Gamania Digital Entertainment has announced its second major expansion for Lucent Hearts! This new expansion, called "Stadia", will be coming March 20th and will bring a significant amount of content with new areas and bosses. It will also introduce the first Tarot Battle Pets, as well as a unique Mount Race system that is very reminiscent of Mario Kart. 

Germania has released this preview trailer for the expansion and additional details will be revealed at the official Stadio teaser site.

It's that time of the year when those of us without sweethearts bake ourselves heart-shaped cakes and eagerly look forward to the cards from our grandparents since we know we won't be getting any from people our own age! That's right: it's almost Valentine's Day! But even if you're spending the holiday alone, your favorite MMORPGs are more than willing to distract you with a variety of events and mini-games. ZAM takes a quick look at how our favorite titles are celebrating the abundance of love; read on to see what's waiting for you in your game of choice!

Looks like the fine people at Lucent Heart and Gamania Digital Entertainment are feeling particularly generous these holidays, as Lucent Heart is kicking off their holiday event calendar! Included on the itinerary are a pile of Holiday Quests (Snowman Invasions!) with red or black holiday winter sets to be earned, as well as a Holiday themed Step-Up competition.

If you're still hoping for even more prizes, Gamania is also running their largest giveaway yet on their Official Lucent Heart Facebook page, Just keep your eyes glued to that page and take a shot at the daily question to win some unique costume sets and Goodie Bags!

Watching developers compete in the MMORPG world is always fascinating, especially when you consider the huge differences studios have in budgets and overall support. Ultimately, this means that the biggest development teams can stay competitive in the most obvious ways; pushing forward with the best graphics engines and the most ominous dungeons around. For smaller projects with fewer traditional resources, however, staying competitive usually means focusing on more creative systems, like unique game modes, stylish character costumes or… dancing.

You heard me.

Dancing is one of the many unique innovations to make its way into the Scaena expansion of the zodiac-themed social MMORPG, Lucent Heart and, just recently, I got the chance to take an in-game tour through these new developments. I was also told to bring along a few tunes to groove to on my tour, so I dutifully loaded up my weapons of choice, Blue Ocean Wave by Panacea and the ever-classic Funky Town by Lipps Inc to see just how much better a fictional character can be at dancing than I.

Just a half a week ago, I flew to Taiwan to join over a hundred members of the press from around the world to attend the very first Gamania Game Show, an event dedicated to showcasing Gamania's four new self-developed titles and other media creations. To most North Americans, Gamania may not be a household name, but in Asia they are the publishers of the Chinese edition of Lineage and MapleStory, two of the most influential eastern MMORPGs in the market. Over the past few years, Gamania has been expanding its ambitions beyond that of a publisher - as evidenced by the recent launch of its in-house developed Lucent Heart in North America - and the Gamania Game Show was a strong demonstration of where the company wants to be in the next few years.

Lucent Heart's Scaena expansion is now live and brings with it a dance system that features a dance creator and dance battles. Yes, you read that right. The system lets you create your own full-length dances by combining dance steps, and you can also challenge anyone to a game of keyboard Dance Dance Revolution to show off your moves.

If you're not a big dancer, the expansion also introduces guild vs. guild battles, 13 new areas and 10 new bosses.

Gamania has announced that the open beta for the North American version of Lucent Heart will officially begin on June 21. This free-to-play MMO features a Zodiac system that gives players access to special armor, abilities and daily horoscope enhancements tied to their birthday. It also features a Cupid System that will pair you up with other players to gain bonus exp and other perks.

For more details on the game, as well as information on all sorts of beta events, head over to the Lucent Heart site.

To help those affected by the recent earthquake in Japan, Gamania is collecting funds via Facebook to donate to the relief effort. All you need to do is become a fan of the Lucent Heart Facebook page by clicking the "like" button and Gamania will donate $5. That's it! The fundraiser will end on April 4, so head over to the page and become a fan of the Zodiac-inspired social MMO.

While you're on the Facebook page, Gamania is hosting a poll for players' most wanted addition to Lucent Heart. If enough users vote for same-sex relationship or marriage, Gamania has said that the feature may be added to the game in the next update.

Amid all of the news and hype surrounding the release of our most anticipated MMOs (DC Universe Online and Rift being the current industry hot topics), it's easy to forget that there are dozens upon dozens of smaller MMO development teams who are working just as hard (maybe even harder!) to make innovative games for this growing demographic.

While it's likely that these smaller creations won't be as pretty or as smooth as their bigger brothers, I've always felt that good core concepts don't require millions of dollars to create, and that even the smallest team can make a significant impact on the industry. In this way, when I was invited to check out Lucent Heart, a zodiac-based dating MMO (it's called Zodiac Online in Asia, but since there is a Zodiac Online in North America, they went with Lucent Heart), I went into it on the lookout for interesting concepts and ideas.

Did I find any? Read on!