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It seems as if the recent brouhaha over THQ's future was a bit overblown, as were concerns about the fate of the firm's Warhammer 40K: Dark Millennium Online MMO. Our sister site reports that DMO is on track for "fiscal 2014 and beyond" based on a THQ earnings report released today.

We consulted our corporate-speak decoder rings and determined that fiscal 2014 translates to April 2013, which puts the launch window slightly behind the original target date, according to Joystiq.

Last month THQ debunked a rumor tweeted by Kevin Dent that had the firm canceling its entire 2014 catalog and prepping for a firesale.

Gamespot, meanwhile, is reporting that THQ is actively seeking publishing partners for the game.

It's been a while since we've featured a PlanetSide 2 lore update, mainly because more interesting gameplay info was on offer from Sony Online Entertainment. In the absence of new vehicle screens and Matt Higby Q&A's, though, we'll happily tell about the latest story-centric update to the official site (hey, some PS2 news is better than no PS2 news, amirite?).

Last night's blurb features one Tom Connery (presumably no relation to Sean, since it's the year 2640). Connery is prone to making holovid records of his life in the Terran Republic, and his latest is a somewhat harrowing account of a collapsing wormhole and the plight of the 40,000 colonists stuck on the wrong side of it. Click over to the official PS2 website for the full report.

Yesterday we told you about TERA's North American pre-order program and the associated closed beta dates. Today Frogster has released similar info for the European version of Arborea. Various Euro media outlets will be distributing beta keys over the next couple of days, and lucky fans will get a sneak peek at the game between 3:00 p.m. CET and midnight this Saturday and Sunday.

Euro closed beta tests begin on February 17th, and you can either take your chances by registering on the game's official website, or pre-order and get guaranteed access to all five events. Pre-ordering also gives you head-start access on May 3rd, name reservation privileges, and various special items depending on your retailer of choice.

The retail collector's edition features the game soundtrack, a world map, an art book, and more, and you can learn all about it at TERA's European website. Note that En Masse and Frogster are redirecting traffic based on your IP address, so if you're in America and you click on the links below, you'll be taken to the En Masse site. Before you go, click past the cut and have a look at the spiffy new pre-order trailer.

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Today's a big day for fans of Tribes: Ascend, and it's also a big day for Hi-Rez Studios, the Atlanta-based indie firm behind the upcoming online shooter.

You see, today is patch day, and while that's not terribly unusual (Hi-Rez has updated the Tribes beta client early and often since the start of closed testing last November), the latest tweak is a bit of fan service that will likely bring smiles to the faces of franchise die-hards waiting in the wings to see what becomes of their baby.

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There's still no word on an English-language version of ArcheAge, but that isn't stopping fan sites like ArcheAge Source from digging up lots of interesting stuff on the Korean sandpark title.

The site has a wealth of information covering several aspects of ArcheAge's fourth closed beta phase, including multiple skill guides, lore, and various videos. If that's not enough for you, there's also the latest beta patch notes that are available via Google translate. Check them out to learn more about siege ladders, the game's family system, and importing your own graphics for cloaks and ship sails.

[Thanks to Andrew for the tip!]

TERA news is coming fast and furious lately, and luckily for En Masse, today's blurb is a good one. The game is officially available for pre-order, and as you would expect, there are all kinds of options relating to various gifts and gadgets depending on where (and what version) you purchase. There's also a bit of beta bribery in the form of automatic access to all five of the closed testing phases that begin this month and continue through April.

What about the editions?

Well, you can choose between standard, digital collector's, and physical collector's version, and the latter two come with an in-game mount and a couple of unique necklace items. The physical collector's edition justifies its $79.99 price point with a cloth map, a soundtrack CD, a handbook, a compass, and a letter of marque. En Masse is also offering a couple of exclusives for purchasing directly through its online store.

Aeria Games has sent word that its Repulse sci-fi shooter has shed its beta tag and is ready for prime time. The company is celebrating release day with four new maps, an east coast server, and a high-ping safeguard feature designed to "provide a better experience for everyone."

Repulse was previously known as Genesis A.D., and though Aeria refers to it as an MMOFPS in today's press release, it's actually more of an online shooter given that it features 16-player mayhem and the usual capture-the-flag and team deathmatch-flavored gameplay. It's free-to-play, and you can see it in action via the trailer after the break.

[Source: Aeria Games press release]

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Dota 2 revealed its latest hero, Clinkz the Bone Fletcher, in this week's beta patch, while the Realm of the Titans beta was rudely interrupted by a security breach that saw thousands of passwords stolen. Blacklight: Retribution's fourth beta phase is now underway, and we have beta keys for those of you who haven't managed to get into it yet. Bloodline Champions celebrated the two-year anniversary of its first beta test this week, and developers revealed details of upcoming bloodline Headhunter.

League of Legends spilled the beans on its brand-new psychotic yordle champion Ziggs, the Hexplosives Expert, this week with a full gameplay reveal, art spotlight and patch preview. Diablo III seems slightly nearer to release this week with the news that Blizzard has cancelled BlizzCon 2012 in order to focus on getting the game to release as soon as possible. Heroes of Newerth player Fatmilk set a new world record by playing the game for 76 hours straight and raised pver $3,700US for charity as a result. Finally, the Rise of Immortals developers discussed the latest immortal, Ukkonen, and other topics in the first part of a new developer podcast series.

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Yesterday we reported on En Masse Entertainment's policy when it comes to IP blocking and region-locks for its upcoming TERA MMORPG. While the company's decision to keep users from Asia, Africa, Russia, and the Middle East off its American servers isn't particularly unusual, it is curious in the wake of several previous statements to the contrary.

It turns out that En Masse said it wouldn't engage in foreign IP blocking four separate times via its TERA Twitter account before reversing course with its support post over the weekend.

Is the new policy going to prevent you from playing TERA? Tell us what you think!

[Thanks to Stilllove for the tip.]

[Update: En Masse has responded with an official explanation of the changes. We've included the full statement behind the break.]

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PlanetSide Universe and Auraxis Global Network got together with PlanetSide 2 creative director Matt Higby for a two-hour interview session last night. If you missed it, the full video chat is available after the cut below.

Higby and the AGN crew covered a lot of territory relating to Sony Online Entertainment's upcoming MMOFPS. Topics included the Engineer class, urban combat, and the territory and resource control systems. Higby also had plenty to say about the general philosophy behind PS2, and how the dev team is focused on refining the gameplay of its predecessor rather than reinventing the wheel.

"One of the things that we're trying to do with the game is reduce downtime, reduce a lot of the maintenance things that you had to do that were kind of inconvenient. We're not removing logistics or strategy [...] but trying to lessen those maintenance tasks that are less enjoyable as much as possible," Higby explained.

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Lawsuits notwithstanding, TERA's North American debut is but a few short months away, and En Masse Entertainment probably has plenty of things on its pre-launch to-do list. One of those things is publicizing its policy on region-based IP blocking, and the firm did just that via a recent update to its support website.

The firm will block IP addresses based on region, and Asia, Africa, Russia, and the Middle East are currently included on the company's block list. "While we appreciate that there are players in these regions who would enjoy playing on En Masse servers, it's unfortunate that the vast majority of internet traffic we see from these regions is from cyber-criminals relating to account theft, gold-farming and other hacking behavior," the company says.

En Masse will not initially block proxies, but "a proxy or server host will be blocked if it becomes a popular tool for criminal behavior," according to the release.

[Thanks to Stilllove for the tip!]

[Update: En Masse has responded with an official explanation of the changes. We've included the full statement behind the break.]

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A decade ago, Phantasy Star Online brought the special multiplayer magic of the emerging MMO genre to console gamers around the world. Sega celebrated the game's 10-year anniversary with the announcement of a sequel due to hit the shelves in Japan this year. No word has been given on whether there will be a US or EU release, but that hasn't stopped international fans of the game from getting excited. PSO2 officially launched its second alpha phase yesterday, and foreign game review website Steparu managed to get itself an invite.

Fans of the original game's online play will be pleased to know that party gameplay has been given some much-needed improvements. There's no more need to make sure everyone is on the same quest; instead, the party leader picks a mission and the whole party gets it automatically. Mini-quests can pop up randomly during a dungeon, and completing them grants bonus experience. Boss fights are just as deadly and hectic as in the original, with fast-paced action and team members dying repeatedly throughout the fight. Steparu has published a comprehensive review of the early alpha, with videos of everything from dungeons and boss kills to furniture arranging. We've embedded a few of those videos after the cut.

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It's a big weekend for WAKFU fans. The free-to-play fantasy sandbox from Ankama has announced the worldwide release date (February 29th) in a posting on the game's official website. The team picked the leap year date on purpose as a way of cementing WAKFU's reputation for doing things "that little bit differently."

The devs have also released a new video diary focusing on the game's monsters and PvE gameplay.

Finally, there's a stress test going on this weekend to help Ankama prepare for the upcoming launch. Make sure you log in on Saturday and Sunday to help out (and to get your apprentice cloak bonus item)!

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Holy carp there was a lot going on in shooter circles this week! Between the news blurbs, videos, and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. memories (yes, I said S.T.A.L.K.E.R, and damn that takes a long time to type), there was nearly enough information for two editions of The Firing Line.

Luckily for you (and for my overworked editor), I managed to keep the word count down. Let's not kid ourselves, though; there's plenty of interesting stuff after the cut. Join me for the latest on dueling World War II aviation MMOs, a new free-to-play shooter from Crytek, the requisite PlanetSide 2 lovefest, and some official dev answers to last week's Taikodom question.

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It's Friday, and that means it's time for the traditional recap of This Week in MMO. What's that, you say? Why, it's the weekly videocast roundup over at Gamebreaker, of course.

Gary Gannon is your host, and he's joined by series regulars Mike B. and Mike Schaffnit. The trio discuss anything and everything relating to popular MMOs, including Star Wars: The Old Republic's Ilum-related troubles, Sony Online Entertainment's noises about selling user-generated content, and the upcoming Guild Wars 2 beta.

The guys also get around to talking about Blizzard's ongoing Titan project, and more specifically, the speculation surrounding in-game advertising. The full show is yours after the break.

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