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CCP Games has announced that a soundtrack for EVE Online, the company's sci-fi MMO, is now available for download and purchase from Apple's iTunes multimedia store. The compilation includes selected tracks featuring the ambient music players hear while playing the game.

The EVE Soundtrack has allowed many of us leave the cares of the real world behind while mining Scordite or while waiting to jump before a massive fleet engagement. Now you can enjoy CCP RealX's selected mix of EVE's futuristic ambient music via iTunes and your MP3 player. It makes for the perfect lullaby for your little pod pilots or a great accompaniment for that afternoon hike. Search for "EVE Online" or "RealX" on iTunes or follow the link to open up iTunes and head directly to the page.

iTunes: EVE Online Soundtrack

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TransGaming (add to watch list)

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The Academy for Modding Excellence (AME) recently announced the winners of the 2008 Golden Dragon Awards, a set of comprehensive awards honoring the creative members of the Neverwinter Nights mod community. Winners were announced in a broad range of categories including Best Action Module, Best Custom Content, and the Community Contribution Award.

Here's a partial list of the winners:

Best Roleplaying Module:
Swordflight Chapter 1 by Rogueknight333
Swordflight Chapter 1 features a wide variety of well thought out and clearly understandable role-playing options and consequences, set in the context of an interesting story with good action and pacing.

Best Action Module:
A Tangled Web Part 2 by Bruce Laplante
Bruce Laplante wins this year’s Best Action Module award for A Tangled Web Part 2. A strong module overall, it also features challenging and well balanced encounters with a variety of custom creatures.

Best Dramatic Module:
Shadewood by Fester Pot
Fester Pot takes this year’s award for Best Dramatic Module with Shadewood — an exceptionally polished and well written module with impressive visuals and cutscenes, scripting, and dramatic pacing.

Most Re-playable Module:
S4 - The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth by SirOtus
A classic P&P Conversion with a well-done non-linear structure, S4 - The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth brilliantly captures the feel of the First Edition AD&D module on which it is based.

NWN 2008 Golden Dragon Winners Announced

Academy for Modding Excellence

BioWare (add to watch list)

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Neverwinter Nights (add to watch list)

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Gameplay Monthly has posted a new review of the recently released The Sims 3. The game adds customizable personalities, goal oriented gameplay, movie creation and editing, and an online community to the familiar lifesim formula. Hooked Gamers gave The Sims 3 a grade of A-.

From the review:

Besides fulfilling wishes, Sims experience positive and negative ‘Moodlets’. If a Sim was able to eat a well cooked meal, they will get a mood boost. For instance, my Sims experienced a 40 point boost in mood after the birth of their first child, a value for continued for 24 hours. Furthermore, because I took care of my Sims, their Mood Meter was nearly capped off for those 24 hours. As such, they got a huge boost in Happiness Points!

Moodlets come from almost anything. Sims can get positive moodlets for sitting on a comfortable object (effective for however long they sit or lay there), or from being in a well decorated/built house or room. It can be from a good night’s sleep, or a well cooked meal, or from a particularly nice kiss. But there are negative moodlets as well. Some examples are from eating a bad meal, seeing something gross (like a plate left out too long), or from being particularly sleepy. You can get a 4 hour negative moodlet if a Sim walks in on your Sims Woohooing!

But what are all of these points for? Well, this is where it gets pretty cool. Happiness points can be used to buy PERMANENT traits to add. A few examples are ‘Steel Bladder’, which makes it so your Sim never has to use a toilet again; Multitasker, which allows Sims to get a boost in job or school performance without stressing out over it; or, one of my favorites, Vacationer, which lets a Sim duck out of work every now and then without any negative job feedback. Another favorite is the ‘Fertility Treatment’, which almost promises that every time your Sim and their spouse get pregnant, they’ll have twins or triplets.

You can buy however many of these traits you can, and while some are rather silly (like a Food Replicator, which clones food) others are invaluable if you want your Sim to focus on more important things, like work or Family.

Gameplay Monthly: The Sims 3

Electronic Arts (add to watch list)

The Sims 3 (add to watch list)

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Blizzard Entertainment has added a new battleground preview to its official website for World of Warcraft, the company's popular MMORPG. The preview article details some of the new challenges players will face when battling on the Isle of Conquest, a new 40 on 40 battleground scheduled to be released with the game's next update.

The ongoing struggle between Horde and Alliance has turned many once peaceful (and some not-so peaceful) places into theaters of constant war. The Isle of Conquest is the latest such place, set to be the location of a battle of epic proportions over the island's precious resources.

An Alliance and a Horde general are fighting for dominance, overseeing the action from the safety of their keeps. Whichever side manages to eliminate the enemy general first will triumph on the island; failure to protect your leader will bring shame, dishonor, and defeat. There is no peace accord here, and it's an all-out war between the factions.

Isle of Conquest, a new battleground scheduled to make its debut in the upcoming content patch, Call of the Crusade, will pitch teams of up to 40 players against each other in a massive battle over this small island off Northrend's northern coast. To win, your team will need to make use of the island's unique strategic locations including an oil derrick, a siege workshop, and a fully equipped airship hangar. You will deploy devastating siege weaponry on the field; Light have mercy on anyone caught between you and your ultimate target, the general holed up in the enemy keep.

There are five points of interest on the Isle of Conquest for the factions to battle over. Each one offers its own benefits and strategic value. Which one will you claim for your side, and will it be enough to ensure victory?

WoW: Isle of Conquest Preview

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