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Guild Wars 2's minipets move into the wardrobe
The ever-so-popular wardrobe in Guild Wars 2 is getting several upgrades with this month's features pack. A new dev diary posted today lists the benefits coming to the fashion conscious among us, including a search feature, a separate section for outfits, and a new finishers panel that delivers previews. Probably one of the biggest changes coming to this screen is that all minipets will be moved out of the bank and into this UI. Once players select a mini from the bank or inventory, the game will destroy the item and unlock the mini for use account-wide. Players won't just select and preview minipets from the wardrobe, but they will be able to equip it in a new slot. Equipped minipets will show up automatically even after waypointing into a new map.
Hordebloods miniatures customizer has WoW in his blood
When we first spotted the evocative Hordeblood series of custom miniatures by Dave from Wargaming Tradecraft (thanks, Joe!), we were suitably impressed. And then we wandered into the wilderness of Dave's seemingly endless how-to resources for miniatures hobbyists. And then we heard about Headshots from the Heart, his online gaming charity event benefiting Child's Play. And then I was like, "Heeey, wait a minute. So who is this Dave guy? And how come he does so much cool stuff?"
First Impressions: WarMage Battlegrounds
WarMage Battlegrounds, by developer Burst Online Entertainment, is as simple game that pops up in a window and requires no large downloads. At first, everything about the game is simple, from the character creation to the layout of the map. However, after spending some time in the game tweaking my army loadout, and worrying about how to get my WarMage's mana pool to refill faster, I have to say that there is quite a bit of in-depth strategy packed into this unassuming indie title. You play a WarMage, a caster-type who has been set into the world to defend and conquer other WarMages. Your weapons consist of a small army, creatures, and a hotbar filled with scrolls, artifacts, and spells, and you battle it out with other players and NPCs on sometimes large (but always manageable) maps. If you have played Pox Nora, a turn-based title from Sony Online Entertainment, then you will be familiar with WarMage Battlegrounds. But WarMage Battlegrounds does some things that are well ahead of Pox Nora, things that take strategy gaming to newer heights.
Street Fighter X Tekken Minimates coming this fall
Excellent news for that one guy making a Street Fighter X Tekken stop-motion animation film based on the one fanfic he wrote, as well as regular people with cubicles that need decorating: Diamond Select Toys will be releasing two new series of SFxT Minimates figures, with the first wave arriving in November.Regardless of which wave they're in, characters come in fixed packs of two: Ken vs. Steve, Cammy vs. Nina, Poison vs. Lili and Sagat vs. King (above) make up November's offering. Wave two, said to release sometime in February, pits Chun-Li vs. Hwoarang, Abel vs. Kazuya, Ryu vs. Yoshimitsu and Rufus vs. Julia, all of whom can be seen after the break. No word on pricing, but we do know that some pairs will be more rare than others.
Previewing the nuts and bolts of MechWarrior Online
MechWarrior Online might just be one of the most exciting titles to be announced in recent times. If you have ever played any version of the game or have ever enjoyed stomping around in the Battletech universe, you'll be happy to know that, yes, the new online game is actually being made. While the IP will soon turn 30 years old, it's still very popular. Some of us remember painting metal figures to place into our tiny lances, while others have fond memories of jumping and shooting, jumping and shooting, jumping and shooting. Massively joined the press roundtable for the game this week and snagged some juicy information. We talked with Piranha Games' President Russ Bullock and Creative Director Bryan Ekman about how the development process is going, how their philosophies influence design, and how the game will actually play. Click past the cut, and watch out for heat!
Guild Wars 2 developers offer new information on PvP, servers, titles, and more
The class and race information for Guild Wars 2 might be coming fast and furious, but general gameplay details have been scarce lately. That all changed today, thanks to an interview with Guild Wars 2 fansite Variance. The Variance team sat down to chat with Eric Flannum, John Corpening, Egan Hirvela, and Matt Witter for plenty of new tidbits on the game, including the new details that fans have been hoping for. Perhaps some of the most exciting information was regarding PvP play. Information on this side of the game has been very limited, but we learned several new things today. There will be four World vs. World maps at launch, each player will begin in his or her own home map, and there are numerous strategic objectives within PvP play. Hardcore fans will enjoy the in-depth analysis of the new PvP information, courtesy of Kill Ten Rats. The team wasn't finished there, though. Fans have also been very curious about other details such as server setup, titles carried over from Guild Wars 1, and vanity items like miniatures. The team had things to say about all of that, so head over to Variance to see the full interview for yourself!
Rise and Shiny recap: Dofus
Years ago I had to find a job in my new home state of Texas. Luckily for me, my wife hooked me up with a friend who helped me get hired at Starbucks. At first, I hung my head in shame. Later, though, I enjoyed dealing with customers and the free coffee. I had a co-worker, a real chin-scratching, coffee house wanna-be intellectual who would often spend more time dreaming about some game than about getting people on their breaks. He even brought his Macbook to work to sneak in time in the game. I glanced over his shoulder one day and was delighted to see an odd-looking, cartoony, turn-based game on his screen. It turned out that the game was Dofus. I tried it immediately and fell in love with it, but that was years ago. I still found time to revisit the game, but once I started working at Massively, most of my time became dedicated to every other game in the world. Well, it's time to visit it again. During the first part of this week, though, I thought this was going to be a disaster. I stayed strong and battled my way through bot after bot, spam message after spam message, and eventually found the great game I remember. Click past the cut to see exactly what I found!
Guild Wars fansite hosts "Night of the Mini Pets" community event
A long-running event in the Guild Wars community should be gaining an extra dose of attention and excitement this year. In all the player buzz over the Hall of Monuments, many people have found the Monument to Devotion to be one of the most difficult to fill. That problem might be solved for many people thanks to the upcoming Night of the Mini Pets. Fansite Blade Radio has worked to coordinate this event for three years running, and each year hundreds of miniatures are handed out to Guild Wars players as prizes. This year is bigger than ever: Blade Radio has over 1,100 minis (both dedicated and undedicated) to distribute along with many other items including a prepaid Guild Wars 2 package. The event will be held for three nights beginning on October 29th, so check out the Night of the Mini Pets page for all of the details and a full prize list.
The Road to 50: A guide to filling your Guild Wars Hall of Monuments (I)
While I was writing today's Flameseeker Chronicles, I noticed something: It was about twice as long as my normal columns, and yet I'd barely skimmed the surface. Many players in the Guild Wars community went inactive over the past few years while waiting for Guild Wars 2. Now that we know all the details of the strongest link between the two games, hundreds if not thousands of players are coming out of retirement to max out their Halls. Today's Flameseeker Chronicles was a generalized guide to reaching 30 points on the calculator. That number will get you every reward on the scale, but so many veteran players and completionists are chasing 50 points that I wanted to do something for them too. The Road to 50 is a feature that will run for five days this week, each day focusing on a different monument. I'll give tips, suggestions, and guides for obtaining a "full score" in each one. Today's focus is Miniatures, so follow along after the jump to see how to get your hands on 50 of your little friends.
Miniature pencil tip sculptures make art from the everyday
We'll admit it: we're pretty big fans of pencils (you may remember them as those wooden sticks early humans used to scribble in their diaries with), so we were pretty tickled to see these beauties. Artist Dalton Ghetti's tiny pencil sculptures are made using only a razor blade, a sewing needle and a sculpting knife. The results are incredibly beautiful and impressive. One more shot below, hit the source for plenty more.
Flameseeker Chronicles: The consequences of an aging economy
About two weeks ago, I decided I wanted Obsidian armor for my Elementalist. Those who know me laughed (and are probably laughing as they read this), because it's been a bit of a joke that she's not had it until now. She is without a doubt my most favored character in any game, sporting a wardrobe that borders on ridiculous, a minipet for every occasion, and heroes bearing Tormented weapons. She's spoiled rotten, but the Elementalist version of Obsidian armor has always reminded me of those little cups you take camping. I just never cared for it. Eventually I thought "she's got everything else, so why not that?" The fact that it was a snap decision set me thinking about the economy of Guild Wars today. Sure, it'll take me a bit to earn the armor, and I'll be spending a fair amount of time in UW and FoW, but it's not out of reach by any means. It's not an epic goal, it's just something to keep me amused for a few weeks, and that speaks much more to the game than it does to any sort of virtual wealth I've accumulated. Follow along after the jump, and let's take a look at the implications of that.
WoW minis wins Game Product of the Year
Diamond Comics, a big distributor of comics and collectables, has given out its Diamond Awards for 2008, and Upper Deck's WoW minis game is a winner. The game won Game Product of the Year -- Upper Deck says that "not only did it capture the hearts of World of Warcraft fans across the globe, it also redefined the entire miniatures category."We'll have to take their word for it (as we haven't played that many minis games before), but the game was a lot of fun when we played a round of it at BlizzCon last year -- it's kind of a mix between turn-based strategy (in that you take turns moving your characters and attacking or defending) and Arena play (in that lots of the character abilities are borrowed straight from the ingame classes). We can speak to the quality of the game as well -- the little miniatures look great, and the game boards and cards were very colorful and well-done.So grats to Upper Deck for picking up the Diamond Award for their new minis game (the company also nabbed a few other awards for their Marvel Masterpieces cards and their sports card lines). If you'd like to check the game out, you can pick up starter packs at most hobby and game stores, and Upper Deck periodically offers events around the country. Some of which we often post about here on WoW Insider, so stay tuned.
The Daily Grind: Do you play MMO-based tabletop games?
Sure, there aren't really any such things as 'tabletop MMOs' but there are quite a few tabletop games based on MMOs. There are trading card games for a few different MMOs - both online and off. World of Warcraft has an actual board game, complete with expansions. Dungeons & Dragons Online is based on the much beloved Dungeons & Dragons pen & paper system - and now we have Champions Online in the pen & paper to MMO market. It's not quite the same thing as EverQuest spawning its own pen & paper game, though. Warhammer made the jump from minis to MMO, and WoW has jumped from MMO to minis. With this much cross-pollination going on, we thought we'd ask this morning; do you play any of the tabletop variants? From board games to card games to pen & paper games, there's a lot to choose from out there. Any you thought were really well done? How about crossovers that you tried but just didn't make the cut for you?
WoW minis are out
As predicted, the WoW Minis game from Upper Deck has launched -- starter packs and booster sets are now available at a collectible store near you. I got to play the game with one of its designers at BlizzCon, and I actually found it a lot of fun -- it's very much like a turn-based Arena match, though there are fewer abilities to choose from, and if your characters are killed, they actually come back, as the victory is points-based, not just a deathmatch. But it's very similar to Arena matches in that you spend points on abilities, terrain can help or hurt, and each class has its own counters and tactics.I found it to be a lot of fun, and probably would get involved in it if I had a friend I could also sucker into it, but no dice so far. Plus, it's two hobbies in one -- not only do you get a fun strategy game (that's surprisingly versatile -- you can play with more than two players if you like, and your victory points requirements are based on your characters, not the opposing sides', so you can play with whatever characters you like), but you also get to collect some cool minature reproductions of some of Warcraft's most famous faces. Good deal. Have you checked the game out yet, or is it something you're interested in?%Gallery-33212%
The Daily Grind: What do you think of table-top games?
There exists a very close relationship between MMOs and table-top games.Yesterday saw the launch of Ethernauts, the fifth expansion to EverQuest-related collectible trading card game Legends of Norrath. LoN is digital, but gameplay-wise, it's totally a table-top game. World of Warcraft has an entirely material trading card game. Warhammer Online is of course based on the Warhammer miniatures game, and WoW is getting a miniatures game of its own. And of course, the RPG genre originated on the table-top with Dungeons & Dragons.We're wondering: how much crossover is there between digital and table-top games? How many of our readers play them? Tell us! What do you think of table-top games?
WoW Minis in stores on November 11th
Upper Deck has announced an official release date for the WoW Miniatures game, and surprise, it's in early November, too (it's going to be a busy couple of months for WoW fans). You'll be able to buy a four-figure starter set or a three-figure booster pack in stores on November 11th -- we're not sure about the prices yet, but if the MSRP we saw a while back hasn't changed, they'll end up at around $20-25 for starter packs, and $10-15 for boosters. Each starter will also contain a sampler of the WoW TCG cards, and while we haven't heard anything about ingame loot items for the minis game, those samplers may have some Loot cards in them if you're lucky.Upper Deck also was kind enough to provide us with a preview of a few figures from the set, including some concept and reference art for some of the characters and figures. You can see it all in the gallery below -- there's a nice sampling of characters from the MMO game, a few from the TCG, and even some new character types from Northrend in there. Looks like fun. %Gallery-33212%
World of Warcraft miniatures game hits shelves November 11th
A World of Warcraft miniatures game will be released on November 11th. It has been designed and will be published by Upper Deck, the company behind the WoW TCG. For those curious how the game works, there are a number of gameplay previews at the News section of the game's website.According to the FAQ, you can play with between one and five characters (each represented by a 40mm miniature) on each side of a battle (there are three sides -- Alliance, Horde, and Monster). Each character has an "action bar" which can be customized with abilities from WoW. Starter sets (priced at $24.99) will include basics like dice, rules, etc. as well as two Alliance and two Horde miniatures. Booster packs ($14.99) will include three random miniatures from one faction. The company plans to release expansions based on famous WoW raids in the future.This is perhaps most interesting in that Warcraft has taken the opposite approach of its initial inspiration, Warhammer, by starting with video games and later moving on to miniature-based board games![Via MMORPG] One of Azeroth's millions of citizens? Check out our ongoing coverage of the World of Warcraft, and be sure to touch base with our sister site WoW Insider for all your Lich King needs!
World of Warcraft miniatures game brings conquest and art
The World of Warcraft miniatures game has quite the appeal for artist and gamer alike. You can admire your opponent's incredible figures and then destroy them all in a bloodrage rivaling anything the orcs could ever imagine! Over at Blizzplanet, that is exactly the idea, but with less bloodrage. Figures of orcs, dragons, gnomes, and beasts from WoW impress us with their awesome, yet small, presence. The artwork, in our estimation, will blow your mind straight through the Dark Portal!Beyond that, Upper Deck had a surprising announcement to make at this week's GAMA trade show. The folks behind your favorite rookie cards announced that they would be unveiling the Onyxia piece. We immediately ran to the center and applied more dots for a chance to catch a glimpse. The Onyxia figure, which is pictured about to devour some poor tank, looks amazing. Claiming some of the most talented sculptors from around the world on the design team, the WoW miniatures game is sure to make a big splash when the game hits shelves sometime in the fall of 2008.
White Lions are the last career for High Elves?
Just a little bit of fun speculation about the last class for Warhammer Online's High Elves-- GOA, the company co-publishing WAR in Europe, apparently put up this big display picture at Dreamhack, and Warhammer know-it-alls have identified that High Elf on the right as a "White Lion," supposedly a career straight from the miniatures game.Of course, we have no idea what this means-- previous speculation has called the White Lion career a DPS-based pet class (wielding a melee-two hander and fighting with pets?), and while the miniatures class looks completely different, there's no doubt that there is definitely a white lion fighting alongside the Elf in the picture above. All of this is still just rumors, however -- we won't know what that last High Elves career is until they announced it -- but hey, at least it's a cool looking display.
Best Buy gets exclusive Mage Knight promo
Namco Bandai Games has announced an exclusive retail promotion with Best Buy for Mage Knight Apocalypse, which will be available next Tuesday. This limited edition version of the action-RPG includes a redemption coupon for a free Mage Knight dragon figurine from the popular WizKids tabletop game. According to a Namco Bandai spokesperson, the collectible is intended to give gamers "extra incentive to dive into the Mage Knight universe." Hopefully, Apocalypse will live up to its expectations, or we could be seeing lots of little dragons on eBay in the near future.See also: Mage Knight Apocalypse web site goes live Single player RPGs are alive and well
