Mythic has continually stated that Stygian Abyss, the eighth expansion for Ultima Online, will be available through digital distribution this summer. As we wait to see when the Abyss will go live in the next couple months, the company has announced that Mondain's Legacy, the game's seventh expansion, is now available for free to both subscribers and those who try out the 14-day free trial.

Mondain's Legacy was released three years ago in the summer of 2005 and introduced elves, increased storage, spellweaving and new dungeons. If you're a UO subscriber, your client will now be automatically updated with the content from this expansion. If you try out the free trial, you'll get the chance to experience Mondain's Legacy for two weeks.

Jeff Hickman, Mythic's executive producer, said he hopes this move excites players for the upcoming launch of Stygian Abyss. "Our goal is to continually provide fresh and rewarding experiences for our thriving UO community," he said. You can read the full announcement below.

As we reported yesterday, the Web site for Stygian Abyss has been updated with new information in preparation for the expansion's summer launch. Well, the Ultima Online team has just announced that the new game client has entered open beta so you can try out the improvements to the interface and user experience before the expansion goes live.

Remember, this open beta is for the new client, not for Stygian Abyss. You can use the new client on any shard, so you'll actually be able to use it while playing the live game to see what you think of all the updates, such as the ability to adjust your in-game play window to any size. You can read more about the new client after the jump.

Also, the trial account page has been updated, so check it out if you'd like to try out Ultima Online for free for 14 days. The game's turning 12 years old in September, so now may be a good time to revisit the world or try it out for the first time.

If you're patiently waiting for the release of Stygian Abyss this summer so you can get your hands on the new Gargoyles playable race, you may be interested to know the expansion's Web site has received some updates. The game overview page now has information on the three environments in Stygian Abyss and the weapons you'll be able to use, and the media page has some new screenshots, renders and sounds.

While the Stygian Abyss release date has not been announced yet, the FAQ do state that the expansion and the client will only be available through digital distribution only.

The biggest news in MMO gaming last week might have been Mark Jacobs' departure from Mythic, as we reported earlier. At the height of the story's frenzy, we also featured a story on Jacobs' explanation of his departure. The Jacobs story pretty much overshadowed everything coming out of Mythic around that time, including this substantial announcement about Warhammer Online from Jeff Hickman (Mythic's new exec), titled "Executive Producer's Letter - Part 3."

"We're looking at some fairly radical approaches on how to best bring the population together," Hickman said. "We want to ensure everyone is having fun, but we need to do so in such a way that further imbalances aren't created overnight as we have seen in the past. There are a lot of ideas on the table, but your satisfaction is our top concern."

It seems like Mythic is finally rethinking a few of its previous strategies and paradigms, specifically the issues of population (im)balance, stability and sieges. But that's not all. Hickman lists off quite a few other issues that Mythic recognizes as problems or player concerns, structured in a series of concise bullet points. The icing on the cake for some fans, however, was Hickman's acknowledgment that Mythic is still committed to Dark Age of Camelot, among its other games.

We recently reported that Stygian Abyss, the newest Ultima Online expansion, will be released this summer. Well, the closed beta for the expansion is set to begin later this month and you can currently register to be a tester. Spots are limited and not everyone will be accepted.

Mythic Entertainment and Electronic Arts actually have some criteria for who will be selected for the closed beta, including computer system specs, game experience and community involvement. You must already be an Ultima Online subcriber and be at least 18 years old.

Head on over to the Stygian Abyss beta page on the official Ultima Online site if you'd like to register.

You might remember that the latest expansion for Ultima Online, Stygian Abyss, was announced late last week. At the time, the press release said that the expansion would be available "via digital distribution only". However, a European packshot for the expansion has now been uncovered. In other words, will the expansion be hitting stores after all, or is this image just an example of what a boxed version could look like?

As per usual, this post contains all of our exclusive features for the past week, as well as all of our noteworthy news stories. Perhaps the most exciting news for us here at ZAM is the launch of our new Free Realms site to coincide with the release of Sonly Online Entertainment's kid-friendly game. Keep reading below and after the jump for all of the links.

ZAM Features

ZAM Launches Free Realms Site: We are happy to announce that our newest game portal is dedicted to SOE's ground-breaking new MMORPG, which just launched on April 28.

Free Realms: A Fresh New Direction for MMORPGs: If you're on the fence about whether you'd like to try out Free Realms, check out Christopher "Pwyff" Tom's review.

Total Customization: Craig Zinkievich, executive producer of Star Trek Online, has written an exclusive letter to the ZAM community about how ship customization will function within the game.

Five Years of Heroes: We spoke with C.W. Bennett, a senior engineer at Paragon Studios, about how it feels to have City of Heroes reach the fifth-anniversary mark.

Mythic Entertainment and Electronic Arts have announced that Stygian Abyss, the newest expansion for Ultima Online, will be released this summer. The expansion will revolve around the the Gargoyles, a new playable race.

New areas will also be introduced, including Ter Mur, the Gargoyle homeland, and the Stygian Abyss dungeon, which is the largest dungeon area ever introduced to Ultima Online. Stygian Abyss will be released via digital distribution only, so don't expect to find this one in stores. More information on the expansion can be found after the jump.

For those who have lost track over the years, Ultima Online was released in September 1997. That's almost 12 years of MMO memories. If you have any to share with us as we await the release of Stygian Abyss, let us know!

Since it's my post, I'll tell you why I play, and then you can join in after!

I started out in Multi-User Dungeons (MUDs), back when AOL was the only internet I knew.  Don't snicker!  Internet connection costs of $484 a month were enough to make my parents ground me for weeks.  But then came Ultima Online (UO).

I once played on the Sonoma server of UO, back when it first launched. For a while I played Tovin, an anti-pk. Then Tovin became a role playing tailor. She mostly stayed in town and, one day, was scammed. I was outraged and reported the scam via in game reporting and a Counselor appeared. Dressed in a pretty blue robe he explained to me that though I had technically gotten the short end of the stick, the guy had used no real bug or exploit, but had just been smarter than I had been. I decided then and there that I loved that blue robe. So I went out to find counselors.

SRC Tigger has put together some wonderful tools for those of us that participated in the volunteer programs for the Ultima Online game when they existed. Counselors, Companions, Seers, Elders, Troubadours, the Game Masters and employees that we worked with all are welcome to join both the Facebook group and the LinkedIn group !

It's been many years since these programs were shut down, but the turn out proves that many of us made lifelong friends in the programs we all loved so much. So come join us in celebrating how great our gaming experience was, and how we truly loved the players we volunteered to help!

No, you can't have my blue robes, and no, I can't help you with that!