Perfect World International is the North American and European version of the popular MMO The Perfect World that launched in China in 2005. Its theme and story are based on Chinese mythology and the legend of Pangu, a 1000-year-old creation story from the Zhou Dynasty. In China, The Perfect World enjoyed widespread success for quite some time as a subscription-based MMO. Later, the developers (Perfect World Entertainment) reworked the MMO into its current, free-to-play incarnation as Perfect World International, which boasts more than 50 million registered players.

As we reported a few days ago, the developers recently launched The Rising Tide, PWI's third and largest expansion. The Rising Tide is an aquatic-themed expansion that introduces a new race called the Tideborn, and opens new zones including islands and underwater areas. Just prior to The Rising Tide's launch, ZAM interviewed Product Manager Jon Belliss, who told us about the expansion's two new classes (the Assassin and Psychic), new dungeons and endgame content and more. We also asked Belliss about some of the additional changes to the PWI client, and brought up a few of the hotly-debated community issues we've seen raised lately.

In the current state of MMO fandom, content updates are expected, anticipated, and (when they arrive) often celebrated. New content means new adventures for established players and the possibility that the fresh patches will bring more new players into the fold.

According to the developers at Cryptic Studios, their latest addition to Champions Online, dubbed the Nemesis Confrontation, has been well-received and expands the content in the game even further. The ZAM staff sat down with Bill Roper to get the latest on this event and what’s next for the CO universe!

Every year, MMO gamers have one month that seems to be dedicated to the launch of stand-alone games and follow-up expansions. December seems to be that magical month this year, and we’re seeing a batch of expansions from games like EverQuest and Lord of the Rings Online, but we also are heralding the release of the independently developed MMO, Alganon.

To celebrate the launch of Alganon, the ZAM staff sat down with Jim “Tork” Younkin, Community Manager and Evangelist for the title, and we discussed some of their pre-launch promotions and what kind of features made it into the release of their MMO.

Celebrating the fifth anniversary of World of Warcraft is a surreal experience. Only yesterday, many of us were searching through store shelves in places like Target and Best Buy, yearning to find the world’s most coveted MMO. Now it’s five years and two expansions later, and people from all over the world are still seeking out the fantastical world of Azeroth.

Even though the game remains fresh through constant content updates, it has gone through a number of changes to its gameplay throughout the years. To learn more about these changes and the history of WoW, we interviewed Blizzard’s Cory Stockton and Greg Street, a pair of individuals who were pivotal in the creation of the conflict between the Alliance and Horde.

Warhammer Online's latest patch, v1.3.2, continues to address many of the long-standing obstacles the MMO has faced since its launch. As we reported in October, 1.3.2 brought about the removal of forts, the New User Journey, the Apprenticeship system and more. Many fans consider the recent changes—and those upcoming in 1.3.3—vital to WAR's continued survival in today's cut-throat MMO market. One of the newest additions to the patch 1.3.2 is the Endless Trial, offering new players the chance to "try before they buy" without the former 10-day time limit.

Mythic's new Endless Trial essentially changes WAR's entire Tier 1 experience (Ranks 1 through 10) to a free-to-play MMO. We here at ZAM think it's an ambitious move, and a great way to offer potential subscribers the time they need to make an accurate, informed decision; a trial model that many other subscription-based MMOs could learn from. In an effort to learn a bit more about the details of the Endless Trial, ZAM held a Q&A with Mythic producer Josh Drescher. Read on to learn more about the free-to-play trial, as well as the New User Journey that Mythic added to help new players.

Originally developed by the South Korea-based Barunson Interactive in 2006, Dragonica Online is one of the newest free-to-play MMOs to hit the North American market. After its success in South Korea and China, publisher THQ*ICE picked up Dragonica Online and brought a localized version to the U.S. and Europe, where it ran through its beta testing phase throughout the summer.  On October 15, the MMO finally celebrated its official launch with its "Grand Opening" event, offering in-game festivities with the chance for players to earn special reward items.

Earlier this month, before Dragonica Online's official launch, ZAM.com had the chance to talk with Chris Lena, the game's new executive producer. Previously a producer for both SOE's EverQuest and Cryptic Studio's Champions Online, Lena recently made the transition to THQ*ICE, presiding over the publisher's newest and most-important MMO venture. In this Q&A, ZAM asks Lena about Dragonica Online's free-to-play revenue model, the new live events and expansions already in-the-works, and the features that regular MMO players will find most appealing in this new game. He also explains how Dragonica Online's gameplay lends itself to bite-size sessions, and conversely, the large amount of PvP and PvE content available for the more "hardcore" players out there. Check out the full Q&A after the jump!

Last summer, ZAM took a closer look at the upcoming sci-fi MMO, Black Prophecy, in our early-feature format, "What We Know So Far." The game's developer, Reakktor Media GmbH, kept a pretty tight lid on news and information about Black Prophecy back then. Most of what we knew about the upcoming MMO came from its website and a smattering of developer posts in the official forums. One of the most puzzling aspects of Black Prophecy was its story; a darkly-woven universe created by award-winning German novelist Michael Marrak. It wasn't until last month that Reakktor launched its Stellarvox Veritas site, gradually offering new information about the story and lore behind this mysterious MMO.

Since then, Reakktor kept relatively quiet about Black Prophecy's actual gameplay while it continues searching for a publisher. In an effort to help understand the lofty claims made by the developer about Black Prophecy's innovative gameplay, ZAM sought an interview with Creative Director Timo Krahl. In one of the most comprehensive Black Prophecy Q&As to date, Krahl addresses many of the burning questions posed by the community throughout the past few months.

ZAM asks about Marrak's involvement in creating the game universe, the high-tech graphics engine used to develop the MMO, and the gameplay behind it all. Krahl explains how modular "ships" serve as characters, and that players will "gear up" their ships via action-oriented level progression. We also ask about the extent of Black Prophecy's PvE content, its PvP gameplay, the clan system and more. But that's not all; ZAM was thrilled to obtain four brand-new, exclusive Black Prophecy screenshots from Reakktor Media. This is the first time these in-game screenshots have been available to the public; just click the screens in the story below to view the high-res, un-cropped versions.

One of the elements that has always fascinated me about EVE Online is the stability and resilience of the in-game economy. What you may not know is that CCP has a team of economists that work with the development team to provide players with a stable economy unlike some of the other MMOs out there. We had a chance to sit down with the Lead Economist for CCP, Dr. Eyjólfur Guðundsson, to talk about the EVE economy and what makes it so special.

ZAM: First of all, what is Unholy Rage? I mean, there was a discussion earlier on it, but what are the underlying principles of it?

Dr. Eyjólfur Guðundsson: Unholy Rage is simply the name of a task force that we put together within CCP to fight off activities that are very well known within MMOs in general - they're usually called gold farming. In general, it's behaviour where players - but I don't want to say players, because they're not really playing the game - it's the behaviour where individuals use the game as a business for themselves, rather than using the game as an environment to play. This is very prevalent within all MMOs, but the problem is that these entities are usually using tools and additional tools that are not allowed to use to give themselves additional advantages, so they can gain more than a regular player. So that's really what we're going after.

ZAM: And this task force lead to the banning of several thousand people, as I understand it?

Today marks the last part of ZAM.com's interviews with some of the top minds of BioWare's Dragon Age: Origins. Next week we'll have a full hands-on preview of our initial thoughts on the game, but for now, you can enjoy our chat with Mark Darrah, Executive Producer of the Dragon Age franchise and all around guru when it comes to the theories of game development and how the industry is evolving. Read on for some great insights into the creation of Dragon Age and where it's going to be in a few years.

ZAM: We're here with Mark Darrah, the Executive Producer of the Dragon Age franchise. Can you tell us a little bit about what you do?

Mark Darrah: I'm actually in charge of the creative direction of not just Dragon Age: Origins, but of all of the products associated with the brand. At the moment, it's just Dragon Age: Origins and the one released book, but this also includes more novels in the future, a pen and paper game being developed by Green Ronin, a comic book and any future expansions to come.

Just recently BioWare invited us down to Edmonton to check out their latest foray into the fantasy RPG world - Dragon Age: Origins! While the game itself has no multiplayer to speak of, Dragon Age still manages to really evolve the RPG genre as the team makes its first attempt at blending high fantasy with dark heroic themes. The result is a fantastically immersive game that truly is a spiritual successor to previous blockbusters like Neverwinter Nights and Baldur's Gate II.

ZAM.com managed to sit down with Ray Muzyka And Greg Zeschuk, co-founders of BioWare, and we got their input on inspirations for the game, why they chose to fully omit multiplayer gaming, what they aspired for in creating Dragon Age, and much more!

ZAM: We're here with Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeshuk, co-founders of BioWare, to talk about what went into the creation of Dragon Age: Origins. I'll start off with the one question that's been on my mind from the very beginning. You've made it clear that Dragon Age: Origins will not have a multiplayer option on launch; why not? Why did you move away from that?

Ray Muzyka: We wanted to focus on a really strong, emotionally engaging narrative that felt like your personal narrative, and we felt that the best way to do that in Dragon Age: Origins was to focus on the single player experience. We have a ton of online features through player developed content and showing your hero's journey through the social networking pages we're building. In a way, we have a lot of online functionality, but we decided to focus the game play, the storyline, around a really personal, emotionally engaging narrative.