Chiming in with the legion of April Fools gags today, developer ArenaNet swapped all level 20 player characters' avatars with stick figures in the MMO Guild Wars (PC).

The swap was brought to our attention by reader Tadej Lasic. While the change was universal across the game—avatars became stick figures in outposts, Guild Halls, PVP areas and so on—the swap did not affect heroes, NPCs, or any characters not directly player-controlled.

The Guild Master is a four page interview with Jeff Strain on Eurogamer, where they ask the ArenaNet co-founder about the future of Guild Wars.

There's a Guild Wars: Eye of the North on 2404, asking lead designer Ben Miller about this new expansion pack.

Also on IGN is this preview of Guild Wars: Eye of the North, offering hands-on impressions of the online action RPG expansion pack.

Over at Pro-G you can find a Guild Wars: Eye of the North video, featuring ArenaNet co-founder Jeff Strain walking them through this expansion pack.

Over at GameSpot you can find the second Guild Wars: Eye of the North development diary. Designer Ben Miller writes about the new content and features to be found in the expansion pack.

Guild Wars: Eye of the North Dungeon Crawl is an IGN article by ArenaNet designer Ben Miller, who talks about the dungeons found in the upcoming Guild Wars expansion pack.

New at GameSpot this evening is a Guild Wars: Eye of the North Q&A. ArenaNet game designer Ben Miller is asked about the new content and game features found in this expansion pack.

The latest Guild Wars 2 Q&A can be found at Computer & Video Games. ArenaNet founder Jeff Strain and lead designer Ben Miller talk about their plans for the game.

Eurogamer is the latest website with a Guild Wars 2 Q&A, asking designers Ben Miller and Eric Flannum about the online action RPG followup.

About.com's games section has a new Guild Wars Q&A, asking ArenaNet's Jeff Strain and Mike O'Brien about the recently announced Guild Wars 2 and Guild Wars: Eye of the North expansion pack.

NCSoft has issued this press release, officially announcing the development of Guild Wars 2 and the Guild Wars expansion pack Eye of the North. The press release pretty much confirms what showed up online last week. Here's a bit on Eye of the North, which will require either Prophecies, Factions, or Nightfall to run

And for those looking even further down the road at Guild Wars 2, Guild Wars: Eye of the North will provide a Hall of Monuments where players' accomplishments are memorialized and eventually inherited by their Guild Wars 2 characters, unlocking exclusive items and bonuses in Guild Wars 2.
"It's the payoff we hope players will appreciate as we continue to build on the Guild Wars franchise," said Strain. "We're excited to announce these two new products and we want players to know that Guild Wars has an extremely exciting future in the months and years ahead."

We have six Eye of the North screenshots, and the Guild Wars 2 logo if that's really exciting to you.

There's an article format Guild Wars 2 interview on Kotaku, also offering information on the Eye of the North expansion for the original game.

This Guild Wars Guru forum thread (thanks Blues News) is filled with Guild Wars followup information, all gathered from the most recent issue of PC Gamer. ArenaNet is planning to ditch the Chapter format for the game, and is instead focusing on an expansion pack called Eye of the North, as well as a proper sequel.

The Eye of the North expansion pack is set for a holiday 2007 release, and will cost less than the previous chapter additions. It features no new professions, but will include new armor sets, new skills, new heroes and new areas to explore. Its storyline will bridge the gap between the first game and Guild Wars 2.

Guild Wars 2 meanwhile, will feature four new races, and "radical" changes to many game elements including PvP play and the NPC companion system. It also sounds like there will be less instancing, and the level cap will be either really high or non-existant. The game will also remain fee-less. A beta is expected to start in 2008. For much more, go here.

The Guild Wars website notes that a new streaming update is now available for the game. It offers bug fixes, and changes related to a testing event. Thanks Blues News.

The peeps at ArenaNet let us know that this weekend, the Domain of Anguish will open for Guild Wars players who have finished the Nightfall installment. "Players will find four separate areas to explore, nearly a dozen quests, new armor upgrade options, a system for acquiring novel weapons, and of course a compelling mission as well".

New at FiringSquad is this Guild Wars Nightfall Q&A with ArenaNet's Gaile Gray. Gray is asked about developing content in short periods of time, artistic influences on Nightfall, the two new professions, the hero system and more.

As noted on the official Guild Wars website, a new streaming update is now available for the online action RPG. There are a ton of balancing changes and updates, not all of them related to the new Nightfall chapter. Thanks Enyakk.

With the release of Guild Wars Nightfall imminent, ArenaNet has released a third trailer for the third chapter. This one focuses on new environments and hero characters in two minutes of footage.

The Guild Wars website notes the availability of Guild Wars PvP editions, which allows you to jump straight into the action. There's a PvP edition of the original game, and of the Factions chapter. Thanks Blues News.