Today, SuperSecret is fully publicly launching its social MMO/virtual world for tweens, a game which has been in development for two years and which has been in beta for some time.

It has also announced distribution partnerships with WildTangent and Spil Games, and Gamasutra speaks to president Tony Espinoza to find out more.

The game, which secured $10 million in Opus Capital venture funding last month, is targeted at 9-13 year old players, so-called "tweens", who, in the words of SuperSecret president Tony Espinoza, have graduated from kids' virtual worlds and are looking to move to something more advanced:

"[CEO] Ted [Barnett] is a parent, and has three tweens at home, and watched them all start to get bored with Club Penguin and Webkinz. So there was kind of an existence proof there. But at the same time, we had been studying the casual gaming space and all of the social stuff happening with all of the different social platforms.

"What we found pretty quickly is that if you talk to these kids in this age group, they want to do all of the stuff that adults do, or at least that teenagers do. In fact they're pretty obsessed with growing up -- so that's where we decided to start."

The long-running MMORPG Shadowbane will be shuttering on May 1, franchise owner Ubisoft has announced.

Shadowbane, created by defunct Wolfpack Studios, has been live for over six years.

The official Shadowbane website read, "We come to you now with regret and sadness, but also happiness and pride. Regret and sadness that it has finally come to this, and as of May 1, 2009 the Shadowbane servers will be powered down once and for all."

Ubisoft gave no specific explanation for the shutdown, although we've contacted the publisher for comment.

The future of Shadowbane had been hanging in the balance for some time. Ubisoft acquired creator Wolfpack in 2004 in an attempt to gain footing in the MMO market. The publisher then announced it would be shuttering the studio in 2006, after announcing that Shadowbane would become free-to-play. Former Wolfpack members went on to form independent online developer Stray Bullet Games, which had been supporting the MMORPG for Ubisoft while working on an unannounced title.

On Ubisoft's Shadowbane forums, some fans hoped the announcement was a belated April Fool's Day joke. Others expressed sadness about the closure. "It will be sad to see Shadowbane go, but it was the pioneer for all [PvP] MMOs, and no other game has been able to duplicate it," reckoned one poster.

Ubisoft's "Shadowbane Farewell" added, "Many passionate and creative individuals have poured their hearts and souls into developing and hosting Shadowbane. We want to thank each and every one of you for your tremendous work and valiant efforts throughout Shadowbane's lifetime."

[The preceding article by Kris Graft also appeared on Worlds in Motion sister site Gamasutra.]

Online game maker NCsoft may have its own internal digital storefront with PlayNC, but it has now turned to Valve and its 20 million users strong Steam service to help deliver its current line of MMOs to gamers.

NCsoft, with U.S. headquarters located in Seattle, said today that City of Heroes, Guild Wars, and Lineage are heading to the Steam digital distribution platform. Over the coming weeks, Steam will have special offers on NCsoft products, the publisher said. As of press time, the games had not appeared on the storefront.

NCsoft's products are also available on other third-party distribution services such as Direct2Drive.

The publisher said that it plans on releasing the upcoming MMO Aion on Steam when the game launches this fall in North America and Europe.

NCsoft West president of publishing David Reid said in a statement, "Extending our distribution reach with Steam will allow more gamers the freedom and flexibility to stay updated and engaged with our games and online communities."

Included in NCsoft's Steam deal is City of Heroes's recently-released user-generated Mission Architect. The system led to the creation of over 20,000 mission arcs, just one week after its launch earlier this month.

[The preceding article by Kris Graft also appeared on Worlds in Motion sister site Gamasutra.]

Chinese online game operator Perfect World (publisher of the eponymous MMO) has announced that it has entered into a publishing agreement with Runic Games, the studio formed from the defunct Flagship Studios team developing MMO Mythos, for the exclusive worldwide publishing rights for Torchlight, Runic's upcoming title.

The Seattle-based Runic counts developers of titles including Diablo, Diablo II, Fate and Hellgate: London as part of its team, and while few details have been announced, Torchlight is described as being in the same vein -- an action-MMORPG where players take the role of adventurers from the town of Torchlight, exploring a nearby mountain range to find a "magic ore" that " imbues their equipment with power, yet imperils their very existence."

As of the announcement, images of the title have been made available to two Runic Games fansites, Runic Games Insider and Runic Games Fansite.

"We are very pleased to cooperate with Runic Games, whose members have a first-rate track record. Leveraging Perfect World's marketing capabilities and deep understanding of Asian culture and player preferences, Torchlight is expected to be a global title, catering to the tastes of both Western and Eastern players," commented Michael Chi, CEO of Perfect World. "In addition to our involvement in game development leveraging our extensive experience with MMORPG, we will also strive to demonstrate our excellent game operating ability and to offer players unique and exciting online game experience."

Industry vet Jon Van Caneghem has "transitioned out" of his executive role with online gaming firm Trion World Network, Joystiq reports.

Van Caneghem, who was co-founder and president of the firm, "...no longer holds any operational responsibilities at Trion," according to a rep. "His creative and operational roles have been distributed among the talented senior team."

A career page under Van Caneghem's name on business networking site LinkedIn currently lists his profession as "entrepreneur." His position as "president and founder at Trion World Network" is listed under past experience. According to the profile, he held the position at Trion from January 2006 to April 2009.

Van Caneghem co-founded Trion with former EA online exec Lars Buttler in 2006. Van Caneghem is also known for founding New World Computing, and creating the Might and Magic series.

Privately-held Trion has raised $100 million in funding, and hopes to impact the games industry with dynamic online, live programming-driven games.

Trion's statement added, "[Van Caneghem's] departure is a part of the natural evolution of the growing company. To manage an ambitious and successful operation, the Company will always rely on its core belief that great teams plus great processes make great games."

Gamasutra has attempted to contact both Buttler and Van Caneghem. We'll update with any new information we receive.

[The preceding article by Kris Graft also appeared on Worlds in Motion sister site Gamasutra.]

Total sales for massively multiplayer online franchise Guild Wars have exceeded six million units, according to publisher NCsoft and subsidiary ArenaNet.

As the series prepares to celebrate its fourth anniversary, ArenaNet has released a major new content update, with additional in-game celebrations planned for the franchise’s official birthday on April 28th.

The episodic Guild Wars series currently contains three campaigns and an expansion pack: Guild Wars, Guild Wars Factions, Guild Wars Nightfall, and Guild Wars: Eye of the North. The games have received generally positive critical acclaim since the franchise first launched in 2005.

Guild Wars does not rely on a monthly subscription model. Instead, NCsoft and ArenaNet released the full-priced standalone campaigns six months apart, which generated sales from new players and old players. The Eye of the North expansion is the only installment that requires the player own one of the three campaigns.

“We are humbled by how gamers have responded to Guild Wars over the past four years, and we are proud that the game and its community have helped to continually shape, define, and expand the genre,” said ArenaNet studio head Mike O’Brien.

“Our subscription-free business model has proven to be a big hit with gamers, bringing an enormous and diverse online community to the game,” he added.

NCsoft recently announced that Guild Wars, along with other titles such as City of Heroes and Lineage, would be made available via Valve’s Steam download service.

[The preceding article by David Jenkins also appeared on Worlds in Motion sister site Gamasutra.]