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Filed under: News items, Humor

The Guild season 4 begins originally appeared on WoW.com on Tue, 13 Jul 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Everyone seems to be pretty excited about Cataclysm — whether it’s playing one of the two new races, exploring all the new zones or just being able to finally fly around in Azeroth. But one of the things I’m most looking forward to is getting to see what Blizzard has put together for the Cataclysm cinematic. I have to admit that while I enjoyed the Wrath cinematic and thought it was wholly appropriate for an expansion surrounding the Lich King, I found myself missing the flavor of the first two cinematics.

You know what I’m talking about — the orc and night elf duking it out, the warlock with the gigantic infernal, the dwarf hunter and his bear; the characters that were simply unnamed players like us. The first cinematic gave us a small introduction to these guys; the Burning Crusade cinematic fleshed them out even further, but they disappeared entirely with the Wrath cinematic. Don’t get me wrong, there was nothing bad about Blizzard’s choice with the cinematic for the second expansion, I just found myself wistfully wondering what happened to the tauren after the mage sheeped it. Where did the draenei go after smashing in the heads of his enemies? And most importantly — we got the teeniest glimpse of a troll in the Burning Crusade cinematic; how about we see more of him? Or how about a gnome or two for a change?

What would you guys like to see in the Cataclysm cinematic? Deathwing bursting out of the ground and setting Azeroth ablaze? Sweeping landscapes? Goblins and worgen, of course, but what other races or classes would you like to see?

Filed under: Breakfast Topics

Breakfast Topic: Speculation on the Cataclysm cinematic originally appeared on WoW.com on Tue, 18 May 2010 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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World of Warcraft on the iPad? Apparently, thanks to an interesting service called Gaikai. Gaikai, currently in beta, is a new technology that will let you play any game online in your browser. Here’s how it works — Gaikai hosts the games on their servers and worries about the hardware and software updates, then they stream the games to you through your browser. They call this technology “Streaming Worlds.” What does this mean for the average WoW player? Well, when you have a computer that otherwise looks seemingly impossible to play WoW on such as the iPad, you can use Gaikai to stream the game via Java, Flash or Silverlight to your computer, resulting in the screenshot shown above.

While the screenshot is amazing, there are doubts to its credibility since iPad’s browser doesn’t support Flash. Unfortunately no video of the game in action was provided. However, the concept surrounding Gaikai, and the implications for browser-based games that are graphically intensive like World of Warcraft are fascinating.

Filed under: News items

WoW on iPad via streaming originally appeared on WoW.com on Mon, 03 May 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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WoW Magazine is looking for some new information, helpful hints, and feedback in the form of two polls just added on the official Warcraft forums. What’s in it for you? The best responses they receive will be incorporated into the magazine’s features as quotes, and people whose suggestions are used will have their character fully credited for the quote they provide.

The first is a request for tips, hints, and other useful information for the “Battlegrounds Back to Basics” feature, regarding Eye of the Storm in an upcoming issue:

Bashiok

The industrious gnomes and goblins at World of Warcraft Official Magazine are currently working on the next issue. One of its regular features is “Battlegrounds Back to Basics” – this time around covering Eye of the Storm

As part of that feature, we’re looking for hints and tips from EotS veterans. Is that you? If so, please feel free to post your favorite one-line strategies, tactics and tricks that help give you the winning edge. They can either be team oriented, or even class specific. The best suggestions will be incorporated into the feature as quotes – and of course your character will be fully credited. Remember – these should be straightforward one-liners – we’re not looking for long paragraphs packed with intricate details.

Thanks in advance to all!

source

The second involves the upcoming beta for Cataclysm, whether or not people are avoiding it and what those that are opting-in are looking forward to among other things. Is this a hint that we’ll see the beta for Cataclysm before we see the next issue of Warcraft Magazine? Who knows — but check out the post for more information on what kind of feedback they’re looking for:

Bashiok

The gang at World of Warcraft Official Magazine would like to know if you plan on participating in the Cataclysm beta. What about it gets you excited? What should people know before opting-in and participating? Are you purposefully avoiding the beta and all information? Do you love to hunt down bugs, do you thrive in a world of the unknown, or do you despise the impermanence of a testing environment? Tell us about your best experiences from past tests, missed opportunities, your dos and don’ts, your beta hopes, and anything in-between! The best posts will be incorporated into the feature as quotes, and your character will be fully credited.

Thanks in advance to all!

source

Have an opinion about either of the two topics? Check them out on the official Warcraft forums and put your two cents in — who knows, you may end up in Warcraft Magazine!

Filed under: News items, Cataclysm

WoW Magazine polls the community originally appeared on WoW.com on Fri, 23 Apr 2010 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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About ten days ago, an interesting video of a speech was aired on TED talk. For those of you who don’t know what TED is, it is quite literally a meeting place of some of the world’s greatest thinkers: economists, philosophers, doctors, environmentalists and so on. These are people who dedicate their lives to making the world a better place.

So imagine my surprise when I was notified of a talk from someone who said that gaming fit into that ideal?

Enter Jane McGonigal, game designer. She says that the video game-playing youth of today — that’s us, by the way — have within us the power to save the world. I know, I know, sounds crazy, right? Well, put down that energy drink and listen in. Jane’s mission is to “try to make it as easy to save the world in real life, as it is to save the world in online games.” The basis of her theory lies in a few things: motivation, an investment of time and the need to be rewarded. Remember that time your guild downed Ragnoros? Or triumphantly came through to the end of ToC? Yogg-saron? How did you feel then?

That’s right, you felt satisfied.

Continue reading How gaming can make a better world

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion

How gaming can make a better world originally appeared on WoW.com on Thu, 08 Apr 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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• World of Warcraft EPEEN: New from Blizzard, the Equipment Potency EquivalencE Number system!
• WoW Armory Tuskarr Invasion: Folks checking out the armory may have noticed their characters transformed to tuskarr, their achievements reported as ‘cheesed,’ and a whole lot of gear ninjaed and summarily vendored
• Battle.net Matchmaking Service: Battle.net decides to play eHarmony and place lonely gamers with suitable partners
• Battle.net Neural Interface: New from the Blizzard Store, the Neural Interface promises a lifelike gaming experience
• Blizzard Mobile Games: Up for 2010 from Blizzard Mobile Games are Blackthorne 2: Thorne Harder, and Queen’s Quest!
• Diablo Gamer Blanket and Body Pillow: Wave goodbye to the cold as best as you can while swaddled in this Diablo ‘gamer blanket!’
• Diablo Deckard Cain GPS System: Now you can listen to Deckard drone while you drive!

• El’s Extreme Anglin’: El reports on the latest Cataclysm feature: Aquariums!
• MMO-Champion/Paragon/Premonition: MMO-Champion breaks the news that Paragon will be moving to US servers come Cataclysm and merging with the US Guild Premonition. Sponsored by AXE!
• Nihilum: Nihilum breaks some rules and brings us screens and video from the Cataclysm alpha
• Wowhead: Wowhead, er, TACOhead brings news of a new in-game item, the Hellfire Kickin’ Taco Supreme!
• Tankspot: Tankspot announces their change to Farmspot
• Warcraft Pets: Breanni fills us in on some new non-combat pet… er… features coming out in Cataclysm
• World of Raids: World of Raids reports on the new Observation Deck and Spectate features coming in Cataclysm
• The Guild: The Guild proudly announces its new foray into the world of animation!
• Curse.com: Curse.com fills us in on Cataclysm — exclusively available for the IPad
• WoW.com: And of course, there’s us. Our day was filled with takeover after takeover, from Twilight to Muscle March to Saturn Six — we’ve decided to return to WoW news. For now…

Filed under: News items, Humor

WoW.com’s April Fools Round-up originally appeared on WoW.com on Fri, 02 Apr 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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An article from the LA Times reports that Activision Blizzard Inc. has quietly made some internal changes to senior management and internal organization. The company has apparently split itself into four units, one focused on the military game Call of Duty, another handling internally owned properties like Guitar Hero and the Tony Hawk series, and a third handling licensed properties.

Why these changes weren’t relayed to investors or the press is still unknown, but it’s likely due to the fact that they could be interpreted as a sign of weakness. Activision has seen flagging sales for two of its former cash-cow franchises, Tony Hawk and Guitar Hero, and a recent very public scuffle with Call of Duty creators Jason West and Vince Zampanella following their ejection from their positions as heads of Activision’s Infinity Ward studio painted the studio in a negative light with gamers. This kind of restructuring could point to turmoil within the company, an image that an industry juggernaut like Activision would want to avoid.

So, what do these changes mean for Blizzard, and for World of Warcraft? Apparently nothing, from what can be gathered — this is Activision’s first major change since they merged with Vivendi in 2008 to create Activision Blizzard. While the new departments are interesting developments, Activision states that the fourth unit, Blizzard Entertainment, remains an independent unit, and as such, these changes don’t really affect them directly.

Filed under: Blizzard, News items

Activision quietly restructures senior management originally appeared on WoW.com on Tue, 30 Mar 2010 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This Breakfast Topic is brought to you by WoW.com’s guest blogger program! Want to participate in a future call for guest posts? Read up on how to contribute, and keep an eye on the site for program announcements!

I just stepped through the Dark Portal, for the first time, a few days ago. Now, now, before the cries of “noob” get too deafening, let me share another secret with you: I started playing World of Warcraft on release day. I’ll pause to admire the inquisitive looks…

On New Year’s Eve this year, I reopened my account after a near 5-year hiatus. 5 years ago I partnered with the developer of the WoWCensus UI addon and launched wowcensus.com (which was later sold off). Between November 2004 and April 2005, I was so wrapped up in creating an excellent service outside of WoW that I completely lost touch with the game itself. After the sale of wowcensus.com, I couldn’t enjoy the game for what it was — a game, I was constantly looking for the next “big idea.”

Continue reading Breakfast Topic: Stop and smell the flowers before they’re gone!

Filed under: Breakfast Topics, Guest Posts

Breakfast Topic: Stop and smell the flowers before they’re gone! originally appeared on WoW.com on Thu, 25 Mar 2010 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The tenth annual Game Developers Conference is in full swing in San Francisco, CA — and yesterday included a panel by Rob Pardo, Executive Vice President of Game Design at Blizzard Entertainment. Pardo spoke about design philosophy and how Blizzard approaches it, sharing not only Blizzard’s success stories, but where they failed along the way, and what they did to fix it. Blizzard’s design philosophy follows some key elements:

Gameplay First: Before anything else, you want to concentrate the game on the fun. All aspects of the game — the design, the mechanics of encounters, the quests and story are focused on making the game fun to play. Not only fun to play — but fun to play for players, not developers. The challenge is to keep players jumping through the correct hoops, while making those hoops fun. Sometimes this involves making some changes — for example, only night elf males could be druids in Warcraft III, but for the sake of making the druid class, something that sounded like all kinds of fun, they had to be made accessible to both genders, and both sides. So the lore was adjusted so that females and tauren could both be druids — otherwise they couldn’t have introduced the class at all. And that wouldn’t be any fun.

Continue reading Rob Pardo speaks about Blizzard game design

Filed under: News items

Rob Pardo speaks about Blizzard game design originally appeared on WoW.com on Fri, 12 Mar 2010 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you’re using an Nvidia graphics card you should check your drivers, as there is a chance the newest drivers could cause your card to overheat during World of Warcraft, the Starcraft II Beta, or even Warcraft III. Blizzplanet reports the issue complete with links to two threads on the Nvidia forums discussing the issue, including one that states that Nvidia will be updating the driver in the near future.

Please check your drivers to make sure you’re not using the versions that cause this problem and roll back if you can.

Datth – Low FPS with Nvidia 196.75 drivers

We’re getting reports where users are getting intermittent low FPS after installing these drivers. It seems that it is related to the fan control included in these drivers not working correctly and is causing the video card to overheat on 3D applications. This will affect Warcraft 3, World of Warcraft and StarCraft 2 Beta. Please uninstall the drivers and revert back to the older ones.

Windows XP: http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp_196.21_whql.html
Windows XP 64-bit: http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp64_196.21_whql.html
Windows Vista/7 32-bit: http://www.nvidia.com/object/win7_winvista_32bit_196.21_whql.html
Windows Vista/7 64-bit: http://www.nvidia.com/object/win7_winvista_64bit_196.21_whql.html

More information can be found on threads such as these:
http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=161525
http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=161503

source

Filed under: News items

Recent Nvidia drivers causing catastrophic failures originally appeared on WoW.com on Fri, 05 Mar 2010 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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