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Blizzard on eSports: WoW is kind of hard to watch
I don't think it's a surprise to anyone that one of the reasons World of Warcraft hasn't made as big a splash in the world of eSports as games like League of Legends is because, simply put, you can't really watch it as well as other games. Blizzard itself isn't unaware of this. According to Kim Phan, Blizzard's Sr. Manager of eSports, one of the issues they're looking at is the fact that WoW simply wasn't designed to be something people watched the way bigger eSports games are. "I can definitely say that WoW 3v3 Arena right now is kind of hard to watch, in the form that it is," he told PCGamesN. "And so there are things that we want to evaluate." "World of Warcraft was obviously created well before eSports blew up to the way it is now. It is taking a game that was out before all of this happened, and then figuring out how to enhance it and support it . . . What makes something an eSport really depends on what people want to see." It's a sticky problem, to be sure - how do you promote WoW as an eSport when it's kind of hard for anyone to really watch it? I think she's dead on the mark there. Spectator mode's a nice idea, but I think we need to consider how to make stuff like Rated Battlegrounds attractive as a competitive eSport as well - larger teams would make it something relatively few such games do.
Apple AirPort Extreme refresh outed by the FCC, lends credence to Time Capsule rumors
The FCC just trumped Cupertino's plan to sneak out an updated AirPort Extreme wireless base station with the outing of an Apple 3x3 802.11n access point, model A1408. It's not clear what's changed over Apple's existing dual-band router but its arrival in the FCC database coincides nicely with a 9to5Mac rumor calling for the imminent launch of new AirPort Extreme at a lower price point. And hey, if you're lucky, it'll also arrive with support for the new three-stream standard for 450Mbps over both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands -- but that's just speculation on our part. We should also point out that the appearance of the AirPort Extreme lends credence to 9to5's other rumor of cheaper 2TB and 3TB Time Capsules. And guess what? Today's Tuesday, Apple's favorite day to launch new gear, so don't be surprised to see Apple updating its store sooner rather than later.
Apple 3x3 access point hits the FCC with 5.8GHz bands
The FCC did let one Apple product through to its online database tonight, although nothing that'll excite you quite like magical mice or revved up iMacs. Instead we're looking at models A1354 and A1355, a pair of 802.11 a/b/g/n 3x3 access points with the exact same, nondescript label picture that indicates some heft to the unit. There's not much to say here, although the A1354 had a revision on the antenna gain in the 5.8GHz band. At this point it's just another thing to add to that penciled-in list of rumored Apple announcements for tomorrow morning. Read - BCGA1354 Read - BCGA1355
