Dungeons and Dragons Online (DDO) was showing off their upcoming module 8 update at Gen Con and Executive Producer Kate Paiz showed me some of the awesomeness. Not having playing DDO before (having been scared off by some of the more dedicated crowd), I have to admit that what I saw made me excited to take a look, as soon as the module hits the live servers!

The first, most visible change, Mod 8 brings is the DirectX 10 compatibility. It was beautiful! Snow was falling, shadows were shadowy, and as leaves on the trees overhead (means covered in small spots) danced in the wind, they moved across the skin of the character and, I could swear, gave her goose bumps! The water reflections were nothing short of superb, and it was one of the most breathtaking scenes an MMO has yet to present to me.

Kate said the DX10 offers "truer light absorption" in the environment, but not being a real techy to decipher that for you, I can explain it much more simply. The shadows, light, and environment you'll encounter fit so perfectly into the world that it's a visually stunning presentation second to none.

Released by Turbine on November 2nd 1999, Asheron's Call (AC), one of the longest running MMOs, is coming up on its 100th update, more than any other game on the market. The team has been focusing on a expansion worth of content free, to celebrate! Community Manager and Assistant Producer Anthony "Frelorn" Cataldo spoke with me at Gen Con and showed me what players can expect to see.

Andy has worked with the AC team for almost five years, working his way up from customer service to his current position. His passion and dedication to the player base are instantly recognizable and he laughs about his wife catching him playing at 5am, asking to come to bed, and then figuring it would be easier to stay up than sleep for an hour. We've all been there, right?

This dedication is mirrored in the entire team, and they wanted to bring to their players an update worthy of the anniversary, and so they asked players what they'd most like to see put into the game. They took these suggestions and built them into this update, an extension of Turbine's commitment to giving players the service they're paying for and deserve.

Since a free update patch has been released by the AC team almost every month, and is a staple of the service Turbine delivers, continuing that tradition with this patch should be no surprise. Scheduled to release next month, the update includes Player versus Player (PvP) land control features and introduces a faction system to the game.

PotBS Gen Con The Pirates of the Burning Sea (PotBS) crew has been working tirelessly to bring improvements and new features to the game since its launch in January of this year. Last week at Gen Con I got a chance to see what was in store for the immediate future with patch 1.7 which is in testing now and further into the future as 1.8 and 1.9 take form.

The most immediate change Donna 'Danicia' Prior (decked out in pirate gear and garb), the forum mod and chat goddess from the Flying Labs team pointed out to me during my game walkthrough was the new options for character creation. Everything from new facial choices, choosing your eye color from a rather broad selection, to new hats and jewelry has been added. Players who've already created characters can of course change their avatars to take advantage of these new options through the tailor shop feature in game.

Camera changes have been added to bring a unique visual appeal to the game. Now you can view under water events and landmarks as you fly through the Caribbean Sea, including underwater volcanoes, whales, and rocks. This brings a much larger sense of immersion to the game, and certainly makes it more fun to look around as you travel. Of course, the biggest immersion increase is the chance to watch your captain's avatar shout orders to your crew and then watch your crew hop to it and carry them out. Whether it be loading the cannons, firing them, or loafing off as you decide what to do, your crew is responding, and you can watch.

We've all heard it right? WAAAGH and all that jazz. What does it really mean for you though? At Gen Con just last week I had a chance to talk to Bob Mull, the Community Relations Manager at Mythic, to find out what he had to say about the upcoming release of Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning (WAR).

My first question was about the 48 on 48 city instances, the capitol city Player versus Player (PvP) end game fights. It seems to me that this amount of people fighting at once isn't all that massive, and that creating multiple instances of that size could lead to frustration and anguish when a buddy in one instance wins and you, in another instance, lose. Bob was quick to point out that just like in real battles, the right flank can be attacked and fold, while the left flank moves in and destroys the enemy. Same battle, different viewpoint.

This differing viewpoint of the same battle makes sense, from a design stand point I guess. But I am skeptical that it will hold true in a game. Though I can fight for my realm, if I'm not in the winning instance, I do not get a bonus for fighting, just the regular PvP rewards and it's possible that my effort will not affect the outcome. That doesn't sound much fun to me. In fact, it sounds rather pointless. Why take part if you're not sure you're going to contribute to the right instance? Seven to ten instances per battle, at 48 people per instance, with only one winning the fight? I haven't had a chance yet to see how it actually works in game, but I'm leery. Whether the players will accept such a system will have to wait until launch, September 18th. If it doesn't work for players, what our options are remains to be seen.

One of the great things about smaller companies launching in the MMO world is that they're up against the giants who have what seem to be unlimited budgets and promotional opportunities, requiring nothing short of incredible ingenuity and creativity from the teams. So it was great that the first game advertisement I saw at the Gen Con show was for Freaky Creatures . It was even more incredible that, after walking the area outside the exhibit hall and gaming rooms, the contest they were running for beta keys was advertised everywhere!

Watching their exhibit hall booth traffic was even more exciting as potential players lined up to take a crack at the game. Unfortunately early Thursday the beta servers were taken offline to deal with patch issues (what can you say? It's beta!) and while many walked away disappointed for the moment, judging from the lines later in the week, most folks stopped by again to give it a shot.

One of the best reactions I heard was someone talking about how excited they were to get their kids into it, and someone standing close by said "Screw your kids, me and my buddies are dying to play!" Judging from the reactions, they've not been disappointed. The most common reaction is that parents are excited to have a game that introduces their kids to playing with others, collectibles, online play, and competition all at once. And parents are excited for a fun zero barrier to entry game with rewards for participating and games that are often as quick as five minutes each.

The Indianapolis Convention Center is gearing up for Gen Con Indy to sweep into the city, and with it comes the largest gaming community around. Over 27 thousand people will head down to play everything from WoW Mini's to Dungeons and Dragons .

While the event officially gets under way tomorrow, there are already lots of people out getting registered, shopping for their own dice and meeting up with friends. I passed a lot of people on the street in the area with registration tags hanging around their necks taking adult beverages back to their rooms to sustain the players throughout the long evening that is sure to come!

MMOs are being well represented as well, with Freaky Creatures , Champions Online (being one of the event sponsors), WoW Mini's and t-shirts everywhere!

In addition to the featured MMO is SOE's Gen Con Meet & Greet ! Don't miss it if you're in the area, they would love to see you there!

If you'll be attending Gen Con Indy next week, along with yours truly, be sure to check out the Legends of Norrath Championship Tourney!

If you have not already qualified for the final event slated to be held on Saturday, you still have opportunities to get a seat at Gen Con. SOE has scheduled up to six Championship Qualification events per day on Thursday and Friday. The top two players at each event will win a seat in the $100,000 Championship Event on Saturday with the potential to win at least $1,000 of the total Championship prize pool!

The events will begin at 10 a.m. EDT sharp and run throughout the day. You must sign up at the SOE Tournament Area to be placed in the next available Championship Qualifier event, so we suggest you sign up as early as possible. Each participant in the Championship Qualifiers will receive a Legends of Norrath Championship T-shirt.

The tourney starts on Thursday, August 14th, and you can find more details right here !  The $100k championship event takes place on Saturday at Gen Con with the winner taking home $25,000!!