If you were trying to play Defiance this morning, and I know some of you were, you may have noticed the servers were down. This is a common occurrence with new MMOs. Servers get updated, patches get patched, bans get hammered. So it goes. While we won't cover every single patch and update (Trion has their own forums for that), we will let you know when something impacts the co-op play.  

We don't normally give the full review treatment to MMOs around these parts, but Defiance's simultaneous multiplatform release and promise of an open-world shooter has grabbed our attention. While it's built on a solid framework, does it hold its own as a game, or does it come across as a cheap tie-in to the TV show? Grab your guns and hop into your Roller and let's find out.

A huge new patch dropped for Defiance today. Well, it's currently dropping, being dropped, in the sate of falling, whatever. I'm guessing Trion is trying to hook anyone who might decide to dive in after watching last night's television series debut. (I thought the show had some flaws, but I'd watch another episode.) To do this they'll need to fix some very rough spots in the game. Patch 1.010 went live this morning, caused some problems, and then it was pulled. According to the Defiance twitter feed it's back up now. Looks like the game was down for about 6-7 hours. Ouch.

A couple of days ago, War Z succumbed to a serious hacker attack that put private user information at risk. Both the game’s database, as well as the forums that sparked the huge controversy over the game’s legitimacy last year, were hacked to the point where developer, OP Productions, was forced to shut down their servers and take it offline until further notice.

Defiance launches today. A quick look at the Twitters tells me the servers are having issues, which is something to be expected from a new MMO --especially a new MMO which is launching simultaneously across the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC. I think I may wait until tomorrow to try to log on. For now I'll just cozy up with the Defiance launch trailer before I venture forth to explore the Bay Area Frontier. It's got explosions, guns, aliens, and alien cleavage. What else could you want?  

Chances are you've caught an advertisement for Defiance, the new shooter/MMO crafted by Trion Worlds. The game also happens to have an accompanying TV show of the same name debuting on the Syfy channel on April 15th. I recently visited Trion Worlds and put some time in with the sci-fi shooter, talking with developers, engaging in the Shadow War, getting crushed in PvP, and most importantly, checking out the co-op.

The Defiance beta event is underway on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC. PS3-based Ark Hunters have been at it for a few days now, and PC and 360 gamers were finally able to get in on the action this morning. The winners from our massive beta key giveaway should have received their PC codes from Trion or been PM'd console codes from Co-Optimus by now (check your Co-Optimus profile inbox).

Did you hear? The good folks at Trion Worlds will be conducting another beta event for the upcoming MMO shooter, Defiance. Judging from the Co-Optimus community's response to our beta key giveaway, plenty of  you want in on the action.

The massively multiplayer online survival horror game The War Z has been removed from Steam following consumer complaints. The War Z presented information on the Steam page that did not appear to be true in the actual game, and that doesn't jive with Valve. People have demanded refunds, and as of yesterday Valve has offered refunds to those who purchased the game.

Due to major changes in the core game engine, DayZ, the mega-popular, zombie apocalypse mod of ARMA II will be pushed back until 2013.

More video footage of the alpha phase of upcoming MMO/FPS zombie-thriller, War Z, has surfaced, showcasing some good use of defensive tactics to survive in an apocalyptic world. War Z is the first MMO, sandbox style zombie game to feature an open world, with no emphasis on a set storyline or even character classes.

“So what do you want to play for our TWICO article, Mike,” I asked. “Well… there’s always Diablo,” he replied. “I think folks have probably had enough of that for now,” I said. “Have you checked out The Secret World,” he then inquired. With that simple question, the characters of Dana “Frumpypants” Scully and John “Doc-Brown” Lovegood were born.

At PAX East, I had the chance to be walked and talked through the upcoming D&D Online expansion, Menace of the Underdark (MotU). As would be expected of a DDO expansion, MotU is story-driven. A fissure has opened up right in the middle of the capital city in Eberron which leads to other D&D realms, including the worlds of the Underdark and the Forgotten Realms. The Spinner of Shadows, Lolth’s agent in the DDO universe, is behind all this madness. Players will travel through four huge areas (the Demonweb, the Underdark, Evening Star, and King’s Forest) as a hero from another world, trying to unravel why the drow are invading the town of Evening Star and the nature of “the thread of the weave.”

Part two of my appointment with Perfect World Entertainment was for the other F2P MMO they have in the works: Neverwinter. This is a title I’ve been excited about every since it was announced, but it’s gone through some big changes since that announcement. The developer from the start has always been Cryptic Studios (the guys behind City of Heroes/Villians, Champions Online, and Star Trek Online), but they’ve changed publishers. Also, I was originally under the impression that it was intended as a multiplayer game, and now it’s a F2P MMO. I won’t lie - I was a little nervous about some of these changes; it turns out though that my fears were unfounded because the game looks absolutely great.

After surveying the show floor at PAX East, Nick and I came to the same conclusion: 2012 looks like it's going to be a strong year for free-to-play (F2P) games, MMOs, and yes, F2P MMOs. Case in point was my first PAX East appointment: publisher Perfect World Entertainment. PWE's specialization is quality F2P MMOs and they were showcasing two such titles for the convention: Raiderz and Neverwinter. This post will be covering Raiderz.