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WoW Insider Show live tomorrow featuring special guest host Kevin D.
Yes, after a short and tumultuous journey into the world of video last week, our podcast returns to its audio roots, and this week, Turpster and I welcome a special guest host, direct from Brigwyn's Child's Play charity auction. Listener Kevin D. was kind enough to step up and donate a very generous amount of money to Child's Play, and for that (and because he's a cool guy), we'll be welcoming him on the show. He's got a few things he wants to talk about, including how guilds work together, how to balance WoW and life, and why people are or aren't shy as they play the game. And of course we'll answer a few of your emails (you can send those to theshow@wow.com now), and during the meat of the show, we'll talk about the most popular posts from the last week.Should be a lot of fun, and hey here's this: by the time we go live, we'll all know whether we have BlizzCon tickets or not. Scary, no? Join us over on the our Ustream page at May 30, 2009 3:30 PM EDT var date_span = document.getElementById("date"); var date = new Date(date_span.innerHTML); var monthname=new Array("Jan","Feb","Mar","Apr","May","Jun","Jul","Aug", "Sep","Oct","Nov","Dec"); var weekday=new Array("Sunday","Monday","Tuesday","Wednesday","Thursday", "Friday","Saturday"); var year = date.getFullYear(); var day_of_month = date.getDate(); var month = monthname[date.getMonth()]; var day = weekday[date.getDay()]; var hour = date.getHours(); if (hour > 11) { if (hour > 12) {hour -= 12} am_pm = "PM"; } else { am_pm = "AM"; } var minute = date.getMinutes(); if (minute < 10) { minute = "0"+minute; } date_string = day + ", " + month + " " + day_of_month; date_string += " at " + hour + ":" + minute + " " + am_pm; offset = -date.getTimezoneOffset()/60; if (offset >= 0) { offset = "+"+offset; } date_string += " in your time zone (GMT"+offset+")"; date_span.innerHTML = (date_string); , or you can jump after the break to see an embedded feed. And if you don't make it, don't worry -- we had some unfortunate issues with all of the video last week, but I can guarantee that this week, our audio will be back in the feed ready for your ears on Monday.Should be a lot of fun -- we'll see you on Saturday afternoon.
WoW Insider Show live today on Ustream
Today on the show, it's an all-star cast of WoW Insider folks: we'll welcome Alex Ziebart and Adam Holisky both on the show to talk about the latest news from the World of Warcraft. And as usual, Turpster will join us with his own brand of silliness (don't miss our newest feature, Turpster's Tips, in which he tells you something that may or may not help you play the game better). And what is the latest news, you ask? Why, it's our interview with Tom Chilton (featuring mentions of dance moves, new Druid forms, and player housing), that legendary mace and who it's for, whether the Bloodlust love should have some spreading around, and Alex's general disappointment with the game world lately. The show starts up at May 9, 2009 3:30 PM EDT var date_span = document.getElementById("date"); var date = new Date(date_span.innerHTML); var monthname=new Array("Jan","Feb","Mar","Apr","May","Jun","Jul","Aug", "Sep","Oct","Nov","Dec"); var weekday=new Array("Sunday","Monday","Tuesday","Wednesday","Thursday", "Friday","Saturday"); var year = date.getFullYear(); var day_of_month = date.getDate(); var month = monthname[date.getMonth()]; var day = weekday[date.getDay()]; var hour = date.getHours(); if (hour > 11) { if (hour > 12) {hour -= 12} am_pm = "PM"; } else { am_pm = "AM"; } var minute = date.getMinutes(); if (minute < 10) { minute = "0"+minute; } date_string = day + ", " + month + " " + day_of_month; date_string += " at " + hour + ":" + minute + " " + am_pm; offset = -date.getTimezoneOffset()/60; if (offset >= 0) { offset = "+"+offset; } date_string += " in your time zone (GMT"+offset+")"; date_span.innerHTML = (date_string); over on our Ustream page.And we've got a full schedule in the coming weeks as well: next week, we'll be recording the show live on Wednesday, May 13th at 6pm Eastern, so those of you who aren't usually available on Saturday will have a chance to listen in. And then on the 23rd, we'll be back live at the usual Saturday time, not only with audio but with video, as we present our video show, to thank you all for boosting our Twitter page up to over 9.000 followers. We've got a lot of fun stuff planned -- trust me when I say it'll be a cavalcade of guests and jokes and good times.And then after that, we'll be welcoming on a special guest host. Brigwyn's charity auction raised a whopping $2,500 for Child's Play this past week, and some awesome, caring fan paid almost $480 to join Turpster and I on the podcast for a week. So stay tuned for that. We'll have them on soon, and they can disagree with me or argue with Turpster or do whatever they want for the whole show. Should be a lot of fun.
One day left on Children's Week Child's Play auction
Time is running out on our friend Brigwyn's Children's Week auction to benefit the Child's Play charity. Most of the auctions have about a day left on them, and while Brigwyn has already met a few goals, and some of the auction pieces have reached some very nice bids (Cadistra's WoW Eh? print is bringing in some great money for the kids, and our own guest host spot on the podcast is doing better than I ever expected), there's still a ton of great stuff to bid on. You can still pick up an official BRK t-shirt for pretty cheap, and the infamous autographed Hooter's shirt still hasn't been bid on yet. Surely someone wants that, right? Tell you what -- if you buy the Hooter's shirt and wear it to BlizzCon, we'll have everyone there from the WoW Insider staff sign it for you as well. Now that is a prize you can't pass up!Huge thanks to everyone who's bid so far, and of course to Brigwyn for putting all of this together (if you haven't read why he's personally involved in this yet, please do). There's just over a day left, so make sure to get your bids in ASAP, and help get some kids in hospitals some videogames of their own to play while there.
Children's Week Child's Play auction is live
Children's Week is here, and with it this year comes our friend Brigwyn's Child's Play auction. You can look through all of the available items in his on-site catalogue, or head on over to eBay and start bidding on whatever you like. All of the proceeds from the auction will go to help Penny Arcade's very worthy Child's Play charity, which goes to help put videogames in hospitals where sick children can play with them. Brigwyn himself has experience with their work (which he's written about over on his site), so he knows just what kind of good they can do.And of course, we'll point out our own contribution to the auction page -- we've donated a free guest spot on our podcast, the WoW Insider Show. If you've ever wanted to tell me in virtual person how wrong I am, or encourage Turpster's already oversize ego, or weigh in with us during the Meat of the Show, now's your chance. With your bid there, not only are you helping children who are going through some terrible experiences, but you might also get the chance to speak your mind about World of Warcraft right alongside us on the show. Oh, and we'll poke around our WoW Insider prize closet for some other fun stuff for you, too -- maybe loot cards, a Turpster drawing, or whatever else we've got sitting around.So please bid -- on our item or any of the others. There's also some loot cards, some items from BRK and other well-known bloggers from around the community, and lots of extremely fun one-of-a-kind WoW items (Sure, this original signed art by Cadistra of WoW, Eh? is nice, but a Hooter's t-shirt? That's Epic if we ever saw it). The bids are coming in already, so please get yours in there ASAP!
WoW Insider Show Episode 87: Extreme Peggle fever
Another great week on our podcast last Saturday. We welcomed a brand new voice in our newest writer, Lesley Smith, as well as a familiar old one in the great Alex Ziebart, and of course Turpster and I were on hand as usual. We talked about patch 3.1.1 and a few of the hotfixes that are going out lately, the server downtime and how it compares to past patches, what the new five-man instance might be, and of course the coming of a thing called Peggle.We answered email as well -- we talked about what to do when your guild didn't have enough room in their raids, and we decided to contribute a prize to our friend Brigwyn's Child's Play auction: when his auction goes live May 1-7, you'll have a chance to bid on a guest appearance on the WoW Insider Show. Given that you have Skype installed and a free Saturday afternoon around 3:30pm (and of course that you're the highest bidder in the charity auction), you'll be able to join Turpster and I for about an hour of Warcraft discussion, along with a few other actual prizes we'll dig out of the prize closet. Stay tuned to both WoW Insider and The Hunting Lodge for more info about that.Enjoy the show, and we'll be back next week as always.Get the podcast:[iTunes] Subscribe to the WoW Insider Show directly in iTunes.[RSS] Add the WoW Insider Show to your RSS aggregator.[MP3] Download the MP3 directly.Listen here on the page:
The Daily Quest: The Hunting Lodge and Child's Play
We here at WoW Insider are on a Daily Quest to bring you interesting, informative and entertaining WoW-related links from around the blogosphere.The Hunting Lodge is running a charity auction for Child's Play next week. There's a compelling story to read over on Brigwyn's site, and I humbly suggest that everyone takes a moment to go over there and read how this great charity was able to help his family out. While games and gamers can get bad press, all anyone needs to do is to look at the story Brigwyn posted (and others have echoed around the net at various points) and be convinced otherwise.And after you've visited the Hunting Lodge, there are some other great stories to check out around the wownet: The Big Bear Butt says retro raiding just because! Twinkinfo has an interesting note about WoW sponsoring an NBA playoff game. Check out this plush moonkin made by Serthida of Bloodhoof. It's cute! Click here to submit a link to TDQ
The Daily Quest: Cake is delicious
We here at WoW Insider are on a Daily Quest to bring you interesting, informative and entertaining WoW-related links from around the blogosphere. Vodka, currently one of the top raiding guilds in North America, has put out their Ulduar preview video. Give it a watch, then just try and tell me it doesn't excite you Children's Week is quickly approaching, and the Hunting Lodge wants to bring the holiday into the real world. Head on over to the Hunting Lodge and give Child's Play a helping hand! Of Teeth and Claws talks Druid DoTs in Patch 3.1. DoTs of the Feral persuasion, mind. You Moonkin are out of luck on this one. Wonderland has some sweet, sweet baked goods for all of you to salivate over. If you want more cakey goodness, don't forget that we have our own World of Warcraft cake gallery. Click here to submit a link to TDQ
Indie MMO donates 5% of all in-game purchases to charity
A browser-based RMT MMORPG is giving players a chance to become real life heroes through charity. Domain of Heroes is announcing their integrated charity system feature that donates 5% of all in-game purchases to the cause of a player's choice.Players have already donated over $500 to Child's Play and Women In Games International since the system was launched. Child's Play supplies toys and games to over 60 hospitals around the world, while WIGI promotes the inclusion and advancement of women in the games industry."It's a great way for players to have a direct influence on where their donation dollars go, while raising awareness for game-related charities in general," said Aaron Murray, Technical Director and Founder of Tandem Games. "Both Child's Play and WIGI are very excited to see this level of ongoing commitment from a company. We hope other companies will follow suit and share their revenue with deserving charities."Domain of Heroes claims to be the MMO for working people and is accessible from almost any browser on almost any platform without the need for plugins (e.g., Flash, Java appletc, etc.). You can choose from 3 factions, 30 races, 27 classes, and learn over 150 skills. An MMO with that many options that you can play almost anywhere? I don't think we'd ever get any work done!
Penny Arcade creators honored by Washington State senate
Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik, founders of Penny Arcade, are legendary folk heroes to much of the gaming community. For ten years, they've served as unparalleled industry commentators, strong vocabulary enthusiasts, and proponents of citrus-assaulting robots. However, these virtues recently took a backseat to their more charitable contributions to society when Penny Arcade was discussed on the floor of the Washington State senate, where legislators adopted a resolution honoring the two men for their philanthropic exploits.Senate Resoultion 8640 ennumerates the achievements of Holkins and Krahulik, such as their successful webcomic reaching its 10th anniversary, the launching of the Penny Arcade Expo, and the $4.5 million raised for improving the lives of hospitalized kids with Child's Play. While we're sure they would have preferred a law being passed in their name which mandates the death penalty for people who drop out of online games when they start losing, it's still a pretty cool gesture.[Via NeoGAF]
SOE promotion nets $20k Child's Play contribution
SOE recently ran a really swell promotion in its Everquest and Everquest II games. For every player that purchased a specific Child's Play virtual item on the Marketplace using the title's currency, Station Cash, SOE would make a $10 donation to Child's Play. Despite an aching (real-world) economy, players managed to do some serious spending, driving SOE's total contribution to Child's Play to $20,000. To put that in perspective, $20,000 is the equivalent of just over 1,333 months of basic Everquest II access for a single subscriber.
Child's Play charity brings in a whopping $1.4 million
The annual Child's Play charity fund is known for accumulating outlandish quantities of money from the gaming community -- this year was no exception. Button-mashing altruists not only met the charity's lofty $750,000 goal, they nearly doubled it, bringing in a total of $1,434,377. For those keeping track, that's enough to buy over 10,000 DS Lites, about 6,500 Core 360s, or like, two or three PS3s. (We keed!)While there is certainly cause for celebration considering that generous gamers surpassed last year's impressive $1.3 million haul (and in the middle of a recession, no less), there's no time for laurel-resting. Child's Play, the 1988 cinematic masterpiece, garnered $33 million in gross revenue. Let's see you beat that one, you magnanimous so-and-sos.
Child's Play Charity dings $1 million
Looks like gamers continue to level up their compassion skill. The Child's Play Charity has announced it has surpassed the $1 million donation milestone for 2008. Child's Play has collected over $3.5 million in toys, games, books and cash for various sick children hospitals across North America since 2003. This year Child's Play Charity drive expanded its efforts across the globe, proving that gamers all around the world conceal a philanthropic heart behind a rough, "n00b pwning" exterior. Major contributing factors to this year's current donation total included a gala dinner that brought in $200,000 as well as proceeds from special PAX'08 Rock Band tracks, presented by Harmonix. And they say gamers are all ticking time bombs of hate ... Well, how much have you given to the Child's Play Charity, Bill O'Reilly? Putcha inside voice on then, son.
Child's Play surpasses $1 million goal
In what is altruism at its most sublime, Child's Play organizers announced that the charity has raised nearly 36,000 rupees in 2008, which at the current exchange rate equals more than a million dollars – all to help sick children in need of both fun and games. While not discounting the impact of tedious school bus excursions, the milestone owes much thanks to the recent Child's Play Charity Dinner Auction in Seattle, which took in an impressive $200,000 over the course of the evening. It warms our hearts when gamers can put down their guns and spread a little cheer for a good cause. Bravo.
Reminder: Meet WoW Insider at the Chicago Child's Play event tonight
Don't forget: if you're in Chicago, and like helping sick kids and playing videogames, you should definitely come out to the Child's Play benefit tonight at Plan B, just north of North and Milwaukee, off the Damen Blue Line stop.I'll be there, there'll be an open bar and raffle prizes, including a few good giveaways from our friends at SwagDog, local developer (they've got an office out near Western and Belmont) Midway will have their latest games available to play (including a MK vs. DC tournament, I believe), and it should be an amazing time. There are plenty of tickets left, and even if you can't grab a ticket, I can probably get you in at the door. Just tell them you're with WoW Insider, and I'm sure we can work something out.Plus, it all goes to support Child's Play, the charity started up by Penny Arcade that donates videogames to hospitals for kids to play while there. There are a number of events going on around the country (including the big dinner in Seatlle where Blizzard is giving away that employee-exclusive statue). But of course the one here in Chicago will be the best: you'll be able to have a great time, help a worthy charity, and talk Warcraft with me (when I'm not trying to figure out the Joker fatality in MK vs. DC, that is).The event starts at 7 over at Plan B, at 1635 N. Milwaukee Avenue, Chicago, IL 60647. Bring a friend and I'll see you there.
Child's Play auctioning off a Warcraft Wolfrider statue
Blizzplanet (with a shiny new design) reports that the big Child's Play auction this year is going to feature a special prize from Blizzard: a bronze statue of the Wolfrider that was given out to Blizzard employees. Child's Play, as you may know, was started by the guys over at the Penny Arcade webcomic, and collects money every year to purchase videogames for sick children in hospitals all over the country to play. Their annual dinner auction in Seattle is always a huge event (and Tycho and Gabe are always there), but there are also lots of other local events going on, including one here in Chicago that I'm going to be attending for WoW Insider, where we'll give away some Warcraft stuff from friends of ours like Swagdog.If you happen to be in Seattle, though, and have some money to spend on a Wolfrider statue, this could be an awesome collectible. As we said, they were previously only handed out to Blizzard employees (though a few have leaked out to the public already), and there is a much larger version that will be installed outside Blizzard headquarters (I believe they have another copy in the lobby already).Very cool piece of art that will be auctioned off for a very good cause. The auction's going to be held on December 9th -- seats are $125, and of course the statue will go to the highest bidder of the night. We'll keep an eye out to see what it eventually sells for -- our guess is not cheap.
Wherein Joystiq helps sick kids by punishing Canadians
The best way to wield the hulking girth of the Joystiq Biomass is to help people. The second best way? Helping people by hurting Canadians. It's so rare that the opportunities to do that present themselves, we wanted to draw your attention one last time to LoadingReadyRun's "Desert Bus for Hope," wherein the British Columbia-based troupe raises money for the Child's Play charity by playing the world's most boring game.They've been at it for four-and-a-half days now, and have raised a staggering $55,000. Sadly, though, it could all come to an end around 11 p.m. EST tonight unless you act now, give all you can give, and help keep those Canadians stationary. Go, Joystiq Biomass! Attack!
Desert Bus for Hope 2 rolls on for Child's Play
As a reminder to those of you who like either helping sick kids or bearing witness to the most boring things in existence, the crew from LoadingReadyRun has just launched the second annual "Desert Bus for Hope" campaign. You can watch as they raise money for the Child's Play charity by playing the astonishingly boring "Desert Bus" mini-game from the unreleased Penn and Teller's Smoke and Mirrors. How long they'll play is entirely up to you.They're already guaranteed a 71 hour run, but by giving cash you can force them to go even longer. If there's a better way to spend your money than helping charity while simultaneously making a group of grown men die a little bit inside, we haven't heard of it.
Meet WoW Insider at the Chicago Child's Play benefit
Child's Play, the charity started up by Penny Arcade that hooks up kids in the hospital with videogames to play while there, is holding a benefit event in Chicago early next month on December 9th, and I'm going to be there. It's definitely a worthy charity, and I know there are lots of WoW Insider fans in the Second City (many of whom I was able to meet at our Wrath launch meetup), so if you're a fan of videogames, helping sick kids, and want to come out and talk some WoW with me, tickets are available right now.There's a raffle going on as well (I'm angling to get some World of Warcraft-related gear in the pot), and there'll also be a Mortal Kombat vs. DC tournament going on thanks to Chicago's own Midway Games (and I heard there was a Rock Band event, though that may have since fallen through -- we'll see). And oh yeah, since the event is taking place at Plan B, there'll be drinking. It's $10 admission, or you can give $50 for admission and an open bar, though you have to be over 21 for both. I'll let you guess which ticket I bought (hint: the one with the booze).Should be a lot of fun -- if you're in Chicago and weren't able to make it to our launch party, see if your calendar's clear for this event. And if you're not in Chicago, Child's Play has lots of events going on around the country, and obviously they're happy to take donations anyway. Hopefully we'll see lots of WoW Insider readers at the event next month -- when else do you get to drink, play games, and help kids all at the same time?
Child's Play and gamerDNA launch Game Community Contest for charity
The online community website gamerDNA has recently announced their association with the non-profit charity Child's Play for a new online contest. This contest will run through December, gathering donations for children's hospitals across the globe in a cause that Child's Play has remained dedicated to for quite a while. In fact, last year alone, Child's Play raised over $1.3 million in donations from gamers everywhere.In this current contest held by gamerDNA, members of participating gaming communities will compete in the gamerDNA Decades of Influence Quiz, which is described as "an entertaining and nostalgic multiple-choice quiz that helps gamers learn what aspects of the past four decades of gaming have had the most influence on their individual gaming identity." From there, the participants will share their quiz results badges with as many online communities as possible. The gaming community that shares the most badges will have the power to chose which charity receives the assortment of prizes provided by gamerDNA. Sound like something you or your gaming community might be interested in? Check out their complete rules at gamerDNA.com.
This year's Child's Play charity event kicks off
The annual games-based charity Child's Play has kicked off for the 2008 holiday season. Run annually by the gents at Penny Arcade, it's a fantastic organization that hooks children's hospitals up with gamers looking to spread some holiday cheer. This year the charity is supporting dozens of hospitals across the US, and several in Canada, with Amazon.com wishlists. Pick out your favorite games (well, favorite non-MMO games), and you can make sure that kids forced to deal with serious health problems over the holidays have something to help them through the hard times. Via pure financial donations you can even help kids in Egypt, the UK, New Zealand, and Australia.Every year this charity helps hundreds of kids deal with illness via the same hobby that helps us get through difficult times: gaming. In the official post noting the charity's kickoff Gabe admits that they're expecting fewer donations because of the financial problems the country is currently experiencing. If you can't give as much as you did last year, or you can't give this year, it's all good. If you can spare a little money to make a donation, though, Child's Play is an organization that's proven itself worthy of your time.
