plague
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Save the world from a pandemic in the next 'Plague, Inc.' update
Plague, Inc. lets you become a mad scientist. You design a pathogen and release it upon the world, trigger certain evolutionary traits and -- if all goes according to plan -- wipe out the human race. The game came out eight years ago, but the relevance of the game during real-life events like the current coronavirus pandemic and the ebola outbreak of 2013 keep bringing people back for more. To help make the game a little less morbid, Ndemic Creations will add a new mode to Plague, Inc. that lets you take on the opposite role and save the world from a global disease. The designers are working with the World Health Organization, the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network and other groups to create an informative experience. Though a release date hasn't been announced, the update will be free for all players.
Shovel Knight's DLC hits consoles and PC on September 17th
Yacht Club Games, developers of the uber-popular platformer, Shovel Knight, has revealed that the game's DLC will be available starting September 17th. Dubbed Shovel Knight: Plague of Shadows, the DLC will offer a number of new gameplay styles including Adventure and Challenge Modes. The game is currently available on PC, Wii U, 3DS, PlayStation 3, PS4, PS Vita, and Xbox One. The DLC will be available as digital downloads on all these consoles. A physical disc version including both the original game and the DLC will be ready in October.
Knock-Knock dev plagues us with Pathologic teaser [Update]
Dear Knock-Knock developer Ice Pick Lodge, stop freaking us out already. We know you discussed a revival of your 2005 psychological horror game Pathologic back in December, but we didn't think you were serious about it. Now you have this live-action teaser trailer called "Feverish Feeling," and we weren't sure what to think once we saw it. It turns out that feeling is pretty creepy, and not the sort of fever we were hoping for. Knock-Knock was one thing, and we kept our lights on a good four months after that, but now you're talking about The Black Death pandemic and putting viewers in a simulated, contaminated environment to force them to make decisions quickly. Pathologic made us complete quests to find the source of The Sand Plague and make decisions that impacted its meta-narrative. Based on the countdown timer ticking away on your teaser site, we'll learn more about this reanimation on Friday, September 4. Update: Pathologic's teaser countdown ends on September 4, not August 29. We've adjusted the article accordingly. [Image: Ice Pick Lodge]
Why Warlords of Draenor needs a pre-expansion event
Lately I've been thinking about Warlords of Draenor and how I hope it returns to the tradition of pre-expansion launch patches with big world events. Let me tell you a story. I was talking with a friend about the period at the end of Burning Crusade when the crates began spawning in major cities. He reminded me that neither of us had really paid much attention - his guild was in the process of breaking up over M'uru/Entropius and I was tanking for a guild working on clearing Black Temple at the time. We were busy, is what I'm saying. So busy, in fact, that one day we found ourselves running for our lives from an Ironforge that was completely infested with the walking dead. Other players were now zombies. The auctioneers were dead. It was all chaos and madness. Now, for a lot of people, the zombie invasion was a load of fun. It was new and different, something you didn't see in game every day. Some of my guildies went over to Orgrimmar and joined forces with Horde players they knew (Norgannon was a smallish and incestuous server in those days, all the Alliance and Horde players seemed to know one another) to form roving gangs of undead, laying waste to all, Horde or Alliance. They had great fun. For me it was a huge pain in the rear end.
The plague surges onward in Defiance
It's been one week since Defiance came down with a nasty cold, which means there's (theoretically) only one week remaining to jump in on some of the game's contagious festivities. Trion Worlds reminded players today that beginning at 3 p.m. EDT (12 p.m. PDT), the second week of Defiance's The Plague event will be live. Players of Defiance will find a new mission, new siege events, a new pursuit, and a bunch of emergencies to handle as they wander through the bombed-out ruins of the Bay. There are also data recorders to collect and special rewards for players who complete plague-related challenges. No specific end date has been offered, but the Defiance television show will address The Plague event on June 17th. If you play Defiance and haven't had a chance to check out The Plague, it's probably best to get in soon, just in case.
Exploit Hotfixed: Azeroth's cities safe once more
Nethaera hopped on the forums today to let us know that the massive city deaths were indeed a result of an exploit taken by nefarious individuals. The exploit has been hotfixed already, and it should no longer be a problem. Blizzard doesn't mess around with stuff like this... if people are found exploiting the game and causing problems, they'll not only find themselves banned but also in some other troubles. Nethaera Earlier today, certain realms were affected by an in-game exploit, resulting in the deaths of player characters and non-player characters in some of the major cities. This exploit has already been hotfixed, so it should not be repeatable. It's safe to continue playing and adventuring in major cities and elsewhere in Azeroth. As with any exploit, we are taking this disruptive action very seriously and conducting a thorough investigation. If you have information relating to this incident, please email hacks@blizzard.com. We apologize for the inconvenience some of you experienced as a result of this and appreciate your understanding. source Mists of Pandaria is here! The level cap has been raised to 90, many players have returned to Azeroth, and pet battles are taking the world by storm. Keep an eye out for all of the latest news, and check out our comprehensive guide to Mists of Pandaria for everything you'll ever need to know.
Entire cities dead on some World of Warcraft realms
This afternoon, Paris time, something very strange happened on various realms. Argent Dawn's forums have a long thread about it, but to cut a long story short, everyone in Stormwind and Orgrimmar was killed, NPCs included. It's also been happening on Tarren Mill, Ragnaros, Draenor, Twisting Nether, and no doubt other servers. Of course, rumors abound as to just exactly what happened. Most people point towards it being a hack, and there's some videos out there floating around that give credence to this theory. Has it happened on your realm? What on earth is going on? And what do you think is causing it? Update: Blizzard has posted on the forums, informing us that this exploit has now been hotfixed. More screenshots as they come in after the break.
Plague epidemic speeds across Azeroth
Gamers aren't known for their steadfast refusal to make use of any bugs or exploits present in a given system. While exploits are normally made to gain material or martial advantage over other players, sometimes it's just because being a scallywag is fun. Seven years ago we saw what was perhaps the most wide-scale example of such an exploit, as Warlocks and Hunters used their pets to spread a Corrupted Blood epidemic through World of Warcraft. Yesterday, a similar opportunity reared its disease-riddled head: A patch allowed Death Knights to use their plague skills on friendly players. While the Corrupted Blood epidemic is somewhat celebrated in WoW, devs apparently weren't willing to have a repeat. A fix came out in the wee hours of the morning to keep Death Knights from wreaking too much havoc. [Thanks to alert gamer Collin for the tip!]
A Rakghoul plague has broken out across the galaxy of SWTOR
Citizens of Star Wars: The Old Republic are advised to steer clear of the the planet Tatooine to avoid infection from a Rakghoul virus outbreak. A ship carrying infected passengers crashed in the northeast quadrant of the Dune Sea; quarantine teams have been dispatched to the local interplanetary space port to prevent the spread of the disease. Please, avoid all infected citizens at all costs! It is possible for you to carry the the virus yourself. If you are infected and attempt to flee the planet Tatooine, you will be fired upon for the safety of all Republic citizens. At this time, the disease is contained to one planetary system; however, our advice is to avoid travel in major space stations and other areas with travelers who may be coming from the Tatooine system. We will keep you informed of further developments as they unfold. May the Force be with you, and watch the official Imperial holonet broadcast after the break. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]
The Joystiq Indie Pitch: Plague
Indie developers are the starving artists of the video-game world, often brilliant and innovative, but also misunderstood, underfunded and more prone to writing free-form poetry on their LiveJournals. We at Joystiq believe no one deserves to starve, and many indie developers are entitled to a fridge full of tasty, fulfilling media coverage, right here. This week, Kyle Moseley unleashes a deadly computer virus on Joystiq -- er, not an actual virus. His game, Plague, is a computer virus. Wait, no! It's not a virus! Just... just read Kyle's interview; he explains everything. What's your game called and what's it about? Our game is called Plague. It is about a devastating computer virus that takes over the world and you play as a personified, bottom-of-the-barrel, anti-virus program and have to save the world. It plays like a side-scrolling shooter where the enemies are computer viruses.
Runes of Magic's Lands of Despair opens its borders on June 16th
In less than a month, Runes of Magic adventurers will turn the page and begin a whole new chapter in the game's history. Frogster has announced that Chapter IV: Lands of Despair, the latest content update for Runes of Magic, will go live on June 16th. If the name sounds foreboding, it's for a good reason: A horrible plague is spreading through the land, zombies are making a comeback, and Mad Lords are becoming all the rage. The update also includes a whopping four new zones, two additional dungeons, and an odd rivalry between the Dwarves and Rhinos. It's not too late to catch up on all of the details of this exciting update. Check out our writeup of the lore behind Chapter IV, a preview video of two of the upcoming zones, our thoughts on the new starting zone, and our detailed analysis on all of the changes.
The Queue: My, what big teeth you have
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW.com's daily Q&A column where the WoW.com team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Alex Ziebart will be your host today. Why yes, that is the most disgusting whale you've ever seen. Unless, of course, you've witnessed local authorities taking dynamite to a beached whale to get it out of the way since they couldn't move it just by pushing the thing. That is disgusting. Whale guts landing on cars a mile away? No thanks. I'll take the guy pictured above over that. Moonkinmaniac asked... "On the WoW calendar there's an undead whale picture. What the heck is it? Is it a rejected project for the current expansion or possibly one for Cataclysm?"
Dave Perry discusses canned Atari project, 'Plague'
Dave Perry will always have a place in our hearts, and so it's a bit difficult these days to write pieces on the man who created Earthworm Jim. Doing his usual job of outlandish claim-staking, the man now known mostly for his company Gaikai and its streaming game service recently spoke to Eurogamer about a canceled game of his, named Plague. "It was a little too big for Atari," he says. Allegedly, he was working with an author and intended to make a movie of the game. "It was a big deal," he added. He goes on to say that it included "nano-weapons" that would "generate objects and delete [them] in real-time." He even teases that the game idea is "nowhere near done." Unfortunately, he's a bit busy at the moment trying to get his unicorn-powered magic carpet off the ground to work on it.
Ask a Lore Nerd: Fallout
Welcome to Ask a Lore Nerd, where each week blogger and columnist Alex Ziebart answers your questions about the lore and history of the World of Warcraft. Ask your questions in the comments section below, and we'll try to answer it in a future edition. I apologize for the grim picture accompanying today's column, but I found it fitting. You know, even if it does have an artificial grain filter thrown over it to make it extra creepy. Chernobyl is creepy enough as it is without the filter, but I happened to like this particular shot. It's relevant, too! I promise!Sal asked..."Why don't the level 80 gnomes take back their home and clean up the toxic in it? We're able to run through at level 24 or so and clear the place, but a bunch of level 80's can't?"
Immortal is the toughest raiding achievement in the game
This is extremely interesting. Guildox is a site that tracks raiding progression solely based on earned raiding achievements -- they check the Armory entry of your guild, and then add them to a list of who's toppled which instances and when. But they recently sent us a note about some overall data, and it's fascinating. Below the pulldown bar of the achievement listings on their site, you'll find an "achievement rate" stat. That is the percentage of guilds who've completed the selected achievement as compared to the number of guilds in their system who've completed any of the 10 or 25-man raiding achievements.In essence, that's the percentage of guilds raiding who've completed that achievement. And the toughest achievement in the game right now is The Immortal, which requires you to get 25 people through Naxx without dying once. Only about 1.5% of guilds raiding have finished that one. After that, it's Heroic: You Don't Have an Eternity (take out Malygos in six minutes), and Heroic: Shocking! (bring down Thaddius without crossing charges). The hardest 10-man achievement is the non-Heroic version of the Malygos timed achievement -- The Undying actually isn't too bad, with almost 20% of guilds having attained it.More after the break, including information on the easiest raiding achievements.
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The Queue: To fly or not to fly
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW Insider's daily Q&A column where the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Alex Ziebart will be your host today. Starting this week, we have a little change coming to The Queue. Adam Holisky and I will be tag-teaming the column, taking turns writing it each day. Today is me, Alex. Tomorrow is Adam. The day after is me. The day after that is him. I think you get the picture. It'll let both of us do a lot more work on the site as a whole, while still keeping The Queue fresh and awesome. I think it'll work out well!Ezzy asked...Did they remove the ability to buy Ruby Shades from Haris Pilton? I camped them for a while and the never spawned.
Guildwatch: Puppies can cause drama, too
This is Xander. You might think he's just a cute puppy, but no -- he's a drama-causing ball of AFK fury. A player in our drama section this week is the proud new owner of Xander, but the puppy caused so much AFK time for him that it rubbed his group the wrong way. Look in his eyes -- you can see he's got the power to split guilds and wipe groups at will!Lots more drama, downed news, and recruiting notices in this week's Guildwatch, which starts right after the break. Unfortunately, that's the only story that's puppy-related, but we've got lots of dead dragons and guild transfers. There's even a Blue appearance this week!
The Queue: Spreading the space plague
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW Insider's daily Q&A column where the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. A bad case of space cancer put me out of commission for the last few days, and for that I apologize. In addition to my apology, I blame the pandas. They caused me to come down with such a horrid plague. I'm back on my feet now though, so the Q&A will continue!jtrain asked...I'm admittedly new to tanking, and I hear people talk about a 'rage dump'. Why would I want to dump rage? I thought the whole idea was to build up a good amount so I don't have to sit there auto-attacking waiting for my abilities to become usable. In Wrath, I never seem to have a problem generating rage and at the end of a fight in which I've pulled several mobs, I usually have quite a bit of rage still available. Am I doing something wrong?
Guildwatch: Farming instances for the holidays
Lots of guilds were off for the holidays, but we still had a surprising amount of news: lots of drama, plenty of downs to report, and a few more guilds recruiting for a serious run at the new endgame.Hope your holidays were happy -- here at Guildwatch, we got exactly what we wanted: angry forum threads, tips from all over the realms, and even a few very offensive vent recordings. If you've got news of guild drama, downings, or recruitment, send it to wowguildwatch@gmail.com. And hit the link below to see this week's GW.
Times Online examines WoW's zombies and the connection to real life
Forget Fox News -- the Times Online has an analysis up of Blizzard's zombies event, and their main point seems to be that you can't compare a plague outbreak in the World of Warcraft to one in real life. Risk is what defines real outbreaks, and since there was really no risk in whether you became a zombie or not, players didn't necessarily act as they would in the real world. Some players even willingly submitted to infection, which of course presumably wouldn't happen with a real widespread fatal disease.But there are parallels to be drawn, and professors say that the zombie plague worked a little closer to real life than Hakkar's corrupted blood did (no coincidence, I'm sure, that the zombie plague was designed to be spread, while the Corrupted Blood was basically a bug). While the plague never did really infect everyone in the world, it did spread pretty quickly -- apparently there's a number you can use to track how quickly a disease spreads, and the zombie plague landed in the arena of a normal outbreak of smallpox (given, of course, that we don't know exactly how fast or how widely it spread).Very interesting. There is still more to say about this plague, I think (and though things have slowed down on the realms, hopefully the event itself isn't completely over). But it is fascinating how Blizzard turned emergent gameplay into an official event, and how they mimicked the real-life qualities of a spreading disease (the more of it around, the more likely you were to pick it up) while still leaving the idea firmly grounded in the in-game lore. Very cool indeed.
