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Death and Taxes 5-mans Loatheb
Our Guild of the Year for 2006, Death and Taxes, hasn't wasted any time in 2007, either. At a time when most guild are trying to keep their raiding numbers up, D&T doesn't bother-- they just go in with less people. And now, reports Curse, they've downed Loatheb with just five people-- three shadow priests, a warlock specced with Nether Protection (or maybe not, see comments), and a warrior.The official announcement is over on their forums. They don't say specifics on attempts or how long it took them, but apparently they've got 15 gigs of video from FRAPS on the kill. That means, of course, that a video is coming soon, but as one of the guys says, we probably don't need to see a video to know what happened: "Just imagine a shadowbolt and 3 blue lines flying in the air for 40 minutes."
WoW Insider Best of 2006: Blizzard's Best and Worst
This is the final entry in our year end awards. All this week, we've looked at the best Azeroth had to offer this year-- from Guild, Server and Class, through Friend, Enemy, and Instance, all the way to Player and Addon of the Year.And today we're taking a final look at the company behind it all in 2006. WoW looks like a completely different game right now then it did last January-- PVP is completely different, the endgame instances have almost doubled in size and number, items have sprouted up like adds in UBRS, and the classes have almost completely new talents across the board. Blizzard did a lot to this game this year, but not all of it was great. So today we're taking a look at the best change Blizzard made this year, and the worst. Best and Worst Blizzard Moves of the Year are after the jump.
WoW Insider Best of 2006: Addon and Player
This is the second-to-last entry in our end of the year awards here at WoW Insider. Last week, we asked your opinion on ten different categories throughout all of Azeroth, and over the weekend, the WoW Insider staff rounded up what we thought represented the Best (and in one case, Worst) of this year.Earlier this week, we gave away the awards for Server, Guild, and Class of the Year, and yesterday we picked a Friend, Enemy, and Instance of the Year. Today, we've got one easy choice, and one hard one. Addons were all over the place this year (thanks to a late year "addon meltdown" courtesy of the Blizzard devs), but we've chosen one that we think represents the best of what an addon can do. And since there are eight million players throughout the World of Warcraft, it was very hard to pick just one-- so we decided to go ahead and pick four. Click the link below to read our choices for Addon and Player of the Year.And that leaves just two more categories: tomorrow we'll announce Blizzard's Best and Worst Moves of the Year, so check back then as well.
WoW Insider Best of 2006: Friend, Enemy, and Instance
All this week, we're announcing our picks (from your nominations) for the best of the year in Azeroth. Lots of great stuff happened in the World of Warcraft this year, and we've sifted through all of it to come up with the stuff we'll remember for a long time.Yesterday, we announced the awards for Server, Class, and Guild of the Year, and today we're proud to tell you our picks for Friend of the Year, Enemy of the Year, and Instance of the Year. Next year, we'll have all new foes (are you prepared?) and friends, not to mention tons of new instances. But before all the changes come, we're looking back at two NPCs that helped and hurt us this year, and the swirly portal we most enjoyed walking through. The winners are right after the break below.And don't forget to come back all this week-- we've still got Player of the Year and Best and Worst Blizzard Move of the Year to announce, so stay tuned.
iTunes best of 2006
As another orbit around the sun comes to a close the inevitable 'Best of' lists are starting to spring up everywhere. Apple, not wanting to be left out in the cold has compiled a number of Best of 2006 lists: Music Podcasts (Staff favorites, and the People's choice) TV shows The Music and TV show sections have a number of subsections which include best sellers, as well as staff favorites. What has been your favorite iTunes purchase of this year? Mine has to be the season pass to Frisky Dingo (which is not appropriate for all ages).
WoW Insider Best of 2006: Server, Class, and Guild
The year is almost over, and that means it's time for us to take a look back, and pick some of the best (and worst) of Azeroth in 2006. This year saw a lot of innovation, a lot of whining, plenty of killing (both PVE and PVP), and almost saw the new expansion (we have to save something for next year, right?).Last week, we took your nominations for ten different categories. Over the weekend, the WoW Insider staff deliberated. I'd like to say there was a lot of arguing back and forth, and even some throwing of items around the room at each other, but truthfully things went pretty smoothly (everyone agreed I was right). And so, without further ado, today we present the Server, Class, and Guild of the Year for 2006. Click the link below to see the winners.And come back every day this week, as we award all the other categories, including Player of the Year, Best (and Worst) Blizzard Move of the Year, and even NPC Friend and Enemy of the Year.
Mac DevCenter suggests best new apps of 2006
It's an idea that, frankly, we wish we had thought of first -- and that's not to say we won't do it anyway, nyah! -- but the O'Reilly Mac DevCenter squad has posted a few candidates for the top applications of 2006. With ten deep-thinking and developer-focused geektributors (including our own Erica Sadun), the nominated apps tend toward the utilitarian: Apple Remote Desktop, Parallels, a smattering of QuickTime codecs and audio tools, and popular favorite Yojimbo.For my money, Todd Ogasawara has picked it right with Parallels. There's no other product with the impact, press/blogosphere attention, and overall buzz of the multi-OS virtualization app that could. Who knows... perhaps next year we'll be talking about VMware and SketchFighter Alpha as the best apps around.What's your favorite application from the past 353 days? Let us know below.
Best of 2006 nominations: Player, Addon, Best and Worst Blizzard Move
Today's the final day of asking for your nominations for our end of the year awards. We're choosing the best of 2006 in ten different categories-- we've gotten your nominations this week, and next week we'll be posting our choices for Azeroth's best of the year. Thanks to everyone who's commented already, and please comment throughout the weekend on your choices for all the categories.Today, we're asking you to nominate the Best Player of the Year, the Best Addon of the Year, and the Best and Worst Blizzard Move of the Year. For Player, yes, we realize there are seven million players out there, and it is extremely hard to choose just one of them-- if we could recognize all of you, we would. But we're trying to find one player that has really stood out in WoW this year-- won amazing victories, raised the profile of the game, or really embodied what WoW players are all about. We're looking for a hero among heroes, someone who embodied Azeroth in 2006.For Best Addon, we're looking for the Addon that most affected the game this year-- either an Addon that really moved the game along in terms of interace, an addon that was invaluable to players of all types, or an Addon that stood head and shoulders above the others in terms of functionality and polish.And finally, we want to know your choices for Blizzard's Best and Worst Move of the Year. What's the best thing Blizzard did for the game this year-- the best and most satisfying change they made? And on the flip side, what's the absolute Worst thing they did to the game this year, that sent players running for the hills (and for the competitors)?Finally, if you haven't posted your nominations for the other categories yet, as I said, we'll leave those comments open all weekend, so please post them for us to read. The WoW Insider staff will deliberate over the weekend, and all next week, we'll announce the WoW Insider Best of 2006. Thanks for your input.Previously: Nominations for Server, Class, and Guild; Nominations for Friend, Enemy, and Instance.
USA Today: Gaming's best and worst of 2006
USA Today published their critique of the best and worst 2006 had to offer in the video game industry. Not that these kinds of articles aren't a dime a dozen now a days, but it's an interesting read no matter. A few interesting highlights would be awards for Best First-Person Shooter going to Gears of War (shouldn't that be best second person shooter?), Best Game going to Oblivion, and the Playstation 3 taking home the Worst Console Launch of 2006 award (stiff competition). We're also intrigued by the Worst Industry Trend award going to micro-payments, which I'm sure most people would agree with. Although, micro-payments aren't that big of a deal as long as they are of value and aren't overpriced ... damn horse.[Via Digg]
Best of 2006 nominations: Friend, Enemy, Instance
I have to thank everybody for their nominations yesterday in our progressing Best of 2006 feature. All this week, we're asking for your nominations for our WoW Insider Best of 2006 awards-- this week we're getting your opinions, over the weekend, the trusty WoW Insider staff will crunch numbers and argue with each other, and next week, we'll announce the Best of 2006 in ten different categories throughout the World of Warcraft.Today, we're asking for your nominations in the categories of Friend of the Year, Enemy of the Year, and Instance of the Year. For Friend, we're talking about a Friendly *NPC* (we don't mean your real-life friends that play the game with you) of either faction that stood out to you in your travels around the world. Choose one NPC in the game this year that helped you out the most, or made you enjoy the game during their interaction. For Enemy, we're asking the opposite-- choose one mob in the game (raid boss or otherwise) that gave you the most grief, you had the most fun killing, or that just made you appreciate the game more.And for Instance-- well, you can guess that one. Choose one Instance from the game that really shined for players this year, someplace you really enjoyed running or couldn't wait to go get loot from. It doesn't have to have been introduced this year, but if one of the new instances is a place you spent a lot of time this year, feel free to nominate that.Again, just place your nominations for these three in the comments below, and we'll take care of the rest. Keep checking back every day this week for more nominations posts (we've got a few more categories to go through, including one where we recognize the Worst of something), and then come by all next week to see what we eventually choose as the Best of 2006 in the World of Warcraft.Previously: Nominations for Server, Class, and Guild.
Best of 2006 nominations: Server, Class, Guild
It's that time of year again-- a chill is in the air, snow is on the ground, the holidays are here... and publications all over the place are proclaiming their year-end lists, a chance to look back at the past year, and pick out what we'll remember most in the years to come.This year, WoW Insider is no different. We're going to put together a list of the best of ten different categories from all over Azeroth. We'll honor everything great that this game has to offer (and even something we don't really want to remember). But we need your help. All this week, we'll be posting and asking for your nominations in a number of different categories. Look for these "Best of 2006 Nominations" posts every single day this week, and you'll be able to register what you think about the different categories we post that day. Then, all next week, we'll be doing a series of Best of 2006 posts, where we'll honor all the best that the World of Warcraft has to offer, just in time for the end of the year.Today, we're asking for your nominations in three categories: Server of the Year, Class of the Year, and Guild of the Year. Post your nominations for those three categories below. Sure, you could post your own Server, Class, or Guild, but try to think of one for each that has really led the vanguard this year in World of Warcraft-- for Guild of the Year, you could let us know about a guild that did something really amazing for its members. Or for Class of the Year, you could recognize one class that really came into its own this year, or one class that stood firm against the sea of QQing, or actually QQed enough to get what they wanted with the CMs.Anyway, go wild: we want your noms today for Best Server, Class, and Guild of 2006. All this week, keep your eyes open for more nominations posts like this one-- we've got ten different categories to go through. And next week, we'll be announcing the winners of the WoW Insider Best of 2006. Stay tuned, and thanks in advance for giving us your opinion to help pick the best that 2006 has to offer.
