Mountain Surfing

The eagerly awaited expansion to the Guild Wars online RPG, Eye of the North, is now released. Eye of the North requires at least one of existing chapters of Guild Wars - Prophecies, Factions, or Nightfall. You can buy the expansion from a retailer, or it's available from within your Guild Wars client by clicking on the Guild Wars Store icon. Purchasing the expansion this way will take effect immediately, allowing you to instantly explore the new content in Guild Wars: Eye of the North.

Each main town from the three existing Guild Wars chapters will have a new NPC (Non Player Character) - you'll need to talk to them to receive the mission which takes you to Eye of the North: Characters from the original Guild Wars Prophecies campaign should seek out Len Caldoron in Lions Arch and accept the What Lies Beneath quest.

Characters from Guild Wars: Factions should seek out Minister of Maintenance Raiugyon in Kaineng Center and accept the I Feel the Earth Move Under Canthas Feet quest. Characters from Guild Wars: Nightfall should seek out Bendah in Kamadan and accept the Hole of Istan quest.

Once you have completed these missions you will find yourself in Boreal Station. You will also notice new purple Asura Gates have appeared on the map - these can be used to transport you direct to Boreal Station in the Eye of the North at any time. Within Eye of the North there are 4 new Title Tracks - Asura, Deldrimor, Ebon Vanguard, and Norn. By undertaking quests for each of the groups, you can gain reputation points, which will increase your rank in the new Title Tracks.

Once you have gained 1000 reputation points, you will reach Rank 1. You will now be able to gain a special Status Effect which will provide bonuses when exploring. As your rank in a Title Track increases, you'll also open to access to new services:

Rank 3: Access to a special item crafter. Each group has a single item crafter who provides unique and powerful items. You must spend a Skill Point to have these items crafted for you.

Rank 4: Access to an exclusive weapon crafter. Each group has a single weapon crafter who provides unique weapons, such as the Raven Scythe and the Charrslayer Axe.

Rank 5: Access to an exclusive armor crafter. Each group has a single armor crafter who provides single unique armor pieces, such as the Dread Mask or the Magma Gauntlets.

As your Rank increases, so do the bonuses granted from the special status effect your character receives when displaying the Title. There are also 50 new PvE skills in Eye of the North, which can be gained by completing quests for each of the groups. These skills and bonuses will also become more powerful as your Rank in the relevant Title Track increases. Through these new Title Tracks, the Eye of the North expansion provides a lot of extra content and challenges.

Tom Kranz runs an Internet Cafe and Gaming Centre in the UK, which promotes social gaming and Internet technology for everyone. Join in with the community and experience a new take on video games at http://www.theaubergineroom.com

AP - Hate crime incidents decreased slightly last year, despite a surge in crimes targeting gays and lesbians.

Believe it or not, testing video games is a legitimate position and one that thousands of people hold all over the US.

There is a slue of game tester positions available at game companies all over the United States at any given time. Each type of position has certain requirements & job duties. There are also different names for the very same position. Some examples are:

Game Tester

Video Game Tester

QA Tester

Quality Assurance Tester

Becoming a game tester is a great stepping-stone to starting your career in the gaming field. It allows you to work your way up all the while building solid relationships that will be of great benefit to you in your career. So what is it that is required to become a tester? Below I have listed out the very basics of the requirements you would need in order to be considered for a game tester position:

General video gaming knowledge

Good communication skills

Basic computer skills

Ability to work well within a team environment

Problem solving skills

The typical job duties for this particular type of position include:

Documenting and reporting issues within the game

Play a game for the "fun factor"

Identify and isolate technical issues

This type of position is best suited for an avid gamer who can easily locate "kinks" in games. But, you must also know how to report the issues you come across which is where the technical side comes into play.

Starting out as a game tester allows you to create business relationships with your co-workers. This can in turn open up new doors for you in the business. There are supervisory positions available in the game-testing field as well. They include lead & manager positions. This further allows you to move up the corporate video game ladder.

Game testing is not for the faint of heart. It is something that a person interested in this field, needs to take very seriously. It does take dedication and hard work. There are times when you will have to play the very same scene of a game again and again in order to properly report what is required of you. One of the main goals of a game tester is to test unreleased games & find all issues so that the company does not release a game with technical bugs.

Being a game tester makes you a very important part of the video game release process.

If you are a gamer who has always wondered how to break into the game business, wonder no more. Get started doing something you love.

Lou Garrett is a hard core gamer who has been playing video games for over 15 years. Lou runs a successful website focused on video game testing. You can visit this site at: http://game-testers.com

Reuters - A Japanese man set fire to the hotel where he was due to get married at the weekend, rather than go through with the ceremony later the same day, newspaper reports said Monday.