Turbine has announced that Lord of the Rings Online expansion Mines of Moria is entering into its final beta phase. The best thing about this phase is that North American and European players are invited to test the new expansion out. Starting today, you can register for an opportunity to participate by visiting the expansion’s official website.

I’ve talked a lot about the Mines of Moria expansion. The one thing that I keep taking from it is just how massive Turbine has made the fabled dungeon. The vertical space is daunting, and the opportunity to explore is promised to be just as large. I’m especially excited about the "Legendary Items" hook. Finally, I can forge the identity of my legendary blade, “Troll-Butt Sniffer.”

The Mines of Moria expansion is slated to hit later this autumn. Also, check out some of the screenshots for the expansion below.

Not only does independent developer/publisher Stardock put out some great strategy games, they’re also somewhat well known for completely omitting any sort of DRM in their releases. Building upon this idea of actually, y’know, treating PC gamers with some modicum of respect, they’ve released a list entitled “The Gamer’s Bill of Rights,” a collection of standards that we can expect to see the company employ from this point on.

1. Gamers shall have the right to return games that don't work with their computers for a full refund.
2. Gamers shall have the right to demand that games be released in a finished state.
3. Gamers shall have the right to expect meaningful updates after a game's release.
4. Gamers shall have the right to demand that download managers and updaters not force themselves to run or be forced to load in order to play a game.
5. Gamers shall have the right to expect that the minimum requirements for a game will mean that the game will play adequately on that computer.
6. Gamers shall have the right to expect that games won't install hidden drivers or other potentially harmful software without their consent.
7. Gamers shall have the right to re-download the latest versions of the games they own at any time.
8. Gamers shall have the right to not be treated as potential criminals by developers or publishers.
9. Gamers shall have the right to demand that a single-player game not force them to be connected to the Internet every time they wish to play.
10. Gamers shall have the right that games which are installed to the hard drive shall not require a CD/DVD to remain in the drive to play.

Best list ever or best list ever?

Some of the items -- ok, more like ALL of them -- might seem like painfully obvious things to do, but, as I’m sure most of you are aware, are still not practiced by many publishers and developers.  And yeah, I understand that piracy is part of the reason for why they don’t do some of them, but if more and more companies started employing these standards then pirates would have absolutely no credible excuses to download games beyond “I’m a cheap bastard.”

Today, Activision and developer Creat Studios have announced their newest Nintendo DS title, Tony Hawk’s Motion and Hue Pixel Painter. The two different games will be provided in one tiny package that provides a fairly unique experience for the consumer.

Tony Hawk’s Motion is a classic Tony Hawk skateboarding game that utilizes the DS Motion Pack to let players “twist, tilt and turn” through several skateboarding challenges. For the first time in the series, players will also be able to snowboard. Over 20 snowboarding challenges will be available, including some you may remember like Hawk-Man and High Score.

Hue Pixel Painter is a puzzle game that puts players in the shoes of a character named Hue in his epic journey to change landscapes from lackluster to colorful. The game is basically Unreal Engine 3’s greatest nightmare as you make Hue drag vivid color all over the place.

Tony Hawk’s Motion and Hue Pixel Painter will be available this November for $39.99. Hit the break for the full press release and check out the gallery below for some screenshots of the game.

Blizzard co-founder Frank Pearce recently sat down with VG247 and talked a bit about the potential of a fourth race in StarCraft II. Pearce points out that the development team talked about a fourth race early in development, but decided that adding one in would squash some of the new ideas that Blizzard wanted to implement with the game.

We talked about the possibility of a fourth race early on, but we felt like we had a finite amount of great ideas and wanted to make sure we focused all the cool, best ideas on the existing three races rather than diluting those ideas across four races

Earlier in the discussion, Pearce said that Blizzard doesn’t “have the resources or time to add a fourth race to the launch” of StarCraft II, but doesn’t rule out the possibility of having one in an expansion pack. In fact, he was sure that another race is a “feature that’ll come up for discussion” whenever Blizzard decides to roll one out.

Personally, I think StarCraft II is the epitome of playing it safe. I’m not seeing anything truly remarkable from Blizzard from this title, and I am slightly disappointed. I never really got into the original game, but I would be more willing to check out StarCraft II if I saw something exciting like a new race tossed into the mix.

If you’re part of the gamer demographic that would like to vote for a national election, but can’t, EA has a brilliant opportunity for you. Starting today, Electronic Arts and DICE are hosting a fan vote to determine which two campaign levels in Battlefield: Bad Company will be turned into multiplayer levels. The voting ends September 2nd and access to the vote can be found here.

In addition to the two user picked maps, EA will also have two additional maps to tack on once the choices are made. These maps will be for the recently added Conquest mode and are going to be offered as free content.

Unfortunately, I’m not sure what “free” means to EA. If it’s “sign this to get spammed” then I’m already out before it begins. Luckily, Bad Company isn’t the greatest game to touch this Earth, so I don’t know if I’ll be missing that much.

Few games on this planet have the ability to rev me up like Gears of War does. Our newest batch of screenshots shows off a few unique creatures like the Reaver and Flame Boomer. Both monsters look like they’re ready to be chopped in half with a chainsaw. One could argue that the task would be tough with the Reaver considering its size, but I beg to differ. You give me a couple of hours, and I can deliver the world.

Also included in the batch is box art for the game, which is decidedly tamer than what I expected. In fact, it doesn’t even have a skull on it. At least Mr. Fenix is willing to put up his fist slightly, which I gather is supposed to mean he’s awesome or something.

Gears of War 2 is coming to the 360 this November.  If you’re curious as to what to expect with the title check out the list of Achievements that can be unlocked. They allude to quite a few interesting scenarios.

Gamers, in general, are a rowdy bunch. Whether it's because they're natural party animals, games make them violent, or they simply haven't left their basements in years, getting them together in one place can end in trouble.

So the organizers for the Penny Arcade Expo have set forth a few simple rules of conduct. Taken directly from the conventions program: 

1. Drugs are bad!
2. Don't steal!
3. Don't punch or kick people!
4. No cheating!
5. Don't harass anyone!
6. Don't spray paint on stuff!
7. Don't mess with things that aren't yours!