Outspark’s free-to-play, massive multiplayer online snowboarding gameProject Powder is now in open beta. Take heart, if you were denied entry to the closed beta, for your time has now come. Of course not all the functions are up and running (the ranking feature doesn’t work yet), but they will be once the commercial period begins…

Like many other massive multiplayer online (MMO) distributors/publishers/developers, Outspark is holding events in some of its free-to-play MMO titles. The events are being billed as the 2008 Outspark Games and will be running from August 8-24, 2008 to coincide with the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. Events will be taking place in Fiesta, Project Powder and Secret of the Solstice.

The events kicked off yesterday (August 8, 2008), with opening ceremonies in Fiesta and Secret of the Solstice. Events are happening multiple days in each game, with certain ones being highlighted. Project Powder is having a Race for the Gold event from August 8-21 which involves players trying to get the best ranking in all of the game’s courses to win prizes. Fiesta is having a Tour de Fiesta racing event on August 10, 14 and 18, where people can compete in races to win gold, silver and bronze medals and also get 50% extra experience. Secret of the Solstice is having a Heavy Lifting Event, which is a something of a delivery race where you carry letters for NPC Peter, on August 10, 14, and 17. The events end with a Closing Ceremony on August 24, where all games get 35% extra experience for five days and reduced event items.

Project Powder is a free massive multiplayer online (MMO) snowboarding game still in the closed beta phase, but that hasn’t stopped Outspark from announcing that it will be released commercially worldwide in August, 2008. Right now the closed beta phase is in effect until July 8, 2008, so players can help the developers out by testing and spotting any potential problems. The closed beta participants are also competing for some nifty prizes, so you may want to try signing up.

In Project Powder, players create a snowboarding avatar, and then head out to snowboard and perform tricks on one of 33 different courses. If you’re a beginner, you can play on your own until you figure out the tricks. If you think you’re pretty good, then you can challenge other players.