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World Of Warcraft's 'Shadowlands' expansion arrives on November 23rd
You can check out a pre-launch event on November 10th.
Activision Blizzard pulls its games from GeForce Now
GeForce Now, NVIDIA's game streaming service, went live for everyone last week. It allows you to play hundreds of games from dozens of publishers in the cloud, but Activision Blizzard's titles are no longer among the options after the publisher asked NVIDIA to remove its titles from the service. "While unfortunate, we hope to work together with Activision Blizzard to reenable these games and more in the future," an NVIDIA staff member wrote on the GeForce Now forums.
First major ‘World of Warcraft Classic’ update adds Dire Maul dungeon
World of Warcraft Classic was (re)released just a short time ago, but there's already more stuff to do. Blizzard has added the three-part Dire Maul dungeon, jammed with elves, ogres and other bad things, marking the first major content release for the vintage 2005 game.
Recommended Reading: Building a life in 'World of Warcraft'
My disabled son's amazing gaming life in the 'World of Warcraft' Vicky Schaubert, BBC News This is an amazing story from parents about their son who suffered from a rare degenerative muscular disorder. After his passing, they discovered that Mats had lived a full life through video games. He made friends all over Europe in the process, rather than being confined to an isolated existence due to his medical condition.
‘World of Warcraft Classic’ demo has a one-hour time limit
With BlizzCon 2018 kicking off today, attendees and virtual ticket holders will finally get to try out World of Warcraft Classic, a full year after it was first announced. For the uninitiated, that's the massively multiplayer online game in its original form before the expansions altered everything. As part of the launch, Blizzard is laying down some ground rules for those playing at home to cope with high demand, including a 60 minute playtime limit and 90 minute "cooldown" period.
Blizzard esports app keeps you on top of league matches
BlizzCon is right around the corner, which means big tournaments are imminent -- and Blizzard unsurprisingly wants to be sure you can follow along. It just launched a Blizzard Esports app for Android and iOS that provides news, schedules, score and live viewing (including alerts) for competitive events in the developer's various franchises, such as the impending finale for the Overwatch World Cup. If you're stuck at work when the US team is taking on South Korea, you won't have to dig through news sites to get scores or tune in.
Blizzard CEO and president Mike Morhaime steps down
Mike Morhaime has been a part of Blizzard since it was founded in 1991 as Silicon & Synapse, Inc., and now he's stepping down from his role as president and CEO. Former executive producer and senior VP for World of Warcraft J. Allen Brack will take over as president, while Ray Gresko (Overwatch, Diablo III) will step in as chief development officer, while co-founder and former WoW lead designer Allen Adham will join the executive leadership team. In a statement, Morhaime said "After many years of working with some of the industry's most talented people to create games and worlds for you to play in, I've decided it's time for someone else to lead Blizzard Entertainment. I will now serve as an advisor to the company I so love and admire...I truly believe that this amazing community has the potential to be a shining light to the rest of the industry by setting a positive example of inclusivity, tolerance, and acceptance toward others. In the words of one of Blizzard's core values: remember to always play nice; play fair. "
Blizzcon 2018 Virtual Ticket includes 'WoW Classic' demo
The Blizzcon 2018 Virtual Ticket is the gift that keeps on giving. Aside from video streams, skins, and in-game loot, Blizzard says the $50 digital entry fee will also grant you access to the World of Warcraft: Classic demo -- that's the base game as it was before the expansions ruined it for purists. The demo will be showcased on the Blizzcon floor on November 2nd and you'll get to play at the same time as attendees (on or around 1PM PT, 4PM Eastern). It will then be available until 10am PT (1PM Eastern) on November 8th, meaning those going to the event can jump on again when they get home.
'World of Warcraft' cyberattacker sentenced to year in prison
One World of Warcraft player is paying the price for taking a virtual rivalry too far. A US federal court has sentenced Romanian man Calin Mateias to spend a year in federal prison after he pleaded guilty to launching a distributed denial of service attack against WoW's servers in response to being "angered" by one player. The 2010 traffic flood knocked thousands of players offline and cost Blizzard $30,000 (which Mateias repaid in April) in recovery expenses.
'StarCraft' 20th anniversary brings freebies and a short film
Blizzard is keeping up its habit of marking the anniversaries of major games. The original StarCraft is turning 20 on March 31st, and the studio is promising a slew of extras across its games to mark the occasion, including the classic real-time strategy title itself. You can log in to StarCraft: Remastered and StarCraft II after March 6th to get commemorative interface skins, plus portraits and decals if you sign into SCII by April 6th. And if you're not particularly big on those titles, there are plenty of other ways to obtain perks -- you might even prefer them to the ones you get with StarCraft proper.
South Korean 'World of Warcraft' cooking show goes live tonight
The seminal MMORPG World of Warcraft may have dwindled from its peak of 12 million players back in 2010, but Blizzard's still supporting the 12-year-old game with content and events. To celebrate the latest expansion, Legion, the studio built an elaborate cafe at Germany's Gamescom convention that served themed food and cocktails. But for everyone who couldn't fly out to Europe for some nerd cuisine, they've lined up the next best thing: A cooking show debuting tonight hosted by Choi Hyun-seok, a famous chef known for appearances on South Korean television.
Blizzard marks 20 years of 'Diablo' with events across its games
Believe it or not, Diablo is turning 20 years old on December 31st. Yes, the classic clickfest has been around for long enough that some adults weren't even alive when the first game launched. It's a historic moment for gaming -- and Blizzard is marking the occasion by bringing Diablo-themed events and extras to several of its games. Diablo III, unsurprisingly, gets the most lavish treatment. It's going to get a Darkening of Tristram event that lets you visit a "reimagined" version of the original game's cathedral, including some familiar pick-ups.
Fans set to launch new classic World of Warcraft server this month
At the end of August, Blizzard released Legion, the sixth expansion for its long-standing fantasy MMO World of Warcraft. One contingent of the game's fans probably didn't buy it: The 800,000-strong players who maintained an expansion-free "vanilla" version of the game on their own server, Nostalrius, until the megastudio shut it down last April. Some hope remained while Blizzard pondered whether to launch their own "pristine" servers without expansion content or third-party add-ons. But fans tired of waiting for a studio-blessed Legacy iteration of the game have once again created their own server, Elysium, which is set to go live on December 19th.
Blizzard launches its own cross-game voice chat service
About a year ago, Blizzard revealed a chat service for all of its Battle.net multiplayer games, starting with Overwatch. Last month it killed the Battle.net name altogether, saying multiplayer support is a "normal expectation" that no longer requires its own service. Now, the World of Warcraft maker has rolled out Blizzard Voice, a chat service that works across all its multiplayer titles.
Blizzard launches new 'World of Warcraft: Legion' companion app
The World of Warcraft Mobile Armory app has been quietly keep track of all your characters, stats and auctions for years now (in fact it just got updated to version 7.0 last month). Now, to coincide with the release of the latest expansion set to the immensely popular MMORPG, Blizzard has launched a second companion app to help WoW players make the most of their tim in the Broken Isles of Azeroth, even when they're on the go.
Blizzard built a 'World of Warcraft' cafe
World of Warcraft is an institution. After 12 years, Blizzard's seminal MMO is still running, and although player counts have fallen since its 2010 peak, there were still 5.5 million active accounts last September. Germany has always been a key market for the company, consistently ranking among the top five countries, and to celebrate the game's sixth expansion, Legion, Blizzard has given players a treat. In the heart of Cologne, Germany, home to the annual Gamescom convention, the developer has transformed the 14th century festival hall Gürzenich into a WoW locale. At the venue's launch event on Wednesday, fans were invited to wander around a recreation of "The Fel Hammer," a starting zone in the new expansion. Inside, they were treated to heavy metal renditions of WoW music, face painting, photo booths, and WoW-themed food and drink (including Alliance and Horde cocktails, of course). Cosplayers were everywhere, and there was even a quest giver with an exclamation point above their head, who directed attendees to another "NPC" with a question mark who gave out free prizes. As well as being great PR for Blizzard, it's a nice way to give something back to the fans that pay the bills.
Blizzard has had enough of rude 'World of Warcraft' players
Blizzard wants to put a stop to inappropriate behavior in World of Warcraft. The company is rolling out a new silence penalty that will limit abusive players from engaging with the game in a few major ways.
Blizzard deal lets you stream its games on Facebook Live
Blizzard is about to make it much, much easier to share your gaming exploits with the world. The developer has unveiled a deal with Facebook that will let you stream its games directly through Facebook Live -- you won't have to do much to broadcast your latest Overwatch marathon for your friends. There isn't a firm timeline for when this will be available, but it won't be limited to Overwatch when it arrives.
Can 'Warcraft' break the curse of the video game movie?
There's a special place in cinema hell for video game movies. From 1993's cringeworthy Super Mario Bros. -- a high-profile abomination that even Nintendo wants to forget -- to the basic-cable-worthy schlock that was Mortal Kombat and even the underwhelming Jake Gyllenhaal-vehicle Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, games have failed to make the big screen translation. But that's precisely why director -- and son of the late, great David Bowie -- Duncan Jones (Moon, Source Code) agreed to tackle the theatrical debut of developer Blizzard's real-time strategy game Warcraft. "There's been a rough track record of movies based on video games," says Jones. "I do like the challenge. I like the idea of maybe making a film which is way better than anyone expected it to be because I know the expectations are all over the place."
Some 'Warcraft' movie tickets include free 'World of Warcraft'
Following a similar business tactic that drug dealers have employed for ages, developer Blizzard is giving folks who check out the upcoming Warcraft movie a free, full, copy of World of Warcraft. That's assuming you see the movie at certain Regal Cinemas (which is running a promo to send folks to BlizzCon, as well), United Artists Theaters or Edwards Theaters here in the United States. The promo is supported abroad too, with Australia, Brazil, Europe, Southeast Asia and New Zealand all getting in on the action. Of course, it's a digital edition of the game, but hey, most people don't buy physical copies of PC games anymore anyway.
