Today’s game update is a biggy, and I’ll be blogging in more detail shortly - but all three Guild Wars campaigns now have storybooks!

Storybooks were introduced in Eye of the North to allow players to track their progress in the game, but to also trade in completed storybooks to the faction of their choice to gain faction rewards.

This has now been extended to all of the three campaigns - Prophecies, Factions and Nightfall - along with a number of game changes that enhance the entire faction gain process.

This is clearly a push to help players enhance their Hall of Monuments in preparation for Guild Wars 2. It’s also a welcome enhancement for those who like to play through the storyline.

As I said, more blog posts focussing on the changes to each Guild Wars campaign will be coming up soon - stay tuned! You can either subscribe via RSS or sign up for our free weekly newsletter - and get a free guide to Eye of the North heroes as well.

Technorati Tags: Guild Wars Factions, Guild Wars maps, Guild Wars map, norn, Guild Wars guide

Each year MMO Portal create an MMO Calendar, featuring popular characters and scenes from leading MMOs, with all proceeds going to charity.

They’ve just announced the 2009 MMO Calendar, and that all proceeds will be going towards St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

The full list MMOs featured in the 2009 calendar are:

• Age of Conan
• DC Universe Online
• Dofus
• Eve Online
• EverQuest II
• Free Realms
• Guild Wars
• Pirates of the Burning Sea
• RuneScape
• The Agency
• Warhammer Online
• World of Warcraft

Head on over to MMOCalendar.com and check out their special prize offer for early orders!

Technorati Tags: far shiverpeaks, Guild Wars skills, Eye of the North, Guild Wars cheats, Guild Wars Factions

I mentioned this years Guild Wars Halloween Art Contest previously - now that the celebrations are over, the winners have been announced.

This awesome Gwen costume won first place for Aurora Astralis from the USA.

Second place was taken by Chi Then Pham from France’s excellent poster.

For a full list of the Guild Wars Halloween Art Contest winners and runners up, visit http://eu.guildwars.com/events/contests/halloween_2008_winners/

Well done to everyone who took part and congratulations to the winners!

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It’s nearing the end of October, which means it’s time for the yearly festivities in Guild Wars. Once again Mad King Thorn will be visiting the major cities in Tyria and Elona.

Yesterday’s game update brings the decorations, and from today the fun begins in earnest, with new NPCs and missions appearing, as well as the Costume Brawl.

Mad King Thorn will ride into town from 9am GMT next Friday, 31st October, and will appear every three hours until the stroke of midnight on Sunday, 2nd November.

Remember, if you just have Guild Wars Factions, now is the time to grab a copy of Prophecies or Nightfall, so that you can journey to the cities of Lion’s Arch or Kamadan.

Check our our great Guild Wars Guides to quickly boost your character’s levels and make it to these cities in time.

Now’s also the time to stock up on gold and items to make the most of the unique quests and games over Halloween - buy your Guild Wars gold here.

Technorati Tags: guild wars guide, guild wars guru, guild wars skills, guild wars 2, guild wars maps