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Legendary Thread with Cory Stockton
Legendary Thread, 1up's WoW podcast, has a special Blizzcon episode up with Cory Stockton, WoW's lead level designer and a new name to me. It's a fun chat, covering topics from Dalaran to Naxx to new hair. It also contains some interesting new information on Death Knights. Note that this isn't finalized but is, according to Stockton, the way the devs are leaning at the moment. Doing the quest to unlock a DK will give you a new hero slot, in which you can make a DK. This means you would need to redo it if you wanted to make a second DK; it's unknown whether you can have more than one hero slot per realm, though. This also means you (hopefully) won't be stopped from making one by having ten characters on a realm. Another tidbit that I found interesting is that Blizzard watched to see what items are flooding the AH on a regular basis, and then uses them in professions to help the economy. If you've got an hour to spare, go listen to the podcast. If you don't, feel free to complain here about the fact that Stockton mentioned "next expansion" when talking about a second hero class. That makes me sad.
Breakfast Topic: Character slots
Sure, it'll be nice to have a new class -- we've been stuck with the same nine since 2004. However, there are some downsides to the Death Knight as well. Some see it as a threat to their raid spots (mostly rogues and warriors), some don't think it fits in well with the lore, some are afraid it'll be overpowered. However, I have a different concern: how am I going to fit one in my character list?Some players with less severe altitis may not know it, but there are limits on how many characters you can have: ten per server, 50 per account. Ten is a good number for the per-server limit, at least right now; you get one of each class, plus one more for a bank/AH alt. But what are we supposed to do if we want to make a Death Knight? Delete one of our beloved alts? Pay to transfer a character? Start the DK on a different server (if that's even possible)? CM Nethaera tells us there are no plans to add more character slots, although she notes that people are unhappy with it and that she'll relay that to the devs. Are you going to run up against the character limit in WotLK?
Official WotLK page live
Blizzard's official Wrath of the Lich King page has gone live, including the cinematic, story links, zone overviews, artwork, and the same feature rundown you've already seen:The Lich King Arthas has set in motion events that could lead to the extinction of all life on Azeroth. With the armies of the undead and the necromantic power of the plague threatening to sweep across the land, only the mightiest heroes can oppose the Lich King's will and end his reign of terror for all time. Blizzard Entertainment's latest expansion to World of Warcraft – Wrath of the Lich King – adds a host of epic content to the existing game world. Players will achieve soaring levels of power, explore a vast new continent, and battle other high-level heroes to determine the fate of Azeroth... There's not too much there on the game mechanics, Death Knights, Inscription, or anything, but it sure is pretty. By the way, it looks like the leaked FAQ was 100% legit.
Death Knight details
BlizzCon is in full swing, but sadly, I'm not there. However, holding down the fort back home does have one advantage: I'm free to scour the internet for things like this 1up article, which brings some interesting details to light about the Death Knight class. The DK is the most interesting feature of Wrath of the Lich King as far as I'm concerned and, according to them, here's how it'll work: Plate-wearing tank/DPS hybrid Upon reaching level 80 and embarking on a quest "similar in difficulty to the Warlock epic mount quest," the ability to create a new Death Knight character will be unlocked. Starts around level 60 or 70, "intended as an alternative, advanced class for end-game use only" The class mechanic seems very, very strange; I think I'll have to see a video or something before I really understand it:Rather than using rage, energy, or mana, Death Knights have a special "rune sword" displayed beneath their health bar, onto which the player can etch six different runes (choose between Frost, Blood, and Unholy). Different abilities require different mixes of runes, and using abilities consumes the requisite runes until a cooldown timer causes them to be available again.As far as I can understand, that sounds interesting. And difficult.Update: Mike Schramm, here from BlizzCon. 1up missed one thing: in the video we just saw, Death Knights summoned pets (yup, just like the Diablo Necromancers). More info coming-- we're planning on liveblogging the expansion demo in about an hour, so stay tuned!Update 2: More information from the live blog behind the cut.
Dojo update: Donkey Kong Final Smash
Today's dojo update provides us with a look at the Final Smash maneuver for Nintendo mascot Donkey Kong. Upon retrieving the item, Donkey Kong busts out his patented bongos. Upon beating on them with his most massive of hands, he slaps out a tune so deadly that it kills all who hear it. Except for large gorillas (we imagine the song is Eddie Murphy's "Party all the Time").You know the deal, images of DK rocking the bongos are in the gallery below.%Gallery-3347%
E307: DK Jungle Climber screens and trailer
As if E3 hasn't already brought us enough joy, we've got some nice pieces of concept art and screens for DK Jungle Climber. The game looks to be shaping up nicely and the included trailer only adds to the truckloads of awesome content we've all received so far. Check out the fresh screens and concept art in our gallery below, and be sure to head past the break for the trailer.DK Jungle Climber is currently slated for release on September 10th.%Gallery-3481%
Conjecture Countdown: 5 days to go
Even with a diminished E3, there's no controlling the wave of rumors that hit the Internet every year before the show. Why fight it? From now until E3 hits, we'll be posting one piece of wild speculation every day. Some may be patently ridiculous, and others just might turn out to be true. Even some of the ridiculous ones might turn out to be true! Rest assured, everything will be totally made-up and unfounded. Except, of course, when we speak about all the ass Reggie is going to kick. That part? Totally true.Rumor: Super Smash Bros. Brawl's online mode will be revealed! It's an online store in which you can purchase different-colored ties for Donkey Kong.
DK Jet experience videos
The official Japanese site for Nintendo's Wii has updated again, with more of those experience videos they've made us so accustomed to. This time around, we get to catch an eye full of people playing a game that has, to be honest, failed to really excite us. Screens and video alike have failed to do that. Surely, all of you don't feel the same, right?
Today's please-play-play-better-in-person video: DK Bongo Blast
Is the Wii doomed to half-baked waggle games, or will developers harness the awesome power of apples gestures? For a game from Nintendo, Donkey Kong Bongo Blast doesn't give us a lot of hope, at least in video form. Watch the spastic drum-roll gesture to start Donkey Kong racing in addition to other control ... um ... schemes. (And we were sick of the drum roll after Rayman Rabbids, even with the reward of kicking a bunny or launching one off a train cart.)Oh, waggle, prove us wrong.See the video after the break.
Completely unexciting DK Jet videos
We're still not clear on whether or not DK Jet will allow players to use their bongo peripherals, but even that might not be enough to save what looks like a half-hearted effort from developer Paon. The former GameCube title's official site has several videos illustrating its new control scheme with the Wii remote and nunchuck -- drum both to tear through the course at breakneck speeds of 30 mph, waggle with only one hand to veer right into a wall, and put them back down when you decide to play Mario Kart DS instead!There are a lot of movies and sections at the site that haven't been revealed yet, so there's still plenty of opportunities for DK Jet to impress us before its June 28th release in Japan. If you listen to the ridiculous noises Donkey Kong makes with every jump, however, it sounds like the depressed groan of a gorilla who just wants to go home. Throw a barrel past the post break for one of the demonstration clips we grabbed.
DK Bongo Blast fires off the screens
These new screenshots of Nintendo's Gamecube-turned-Wii racer haven't completely alleviated our fears over its new control setup, but we're excited to see that animal-riding has been included! With the game's Japanese release date (6/28) only a few weeks away, we can look forward to seeing a lot more revealing previews and gameplay videos soon. Head past the post break for rhino-riding images from DK Bongo Blast.
'The big three' ARE coming in 2007 (to Japan)
In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Nintendo confirmed that they do in fact plan to release Super Mario Galaxy, Metroid Prime 3 Corruption, and Super Smash Bros. Brawl by the end of this year, as well as pretty much every Nintendo game announced for the Wii. This corroborates an IGN report to the same effect, and is also totally, totally rad. Here's the full list of Nintendo's planned 2007 releases. Donkey Kong Taru Jet Race is slated for June 28, and the rest are all "2007": Donkey Kong Taru Jet Race Wii Health Pack Disaster: Day of Crisis Mario Party 8 Project H.A.M.M.E.R. Wii Music Super Mario Galaxy Super Smash Bros. Brawl Battalion Wars II Forever Blue Mario Strikers Charged Metroid Prime 3: Corruption Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games Keep checking with us for news of the inevitable delays of about half of these. Seriously, that's a lot of first-party Nintendo games for just half a year or so. Aw, we just made ourselves sad with our own skepticism. Still, if half of this stuff does get released in Japan this year, it'll be great news and do a pretty good job of ending any drought that may or may not be happening.Update: fixed some italics and formatting.
DK Bongo Blast's bothersome controls
It was obvious that Donkey Kong Bongo Blast would abandon the bongo peripheral when it migrated from the GameCube to the Wii, but details on how the racing game will use the Wii remote weren't revealed until late last week. Players will shake their remotes and nunchucks at the same time to accelerate, rattle one of the controllers when steering to the left or right, and lift both pieces to jump. This modified control setup makes a lot of sense, but does it sound fun? In our opinion, this seems like it would have been better left on the GameCube. It'd be appreciated if developer Paon would give us the choice to use our old bongos, but with no mention of the option yet for the, it's doubtful.
Donkey Kong mural proves that office supplies can be useful
We miss college. Watching The A*Team reruns between classes, inviting everyone who came down the hall to play some Smash Bros., spending all day making giant tributes to classic games ... Well, okay. We never made a huge Donkey Kong mural in the windows of one of the college's buildings using nothing but Post-Its. Luckily, a group of UC Santa Cruz students stepped in and took the job upon themselves. The bar has officially been raised for college timewasting. This thing is really beautiful.[Via Joystiq]
One of the coolest shirts we've ever seen
Titled Also Sprach Miyamoto, this shirt is one classy piece of clothing. We can imagine it draped across our chest and feeling absolutely wonderful about life and all things in the universe. Also, the 2001 reference is pretty sweet (we're big Stanley Kubrick fans). What do you folks think?[Thanks, mundungous!]
No bongos for new DK game on Wii?
Over at the IGN blogs, resident Nintendo dude Matt did away with rumors that Nintendo would utilize the bongos in Donkey Kong Bongo Blast (which we all know was due to go to the GameCube, yet yanked for the Wii later). Instead, Matt says we already have a pair of bongos in the Wiimote and nunchuk attachment. Makes sense ...Will the exclusion of bongo use for Donkey Kong's next game kill the fun factor? Or will the Wiimote and nunchuk be a suitable replacement?
