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Dell 1907FP gets flamboyant steampunk makeover
The antique-minded modder over at Steampunk Workshop had it right: what good is a brass-clad mouse and keyboard with a 21st century monitor destroying the mojo? Fret not, as a Dell 1907FP was torn apart, blasted with gold Krylon, and decorated to the hilt with flashy pieces that your great (great) grandmother would surely love. Best of all, this here creator went above the call of duty by dressing up the monitor with gilded triggers to depress the monitor adjustment buttons underneath the panel. Trust us, you need to see this one to appreciate the passion behind it, so feel free to visit the read link for a plethora of photographs and even a few vids.[Via Digg]
Nearly $6 million in Vertu phones stolen from van
Stealing £3 million ($5.94 million) worth of mobile phones sure sounds like a risky way to may a buck, but if you're going to jack mobile handsets, you might as well swipe the ones that depreciate the least, eh? A crew of four men in Europe apparently agreed with that mantra, as they got up the nerve to run a Vertu van off the road with their Subaru and reportedly swiped a fair amount of handsets before darting off. There was no word on just how many phones were actually stolen, but we're sure the boys in blue found a fully stocked trunk after it located the crashed vehicle in Slough, Banks. Two of the four masked bandits were later captured and arrested for their part in the heist, but the other duo is probably trying to figure out how in the world they would unload hordes of these highly sought after mobiles without garnering suspicion in the first place.[Via BGR]
Blizzard's legal case against gold spammers
Here's a real interesting commentary about the recent lawsuit Blizzard brought again a fairly heinous gold seller (we haven't mentioned their name yet, and I don't plan to, but it's easy enough to find out who it is). Blizzard hasn't shared much about the case at all, except for the fact that it's filed in federal court, and that they want this one to serve as a precedent, not just for them, but for any MMO dealing with gold spammers.Cmdrslack (who's a gamer and a lawyer) says there's three ways Blizzard could be handling the case. First, they could be filing under CAN-SPAM law, claiming that even though the in-game mail is never actually leaving Blizzard's servers, it's still illegal spam email (first of all because it doesn't identify itself as advertisement). The second possibility is an much older tort called "trespass to chattels," which means that Blizzard could be saying the gold seller is unduly using their servers, bandwidth, and game properties to advertise their own business. That, says cmdrslack, seems most likely, because there's precedent for it, and Blizzard can easily prove that the spammer has been working on their servers for a while.Finally, Blizzard could also simply say the spammer is violating the EULA, which they definitely are. More likely, as cmdrslack says, they're using a mix of all three cases to show the spammer is wrongly interfering with their business. (Strangely enough, says Tobold, the one thing Blizzard isn't suing the gold sellers for... is gold selling.) But cmdrslack closes with the same question I will: Seeing as the spammer is based in China, and Blizzard is an American company filing in US Federal Court, just how are they going to enforce the ruling when they win?
$5,000 SanDisk cards: Solid Gold but still can't dance
What could be better than sweet, NANDy flash? Precious metal versions of course. We're not talking faux, Thanko gold here folks, these cards are Marilyn McCoo baby, solid gold. The 150g CompactFlash card and 35g SDHC card are up for grabs in a SanDisk Hong Kong contest ending June 22nd. Winners of the CF card will be pocketing about $5,000 which we'd promptly flip for the biggest 2.5-inch, SATA SSD we could find. [Via Everything USB]
Class-action lawsuit filed against IGE
Speaking of lawsuits, Terra Nova is reporting that there's been class-action lawsuit filed in Florida against IGE for... well, I'll let you read for yourself:The case involves IGE's calculated decision to reap substantial profits by knowingly interfering with and substantially impairing the intended use and enjoyment associated with consumer agreements between Blizzard Entertainment and subscribers to its virtual world called World of Warcraft.The lawsuit seeks both monetary damages and a stop IGE's gold farming activities. (If you just can't get enough legalspeak, you can take a look at the entire text of the lawsuit here, via Terra Nova.) Now, I have to admit that I am not a lawyer and cannot tell you whether this lawsuit has any substance to it. However, I can assure you that over here at WoW Insider we'll be looking for any updates on this -- so we can pass them right on to you.
Interview with a farmer
No, not a farmer in World of Warcraft gold farmer, but an Everquest 2 plat farmer. When EQ2 player Ogrebear received a tell from someone trying to sell him plat, he responded how he usually did -- with a threat. However, this particular plat seller actually responded to Ogrebear's tell, resulting in an interesting conversation that gives us a bit of insight into the industry.So what does this farmer make? About $100 a month for seven hours work a day. (Ogrebear notes that that's 71 cents an hour if he only works five days a week.)How many characters does this farmer go through in a week? Seven. But apparently it's profitable enough to keep at it.What's this mean to those of us playing World of Warcraft? It means that Blizzard has an uphill battle ahead of them -- the farmers are making enough money to keep at this, despite bannings. And I've got to wonder if they can ever ban enough of them. Perhaps this explains Blizzard's recent push to resolve this issue via legal methods.[Via PlayNoEvil]
Breakfast Topic: WTB guild silliness, PST
Well, okay, maybe not buy, but I'm all about trading stories! For example, it's my belief that some of the best World of Warcraft posts never see the light of day. Why? Because they're closeted on guild forums, safe from prying eyes. But you know you all have seen them. These threads take on Legendary Thread status within our respective guilds, and grow into in-jokes over time. Here's one of my favorite of the recent posts I've seen on my guild's forums that has exploded into a truly silly string of "contest" posts. This original post was made by my Rogue class leader when he was looking for a Blinkstrike to call his very own. Enter the "Win a Free Pocket Rogue" Sweepstakes!
Breakfast Topic: Favorite 2.1 change
We've all had at least a day (our European friends are a bit behind us, but I have no doubt they have also managed to form their opinions) to play with patch 2.1.0 and digest the many changes contained therein. While the Children's Week quests (and the non-combat pets you get from them) are super fun, but what I'm enjoying most is the lack of gold selling spam. At least for me, this near-constant nuisance has completely vanished since the patch came out -- though perhaps I'll have a different opinion tomorrow. So, I ask, what's your favorite aspect of patch 2.1.0?
Top 5 reasons all Rogues should pickpocket
Recently, I was talking to one of the newer Rogues in my guild about different aspects of Roguecraft. This was largely because I was having to open a locked box for him, which at his level he should have been more than able to open. Of course from lock boxes, the topic soon came around to pickpocketing. Imagine my surprise when he admitted that he doesn't pick pocket from mobs much, if he even bothers at all. I was personally pretty stunned at that. I mean, pick pocketing is fun! Why would anyone not choose to enjoy all our sneaky class has to offer?However, from talking to a few other Rogues here and there, I have since learned that this is not an isolated thing. There are apparently quite a few Rogues out there who don't bother with pilfering for goodies, leaving a great many pockets un-picked. This is a real shame, considering the misbegotten pocket wealth that is a due right of the Rogue class. As such, I thought I would touch on what I told that up and coming Rogue the other night -- the Top 5 reasons that I believe Rogues should pick pockets.
Azeroth Interrupted: Introducing a column about balancing life in Azeroth with life on Earth
Each week, Robin Torres contributes Azeroth Interrupted, a column about balancing real life with WoW.My husband, who plays WoW 5 to 6 hours a day at a minimum, informed me the other day that playing video games in general and WoW in particular was very unproductive. Most people would give him the Captain Obvious award, but I consider the timing of the statement a bit odd, considering WoW Insider just hired me to write a regular column (yay!) about balancing real life with WoW. Certainly, playing WoW can range from being a very pleasant escape to ruining your life, but that is actually the case with any hobby or recreational activity. The fact is that, with a little effort and planning and lots of learning from mistakes, you can successfully balance real life with WoW and even use WoW to make real life better. There are many examples of WoW players using their hobby for being productive, and I am not even talking about the despised and pitiable gold farmers. I'm also not talking about the Blizzard employees, because anyone in the video game biz can tell you that working on a video game can not only ruin your fun in that game, it can make you not want to play any video game at all for a while. But there are people who use the social aspects of WoW for professional networking, there are the professionally sponsored arena teams and there are people who actually put their WoW playtime on their resumes. Of course, there is more to life than just making money and WoW can help there, too.
NPR sympathetic to goldfarmers
When Friiv tipped us to the recent NPR interview dealing with goldfarming, I was eager to take a listen. Finally, a non-gamer media outlet will hear our frustration. How wrong I was. The interview, which ran on May 14th takes a completely different view of the goldfarming phenomenon. A lot about what bothers me about goldfarming is imagining the conditions in which the farmers must be working, and indeed the interview did liken the goldfarming companies to Nike sweatshops. Tens of thousands of Chinese workers sit for 12 hours shifts hunched over computer screens, standing in the same spot in game and killing the same monster over and over. The gold they make in a day's work goes for around $13.00 in the , but would only sell for $4.00 in .
Pretty much the best DS Lite mod ever
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/gaming_news/Pretty_much_the_best_DS_Lite_mod_ever/'; When aliens come to lay waste on our planet after an interstellar decree to rid the galaxy of our race before our warlike nature spreads to other solar systems, this Nintendo DS Lite case mod could be humanity's saving grace. At the precipice of mankind's extinction, the extraterrestrial army will stay its advanced armaments, realizing that any society capable of producing such an awe-aspiring object deserves to continue its existence!Forged by the same hands that brought the Legend of Zelda-themed Wii mod to life, this gold and black beauty's metal die-cast Master Sword/Shield crest rotates to match your handheld's orientation and illuminates when being charged. Buying this one-of-a-kind DS Lite will also net you a custom charging dock, two painted styli (silver and dark blue), and the admiration of your peers and cosmic beings alike. Proceeds from the auction will once again be donated to Penny Arcade's Child's Play charity.Head past the post break for more photos of the DS Lite mod. It's a good preview of what we'll spend the rest of our enslaved lives assembling after our alien overlords decide to spare our pitiful race.
Forum post of the day: "Blizz, help me find the gold I bought"
I missed this last night since I don't spend much time on the Customer Support forums, so thanks to Halicante for bringing it to my attention. It seems that a player bought gold from a web site and only received some of it; the gold sellers claimed the unreceived part got "lost in the mail." Our protagonist then decided to run to the forums and ask Blizz for help reclaiming his lost gold. That he had bought.Now I kinda wish I hadn't used the ASCII headache man for the Carson story, so I could use it here. Revel in the WTFness of the post (names have been removed by forum mods to protect the guilty): i bought gold on line from Removed.com and they sent it to me as fallows 22 2007-04-27 16:30:44 22 2007-04-27 18:55:28 56 2007-04-28 07:21:25 the two 22 gold were sent buy the character [Removed], but i only got 1 of the 22g and the 56g. they said they sent the gold and that it was lost in the mail system, so i should contact you guys. can youz help me? here is my info for the order with the company (doubt that will do you any good though) 559271 Name Removed WOW US - Mug'thol - Horde - 100 Gold This in Blizzard's official forums. Sometimes I just have to shake my head and move on...but seriously, folks. Could this possibly be for real? Honestly, who pays money for 100 gold?
Amosu coats Sony Ericsson W880i in 24 karats of happiness
If you find the thickness of a Vertu positively offensive -- but the Sony Ericsson W880i isn't quite exclusive enough for you -- might we recommend a golden rendition of the same? A phone customization outfit, Amosu, is offering said golden W880i for a mere £569 (about $1135). The catch? Turns out the handset is merely plated in the precious stuff, which means you're really not getting a heck of a lot of gold for the surcharge. Finding a yellow Ai any other way is gonna be a challenge, though, so spend the dinero if you must.[Via Just Another Mobile Phone Blog and E24.se]
Free Trials: Wonderful, or source of annoyance?
Let me preface this by saying that I'm absolutely notorious for giving out free trial codes. You want to check out WoW and see if you like it? Sure! Let me get you a code -- and get myself 30 days free in the process if you sign up. You think your cousin might dig the game since he plays EverQuest, but you're not sure? Here, let me email you a code to forward to them. For you see, I am every inch the devoted WoW fangirl, and I say that without any shame. As such, it is my mission to share the fun! Now, with that said, I think I've easily managed to score four or five months of free time from people converting trial accounts to paid accounts. And as WoW gains even more ground, even hardcore devotees to other MMOs are starting to be curious about what all the noise is about. (Well, okay, maybe that's just my older brother who has been staunchly refusing all my free codes and continuing to play City of Heroes/Villains... But I sense his will starting to falter now that he's hit endgame there. Mwahaha!) Of course, if you listen to Terrorantula on the (European) WoW General forums, trial accounts are everything that is bad with the game. They bring in gold spam mails! They let those advertisers come on and harass us! Now personally, while I'm all for Blizzard writing in some kind of process that immediately bans any account who sends certain gold-selling domain names in chat or mail (and they know who they are) I don't know that I would back the total removal of all free trial accounts.
WoW Moviewatch: The BBC on WoW
Proving that World of Warcraft is a big enough phenomenon for even the most mainstream media to notice, this three-minute clip features BBC reporters attempting to explain gold farming and buying to a non-gamer audience. While the information may not be terribly informative to those of us who already play and understand the game, it's usually interesting to see how exactly the media attempts to portray gamers to the larger public. Previously on Moviewatch...
Golden iPod
Sure, you can pick up a cute iPod speaker or sweet Baby iPod shirt for Mother's Day, but wouldn't a luxurious 24-karat golden iPod send the "I love you so much Mom that money means nothing" message you really want to deliver? Money won't buy happiness but it can buy you a gold plated iPod. Just £299 for a 30G version or £399 for 80GB. Unfortunately, the front face plates do not seem to be treated as the order page lists black and white fronts along with the gold plated backs. Which is a pity, because Mamma really wants a gold-plated scroll wheel.
Nokia 8800 Sirocco Gold is the real deal
It seems pretty un-Nokia to us for official variants of one of its phones to hit retail shops before we hear an announcement out of Espoo, but it appears that's exactly what has happened here. The 8800 Sirocco Gold is, as one might expect, merely a gold-hued version of its 8800 Sirocco, combining almost-Vertu style and craftsmanship, almost-Vertu pricing, and a shiny yellow case for those times when neither silver nor black sufficiently express its owner's "my phone's more expensive than yours" attitude. Look for it to hit "select markets" (which we think excludes the US on account of the lack of GSM 850) bundled with a matching headset and desk stand for €1000 (about $1,355).
Nokia responsible for 8800 Sirocco Gold?
There are any number of shops around the world that'll happily apply some excessive opulence to a 8800 Sirocco Edition for the appropriate amount of coin, but is Nokia itself getting in the game? This "Sirocco Gold" looks legit enough -- as does its packaging -- and rumors are swirling that the phone is now available in select corners of the world. One of those corners is eBay's German outpost, where an alleged Sirocco Gold can be had for the princely sum of €1,199 (about $1,620), which by our calculations puts the handset within shouting distance of lower-end (ha!) Vertus. Cannibalizing yourself a bit here, Nokia?[Thanks, Mani S.]Read - Mobile-Review forum postRead - eBay Germany auction
Monster Madness: Battle for Suburbia demo on XBL
You probably didn't go to bed praying for this news, but we're going to tell you anyway -- there's a demo for Monster Madness: Battle for Suburbia available to Gold subscribers on Xbox Live Marketplace. No, the demo's invitation to "experience frantic cooperative game play" as "four players can team up on one Xbox 360 to slash, shoot, and drive through a menagerie of monsters" may not blow your skirt up, but hey, if it does, let it never be said that Joystiq doesn't have your best interests at heart.Also, it's free and 435 MB, so what harm could it do to download it, give it a spin, then comment here with your thoughts? Oh, us? No, no, we won't be doing that. We'd love to, but we're, uhh ... still absorbing the Shrek the Third demo. Yeah, that's the ticket.
