World of Warcraft' has two worthy competitors

The massively multiplayer online game genre has changed much over the last decade or so, but medieval fantasy games like those that started it all still dominate.

Although World of Warcraft remains North America's undisputed favorite, it's not the only one worth playing.

Those who like world of Warcraft' s game play and want a similar experience need look no further than Lord of the Rings Online. The game mechanics will be familiar to any seasoned World of Warcraft player and, just as is the case with the Warcraft universe, Lord of the Rings Online. Middle-Earth has a rich fantasy lore and solid back story.

It's no accident that the two worlds have much in common.

It was J.R.R. Tolkien's epic tales that served as the immediate source material for the paper-based role-playing of the 1970s and '80s, and it was the paper-based role-playing games that inspired the MUDs, or multi-user dungeons, that were precursors for today's online games.

Since release, Lord of the Rings Online's publisher Turbine Entertainment has provided content updates at no charge to its players. Publish 10, which went live in August, introduces some major changes to character classes and added more than 100 new quests. Publish 11 will allow players to own a house in Middle-Earth. Where Lord of the Rings Online serves up time-tested material in a familiar format, Guild Wars breaks most of the rules. Guild Wars has been one of the more successful franchises outside of World of Warcraft, owing in no small part to its business model and tedium-free game play.

Most massively multiplayer online games require a monthly access fee between $10-15. Not so for Guild Wars , which offers unlimited free play to purchasers of the game.

Major updates are released in the form of stand-alone campaigns sold separately.

Up until now. Eye of the North, released August 31, is Guild Wars 's,first true expansion pack. Unlike earlier campaigns, it is not a self-contained, stand-alone product, but instead requires that the player own at least one of the three existing campaigns.

Content includes new dungeons, new skills, and more playable heroes, but falls short of the complete game experience offered in a stand-alone campaign.

So why did Guild Wars , deviate from its business model, which has been a big success?

The short answer is: Guild Wars 2. Guild Wars will soon be a thing of the past. Guild Wars , 2 will feature an updated graphics engine, more sophisticated quests, and a more immersive game world. Beta testing is expected to begin in 2008.