Week in Review: Gamescom prep

At the end of every week, we round up the best and most popular news stories, exclusive features, and insightful columns published on Massively and then present them all in one convenient place. Miss a big MMO or WoW Insider story last week? You've come to the right post.

We're still a few weeks away from Gamescom, but MMO studios are already trumpeting all of the goods that should prove to make this the most MMO-centric Gamescom ever. Whether it be the debut of World of Warplanes, the reveal of Guild Wars 2's PvP, or the unveiling of NCsoft's super-secret project, gamers are in a tizzy thinking about the possible news that could come out of the trade show.

Of course, that's not all the news that took place over the past week -- hit the jump and make sure you're up to date with the latest and greatest in our favorite hobby!

• Dawntide releasing October 1st
  Sandbox MMOs get a new champion.
• Free for All: So what else can you get for 150 dollars?
  Quite a bit, as it turns out!
• Earthrise's subscription price (earth)lowered
  The pun in that title took us a little while to get, too.
• Age of Wulin videos reveal interesting skills and non-combat gameplay
  Ancient Chinese secret, huh?
• EA proclaims SWTOR preorder breaks records
  The Force is strong with this one.
• Indulge your phantasies with new Phantasy Star Online 2 info, screenshots, and videos
  SOE's Hail Mary pass?
• CCP cancels EVE's Quarterly Economic Newsletters
  Space gets a lot quieter.
• Chinese couple sell their kids to pay for online gaming
  United facepalm in three... two... one... /facepalm
• Flameseeker Chronicles: Brace for the flood or get out of the way?
  Sylvari! Sylvari! Sylvari!
• Rusty Hearts closed beta goes live; new trailer and screenshots released
  The next free-to-play champion?
• New ArcheAge trailer and mobile app at ChinaJoy; Song charts MMO generations
  The best of both worlds.
• PvP, slivers and crocodiles: RIFT outlines patch 1.4
  Alive and kicking!
• SWTOR walks us through the Flashpoint 'Esseles'
  Proof that BioWare hates engineers.
• Wasteland Diaries: The story of the fall
  This is how the world ends...
• The Perfect Ten: MMO mascots
  Coming soon to a breakfast cereal near you!

And from our sister site, WoW Insider...

• The Lawbringer: What World of Warcraft can learn from other microtransaction models, part 1
  WoW takes a cautionary tale from EVE
• Opt-out option incoming for recent authenticator security change
  Big Blizzard being benevolent?