Can you believe it's already been six months since the launch of Rift? To mark the occasion, Trion Worlds decided to host a Rift Half-Birthday Celebration from August 25 to September 1 that will give old and new players alike ample reason to log in and enjoy the festivities.

We had the opportunity to join other members of the press in a roundtable interview with Executive Producer Scott Hartsman to find out exactly what players will be getting during the birthday week. Keep reading after the jump for all the details!

MapleStory Adventures launched in open beta this week, bringing the popular free-to-play MMO to Facebook. We sat down with Executive Producer Aron Koh to fine out more about the game, including why Nexon decided to go the social networking route.

Keep reading after the jump to read Koh's answers to our questions. If the game interests you, head over to the MapleStory Adventures Facebook page and try it out!

Following a wealth of controversy surrounding the high prices in EVE Online's new Noble Exchange store and a pair of leaked internal CCP documents, the company invited the Council of Stellar Management to Iceland on June 30 and July 1 to discuss these concerns. Both CCP and the CSM released written statements following the summit, which are required reading for any EVE Online player.

In response to the special summit, CCP held a press conference yesterday with representatives from various news outlets, including ZAM. We had the opportunity to speak with EVE Online Senior producer Arnar Gylfason and CSM Chairman Alexander "The Mittani" Gianturco about the summit, micro-transaction prices, the leaked documents and more. Keep reading after the jump for their answers.

Just last week, we got to see the latest developer blog post from The Secret World Lead Designer Joel Bylos, where he talks about some of the early steps that go into creating a compelling world that players want to explore. Of course, with so many interesting points being brought up in the blog post, that only made us want to ask more questions!

We reached out to Funcom to grab a ZAM exclusive Q&A with Bylos to see if we could get a few more insights relating to his latest blog post. Read on to find out more about what went into creating The Secret World's... world.

While TERA's action-based combat is an important aspect of the game, the music helps give the world of Arborea a life of its own. Frogster, the game's European publisher, sent us an exclusive interview with Inon Zur and Rod Aldernthy, the duo behind the music of TERA. They explain how they worked with developer Bluehole Studio to compose the game's music and discuss the creative process.

Just to avoid any confusion, we'd like to reiterate that Frogster is publishing TERA in Europe, while En Masse Entertainment is handling the publishing duties in North America. Now that we've gotten that clarification out of the way, check out the Q&A with TERA's composers after the jump!

This week I had the chance to chat with Design Producer Hal Hanlin and get some details on Update 1.3: Waves of Madness, the major content patch that's launching in Rift on June 22. In his own words, Hanlin is the guy who is responsible “primarily for the content of Rift.”

Keep reading after the jump to learn more about Addons, free realm transfers, guild banks, new artifacts (and the fun rewards associated with them), the world event, the Hammerknell raid and more!

Last week, the team over at Age of Conan made the big announcement that this mature MMO would be taking some big strides by going free-to-play this summer. While Funcom has yet to announce any major plans for the future beyond their Conan the Barbarian movie tie-in, Age of Conan will go by a new title by the end of this shift to Age of Conan: Unrated.

With so many new changes on the way, I decided to catch up with Game Director and Executive Producer Craig Morrison to see if I could get some clarification on Age of Conan's movie tie-in plans, as well as the details on what's to come when Age of Conan goes free-to-play. Keep reading after the jump for his answers!

Are you a guild leader looking for some guidance? Then you may want to check out The Guild Leader's Companion, a new book written by longtime ZAM user Adam "Ferrel" Trzonkowski. Using his years of experience from games like EverQuest and EverQuest II, Trzonkowski has created a reference guide that will help you run a guild in any MMO.

Editor-in-Chief Darryl "Togikagi" Gangloff had the opportunity to talk with Trzonkowski about the creative process behind writing the book and his history with MMOs, as well as the difficulties behind transferring your guild to a new game (in his case, it's Rift). You can read the full interview after the jump!

The Guild Leader's Companion is available for purchase through Amazon, and you can even pick up the digital version for your Kindle. Trzonkowski will be donating 100% of the proceeds of sales made through June 30 to the Fisher House Foundation, which provides a "home away from home" for military families to be close to a loved one during hospitalization for an illness, disease or injury. This is a great opportunity to get some guild leadership help while donating to a good cause!

Outspark is a portal known for it's free-to-play downloadable games, but the latest addition to its catalog is a little different. Seven Dragons is Outspark's first browser-based MMO, which means you can play it anywhere you can access a browser, including your iPhone or iPad.

Seven Dragons is an RTS/RPG hybrid that is all about forming alliances, building empires and engaging in PvP. We sat down with Executive Producer Roxy Gibert and Outspark COO Philip Yun to get more details on the company's latest game. Check out the full interview after the jump!

Perfect World Entertainment just let us know that the latest Forsaken World content update, The Gaze of Larex, will launch on Thursday, May 26. The patch includes a new dungeon, PvP arenas, the advanced Nightmare Carnival, the marriage system, a raised level cap and more.

To get more details on The Gaze of Larex, Staff Writer Paul "LockeColeMA" Cleveland went straight to Product Manager Clifton Chu for an exclusive interview. You can read the full Q&A after the jump!