I stand at a subway station, the grey tile and fluorescent lighting providing a pale backdrop for a small handful of commuters stranded at Hantell Street Station. A news report echoes around the entrance hall, streamed to a huddle of sorry faces crouched around an iPad. The reporter has no idea what’s going on. But then again, no one does. 

The ground shakes, dislodging streams of grit and dust from the ceiling. I decide to press on; ignoring the half-hearted pleas from one of NYPD’s finest, heading down the steps to the Seventh Avenue Line. There’s no service today, not any more. The loudest noise on the platform is coming from two German tourists arguing with each other. Something about Dusseldorf.

One of the subway trains has made a mess of the Downtown end of the platform, bursting through the roof and into the daylight above. Sensing an exit, I dash through the middle of the mangled train car. Emerging above ground, I’m just in time to see Air Force jets scream above. Sounds of the military are all around, with tanks rolling through the city streets and helicopter gunships circling nearby. Whatever’s going on, it’s big. It’s going to take a big team to take it down.

Fancy trying out a high fantasy MMO and not be charged a dime for it? You’re in luck, as SoE has you covered. Joining their growing list of free-to-play games is Vanguard: Saga of Heroes. With a wide range of classes available to play in an expansive, seamless world, this revamped MMORPG might quench that thirst for something different.

Converting a veteran MMO like Vanguard to free-to-play is no easy matter, so we asked the experts. I recently got the chance to discuss the revamp with Salim Grant, Creative Director for Vanguard: Saga of Heroes.  During the interview, we touched on the reasons behind the switch and updating the game for a modern audience. 

ZAM: Before we get started, can you give us a quick recap of what Vanguard is all about for those readers who might not have looked at the game before? What can players look forward to that's unique to the game?

Salim Grant: Vanguard Saga of Heroes is a fantasy, massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) set in the world of Telon, which is a vast, ancient world filled with adventure and magic. Vanguard is a game about freedom, and the world of Telon is filled with exotic locations. Players take a role in one our unique classes and can challenge dangerous creatures through our groundbreaking and dynamic combat systems. 

Sebastian Mayer , product director, and Nils Urband, game designer, answer a few questions about the latest updates to Ikariam, the browser-based, free-to-play MMORTS that borrows heavily from the themes of ancient Greece. Want to conquer your neighbors or become the ultimate diplomat to create a massive alliance? Read on to learn more!

Whatever opinion you may have on The Secret World (and it appears that the general population of players are enjoying themselves), there really is no doubt that Funcom has been putting in a lot of work to ensure their game remains stable and bug-free. Of course, there's still some distance to go (invisible death rays in the Facility, I'm looking at you!), but the speed with which Funcom is deploying their patches is downright impressive.

Beyond their general bug-fixes, however, Funcom has also been hard at work on new content as. a few weeks back, they announced that their first monthly update (issue) would be coming at the end of July. Dubbed "Unleashed," this new update promises new missions, nightmare mode dungeons, the highly anticipated marketplace launch, and more. All of this comes in line with Ragnar Tørnquist's State of the Game post on July 10th, where he outlined some of the major game highlights to come in the next few months (new outfits, more character customization, new auxiliary weapons, new zones, a PvP dungeon, and more? Yes please!). We caught up with Ragnar to talk about the current state of the game, as well as clarifying some of the information announced back in their State of the Game address. Read on!

To anyone who hasn’t experienced it, the idea of a racing or driving MMO seems rather odd. But after two years of updates, and notching up over 16.7 million registered gamers worldwide, the team behind Need for Speed World has been proved right. The careful blend of high-speed events, set inside a mesmerizing open world, generated an army of fans across Europe, Latin and North America.

As part of the celebration of their two year anniversary, I spoke to producer Marc de Vellis and lead designer Melvin Teo. While we raced through the grand, open-world city, they demonstrated some of the recent changes to the game and revealed a couple of the new features in the pipeline. From the latest word on Drag Racing, through the August supercar bonanza, there’s a lot going on in this free-to-play MMO.

If you fancy taking part in the two year anniversary, the team is also giving away free in-game cars and kit to help fill your garage. Head over to the Need for Speed World website and get in before the celebration finishes!

Every MMO is an ambitious project. To get as far as launching a game takes hundreds of developers several years. What makes Defiance, Trion Worlds’ latest MMO, even more daunting is that it is being built as a skill-based third-person shooter that can be experienced on both PCs and consoles. A project this extensive sounds almost unfathomable.

But Defiance is about more than just making a game, as senior producer Rob Hill explained to us. When it comes to how we experience entertainment, Trion is looking further ahead than just the next couple of years. By facing the challenge of building virtual worlds that work on TV, PC and beyond, and by working out how to mesh multiple ways of creating content, this ambitious developer is striving to get ahead of the curve.

By announcing their release date - April 2013 - on a giant Skyscraper-sized poster overlooking San Diego Comic-Con, the two partners have literally nailed their colors to the mast. How does Rob Hill, Senior Producer at Trion Worlds, hope to navigate his team to that final destination? Find out more about their plans below.

In this five-part miniseries, we sat down with the developers behind the highly anticipated MechWarrior Online to talk about everything you want to know about this upcoming action title. Be sure to check out our previous interviews in the series:

• Brian Ekman, Creative Director
• Russ Bullock, President
• Paul Inouye, Lead Designer
• Matthew Craig, Technical Director
• Dennis de Koning, Art Director

And we've arrived at the conclusion to our MechWarrior Online interview series! For our final candidate, we've spoken to Piranha Games' Art Director, Dennis de Koning to speak about all of the artistic challenges of creating an explosive 'Mech-based game like MWO, as well as how he plans to bring MechWarrior to the modern masses. So without further delay, let's get on with the interview!

For me, walking through a video game convention is like being in an art gallery candy store. You're surrounded by such beautiful creativity, yet you can't wait to stuff all of it into your gaping maw. Alas, mice and keyboards are (mostly) inedible, relegating me to the difficult task of being forced to play some of the most gorgeous games about to hit our PCs.

After tackling the tasty treats of End of Nations earlier in the day, it was time to check out RIFT, where I spoke with Trion Worlds' European Product Manager for RIFT and Defiance, Kevin Taylor. We spoke about some of the ingredients that went into Patch 1.9: Conquest, before getting some hints as to what will be on the menu for their upcoming Storm Legion expansion.

Most people would spend a trip to the seaside enjoying the sun, eating ice-cream and taking a causal stroll down the beach, but that’s not how we roll here at ZAM. Instead, I paid a visit to Rezzed, the PC and indie game show hosted by Eurogamer and Rock, Paper, Shotgun. 

Trion Worlds was also there, showing off End of Nations to a horde of avid gamers. After going hands on with the latest alpha build, I barraged Trion's French Community Manager, Franck Vacher, with questions. We discussed team and clan play, the recently announced Founders Pricing deal, and the importance of bacon on the battlefield.

On Friday, June 22nd, Trion held a pre-1.9 round-table discussion with several popular MMORPG sites. Hal Hanlin (Design Producer) and Scott Hartsman (Executive Producer) answered questions from each of the sites about the features that will be seen this Monday when patch 1.9 goes live.