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Struggling MMO Horizons renamed "Istaria"
Virtrium LLC, the new stewards of the MMO Horizons: Empire of Istaria, announced that Horizons will now be known by the name Istaria: Chronicles of the Gifted. Virtrium President Rick Simmons explained in a press release blurb and also in an interview with RPG Vault's Jonric that the name was changed because the game is about the world of Istaria and its people, and because it has lived at the domain istaria.com since the beginning. "You have no idea how stupid I've felt explaining that the game was called Horizons, but you had to go to www.istaria.com," he told RPG Vault.Horizons -- err, Istaria -- has had a rough time of it. After some truly savage corporate politics in the original development studio, the game launched incomplete, buggy, and honestly ... well, lame. It does, however, feature a great crafting system, and it lets you play as a dragon. Simmons was eager to point out both of those things in the RPG Vault interview. It looks like Virtrium is doing as much as a small team can to make the game attractive. Simmons explained: "our niche is very much the crafter, non-competitive gamer, and we're very happy being in it." He also said that the game has seen a lot of fine tuning in recent months, and that its due for a big content expansion called "the Blighted Labyrinth."
Around Azeroth: Bad moon rising
Reader Elyasa of Auchindoun (the European server, not the unpopular Outland instances) snapped this foreboding shot in the Black Temple. Her raiding guild, Shine, was heading for Supremus when she looked up and saw this omen in the sky. She didn't mention how the boss fight went, but from the looks of it, the dragons didn't go hungry that night... Do you have any unusual World of Warcraft images that are just collecting dust in your screenshots folder? Because we'd love to see it on Around Azeroth! Sharing your screenshot is as simple as e-mailing aroundazeroth@wow.com with a copy of your shot and a brief explanation of the scene. You could be featured here next!%Gallery-1816%
Children-focused dev Nik Nak creating Ology games for Wii
Since announcing plans to re-imagine Templar Publishing's popular Ology series of children's books as video games last October, Codemasters has kept mum on the project, stating only that the first title in the series, Dragonology, will ship for the Wii and Nintendo DS during the second half of this year. Now Kuju's recently formed studio Nik Nak has confirmed that it is handling not only the development of Dragonology, but the follow up Wizardology as well. Nik Nak's efforts only extend to the Wii versions of the games, which are expected to take a more action-oriented approach to the material, so we're left to guess on whose lap the DS versions will fall.Details remain scarce on the titles, though Nik Nak notes that the games will "tap into children's insatiable appetite for all things magical and mythical," and that the Wii remote will make them accessible to both new and seasoned gamers alike. Accessible, sure, but will the waggle-enhanced gameplay make learning about dragons or casting magical spells more fun?
Know Your Lore: Bad Dragons
Once upon a time, cavemen roamed the earth, great volcanic eruptions disrupted the cavemen's gaming time, and I wrote an article called "Know Your Lore: Good Dragons." Now it's time to cover the "bad dragons" - the Blue, Black, Chromatic and Infinite Dragonflights. And yes, I know you're all going to complain about the blue dragonflight being "bad", but unless you really want to run every dungeon at level 80 without a mage, you're gonna have to fight them. Blue Dragonflight
