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Blizzard veteran Chris Metzen returns to build WoW's 'next generation of adventures'
Long-time Blizzard lore chief Chris Metzen has returned on a full-time basis seven years after retiring from the publisher. He is now executive creative director of Warcraft.
‘World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King Classic' arrives on September 26th
World of Warcraft Classic will return to the Wrath of the Lich King era on September 26th.
‘World of Warcraft’ expansion Dragonflight predictably lets you ride dragons
Nearly two decades into the life of World of Warcraft, Blizzard has just announced the MMO’s ninth expansion.
Blizzard will reveal the next 'World of Warcraft' expansion on April 19th
The Warcraft mobile game will be unveiled in May.
'World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade Classic' arrives on June 1st
You’ll have to decide which of your characters to take into the expansion.
'World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade Classic' comes out later this year
Relive WoW as it was in 2007.
World Of Warcraft's 'Shadowlands' expansion arrives on November 23rd
You can check out a pre-launch event on November 10th.
Blue's new Yeti X microphone can make you sound like a 'World of Warcraft' hero
Blue’s microphones are already popular with streamers for their high-quality and relative simplicity, but its latest model is appealing to a very specific gaming segment. The Yeti X World of Warcraft Edition not only has WoW aesthetics with a a “battle grey” finish and engraved runes on the base, but comes with tech that allows players to alter their voices to sound like characters from the world of Azeroth.
Blizzard makes it free to change gender in 'World of Warcraft'
When World of Warcraft: Shadowlands comes out later this year, Blizzard plans to stop charging players a $15 fee to change the gender of one of their characters.
First major ‘World of Warcraft Classic’ update adds Dire Maul dungeon
World of Warcraft Classic was (re)released just a short time ago, but there's already more stuff to do. Blizzard has added the three-part Dire Maul dungeon, jammed with elves, ogres and other bad things, marking the first major content release for the vintage 2005 game.
'WoW' add-on 'Battle for Azeroth' brings the series back to basics
Harkening back to the original Alliance vs Horde conflict that started it all, World of Warcraft's upcoming seventh expansion, "Battle for Azeroth," is set to bring new zones, races, armor and a massive 20-player cooperative battlefront to the venerable MMO title. While Blizzard has not given a date to experience all the new stuff, including a higher level cap and new dungeons and raids, you can opt in to the beta test on your profile page.
Cassini's life passes before its eyes in NY art exhibition
Cassini became a cultural touchstone not just because it was a useful and productive space probe, but because it completed a classic hero's journey. So it's fitting that an art exhibition presented by the WOW visual design studio at HGPRP Gallery in New York City celebrates the life of the probe not in technical, but abstract terms. "It's been said, just before a person dies their life's biggest moments flash before their eye," WOW writes. "Fleeting moments and flashbacks allow viewers to celebrate 20 years of Cassini's achievements in a very personal, non-linear, stylized exhibition."
Motion-tracking projector puts a laser show on moving faces
The combination of face-mapping and video projections makes for a trippy experience. The technology transforms the human face into a canvas for digital art. When a bright red lightning bolt appeared on Lady Gaga's face during her David Bowie tribute at the Grammys last year, the projection mapping technique went from niche studios to a mainstream audience. Now, the studio behind that performance has dropped a visual experiment called Inori to demonstrate the pace and precision of a new system.
Blizzard built a 'World of Warcraft' cafe
World of Warcraft is an institution. After 12 years, Blizzard's seminal MMO is still running, and although player counts have fallen since its 2010 peak, there were still 5.5 million active accounts last September. Germany has always been a key market for the company, consistently ranking among the top five countries, and to celebrate the game's sixth expansion, Legion, Blizzard has given players a treat. In the heart of Cologne, Germany, home to the annual Gamescom convention, the developer has transformed the 14th century festival hall Gürzenich into a WoW locale. At the venue's launch event on Wednesday, fans were invited to wander around a recreation of "The Fel Hammer," a starting zone in the new expansion. Inside, they were treated to heavy metal renditions of WoW music, face painting, photo booths, and WoW-themed food and drink (including Alliance and Horde cocktails, of course). Cosplayers were everywhere, and there was even a quest giver with an exclamation point above their head, who directed attendees to another "NPC" with a question mark who gave out free prizes. As well as being great PR for Blizzard, it's a nice way to give something back to the fans that pay the bills.
Can 'Warcraft' break the curse of the video game movie?
There's a special place in cinema hell for video game movies. From 1993's cringeworthy Super Mario Bros. -- a high-profile abomination that even Nintendo wants to forget -- to the basic-cable-worthy schlock that was Mortal Kombat and even the underwhelming Jake Gyllenhaal-vehicle Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, games have failed to make the big screen translation. But that's precisely why director -- and son of the late, great David Bowie -- Duncan Jones (Moon, Source Code) agreed to tackle the theatrical debut of developer Blizzard's real-time strategy game Warcraft. "There's been a rough track record of movies based on video games," says Jones. "I do like the challenge. I like the idea of maybe making a film which is way better than anyone expected it to be because I know the expectations are all over the place."
'World of Warcraft' keeps growing with 'Legion' in August
Blizzard will launch World of Warcraft's sixth expansion, Legion, on August 30th, unleashing hordes of hellish beasts and fresh quests into the game world. Legion adds the Demon Hunter hero class, customizable artifact weapons and a new continent called the Broken Isles, among other updates. Pre-orders are live now in two flavors: the $50 Standard Edition or the $70 Digital Deluxe Edition, which includes an adorable demon dog as a pet, the Illidari Felstalker mount, and in-game goodies for Heroes of the Storm, StarCraft 2 and Diablo 3 (all of which are Blizzard properties as well).
Blizzard's huge 'World of Warcraft: Legion' expansion hits beta this year
Blizzard ended 2014 with a promise to release bigger, better expansions faster -- and today at Gamescom it finally showed off the goods. The next World of Warcraft expansion is called Legion, and like its name, its additions to the game world are many. Legion will bump the max player level up to 110 (from 100) and introduce a new continent: the Broken Isles. Here players will search for the Tomb of Sargeras, and prepare for the invasion of an all-powerful demon army. How do you fight demons, you ask? With an all-new Demon Hunter Hero Class, of course.
World of Warcraft outlines February's events
There are a lot of holiday events in World of Warcraft this month. February contains the Lunar Festival, Love is in the Air, the Darkmoon Faire... heck, it's also going to be the month that the next major raid opens up. Luckily for avid World of Warcraft players, the official site has put together a comprehensive schedule of the month's festivities, starting with the Valentine's Day event and the new raid opening tomorrow. Astute readers will note that Blizzard suggests players prepare for patch 6.1 with no hints about when it's coming out. Whether this means it's going to be later in the month or won't be dropping until March remains to be seen. Then again, the raiding crowd will have plenty to do through the month with Blackrock Foundry, and if you like holiday events, you've got several of those coming around as well.
Games of a Lifetime: Sam's Picks
After more than ten years devoted to video games and the people who make them, Joystiq is closing its doors. We won't be reporting on the best games of 2015, so join us for one last hurrah as the Joystiq family reveals their Games of a Lifetime. Some days, it seems like cynicism and derision earn more applause than kindness and optimism, and the things we love most can feel like they're the most neglected. So it can go with games, as we see hatred and vitriol spread online, watch quality of games dip and companies utilize decidedly unfriendly business practices on consumers. But there's a reason I got into this hobby, and there's a reason I got into this job: I love games. I want to see games continue to evolve, change and grow. I want my enthusiasm for them to never die, for my joy and sense of camaraderie in my fellow gamers to always persist. And so, at a time when it would be very easy to be jaded, we've decided to instead continue talking about why we love games. These are my picks for games of a lifetime.
Rumor: Leak suggests the next WoW expansion is nearly feature-complete
So, ready to jump on the rumor mill? Because it's churning out big stuff about Blizzard today. An anonymous source from inside the company has apparently claimed that World of Warcraft's next expansion has quadrupled its art outsourcing and is nearly feature-complete. The source also claimed that Hearthstone is doing banner business, with its next expansion set to release in April with a heavier PvE focus. Darker news was revealed for the other franchises under the company's banner. The next part of StarCraft II is done but with no release date. Overwatch is in the midst of debates over business model and payment plans, with the studio pushing for a 2015 release but most likely going for 2016. Meanwhile, Heroes of the Storm has low expectations among the upper management and the Diablo III team has been "completely gutted." It's up to you you believe the rumors, of course, although come April, they might look rather plausible.
