MobileAuthenticator
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Don't forget to change your Blizzard Authenticator with your new iPhone
Apple has made switching over your iPhone when you buy a new one very easy, but there's one other task you may need to undertake, especially if you're one of the many players of the popular World of Warcraft game out there (or Diablo III, or Starcraft II, or other Blizzard games): You'll need to switch your Blizzard mobile authenticator app over to your new device. Blizzard posted a reminder to do this over the weekend and their online guide to removing authenticators should help anyone who needs to transfer over with the process. I just did it myself: You'll have to remove the authenticator from your previous phone device from your Blizzard account (by first confirming a few codes from it), and then add the new one (by entering the serial number and authentication code) once you've installed the app on your new device. It's not hard at all. It is a little annoying that you should have to go to such lengths to protect your gaming account, but with hundreds of hours of gameplay and memories stored up in these games, it's a process you might as well undertake. If you grabbed a new phone this weekend and play WoW yourself, make sure to switch things over before you get rid of your old phone.
Activision "selectively expanding" brands onto iPhone
Activision is probably the biggest gaming company going these days, and in their conference call earlier this week, CEO Bobby Kotick briefly mentioned its foray into the world of the iPhone. We've talked a lot in the past about indie developers and how they find their way on to the App Store, but it's the larger companies that sometimes have a tougher time of it, making larger games that don't always make back their accordingly large development costs, much less make any money. Kotick says that Activision is still a bit leery, but that they will continue "selectively expanding our brands" onto platforms like the iPhone (he basically says that Guitar Hero is coming to Apple's handheld soon), and that the company is looking into Apple's platform more as a brand extension rather than a potential source of financial revenue. Case in point: Blizzard's release of the Mobile Authenticator for their World of Warcraft. They're not planning to release games necessarily, but just other ways for users to connect with the company and its brands. Not that they can't release successful games -- Activision is also dropping the first downloadable map pack for its very popular World at War: Zombies game (based on the Call of Duty brand). The pack is $5 (on top of the $10 app price, though there is a free version available without the DLC to try), and adds a second map to the game, more than doubling the size of the in-game world, as well as adding more perks, content, and other goodies. Interesting to see the approach that a larger developer is taking with Apple's platform.
