February State of the Bane

February is proving to be an exciting month to be apart of the SBEmu project! This past month throughout the first stages of Closed Beta, we've made amazing progress with the help of the Closed Beta testers. Not only is the game progressing, but I've also been focusing on getting the word about the Shadowbane Emulator out to the larger MMO community. These next couple of months, as we advance through Closed Beta into Open Beta, should prove to be an exciting process. I would like to thank everyone so far whom has contributed in making this project a success! This includes those of you in the community whom have stepped up and taken it in your hands in order to find ways to help the project! There are many ways you can help with the SBEmu project, and that's not only limited to filling on an application for one of our team spots. We have community members every day figuring out new and inventive ways to help out the project, and as always, we are always open to suggestions!

Newbie Guide Contest Winners

We have been looking over the various submissions the past couple weeks and the SBEmu Team is proud to announce MikeDizzle, Rewen and Cryfowl as our Newbie Guide Contest winners! You can check out their Newbie Guide submissions here: [Link will be up again shortly]. We had many excellent submissions, but after a vast amount of discussion we believe that MikeD/Rewen's Guide as well as Cryfowl's guide, best covers those aspects we outlined for the specified requirements. Congrats again to MikeD, Rewen and Cryfowl for their submissions!

Closed Beta Update

Due to the increased amount of PMs and interest in Closed Beta we've decided to open up applications for Closed Beta! We will be re-opening Closed Beta applications February 10th-12th. The deadline for this round of applications is 12am PST Monday, February 13th. We will not be accepting any late applications after this time, and will not be opening Closed Beta Applications again, so this is your FINAL chance in order to get your applications in to be considered for Closed Beta.

Team Promotions

I am absolutely pleased to announce two new promotions on the SBEmu Team! Our Test Team member Siren has been promoted to Senior Tester! Siren has been a pivotal part of organizing and managing the first part of this Closed Beta process. His efforts have warranted this promotion for a while now! I am also happy to announce that our Design Team Member Xemise, has been promoted to Senior Designer! Xemise will also be organizing some of the Design Team tasks during the beta process. Xemise's visionary expertise have been largely utilized for the aesthetic aspect of designing the world. Though now he will be helping with organization as well.

Sandbox Podcast with SBEmu Community Manager Tybalt

I recently did a podcast with Coolit of Sandbox.mmosmacktalk.com! You can check out the podcast which goes over the general overview of the project. You can check out the 25minute podcast with Coolit and Tybalt here:
http://www.mmosmacktalk.com/thesandbox/ ... s/SB17.mp3

Note from the Community Manager

The support from the Community has been awesome throughout this Closed Beta process! I understand all of you are eager to help, and there are much more ways you can help other than testing. Getting the word out to your guilds, friends, etc. that Shadowbane is coming soon would be a huge help to the team and the community! Remember to keep up with our Facebook and Twitter accounts, as I'm sporadically posting screenshots, media, and other info there from time to time.