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15 Minutes of Fame: Three generations in Azeroth
15 Minutes of Fame is our look at World of Warcraft players of all shapes and sizes – from the renowned to the relatively anonymous, the remarkable to the player next door. Tip us off to players you'd like to hear more about.Most of us know guildmates who are related: brothers, or cousins, or even husband and wife. With the widespread popularity of gaming today, playing with family members has become commonplace. (Nightmare couples politics between the GM and incompetent DPS player #496, anyone?) But TomWolf of Sporeggar-EU (PvP-RP) isn't content to play with a mere one or two family members – he networks three generations of relatives together in an nexus of gaming and long-distance communications.The family that plays together, stays together – even across the miles. When TomWolf and his wife Seriny flew from their home in Sweden to the Dominican Republic for their (real life) wedding, TomWolf's mother was unable to attend. She was, however, "very, very happy to attend the virtual version" in World of Warcraft ... a win/win for the entire family.
UC Irvine to compare WoW players from America, China
The University of California at Irvine has been granted $100,000 to study the differences between Chinese and American World of Warcraft players, according to the Orange County Register. The study will mostly focus on explaining why American players are much more likely to employ modifications such as Cosmos than Chinese players are, but project lead Bonnie Nardi made some interesting observations outside the scope of this particular endeavor.For example, she noted that Chinese players are for some reason more likely to talk about the aesthetic appearance of the game than are Americans. Whereas American players often play with their children, parents, or siblings, Chinese players are unlikely to do that. "The older generation dislikes video games," she said, and playing with siblings is obviously rare since most Chinese of the gaming generation have none."The vast majority of Chinese players are not gold farmers," she said. "They're ordinary players like anyone. The media has blown that story out of all proportion. Many people think Chinese play for a job. They play for fun." Enlightening stuff. We're looking forward to seeing what else comes out of her research.[Via Ten Ton Hammer] One of Azeroth's millions of citizens? Check out our ongoing coverage of the World of Warcraft, and be sure to touch base with our sister site WoW Insider for all your Lich King needs!
RP Spotlight: Inadra's tale
RP Spotlight highlights little things people do to deepen their experience of the story of World of Warcraft, whether they are roleplayers or not. Inadra's voice chills you from the very outset of her story: "I have walked on the bones of my people," she begins, "on a path so long that I could not see where it ended, or where it began..." So have you. You remember walking on those same bones, on the Path of Glory in Hellfire Peninsula -- where the corpses of the draenei people that were killed in a genocide by the Old Horde paved the way for the orcs' march to the Dark Portal and into Azeroth. (For more on the background of this genocide, find out how the orcs became so bloodthirsty.) If you've done the quest called "Path of Glory" at Honor Hold, then you will have seen a glimpse of the tragedy in this story. Perhaps, like me, you felt touched at the cleansing of some draenei bones, reminded of real people who had suffered similar ends at the hands of merciless enemies. Phaedria, of the Venture Co. realm, must have been touched too. She drew on this element within the Warcraft lore to craft a beautiful and heartbreaking tale of her own, set on Draenor just as the genocide against the draenei was beginning. It's about how the draenei in families such as her own faced such a terror with bravery and sacrifice, and how a few managed to survive with hope alive in their hearts. Phaedria narrates her tale in the voice of her main character, Inadra, and sets the mood perfectly, with background music, and subtle changes in her tone of voice. It's a great piece of audiodrama; so give it about 10 or 20 minutes of your time. After listening to it, you may never see draenei, or the World of Warcraft, the same again. [Thanks Tyche, for letting us know!]
Irate father nails Xbox to tree
After having "warned [their] 3 boys about their behavior while playing the Xbox," a rather vengeful father had decided to create folk art with the console, according to the mother's CNN iReport. In the comment section, the mother said the kids do not "totally hate dad ... There was a problem, and the problem was addressed properly."Not to worry for the kids, however, as a replacement Xbox can be found on eBay for well under $40. In fact, the Xbox shown above can be found on the online auction site as well, with 50% of proceeds reportedly going to the local school system and 50% towards the children's college fund. So, now that we know it can be nailed ... will it blend?[Via X3F]
Zero Punctuation whips it good with Lego Indy
Zero Punctuation's Yahtzee takes on both the Lego Indiana Jones game and the latest movie in his latest review. For his take on the game, the ornery critic comes up with an equation for figuring out how much you'll enjoy playing as Indy in the blockified platformer. If doing mathematicals isn't your thing, just think about how much fun you'll have killing Short Round -- or Willie -- over and over again. Although it still doesn't beat the cathartic Jar-Jar killing of the Lego Star Wars game. This week's NSFW ZP review of Lego Indy can be found after the break.
Forum post of the day: Cliques aren't just for high school anymore
I was under the impression that the purpose of a guild is to have a group of folks that you enjoy playing with and have common goals. It's a good way to share the game with friends and family, in addition to experiencing new adventures and progressing together. Triamala of Blackwater Raiders fears that such actions are seen as cliquish, causing drama amongst the ranks. In a post in the Guild Relations forum she said that a previous guild of hers feel apart because of cliques and her current guild is facing the same fate. Members of her guild apparently get up in arms if she runs instances together with her husband or other friends. In a later post she admits that she is closer to the officers than other guild members because they've been playing together for quite some time.
Sprint retools plan pricing structure, aims to keep things simple
There's just nothing worse than trying to piece together a calling plan -- particularly for families -- and being overwhelmed by nickle 'n dime type add-ons along the way. Okay, so maybe that's an exaggeration, but Sprint's hoping to key in on folks who don't disagree with a new "simplified" pricing structure that does away with free incoming calls. Put simply, individuals and families alike can simply pick the amount of minutes they need and whether they want unlimited messaging or unlimited messaging and data. That's it. The prices actually aren't half bad for those ready and willing to put "unlimited" to the test, so hit up the read link to see if any are a fit for you.[Via GottaBeMobile]
Metareview -- Lego Indiana Jones
He's uncovered the fate of Atlantis, bested an infernal machine and rummaged through an emperor's tomb, but everybody's favorite Nazi-punching archaeologist faces his greatest challenge in a world made entirely out of toy blocks. Lego Indiana Jones has arrived to fairly favorable reviews, with most critics approving of the game's silent, comedic send-up of classic movie moments. If you're not the only kid in the house and enjoy collecting lots and lots and lots of things, you could do worse than tossing the developer your idle cash. IGN (80/100): "Traveller's Tales has once again delivered an experience that boils down to smashing stuff over and over again while searching for secrets, while also managing to make that formula fun and addictive. It's certainly not a huge leap over the LEGO Star Wars titles, and in fact still has some of that series' issues, but it's no less enthralling and certainly a fun adventure worth taking on." 1UP (75/100): "Lego Indy's main quest isn't terribly expansive -- you can finish it in a weekend, and that's if you take your time -- but the game's unquestionably built for completists, with a ton of hidden treasure and extra characters (you can unlock pretty much every character in the films, right down to Last Crusade's castle butler). It's easy to dismiss as kids' fare, but Lego Indiana Jones is a light, enjoyable action game, especially if you've got a willing friend for co-op play." Eurogamer (70/100): "This is all starting to sound a bit grinchy, so at this point I feel I should point out that my five-year-old son, who helped me with the hands on preview, is currently at 99.7 percent completion on our second save game with just one character left to unlock. He's certainly commented on the absence of familiar features, and seems less enthused about collecting billions of LEGO studs now that there's not as much to spend them on, but he's still been happily replaying his favourite levels over and over, just as he did with Star Wars." [Note: Listed reviews are for the Xbox 360 version. The game is also available on PS3, PS2, Wii, PSP, PC and DS.]
T-Mobile new unlimited family plan lets the kids yap into eternity
T-Mobile's trying to sweeten the unlimited pot today, adding a family option onto its preexisting $99.99 all-you-can-talk (and text) plan. Pretty simple: buy the first line for $99.99 as you normally would, then up to four additional lines of service can be added with the same limitless bucket of minutes and messages for $49.99 a pop. The so-called "FamilyTime Unlimited" package is being advertised as a package of two lines configured like this for $149.98 -- but make no mistake, you can still add another three on top of that to make sure all the kiddies get their fair share. Honestly though, if that baby boy in the picture has a Shadow hooked up with unlimited airtime, we're quitting life.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
An end to easy XP as the Family get whacked
They had it coming. City of Heroes Issue 12: Midnight Hour, now in Open Beta, comes with a nerf or two as well as all the good stuff. Over on the Test server, some changes have been made to high-level Family mobs. The changes are now on their second iteration. In the first round, high-level Family minions were altered in status, increasing their relative power without increasing the XP rewards, so that more work had to be done for the same overall result. In response to a request for clarification ('lol devs pwnt the family mish?') the Dev Castle responded 'Indeed.'In the latest round, minions are back to being minions again, but the XP reward has been nerfed down. The reason given, which will surprise nobody at all, is 'their reward scale has been lowered to be commensurate with the risk involved in the encounter'.So why target the Family?
Lego Indiana Jones demo now available for PC
With early buzz for the new Indiana Jones movie being wishy-washy, fans may need to find solace in playing the Lego Indiana Jones game on June 3rd. The PC demo is now available for download and should also be packaged with the Indiana Jones DVDs coming out today. No word yet on console demos for Xbox 360 or PS3, but we've got some calls out for info. We can't imagine there'd only be a demo for PC. Clearly, somebody from marketing would've "chosen poorly" if that were the case.
Grab some real-life Boom Blox with the game
... if you're in France. Despite much frantic hunting on the internets, we've only been able to locate this neat little piece of Boom Blox merchandise at a French outlet, where it's being given away to those who purchase the game early (Boom Blox launches across Europe tomorrow).Although it lacks a ball to knock your blocks down with once you've finished building, assembling this puzzle is probably the perfect way to pass the time while your family plays on Boom Blox and you stubbornly refuse to admit that you might have been wrong. Bah. Oh, one word of advice, though: handle with care.%Gallery-15446%
The DS Life: The coolest guy on the train
As a somewhat respectable grown-up who makes a somewhat living on the Nintendo DS subculture, I have to stop myself from trying to see what someone's playing whenever I spot a handheld gamer in the wild. I restrain myself for two reasons: I like to keep up this illusion of me being a somewhat respectable grown-up I don't want anyone mistaking me for a pedophile just because I was stealing glances at some kid's Piplup Children, though, have no such reservations with running up to a stranger to see what he's playing ...
Wii Warm Up: Playing is believing
The biggest selling point of the Wii has to be the fact that it's incredibly fun to play. Thinking about that, we then pondered the people in our own life we've turned on to the console thanks to a play session of Wii Sports or WarioWare: Smooth Moves. Who have you turned on to the Wii in your life? And, what game was it that converted them from a casual onlooker into rabid Wii fan, combing over weekly sales in the newspaper and calling up various retail outlets to track down a console of their own? Who have you showed the wonder of the Wii off to and how quick did they want one of their own?
Lego Indiana Jones gameplay video swings into our hearts
Though we were already excited about Lego Indiana Jones, our desire for the game is something more akin to fever pitch now that we've seen the above gameplay video. It features almost all our favorite Indy moments just as we remember them from our childhood only, you know, stubbier. One of the more pleasant surprises is that although the characters all look (as you would expect) as if they were created from molded plastic, the environments are really nicely rendered. We say that so we have a grown up reason for being so excited, but the truth is that there's a part where he whips Willie and kisses her and it's adorable.
Whip it real good, Lego Indiana Jones site now live
The Lego Indiana Jones website is now live and features a little "treasure hunt" game where users search for riches and can then "purchase" wallpapers, avatars and coloring sheets. There's also the standard stuff like a community forum and screenshots, along with the trailer for the game. A downloadable demo should be available for PC on May 13 (also available on the movie DVDs) and we're not finding any information on a console demo, but that doesn't mean there won't be one. Lego Indy begins beating up Nazis random cult members at retail June 3.
Lego Indy to have more than 60 playable characters
Pop quiz time, hot shot: Name 60 characters from the Indiana Jones movies. Having trouble? We got to about a dozen before we had to start stretching the definition of "character" with things like "Nazi guard No. 2" and "Train Car Full of Snakes." Despite this, Activision is somehow promising to squeeze 60 playable characters into the upcoming Lego Indiana Jones, according to a fact sheet reprinted by VideoGaming247.com. Of course it's easy to have a boatload of characters when creating a new one is just a matter of putting a new jacket and hat on a Lego Minifigure, but the info. sheet also promises "character specific abilities" such as "excavation by Satipo, an umbrella slide by Marcus Brody, and monkey access by Marion Ravenwood." That's all well and good, but we're really looking forward to "Nazi Guard No. 2's" special ability, which we hear involves melting and exploding. Fun for the whole family.
The family that games together stays together
We've covered the topic of family members gaming together before, but Sonya Smith, Gadgetress of the OCRegister, brings an interesting story about it to light, which she learned about on her tour through Blizzard's new HQ.Like our own Amanda Dean, J. Allen Brack, senior producer over at Blizzard Entertainment, plays World of Warcraft with one of his parents. Unlike Amanda Dean, his relationship is paternal. Brack relocated to California from Texas two and a half years ago to take his position at Blizzard, moving away from his family. Interested in the work his son had taken up, Brack's father began playing the game himself, having never been a gamer prior to that. Now they use the game as a way to spend quality time together, half a country apart.
Eurogamer: Lego Indiana Jones dated for Europe June 6
A press release for Play.com's Live event revealed that Lego Indiana Jones, slated to be playable at the event, is coming to retail channels on June 6. Eurogamer has confirmed the date with the ever-reliable "Top Secret Games Industry Source" and, frankly, we're happy for our European readers who don't have to wait for the usual long delay between North American release (coming June 3). The June 6 date reportedly applies to all platforms: PC, PlayStation 3, PS2, PSP, Xbox 360, Wii and DS. Eurogamer's source also noted that Lego Batman is coming later this year.
New Indy movie DVDs to include Lego Indiana Jones demo
It's a safe bet that every video game nerd worth their fedora has June 3 already circled on their calendar, and plans to brave venomous asps and rolling boulders in order to pick up and play Traveller's Tales upcoming Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures the day it swings to retail. Still, those few who remain unconvinced of the marriage of twelve o'clock shadow and Lego bricks can look forward to trying the game out early, as Paramount and Lucasfilm plan to include both a trailer and playable demo on a set of special edition DVD versions of the Indy movies shipping out in mid-May. The discs will be available both individually, as well as bundled together as a box set, and will be available on May 13, just prior to that new Crystal Skull adventure. It's unclear which version of the game will be represented by the included demo, with Lego Indiana Jones currently expected to fight Nazis anonymous cultists on every platform under the sun -- though let's be honest, we hope the demo will make the rounds online on or around the same time.
