You can choose from one of four warring races (Human, Orc, the Undead or Elves) and build a kingdom in which you recruit an army, head off on magical quests, and go to war for control over the land.

Heroes of Gaia is celebrating the open beta launch by offering some perks to people who participate:

•    The Open Beta Lucky Chest Giveaway! All players who play on Snail Games servers for more that five hours on October 27th and 28th will be eligible to receive five extra “Lucky Chests.” These in-game items may be opened by players to find extra resources, items or other rare and valuable rewards!

•    Purchase Power! The in-game cash shop, which offers all sorts of specialty items designed to enhance the gameplay experience will be open during the beta period. Players who frequent the shop or achieve certain daily in-game goals are eligible for daily drawings for special prizes.

•    As a special thank you, Snail Games’ “head start” program has begun. All beta testers who sign up and play during the beta period will be able to retain any heroes, castles assets and items they collect during the beta and take them into the start of official gameplay!

Sign up today at http://www.heroesofgaia.com/

For those of you that don’t know who Tim Kring is, he is the executive producer and creator of NBC’s hit show, Heroes. A live webcast is being held at 7 p.m. on September 21st, an hour before the 4th season premiers.

Gaia Online is inviting Tim into their virtual world to chat with the users as part of the Celebrity Interview series. He’ll be answering the questions posed to him by the users. Leading up to the event, members can post their questions on the forums and score a free avatar item, the O eclipse. During the event, a few lucky members will win signed Heroes merchandise.

So all you Heroes fans out there, come check it out! To get in on the fun, check out http://www.gaiaonline.com/timkring

Zachery Quinto is no stranger to San Diego Comic Con. He’s a regular on Heroes panels, and then the craziness of Star Trek. Now he comes back with Before the Door Pictures announcing a partnership with Archaia.

“As a company passionate about telling unique stories, we’re thrilled to be doing that on our projects with Archaia,” said Quinto. “I’ve been immersed in the comic book world through my work as an actor, and it feels fitting that Corey, Neal and I are diving even further into it as producers. It’s my third year in a row at Comic-Con—Sylar, Spock and now Archaia.”

“I second Zachary, and add that, as a lifelong comic book fan myself, our writers are telling some awesome tales,” hinted Moosa. “We can’t wait to share them.”

The panel is Saturday, July 25 at 5:30pm in Room 5AB. If you can’t make the panel check out www.Archaia.com on July 26 for the announcements and details on the partnership.

Golden Apple comics on Melrose and La Brea.

Heroes star Milo Ventimiglia made an appearance at Golden Apple Comics on Saturday, June 27th to celebrate the release of a new comic series that he co-produced, Berserker. The series was originally written as a made for TV script by  Rick Loverd, which turned down by everyone, saying it was too edgy for television.

Milo, along with Russ Cundiff and Jeremy Haun, met and greeted anxious readers who were understandably excited about the new series. They graciously signed copies of Issue Zero of their comic adaptation for fans of the new series.

The comic will be released by Top Cow Productions, Inc.

In the past, Milo has helped other series come to fruition, such as his series Rest.

[picture courtesy of Golden Apple's flickr page]