Before beginning this post, we have a number of important announcements to make:

• It is currently October.
• Sandwiches, when prepared correctly, are delicious.
• Salt is salty.
• There are five items in this list.
• You are currently reading Joystiq.

What's that? You're not sure why we're announcing things you already know? Perhaps you'll be equally flabbergasted by a rumor that LucasArts and Bioware will likely soon reveal the Knights of the Old Republic MMO that EA CEO John Riccitiello already totally confirmed. The rumor originates from a blurb in UK newspaper Daily Star, the author of which claims he's coming stateside to check the title out at LucasArts HQ. If the author is on the level, we certainly expect one of the two developers to "reveal" the title before his article goes to print. Perhaps they can still surprise the eleven people on the planet that don't already know about it.

News

• Spoiler: Angrathar, the Wrath Gate
  Don't click that link if you don't want the story ruined, but s. is about to hit the f. in Northrend. if you know what we mean.
• Ask a Beta Tester: Multi-passenger mounts and Enchanting
  Our beta tester (one of them) answers your questions about what's going on in the Wrath of the Lich King beta.
• New items for old Honor
  Blizzard's about to wipe all Honor and marks off the map, so here's what they're offering to let you buy before everything goes bye-bye.
• Shaman changes in Wrath beta build 8982
  Class tweaks are coming faster than ever near the end of the beta, and our class columnists are keeping you updated on what's going on.
• Boss models updated in Wrath beta
  Finally, Sylvanas looks like the badass Blood Elf Banshee Queen she's supposed to be.

Features

• First Impressions: 5-man healing in the beta
  What it's like to keep a group up in Northrend.
• Skill Mastery: Mind Sear
  A look at an Area of Effect ability coming to Shadow Priests,
• Breakfast Topic: The last week of Brewfest
  The in-game holiday of drunken Dwarves is almost over -- did you get your Brew of the Month membership yet?
• WoW Insider's preview of PopCap Games' Bejeweled addon
  Here's a first look at PopCap's official Bejeweled addon -- one addictive game inside another.
• Will Wrath really be ready by November 13th?
  Blizzard, a company known for polish, is still not done with some of Wrath. Will the game come out unfinished?

Sony Online Entertainment president John Smedley stated the company is considering an MMO for the PSP. He tells MTV Multiplayer that SOE started considering one seriously when the division was transferred over to Sony Computer Entertainment last April. SOE was previously under the control of Sony Pictures -- yeah, don't ask how that made any sense.

Smedley doesn't announce any games, but he says that kid-focused PS3 MMO Free Realms "could have a pet-training system" for the PSP. An MMO is clearly a good idea with 34 million PSPs currently out there, but from Smedley's comments it sounds like any realization of that seems years away.

One of the secrets to World of Warcraft's popularity is that even older rigs are able to run it pretty capably. But it seems that a portion of that market may be left out in the cold when expansion Wrath of the Lich King launches this fall -- it will be arriving solely on DVD, with not a CD-ROM to be had. (Get it? Left out in the cold? Frozen throne? Arthus? Nothing for that?)

That doesn't mean they'll never get in -- Burning Crusade was a digital download two weeks after its retail release -- but it seems a little unfair to slight our underpowered friends. On the bright side, maybe they'll have a few more free hours for all those WoW-addict pastimes like kayaking and hooking up with attractive people.

All week, Joystiq will be revealing the 25 finalists for the IndieCade: International Festival of Independent Games, set to take place October 10 through 17 in Bellevue, Washington. The winners will be announced on October 11.

ibb & obb (website)

The pictures do not do ibb & obb justice. Without motion, it just looks like a colorful sidescroller in the vein of Yoshi's Island. In motion (as seen in the video above), the game is an inventive co-op platformer that also plays a bit with gravity. The project was made by Richard Boeser as a graduation project for Industrial Design at Delft University of Technology.

When the Joystiq Network last spoke with Warhammer Online executive producer Jeff Hickman, the experience left us rolling on the floor in laughter. During a guest appearance on the Big Download podcast, Hickman and company were noticeably tired from a tour in Leipzig and PAX promoting the massively multiplayer title, and decided to kick back with a few drinks and have fun.

While still entertaining, this time it's all business. Today, signifying Warhammer Online's one-week retail anniversary, Hickman returns to discuss the launch, future add-on content and address some of the issues with the game.

Listen to the entire interview now or jump in if you like your interviews in ye olde style wall-of-text format. We're all about options here.


[MP3] Download this interview in MP3 format

Original Fallout designer Chris Taylor – not to be confused for Total Annihilation and Dungeon Siege designer Chris Taylor – has re-upped with his former employer Interplay to work on unannounced MMO "Project V13," currently in development with several other members of the Fallout team.

While Interplay isn't coming out and saying it, all signs point to this being the Fallout MMO. Besides the Fallout-infused dev team, the company itself reaffirmed plans for the game last April. Even the logo bears resemblance of the Fallout aesthetic, and V13 could stand for either "V13" or if you interpret 13 as a 1337 version of "B", you have Project VB, the initials of which make the codename for Interplay's Fallout 3 (i.e. Project Van Buren) from before Bethesda took the reins. If Interplay's looking to ride next month's Fallout 3 hype train, we'll know more soon enough.

[Via EuroGamer]

News

• Coren Direbrew now drops cross-faction Brewfest mounts, teleportation device
  Brewfest is underway in Azeroth, and Coren Direbrew is the Dwarf you want to insult for epics.
• Planning for the Brewmaster title in advance
  Here's the low-down on what you need to do to get the achievement ready for the Brewfest holiday.
• Motorcycles finally implemented in the Wrath beta
  Azeroth, get ready for biker gangs -- the expansion's new BoE Engineering mount is roaring into town.
• WoW Insider Interview: Blizzard speaks about Authenticator security
  Blizzard answers our questions about how the account Authenticator works.
• Paladin changes in beta build 8962
  What's up with plate-wearing healers in the latest Wrath beta build.

Features

• Ask a Lore Nerd: Portals, Pandaren and Jaina Proudmoore
  Our resident lore obsessor talks about portals, Jaina Proudmoore and her rocky relationship with Arthas, and everyone's favorite Panda race.
• WoW, Casually: Get thee to Brewfest
  Our casual players' column takes a look at the latest holiday and all the drinking there is to do.
• Is "Leading the Cavalry" possible?
  There's a new mount achievement coming soon to the game, but is it even possible to get 75 mounts on one character?
• Ask a Beta Tester: Mounts, threatmeters and tabards
  If you've got a question about the Wrath of the Lich King beta, odds are that AABT has an answer.
• Guildwatch: It's not me, it must be you
  Drama, downed, and recruiting news from as many guilds as we could round up in our weekly guild column.

With Ensemble now disbanded, Gamasutra reveals one of its big projects that never saw the light of day: a Halo MMO. According to various reports, it appears that the game was in development for some time during 2006 and 2007 before being canceled. Seen above, a shot of the UI and an action pose of a Spartan duel-wielding. The design, from what little we can see of it, borrows a lot from World of Warcraft's simplicity and (judging by the dual-wield screenshot) hokeyness.

We understand there are reasons for cancellations, but this seems like a money printer on par with Pokémon and Blizzard's aforementioned MMO, regardless of quality. As Microsoft's Phil Spencer recently mentioned to GamesIndustry.biz, there are "more than two or three teams" working on Halo projects at the moment, so the MMO concept might not be entirely dead.

It's no secret that baseballer Curt Schilling is a huge MMO fan, but you might not know much about his 38 Studios game development company, formed with artist Todd McFarlane and fantasy writer R.A. Salvatore. They've been working on a massive MMO code-named Copernicus, which they haven't said too much about yet. This week at Austin GDC, Vivox announced that it would be providing the voice application inside the game, and five pieces of key concept art were released at Comic-Con earlier this summer.

We sat down with CEO Brett Close in Austin to find out what we could about Copernicus, and what's in store for the new company. Check out the full interview after the break.

Writing the back story for a new MMO is a pretty thankless job, we'd imagine. Most of the players living in the virtual world whose mythos you've so meticulously constructed probably skip through the dialogue from important NPCs and quest-givers in order to return to their regularly scheduled redundancies. However, you can bet we'll be reading every word in Sony Online Entertainment's DC Universe Online, as it was recently announced that the plot of the game will be penned by DC Comics writer Geoff Johns.

Johns has worked on a number of major DC franchises, crafting the storylines of a number of Green Lantern, Action Comics and Justice Society of America series. In addition to the fantastic news that DC Universe's story is in qualified hands, a new salvo of screenshots for the title, each featuring a high-profile hero or villain, was recently released by SOE. You can check them out in the gallery below -- just don't get your hopes up for any Mister Myxzptlk action.

There are many ways to deal with the boredom that can sometimes strike during lengthy World of Warcraft sessions -- other than walking away from the computer to partake in a more enjoyable activity (that's just unthinkable). Some people level up new characters. Some people head to the Barrens area to spew their hate-speech towards like-minded scoundrels. However, the virtual denizens of Azeroth will soon be wasting their time using a popular, real-life time wasting engine -- PopCap's uber-successful casual puzzler, Bejeweled.

The in-game add-on began as a homebrew Bejeweled clone from Michael Fromwiller, cleverly titled Besharded. Fromwiller developed the add-on as a method of killing time during long raids and farming sessions, but it wasn't too long before PopCap caught wind of the MMO mini-game. Instead of issuing a timely cease and desist, the casual gaming colossus hired Fromwiller to create a more polished version of the application. The add-on will launch this coming Thursday -- it would probably be wise to put in as much quality time with your WoW-playing acquaintances before then, as you won't be seeing them again for quite some time.

Well, that's a relief. No longer to be demonized as "fat people," online gamers may now be considered "actually, kinda cool." In other words, they're moody drug addicts, indicates a new study that targeted 7,000 EverQuest II players. "The results suggest that adult gamers have an average body mass index of 25.2, compared to the overall American average of 28," reports New Science Tech. "The downside, however, was that the gamers reported more cases of depression and substance abuse than their compatriots."

In fact, participants' addictive personalities were clearly exposed when they greedily exchanged their responses for the study's bait: "The Greatstaff of the Sun Serpent." Admittedly, using a sun staff as incentive was a dirty play, as if there was any chance of brightening up these rain clouds.

[Via /.]

The Art of the DC Universe Online panel was overshadowed by the presence of artist Jim Lee, who fielded most of the questions about the design elements that are going into this game (as it's based on his visual style). We managed to learn some new elements about the game, including the special "inspired by" mode they've added to character creation.

The panel consisted of art director Jared Carr, Jim Lee, lead character artist Jason Smith, and creative director Jens Anderson. Check out all the zap!, pow!, and bam! highlights after the break.

Funcom co-founder Gaute Godager has resigned from the company after 16 years, citing dissatisfaction with certain elements of the company's MMO Age of Conan. The very bold statement by Godager comes as former Anarchy Online producer and game director, Craig Morrison, takes the reins of future Hyborian adventures.

In a follow-up piece by GI.biz, Funcom's European product manager stated he didn't want to get into specifics over why Godagar was "dissatisfied," but that "there were elements in the game that he was not happy with and he wanted to take the consequence of that." He concludes that the big priority right now is to give players what they're asking for. Apparently, Morrison's just the man to do it.

Source -- Funcom press release
Source -- Funcom: Godager stepped down as "consequence" of Conan problems