Asheron’s Call 2 brought back online seven years after the MMO closed

Asheron's Call 2 went offline on Dec. 30, 2005 just three years after it opened. Much has changed in the world of MMORPGs in the intervening years so it's surprising to hear that developer turbine has opened a new server for the game.

Every wonder offered by the modern video game world also comes with a small sadness. Digital distribution preserves video games from classic hardware, but you have to pay for them over and over again. Games you can play online with friends will eventually have their servers taken offline. Massively multiplayer online role-playing games may bring millions together, but eventually those MMOs will close down as well, no matter how much loot you’ve gathered. From The Matrix Online to City of Heroes, it’s always a sad day when an MMO shuts its doors. One MMO is coming back from the dead this Christmas. Asheron’s Call 2 is back.

MMO innovator Turbine, Inc., the Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment subsidiary behind Dungeons & Dragons Online, the surprisingly resilient Lord of the Rings Online, and the foundational Asheron’s Call series is bringing back its old MMO for the first time since 2005.

“Asheron’s Call 2 has returned! We have opened a new server for anyone who has an active Asheron’s Call subscription to play Asheron’s Call 2 for free,” reads an announcement on the Asheron’s Call homepage.

Unfortunately, even though the game’s been resurrected fans won’t be able to pick up where they left off nearly a decade back. “Although we would have loved to revisit some of our old characters with you, we were not able to bring over any of your old characters. We do, however, present this new Asheron’s Call 2 server, Dawnsong, to all active Asheron’s Call players with a paid subscription or purchase an additional ACTD retail key and subscribe.”

While Turbine notes that this server is technical in beta since there is “a lot of monitoring and tweaking to do to the game environment,” the server is active and open to anyone who wants to sign up.

Asheron’s Call 2 was a virtual ghost town when it was closed back in December 2005. “It’s really heart-wrenching,” explained a player to Wired magazine at the time, “How will you connect with those people you spent every single day with? It’s as though someone suddenly took away all email. Suddenly they seem nameless and ethereal, where once they were as real and important as our familiar, co-workers, and Earth-realm friends.”

Asheron’s Call 2 isn’t the only blast from the past stirring things up at Turbine. The company recently hired Ken Rolston, designer of The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, and Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning.

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Intel CEO Paul Otellini retiring after 40 years

After nearly 40 years, Intel's president and the company's fifth CEO, Paul Otellini, is heading for retirement.

Intel today announced that its president and CEO Paul Otellini will retire after 40 years of work at the computing innovation company. 

Otellini will step down at the company’s annual shareholder meeting in May 2013. The move will take place over the next six months as an orderly leadership transition, during which the board of directors will choose Otellini’s successor by considering internal and external candidates.

“Paul Otellini has been a very strong leader, only the fifth CEO in the company’s great 45-year history, and one who has managed the company through challenging times and market transitions,” Andy Bryant, chairman of the board, said in a press release from Intel. “The board is grateful for his innumerable contributions to the company and his distinguished tenure as CEO over the last eight years.”

Otellini said he will collaborate with Bryant, the board of directors, and the management team during the six-month transition period. Afterward, he will be available as an advisor to management.

“I’ve been privileged to lead one of the world’s greatest companies,” he said. “After almost four decades with the company and eight years as CEO, it’s time to move on and transfer Intel’s helm to a new generation of leadership.” 

During Otellini’s tenure as CEO, from the end of 2005 through the end of 2011, Intel’s annual revenue climbed from $38.8 billion to $54 billion and annual earnings-per-share surged from $1.40 to $2.39. Under Otellini, Intel successfully began producing low-power Intel Core processors that, when paired with solid-state drives and unibody chassis, created what we now know as the Ultrabook. 

Intel also announced some pretty major promotions of three senior leaders to the position of executive vice president: Renee James, head of Intel’s software business; Brian Krzanich, CEO and head of worldwide manufacturing; and Stacy Smith, CFO and director of corporate strategy.

With the mobile market almost exclusively using ARM chips, whoever takes over as Intel’s CEO will have a lot of work to do in order to stay relevant. After all, ARM chips are in nearly all U.S. smartphones as well as Apple’s extremely popular iPad. There are already rumors of Apple ditching its Intel chips for ARM processors in its iMacs and MacBooks, so the following year should be an interesting one for Intel.

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