Defiance is an MMO that is eagerly anticipated for a number of reasons, including its close ties to the SyFy television program that takes place in the same world.

As the game ramps up towards its April launch, next weekend, January 18 to 20, will be the first opportunity for many players to jump into the closed beta and test the action packed shooter -- it's still under NDA so power down your XSplit you overeager types.

To help get as many Ark Hunters in-game as possible, Trion Worlds has teamed up with ZAM in a Defiance beta key giveaway.

The official DUST 514 launch is almost here (we think), and CCP has just taken a major step in bringing New Eden to a whole new audience. As of today, all DUST 514 beta players have been migrated to Tranquility, the single sever that powers the live EVE Online universe.

"For the first time in history, two games unfold in a single universe, and now DUST 514 and EVE Online also occupy a single server: Tranquility. Find out what this historic connection means for your DUST 514 career in our latest developer blog: "Welcome to New Eden."

If you've been following Trion's upcoming Defiance to any degree, then 2013 is really gonna start off with a bang for you - Trion announced today that the very first beta event explodes onto your screen later this month, and you can sign up right now!

Von Bach Industries is open for business, and they're looking for a few Ark Hunters. Do you fit the bill?

Evoking a feeling of Massive Dynamic or Hadden Industries, Trion has launched a web site for Von Bach Industries, part of a recruitment drive for the upcoming third-person MMO shooter, Defiance.

The City of Steam closed beta starts in just two days, but Mechanist Games is celebrating that milestone today with the launch of a brand-new closed beta trailer. 

The 4+ minute "newspaper" video gives a pretty solid overview of what to expect in the game, and gives a great look at combat as well as some amazing visuals. Crank it up! Get it? Crank? Ahem.

I’m honestly surprised. I’ve seen Google Chrome pull clever stunts, like music videos rendered in 3D using HTML5, or multi-player Facebook games powered with Flash; but a full-fledged MMO? I’d argue that it couldn’t be done.

It’s taken Mechanist Games to prove me wrong. Their current endeavor, City of Steam, looks and behaves just like any other MMORPG I’ve played. Sure, the character models are a little simplistic and the color palette is a little brown, but it works. The beauty is in accessibility; I can be logged in and exploring this industrial-era fantasy world in under ten seconds.

As the introductory cinematic explained how the World Machine is built from continent-sized cogs and gears, Communications Manager Gabriel Laforge agreed to guide me through the first few stages of City of Steam’s Closed Beta. 

If the question is: what are you and seven of your closest friends going to do today? The answer is now MechWarrior Online.

If you've been dabbling with the idea of getting in on Hawken when it releases, you now have a huge incentive. Today, Adhesive launched the pre-sale program for the game, with 4 specially-priced packages designed to satisfy all of your mech needs and save you money at the same time.

Fancy something a little different to your regular diet of sci-fi and fantasy MMOs? Possibly something involving a healthy portion of steampunk, a touch of Victoriana and a world that’s literally a cog in a machine? Browser-based MMO City of Steam fires up the first of four Closed Beta events today, with developer Mechanist Games providing 5 days of industrial-era gaming to lucky players.

We’ve been keeping an eye on City of Steam, starting with our early Alpha preview. Since then, the team has unveiled a beta teaser trailer, showing off the size of the world and including some combat gameplay footage. Mechanist have also harnessed the power of fans through their Steam-O-Meter, with Facebook likes and Twitter retweets helping to unlock further content for closed beta.

If you’re eager to dive into beta straight away, City of Steam now offers Collaborator Packs, where players can reserve their character name, pick up bundles of in-game currency and grab a range of further perks depending on the tier of pack.  Each Collaborator also earns a beta key, with higher grade packs containing a bundle of keys to share with friends.

Subsequent beta events start on November 30th and December 14th, with a final ‘Winter Festival’ stretching from December 23rd to 28th. If the thought of another holiday season with family grinds your gears, this might be the ideal tool to spring an escape.

Gareth “Gazimoff” Harmer, Senior Contributing Editor

Don't look now, but Trion is hosting a good, old-fashioned open beta this weekend for RIFT: Storm Legion. 

And by open beta, they mean *open* beta. Anyone and everyone interested in checking out RIFT this weekend can do so. You don't need to be a current - or former - subscriber! All you need to do is download the RIFT Lite game client and go to town.