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"Brazilian gamers have a lot to celebrate about this week. Not only did they gain access to the Playstation Store but now Blizzard is launching World of Warcraft in Brazil. The game has been fully translated into Portuguese and the subscription prices have been converted. Blizzard stated that the game would be available in Brazil later this year."
Daav from NoobFeed.com goes over all the winners in the Art of Video Games exhibition from the Smithsonian. After about a quarter decade of playing games and a bunch of platforms, NoobFeed goes over what choices are sound and what improvements or better decisions could've made the final cut. Get your nostalgia on!
"Alexander “Ocktra” Rhodes from MMOGlider, the service which provides many World of Warcraft players with an automation bot has spoken out about their company being sued by Blizzard Entertainment."
GameZone has broke news that a 30-year-old high school assistant principal has transmitted nude photos to a 14-year-old boy via World of Warcraft and may end up facing more charges as the police investigate further.
"Massively multiplayer online role playing games (MMORPGs) boast one of the largest player bases of any gaming genre. With 11 million players subscribing to World of Warcraft alone, MMOs are not only a hugely popular form of entertainment, they're also becoming an increasingly popular lab for social scientists."
Katers17’s video serves as her desperate plee to Blizzard, director Sam Raimi, and a call to arms for her numerous fanboys and fangirls to get her in the WoW film. Katers17 represents the classic, cute girl gamer thrust into internet stardom because...well because she's a cute girl who plays video games. Check it out and see if she’s worthy to play a Tauren lass.
Top model Adrianne Curry posted a picture of herself playing World of Warcraft naked. Adrianne Curry plays on the Alliance side as a Night Elf Warrior named ‘Darthadri’ on the Nazgrel server.
Blizzard Entertainment, long opposed to the exchange of real currency for in-game items, has added World of Warcraft mini-pets to their online store for $10 a piece.
You know those little warnings that show up on games that you can play online that say the company or ESRB are not responsible for online interactions? Well those are called unclassified/unrated games, and soon, the Australian government could be banning them.
Two days ago, the BlizzCon 2009 sold out in record time and the only way to get tickets now is off of eBay, but you better be willing to lay down the cash. Some of the tickets for the convention are over $1000!
The PC Gaming Alliance (PCGA) has released their report for the PC gaming market in 2008. A big portion of the money from PC games comes from the MMOs, with World of WarCraft making over a billion dollars each year.
There are a lot of other interesting facts about the PC market in 2008, it's worth a look.
Following their recent move to Orange County, California, Blizzard Entertainment (odd place for a company named as such, innit?) decided to put up a 12 foot high statue of a member of the Horde in front of their offices, lest any passerbys get funny ideas (we assume).
"An internet computer game has been condemned as being as addictive as cocaine after a teenager who played it 24 hours non-stop had convulsions.
World of Warcraft has been hugely successful in capturing the imagination of players by drawing them into a virtual universe of battles and quests.
However, it is at the centre of a growing problem of computer game addiction. any players will sit alone in their rooms for hours at a time, immersed in the lives of their fantasy character creations..."
While gaming industry analyst Michael Cai thinks people should stop looking for a WoW killer, the truth is that World of Warcraft will eventually die, and we may start seeing the beginning of it in the next round of big MMO titles.
As the season of romance gets closer and closer, people are finding different ways to express their love or recognition for their own special someone. beavotron from the Penny Arcade forums decided to produce his own gamer themed Valentines - and no, unlike VGCats' Scott Ramsoomair, the variety of games is not limited to Nintendo! Check out his unique way of sharing the love: mediguns, fire, and... vomit.
World of Warcraft now has 11.5 million active subscribers, continuing to solidify its place as the world's premiere MMORPG. According to the story, Blizzard credits the increase in server populations with the release of Wrath of the Lich King. For those of you living under a rock, World of Warcraft is a massively-multiplayer online role-playing game set in a fantasy world developed by Blizzard Entertainment (now Activision-Blizzard).
"The owner of the restaurant said he created the diner in the hope that people who share his enthusiasm for The World of Warcraft would find a comfortable gathering place.
In addition to the interior decoration, game features dominate the menu selection. Diners choose from dishes named after denizens of the virtual world."
Blizzard has apparently gone trigger happy with their ban hammers this season. Anyone who has taken Diablo 2 or Starcraft online knows there are a fair few people who cheat. (I myself encountering a another player in Diablo 2 who wouldn't die even when his health was drained five times over) Blizzard is fighting back now however banning over 350000 accounts between the two games. Along with over 7000 World of Warcraft players. I'd love to see their faces when they realize what's happened.
"So what hope is there for the PC? Unfortunately, things look grim, though there is hope in unusual places. Of course, MMOs will help to keep PC gaming alive; I dont think WoW will be leaving us anytime soon. And with the increase in casual gaming by women (playing arcade or card games online), those kind of game sales will help to booster the PC as well.
In addition, an alliance was formed earlier this year, including Intel, Microsoft, NVIDIA, and Advanced Micro Devices, all companies wit..."
GameIndustry.biz got a chance to speak to Frank Pearce of Bllizzard Entertainment about a wide assortment of things, ranging from Warcraft and Warhammer, to the current MMO scene, to upcoming RTS and how they expect to build on past experiences with Diablo III. We also get a little bit of a look at the inside workings of the company. Worth a look for all interested in seeing where Blizzard Entertainment is going to be going next!
"This is a truly heartwarming story about a developer really showing their dedication to the fans. Sadly, this is where the heartwarming part ends. A few months ago, Ezra suffered a stroke, and on Monday, he passed away, never getting to realize his dream of becoming a tester and developer for Blizzard. Video games can't solve all problems, of course, but it is really nice to hear about a community coming together to care about a little boy who loved this industry so much."
The WoW tournament for the BlizzCon 2008 that was held in the Anaheim Convention Center - located in California - has finally come to a hault, with German-based team "Nihilum Plasma" taking the grand prize of $75,000 and a replica Frostmourne, the blade in Wrath of the Lich King.
Check out the seeds and videos of the matches in the source.
"Wired.com: When I told my community, the greater Wired, um, "people," that I was going to be coming to Blizzcon they wanted to know ... a couple months ago we talked about the Activision merger ...
Morhaime: Yep.
Wired.com: ... You seemed really happy about it. Everything seemed to be working out pretty well, you seemed genuinely pleased about it, and not being, like, the PR-business-diplomacy guy ...
Morhaime: Sure. "PR-business-diplomacy guy?" [Laughter]
Wired.com: Are things ..."
In the past, players have been frustrated with falling from their Mount when trying to cross over water on WoW. At the BlizzCon 2008, it was revealed that after Wrath of the Lich King comes out on November 13th, a patch will fix that problem.
What really makes you say wow? Well this news story certainly will make you go wow... since one gamer alone has done what no man gamer has done before:- Played World of Warcraft using 36 accounts... and most of all... he plays on them simultaneously...
That's right... he goes on raids with a lot of characters... all controlled by him. Spending a total of $5711 on subscriptions, it most definitely an expensive hobby that this guy has... be sure to check out what he thinks of this in his own...
World of Warcraft Developer Blizzard has been awarded $6 million due to the sales of the controversial MMO Glider software. In July, it was ruled that the bot author had violated WoW's licence agreement.
WiiFit? How about WoWFit!
Warbiking - a growing trend where players hook up electronic bicycles to their computers and use that to control their travels in the digital realm of Azeroth.
One player has reportedly lost over 100 pounds via this method.
Oh, did I mention they sometimes cosplay while doing so?
""WoW Subscribers were previously unable to move their characters from a server that pitted them against AI opponents realm to one that also allowed player vs. player combat, though paid transfers have been around for a while.
'As the state of the game has matured substantially since the inception of Paid Character Transfers, we will now be allowing PvE-to-PvP transfers on a full-time basis to provide players with more mobility and freedom to easily play with their friends,' the company sta..."
"Q: How interesting has it been for you to watch the success of World of Warcraft?
Frank Pearce: I don't know if I'd describe it as "interesting" as much as exhausting. We've got almost 3000 employees worldwide now, and the majority of that growth is due to the success of World of Warcraft.
As a company we've found ourselves spread very, very thin - because the World of Warcraft community has a voracious appetite for content. That development team is 130 people, they're working on conten..."
""Looks like after a barrage of folks whacking Blizzard servers, taking them offline several times, all the tickets for the upcoming BlizzCon expo have been sold. Blizzard is holding the event on October 10th and 11th at the Anaheim Convention Center (in Anaheim, CA). Tickets were $100 dollars a piece and there is no word on how many were sold.
What we do know for sure is that we have been offered two press passes for the event and will bring you the latest coverage from the expo as it unfo..."
Craig Sherman, who blogs for EDGE Online, has noticed how the video game industry has taken great strides in incorporating the trends on the Internet. He notes that no matter what it is, a social network or a browser-based game, they are both always trying to create more user interaction. Sherman goes on to explain how video games are taking a page out of the web's book and creating better gaming experiences.
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"Eventually, our plans are for the Achievement system to become an account-based system, [lead World of Warcraft designer Jeff Kaplan] explained.
When the new Blizzard Accounts are active, a players WoW points can be added to an overall score dubbed an account holders Blizzard Level. Its basically a gamerscore, Kaplan said, when I made reference to Xbox Lives Achievement system. For now the points are just a WoW character score. As we graduate to that Blizzard Account syste..."
"Have you been considering free-to-play for World of Warcraft, and if you did, what would the Blizzard way of free-to-play look like?
PS: I dont envision us changing the business model for World of Warcraft. Its been working really well in each of the markets.
The game has been designed in such a way to where we determined the business model to wrap that around what the game experience was. Given that were not looking to significantly modify the overall gameplay experience, which is I..."
"An Australian man was arrested recently after he convinced a 15-year-old girl he met while playing World of WarCraft to run away from home to be with him. He even paid for the trip. How sweet.
The 31-year-old Anthony Taylor formed a relationship with the less-than-half-his-age girl, which eventually led to sexual messages and phone calls. The girls father found out about the relationship and threatened to kill Anthony, so Anthony did what any self-respecting pedophile would do he sent ..."
A hysterical look at the state of the political world between Obama and McCain done- how else - with World of Warcraft in game models. Fair. Balanced. Biased. If you take notice of their names you can see how it relates to each candidate, Obama and McCain.
Direct downloads from providers such as Steam can now provide direct content to the gamer without him or her ever having to leave their respective houses. There are many PC only games that have brought PC gaming back to the forefront, instead of the projected lingering behind consoles and dying out. Online PC gaming is also responsible for helping this growing trend.
You might remember these people when they were using the Wii Balance Board to surf Google Earth. They have now made a new video of them using the Balance Board to control WoW! The man is controlling the character by shifting his weight forward and when he leans his body, it controls the camera.
In a move of startling originally Blizzard are apparently going to introduce a point system for doing particular tasks much like the current Achievement system for the Xbox 360. Which will be implemented in the next expansion Wrath of the Lich King.
This rumor posted on Deathnkight.info has not been confirmed by Blizzard yet and is only in the Alpha stages even if it is real but it certainly is a interesting move the massive MMO.
Dan Loton, a graduate of Psychology from Victoria University, made a research project to find out if game addictions are related to social life and your self esteem for his honors class. Loton's study found that only one percent of gaming addicts effected how shy they are, but none of the problems could be directly tied to video games.
EA has said today that they have acquired the company ThreeSF and its video game network Rupture. ThreeSF and Rupture used to belong to Shaun Fanning, you might know him as the founder of Napster. A person close to the deal said that EA bought them for $30 million. This was also reported by TechCrunch, but both companies have just confirmed it now.
"Police say Jones drove to Boise from Birmingham, Alabama, and picked the teen around 7 a.m. on May 28th.
The pair was found at 9:30 a.m. Pacific Time today and are in the custody of the Franklin County Sheriff's Office in Washington state.
Authorities say Julian appears to be in good physical condition.
Boise Police detectives have contacted the teen's family who are relieved to know she's been found and is unharmed."
""That's actually something we talk about every expansion," Brack admitted when asked about top-end visuals. "I'm positive we'll talk about it next expansion."
"A lot of people continued to play with the original client, because it was faster, or they preferred it, or were just used to it or whatever," the producer said, adding a note of caution. "And so for me as a game developer, the idea that we would spend so much time and energy on something and have people go, 'meh, that's not really ..."
"The videogame industry has been one of the hardest hit, with over ten million World of Warcraft addicts alone. That's ten million people chasing the dragon, in the hopes they can kill it and score some epic loot. To peer inside the mind of an addict is to peer into the void, where all the concerns that you and I take for granted having shelter, food, clothes, and a steady supply of money from our whores no longer matters. All that matters is the drug. All that matters is the next fix.
..."
Do you think Uwe Boll is finally getting the message that his movies are bad? He has ignored the gamers' pleas for him to stop making movies and he even believes that he has more talent than Micheal Bay, George Clooney and Steven Spielberg!
But when Boll asked Blizzard if he was allowed to make a World of Warcraft movie, the answer was a resounding "Hell No!"
Penny Arcade have posted the results of their Ten Word World of Warcraft Story contest, complete with comic renders of the top three winners (pictured).
Note: This content contains language that may offend readers.
"The9 Limited (NASDAQ: NCTY) (The9), a leading online game operator in China, today announced that Blizzard Entertainment's World of Warcraft, the subscription-based massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) has achieved a record peak concurrency of 1 million, the highest concurrency since the game's commercial launch in June 2005, following the launch of its new expansion pack, World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade, in mainland China on September 6, 2007."
According to Charles Blair, deputy director for the CTIS, World of Warcraft's infamous "Corrupted Blood" epidemic of 2005 is a good source of study for terrorist behaviour. Apparently the deliberate spread of the disease offers unique insight that can't be simulated by computer models. For the parents who have kids keen on infecting their Pokemon with the Pokerus, beware: this is where terrorism starts!
"World of Warcraft commercials are highlighted by the likes of William Shatner, Mr. T, Jean-Claude Van Damme, and now Verne Troyer, who are keen to convey their chosen avatar to the viewer while waxing lyrical about their respective strengths."
"The unsuspecting moose immediately obeyed its territorial instincts and focused its attack toward the boys frightened sister. Immediately obeying his own gaming instincts, young Hans recalled that taunting was always a good way to successfully draw a monster away from a weak in-game ally in World of Warcraft."
13 new screens have been released for World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King. They show off locations such as Grizzly Hills and Daggercap Bay. Go to the source for the rest of the screens.
""1/10 MMORPG Players Develop Physical Relationships With Others"
And no, I dont mean other people period, I mean with their actual in-game friends, although that would be hilariously pathetic =D . The thought of a Tauren and Orc getting it on though is absolutely disgusting. Sure, Ive gotten a lap dance in Goldshire before, but we were both human and she needed the gold for college or a mount or something
Anyways, Nottingham Trent University has done a research study which reveals ..."
"When a human is found unconscious on the shores of Kalimdor, with no memory of who he is or how he arrived there, how will he survive? Enslaved by an Orc Shaman, he must fight for survival against members of both the Alliance and the Horde. Will he strike the uneasy balance with the other races he'll need to find the secrets of his past?
Now the best part of this new info is that you can already subscribe to get your paws on this new World of Warcraft Comic Book series by Wildstorm / DC C..."
"While many game developers don't throw a lot of love in the direction of Mac users, Blizzard isn't one of them. In fact, they declare their love for Apple users in many ways. The release their games on CDs that'll run both the Mac and PC version of the game (since Diablo II: Lord of Destruction), have Mac-specific patch notes and bug fixes, and built-in iTunes support. Now, in the upcoming patch for World of Warcraft, 2.2.0, they've added in-game video-capturing utility for Macs."
"AN AUSTRALIAN woman has been arrested in the US for trying to lure her young internet boyfriend to Australia.
It is believed Tamara Broome, 31, might have been set up by the boy's parents.
Ms Broome told her housemate they paid for her to travel to the US this week so "they could sort it all out".
Instead, Ms Broome was met by three detectives as she tried to board a train near the teenager's home town in North Carolina.
She was charged with attempting to abduct a child after a..."
