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15 Minutes of Fame: Shooting Azeroth in all its HD glory
WoW wallpaper sites come, and WoW wallpaper sites go. You can always download a fresh look for your screen directly from Blizzard. But as satisfying as it is to set a novel desktop wallpaper that truly delights, I enjoy the process of poking around to find wallpapers from people who are passionate about WoW -- like WoWScapes, the passion project of a former raider and amateur photographer who's become fascinated with taking and sharing high-quality screenshots that showcase the striking beauty of Azeroth. WoWScapes creator Jeremy (aka Rotted of Sen'jin-US) specializes in bringing eye-popping images to players who don't have the hardware or haven't slowed down enough to savor Azeroth's splendor. "In a way, I feel sorry for people who use low-end hardware and cannot thoroughly enjoy the beauty this game displays," he notes. "So with that being said, I have turned many heads and had many people say, 'Is that really what WoW looks like on max settings? All this time, I have been playing and have never seen blades of grass on the ground or bark on the trees.' It's responses like this that make me happy about sharing my 'photos.'" Jeremy is currently adding two screenshots per week to WoWScapes. "I never had intentions to make money off of the website," he says. "It is strictly something I enjoy doing in my free time -- usually while my wife is raiding. Every wallpaper is free to download."
Moving desktop wallpaper brings tranquil WoW scenes to life
How many times have you run across various areas of Azeroth and snapped a screenshot for your desktop wallpaper? I've got an astonishing number of screenshots taking up space on mine -- and while some are dedicated to various articles, others were taken specifically to create desktop wallpaper. WoW's full of pretty scenery and tranquil vignettes that have little to do with murdering internet dragons, like the shot of Grizzly Hills shown above. But what if that tranquil scene of Grizzly Hills were actually in motion? Discopriest over at Disciplinary Action asked herself that question and embarked on a quest to create moving wallpaper, scenes from WoW brought to life and ready to stick on your desktop. Disciplinary Action has the full instructions to download and implement Grizzly Hills onto your desktop, but Discopriest's gone one step further and is now asking for feedback and screenshot submissions for more moving bits of scenery. Have a favorite spot to hang out? Send Discopriest a still, and maybe you'll see it in motion as well. I love the creativity involved with this whole process. Unfortunately, the Grizzly Hills desktop doesn't seem to work correctly on a setup with more than one monitor like my own. But it's still an incredibly creative way to implement WoW on your computer with a little more flair than your average screenshot. I hope we'll see some scenes from Pandaria some time in the future.
Limited edition Arthas statue available for preorder from Sideshow Collectibles
His expansion may be over, but we are far from done with Arthas. Now available for preorder from Sideshow Collectibles, this absolutely gorgeous statue featuring the Lich King himself can be in your greedy hands by the holidays for $349.99. And as a bonus for the Warcraft community, Sideshow has also created an exclusive desktop wallpaper free for download. Arthas stands at 19 inches tall atop an icy, glacier-blue base, hand-painted and frosted. Since this statue is crafted from polystone and weighs in at approximately 20 pounds, you can be certain of one thing -- this is a statue and definitely not an action figure in any way, shape or form. While preorders are open now, the statue is not estimated to ship until October 2012. If you're looking for a stunning, eye-catching holiday present for your favorite Warcraft-playing friend --or simply want a conversation piece for yourself -- this will easily fit the bill. Visit Sideshow's official website to see a full gallery of Arthas in all his glory, place a preorder, or get your hands on the exclusive desktop wallpaper.
10.7.2 update adds some Lion interface tweaks
Amid the flurry of software updates Apple released yesterday was OS X Lion 10.7.2. The big feature of the latest delta release of Lion was, of course, iCloud. But the 10.7.2 update also brought other features, such as a speedier Safari web browser and stability improvements. However, there are also some small, very welcome, interface changes I've been noticing as I've been using 10.7.2 over the last 24 hours: Launchpad icons got bigger. The most noticeable UI change is that the size of the icons in Launchpad got much larger. About 60% larger actually. This is a very welcome improvement for those with less than perfect eyesight. It makes finding and launching an app in Launchpad that much easier and faster. Desktop preferences got iPhoto Places country flags. Another small, but useful, tweak is in the Desktop & Screen Saver System Preferences pane. Since OS X 10.6, you have been able to navigate your iPhoto photos by Places in the Desktop pane, but now under 10.7.2 Apple has added country flags that sort where you photos were taken. You can then navigate down through the hierarchy by State/territory (highway sign icon), city (building icon), and location of interest (globe icon). Before 10.7.2 you had the navigation hierarchy, but it was much harder to distinguish between countries because of the lack of flags. Remove apps from purchase history in the Mac App Store. A final tweak I've noticed is that now you can remove purchases from your Purchased history in the Mac App Store. Click the Purchased button at the top of the store then move your cursor over an app from your purchase list. You'll see a small X appear at the far right. Click it to delete the app from your purchase history. Deleting a currently-installed app from your purchase history won't delete it from your computer. If you've found any other unadvertised interface tweaks in 10.7.2 let us know in the comments!
Cats invade Star Wars: The Old Republic in this week's Fan Friday
The community of Star Wars: The Old Republic did not quite make the Twitter and Facebook goals, so the developers decided to punish us by announcing another species that we will not be able to play. (Just kidding, it wasn't punishment.) In addition to spotlighting fan art and video, this week's Fan Friday column mentions Cathar as being another species players of SWTOR will bump into on their travels across the galaxy. The feline species from the planet bearing the same name was first mentioned by name in Tales of the Jedi: Dark Lords of the Sith, but gamers are probably more familiar with it from the other BioWare game, Knights of the Old Republic. Although the devs did not say where or how the players will run into this highly anticipated species, fans are hoping for a Cathar companion character. As mentioned above, the social media goal was not reached. Even so, the community team did give the fans some gifts. The Fan Site Kit has been updated with more digital goodies. New avatars, screenshots, and biographical images can now grace your SWTOR fan site. Not to mention, the team has included six new desktop wallpaper images straight from the exciting "Hope" trailer. Be sure to check out all of this and the amazing new fan art on the official SWTOR site.
