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Don't expect World of Warcraft on the PS3 or Xbox 360 ever
Blizzard Entertainment's Rob Pardo is a bona fide Rockstar in the gaming industry. In his recent keynote speech at the Game Developer's Conference at the Paris GDC he continued to indirectly extinguish rumors that suggested World of Warcraft is coming to a Console, rumors that stretch back years. While not specifically talking about World of Warcraft, when Pardo was asked what kept MMOs from Consoles he responded: "Lack of hard drive space, and difficulty in certifying patches. Basically just that.... another problem is that they want a piece of the subscriptions (laughs)." That's a simplistic answer coming from the Executive VP of Design at Blizzard Entertainment, but there it is laid out in plain sight, a truth even if shared in a humorous fashion. Giving Microsoft or Sony residuals, most likely a big chunk is one thing keeping World of Warcraft off Consoles. Is that a bad thing? No, but Blizzard could be missing something here, and just maybe Rob Pardo is plain wrong about what's keeping MMOs away from Consoles. It's simple really...
WoW: The hunt is on as Arena Tournament Phase 2 opens
So it begins, phase 2 in the 2008 World of Warcraft Arena qualifier rounds is officially underway! Practice time is over for Arena competitors who have been honing their reflexes and waiting to prove their mettle since phase 1 ended. This is the last qualifying round to battle it out for a spot in the live regional with a chance to compete for over $200,000 in cash and prizes. Vhairi, WoW Armory statistician, tracked the performance of classes in phase 1, and it will be interesting to see whether or not the same team comps come out on top with Warlocks, Druids, and Rogues dominating team makeup's in the last round. The registration fee is $20 per account; play will last six weeks with matches played out on the Tournament realms. This is a 3v3 only event, but the 2v2 and 5v5 brackets see quite a bit of action as well, proving that there is a demand for this type of competitive player versus player gameplay. Raiding Sunwell is the last thing a die-hard arena junkie has on their mind. Participants can create up to three new level 70s with full sets of PvP gear per realm. Hit the official tournament forum to meet up with others to discuss the best strategies and team compositions.
The Gaming Iconoclast: A side of PlanetSide
"Come on, you apes! Do you want to live forever?" - Unknown WWI platoon Sergeant, as quoted in the epigraph of Starship Troopers, Robert HeinleinThis sort of chaos, of being flung into the maw of an overwhelming and relentless foe, very succinctly sums up the jovial insanity of Massively's foray into PlanetSide's world-event realm as so-called Black Ops. Replete with frenetic action, us-versus-the-world attitude, and the ever-so-helpful seismic and meteoric stylings of a GM eavesdropping on our Skype chat, TGI hopes that our incursion into PlanetSide's universe provided an entertaining distraction to the folks for whom it's been a long-time daily driver.Our efforts could politely have been called "lambs to the slaughter." They could less-politely be visualized as a well-worn combat boot meeting a sensitive part of TGI's anatomy, perhaps the one he sits upon, repeatedly and with great vigor.It was glorious.
Where the Activision Blizzard merger stands
Shock and awe hit the gaming industry on December 2, 2007, on that morning two giants announced a deal worth 18.8 billion dollars. Activision and Vivendi Games are to merge, a monstrosity in the making set to rival Electronic Arts for the throne to the word's biggest and most profitable force in game development and business. An acquisition on this scale doesn't happen overnight, and since the original announcement there have been numerous noteworthy developments. Gamasutra delves into the acquisition providing an in-depth analysis which focuses on the overall impact thus far about key players and their new positions, what this means for Blizzard Entertainment, and of course more numbers. The piece also includes commentary with some respected authorities in their field including Massively's own Michael Zenke.
Additional tickets made available for Blizzard's WWI
If you thought you missed your chance to attend the 2008 Blizzard Entertainment Worldwide Invitational, we have some good news for you. Blizzard has just announced additional tickets for this event, available next week on the WWI website.The event will be held in Europe, at the Porte de Versailles Exposition Centre in Paris, France, on the 28th and 29th of June. This convention will feature a variety of events including panels and discussions held by Blizzard employees, costume contests, machinima contests, eSports tournaments and more. Despite all of this, possibly the most exciting part will be the chance for attendees to get some hands-on play time with Wrath of the Lich King and StarCraft II. Be sure to check out the complete event FAQ and more information on purchasing your tickets at the official website.
Vivendi: Wrath of the Lich King coming second half of 2008
In a press release announcing Q1 2008 results (PDF File), Blizzard owner Vivendi Universal asserts that the upcoming World of Warcraft expansion Wrath of the Lich King is "anticipated to be released in the second half of 2008." Mark your calendars, as we suspect the Christmas season is going to be a lot less productive. While we always expected release this year, Blizzard, who has yet to make a formal announcement, is notorious for delaying games until they've met some in-house standard of quality. Our attention is now focused intently on Blizzard's WWI event in Paris next month. [Via Big Download] Read (PDF File)
Rob Pardo to speak at Paris GDC in June
At the Paris Game Developers Conference this year, we will have the pleasure of hearing from Blizzard's Senior Vice President of game design, Rob Pardo. He will be presenting a keynote Q&A entitled "In the Eye of the Blizzard", where he will discuss his inspirations, challenges and his future at Blizzard Entertainment with interviewer Jamil Moledina, the executive director of GDC Events.Rob is certainly no stranger to game conference keynotes, as he has recently shown at the San Francisco GDC, but it will be interesting to hear his newest keynote interview where he will address the important topic that most game developers have on their minds: how to win at the game of creating a money-making MMO.The Paris GDC will offer over 50 sessions this year, and will be held on June 23-24th at the Coeur Defense Convention Centre in Paris, France.
The Gaming Iconoclast: Jumping Ship
In the spring, a young man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love.-- Alfred, Lord TennysonNo matter where you go, there you are.-- Buckaroo BanzaiRecently, in The Daily Grind, Brenda brought up the subject of taking up a new game in addition to, or instead of, one you currently play, and there were some very insightful responses in the comments. We here at TGI have been mulling over the same issue lately as well. There's apparently something in the air or water these days that leads to such ruminations. Not necessarily outright dalliances, per se, but as a gedankenexperiment into the merits of leaving our current realm or realms and striking out for greener fields. There seems to be a generalized atmosphere swirling around this notion of changing games lately, but why? For some players, it's idle speculation; for others, serious contemplation. For developers, it's either cause for concern or Miller Time. Is it merely widespread anticipation of Warhammer Online and Age of Conan? Is it boredom with the current crop of MMO titles?Or is everybody out there just playing Grand Theft Auto IV?
A dwarven explosion of Wrath of the Lich King info
Last night Blizzard waved its Arcane Staff of Embargo Lifting, unleashing an torrential downpour of World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King information from an event held recently. Our friends at WoW Insider, whose invitation must've gotten lost in the mail along with ours, are gathering all the news from around the internet. In case you missed anything: Gamespy's hands on with Wrath of the Lich King Dungeons and Raids in Wrath of the Lich King More of the Wrath of the Lich King impressions and information coming out The Death Knight class revealed Gamespy Interviews J. Allen Brack A flood of videos are also coming in. We've embedded several from GameTrailers after the break.
The Gaming Iconoclast: Discomfort Zone
A mind, once opened, can never be shut again. -- Alfred EinsteinHave you ever wondered how the other half lives? Maybe you're a tank, and know the intricacies of threat and mitigation inside and out, but can't figure out what those finger-wigglers at the back are going on about. Or perhaps you're a sniper, and don't care about what goes on in the melee fracas.When the game itself runs out of challenges for you, and you're not ready to move on, it becomes time to challenge ourselves. We may not be ready or willing to move to another virtual world altogether -- we've got friends in a guild that we want to keep playing with, for example, not to mention all the sparkly toys we've accrued. If you've gotten too good at your primary role, and keep frequent company with a group who is likewise adept at what they do, it can be easy to grow complacent. There are ways to spice things up once in a while, by doing themed events, or partaking in certain vices. But these are temporary measures, more the exception than the rule.To truly push ourselves, we need to step fully clear from what we've mastered. For some folks, it may be sidling around from the bad guy's face to their back, or trading in some brass knuckles for a crossbow. For me, it meant wading into the thick of the fray, rather than lobbing damage or healing from a more-or-less safe distance. In this spirit, I wanted to learn what those sneaky guys at the top of the damage charts were up to.How hard could it be, right?
Behind the Curtain: Taught to Play?
On the first episode of Massively Speaking, Krystalle mentioned that she joined the EVE University in EVE Online. For those of you not in 'the know', EVE University is a neutral training guild - or corporation - which takes new players, trains them in how the game works, then sends them on their way. It's a laudable endeavour, and one which I have, sadly, yet to see in World of Warcraft. In the past couple of weeks, I've had a fantastic group with a Priest whose idea of efficient Healing was to stand right next me (the Tank) on the front line and spam Prayer of Healing over and over, then screaming at me for not Taunting mobs off him, and another with a Rogue who (I presume) had a broken space bar which made him jump constantly, ignored the marks I set over mobs and thought it was a bright idea to chain-pull mobs regardless of the group's health and mana status. Now, I'm a nice enough guy, so I tried to explain to these players what they were doing wrong, and asked them politely to change their ways for the good of the group. The Priest simply called me an idiot while the Rogue just ignored me completely. Still, I started to wonder about how people learn, not just how to play games, but how to behave in games. I know I wrote a while back about various resources of in-game knowledge, but let's face it, simply handing someone a manual - virtual or otherwise - and telling them to start reading isn't normally the right way to go about things.
Player vs. Everything: When will the players leave WoW?
I always think it's interesting when I hear developers talk about how World of Warcraft opened up the MMOG market for new entrants. We have all these new and exciting games coming out: Age of Conan, Warhammer Online, The Chronicles of Spellborn, and plenty more. However, the overwhelming response that I get from WoW players when I talk about these games is a blank stare and something along the lines of, "Okay, that sounds all right... but why would I ever want to leave WoW?" I think that developers tend to underestimate how attached people get to their MMOG of choice. There are now over 10 million World of Warcraft players. The question is, do they even want something different? I've read a number of bloggers in the past few months and talked to a number of players who claim that they're only playing WoW right now because "it's the best thing out there." They're yearning for something else. Not something totally different, mind you, since they obviously have a blast in Azeroth. But something fresh enough to be new and exciting without bastardizing the game style they know and love. However, I've noticed something interesting. This breed of player tends to overwhelmingly be comprised of people for whom World of Warcraft was not their first MMOG. Otherwise, people just want WoW to put more content in and are willing to make do with what they have until then. I think there's an intriguing bit of psychology there that's worth examining.
WoW achieves a million concurrent connections in China
World of Warcraft's Chinese overlords, The9, announced the game hit the epic (but not legendary) feat of having over one million concurrent connections. According to The9 it breaks the concurrency records set by the game's launch in China on September 6, 2007.Instinctively, the finger for this record-breaking concurrency is pointed at Chinese gold farmers, but apparently those players are on the North American and European servers and wouldn't be counted in The9's tally. The milestone isn't too shabby for a game that's allegedly peaked.[Via Massively, Ancient Gaming Noob]
One million concurrent connections set record in WoW
Can you imagine one million people doing anything simultaneously? This is one of those fascinating statistics like how a child is born every 3.6 seconds or someone eats meatloaf every 4.9 seconds. Never mind the fact that those previous stats are completely made up, World of Warcraft recently achieved the astounding feat of one million concurrent players in China. Not only is this a testament to the network stability in China, but it's also a new record for the game since it's launch in June of 2005.Amid unfounded allegations that these were all gold sellers, the fact of the matter is that gold sellers go where the money is: the European and North American servers. Regardless, this new record is quite a feat and we now anxiously await the next record-breaking event. Most random duel requests in a second? Most uses of the word "noob" on one server? We shall see.
WoW: Wrath of the Lich King storms into alpha
You might not believe us sweet, innocent Joystiq readers but, legend has it, there are places in the world where people tirelessly track the status of Wrath of the Lich King, the forthcoming expansion to uber-MMO World of Warcraft. They listen, following the faintest whispers carried along the winds of Azeroth; the latest one came all the way from the frozen continent of Northrend, the titular Lich King's seat of power. It said: Wrath of the Lich King "is in closed alpha status" and "various players are being invited to check it out, under a strict NDA." While we can't exactly extract an expansion release date from the news, WoW Insider suggests that "Wrath's content is in a playable and mostly completed form -- quests, game mechanics, and items are in, even if specific flavor text, names, and even textures are not." Northrend, ho! %Gallery-5511% Check out more information on WoW's upcoming expansion, Wrath of the Lich King, including a look at the new Death Knight class and the new creatures that infest Northrend.
THQ thinks WoW has probably peaked
Apparently THQ executive Jack Sorenson is pretty sure that World of Warcraft has hit its peak. He goes on to admit that there will likely still be millions of people playing WoW in a couple of years, but says that its subscriber count will have diminished. This would supposedly be the perfect time to launch a brand new game. Why? About two years from now is of course when THQ is looking to launch their Warhammer 40k MMO, however as anyone who follows MMO development can tell you, the market can change rather rapidly.WoW may be severely less of a threat in a couple of years time, but there are plenty of other MMOs that could take its place between now and two years out -- including Blizzard's next MMO. So while WoW may have hit its peak, in a couple of years time THQ could find themselves staring down the barrel of yet another juggernaut title: current or upcoming.
GDC08: Live from Rob Pardo talks about Blizzard's approach to MMOs
Rob Pardo, Blizzard's Senior Vice President of Game Design, is speaking at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco this afternoon and WoW Insider is here live to catch it all. Though the auditorium is just filling up, Pardo should be out in a few minutes to tell us all about Blizzard's approach to multiplayer game design. Catch the full details after the break.%Gallery-16546%
Bank declines Blizzard charges
It seems that keyloggers and phishers are not the only fraudsters infiltrating World of Warcraft. Halifax, a bank in the United Kingdom has ceased processing most transactions with Blizzard Entertainment. This measure was taken in response to increasing numbers of reports fraudulent transactions for WoW services. I had a similar issue with another bank based in the United States. That institution saw my recurring Blizzard charge as suspicious. Once I contacted them to verify my subscriptions my credit card was quickly returned to an active status. In this case, the only fault on Blizzard's is making an astoundingly popular, subscription-based RPG. Do be on the lookout for unexpected transactions from Blizzard Entertainment and be sure to report them to your bank as soon as possible. Representatives from Blizzard Entertainment declined interviews with the Register, which investigated this phenomenon. Do not be surprised if the transaction for your WoW subscription is refused in the near future. Halifax customers can use their credit cards to pay for their WoW subscriptions by making special arrangements with their account services department. If you would like to continue to use your Halifx Visa or Master card, be sure to contact customer support for authentication.
World of Warcraft: Shifting gears in WotLK
WoW loot comes in the familiar shapes and flavors: Purples, Blues, and Greens. There's bunches, and the carrots keep players going even after reaching the wall as item progression is all that's really left. Loot rewards acknowledge our achievements, but bringing balance to the itemization scale in WotLK will be challenging. The (world) content is static and linear; its difficulty won't adapt or scale automatically to each player. The Developers are forced to find a point somewhere between the lower-end equipped and the higher-end equipped playerbase, and tune the overall difficulty around that target mark. The outset is crucial as it will set the pace in an expansion. They can't go to far off the scale in either direction, and in WoW's case there's always new players to consider, or those returning after a long hiatus, not to mention that whole new Death Knight class. When it comes to gear effectiveness Blizzard has taken a no player left behind approach, but doesn't this devalue loot too quickly?
BlizzCast hits the scene
Listen to BlizzCast or it may die, and go away forever. No, that's not a good thing. In the first segment, CM Kevin "Karune" Yui interviews Samwise Didier, Blizzard Entertainment's Art Director. The interview runs for 12 minutes; no ground-breaking information is disclosed, but there is some good shop-talk on Starcraft II art and his conceptual art process. You can also check out some featured artwork from Samwise throughout the transcript. The final segment focuses on World of Warcraft and clocks in at 8 minutes. CM Drysc interviews Jeffrey "Tigole" Kaplan. Kaplan mainly rehashes what the designers are doing with the upcoming Sunwell 2.4 patch. WoW Insider has been covering this ad nauseum, but here's what I gleaned: First 3 Sunwell Plateau bosses and their difficulty levels are tuned against Tier 6 players. No attunement to enter or for the first 3 bosses. Overall faction for Sunwell Isle is the Shattered Sun Offensive. Aldor and Scryer storyline continues as their forces combine to battle against the Burning Legion. NPC changes will be reflected in Shattrath. Sunwell Plateau loot rewards will be Tier 7; including, armor sets bonuses and class specific loot but no unique sets in terms of looks. Kaplan assures that the Tier 7 look will diversify better than the comparisons made with AQ 40 itemization. Magister's Terrace 5 man dungeon both heroic and normal modes, and it will have a similar difficulty as Shadow Labyrinth and Shattered Halls. Magister's Terrace is a 4 boss dungeon. The first 3 bosses drop one 1 in 15 blues, which are normal level 70 dungeon loot. The last boss will drop 1 in 10 epics on par with lower-end Karazhan epics. Magister's Terrace itemization is intended to play a deeper relevancy in WoW's itemization today by offering better rewards than older dungeons but not over doing it. Possible class balancing depending on the results from the 2.3 patch, but nothing concrete at this time. Daily quest allotment will be raised from 10 to 25. That's a wrap on my show notes. Be sure to check out the official BlizzCast page where you can view the transcript or download the audio. Chris Metzen will be joining the next episode. I'm definitely looking forward to that, and maybe we will get some information on the World of Warcraft movie. Blizzard is also giving away some sweet Logitech 5.1 speaker sets and Starcraft II garb to those who leave feedback about their first show. My thoughts about the production and format are after the break.
