If you are a fan of card-based fantasy style games, then this open beta might be for you. Veil Entertainment and Spore Productions have announced Rise & Ruin has gone into open beta. The game can be played in a web browser, which makes the game playable by anyone with a computer and an Internet connection.

Rise & Ruin is attempting to take the trading card game genre to a new level. The decks in this game are used to aid the main avatar. Players can level up the avatar to their liking and then use the cards to pick powerful attack, defense, magic, and specialty cards. Players are able to play the game for free and have the option to buy the in-game currency to purchase more cards and additional content.

Rise & Ruin sounds like an interesting take on the trading card game genre. Card-based games can be fun and there are a few that use the free to play model and then make money off of microtransactions. If this game sounds like something you would like to check out, head over to Rise & Ruin and sign up to play.

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Lifetime Digital Media and King.com announced a deal that has King.com exclusively providing co-branded online games for myLifetime.com. All this means that players on myLifetime.com will be able to play King.com games. The games will start appearing later in August.

The agreement is a good fit for both companies. Lifetime has been known as a place for women. The movies they play on the TV station are mostly aimed at women and the myLifetime site is geared towards women. The majority of the gamers on King.com are women, as well. Both entities have a following of the same audience, so it makes sense to combine powers and get an even better site.

“We are delighted to be working with Lifetime Digital, as there are unparalleled synergies between both of our audiences, which will provide many opportunities,” said Robert Norton, Managing Director, King.com, North America.  “With the leading women’s entertainment brand and the leading provider of online skill games for women joining forces, there are now even more ways for the Lifetime audience to connect, play and share.  This partnership is further proof that King is seen as the partner of choice for the world’s leading entertainment companies.

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Alawar Entertainment has announced the release of Dream Farm a new online business simulation game for the PC. The goal of the game is to grow vegetation on your computer and then bring them to the online market to sell. Players set the price of the item and the game will monitor the supply and demand of that particular item and adjust the game accordingly.

Players get a taste of farming. All of the in-game money earned can then be spent on newer equipment, land, seeds and new production facilities and other such things. The more money players can earn, the better equipment they can buy. Of course, better equipment leads to a better process, which in turn leads to more money. It probably won’t be that easy, though.

If you are into online community games or business simulation games, check out Dream Farm.

Metaplace is a unique online area where users can build their own virtual world. The worlds are diverse and can be anything you want. The user’s imagination is the only thing limiting the worlds. The worlds can be a store front, an office park,  just a real nature park or anything else you can dream up.

The users have ultimate control over their worlds. The world editor is pretty intense. You can add all sorts of shapes, trees and even raise and lower the terrain. The other nice feature is users can use pictures they have on their harddrive or they found on the internet. Players can use a URL and get the picture to their world that way. It is an interesting concept that adds a lot of possibilities to the world building.

Players do not automatically have money to build anything they want, though. Players have to earn money by visiting other players worlds and interacting with other players. There is a central hub where everyone can meet and hang out. The more people you interact with the more money you gain and players can gain levels as well.

Metaplace offers hours and maybe even days of building enjoyment for the person that likes to build virtual worlds and interact virtually with other people. There are resemblances to Second Life, but more focused on building and designing your world. The world is an ever living thing and can always be added to and changed. Some users have intense worlds and I am sure have spent a lot of time fine tuning the worlds.

If Metaplace sounds like a virtual place you want to check out, you can do that! The folks at Metaplace were nice enough to pass along beta keys. The beta keys will be good for a week and will allow you to find out for yourself the unique idea that is Metaplace.

Head over to Metaplace and enter the key MPCGC in the redeem your invite key box. The key is only good for a week and for the first 100 people so don’t wait.

TetrisFriends.com is a great tetris communtiy site. Players have the opportunity to play Tetris in a few different forms. Players can enjoy the game in a marathon mode, Tetris sprint, Tetris Survival, Tetris Ultra, Tetris 2 player and, eventually, Tetris Sprint 5 player.

Players can join the site for free and earn tokens. The more you play the more tokens you earn. Players get tokens for signing up. The tokens can be used to unlock accessories or locked games, such as the 5 player version of Tetris. The accessories are enhancements to the playing experience, such as new designs.

Tetris Marathon mode has players attempting to last through 15 levels. Each time you clear a line from the board you get closer to getting to the next level. Each level brings faster game play and more strategy. The player can see the next four items that will come, but it is not always easy to fit those items in. Players need to plan ahead and strategize to be able to last through all 15 levels.

Tetris Sprint mode challenges players to clear forty lines as fast as they can. The goal is to clear the forty lines as fast as you can and the rate the blocks fall stays constant the entire time. Players can use the down arrow to get the blocks to drop faster and speed up there time. Registered users can see how their time stacks up against other’s times.

Tetris Ultra mode is a mode that needs to be unlocked so players will have to save up their tokens to be able to play in this mode. The goal in this mode is to score as many points as possible in two minutes. Players have to be strategic to rack up the points and hold the top leader spot.

Tetris Sprint 5 Player mode allows up to 5 people to compete against each other in Sprint mode. Players have to be the first to clear 40 lines. Players can see a window of their opponents and how well they are doing as they are battling.

The last option is Tetris Battle 2 player mode. This mode is exactly as it sound, players battle each other for two minutes to try and be the top scorer. Every time a line is cleared by either you or your opponent the other player gets lines added to their board.

Tetrisfriends. com is an online community dedicated to Tetris fans. There are quite a few different modes to play in and even has multi-player options, which is always more fun. If you are a Tetris fan or really just like playing Tetris every now and then, check out TetrisFriends.com.