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AoC beta: a tale of two clients
Frustrated with the Age of Conan open beta's serious performance problems? Worried that the game won't be ready for retail in just a couple of weeks? Don't worry too much; not it is all as it seems. Word on the virtual street is that the open beta client is an old build with issues long since resolved in the closed beta version.When the IGN beta event finally began on Thursday, thousands of excited gamers ended up more frustrated than entertained. The experience has been marred by low framerates, stuttering, and frequent hard crashes. Admittedly, it's a beta; some of that is to be expected. But it's bad, and since the game's retail release is less than three weeks away, there's an air of concern that Age of Conan will hit retail in an unplayable state. The reality is more complex than that.
About the Bloggers: moo Money
Twice a week, our writers will tell you more about themselves, and let you get to know them and the characters they play a little better. Click here to read more About the Bloggers.What do you do for WoW Insider?I write the daily machinima posts for both WoW Insider, and its broader MMO sister site, Massively.What's your main right now?This won't make me very popular, but I actually don't really play WoW. I did for a while after it came out, but I'm not a very good grinder and it just got lonely.This is an outrage! How dare you write about WoW without playing it?That's actually a really good question. I got my start in machinima roughly two years ago when I was hired to promote it in Second Life, an oft-mocked virtual world. Through experimentation with machinima, as well as the education that I provided to others, I became known as one of the "It" people for machinima in SL. When Second Life Insider folded into Massively in November 2007, I volunteered to write the daily Cinemassively. After about 45 days straight of blogging them, WI asked me to do the same for WoW Moviewatch!Read on to find out more about the Notorious M.O.O. ...
Attention all would-be Fanboy bloggers: update
Last month, we asked for applications from people who were interested in joining the DS and Wii Fanboy blog teams, and we were rewarded with great, teetering piles of posts. On that front, we've got good news, and maybe some bad news. At last, we are nearing some decisions. Unfortunately, this means that if you haven't heard from us, you're probably not going to. Sadly, we do not have time to respond to every application individually, but we can say that, on the whole, the applications we received this time around were fantastic and competition was extremely fierce. Go ahead and pat yourselves on the back if you applied, because you deserve it. And watch this space for new fanboys -- they should be appearing soon!
Attention all would-be bloggers: update
Last month, we asked for applications from people who were interested in joining the DS and Wii Fanboy blog teams, and we were rewarded with great, teetering piles of posts. On that front, we've got good news, and maybe some bad news. At last, we are nearing some decisions. Unfortunately, this means that if you haven't heard from us, you're probably not going to. Sadly, we do not have time to respond to every application individually, but we can say that, on the whole, the applications we received this time around were fantastic and competition was extremely fierce. Go ahead and pat yourselves on the back if you applied, because you deserve it. And watch this space for new fanboys -- they should be appearing soon!
The suspicion of [Name Removed]
Van Hemlock would like to talk about a certain virtual world, but, alas, he cannot. It's not because he doesn't want to -- he does. Or because he thinks any less of ... this place, because he doesn't. It's just because he's careful. A certain entity has laid claim to some letters placed next to other letters, and he's just respecting their rights. Van Hemlock isn't angry. He's just confused. Other games and virtual worlds have trademarks and yet manage not to anger their fan communities .... Right or wrong? We don't know, but Van Hemlock's hilarious take on the matter had us smirking and turning certain trademarked properties into pieces of public art for fun.
About the Bloggers: Adam Holisky
Twice a week, our writers will tell you more about themselves, and let you get to know them and the characters they play a little better. Click here to read more About the Bloggers.What do you do for WoW Insider?I'm a standard issues blogger, reporting on just about everything I can get my hands on. I like to concentrate on raid and high-end PvE issues, since that's where I spend most of my time in game. I've also go a few projects in the work for our sister site, Massively. I think my first article should pop up over there next week (knock on wood)...What's your main right now?My main is a Protection Spec Human Warrior on Eldre'Thalas. He's been my main since March of 2005. However, I have flirted at times with the possibility of switching to a Priest full time, but that was back in November of 2006. However that said, I also have many other alts that I give a lot of care and love. One of my favorite things to do is to run the level 70 five mans with friends, all of us running on our fourth or fifth alt. It's kinda fun!More after the break!
Want to write for us? The deadline approaches!
If you saw our recent post requesting applications for new bloggers and you're planning to throw your name in the hat, get to it! We will cease taking applications Friday, March 14th at 11:59 P.M. Eastern time. Rather than rehashing everything we said before, we thought we'd take this time to offer up answers to the three most frequently asked questions:1. Can I write for only DS Fanboy or Wii Fanboy instead of writing for both?Sorry, half-fanboys -- we need someone who can write for both sites!2. Do you assign stories and material to your bloggers?For the most part, no. In order to succeed, you'll need to be pretty attuned to the news of the gaming world. There's no time to wait for someone to discover the news for you. However, this also means you get a chance to write about the things that interest you.3. Do I need to own a DS or a Wii in order to write for DS and Wii Fanboy?It's probably a good idea! After all, how can you be a fanboy if you don't own the hardware?For any other questions you may have, be sure to hit up the original post. It includes instructions on how to apply (and not following them is a bad idea), as well as answers to other questions you may have.
Attention all scribes: We're looking for bloggers [update]
[Update: As of Friday, March 14, we are no longer accepting applications. Hit us next time!]It's that time again, folks -- the DS and Wii Fanboy blogs are looking for new bloggers. If you can handle being beaten regularly, scrabbling for news, and oh, maybe being paid to write about video games, you just might be the kind of person we're looking for. We're specifically looking for someone who can commit to writing between 50 and 60 posts per month, spread between DS and Wii Fanboy. Not sure how much work that is? Take a peek at the average post on the blogs ... then multiply by 50. It's just that easy. For specific instructions on how to apply, check after the break -- and make sure you read everything. You will be tested.
WoW Insider Weekly
We have moved our weekly features wrapup to Tuesday, since it seemed like a good idea at the time. So here's all of the weekly features from the past week (and a few days) here on WoW Insider, for your reading enjoyment.Sunday Morning Funnies: Rogue stablesLaugh away with our weekly wrapup of WoW-related comics.Spiritual Guidance: Holyform and lesser holy talentsDon't get your hopes up-- Holyform might not be yours to use quite yet.All the World's a Stage: The passing of the beastPlaying a role in the Lunar Festival.Officers' Quarters: Kicking and screamingAs in, first you do the /gkicking, and then comes the screaming.Lots more right after the link below.
New faces at WoW Insider
Last December we put out a call for new writers. Breaking news bloggers, weekend bloggers and a Mage columnist were all on our list of positions to fill. After reading the hundreds of excellent applications (and a few very strange ones), we've made our final decision.The new WoW Insider staffers include Adam Holisky and Alex Ziebart who have both already hit the ground running to boost our weekend coverage. Daniel Whitcomb, Amanda Dean and Heath Milo will be starting this week to cover breaking news throughout the week and Allison Robert will be following soon after.The decision to choose which applicant would be our new Mage columnist was a tough one. The applications for this position were very, very good. However, one not only informed, but entertained in such a manner that we couldn't say no. Very soon Arcane Brilliance will be returning under Christian Belt. Trust me, there's no one quite like him.Finally, one applicant who applied as a general writer turned out to be a specialist. We liked him so much that we are in the process of hiring him to write news, tips and guides specifically for AddOns, UIs and macros. Look out for his work to start in the next month or so.If you weren't chosen, there will always be a chance in the future to apply again. Until then, our sister site Massively, covering news for all MMOs, just put out their own call for bloggers today. Applications will be accepted until February 15th.
About the Bloggers: Elizabeth Harper
Twice a week, our writers will tell you more about themselves, and let you get to know them and the characters they play a little better. Click here to read more About the Bloggers.What do you do for WoW Insider?I'm the Senior Editor on the Joystiq network, which means I do a little bit of writing and a lot of behind the scenes work on all of the Joystiq network sites, including WoW Insider. Until recently, I was the keeper of Around Azeroth and Two Bosses Enter, but these days I'm focusing my writing efforts on our Priest column, Spiritual Guidance. I've got a "Karazhan 101" idea floating around in my head right now, which will show up on the site one of these days, I'm sure.
Pentagon's "Cyber Storm" war game simulates blogger leaks, train disorder -- wait, blogger leaks?
You've got to give the Pentagon credit for imagining every possible threat scenario in its latest wargame, dubbed "Cyber Storm," but the plotline this time around is pretty wild. Starting with an electronic attack on the Port Authority of New Jersey, major new networks and bloggers spread "believable but misleading" information without revealing their sources -- all while hundreds of people on the "no-fly" list stream into airports, DC's Metro trains shut down, air traffic control towers in Philly and Chicago are disrupted, and mysterious liquids are found on the tube in London. That's quite an afternoon, but we're taking offense to the Pentagon's classification of the press and bloggers as "threats" -- come on guys, we're here to help. We wouldn't spread rumors -- there's nothing at all in the hollowed-out left leg of the front pew at St. Micheal's Church in Fort Walton, Kansas.
About the Bloggers: Eliah Hecht
About the Bloggers is a new series on WoW Insider. Twice a week, our writers will tell you more about themselves, and let you get to know them and the characters they play a little better.Hello dear readers! I'm Eliah Hecht, and I've been blogging here at WoW Insider (and more recently at Massively as well) for a little over a year now. I've been keeping pretty busy in grad school recently, so I haven't been able to post as much. What do you do for WoW Insider? I'm a standard-issue blogger, and I also contribute to the Priest column "Spiritual Guidance." I used to write Build Shop as well, but had to give that up due to time constraints.What's your main right now? Fleur, level 70 human holy priest, Shadow Council-A.For the Horde or Glory to the Alliance? Alliance, definitely, though I'm not zealous about it. Not much of a PvPer really.Favorite thing to do in Azeroth? I enjoy all facets of PvE. Leveling, 5-mans, raiding, even grinding -- a good way to relax, if you ask me. What's the best instance in the game? I'm actually quite fond of Karazhan. Before that, I would have said Molten Core. In terms of 5-mans, I'd say Mechanar in BC and Deadmines in the classic game.What's the number one thing Blizzard could do better? Ooh, that's a tough one. I have a few issues. But if I just had to pick one, I'd say spend less effort on the top-end raiding stuff and produce more early endgame content: entry-level raiding, advanced crafting, questing, that sort of thing. Along the lines of the old Tier 0.5, but with less suck.Favorite mount? I'm a bit old-school; I like my Swift Brown Steed, although you also can't beat the convenience and speed of an epic flier.Favorite piece of loot? I like my Rogue's weapon set, Reflex Blades/Stormreaver WarbladesWhen I'm not playing WoW, I'm...studying, or watching TV, although not so much of that with the WGA strike still going on.If you had 10 more hours to play every week, what would you spend them doing? Raiding or dungeons. I love to heal.
Blogger application deadline extended
As some of you have noticed, we're experiencing technical difficulties with regards to our mailing address for blogger/columnist applications, causing some messages to bounce back. You may receive a message like the following:This is an automatically generated Delivery Status Notification THIS IS A WARNING MESSAGE ONLY.YOU DO NOT NEED TO RESEND YOUR MESSAGE.Delivery to the following recipient has been delayed:apply@wow.comAs the warning says -- you do not need to resend your message. Delivery may be delayed, but e-mails are getting through. However, due to this issue, we are asking anyone sending in applications from this point forward to direct them to wowinsiderapply@gmail.com (if you have sent in an application already, you do not need to resend it) and extending the deadline for applications until Monday at 11:59pm ET. Note that due to the volume of applications we receive, I'm afraid we cannot reply to them individually.For those still interested, check out our call for bloggers post and our how to apply page.[Update: Clarified technical details, changed e-mail address]
WoW Insider is looking for new blood
As World of Warcraft only gets more and more popular, we have more and more news to cover. We're looking for new bloggers to add to our site as well one new columnist. If you want to get paid to write about the game, read on!For bloggers, we want at least one who can write a minimum of 25 posts a month on the weekends. We're also looking for bloggers that can post all through the week at least 50 times a month (2-3 posts/day). Preference will be given to those who can post heavily on Saturday/Sunday.For the columnist position, we are looking for a high level Mage to contribute to our weekly class feature Arcane Brilliance. You don't have to be a hard core raider, but some raid experience would be an advantage.For all open positions, we are looking for people who are passionate about the game and can write articles that are both informative and entertaining. See our application page for instructions on how to apply. The deadline for this round of applications is this extended to Monday, December 17 at 11:59pm PST.EDIT: Deadline extended to Monday due to current mail delivery issues.
Reminder: You could be the next TUAW blogger
Just a gentle reminder that September 7th is the deadline to apply to be TUAW's next blogger (sounds like a really lame reality show, doesn't it?) and it is rapidly approaching. Send the following: A brief bio 3 samples of posts written in TUAW's style. One should be a review of something, another an opinion piece, and the third can be whatever strikes your fancy (existing blog posts cannot be used, this has to be new material) Your current Mac setup Your contact info To apps-at-tuaw-com in plain text (no attachments, please). Also please recall that since we are, like, totally unfair and stuff you must be over the age of 18 to apply for a position at TUAW (which, by the way, is a paid gig. Pretty sweet, huh?). We're in the market for some generalists as well as specialists, so if you have something to say, or some information to share, we want to hear from you.
Want to blog for TUAW?
Apple news never rests, but sadly humans need to sleep at least 2 hours a night (at least that's what I get). In an effort to bring you the best Mac news as quickly and accurately as possible we need some new blood here at TUAW.Can you name all the cats that OS X versions have been named after? Do you know how to make your Mac do the darnedest things? Are you aware that Apple also makes computers? Then you might have what it takes to join our team of happy bloggers here at TUAW.We'll be accepting applications until September 7th, so send the following things: A brief bio 3 samples of posts written in TUAW's style. One should be a review of something, another an opinion piece, and the third can be whatever strikes your fancy (existing blog posts cannot be used, this has to be new material) Your current Mac setup Your contact info To apps-at-tuaw-com in plain text (no attachments, please). Notice that we are looking for plain text emails, folks. Sending an attachment is a sure way to take yourself out of the running.We're looking for general bloggers as well as people who have an intense knowledge of a particular Apple technology (AppleScript, QuickTime, Final Cut, what have you). Generalists and specialists are both welcome!And yes, this is a paid position (please be over 18 years of age).
WoW Insider is looking for a few good bloggers!
That's right! We're looking to expand our staff here at WoW Insider by adding a few talented bloggers and an additional columnist. Getting paid to play isn't just a daydream -- though we will expect you to be able to alt-tab out for long enough to write for us. For bloggers, we're looking for people with a passion for the game and solid writing ability. We're accepting applications from all types of players, but right now we're particularly interested in adding writers with PvP experience or who play on the European realms. For columnists, we're wanting someone who can commit to writing articles weekly or bi-weekly on a specific topic. In the past, we've asked potential writers to pitch topics to us, but this time we're only interested in one column subject: PvP. If this sounds like a good time to you, head over to our application page to get the full scoop on how to apply. We'll be accepting applications between now and Wednesday, August 22nd, at 11:59 PM EST. This isn't a lot of time, so if you're interested, get on it!
BlizzCon 2007: Thank you!
Robin, Elizabeth, Amanda, Barb, and I all had a great time at BlizzCon, and there's quite a few people that we should thank for helping us out there. First, a huge thanks to Blizzard for putting it all together, and especially to their CM staff and the PR department for setting us up with a press pass and getting us the access we needed. Another big thank you to all the guys at Xfire, who not only co-presented coverage with us, but did a terrific job of their own, and even let us in a few doors that we couldn't have opened otherwise. Upper Deck also was kind enough to sit down with us (and provide some information on their upcoming products that I'll be posting soon). We were excited to meet Ian Beckman, maker of Azerothian Supervillians, as well as the two guys who run WoW Drama, a blog about serious business in WoW. And Kevin Kelly from Joystiq joined us for most of the convention, and helped out immensely with his experience and knowhow. Back here at the ranch, we have to thank our homebound bloggers for filling in the blanks of our coverage, and we have to give a nod to our friend Boubouille over at MMO Champion, who was not only instrumental in getting some of the leaks out (and getting Frank Pierce angry at us), but also hooked us up with a few links and said some very nice things about our coverage. The guys at WoW Radio were also seen almost nonstop at BlizzCon, and gave us a nice nod as well.And last but farthest from least, we have to thank you, our readers, who not only came up and said hi, hello, and thank you to us at both the WoW Insider meetup on Thursday (the video above is a short sweep of the crowd there at the Lost Bar, right before our trivia contest), but also on the floor as well. Back here on the site, you read your way through our 99 posts over the weekend, gave us record numbers of page views, and helped us out with comments, questions, and tons of support. Thanks very much for everything-- we really, really appreciate it.We're far from done (we've got more BlizzCon news to report on, and of course we need to get around to the discussion of whether we really want siege weapons or not), but now that the event itself is over, we just wanted to take a second and say thanks. So thank you.
WoW Insider BlizzCon-tests update
So here's what my BlizzCon Bingo card looks like so far. All I need is to see someone play Zul'Aman, and I'm done. I found it kind of funny that most of the stuff wasn't very hard to come by-- Mohr didn't need a lot of prodding to do his Walken impression this evening, and instead of a Leroy Jenkins impersonator, we got the real thing (Ben Schulz, who really was Leeroy Jenkins, walked out on stage during the Sound-a-Like contest). And even if I don't catch Zul'Aman, tomorrow night I'll definitely see L70ETC play, so my BlizzCon Bingo is all but won.And speaking of winning, I still have my prize-- no one came up to me on the floor and asked for it, so I still have a prize to give away. I believe we have a few prizes left, so let's do our find-a-blogger contest again tomorrow-- if you find a WoW Insider blogger on the BlizzCon exhibit floor before anyone else, and ask about the contest, we'll give you a prize. A ton of stuff has happened at BlizzCon already, but we have a whole other day left-- see you on day 2!
