I spent a great many hours playing Mythos this weekend, slowly working my way towards Zone 3 with my cyclops bloodletter. Expect plenty of long-winded impressions once I get there.

As I was playing, I couldn’t help but notice other players boasting in chat about the time they’d spent with other MMOs, comparing battle scars like veterans of some foreign war. “I played EverQuest for five years!” “I was in Azeroth for eighteen months!”

It’s a common enough practice across the genre, a way for obsessive-compulsive MMO players to quickly earn the respect of their peers, but I hadn’t noticed the obvious “and I survived” element before this weekend. These are people who aren’t just recounting their time spent with a harmless diversion; they are thankful they walked away with their lives intact. For an MMO player, our generation’s Vietnam isn’t Iraq—it’s World of Warcraft. And by their estimation I’ve done a tour in Paragon City, Aerynth, Middle-earth, and three tours in Azeroth—The Shit itself.

And I survived.

Tomorrow is April Fool’s Day, the most universally hated day in the games industry (right after E3), especially here on the Internet. A fanbase of gullible shut-ins ready and willing to accept even the most outlandish claims as gospel causes developers and publishers to shoot off fake press releases with complete disregard for the mental well-being of anyone unfortunate enough to read them.

If MMO players count every massively multiplayer game that doesn’t claim their life as a mark of honor, then every Internet user should be thankful for every April Fool’s Day that leaves them breathing. Tomorrow won’t be pretty; the fake press releases and screenshots have already begun their slow march across message boards and fansites. By morning, the attack will be in full force – stories of Smash Bros. Brawl DLC, EA buying GTA forums, and a playable chicken race in LotRO – but we’ve gotten through worse and we’ll get through this. We’ll remain skeptical and hold our ground.

And we’ll survive.

Another day, another FPS map pack. Out of nowhere, Sony has released a new map pack for SOCOM 3: U.S. Navy Seals and SOCOM: U.S. Navy Seals Combined Assault (released in 2005 and 2006, respectively) which features classic SOCOM and SOCOM II maps Crossroads, Fishhook, Frostfire and Guidance.

This is the third map pack for the two games, and is entirely free to download and play. Additionally, Sony is making up for the impending pain the games industry is about to suffer through on April Fool’s Day by also releasing the two previous SOCOM 3 and SOCOM CA map packs free of charge. At this point, I think it’s safe to assume everyone who was going to pay for them has already done so.

NEW SOCOM 3 AND SOCOM CA MAP PACK RELEASED… FOR FREE! [SOCOM.com via N4G]

Capcom now wholly owns Japanese developer K2, best known for its work on the Tenchu series, having developed four entries in the stealth ninja series in as many years. More recently, K2 has been working with Capcom on Lost Planet: Extreme Condition. Capcom acquired the company through an exchange of stock in order to “make it possible to allocate development resources more efficiently in response to shifts in market conditions.”

While they had their checkbooks out, Capcom also bought the exclusive worldwide rights to publish games based on the MotoGP motorcycling championship for the next five years. Namco Bandai had previously published MotoGP titles for the PlayStation while THQ published MotoGP games for the Xbox 360 and PC.

Clearly, a new Mega Man R game featuring an official MotoGP license and stealth sequences is in the work. After the recent Street Fighter and Bionic Commando revivals, Mega Man R was the next logical choice. Bravo, Capcom. Bravo.

Capcom Acquires Tenchu Z Dev, MotoGP License [Gamasutra]

Still Alive, the famous (on the Internet) ending theme to Portal, will be arriving on Xbox Live tomorrow as a free download for Rock Band. And no, this is not an April Fool’s joke. The song will come to PSN on April 17.

If you think this quirky song’s catchy lyrics haven’t yet been completely run into the ground due to their Internet meme status, just wait until it gets even more attention through Rock Band. “This is a triumph,” “huge success,” “it’s hard to overstate my satisfaction.” Sigh.

DLC April 1st! Huge success! [Rock Band Forums via Joystiq]

Microsoft has struck a deal with producer Peter Safran to bring original shows and movies to Xbox Live this fall.

In an interview with the New York Times, Safran revealed

his first round of programs would all be scripted, as opposed to reality shows, and would probably run under 10 minutes. He said he planned initially to focus on genres, like comedy and horror, that appeal to the Xbox 360 audience, which is heavily concentrated from the ages of 14 to 34, and tends to be more male than female.

No word on how much these shows would cost, but the article does mention that at least some of them will be supported by advertising. With current TV shows on the Xbox Live Video Marketplace running between $2.00 and $3.00, we can expect this new original programming to cost about the same.

Scott Nocas, global marketing manager for programming of the Xbox Live entertainment service, said he “definitely looks at this [deal] as the first of many.” Microsoft has been trying to create gaming’s YouTube for a long while now through XNA and other initiatives. Who would have thought they would be so literal about it?

Hollywood Producer Set to Make Shows for Xbox [New York Times via Evil Avatar]

Later this week, Flagship Studios will offer up a beta version of the Hellgate: London single player 1.2 patch, which “will match the content, balance changes, and bug fixes found in the Multiplayer version of Patch 1.2.” ‘Better late than never’ seems to be Flagship’s mantra when it comes to Hellgate: London.

The developer also plans to start testing the upcoming 1.3 multiplayer patch soon. While the exact patch notes have not yet been published, Flagship promises 1.3 will introduce the Shared Stash (a feature originally promised for launch), gambling vendors, and an increase to the amount of money a single character can carry. In other words, it’s been five months since the game’s release and Flagship is still trying to match the content Diablo 2 shipped with nine years ago.

I know it’s fun to be down on Flagship and their unending stream of very public screw-ups, but… Well, but nothing. It’s just fun to be down on Flagship.

Patch 1.2 Coming To Single Player, Patch 1.3 Nearing Test Center [Hellgatelondon.com via Gaming Today]

Another week, another weekly round-up. Between World of Warcraft’s last content patch before Wrath of the Lich King, Mythos’ last major patch before the open beta, and new Halo 3, Turok, Warhawk, and Unreal Tournament 3 maps, the theme of the week was post-release content. Oh, and there were Unreal Tournament 3 PS3 mods and custom EVE Online avatars too. Extending the lifespan of a game is awesome.

Monday:
Sonic the Hedgehog fan unleashes Sonic Unleashed ahead of schedule
Play as Master Chief, Cloud, Spawn in Unreal Tournament 3 on PS3
Custom EVE Online avatars are animated, creepy
Rumor: EA purchased GTA fansite network for $3.2 million
Video: Mega Wicker Man
Nightly Update: Aimless on the Internet

Tuesday
World of Warcraft 2.4 patch is now live
Final Halo 3 Legendary map is Lockout remake
Darwinia confirmed for XBLA
Sega Master System games coming to Virtual Console

Wednesday
Morning Update: When the server’s down, update in the morning
Warhammer Online delayed, Collector’s Edition detailed
Take-Two rejects EA’s buyout offer
Yahtzee likes Zack & Wiki, is one of the good guys
Mythos beta gets major patch
Video: Bungie’s favorite things
Turok Velociraptor Map Pack coming tomorrow, March 26
Nightly Update: All quiet on the DORK Club front

Thursday:
Impressions: Mythos Zone 3 patch

Friday:
Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War 2 coming in 2009
Video: Fourth (and final) Grand Theft Auto IV trailer
Unreal Tournament 3 gets free Bonus Map Pack
Warhawk Operation: Broken Mirror priced, dated, and ready to fly
Play Prey for just $5

For this weekend only, you can buy the Doom 3-engine-powered, topsy-turvy FPS Prey for just $4.95 through Steam.

In Prey, players enter a living spaceship which enslaves alien races and devours humans for lunch. Prey turns the first person shooter genre upside down with awesome new gameplay features like wall-walking and gravity flipping, making for intense single-player and multi-player experiences.

Regardless of how terrible or great the game may be (Game Rankings has it sitting pretty at 83%), it’s hard to pass up a relatively new first-person shooter for so low a price. At worse, you’ll be left with a painfully generic FPS to keep you entertained this weekend, and all for less than lunch at the local drive-thru. Something tells me the Prey multiplayer servers are about to get the most traffic of their lives.

This Weekend Only - Prey Only $4.95! [Steam via Voodoo Extreme]

Warhawk’s second booster pack is done and ready to play, and will be available on the PlayStation Store for $7.99 starting April 17. To celebrate, the original Warhawk will be available for $29.99 through April 15, giving any players inclined to do so a chance to catch up before the new content hits.

Operation: Broken Mirror includes the new armored personnel carrier capable of making those glorious giant bubble shields (officially called an E-POD); Vaporfield Glacier, a new map with 10 different layouts; and 10 new layouts for the original maps, allowing you use the new APC.

Eight bucks seems a bit pricey for what boils down to a new vehicle and just one new map, regardless of how many times Sony uses the number “10″ to confuse people. Still, Warhawk is one of the best exclusive games on the PS3, and still a strangely unique experience on consoles. I guess everybody’s still too busy ripping off Halo to bother with Battlefield clones just yet.

Warhawk Operation: Broken Mirror details, trailer [PlayStation.blog via N4G]

Epic has joined the map pack party, releasing three new maps for Unreal Tournament 3 for the PC and PS3. The 160MB Bonus Map Pack is entirely free to download and play, and includes remakes of fan-favorites Facing Worlds and Morbias along with Searchlight, an all-new capture the flag map.

Now every major FPS released in the last six months has a downloadable map pack, or will within the next couple weeks. In an age when GameStop continues to turn record profits, thanks in part to trade-ins and used game sales, developers are scrambling to extend the lives of their games – even AAA titles with stellar multiplayer components – to keep people playing rather than trading in their latest title.

As someone who’s never traded in a game and only buys used games when there’s no other alternatives, I saw bring on the fresh content! Ultimately, $10.00 (or better yet, free) DLC is cheaper than a brand new game.

Downloadable Content for UT3 Now Available [Unrealtournament3.com via Game|Life]