Spiral Knights

It's no secret that we're big fans of Spiral Knights' simplistic hack 'n slashing mayhem, but it's been a little while since we had the chance to hop into the game to see what new things were on offer. Just four months ago, Spiral Knights was announcing that they had hit one million player accounts, and they've been almost constantly generating content for their players, ranging from adding in a shiny new PvP arena, as well as the addition of Shadow Lairs.

Eager to catch up on how Spiral Knights has been doing in the past few months, as well as what's to come for this gorgeous retro game, ZAM Staff Writer Mike "Krelumian" Schaffnit had a brief interview with Three Rings Design on all things Spiral Knights. Read on!

Some great new stuff to come out of the Spiral Knights team... The Shadow Lairs! Now any player who makes it to floor 23 of the Clockwork Terminal can access a new area north of the elevator that will lead to some brand new Shadow Lairs. These Shadow Lairs are supposed to contain some of the most difficult challenges yet faced by the Knights, including the rabid Snarbolax, the Frigid Ice Queen, the Roarmulus Twins, and the Darkfire Vanaduke. For any player brave enough to face those depths, however, there are some fantastic items to be found, including the materials to craft the Heavenly Iron Armor as well as special boss-themed equipment, like the Snarbolax Coat.

Also included with this new Shadow Lair expansion comes Spiral Knights' Halloween festivities in the form of the Dark Harvest Festival. From now until November 1st, the game will feature Halloween-themed decorations and dungeons will have special rooms inhabited by the Pumpkin King. If you collect tokens in the form of candy, you'll also be able to exchange them for some special masks; some of which last up to two weeks, while others can last forever!

The second annual Game Developers Choice Online Awards ceremony was held last night at GDC Online, and both Rift and Minecraft took home the top honors with two awards each. Rift earned awards for Best New Online Game and Best Online Technology, while Minecraft received the Best Live Game and Best Community Relations awards. Wizard101 pick up the Audience Award, which is voted on by gamers worldwide.

It's also important to note that EverQuest was inducted into the Choice Online Awards Hall of Fame. The classic MMO is in its 12th year of operation and has a new expansion scheduled to launch next month. Last year's inductee was Ultima Online.

You can view the full list of winners after the jump.

Today's been a big day for Spiral Knights updates. Here's a rundown of all the news:

• The Clockworks expansion is now live. There's a new Undead level series, deadly new danger rooms and a revamped crash site.
• Purchase energy packages of $9.95 or more by September 19 and receive a special bonus item from the new Rose Regalia Redux costume set for each purchase.
• The official Spiral Knights soundtrack is now available for purchase on iTunes, Amazon and more.

PvP content has been added to Spiral Knights with the the launch of King Krogmo's Coliseum, a battle sport arena that allows Knights to duke it out for prizes. The object of the first game, Blast Network, is to eliminate your opponents with your bombs. Simple enough, right?

To commemorate the new addition, SEGA and Three Rings will be awarding the Spiral Bombhead Mask to all players who complete their first PvP battle, regardless of the match’s outcome. There are a variety of Bombhead Masks to collect, so head over to the Coliseum and start blowing up other players! More games, rewards and features will be added to the arena in the future.