EA's Origin Studios will host the 2002 Online World FanFest this January in Austin, Texas. The two-day event will showcase what's coming up for Ultima Online, EA's online role-playing game, and it will also include a sneak peek at Westwood's upcoming online space role-playing game, Earth and Beyond Online. In addition, several top game producers will speak at the event, including Will Wright, Maxis cofounder and designer of The Sims; Gordon Walton, Maxis vice president and executive producer of The Sims Online; Brett Sperry, executive producer for Westwood; Rick Hall and Bryan Walker, Ultima Online senior producers; and Todd McFarlane, creator of Spawn. McFarlane is collaborating with Origin to create characters for Ultima Online: Lord Blackthorn's Revenge, EA's upcoming online role-playing game expansion.

　　The Online Worlds FanFest is scheduled for January 11-12, 2002, at the Renaissance Austin Hotel. For more information about the event, visit the Online World's FanFest Web site.

　　We've posted some new screenshots from Lord Blackthorn's Revenge in the gallery above. They show off some of the McFarlane-designed characters and monsters that will appear in the upcoming expansion, which is scheduled for release in February. For more information, take a look at our previous coverage of the game.