With the 43rd Producer's Letter, Naoki Yoshida released the much anticipated news that FFXIV: A Realm Reborn will begin closed beta on February 25.

This is a week later than planned for but the extra time has been used to add extra features and character options ready for fans to get their eager hands on.

Last week we held our very own WildStar Wednesday, releasing a whole range of information about Carbine’s upcoming MMO. Michael “Ragar” Branham brought us a detailed preview based on his hands-on time with the game, together with a two-part interview with Executive Producer Jeremy Gaffney. Meanwhile, Gareth “Gazimoff” Harmer interviewed Mike Donatelli about WildStar’s Raiding plans, and grabbed lunch with the Community Team to hear their thoughts on Arkship, beta and beyond.

Last month I went down to San Francisco to meet with Carbine Studios and check out its current build of WildStar. In-between presentations and actually playing the game, I had the chance to sit down with Lead Narrative Designer Chad "Pappy" Moore and ask him about some of the game's lore.  Most of the questions were about the Dominion and its newly revealed races, but we also touched on the Exiles, the new Stalker class, as well as the player's arrival on Nexus.

Last Wednesday, the Exiles had their final moment of glory. As WildStar’s ‘good guy’ faction, they’ve been showcased in cinematics and animations. They’ve been the focus of our attention and adoration. But today, all that changes. Today, an altogether more sinister Arkship hangs in orbit around Nexus. Today heralds the march of the Dominion.

While I’d seen the planet Nexus in screenshots and videos, this would be the first time that I’d experience the game first-hand. It was also my first look at the Dominion; like a kid with a crate of candy, I was tempted to unleash my enthusiasm by experiencing as much of this new faction as possible. Instead, I instilled some Dominion discipline by focusing on a human Spellslinger, a nimble pistolier with a magical twist.

If you’d watched the two faction videos, you’d be forgiven for thinking that WildStar is an intergalactic version of Dukes of Hazzard versus Bond super villains. But although Executive Producer Jeremy Gaffney paints the Dominion as a faction of “jerks”, it also gives the evil empire a disarming familiarity. They are ruthless, merciless, and see it as their job to drag the rest of the galaxy out of the dark ages. And I am completely fine with that.

As part of Dominion Day, we decided to take a closer look at three of WildStar’s announced classes. But rather than simply talk about them, how about a collection of videos that show the Warrior, Stalker and Spellslinger in action?

For those more crafty than I, the Chocobos Rule the World Contest has been announced over on the Square Enix forums!  Get those creative juices flowing and submit a picture of your best work featuring everyone's favorite yellow bird (not Big Bird) to this thread (which also contains the details of the contest which are included below)!  Discuss in the Zam Forums.

Last month I went down to San Francisco to meet with Carbine Studios and check out its current build of WildStar. In-between presentations and actually playing the game, I had the chance to sit down with Executive Producer Jeremy Gaffney and ask him about some of the more nuts-and-bolts aspects of WildStar’s design. The first half of the interview covered player specializations, Milestones, gear scaling, and Path abilities. For this second half, Jeremy discussed PvP design, crowd control, targeted abilities versus freeform casting and more.

It's official!  Sony Online Entertainment has announced SOE Live. As we reported last week when a banner accidently went live on the SOE Live site, the annual celebration of all SOE Games wiill be August 1 - 4, 2013, at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas. Ticket and hotel pricing are not yet available so stay tuned!

Formerly known as Fan Faire, SOE Live is the ultimate gathering for the SOE community. It provides players an opportunity to celebrate their favorite games across SOE's popular portfolio of titles, including: DC Universe Online, Dragon's Prophet, EverQuest, EverQuest II, Free Realms, PlanetSide 2, PoxNora, Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures, and Vanguard Saga of Heroes. Fans of all ages are welcome to meet the talented people behind some of the online world's most successful games, and gain access to developer panel discussions, major company announcements, game tournaments, player gatherings, premium swag and more. In addition to various social events, SOE hosts developer panel discussions and game-themed live events, giving attendees a chance to voice their opinions of current and upcoming game content.

We highly recommend checking out Linda "Brasse" Carlson's introduction to SOE Live 2013 over on the SOE Live website.

Last month I went down to San Francisco to meet with Carbine Studios and check out its current build of WildStar. In-between presentations and actually playing the game, I had the chance to sit down with Executive Producer Jeremy Gaffney and ask him about some of the more nuts-and-bolts aspects of WildStar’s design. Player specializations, Milestones, gear scaling, Path abilities, and more.

Last week, during their WildStar Wednesday blog post, Carbine mentioned some press events they’d organized to share some new information about the game as well as show off one of their latest builds. I flew out to try the game in San Francisco, while Gareth “Gazimoff” Harmer went to check out the game at Brighton in the UK. This was my first opportunity to try out the game since PAX Prime 2011 and I was excited to see firsthand what had changed in the last few years. We’ll be sharing some of the details we picked up during our trips at a later date, but I can share with you my thoughts about what I’ve played so far.