We apologize for this delayed weekly recap, but the Allakhazam team was incredibly busy attending the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this past weekend. You can check out some of our exclusive interviews from the event below, and you can expect to see more coverage throughout the week, including an interview with John Smedley, president and CEO of Sony Online Entertainment. He had some interesting EverQuest news to share with us, so be sure to keep an eye out for that. There's more links after the jump.

Allakhazam Features:

CES 2009: An Allakhazam Look at DC Universe Online : Editor-in-Chief Andrew "Tamat" Beegle gets a first-hand look at DCUO with Creative Director Jens Anderson. Check out our video for some in-depth gameplay footage.

CES 2009: Interview with Fatal1ty : Tamat talks to professional gamer Johnathan "Fatal1ty" Wendel about World of Warcraft. He'll possibly be sponsoring WoW professionals underneath the Fatal1ty brand.

Pre CES: Interview with Brett Close : Tamat speaks with Brett Close, president and CEO of 38 Studios, about the project simply known as Copernicus. Close is tight-lipped about the game, but says 2010 is when we'll hear more.

An Evening with Thrall : Before conducting all these interviews at CES, Tamat was brave enough to talk to the biggest name of all: Thrall. The World of Warcraft character bares all in this exclusive interview.

Now that 2008 has come to an end we thought it might be fun to do a recap on some of the major news and features that you may have missed. Overall, 2008 was a great year for the gaming industry as a whole, with some amazing advancements in the MMO space. So sit back, nurse that coffee and take one final look at Allakhazam in 2008.

January

• Allakhazam visited the Consumer Electronics Show. The fun began on Jan. 7 as Tovin reported on the first day of activities, which included Sony’s announcement that the PSP would support Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) provider Skype and new rigs from Voodoo PC and Alienware.

• At CES, EverQuest and World of Warcraft were honored with Emmy Awards and AutumnKiss talked to Curt Schilling of 38 Studios about their upcoming MMO code-named Copernicus, which includes names like R.A. Salvatore and Todd McFarlane.

• Day two of the event was just as crazy, and AutumnKiss got a ton of information on a pirate's life in both Pirates of the Caribbean Online and Pirates of the Burning Sea. Of course, the team also focused on the then-upcoming Age of Conan and delved into Legends of Norrath. Tovin also got a glimpse of all the tech gadgets, such as a wallet-sized USB flash drive.

Now that the holidays are over and all the presents have been unwrapped; we'd like to show you what you may have missed this week.

Allakhazam Features

Jim Lee's Universe, Part One : We sit down with Jim Lee, famed DC comic book artist, to talk about his Sony Online Entertainments upcoming MMO, DC Universe Online. In the interview we talk with Jim about his role on the project, his past, and of course the game itself.

Jim Lee's Universe, Part Two : Part Two of the interview with Jim Lee.

Jumpgate Evolution Media #4 : We give you our final look at Jumpgate Evolution in 2008 with four brand new exclusive screenshots.

We have a ton of links to share with you in this week's recap of our exclusive content and noteworthy news items (which can be found after the jump). With the holiday season upon us, most MMOs are celebrating with numerous events. Some, such as World of Warcraft's Feast of Winter Veil, are listed below. Whichever game you play, take some time to enjoy the festivities. Also, feel free to browse our news archive to check out everything that couldn't fit in this weekly recap.

Allakhazam Features

Dangers of Sanrio Town : Hello Kitty Online features an in-depth social network. While it's a good tool for meeting other players, it could be dangerous for the game's younger fans.

Ten Years of Lineage II : Sam Han, Lineage II Producer for NCsoft West, and Young Park, the original Lineage Production Assistant for NCsoft West, talk with us about the Lineage franchise.

Jumpgate Evolution Media #3 : These exclusive screenshots showcase fighters class ships and factories that are used in crafting.

Swordsman Screenshots : We take an in-depth look at this class from IGG's free-to-play Zu Online.

Station Crap : Allakhazam Editor-in-Chief Andrew "Tamat" Beegle has a less than favorable personal opinion on SOE's new Station Cash microtransaction service. What do you think about it? Let us know in the comments section.

It's that time again for another recap of some of the most noteworthy news stories and exclusive items posted this week on Allakhazam. Since we already introduced this new series last week, let's get right to the links. There's even more after the jump.

Noteworthy news stories

• Allakhazam is hiring! : Have you ever wanted to work for Allakhazam? We have positions open for two part-time editors.
• 1st Video Documentary Released : LucasArts and BioWare have released the first Star Wars: The Old Republic documentary with gameplay footage. Check it out and let us know what you think.
• Tauren Burger with Fries : A World of Warcraft-themed restaurant just opened in Beijing. Watch the video to see what it looks like.
• Fan Fest Forum Topics : The Allakhazam team was at the Final Fantasy XI Fan Festival 2008 and our forum is full of discussion regarding the event.
• Station Cash is Now Available in EQ and EQII : You can now buy in-game items using real cash in SOE's new microtransaction service. What do you think about the service? Let us know.
• Atari's Parent Company to Acquire Cryptic Studios : The Star Trek Online and Champions Online developer will be acquired by Infogrames Entertainment.

Welcome to the first in our new series of weekly recaps to keep you posted on some of our most noteworthy news stories, interviews and other exclusive items. At Allakhazam, we strive to bring you current news for a wide variety of MMORPGs, whether they have a ton of subscribers or they're just entering the alpha test phase.

While this new recap series will showcase a variety of articles, we invite you to visit www.allakhazam.com to browse through all of our daily updates. You can also click the news archives link near the top of the left menu on that page to look through all our posts since 2001.

Keep reading after the jump for this week's noteworthy news. For example, if you haven't already, check out part one and part two of our interview with Warhammer Onlines's Destin Bales, or our interview with Project Lore's Zand Broumand. There's even more links below, so keep reading.

Allakhazam Features

• Warhammer Online: Moving Forward, Part One : Destin Bales, Live Producer on Warhammer Online, talks with us about the current state of the game, hardware recommendations, realm balance, and many other issues.

• Warhammer Online: Moving Forward, Part Two : Bales discusses the game's economy, customer service, competing with World of Warcraft, and other topics.

• Allakhazam Watches Project Lore - Zand Broumand : Broumand talks with Tamat about his new soloing segment in Project Lore, as well as gaming in general.

• Jumpgate Evolution Media #1 : Codemasters has supplied us with four exclusive Jumpgate Evolution screenshots. We'll be getting more each week in December.