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RIFT sells digital editions of Nightmare Tide
Excitement is bubbling up from the deeps for RIFT's Nightmare Tide, and while the expansion is free for all, Trion Worlds is selling a trio of digital editions with extra goodies. The Typhoon Edition is $24.99 and features benefits such as dual earring slots, a new bag slot, and planewalker: water attunement (which allows you to equip special gear). The Infusion Edition is $49.99 and includes one instant level 60 character, housing items, a second minion slot, an extra bank vault slot, and a jellyfish pet. And if you want to shell out (no pun intended) $149.99, you'll get all of the above plus a cobalt thresher mount, a 36-slot bag, a Shadow Scion dimension, nightmare cosmetic weapons, an Abyssal Crab combat crab skin, and more. Trion is also tossing in extra loyalty for those who purchase one of these editions. If you have additional questions about the digital editions, there's a collector's edition FAQ put up just for you! [Thanks to Bill for the tip!]
Cataclysm Collector's Editions available at Amazon with release date delivery
For those of you not able to snag a collector's edition of Cataclysm or who've put off the purchase, Amazon now has collector's editions in stock. In addition, the explicit option for release day delivery exists, if you pre-order now with the option selected. Your shipping cost may vary, but when I plugged in my information, delivery only cost $0.99. Jump on this now, before it all goes the way of Old Azeroth. World of Warcraft: Cataclysm will destroy Azeroth as we know it; nothing will be the same! In WoW Insider's Guide to Cataclysm, you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion (available Dec. 7, 2010), from brand new races to revamped quests and zones. Visit our Cataclysm news category for the most recent posts having to do with the Cataclysm expansion.
Breakfast Topic: Blurring the boundaries between patches and expansions
In the good old days, expansions came around once in a blue moon. They were the stuff of legend which invited almost two years of hype and intrigue. You paid your dollars/pounds/euros/yuan, and you got your new classes, those shiny new zones and those ten extra levels. But, with patch 3.0.2 (aka Echoes of Doom) we got something new, we got transition. Yes, this was the patch where we got a sampling of Wrath designed to tease players waiting on tender hooks and also keep interest for that final week until the expansions hit properly.Given Blizzard's shift in how they treat patches, now geared towards larger mini expansion style updates like patch 2.4 and patch 3.2, there's definitely something changing in the way we get new installments of the game. After all, there's as much hype about every mini expansion-like patch, from the new areas, class buffs/nerfs and weapons to the smaller changes involving the UI. Shiny expansion special editions aside, do you think it would ever be possible to have expansions become automatically downloaded massive patch updates over a standalone disc or download that you have to buy every two years? What do you think, readers?
NPD: World of Warcraft has sold 8.6 million boxes at retail
Gamasutra has received an interesting stat from the good folks at NPD: after hearing that The Sims 3 sold over 800,000 copies in its first month, they were curious to see what kind of unit sales our own World of Warcraft has experienced. And the numbers are pretty big: among the original game and all of the expansion packs since the vanilla release over four years ago, NPD says 8.6 million boxes of WoW have been sold in the US. That's a little misleading if you're comparing it to actual subscription numbers: remember that this is over three different releases (so the actual number of all-time players, not current players, is probably 1/3 of that), and it includes different collectors' editions of each of the three game editions. So there are nowhere near 8.6 million US players of WoW -- that's just how many times players have come through the retail line with the various releases.What that is, however, is a lot of money. Gamasutra estimates that at an average of $30 for each unit sold (the vanilla game currently retails at $20, but the expansions all sell at $40, and of course the original game was more expensive once upon a time), that's $258 million in income for Blizzard. In short, Blizzard's making a mint at the retail counter, even before they sign anyone up for subscriptions.Then again, if you look at their own costs, those aren't insubstantial, either -- Activision's Bobby Kotick claimed that anyone starting up an MMO to compete with WoW would have to throw at least half a billion dollars into the mix just to get started, so we can presume Blizzard has spent at least $500 million on their staff, development, and hardware. So it's not like they're taking it all to the bank, though we can at least presume they're sitting firmly in the black.
Modern Warfare 2 'Hardened Edition' will run you $80
Though we have no idea the kind of hurt that a game that comes with night vision goggles will put on our wallets (and we will allow that hurt, make no mistake), we have a price for the Hardened Edition, the name of which is easy to remember, as the box in which it is contained is hard, like metal.Besides the steel game case, you'll get an art book and Call of Duty Classic on XBLA or PSN all for $80, according to Infinity Ward spokesman Robert Bowling's Twitter feed. Also, anyone notice anything missing from the Hardened box? Any ... words specifically?
All Things Azeroth holds a few contests for their 100th episode
Our good friend Medros is just about to hit episode 100 of his podcast, All Things Azeroth (and come to think of it, our podcast isn't that far off, either), and to celebrate, he's doing one of our favorite things: giving stuff away. He's got two different contests going on. The first one is giving away a Papa Hummel's Pet Biscuit (made with love by Papa Hummel himself), and to win that one, you've got to listen during the 100th show and be in the live chat, which starts at 8pm EST next Monday.And the second contest starts right now: Medros wants your best WoW screenshot -- drop him an email (the address is on his site) with the screenshot attached, and they're choosing the best one to win a copy of all three soundtracks from the Collector's Editions of the game. Very cool -- this isn't that big soundtrack set, as we understand it. This is the actual soundtrack CDs from each of the Collector's Editions. Nice prize for sure.You don't have to be listening to the show for that second prize, but if you're around next Monday night, be sure to tune in and give him a listen. Congrats to Medros and All Things Azeroth on the 100th episode of their show -- here's to many more!
