Together with the unveiling of its new minimalist-themed corporate website, Cryptic Studios confirmed that it is developing a “top secret” project that will become the sixth in its stable of MMO titles.

Details about this new online game are scarce, with Cryptic not even naming a genre or a connected IP to the project, saying only:

“In addition to developing Neverwinter and supporting both Champions Online and Star Trek Online with new content, Cryptic Studios is working on at least one top secret project for Atari.

We’re very excited about what we’re working on. Like Neverwinter, our Top Secret work represents our continued commitment to diversify and reach beyond the boundaries of traditional MMORPG gaming. We can’t wait to show you more!”

With D&D rules-based Neverwinter launching in 2011, speculation among fans is that this new project will be slated for a 2012 release, at the earliest.

It might be total conjecture on our part, but Cryptic’s goal to “diversify and reach beyond the boundaries of traditional MMORPG gaming” might mean a title that veers away from the heavily instanced approach that most of its titles seem to take on. Of course we have no proof to support this–just plain ‘ol wishful thinking.

There’s a big debate right now in World of Warcraft: Are Cataclysm heroic dungeons too hard or just right.

The two camps are at each other’s throats, with supporters of the harder content welcoming the return of crowd control, marking and other “lost skills” with the AOE-fest that was the Wrath of the Lich King expansion. Meanwhile, critics are pointing out the flaws of most encounters that require pitch-perfect timing, so that one mistake can lead to a wipe.

Throughout the debate, Blizzard kept mostly quiet as it gathered more feedback in-game and in the forums. Lead systems designer Greg “Ghostcrawler” Street has just broken the silence with a pretty in-depth discussion not only on the intent behind harder Heroics, but also on why groups might be failing.

Ghostcrawler pointed out the basic responsibilities for each of three roles. Tanks should make it easier for the group to burn down mobs with the help of marking, DPS should use their skills wisely especially crowd control abilities, while Healers should engrave the motto of triage above their monitor screens.

But for those who still clamor for less wipes while earning their loot and Tier gear points, Ghostcrawler suggested that a few tweaks will be made but not on content per se, but on how the dungeons decide whether a player is fit enough to handle the Heroics. For him, there could be better ways to screen players so they experience the normal version of version of dungeons first, which helps a lot in teaching the tricky fight mechanics.

Say what you will about the poor feedback dialogue in Final Fantasy XIV, but you’ll be hard pressed to say the same about its long-running predecessor Final Fantasy XI, which just released a new December version update packed with fan-requested features. Plus fixes are already planned for hot-button issues.

On the topic of continued adjustments to Salvage, Einherjar and Dynamis content, Square Enix said that it’s looking at tweaking the entrance cost, minimum party size and other similar restrictions so “the widest variety of content can be enjoyed by the widest audience of players.”

The new recipe for Pet Food Eta, a biscuit passed down by the legendary beastmaster Moui and averaging 80,000 Gil apiece nowadays, might also get an ingredients nerf given popular assessment that it’s ingredients are just too difficult to obtain to be worth it. “The team shares players’ concern that this recipe is disproportionately difficult compared to existing pet food recipes, and we plan to ease the requirements to make it more readily obtainable in the future,” SE promised.

SE also plans to set up official FFXI Twitter accounts to better facilitate the question-and-answer exchange between players and development team members. Currently, personal accounts of each development team member are flooded with queries, and establishing streamlined Twitter accounts for each language should make it easier for both parties to track feedback.

Reindeers aren’t the only creatures making a racket this holiday season. Aion pets are also scrambling to find new owners until December 31 so you’re welcome to adopt two to your liking by purchasing an Aion: Assault of Balaurea game disc.

Everyone who buys the game box before 2011 arrives will get a free Speckled Ailu (upper left in pic above), the cute panda with a 12-slotted backpack for your item storage, and another pet depending on the selling store. The full list of bonus pets per game vendor is as follows (from left to right, top to down in pic above):

• The striped squirrel Fuzzy Elroco from the NCSoft Store
• The mouse-eared and white-furred Belusian Kitter from Amazon.com
• The black-as-night cat Heiron Kitter from Best Buy
• The sharp-beaked Grassy Drakie from Gamestop
• The bone-adorned Skullabra Krall from Steam
• The dark-pawed cat Altgard Kitter from QVS
• The russet brown dog Bolder Daggie from Walmart

These pets became available months ago when Aion: Assault on Balurea first launched and enabled each Daeva to collect and use pets. But apparently, the guys at NCSoft think these cuddly creatures have had enough of the spotlight. There’s a big possibility that this batch of bonus pets will no longer be available in the future so grab them while they’re still roaming wild.

There’s a whole lot of galloping in the just released Age of Conan 2.1 Update, as players get access to mounts in a new PvP mini-game and test their riding skills in horse racing events in Old Tarantia.

Funcom laid out the contents of the 2.1 update and confirmed that for the new PvP map “The Call of Jhebbal Sag,” players can bring their mounts to the mini-game. An additional “Conquest” rule set has also been introduced to expand the strategies for winning in mini-games, from killing enemies to capturing whole areas to drain valuable resource points.

After the disaster that was Shrines of Bori which was dominated by a few guilds able to muster the numbers and coordination to win, players are predicting more participation in this new but smaller-scaled 12 vs 12 map. There may even be shorter queues, as a result.

The 2.1 Update also harkens the arrival of horse racing and other social Guild events held in various locations such as taverns and “cultural retreats.” Horse racing is sure to be a hit since, as in real life, the thrill of the track is exhilarating whether for watchers or actual participants. Those brave enough to join the race will have to brush up on their riding maneuvers since competition will sure be stiff, as with any other sport in brutal Hyboria.

For the few who want to spare their bums from all that mounted activity, the 2.1 Update has activated the Winter Solstice Event: A Bloody Solstice. No need for horses here but all muscle and magic as the Aesir invites you to join their vengeful counterstrike against the Vanir, who invaded the Aesir holy feasting ground. Nothing like righteous bloodshed to keep the blood pumping this cold Christmastime so get on it!

WoW Gold | A first look at Cataclysm

If you’ve avoided all the spoilers so you can play the new World of Warcraft expansion with child-like wonder, rejoice!

Cataclysm went live earlier this week and now you’re free to explore all it has to offer. Here’s our own Cliff notes on the new playable races and areas.

First, we are amazed with the quality of the worgen and goblin starter zones leveling and farming wow gold in early games. Rolling as one these new playable races is definitely a highlight of Cataclysm.

The worgens of the human nation of Gilneas are battling a terrible werewolf curse that continues to spread like wildfire among the population. As the infected worgen population grows, there are conflicting emotions on how to deal with them. Kill them like savage creatures or accept them into the fold?

The choice is a gray one due to the erratic behavior of infected worgens; they have a hunger for violence but still retain a shred of human compassion. Quests explore the struggle of worgens and they need in wow gold, especially in the face of an invasion from the neighboring Undead led by Queen Sylvanas Windrunner.

Meanwhile, goblins barely escape a terrible volcanic eruption in their home island and are forced to find a new home in Kalimdor. Luck was at least on their side; after meeting and helping Thrall on their listless journeys, the former Warchief offered the goblins a place alongside the orcs, trolls and other Horde races.

Dungeons too flesh out the sense of fear and destruction prevalent throughout the ravaged Azeroth. Newly unlocked level 80+ areas display the destructive intent of Deathwing and his minions, seemingly in collusion with the Old Gods. Mount Hyjal is under siege from Ragnaros the Firelord who wants to burn down the World Tree, while Grim Batol is crawling with Twilight’s Hammer cultists doing the dark dragon’s bidding.

But easily the most breathtaking new zone is the underwater Vashj’ir region which captures the vastness of a hidden ocean realm. You can spend more hours getting lost in the hundred or so quests in the region and the 5-man dungeon Throne of the Tides rather than farming for wow gold.

Things are bound to heat up as the expansion progresses and we get ever closer to facing Deathwing himself. That fight promises to be just as heart-pounding as the Lich King encounter, so go run those heroics, collect wow gold as many as you can and raids as preparation.

Synergists will see their work spaces decked out with opulent items as the Final Fantasy XI December version update rolls in, according to new post in the official website.

Additional recipes for furnishings and tools will be available soon as the Synergy skill cap is raised to Artisan level 80 from the previous 50.

Synergy is the cooperative version of synthesis and allows up to six players to create rare items, as seen in the pictures above. While the requirements are tough, Synergy pays off quite handsomely in visually stunning collectibles. These now include guild stalls, which were first revealed back in VanaFest 2010.

Guild stalls exude the “perfect marriage between form and function,” according to Square Enix, because aside from being nice to look at, they also increase crafting skills. Many guild-exclusive wares are also craftable now via Synergy. Display these for guests to see and envy, and don’t forget to thank your friends who chipped in to build these knickknacks. In fact, you’re obliged to help them out in their Synergy attempts so get busy now!

There’s no going back now. World of Warcraft has flipped the switch and activated The Shattering patch, which has permanently altered the face of the game. Beloved zones now reflect the catastrophic arrival of Deathwing, some being torn asunder and others plunging into conflict.

As the last patch before the Cataclysm expansion, The Shattering patch delivered on its threat. Once peaceful towns such as Auberdine and Menethil harbor have been bulldozered. Even the capital cities of Stormwind and Ironforge suffered terrible damage and casualties in the wake of the dragon’s destructive return.

But the resilience of Azeroth shines through the adversity. Both the Alliance and Horde persevere with hundreds of new leveling quests. Blizzard also took time to streamline the progression to level 60, with level-appropriate zones now linked closer to one another.

In addition to the map and questing changes, The Shattering also activated more than a dozen new race-class combinations like the tauren paladin, blood elf warrior and night elf mage. All in all, this latest patch advanced the story of the game by about five years and showcases the new Azeroth, one knee-deep in chaos and chances for untold glory for heroes brave enough to face it.

Read the full patch notes of The Shattering here.

Season Three: Genesis introduces new features such as The Foundry, a content creation system for players, and Borg tech integration.

The Dec. 9 release date came as a surprise because many expected the developers to avoid a head-to-head collision with World of Warcraft’s Cataclysm expansion, which releases just two days before on Dec. 7. Now, fans of the space MMO can rest easy knowing they won’t have to wait for Christmas season to test-drive Season Three.

Easily the most talked about feature this month is The Foundry, which lets pilots create custom missions that the rest of the community can undertake and complete. But with great creative license comes great responsibility; players will be rated for their crafted content, with the best ones gaining game-wide fame.

Season Three: Genesis also enables the use of Borg technology. These powerful items can be won as rewards from Special Task Force missions and should boost the battle prowess of player ships.

Other features available from the get-go are the Episode Replay, a feature that lets players take on past missions, and the revamp of Sector Space graphics. Meanwhile, Gorn customization, Market Exchange improvements and new loading screens are all scheduled in the near future.

Christmas came early in Aion, with Victor Shugo assuming the role of metagame Santa. The NPC will be accepting requests for in-game data, and will broadcast the results to the rest of the community.

Victor Shugo has already revealed the drop rate increases in upcoming Aion 2.1 for the Fire Temple, Dark Poeta, and Beshmundir Temple on both normal and hard modes. Additional testing requests even of the noob nature can be sent via e-mail:

“Often we get questions about how does X work? Does having this item in your inventory actually cause THIS to happen? Is it true if you do Z that this will happen?” NCWest Community Coordinator Trine said in defense of the Victor Shugo service, which some naysayers claimed as being unnecessary.

We think it’s quirky though in how it evolves “fan service” to “fan-generated service.” On the plus side, it has on-demand accessibility (you just e-mail experiment requests to vshugo@ncsoft.com) but on the minus side, it can easily devolve into spam data. We’ll wait a few more weeks before deciding if Victor Shugo deserves a Eureka!