The first part of a developer Q&A has been released on both the NA and European Darkfall Web sites, and the six questions focus mainly on the recent launch of the North American server.

To start off, Tasos said the developers were happy with the launch of the NA server and noted it was a "really smooth experience for everyone." The reason NA players have to wait three months after the server's launch to transfer their characters is simply a balance issue, and Tasos doesn't expect any other restrictions will be needed.

The dev team has found that the number of hackers in the game has remained low since the initial mass of bannings. If newer NA players or older players begin to cheat, they will be perma-banned. Also, a second European server is definitely planned and may be launched in a couple months.

You can read the full Q&A below.

Yesterday, Adventurine launched the first North American Darkfall Online server. Unfortunately, because the European and the American rights to Darkfall do not belong to the same company, players who wish to play on the North American servers will need to purchase a North American Darkfall Online client / account. If you have an account on the European servers, however, Tasos notes that European players with European accounts may 'clone' their character and transfer them to the North American server, without any of their possessions, three months after the launch of the North American Server. Thus, while players may have to wait a little while longer to port themselves over to the new Darkfall servers, at least they won't have to purchase another Darkfall Online client!

You can register for a North American account here, and you can read about the details of downloading the North American client here.

The Darkfall Online Web site has received a complete makeover, and the official message boards have received an updated look. The European site is currently up and running, although it's still under construction. The North American site, however, is scheduled to launch on Monday.

You can read the full announcement regarding the launch of the European site after the jump.

The first free expansion for Darkfall Online is now live, and it includes a ton of updates to the game. The team has re-balanced monster PvE, weapons and armor, and adjusted crafting prices. Players can now own houses, which is part of the new village system. The first stage of the Character Specialization System lets you choose add-ons for your spells, and there's even new weather and transportation systems.

This is the first in a series of regular free expansions for Darkfall. You can read the full release notes below.

According to a short post on the official Darfall forums, the game's expansion will go live on Tuesday, July 7. This pushes the launch of the North American server back to July 13.

"More information on the Darkfall expansion on Monday July 6th and on the N. American launch shortly after," Tasos said in the post.

According to a post by Tasos on the official forums, the Darkfall American server will launch on July 7. Players will have the option to clone and move their characters from the European server three months after the American launch.

Also, the Darkfall team will launch a free expansion update in the first week of July. According to Tasos, "this expansion includes major new features and major content, PvE, and PvP updates." The next major patch will be included in the launch of expansion.

In addition to these updates, a new Darkfall site is coming, along with new forums for players only. The public forums will remain active, but will be more heavily moderated. You can read Tasos' full post below.

Back in April, the Darkfall Online team banned 213 players for using third-party programs to cheat. Well, according to a post by Tasos, the banhammer is continuing to fall as the team issues permanent bans for use of third-party programs. "Use of these programs has dropped significantly and to the point where there are very few players resorting to their use," Tasos said.

Yesterday, a 24-hour ban was issued to 185 players for using auto-loot scripts. Temporary bans have also been issued for "exploiting the terrain and structures in the world." Tasos warns these temporary bans can lead to permanent bans for repeat offenders.

In the midst of the bannings, a small patch was implemented to fix some bugs. You can read the notes after the jump.

Tasos has made a post on the Darkfall Online forums that compiles all sorts of information on the game, from policies and support to sales and patch updates. He emphasizes that an exact launch date for the North American server has not been finalized yet, and plans for even more servers are under way. Tasos also supplied a list of updates we can expect to see in the future, including:

• Imminent massive optimizations to further improve gameplay, massive battles and sieges
• Improving the newbie experience
• Continuously adding polish to the game
• Substantial improvements to the graphics
• Large content updates
• Massive feature updates
• Further improvements to the economy
• Massive improvements to the solo and the small group experience
• More PvP diversity and options
• Substantial improvements to PvE

As you may remember, Tasos Flambouras of Darkfall Online accused Eurogamer this week of publishing an unfair review that gave the game a 2 out of 10 without enough playtime by the author. You can read our whole story on the issue here, but to sum it up, Eurogamer Editor Tom Bramwell said he would not pull the original review, but would have a second review written. Well, it looks like Flambouras doesn't want the second review.

"We don't need a re-review, we need a real review. We know for a fact that the original review is a fraud and yet Eurogamer stands by it," Flambouras said. Flambouras finished up the long post with this comment: "So if it’s all the same to Eurogamer we’ll just take it on the chin and stick with the original review. We don’t need their concessions. If they can live with this, so can we. 2/10 from the likes of Ed Zitron is going to be a badge of honor for us. They can keep that fraud up as our memorial contribution to journalistic integrity and to independent games everywhere."

You can read Flambouras' entire post below. So what are your thoughts on the whole debate?

There's been quite a bit of drama on the Darkfall forums. Yesterday, Tasos Flambouras made an angry post in response to Eurogamer's review of the game written by Ed Zitron, who gave it a 2 out of 10. Flambouras alleges Zitron "had not played the game at all" because the team checked the logs for Eurogamer's accounts and "found that one of them had around 3 minutes playtime, and the other had less than 2 hours spread out in 13 sessions." Flambouras also says the review contains factual errors and attacks the game.

Eurogamer Editor Tom Bramwell responded today and backs Zitron, who claims to have played the game for at least nine hours. "As I told Flambouras, Ed's references and background are immaculate, as many PC Zone readers will attest. I also do not believe server logs are incontrovertible proof of the scenario Aventurine describes," Bramwell said. The editor says he will not take down the review, but has contacted Kieron Gillen to write a second review.

Flambouras responded to Bramwell today, saying, "We stand by our logs and we’re willing to prove our claims. Eurogamer can send one of their technicians here, we will be happy to cover this expense." Flambouras also said nine hours of gameplay is not enough time to review an MMO the size of Darkfall.