Paltalk Holdings targets Turbine with new lawsuit

Turbine Entertainment, makers of such MMO’s as Asheron’s Call, Dungeons and Dragons Online Unlimited and The Lord of the Rings Online, is facing a lawsuit from the same company that convinced Microsoft to settle out of court in 2006. According to the Boston Globe, Turbine has been accused of patent infringement related to its Dungeons & Dragons Online and Lord of the Rings Online titles, Paltalk Holdings. That company succeeded in negotiating a settlement with Microsoft in 2006, related to its Halo games.

The company filed the lawsuit with the US District Court in Marshall, Texas earlier this month, alleging that Turbine’s game violate a technology patent it owns which covers sharing data among connected computers. The company is also targeting Sony of Japan, Activision Blizzard, NCsoft, and Jagex with similar lawsuits.

A spokesperson for the company had no comment on the matter, saying only that “Turbine does not provide comment on pending lawsuits.” We’ll have more on this story as it develops.

LotRO Siege of Mirkwood expansion this fall

Turbine has revealed The Lord of the Rings Online: Siege of Mirkwood, a new digital expansion to its MMO, launching this Fall. Siege of Mirkwood will expand the online world of Middle-earth allowing players to join forces to press eastward into the dark and treacherous forest of Mirkwood and take part in the dramatic conclusion to Volume II of The Lord of the Rings Online.

Siege of Mirkwood will be available as a digital download this fall with an increased level cap, a new region including the evil fortress of Dol Goldur, major enhancements to combat and Legendary Items and the introduction of Skirmishes, a new system where players will train customizable soldiers and take them into battle as part of the War of the Ring.

Details regarding Siege of Mirkwood’s pricing, pre-order offers and availability will be unveiled soon. For more information, visit www.lotro.com/mirkwood.

CDC Games preps LOTRO for July release

China-based CDC Games announced today that it expects to launch The Lord of the Rings Online in the region during the second half of 2009. The Lord of the Rings Online is currently available in North America, Europe, Russia and South Korea. The China-based version will feature significant changes from the version launched in North America and Europe.

With its registered user base of more than 160 million users and 13 million active users in China, CDC Games believes it has extensive knowledge of the China market. Based upon research into local customer preferences, CDC Games has coordinated with Turbine to add several changes to the game, including an enhanced player versus player function, that it believes will make the game more successful in China.

CDC Games has gathered preliminary test data on the game, and has found that it had an activation rate of more than 80 percent during its closed beta test held earlier this year.

LOTRO Volume II, Book 8 released

Turbine has released Volume II, Book 8: Scourge of Khazad-dum, the latest major content update for subscribers of The Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria (LOTRO). Book 8, which is now available to North American subscribers (available in Europe on 6/25), delivers the next installment to the epic story for Volume II of LOTRO, a new 12-player raid, several new instances for small fellowships, major gameplay enhancements, and the Summer Festival.

Full details on this new update can be found at www.lotro.com.

Turbine’s Mines of Moria wins MITX award

Turbine announced that The Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria has been named the winner in the “Gaming” category for the 2009 Massachusetts Innovation & Technology Exchange (MITX) Awards. The MITX annual awards program recognizes achievements in the development and implementation of innovative technologies.

“We are honored to be named among the best in New England technology by the MITX organization,” said Jim Crowley, president and CEO of Turbine. “It has been an exciting year for Turbine and this recognition is yet another validation of our vision for being the best in online entertainment.”

“This year’s award winners represent some of the most innovative thinkers in the world of technology. These companies and individuals help solve real-world challenges and help push the use and adoption of technology,” said Kiki Mills, executive director of MITX. “MITX is proud to be the foundation for New England’s vibrant digital community and to recognize and help our local talent receive the recognition they deserve, being at the forefront of innovation.”

Winners were announced at a sold out ceremony attended by more than 350 industry professionals held on June 16th. The MITX Technology Awards program is sponsored through the support of Atom Group, DLA Piper, LEWIS PR, Mad*Pow, Microsoft New England Research & Development Center, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Technology Review. Creative partners also included Cramer, LVI Print Optimization and massAV.

For more information on all of this year’s winners, check out mitx.org.

Going Free-to-Play: The D&D Online Unlimited Q&A

Last week Turbine Entertainment announced an industry first: it revealed that it was retro-fitting a commercially launched, subscription-based massively multiplayer online role-playing game and relaunching it as a free to play game with micro-transactions via an in-game store. The game in question is Dungeons & Dragons Online, which, along with The Lord of the Rings Online, is Turbine Entertainment’s bread and butter.

But the privately held MMO company isn’t just grasping at straws here or committing an act of desperation with this move, because many in the industry believe free to play is the future. With games like Free Realms and Runes of Magic garnering millions of subscribers in a short amount of time after launch, there is no denying the viability of the free to play model. But how will a commercial game like D&D Online hold up in this brave new environment? We wanted some answers from Turbine, and answers we received.

For those answers, we turned to Dungeons & Dragons Online Executive Producer, Fernando Paiz and Turbine Entertainment Public Relations Manager Adam Mersky. They filled us in on the future of the Dungeons & Dragons Online MMO, henceforth known as Dungeons & Dragons Online Unlimited .

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Former Glu Mobile exec joins Turbine

Today Turbine announced the appointment of a new Vice President of Corporate and Business Development - former Glu mobile executive Nate Jones. Jones will be charged with overseeing worldwide content and licensing partnerships, joint ventures and mergers and acquisitions for the MMO company based in Westwood, Massachusetts and California.

In his previous job, Jones was Vice President of Strategy and Corporate Development at Glu Mobile, where he drove the acquisitions of Mig and Superscape as well as strategic initiatives focused on the iPhone and other gaming platforms. Prior to that gig, Jones was a Vice President at Lazard, a financial advisory firm, where he focused on technology and media mergers and acquisitions and advised both established and emerging organizations in the video games industry including Microsoft, EA, Jagex and Major League Gaming.