With the newest Perfect World International update coming to live servers, we sat down with Jonathan Belliss, Product Manager of Perfect World International, to talk about the introduction of Genies into the PW universe. Join us as I attempt to rub his lamp of infinite exclusives!

ZAM: Hello. Thanks for taking the time to talk with us about the newest Perfect World International update.

Jonathan Belliss: Thanks for having me!

ZAM: The newest update introduces player owned Genies. Can you tell us the storyline behind this update?

Jonathan: In the PWI universe, there are three worlds: the realm where players live, the Perfect World, the Underworld and the Elemental World. These worlds exist in a delicate balance with one another - an imbalance in one wreaks havoc on the others.

Head on over to Limit Break Radio and check out the latest of the Square Enix Community Team Podcast Tour. Listen as the Limit Break Radio team discuss Final Fantasy XI live events with Rob Peeler and Matt Hilton of Square Enix, joined by our very own Pikko! Go to limitbreakradio.com to download the podcast.

If you read any sort of blog concerning World of Warcraft, and you're fairly enthusiastic about the arena e-Sport it's becoming, then it's extremely likely that you've heard of World of Ming. Founded by Terry 'Ming' White, World of Ming was a self-funded blog that saw Ming posting one article, every day, on something related to World of Warcraft PVP. In an era before anybody had even heard of 'arena,' Ming chatted endlessly about duelling, world PVP, battlegrounds, PVP videos and anything that related to his beloved 'Rogue' class. Today, World of Ming is the flagship blog, in partnership with Gameriot.com, and WoM is considered to be the PVP blog for competitive World of Warcraft.

These days, while Ming no longer has to post an article every day (he alternates with another blogger he hired), World of Ming continues to operate as part tabloid and part news source for players who want to stay 'in the know' about anything related to WoW arena. It's only in a blog like World of Ming where you'll find Naruto and NBA analogies used to describe World of Warcraft players, with Japanese titles affixed to the end of their names (Hafu-chan, Neilyo-kun and Serennia-sama for a small sample size). As well, it's only in World of Ming that you'll find the fairly innocuous title "3.1 Macros, PVE/PVP Gear Balancing a Big Step in the Right Direction" on one day, and the next article can just as easily be "Hafu-Chan finally Legal?"

If you've been following the Carbine Studios team like we have, it's easy to see that there's something big going on over there. In another attempt to get more information about the unannounced title in development, we had a talk with Eric DeMilt, the Producer of the project. Check out what Eric had to say in our exclusive interview.

ZAM: Hey Eric. Thanks for joining us to chat about Carbine Studios. Any chance you'll be announcing your first project with us today!?!

Eric DeMilt: Thanks for having me.  Unfortunately today won't be the day we announce the project.

ZAM: Over the course of your career you've worked on such games as Stonekeep, Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance and Fallout II to name a few. What kind of challenges have you come across leading a team developing a big budget MMO?

Guild Wars celebrates its 4th Anniversary on April 28th, with the usual celebrations taking place in-game from today until the 29th of April. We caught up with ArenaNet's James Phinney, Lead Designer on Guild Wars, to talk about the past four years, what to expect down the road, and even some juicy nuggets of Guild Wars 2 information. Check out what he had to say in our exclusive interview.

ZAM: Hey there. Thanks for sitting down with us to talk about the 4th anniversary of Guild Wars®!

James Phinney: Yeah, it's a huge milestone for us. It's gratifying to be a part of a game that's still being played so actively years after its release.

ZAM: Do you guys have anything special planned in the office for this occasion?

Tim Cain has had quite a career so far, from creating the award-winning Fallout to the FPS / RPG hybrid Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines. He's now working on an untitled MMO at Carbine Studios, to be published by NCsoft. We managed to corner him to see what information we could squeeze out about his latest game.

ZAM: Hey Tim, thanks for joining us. We know you're extremely busy keeping your latest product secretive!

Tim Cain: I am quite busy, Andrew, but when the explosive collars arrive next week, I should have more free time on my hands.

ZAM: Up until joining Carbine Studios, you worked almost exclusively on single-player games. What sort of challenges have you encountered in designing your first MMO?

You know that feeling when you play a new game and you're instantly hooked? Growing up it was games like Doom and Utopia: The Creation of a Nation that introduced me to such feelings. Later, games like EverQuest, Command and Conquer: Generals, Battlefield 1942 and WarCraft III gave me that same feeling. Something I noticed in 2008 however, is that, even though there were tons of great games coming out, many of which I enjoyed and spent a great deal of time playing, there weren't any that I found myself uncontrollably passionate about.

Last month, Riot Games had me out to San Francisco to check out League of Legends. I knew little about the game but anyone who models the game's entire concept around a Warcraft III mod has my attention. Of course, I was extremely skeptical, but after I sat down and played my first game, that old feeling washed over me. I was hooked. So much so, our two hour meeting turned into a six hour meeting, causing me to nearly miss my flight. I did however get an interview with one of the stars of the League of Legends team, Director of Systems Design, Tom Cadwell.

ZAM: Hey Tom, it's such a pleasure to have the opportunity to sit down and talk to you today about your latest project. How are things going over at Riot Games?

Tom Cadwell: Things are great!  We are really busy right now, but everyone's pumped.  We are in our friends and family beta period, and getting to play the game with our friends outside the company is causing contagious enthusiasm in the team.  Guys come in after playing, and have some idea they are really passionate about, and put it in.

If you're a hardcore gamer, you've probably seen advertisements for the Killer N.I.C that's whole claim is it will help "deliver the smoothest, fastest online gaming experience you can get out of your system & ISP". I've been using the original card for a couple of months now, and it's not bad, but it's also not something your average gamer is going to even notice without a lot of testing. With the second generation (Killer Xeno) coming soon, we spoke with Harlan Beverly, Co-Founder of Bigfoot Networks to see how these new cards will compare to the original Killer N.I.C.

ZAM: Hey Harlan. It's great to talk with you again about the Killer N.I.C.

Harlan Beverly: You do realize you are taking time away from my Death Knight don't you!  Well I do love Thottbot so...

ZAM: *laughs* Can you start off by explaining the advantage for gamers that own one?

Back in January we had the rare opportunity to venture deep inside Orgrimmar to have a conversation with Thrall the Warchief. Our community responded with overwhelming praise and a desire to hear from the Banshee Queen, Sylvanas. Check out what she had to say about Thrall, Varimathras and her ongoing claim that she's the greatest archer in Azeroth.

ZAM: Hey Sylvanas!  So, how's it going in Undercity?

Sylvanas: Speak quickly; I don't have time to waste on idle chatter.  The Forsaken have become a force to be reckoned with, but there is still much to do in a given day.  This city doesn't run itself.  What do you want?

ZAM: Ummm.  Isn't that the same dialog you give anyone who runs up to you?  I was hoping for something a tad more creative.

Recently we had the opportunity to talk with our friends from Perfect World International about their upcoming MMO, "Ether Saga Online". In our interview with Product Manager, Craig Beers, we get the inside scoop and discover what ESO is all about.

ZAM: It's our pleasure to be talking with Craig Beers today about Ether Saga Online. How is beta going?

Craig Beers: Our closed beta went great. The game has been stable for quite some time with very few gameplay bugs, so we were able to focus on localization and polish. We're happy we were able to spend so much time with this since there's a very large amount of quests and dialogue in the game.

We've launched into our open beta, which is going very well. The response has been overwhelmingly positive.

ZAM: Could you kick things off by telling us about the game? I'd definitely like to know some back story and hear about some of the key features.