Our friends over at Darth Hater just sent us a breaking news tip that should be of interest to any Star Wars: The Old Republic fan. During today's conference call to William Blair and Company analysts, Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello said that "high-scale testing" would be begin at the end of June. He also mentioned that the "release date would be dependent on the results" of the testing phase. BioWare then told Darth Hater that "game testing is ongoing."

UPDATE: Senior Community Manager Stephen Reid has responded to Riccitello's comments on the official forums. "We've recently transitioned into longer-term and larger-scale testing. We have more people testing the game now than ever before," he said, saying they're essentially in closed beta since it's invite-only and limited in size. They're still aiming to launch in 2011. You can read his full post after the jump.

We've been waiting patiently for a concrete release date for quite some time, and it looks like there might be a light at the end of the tunnel. While you wait, be sure to check out everything we learned about Star Wars: The Old Republic at E3.

Have you registered for Fan Faire yet?  It's less than a month away, and that means it's time for my annual Fan Faire Tips!  This is stuff I and other Fan Faire veterans have learned attending past Fan Faires and other conventions.  All this may mean nothing if you're the type who can toss a change of undies in a bag and be good for a week, but me, I've always been an over-planner.

I have a confession – getting the chance to see games in action before anyone else at E3 is a lot of fun, but sometimes the experience leaves you with more questions than answers. You’re drawn in by the gameplay and intrigued by the concept, but when games are still early in the development process, getting all the information you want out of the developers doesn’t always happen. Trion Worlds' upcoming MMO/shooter-hybrid Defiance is a great example.

We were at Trion's E3 booth to witness the unveiling of Defiance, and here’s what we know.

Qho Augren has made a permanent impression upon many of being the brattiest child that Norrath has ever seen. Hailing from the Village of Shin, he nagged us time and time again to bring him back a multitude of harvests whenever we returned to him. The most recent Gathering Obsession quest had a unique twist however: Qho became a pet that follows us around!

I'm sure many people had fun jumping off of cliffs or battled the nastiest of beasts with him in tow, but I saw the opportunity to teach Qho more about harvesting... and the world beyond. Qho has now visited a wide variety of places with me, posed for many pictures and even provided a point of amusement as unsuspecting players on my server have hailed my Qho pet over and over, likely wondering why he didn't give them a quest.

I've had Qho as a pet since before I related the first story of his Brewday Adventures. A good deal of time and two world events have passed since then and Qho has stood steadfastly by my side throughout it all. Continue reading for more tales of Qho's exciting adventures!

Just when you thought that your weekly guild meetings couldn't get any more contentious, En Masse Entertainment's upcoming TERA looks to expand the role of politics in MMOs like never before. Want to dictate tax rates? Imprison your fellow players? Enable PvP across your territory? If you have the political will and support, you can make it happen.

But let's back up for a moment. TERA is an action MMO developed by Bluehole Studio and launched in Korea earlier this year. En Masse Entertainment is currently developing a North American version with no current release date. Billing itself as the first “true” action MMORPG, reflex and aim matter in TERA — it's not just about packing the right gear and stats, you need the right skills.

Now that we're caught up, keep reading after the jump find out what we learned at En Masse's impressive TERA booth (seen above) at E3!

The excitement from E3 is winding down and the excitement for Waves of Madness is cranking up!  Your faithful ZAM staff has been working on several projects.

• Wave of Madness Event Guide - Our 1.3 event guide got fresh info from Test this week.
• A Hunter's Guide to Scarwood Reach -  A guide to the rare mobs and dailies in Scarwood Reach.
• Crafting Rifts - Lure in your own Rift and be rewarded with crafting materials.
• Wargroups - ZAM user Leiralei started this ambitious guide cataloging which shards group together for battlegrounds.  You're welcome to contribute!

Don't forget, anyone can edit our wiki with a free ZAM login!  And test out your soul builds with our Soul Builder!

Star Wars: The Old Republic has become a yearly ritual at E3 – stop by BioWare’s booth, drool over the latest CGI trailer, and get endlessly teased by the morsels of gameplay on display. For those keeping score, it’s been nearly three years since the game was announced. The news recently broke that its release date was pushed back to late 2011. Thankfully, BioWare has doled out a continual stream of new information to keep us happy and docile, like the recently revealed Advanced Classes page.

At E3 this week, Bioware focused on three main game features: raid content, the Galactic Cold War, and an epic quest on Alderaan. Keep reading after the jump for details from our visit to the booth.

A few days ago, Trion Worlds confirmed that Addons are coming to Rift and that the Addons API has recently been released on the Public Test Shard. To coincide with the news, the ZAM Network and the MMOUI team are proud to announce the launch of RiftUI! If you prefer a URL, it's simply http://www.riftui.com.

The RiftUI team is comprised of the same people who brought you EQInterface, WoWInterface, EQ2Interface, LoTROInterface and more. If you're familiar with those sites, then you know what types of features you can expect to find at RiftUI. Basically, the site gives you a safe place to download and organize Addons, as well as upload your own interface.

Keep reading after the jump for a full list of RiftUI's features. Also, feel free to introduce yourself in their forums and join the team in IRC to discuss your Rift Addon ideas!

UPDATE:  Patch 1.3 has been named and fun stuff is happening on Test!  Come see our updated Waves of Madess Event guide!

This week Trion announced they needed testers for a patch 1.3 event on the Public Test Shard.  While it has no announced date (or name), this event will herald the opening of Hammerknell Fortress in Moonshade Highlands.

ZAM's own Miric was there, and brings us this preview of the event as experienced on test this week.  Remember, anything from the test shard is subject to change!  Bookmark this page, as it will become ZAM's event guide when it goes live:

Wave of Madness Event at ZAM Rift!

A chill breeze was in the air as the Far Seas caravan set up their tents for the New Halas City Festival. The festival's newest wares were introduced early due to all city festivals that took place in May. Players can pick up four Halasian themed house items: Halas Ice Chair, Halas Ice Stool, Halas Ice Table and Halas Pedestal Table. Visit the Far Seas caravan merchants to see all of the local specialties and other festival goods. The city festival will end on Tuesday, June 7th at 11:59pm PDT.

The Flying Freebooters have joined the festivities and a new Aether Racing course is available in Frostfang Sea. Adventurers can try their luck on the unstable C.R.A.S.H. pads and those fast enough to achieve a race time of at least 104 seconds will earn a new pretitle. The aether race runs concurrent with the city festival and will also end at 11:59pm PDT on June 7th.

Later in the month the denizens of the enchanted grottos will welcome assistance from those who seek them out. Four of the grottos will feature more housing tiles, totaling 10 new items in all. The "Strong Brew Root Beer" quest has undergone some changes and is now constantly repeatable throughout the event. Moonlight Enchantments will begin on June 20th at 12:01am PDT and conclude on June 21st at 11:59pm PDT.