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More details on Blizzcast 2008
Blizzplanet got a hold of more details of Blizzard's newly announced video podcast. You read that right, it's not just a podcast, but a video podcast. And it's coming the first week of January.Along with the previously announced interviews with WoW Lead Designer Jeff Kaplan about the upcoming Patch 2.4 Sunwell content and Art Director Sam Didier, fans will get their say as well. Blizzard will be soliciting questions from the players and giving replies to Community Managers Karune and Nethaera. I suppose that means we'll be seeing them on the Blizzcast as well.Video podcasting is tricky business. Production value can make or break it. Fortunately, Blizzard is known for their high level of production value in everything they do, so I am looking forward to seeing how this goes. Either way, the content may trump all since we all want to know more about Sunwell.But I'm also a little suspicious of the "first week in January" promise for the first Blizzcast. Coming out of a two week holiday, it will be a miracle for any company to pull off something as labor intensive as a video podcast. Time will tell.[via MMO-Champion]EDIT: After the writing of this article, Blizzard has confirmed that the first installment will be an audio podcast.
Blizzard planning an official podcast in 2008
According to the official StarCraft II forums, Blizzard is going to enter of the world of official podcasting-- BlizzCast is set to take off sometime, we're told, around January 2008, which, I believe, makes this the first time Blizzard has ever guessed at a release date for one of their upcoming projects! Write it in the history books! All kidding aside, it should definitely be something to set your iTunes for-- there'll be interviews with Samwise Didier and Jeff Kaplan, and supposedly "a sweepstakes/giveaway and LOTS of SWAG." Swag, you say? Sounds enticing.Of course, this will be an official podcast, so while it'll definitely be a good listen, it probably shouldn't replace that other Warcraft podcast in your diet. But hopefully, if Blizzard does it right, the podcast will be another outlet for them to share not only news and hints about upcoming content, but make several issues and questions clear for the player audience at large. Can't wait to hear what they come up with-- sounds like it'll be a fun addition to their website in the new year.[Via MMO-Champion]
Tuar Annwn's Date Auction on Moon Guard this Saturday
Here's something different-- RP guild Tuar Annwn is going to host a "date auction" this Saturday on the Moon Guard server, to raise money for their Winter Ball being held next month. They say it's going to go down near the North Sanctum in Eversong Woods on the 15th at 9pm server, but they don't exactly say how it's going to go down-- gold, it seems, will be paid, but what exactly does a "date" entail? A romantic trip to the Hinterlands? An evening walk through the magical city of Silvermoon? Dinner and a Deadmines run?Looks like it'll be fun no matter what happens. Also of note is that apparently only women are being auctioned off (fine with me, but rich people of all sexes might want something to spend their gold on), and as far as I can tell, there's no guarantee that the woman you "buy" is actually a woman out of game-- ah, the magic of roleplaying. Of course, for the Blood Elves, it may not matter-- Mortarian contributes this gem of a comment: "Most of Silvermoon City probably thinks that monogamy is a type of wood." Funny.Should be an interesting event. As always, if you go, take pictures and send them to us. We always enjoy seeing interesting player-run events around the realms.[Via WoW LJ]
Reasoning out 2.3 patch timing
Saupak has done about a good a job as I've ever seen of breaking down exactly when patch 2.3 might actually appear. There's a bumpy future ahead for the next two months-- it's full of holidays, vacations, and events, and so it'll be very interesting to see when Blizzard decides to insert Zul'Aman into Azeroth. Of course, the last patch dropped right when I was meant to be playing the just-released Halo 3, so there probably are no sacred cows-- Blizzard patches when they want to.However, there are a few hits. We know the patch isn't going live today. The 13th and the 20th are out, because Blizz wants to give us notice, and Thanksgiving is right around the corner. That leaves the last week of November, and the first three weeks of December (very unlikely that Blizzard would drop a patch on Christmas or New Year's, because they've got to take a break sometime). Other than that, we're looking at the 8th, 15th, or 22nd of January.Saupak's big bit of reasoning is that there were 168 days between 2.0 and 2.1, and 126 days between 2.1 and 2.2, so his guess is January 15th for the patch-- 105 days between 2.2 and 2.3. But remember that 2.2 was delayed so long because of the sound engine problems, and we don't have that with 2.3. And Zul'Aman is more or less done. So if I had to guess, I'd say we're looking at an early December patch-- either the 4th or the 11th (we've got to see an update sometime then anyway, for Feast of Winter's Veil). If we don't see it by then, then yes, my guess is that we're looking at January. Blizzard may try to squeeze it out before Thanksgiving, but I don't think that's likely. I do think they want to release it before Christmas, though-- and leave 2008 for the year of the Lich King.
Leopard: All signs point to 10/26
Does anyone else think it's a little crazy that we're already 1/4 of the way through October and we still don't have an official release date for Leopard? It'll almost assuredly be at the very end of the month, but in terms of date and time, no one has an official clue.For a Piper Jaffray analyst, however, all signs point to October 26th (and gwhiz adds 6 p.m. on that Friday afternoon just like the iPhone launch). Makes a lot of sense to me-- Friday is clearly a great day to launch a product, as it gives Apple the weekend to claim sales figures, as well as gives us consumers a chance to break open the box and get it installed right away. Analyst Gene Munster says, also, that it's the end of the first month of a fiscal quarter, which Apple likes for boosting sales-- Tiger released in the same situation.Plus, you know, the 25th is a full moon, so there's even more fuel for the speculatory fire. I agree that the 26th sounds pretty convincing, but of course we won't know for sure until Steve wants us to.Thanks, Zoli!
Meizu M8 gets unwelcome price hike, dodgy release details
Sure hope you weren't counting on getting your palms around Meizu's oh-so-familiar M8 anytime soon, as it now looks like the handset may not even be available to purchase until mid-next year. Granted, the 667MHz CPU, 128MB of RAM, GSM connectivity, 3.4-inch VGA touchscreen, video output, and built-in Bluetooth 2.0 / WiFi sure are appealing, but those still willing to wait this one out will apparently be paying even more than previously expected. The latest on the street pegs the forthcoming 8GB iteration at around $400, but if money ain't a thang, you may as well continue on pinching those pennies for the 16GB (and potentially 3G-enabled) flavor.[Via MeizuMe]
Super Papier Mario folds effortlessly across Europe on Sept. 14th
After only a five month lag since its U.S. and Japanese releases, Nintendo announced today that Super Paper Mario for the Wii will be released across the continent of Europe on September 14, 2007. In case you haven't had a chance to pick the game up, it's quite delectable and well worth checking out. One of its strongest points in the American version was its witty, tongue-in-cheek localization courtesy of head translator Nate Bihldorff. Given that Final Fantasy and other relatively text-heavy games often take far longer than this to translate into one language (English), it's rather impressive that NOE can ready this game for release in at least five (UK English, French, German, Spanish and Italian) in as many months. If their work can stand up to the quality of the U.S. localization, Europeans should be in for a tasty treat, indeed.
Sony's slim PSP gets launch date, price for Europe
While it's not too terribly surprising that the forthcoming PSP's price was outed in Japanese yen first (not to mention those coveted extra hues they'll get), it is somewhat curious to hear that Europe scored the details before that other country. Nevertheless, Sony's David Reeves reportedly stated at a SCEE event at E3 that the slimmer PSP would "come out at €169 ($233) in all the PAL territories at the beginning of September," so we're going on pure assumption here that this will include the likes of Australia, too. Hey, we're really sorry about snatching Beckham and all, but at least you blokes (and dames) know when to hunt down the refreshed PSP, right?
DirecTV 11 to launch this December?
Hot on the heels of the successful launch of DirecTV 10, it seems that the next satellite has already been dated for takeoff. According to Spaceflight Now, the "Sea Launch Zenit 3SL rocket will carry the DirectTV 11 direct-to-home television broadcast satellite" into orbit, where it will then be used to disseminate HDTV broadcasts to subscribers. The calendar was updated on July 15th, and current estimates peg the launch to take place sometime in December. You won't find us complaining about a delightful Christmas gift from DirecTV -- in the form of more HD channels, of course.[Via SatelliteGuys]
iConiCal: Keep iCal's icon current
After my minor gripe that the iPhone's calendar app displays the proper date on its icon, even though Mac OS X's still doesn't, a few readers directed me towards iConiCal. Basically, all iConiCal does is start up up iCal to update its icon, then it quits both iCal and itself so you don't have extra apps eating up system resources, but you also gain an iCal Dock icon that keeps you up to date. iConiCal also gives you some icon customization options, offering two alternative colors for iCal's icon both in its dormant state and after it is updated. Of course, this app also has a 'start at login' option so your iCal icon can get set right when you log in or start up, so you won't have to think about it for the remainder of your session. For anyone clamoring to have an up-to-date iCal icon and those who aren't up for adding the date to their menubar by tweaking the Date & Time System Preferences pane, iConiCal sounds like a fine solution.iConiCal is donationware available from BlockSoft.
iPhone's iCal icon displays correct date, Mac OS X's still doesn't
While the iPhone signifies a massive leap ahead in mobile phone technology, it also has apparently leapt ahead of its big brother Mac OS X in a few key areas. Since iCal's debut in Apple's darling desktop OS, it has (to my knowledge) never displayed the correct date in the Dock; it's always been set on July 17th until you actually start iCal which causes it to reflect the proper date. The iPhone, on the other hand, must have received some spit and polish from the OS X engineers, because its iCal (or is it officially called Calendar?) displays the proper date every day, even if you don't start the app. In a way this makes sense, because virtually every mobile phone's home screen provides easy access to the time and date, so Apple had to get this right. Still, it would be nice if iCal in Mac OS X could catch up to its baby brother and do something as advanced as display the proper date in a Dock icon.
Poll: WiiWare's real launch date
Nintendo's "early 2008" prediction for the launch of WiiWare might seem like a lifetime away, but we're still not convinced that the company has given itself enough time to turn the Shopping Channel into a vehicle for new downloadable game content. Nintendo isn't exactly known for its punctuality -- one need only look to the DS's delayed WiFi Connection implementation or the GameCube's nearly-nonexistent online service for examples of stalled promises.What're your thoughts on the possibilities of WiiWare arriving on schedule? Does early 2008 really sound feasible? Or does it sound like a bunch of duck tales (a-woo-woo!)?
