Welcome to the MMO Update, a weekly column that focuses on various happenings within the world of MMOs. This is where we talk about bits of news that probably didn’t deserve separate posts during the week, but are still worth discussing!

As if you didn’t already know, PAX East is going on right now! We’ve got a handful of stories from the show floor, as well as a couple non-PAX items that happened during the week.

Hit the break for news related to Free Realms and Star Wars: The Old Republic – oh, and a ton of content from gamigo related to a handful of games!

Free Realms Hits The PS3

It looks like Free Realms will be the first free-to-play MMO to hit consoles. On March 29th, Free Realms will hit the PS3 for download. Considering 17 million people have already registered for the MMO on the PC and Mac, SOE expect it to be a pretty big hit.

“Free Realms continues to break new ground in the gaming industry,” SOE present John Smedley said. He added, “It will be the first free-to-play MMO to hit any console, the first family-friendly MMO to hit any console.”

Free Realms has scooped up millions of players since its launch for the PC in 2009. It allows gamers to explore a world filled with goofy, light-hearted fun. If players want a little extra, they’re free to buy numerous premium options that let them explore even more of the game.

Read more over at Joystiq where they interviewed the lead designer of Free Realms.

Star Wars: The Old Republic Gets a New Trailer

PAX East has been huge for Star Wars: The Old Republic. As you can read in our quick preview, the game was playable at PAX. Not only that, but the developers released a handful of brand new information on SWTOR (that we will be dumping on you later in the week, of course).

Oh, and they also released a new, awesome trailer that is filled with explosions, light sabers, Jedi ass-kicking and more! The trailer focuses on the building tension (by tension, I mean total war) within the TOR universe, not to mention loads of typical Star Wars staples. Check it out below.

Gamigo Announces a Ton Of News MMOs

Gamigo, the company behind a handful of MMOs, including Black Prophecy, announced an explosion of news about brand new titles. Some of these games are even free-to-play – and some run straight from your browser. Of course, for the more hardcore gamer, they announced big news for Black Prophecy as well.

As far as new titles go, they announced UFO Online: Fight for Earth, a sci-fi, browser-based MMO. The game is focused around three separate factions who will do battle in various PvP encounters. Of course, the game will have plenty of PvE events focused around the main story, which as far as I can tell, is about aliens trying to kill humanity. Check out the story trailer below.

Grimlands is another title they’ve announced – and as you can probably tell from the name, it’s, uh, quite grim. Set in a post-apocalyptic world, it is based around the concept that your character can only learn things by actually doing them.

Unlike the other titles, Grimlands is an FPS. It also adds in a handful of typical MMO features such as crafting, which the developers seem pretty excited about. Not to mention… modifiable vehicles? Sounds awesome! Once again, check out the trailer below.

Finally, it looks like gamigo is taking a hint from EVE Online. The first major patch for Black Prophecy will allow pilots to leave their ships, letting them explore space stations and meet other players. I’m glad this is becoming sort of a trend in the genre, as I think being able to leave your ship adds a whole new layer of immersion to the game.

Patrick Streppel, Executive Board Member at gamigo, said this in reference to the new feature:

“Station walking is not just a feature a lot of fans of Black Prophecy will enjoy, it’s almost like a second game. Being able to move their avatar outside their spaceships will allow players to identify more closely with their characters and will add a lot of new ways to interact – who knows what other possibilities will come in the future…”

So, are you interested in playing any of gamigo’s new games, or do none of them strike your fancy? What about SWTOR or Free Realms? I’m still on the SWTOR bandwagon and I can’t wait for it to hit retail later this year.

MMO Update: Free Realms Hits PS3, New The Old Republic Trailer …

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