phil-kollar
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Jeff Kaplan on WoW development: "We debate like crazy"
Our buddy Phil Kollar of Game Informer (who was on the podcast recently) got a chance to talk to Jeff Kaplan about the World of Warcraft, and while Kaplan repeats a lot of what he's said before, the interview is worth a read for a look inside Blizzard's design process. What's probably most interesting is that it's very fluid and very dynamic -- just as much as we're arguing on this site and on the forums about how Blizzard should do things, they're also arguing and going back and forth behind the scenes. He does talk specifically about cutscenes, saying that the Wrathgate scene was an experiment that paid off well, and we should expect some more of that kind of storytelling even as soon as in patch 3.3 (you may have seen it before if you're checking spoilers). And he does talk about raiding sizes and accessibility -- Blizzard has always wanted to do smaller raids, both for the feel of them and for the tuning, but it apparently took them a while to bring 40 down to 25 and then down to 10 correctly. Finally, he doesn't reveal anything about the new MMO, but he does say that singleplayer gaming will always have a place at Blizzard's core -- even when you're playing a multiplayer game, the singleplayer experience should still feel right. True enough, good interview.
WoW Insider Show Episode 106 with guest Phil Kollar
Our podcast was on the virtual airwaves yet again last Saturday, and in addition to WoW.com folks Eddie "Brigwyn" Carrington and of course Turpster (whose birthday was September 7th, so happy birthday to that guy), we welcomed Phil Kollar, former 1up editor, current Game Informer associate editor, frequent Twitterer, and World of Warcraft guild leader (he's running a guild called In Defense of the Genre over on Area 52, as we talk about during the show), not to mention all-around fun guy. He helped us talk about the latest news in Azeroth, including more Cataclysm discussion, the latest on the faction changes and how they're going, a quick mention of the changes to jousting in the 5-man ToC, and what it means that a guild took down Yogg-Saron in blue gear.Pretty enjoyable show, if you ask me, but then again I always enjoy sitting down and podcasting for you all. You can listen in at the links below, and/or subscribe to the show on iTunes (where we can always use some nice reviews letting us know what you of what we're doing). I also tweaked the audio a little bit before this show, so hopefully it will sound a little better as well. Enjoy, and we'll talk to you next week!Get the podcast:[iTunes] Subscribe to the WoW Insider Show directly in iTunes.[RSS] Add the WoW Insider Show to your RSS aggregator.[MP3] Download the MP3 directly.Listen here on the page:
WoW Insider Show with guest Phil Kollar at 3:30pm today
The podcast returns this afternoon with our first special guest in a while: Phil Kollar will join Eddie "Brigwyn" Carrington, Turpster, and I for a spirited chat about the latest news in the World of Warcraft. He's a former editor on 1up.com, and is currently working as an associate editor at Game Informer magazine (that's the one they sell you with the card at Gamestop). And oh yeah, he's quite the WoW player as well. We'll be talking about all of the most popular stories of the last week, including faction changes and how they're going, what's up with the jousting in the 5-man, and what it means that a guild toppled one of the hardest bosses in the game.. in blue gear.Plus, we'll be answering your emails (send along whatever you'd like us to talk about to theshow@wow.com), and just in general having a great time. Everything will kick off at September 5, 2009 3:30 PM EDTvar date_span = document.getElementById("date"); var date = new Date(date_span.innerHTML); var monthname=new Array("Jan","Feb","Mar","Apr","May","Jun","Jul","Aug", "Sep","Oct","Nov","Dec"); var weekday=new Array("Sunday","Monday","Tuesday","Wednesday","Thursday", "Friday","Saturday"); var year = date.getFullYear(); var day_of_month = date.getDate(); var month = monthname[date.getMonth()]; var day = weekday[date.getDay()]; var hour = date.getHours(); if (hour > 11) { if (hour > 12) {hour -= 12} am_pm = "PM"; } else { am_pm = "AM"; } var minute = date.getMinutes(); if (minute < 10) { minute = "0"+minute; } date_string = day + ", " + month + " " + day_of_month; date_string += " at " + hour + ":" + minute + " " + am_pm; offset = -date.getTimezoneOffset()/60; if (offset >= 0) { offset = "+"+offset; } date_string += " in your time zone GMT"+offset; date_span.innerHTML = (date_string); right over on our Ustream page, so if you're around and interested, stop on by and say hello. See you there!
