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Breakfast Topic: Has WoW broken Blizzard?
Lots of players have cried, at one point or another, that Blizzard, the company, has somehow irrevocably broken WoW, the game, and that they'll never come back, ever. But this morning, I'd like to take a look at the opposite question: has WoW, the game, broken Blizzard, the company?Look at Blizzard before World of Warcraft: They were undoubtedly the king of RTS, with not one but two classic, timeless series under their belts (StarCraft, which is still considered the RTS standard by some, and Warcraft, the third of which is still just as popular). They made Diablo and Diablo 2, two of the biggest, if not the biggest, PC RPGs ever. They came from console roots, and were thinking about reentering them with a 3rd person stealther called StarCraft: Ghost that had earned tons of hype already. And then along comes this game called World of Warcraft. I worked at a game store when word first dropped about this game, and we were confused-- a 3D MMORPG set in the Warcraft universe? How do you do that? But Blizzard had a reputation for spit, polish, and quality by the spades-- while they didn't make many games, the few they made were the best of the best.Cut to now: World of Warcraft is Blizzard's one and only game for the forseeable future. StarCraft: Ghost has been canceled, along with any thoughts Blizzard ever had of reentering the console field. They're now longer a small, powerful games boutique-- now they're the 800 lb gorilla of the gaming world, making deals to put their game in stores, on television, and in movies. And while their game does still have a heck of a lot of spit and polish (they do still have seven million players), they're not so much in the business of cultivating multiple powerful franchises, but instead have gotten very much into the business of hotfixes, bugfixes, and patching.So has WoW broken Blizzard? At this point, it's very hard to imagine Blizzard having or making the resources to do another game (they're tied up as it is with the expansion). WoW has made a lot of players very happy, but it's also tarnished Blizzard's reputation with their playerbase in a way that Diablo and StarCraft never did. And while there's no question that Blizzard is still respected in the game industry, there is a question as to why: is it because they're reeling in the cash, or is it because of the quality of their product? Back in the days of StarCraft and Diablo, the latter was the case. Is it still?
The beginning of Blizzard
The new issue of the Escapist has a piece up about how Blizzard began-- no, they didn't start out with World of Warcraft, or even Warcraft, or even Diablo. Blizzard started way back as a (somewhat failed-- ha!) offshoot of Sierra games, which you old timers (like myself) might remember used to make those terrible DOS games* that came on 5 1/4 inch floppies in big boxes.The article goes through a lot of the changes over the years-- the development of Blizzard's first console games and Diablo, and how they came to make the RTS Warcraft games, all the way up to Battle.net and our little game. About World of Warcraft, Mark Kern has a nice quote: "We had to build an entire company around [World of Warcraft]." There's no question that as big as Blizzard was after making classic, lasting games like Diablo II and Warcraft III, WoW has turned them into the 800lb gorilla of MMORPGs, if not the industry at large. The article is an interesting read, especially if you want to know more about where this company we all pay money to came from.But I do have one bone to pick with you, Escapist. In this article, there is not one mention of one of Blizzard's best games ever. It was a console game, and it came out and amazed me before anyone had ever heard of Diablo or Warcraft. In fact, I still have the original cart sitting around my house, in the same box as my old Sega Nomad. Anyone guessed it? Of course I'm taking about The Lost Vikings. And not only did the Vikings find their way into Azeroth (you can meet them in Uldaman), but Blizzard now has a playable demo of this little pre-Blizzard gem on their website. Where were you on that one, Escapist?*Ok, Sierra did make a lot of good DOS games, I'll admit. But no one remembers all the terrible ones-- that's what I'm here for.
TCG items will come with Burning Crusade Collector's Edition
WorldofWar.net has a pointer to an article on the new Escapist, in which they talk about all the extra trinkets and junk that comes with Collectors Editions of games. I still have one of those old full color cloth maps of Britannia laying around somewhere, and working at a game store a few years ago got me a few of those Jedi Knight 2 keychains.But even more interesting, WorldofWar also points out "a comment from Upper Deck" that says what'll be in the box with the Burning Crusade Collector's Edition. If you can get your hands on one of those (and don't worry-- there's supposed to be plenty to go around), Blizz will hook you up with "2 starter decks, a full-size color rulebook and 3 foil promo cards." Pretty nice, even if you're not a TCG fan.And considering how much Blizzard pimped out the original WoW Collector's Edition-- that's where the MiniDiablo, Zergling, and Panda non-combat pets all came from-- it's not too much of a stretch to think those cards (or something else in the Collector's Edition) will end up conveying some pretty cool stuff in-game. If you're planning to buy the expansion anyway and don't mind shelling out for the extra cash, Blizzard might have some neat stuff in store for collectors.
Phat Loot Phriday: Wirt's Third Leg
Last week on our Phat Loot Pheature (ok, sorry, I know that's annoying, I'll stop), I promised we'd do something BOE. Now, there aren't a lot of BOE epics out there, but there is this nice mace, and it comes with quite a history.Name: Wirt's Third LegType: Rare One-hand MaceDamage, Speed: 49-91, 2.30 (30.4 DPS)Abilities: +9 Agility, +4 Stamina Looks boring doesn't it? But wait, there's a story here... Way back in Diablo, Blizzard's classic hack and slash game, there was an NPC named Wirt, who had a wooden leg. He got killed, however, when Diablo attacked his town, Tristam, which was above the dungeons the player was hacking and slashing through. Then, in Diablo II, Wirt didn't return, but his leg did. On a mission back to Tristam, you could find his body, and loot Wirt's Leg. And not only that, but you could use his leg to find the super secret Cow Level, in which you fought hordes of armed cows (no, we're not making this up). This is also why one of WoW's tips says "There is no secret cow level" (and why Techbot in Gnomer says something similar). And it also explains the origin of the Cow King's Hide cloak, but that's for another Phat Loot Phriday. Finally, in the Warcraft III expansion, a character called "The Butcher" (another reference to a Diablo character) guards a chest with an item called Wirt's Other Leg in it. That makes this one his third wooden leg that you can find. That's why they call this Wirt's Third Leg. No other reason, no matter how dirty a mind you have. Ask your mother. How to Get It: This one's not hard to get at all. All you have to do is hit up the pirates through the cave on the eastern coast of Tanaris and eventually one of them will drop a footlocker with this thing in it. You won't have to try for too long, as this one seems to drop pretty often. Plus, from 40-45, the pirates make for good grinding anyway.Auction Price: You want to sell this? What will Wirt think?! On most servers, you'll be able to get rid of this pretty easy for 20-25g. If no one on the server has an appreciation of Blizzard history, you might have to drop it to 5g, but players have been able to see it for 50g before, so start higher if you want. A vendor will give you 1g 95s 77c to part with this phantastic relic! (gah, sorry, said I'd never do it again...)
Diablo 3 is coming, an argument
Over on diablo3.com, one loyal fan has posted a rather convincing argument -- actually, a series of arguments -- for why Blizzard must have Diablo 3 in the works. Considering the success of the first two installments, especially Diablo II, another sequel seems like a no-brainer. Of course, when you're still profiting from an even more successful title like World of Warcraft, as Blizzard is, a new Diablo game isn't a pressing matter. Our opinion? Sit tight. Diablo 3 will happen -- maybe it is happening -- but the game isn't going to be in our hands until Blizzard has ridden the WoW wave a bit further.
Metareview - Titan Quest
When Blizzard introduced the seminal Diablo a decade ago, they single-handedly invented the hack and slash RPG (and, quite possibly, carpal tunnel syndrome). There have been many followers since -- Dungeon Siege on the PC, Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance and Champions of Norrath on consoles -- and while the graphics engines have evolved, the addictive gameplay has remained more or less the same. With Titan Quest, developer Iron Lore stuck to the principle formula, but in a setting that is more Age of Mythology than D&D. Yahoo! Games (90/100) appreciates the attention to detail in level design: "Although there are no random levels, the later game opens up with enough side quests that you don't feel like you're playing Dungeon Siege, being shunted from one canned encounter to the next. The flip side of not having Diablo's tile-based random-level generator is that every nook and cranny is built by hand. And it looks it: Titan Quest is a gorgeous game on many different levels." GameSpot (76/100) notes Titan Quest's potential longevity: "The gradual approach to character creation taken here is welcome, and the sheer scope of the single-player campaign, coupled with the cooperative play and tools to create your own campaign, means that players willing to commit to the experience will have a wealth of content to keep themselves busy with." GameSpy (70/100) recommends a hefty system configuration: "One wart in Titan Quest is its performance -- specifically, the game tends to chug when the lighting and particle effects are full-blast. It never became unplayable, but during the worst moments, it was definitely annoying enough for me to hope that some imminent patches will be released to address the problem."
Rumor alert: Blizzard to become all MMO?
If you're one of the millions of gamers who've been waiting with bated breath for StarCraft 2, Diablo 3, or Warcraft 4, you may be experiencing a "WTF??" moment similar to the one I had upon hearing this rumor. According to F13.net, some suits at Vivendi Universal Games have come up with a brilliant money making scheme for Blizzard and their legendary worlds: make all your games MMOs! Fortunately, ShackNews did a little recon, and the official word from Blizzard and VU is that the rumors are false.Not that MMOs don't have their place, but given their debated lack of traditional role-playing elements, RPG enthusiasts would be up in arms if a genre-defining company like Blizzard were to set this precedent. And to deprive the world of two of the best strategy games of all time would only add to the backlash. Let's hope the guys at Blizzard are still gamers at heart, or else the gaming populace will enter a very dark period that will make Tristram look like Disneyland.
All Future Blizzard Games to be MMO's?
Late last night (or early this morning - depending on your point of view) a story started breaking saying that Vivendi had announced in a Wall Street presentation that Blizzard would be moving all of its franchises to the MMO format. They state an expected three year development cycle and $50 million cost per MMO (as compared to Warcraft's 4 1/2 year development and $63 million cost). So will we be seeing a Diablo MMO? A Starcraft MMO? However, the official Blizzard response on the WoW forums has been very clear - they haven't announced any specific development aside from The Burning Crusade, and they have no intention on focusing on a single genre for future games. Another Blizzard employee notes that perhaps there's some confusion between what Vivendi has planned for its own games' division (which operates separately from Blizzard) and Blizzard's own development path.
The Rise of Blizzard
The Escapist Magazine outlines the history of Blizzard Entertainment and ponders the secret of their success. They ask, "how does a maker of B-quality DOS and console games go on to become the single most successful videogame company in the history of the world?" As I don't clearly recollect the world of games pre-Blizzard, the story of the company's start is new and interesting to me. However, I'm sure we all have our own opinions on this - what do you think has made Blizzard the huge success it is today?
