THQ*ICE is currently hosting a sweepstakes that could earn you quite a bit of cash for a Best Buy shopping spree. Players who log into Dragonica Online with a new or existing THQ*ICE Passport through Jan. 31 will be automatically entered to win a $2,500 Best Buy gift card. Check out the official rules for more information.

In addition, the new Dekard server opens for beta testing on Jan. 26 at 5 a.m. PST as part of the New Year's Evolution event. All sorts of special events are being held in honor of Dekard's opening, and you can find all the details in this post on the official Dragonica Online site. The FAQ regarding the new server can be found after the jump.

THQ*ICE plans to ring in the New Year with a bang tonight in Dragonica Online. The Mega Countdown to 2010 event begins at 9 p.m. PST and lasts until 3 a.m. Players can ring in the New Year every hour in each time zone, and a special prize will be given out to players who log into the game.

In addition, players who log in for 2010 consecutive seconds (that's 33.5 minutes) on Jan. 1 will receive an accomplishment medal to commemorate the New Year.

THQ*ICE is hosting a ton of Thanksgiving Feast events in Dragonica Online until Nov. 30. Be sure to get some exercise before the big meal by enjoying a 20% experience bonus tonight, Nov. 18, from 5-9 p.m. PST while you fight monsters. Food-related accomplishments will be rewarded before Nov. 24 to help you train your cooking skills for the holiday, and you can earn the new Turkey Balloon souvenir by tallying 100 kills in your Monster Count any day from Nov. 20-23.

A Thanksgiving feast and holiday-themed quiz will be held in-game on Nov. 26, and all players will get a +30% experience bonus from Nov. 26-27 to keep them active after the meal. Finally, THQ*ICE will be part of the Black Friday sales on Nov. 27, so be sure to check out the Cash Shop to grab some discounted items.

Originally developed by the South Korea-based Barunson Interactive in 2006, Dragonica Online is one of the newest free-to-play MMOs to hit the North American market. After its success in South Korea and China, publisher THQ*ICE picked up Dragonica Online and brought a localized version to the U.S. and Europe, where it ran through its beta testing phase throughout the summer.  On October 15, the MMO finally celebrated its official launch with its "Grand Opening" event, offering in-game festivities with the chance for players to earn special reward items.

Earlier this month, before Dragonica Online's official launch, ZAM.com had the chance to talk with Chris Lena, the game's new executive producer. Previously a producer for both SOE's EverQuest and Cryptic Studio's Champions Online, Lena recently made the transition to THQ*ICE, presiding over the publisher's newest and most-important MMO venture. In this Q&A, ZAM asks Lena about Dragonica Online's free-to-play revenue model, the new live events and expansions already in-the-works, and the features that regular MMO players will find most appealing in this new game. He also explains how Dragonica Online's gameplay lends itself to bite-size sessions, and conversely, the large amount of PvP and PvE content available for the more "hardcore" players out there. Check out the full Q&A after the jump!

Today is a big day for Dragonica players in both North America and Europe. As we reported yesterday, today is the grand opening of the MMO in the United States, and THQ*ICE has updated the game's Web site will more information on all of the festivities. But that's not all! Gala Networks Europe announced that today marks the end of the Dragonica open beta in Europe and the beginning of commercial service, as well as the launch of the Tales of the Damned expansion.

Tales of the Damned adds controller support to Dragonica Online and raises the level cap to 65. It also introduces the Van Cliff Manor dungeon, which includes four new bosses. You can read the full patch notes after the jump.

The grand opening of Dragonica Online will be held tomorrow, Oct. 15, and THQ*ICE has a ton of events and contests planned throughout the next two weeks to celebrate the occasion. For example, log in every day for a week starting tomorrow for a chance to win a $10 game card, or take screenshots of your in-game travels for a shot at some various prizes.

During the grand opening weekend, monsters will drop more gold and players will gain bonus experience. The in-game Open Market will turn into the Black Market for a limited time to give players access to rare weapons and accessories. The game's third dungeon will open next week, and guild vs. guild combat is being introduced. Click through for more information on the festivities.

We already reported that Gala Networks Europe will be releasing the first Dragonica expansion next month, but the company behind the free-to-play portal has just revealed information on the pet system that's launching with "Tales of the Damned." Once the expansion is live and you hit level 20, you'll be able to complete a series of quests to obtain Husky the dog, Felix the cat or Griffon the bird.

The pet system will actually be introduced to the world of Dragonica in three phases. The first step, which will begin with the release of the expansion, simply introduces the pets as a cosmetic way to help customize your character. The second phase will allow your pets to develop skills and fight with you in battles. The final step will let your pets serve as mounts!

Dragonica may have only launched in June on the gPotato.eu portal, but Gala Networks Europe announced today that the game's first expansion is already set to be released in October. "Tales of the Damned" will raise the level cap to 65, revise the mission rating system and add pets and a tournament system for guilds to the free-to-play game.

More information on the upcoming expansion can be found after the jump. We've also added some new "Tales of the Damned" screenshots to our gallery, so be sure to check them out.

THQ*ICE has announced it is hosting an in-game loot hunt in Dragonica Online to commemorate the launch of open beta, and one of the prizes includes a trip to Korea to meet the developers of the game. The contest will be held from Sept. 3 to Oct. 27 and simply requires you to fight in-game monsters to obtain raffle cards. You can collect the cards for a random prize drawing at the end of the contest, trade five cards in for entry into higher-level raffles, or redeem them for items that grants in-game bonuses.

In addition to the trip to Korea, other prizes include iPod computer speakers, an iTouch video and music player, ICE Cash virtual currency, a Dragonica-skinned laptop, T-shirts, wall scrolls and in-game items. To enter the contest, sign up for a free THQ*ICE passport and start playing Dragonica Online. You can find more information about the contest after the jump.

THQ*ICE has also announced a new patch that gives players access to Angrakka, the second continent of the world of Dragonica, so you'll have even more areas to explore while you're searching for raffle cards.

While at GamesCom last week we took some time to meet with Gala Networks in an attempt to squeeze some information out of the Dragonica Online European Producer, Max Stolberg about the upcoming "M1" update. Fortunately for our European readers, we received some great information and confirmation that the update is set to go live on European servers around the end of September.

ZAM: The Dragonica M1 update is conceptually planned for the end of September to early October. What all does that entail?

Max Stolberg: The M1 update entails the majority of the new Van Cliff dungeon. The new Van Cliff dungeon is a high end dungeon for groups of four level 60 players and it will be really, really tough. The other slight modifications are the interface and the mission map system and other small things as well.

ZAM: There's going to be four bosses; the Gargoyle, Rahnoff, Dracula and a Bone Dragon. Can you tell us a little bit about those individually?