warcraft-2
Latest
Doronsmovies delves into The History of Warcraft in new documentary
It's been twenty years since Azeroth was first introduced to the hearts and minds of gamers all over the world, and Youtube user Doronsmovies has put together a massive and in-depth look into the history of the Warcraft franchise. Weighing in at just over 40 minutes, the documentary dives right in with coverage of the early RTS games, starting with Orcs & Humans in 1994. Although we know quite a bit about those early games, and about the history of WoW itself, the movie also features a look at Lord of the Clans, a point-and-click adventure game that was actually never released -- including footage of the game itself, and some of the voice acting and animated scenes from the game as well. For those that have been playing Warcraft since the early days, the documentary might not have anything new to offer. But for those that have only just begun playing in recent years, or those that have only played World of Warcraft, there should be plenty of interesting tidbits to keep you entertained. And even if you're pretty familiar with all of Blizzard's Warcraft games over the years, it's pretty neat to see the progression from 1994 to now all encapsulated into one film. It's a lengthy watch, but hey -- twenty years is an awfully long time.
Blizzcon 2013: Classic Warcraft games may be coming to a PC near you
During Saturday's BlizzCon panel "World of Warcraft Q & A About Almost Everything" an astute goblin-lady cosplayer posed the panelists a question: considering that the upcoming expansion is all about the past, would Blizzard ever consider re-releasing the old Warcraft RTS games for modern computer systems? The answer, surprisingly, is yes! Production Director J. Allen Brack revealed that there does exist a small team of people at Blizzard who are working on making just that very thing a reality. Folks at Blizzard are, rightfully, proud of the accomplishments of those games and fans of those older games themselves, and they would love to see them given new life. Personally I think it would be great to have the option to replay those games on a newer system -- I can't help but think of how much I'e enjoyed redone versions of The Secret of Monkey Island and Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge on Steam. While it might end up being more work than Blizzard has time for, it would be fantastic to see their earlier titles get a similar treatment. What about you? Would you like to see the original Warcraft RTS games on your modern PCs?
Classic Warcraft games, or 'something like that,' could be coming to modern PCs
Warcraft: Orcs and Humans and Warcraft 2: Tides of Darkness may be coming to modern machines, thanks to a small team at Blizzard. Polygon reports that during the World of Warcraft question-and-answer panel at this year's BlizzCon, Production Director J. Allen Brack said that replaying the original trilogy was something he'd "love" to do. "We actually have a guy on our team - actually several guys on our team - who are actually working on a side project to do something like that in some form or fashion," Brack told a fan who asked if Blizzard had considered making the original trilogy compatible with modern computers. What form or fashion this will take isn't clear, however. It's also not clear if this "side project" will ever manifest as something available for the everyday gamer. Blizzard has a lot on their plate with a new card game, an upcoming Diablo 3 expansion and even a movie adaptation of the Warcraft franchise. So, they're kinda busy. Just a little bit.
Know Your Lore: Why do we fight?
The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You're playing the game, you're fighting the bosses, you know the how -- but do you know the why? Each week, Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft. Azeroth is a volatile land fraught with conflict. In recent years of history, this conflict has been highlighted by the battle between Alliance and Horde, a seemingly never-ending struggle that began the moment the orcs made their way through the Dark Portal and began attacks on the Eastern Kingdoms in earnest. But prior to the orcs, there were still wars to contend with. In early days, pandaren rose up against mogu, troll against aqir. Kaldorei against Burning Legion, and against each other in the process. It almost seems as though Azeroth's destiny is one that is irrevocably tied to war -- we're destined to fight, regardless of who we are, or what we happen to be fighting. But why do the Alliance and Horde continue to fight? They've worked together in the past, and yet it seems that every time they are close to some sort of peaceful resolution, they are drawn once more to war. What's making the Alliance and Horde so aggressive this time around?
Former Blizzard dev starts Atomic Operations game studio
Industry veteran Chris Millar has been around -- he's been with Blizzard since the WarCraft II days, and has worked on everything from Black and White 2 to Fat Princess – but now he's off to head up his own company called Atomic Operations. In this quick Q&A with Gamasutra, he says that the company will be a grab-bag of methods and products, all using "an evolved production method similar to that of movies." They've already got a project out the door, too: Atomic is the company that's supporting Fat Princess, with the bugfixes released the other day and presumably more to come. Millar and Atomic Operations join the multitude of other Blizzard veterans off working on their own companies. Let's see, there's Keith Lee and his crew at Booyah, the ex-Blizzard folks at Red 5 Studios, the unfortunate souls at Castaway Entertainment and Flagship Studios (now Gravity Bear and Gargantuan Studios), new WoW TCG licensees Cryptozoic, and a few other little developers and divisions headed up by ex-Blizzard devs. Whew, that's a whole lot of babies -- Blizzard is like the Zeus of gaming studios lately. What are they serving in the cafeteria over there, startup cola?
WoW Rookie: Reading about Warcraft
New around here? WoW Rookie points WoW's newest players to the basics of a good start in the World of Warcraft. Send us a note to suggest a WoW Rookie topic, and be sure to visit the WoW.com WoW Rookie Guide for links to all our tips, tricks and how-to's. Even if you're not a roleplayer, it's almost impossible not to find yourself swept up by some aspect of the hundreds of compelling stories tucked into the World of Warcraft. The question is, how can you dig deeper? Where do you find more? The answer: Books ... Manga ... Comics ... RPGs .... Page after page after page of glorious lore. Blizzard approves the storylines and lore included in the Warcraft and World of Warcraft line of novels, although you won't find a straight and clear progression across the whole line. Not every story and character crosses over from books to game (and vice versa). Besides the Warcraft novels, WoW-starved readers can chew through enough manga, roleplaying game books and gaming guides to sate any lore feeding frenzy. The best part? You enjoy +Lore bonuses to your online play experience. Even the RPG books add color to the overall picture. Follow us beyond the break for a basic reading outline to escort you down Warcraft's path of lore.
World of Warcraft music player updated
A few short days ago, Blizzard updated their browser-based music player with the fan favorite track "Power of the Horde" by Tenth Level Tauren Chieftain, now known as Level 70 Elite Tauren Chieftain. If you've never heard of this music player before, don't feel too bad. Most players haven't. Heck, I hadn't heard of it until recently, which is a bit of a shame. There's a lot of great music available here, ranging from the World of Warcraft to Warcraft II. It doesn't provide all of the Warcraft music, you need to buy the CDs for that, but there's enough there fuel some nostalgia or get you in the adventuring mood. Plus, you can check out some of their old holiday specials, which lie somewhere between 'amusing' and 'hilarious.' Oh yeah, there's a dancing ogre. Those are always good. I... think.
Upcoming MMO movies (and why they'll suck)
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/pc_games/Upcoming_MMO_movies_and_why_they_ll_suck'; Dorothy Parker once said "The only 'ism' Hollywood believes in is plagiarism." While not technically plagiarism, the practice of mining popular properties of other media is a time-honored mainstay of Hollywood's. Why invent a new franchise when you can adapt one that already exists? Well, if we're talking about translating videogames to cinema, there are at least 3 reasons against that we can think of right away: Street Fighter: The Movie, Double Dragon, and Doom. Oh, and the entire body of work of Uwe Boll.With such a history of failure, why does Hollywood keep banking on videogames as good sources of material? Because it's always desperate for the next big hit, and adaptation is seen as being easier than originality, even though by now it's apparent that it's not quite as simple as it seems. An even better question is: why exactly don't these translations work? What is it about games that makes for poor films? Let's see if we can answer this question and assess the potential success/failure of some upcoming MMO movies.
