJ -- the intrepid explorer, with a penchant for lightning and fire. And am I excited to be here!

Right about now you may be noticing a slight change in authorship of your favorite EverQuest II column. You aren't seeing things; through a marvelous confluence of events (and no, I don't mean kidnapping Karen Bryan and locking her in a dank cell in Freeport!), I have the opportunity to share my love of this game with you alongside another Norrathian denizen, Jef Reahard. And any of you who have seen me gallivanting about EQII's many lands on Massively TV every EverQuest Two-sday can attest to the fact I really do love this game. So it is with no shortage of glee that I begin my first Tattered Notebook entry.

Feastday, Blossoming 7, of the year 3897

Throughout my most recent journeys, I have noticed that there is a good chunk of population that has either returned to the lands after a lengthy absence (not unlike yours truly a few years back) or is pretty new. For both groups, there are a number of little things that may be unknown or forgotten; heck, I've played for a long time and am still discovering these things! So today I am going to share with you a few of the tips and tricks I have learned for a smoother Norrathian life.

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I'd like to say that 2012 started out with a lot of promise, but it really didn't. Looking back at my predictions for Final Fantasy XI and Final Fantasy XIV a year ago, I see they weren't perfectly accurate, but they certainly fit well within the margin of error. Very little happened over in Final Fantasy XI's development, and Final Fantasy XIV managed to continue not wowing anyone, albeit partly because of the several delays to version 2.0 that now have it releasing around the middle of this year.

If you haven't noticed a theme yet, here it is: I'm worried that by the time it does launch, no one will care any longer. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

While I've split things up between recaps and forecasts in the past, in this case it's virtually impossible to do so. A lot of what has been done this year is banking entirely on the strength of what will be happening next, so Square was selling 2013 in the midst of 2012. So let's look at the past year for both games and the year to come, with an extra helping of hope and speculation for 2013.

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As long-time readers of this column know, this is about the time when I reflect on my personal wish list that I made for the previous year while making a new list for the upcoming one. After all, you can't go on an adventure without a long list or two organizing everything!

On the whole, 2012 was a pretty great year for Lord of the Rings Online. The expansion into Rohan, mounted combat, and the addition of a great new soundtrack added so much to the game, giving us a spectacular high-level zone that's full of lore and amazing setpieces. The devs have been smoothing out the middle of the game with a Moria revamp, open tapping, and remote looting, which should make leveling that much better. Players had four sizable updates to consume. Even Mac users had something to cheer as Turbine created a client for the platform.

Of course, it wasn't all peaches and cream. The expansion faced a delay, the pricing and features of Riders of Rohan stoked controversy, and we're still waiting for the second half of the promised instance cluster to arrive. The store kept stepping on people's toes, from the barter wallet to the infamous hobby horse. And the new festival, the Farmer's Faire, was kind of a dud.

So let's see whether LotRO fulfilled any of my wishes from last year, and then I'll share my desires for 2013!

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Open PvP was first introduced to the world by senior rock engineer Thag, who realized that he could communicate his displeasure with cavemate Thog's activities through more direct means. Over the past several thousand years, the ruleset has been updated and expanded many times, with new rules banning the use of certain abilities outside of designated warzones. These days, for much of the civilized world, PvP is instanced; to enter an instance, queue up at your local military recruitment office.

With that out of the way, let's get to this week's WRUP, yes? This features no PvP, instead focusing exclusively on what the Massively staff will be up to over the weekend. Check out our plans in the list past the break, and let us know what you'll be up to in the comments. Or just punch your monitor in displeasure. That's like PvP, although having to replace your monitor afterwards will be an unfortunate consequence.

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I've become completely enraptured by My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. I'm not alone in this regard. But odd though it might sound, I'm not really hoping for the show to move into the MMO space soon or, well, ever. It's a great setting, and it's a lot of fun, but I just can't help but feel as if it would lose something in the translation, especially as it almost certainly would be designed trying to appeal to two vastly different age groups.

Sometimes, even if we like a setting, it just doesn't translate well to an online game. Maybe it's too focused on a specific set of characters, maybe it's aimed at disparate audiences, maybe it just doesn't lend itself to much variety in gameplay. So what licensed property do you like that you would rather not see adapted to an online game? Or are you happy to see anything you like turned into an MMO?

Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!

The holiday season is over. You've gotten games for the holidays, in all likelihood, and you probably also picked up a new game or a dozen over on Steam. But you're still looking to pad out your game library just a wee bit, maybe with something a bit more MMO-related. What can you do? Well, you could pick up TERA for $5 at Amazon right now. Yes, less than the price of subscribing for a month.

Too good to be true? Well, there are limitations. The only version thusly on sale is the digital download, meaning that if you'd rather have a physical copy, you'll have to pay a bit more. It's also only the standard digital edition with no extra bells or whistles. Still, it's the game and a month of subscription time for less than a fast food lunch, so if you still haven't tried the game and have a desire to do so, your time is now.

[Thanks to Segun for the tip!]

Earthrise isn't in testing at the moment, but it will be soon. Yes, it did that dance once before, but after the game's untimely demise, it's being resurrected for another go. Of course, it's not the only fish in the science fiction sandbox pond, with The Repopulation humming along in development and upgrading to a newer graphical engine for a bit more visual shine.

The more fashion-conscious among our readers will take note that City of Steam has updated the guard uniforms to be more trim and proper, removing the huge shoulderpads that had previously dominated the look. ArcheAge continues to put out new information as more testing continues in Korea, and Defiance is gearing up for its first beta event later in January.

For more tests in the lineup, click on past the break for the full list. If you notice anything we missed, feel free to let us know down in the comments.

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If you've been following along at home with the latest Neverwinter news, you'll know that the game has been releasing a steady stream of new info lately to get us excited for the impending release later this year.

In a flood of new screenshots unleashed from Cryptic and Perfect World today, we see some in-game action from both Blackdagger Ruins and the Vellosk zone. You can check out the images in the gallery below and read more about the lore behind these screenshots in an exclusive with our friends over at MMORPG.com.

The chance to prevent City of Heroes from being shut down may have passed, but the debates about the game's profitability and the merit of that shutdown aren't going anywhere. An anonymous source has come forward reaffirming several previous data points but also elaborating on some of the details surrounding the closure, including Paragon Studios' plan to pull away from NCsoft entirely and why NCsoft wouldn't greenlight a sequel to the game. Surprisingly, NCsoft's Chief of Corporate Communications, Lincoln Davis, responded to the information, denying all claims but still shedding some light on the issue.

Davis mentions repeatedly that Paragon Studios was not profitable, but at no point does he state that City of Heroes itself was not profitable. He also avoids saying that the company was unable to find a buyer for the game but simply that the company was unable to find a buyer that NCsoft thought would support the game "in a manner [players] were accustomed to for years to come." While it won't bring the game back, it certainly sheds some interesting light on the whole situation, albeit light that will likely be of cold comfort to the game's fans.

[Update: We've reached out to NCsoft for a more detailed statement; we'll keep you posted when we hear more.]

Blizzard has never been short on absolutely amazing artists, which is why we're quite keen on getting a glimpse of the new Art of Blizzard book coming out this month. The Art of Blizzard is a huge 350-page coffee table book full of hundreds of pieces of concept art and behind-the-scenes looks from the studio's entire library.

To celebrate the book's launch, Blizzard invites fans to travel to southern California for a reception and exhibition at Gallery Nucleus. The reception is on January 12th with the exhibition running until February 3rd, and players may be able to snag one of the early copies of the book there as long as supplies last. The studio is sending several of its artists to the gallery to meet fans and provide autographs.

You know what's great about Pirate101? Every time we report on it, it's a new opportunity to use pirate-speak. So avast ye scallywags and pay attention to KingsIsle's Jay Gordon, who's got a new producer's letter for the powder monkeys who play the game.

Amid raising the flag and giving a pep talk to the crew, Gordon does slip some scuttlebutt about what's coming to Pirate101 this year: "Looking ahead, 2013 is going to offer a veritable treasure trove of all-new pirate adventures and we can't wait to unveil new worlds, quests, gameplay features, ships, equipment and the wide variety of companions and fantastic combat attacks now in the works."

In the meanwhile, players can enjoy the January newsletter that comes complete with a tip or two about the game.

Is the dream of a Firefly MMO still flying? The folks at DarkCryo Entertainment think so. The unlikely project seemed doomed due to an unauthorized use of the IP, but that may have changed.

DarkCryo posted a notice on the project's Facebook page indicating that Fox has given something of a go-ahead: "With the well wishes of Fox Entertainment Group, we have reactivated the FUO MMORPG Facebook page in preparation for our upcoming Kickstarter campaign. A popular alpha launch may re-awaken licensing consideration, in which case we may then include an expansion pack containing derivative content."

According to the counter on the front page, the crowdsourcing attempt to fund further development will begin in 16 days. Firefly Universe Online was officially (or unofficially, as the case may be) announced back in June of 2011.

[Thanks to Tarka for the tip!]

For the next five MMObility columns, I'll be taking a look at my new Chromebook, a device I have dreamed of owning since it was first announced some time ago. I've decided to name it the "All In One" project, representing the ability of a Chromebook to do almost anything, all within the confines of a browser. Today's Chromebooks are much different beasts than the first CR-48s that were sent out for testing and reviews. The current flagship Chromebook, the Samsung Series 3 XE303C12 model that utilizes an SSD and a processor that you would normally find within a tablet, is well-built, instantly and silently updated, fun to use, and best of all, pretty darn inexpensive at $249.00 US.

Over the course of these columns, I will cover gaming on the device. Yes, gaming, as in MMORPGs. I've been a massive browser fan for a long time, so I already have access to a list of at least 100 different MMOs that run on very basic tech. I will be listing these games over the next few weeks while explaining how they work.

Don't worry, techies; I'm covering the guts and tweaky stuff on my personal blog at Beauhindman.com. This will be a two-pronged attempt at using the Chromebook in real scenarios, something that is often missing from tech reviews. So let's get started!

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During a recent conversation with my fellow Some Assembly Required columnist, it became apparent that we had slightly differing opinions on the definition of player-generated content. We both agreed that it was content generated by players (obviously), but when it came to the type of content, our opinions diverged. Seeing as PGC is one of the founding premise behind SAR, I thought it would be a good idea to start the new year out by defining the term more precisely to give us a stable foundation to build on. After all, we want to be on the same page, don't we?

Of course, that gives you the chance to weigh in with your opinions as well! What is the first thing you think of when you hear the term? Let's see whether your ideas about player-generated content mesh with mine, more closely resemble Jef's, or embody something totally different.

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Take a moment and think back to what you were doing on January 4, 2001. Kinda hard to recall isn't it? We bet that a few of you were playing a new MMO called RuneScape, though, and if you were, well, congratulations on being an MMO nerd before being an MMO nerd was cool.

Jagex's browser title turns 12 years old today, and the company has queued up a list of impressive statistics that include more than 486 million hours of gaming achieved by RuneScape players in 2012. Those players killed each other over 3.2 billion times, too. Jagex also says that the game passed the 200 million account mark last July.

Today's press release isn't all about gaudy numbers, though. Updates for 2013 will include a Grandmaster-level quest, Wilderness Warbands, Construction skill revamps, an improved grouping system, and a customizable UI. Finally, Jagex is running a number of events this month as part of its birthday celebration.

[Source: Jagex press release]

ArcheAge's Korean open beta is in full swing, and Steparu has been spending some quality time with the upcoming sandpark title. A new post details a series of week-long adventures that led up to level 20, as well as plenty of video that covers questing, a tour of one of the game's neutral trading markets, and an instanced dungeon.

Check out this last clip after the cut, and head to Steparu's website for the rest.

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I've talked many times about the pitfalls of playing a jerk. What I haven't done is mention the benefits of playing one, starting with the fact that playing a jerk can be all kinds of fun. You've got your garden-variety jerks, you've got jerks who are stunningly competent and who treat everyone else as a lesser person because of that, you've got jerks who just don't care about other people, you've got jerks clinging to antiquated beliefs that don't line up with reality... so many jerks, so many ways to make mistakes.

But also so many ways to play one correctly. Heck, you can play a character who takes pretty awful actions from time to time without issue -- why not a character for whom "awful" is the default setting? There has to be a way to make a jerk who works, right?

The answer is yes, most definitely. Jerks are playable. But you have to be a bit more careful about it because as I've mentioned in previous weeks, if your first impression is "pointless jerk," no one will want to hang out with you. So let's talk about playing one in such a way that your character comes across correctly while still being worth a closer look.

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