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The Perfect Ten: Stock fantasy enemies from lamest to coolest
One theory of MMOs is that they represent several parallel universes, each with similarities and differences. This may explain why so many of them claim to be boldly original and yet carry the same monster DNA that exists everywhere else. Today we're going to carefully unpack our ancient collector's edition of stock fantasy enemies. Blow off the dust and smell that nostaglia, mhmm. Sure, they've seen better days, but they're still good, right? Still solid. Still capable of entertaining us, even if we've slaughtered their kin a thousand times over. Let me show you my collection of 10 stock fantasy enemies that we encounter all the time in MMOs. Just for fun, I'm going to order them from lamest to coolest. I would be number 11, by the way.
Minecraft: Pocket Edition adds bows, skeletons and spiders
Let's just skip the "Is that a bone in your pocket?" joke we're all thinking and get straight to business: Minecraft: Pocket Edition has been updated and now includes skeletons, spiders and best of all, a bow to kill skeletons and spiders with. Skeletons and spiders are cool and atmospheric and everything, but they're even cooler when they can't murder you on account of being riddled with hundreds and hundreds of arrows. The update also fixes around 20 or so known glitches, including one called "burning world," which sounds rather inconvenient. Currently, only the iOS version of Minecraft has these updates listed, though we wouldn't figure that a similar update for the Android version would be far behind.
Embers of Caerus dares you to go dungeon diving in the deep dark
While the indie Embers of Caerus might not even be in alpha yet, the developers wanted to give fans and followers a Christmas present in the form of a special preview of one of the Forsaken World's dungeons. If you're expecting a brightly-lit funhouse full of dizzying sights, you may want to prepare for a shift in perspective. Once we enter the cave mouth, we're plunged into darkness with the occasional flickering torchlight -- and creepy cackle -- as our only points of reference. The video takes its time poking through the bowels of the earth, discovering more creepy sights and sounds the deeper it goes. And while it might not be packed wall-to-wall with mobs -- this is a very early glimpse into the game, after all -- there is a terrifying surprise laying in wait at the end. You may need to go get your security blanket in preparation, especially if you watch it with the lights off and headphones on. You can watch the full video after the jump! [Thanks to Ron for the tip!]
Blizzard downplays Wrath's issues in China
As we've reported on earlier, Wrath of the Lich King isn't heading towards a speedy approval for Chinese audiences, leading to problems for The9 if they can't get Wrath approved by the government. However, unlike The9, Blizzard is downplaying the issues Wrath may be facing.Blizzard has told GamesIndustry.biz that "World of Warcraft continues to operate as normal in mainland China, and we're continuing to work with our local partner, The9, toward the launch of Wrath of the Lich King there. An official announcement will be made once it's ready to go."It seems that everything is on track for Wrath's launch in China according to the company, but only time will ultimately tell when Wrath will be able to get away from the new stringent regulations holding it back.
Wrath of the Lich King rejected thus far by Chinese government
Continuing on in that upward ascension toward MMO godhood, Blizzard's Wrath of the Lich King expansion for World of Warcraft has proven to be popular with the Death Knight crowd in Western markets. "Popular" is an understatement, of course. Millions of MMO gamers have bought the expansion to date. Despite its success in Western markets, Wrath of the Lich King still hasn't been released in China, where the title has a significant playerbase. Why? Regulatory issues and censorship. China-based JLM Pacific Epoch reports: "The government has rejected two applications by the second expansion for The9's (Nasdaq: NCTY) licensed MMORPG World of Warcraft, "Wrath of the Lich King," [...] The applications were rejected due to content that didn't meet requirements, including a city raid and skeleton characters; the submitted version did not contain WLK's Death Knight first hero class..."
Ask a Lore Nerd: Skeletons, slavery, and the shadows
Welcome to Ask a Lore Nerd, the column that answers your questions about the story and lore of the Warcraft universe. Click the Comments link below (or e-mail us!), ask your question, and blogger/columnist Alex Ziebart will answer your question in a future installment! Be warned, ladies and gentlemen: There are a couple of minor spoilers for Wrath of the Lich King in this week's Ask a Lore Nerd. I don't think they're very substantial ones personally, but the choice is yours whether you want to continue reading or not.Soirgriffe asks...What tribe, if any, did the dire trolls come from and if not a tribe, where in general?Just how dire trolls come to be is largely an unknown, but they don't seem to be an independent race. They're just bigger, stronger versions of a troll. All of the tribes seem to have dire trolls.There are a couple of quests in Wrath of the Lich King that might suggest dire trolls are regular trolls who have been 'empowered' but to avoid spoiling too much, what goes on in those quests is pretty different from seeing Jin'rokh the Breaker hanging out with the Zandalari. So all that we really know is there is no racial distinction between Dire Trolls and Regular Trolls of the same tribe. One is just much, much bigger and stronger for some reason.
Laying the Burning Legion to rest
So Kil'jaden is dead, and the game has been beaten yet again. Does that mean that the Burning Legion is finally, once and for all, ended?Unfortunately for some players, very likely not. While Kil'jaeden was definitely one of the driving forces of the Legion (and I'm sure we'll see more in the lore cutscene that apparently takes places at the end of his fight, whenever SK posts the video of it), he's nothing compared to Sargeras himself, and we'll definitely need more than a raid to topple the World of Warcraft's biggest big bad. Throw in the fact that there are still demons running rampant all over Outland (not to mention portals from all kinds of various places bringing them in), and even though we've just spent a whole expansion trying to kill the Burning Legion, odds are that we'll see them again soon.But not too soon -- hopefully, as Morbosa says, the next expansion will offer a return to the old swords, sorcery and politics that high fantasy lovers love so much. It's not that we don't enjoy fighting demons -- they're fun. But nothing feels as good sometimes as a mace cracking some skeleton heads towards the goal of beating a king of the undead, and hopefully that's what we'll find in Northrend.
China removes skeletons from World of Warcraft
The Chinese version of World of Warcraft has removed skeletons. Yup, skeletons are no longer in the game. No fighting skeletons and no skeletons signifying you've resurrected. Enemy skeletons now have flesh on them and dead players are symbolized by a tombstone. The9, which runs WoW in China said the change was made due to China's "particular situation and relevant regulations."No real reason for the change were given, but Chinese WoW players have expressed their unhappiness with the decision. The best possible explanation the Reuters piece could come up with is that in April, China began a campaign to combat "negative online influences" on the Internet. It's aimed at fraud and illegal lotteries (wonder if gold farming is on there?). So enjoy your skeleton-less World of Warcraft China, 'cause for some odd reason the government just doesn't think a skeleton is a "healthy" thing for your body.
