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Major textbook pubs partner with ScrollMotion for iPad development
Putting traditional print publication on an iPhone screen is old hat for ScrollMotion, and now it's taking that know-how to a larger screen. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Kaplan, Pearson Education, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt K-12, and the educational sector of McGraw-Hill have all made deals with the company to develop textbook apps and test-prep / study guide apps for the Apple iPad. No other details are given and we unfortunately lack any timeline. It certainly makes the machine more classroom-viable, but we'll hold judgment until we see what actually comes of this partnership -- your move, Kindle.
The Queue: Better than Bejeweled
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW Insider's daily Q&A column where the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Alex Ziebart will be your host today.Good afternoon, ladies and gents! Let's waste no time and jump right in today, shall we?Horris asked..."I have a question. What's with the sudden change from red to yellow sockets between T7 and T8 for warrior tanks?"Sockets have always been notorious for not being the optimal color for certain specs and classes. T7 seemed like the odd duck to me in that case, where the sockets were generally pretty good for most classes. Now they're back to being sort of weird like has almost always been the case.
Progressive drop rates
Jeff Kaplan has said some interesting things at this year's GDC (expect a full account from us soon). One of them concerned a new technology that debuted in Wrath of the Lich King which I, for one, had not heard of before: progressive drop rates for quest items. Pre-Wrath, if you're on a collection quest, whatever you're trying to collect will drop at a constant rate (35% was apparently the standard). Overall, this averages to a predictable amount of kills per quest. But probability being the way it is, it was altogether possible to have terrible luck and have to kill 100 foozles to get your four gizmos, or to have great luck and get your gizmos in only four kills. It was the bad streaks that the devs were particularly concerned about, as those are very memorable and never fun. In Wrath, according to Kaplan, drop rates for quest items are progressive - the more foozles you kill, the higher chance each one has to drop a gizmo. The standard quest item drop rate has been raised to 45%, and each kill you make raises that drop rate by some amount. Kaplan said that it can eventually reach 100%, at which point every kill would drop your item. This puts a hard cap on just how frustrating a collection quest can be. Seems like a smart idea to me. I hadn't really noticed Wrath collection quests being easier, but then, I wouldn't - I simply wouldn't have bad-luck streaks, the absence of which might not be easy to notice. [via Shacknews]
Kaplan on being the "Cruise Director of Azeroth" at GDC '09
Jeffrey "Tigole" Kaplan, former WoW Lead Designer who just recently headed off to work on Blizzard's new MMO, held a panel at the Game Developer's Conference earlier this week in San Fransisco called "Cruise Directior of Azeroth," in which he talked about some of the design decisions behind World of Warcraft, where Blizzard got their inspiration for a lot of the gameplay now made famous by the game, and even some of the mistakes they made in putting the world's most popular MMO together.WoW Insider had correspondents there on the site, and they sent back audio of Kaplan's speech. We've paraphrased the salient points, and you can find them all after the break. There's some really interesting stuff in there, including the fact that in the past two years, 80 billion quests have been completed in North America's Azeroth alone, and just who is behind the frustration that is The Green Hills of Stranglethorn (hint: it's Kaplan himself).Hit the link below to see what Kaplan told the crowd at GDC.%Gallery-48658%
Jeff Kaplan leaving World of Warcraft
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/pc_games/WoW_s_Game_Director_leaves_for_unannounced_Blizzard_MMO'; In a surprise announcement this afternoon, World of Warcraft's Game Director Jeff Kaplan (whom you may know from the forums as "Tigole," and whom those of you with a longer memory may remember as the guild leader of Legacy of Steel back in the EverQuest days) is leaving the WoW team to work on a their unannounced MMO. (What this means for how far along that project is it's hard to say -- are they perhaps bringing in a solid game designer because they're just now getting things started? Or to polish off the finishing touches?) Says Kaplan of his time with the World of Warcraft team:I wanted to take a moment to let the community know that I've switched roles here at Blizzard to work on our upcoming, unannounced MMO. World of Warcraft has been such a central part of my life these past six and a half years, and it's success would not have been possible without the tremendous community around it, so I wanted to say thank you to all our players who've shared this amazing experience with us so far. World of Warcraft isn't going anywhere, however, as the rest of the team is remaining in place, including Kaplan's "partners in crime" Tom Chilton and J. Allen Brack.Mr. Kaplan, while we haven't always agreed with you, we'll certainly miss having you around. And, since you're going, we have to ask... can we have your stuff?
Kaplan to speak at the Game Developers Conference
Jeffrey Kaplan (also known as Tigole) is scheduled to speak at this years Game Developers Conference, which should prove to be really, really interesting for us WoW players. The conference is aimed at sharing knowledge among game developers, and Kaplan's panel is aimed at discussing World of Warcraft's questing system, as well as how gameplay has an effect on lore and story.As someone who regularly geeks out about the lore of Warcraft, it disappoints me that I can't be there to listen to it in person. Gameplay always has a really large effect on how the lore of a video game world is allowed to play out (especially in MMOs) but a lot of those constraints have been overcome with the advances made in Wrath of the Lich King. The things they've done to overcome those issues largely come from Tigole's team of developers.I very much hope that transcripts of GDC's panels find their way to the web shortly after the conference. One of my favorite parts of BlizzCon and BlizzCast is the somewhat behind the scenes look into the process, and the philosophy that goes into how and why Blizzard does what they do. This pretty much sounds right up my alley, and I know a lot of you have expressed the same sentiment each time a new BlizzCast has gone live. I'll definitely be watching for any transcripts that pop up.
"Tigole Deep-Breaths more"
Interesting note from the forums, although apparently quite a few threads are being deleted or locked even as I write this; Jeff "Tigole" Kaplan appeared momentarily in this thread written by a player complaining about the 51-point Restoration Shaman talent, Riptide. The original poster notes Blizzard's guiding philosophy of never shipping a game before they're truly done with it, and contrasts that with the fact that some of Riptide's visual and audio effects are unlikely to be finished in time for Wrath (the spell itself is apparently 100% functional, just not the bells and whistles Blizzard usually programs to accompany player spells and abilities). Another player down the thread characterizes this as Blizzard caving to demands made by Activision. Tigole appears a few comments down to ban the first commenter for "trolling," adding that the game is still being worked on. The second of the two commenters mentioned is then handed a ban by Tigole as well. One of the response threads that appears to have survived is here, with a set of reactions ranging from sympathy to Tigole to a recountment of EverQuest history to concern over how the two players were banned.I'm somewhat torn, and had wondered whether the whole thing was a joke; I've not seen Tigole appear on the forums to ban people before (although it's entirely possible he has and I've just missed it). I've seen worse behavior on the forums escape official comment, but it does seem as if the number of complaints (rational or not) has hit fever pitch on the discussion boards. And -- let's be frank -- a lot of it does seem like pretty pointless carping. I've had a chance to see the beta myself now, and I don't think anyone could realistically accuse Blizzard of skipping its usual attention to detail (indeed, the only running complaint I've seen on the beta servers is that they're too popular). Still, these particular bans seem a little out of the ordinary, unless there's something going on I haven't seen.**EDIT: as of 4:12 pm EST, it looks like the above referenced response post has also been deleted, but the original source thread is still intact.**
Kaplan reveals a stinky achievement
It was just a quick sentence that went by almost completely unnoticed, flew totally under the radar. But in an interview which WoW lead designer Jeff Kaplan gave to WoW Vault, he mentioned a heretofore unknown achievement reward coming up in Wrath that will definitely pass the smell test.Current Wrath beta testers may have been able to peruse the approximately 500 achievements in the current build, but Kaplan has indicated that by the final release there will be 600-700 achievements for players to attempt. One of these achievements, Kaplan said, can be acquired by collecting pets. It seems that if you collect all the available pets in the game -- and I'm not sure if he meant tameable pets or collectible/vanity pets or both -- you will be granted a unique pet in the form of a skunk called Stinker. For my two "scents," I do love me some cute vanity pets, but I'm really glad that WoW doesn't come in a scratch-n-sniff version or with smell-o-vision.So now it's time for you to earn a WoW Insider achievement! Anyone under the age of thirty who can guess the name of the character in the picture will get this achievement: "Le kittee quel terriblay odeur!!"
Kaplan to train you for the SATs through your DS
For those of you looking to bone up on your college-level analogies, Kaplan, Inc. has teamed with Aspyr Media to bring you a SAT prep title for the DS. The project is still early in development, so there is no name or screens yet. Sadly, that's about all we have to go on right now.We must say, the decision to bring such an application to the DS shows (to us, at least) the kind of smarts that would score well on the SATs. [Via Joystiq]
Kaplan says gamers were bored before Wii
Now, we've been saying for awhile now that the Wii would revolutionize the industry and it has. But, we wouldn't go so far as to say we were bored by it all pre-Wii. We loved the GameCube, we loved the GBA and we still love our DS. We loved the N64. We hardly found ourselves without games to play, that's for sure."A major insight that Nintendo had early on was that they saw that gamers were getting bored, even though they didn't know it yet," Kaplan remarked. Robert Matthews, senior director of consumer marketing for Nintendo of America backed her up, stating "Just look at the way people consume entertainment today. The idea that you would spend hours playing videogames is just not real anymore." While we'd argue that, blogging doesn't leave us with as much time for gaming as we'd like, but we think overall that there will always be a place for lengthy games, jam-packed with feature-rich content and that Nintendo's new proven focus shouldn't try to do away with those.Do you guys care to toss in your two cents?
Kaplan hits the road, Jack
Following in the footsteps of George Harrison, Nintendo's top PR person (and the apple of Matt C's eye) Perrin Kaplan has decided to call it quits with Nintendo. She didn't state any reason why she was departing in her correspondence with Reuters, but we're sure she just doesn't want to relocate. Leaving her home of 15 years to follow her job to a new city just probably isn't a life choice she's comfortable with.Oh well, at least she'll have Matt to help her through the tough times when she departs at the end of the year.
Kaplan talks Wrath with Eurogamer
Recently Blizzard guru Jeff Kaplan sat down to talk with Eurogamer.fr about the upcoming expansion, Wrath of the Lich King. Now, I don't know about you, but I have been positively drooling for any information we can get from the Blizz devs ever since the announcement was made at BlizzCon. The interview asks some pointed questions about the problems encountered with TBC and what Blizz might have learned from them. How about the daunting attunement and access difficulties that hardcore players encountered when they first loaded the expansion onto their computers? Kaplan points to how they realized that access to the instances needed to be tweaked and they did so with recent patches. Blizz would like to have world events that include the whole server again, much like Ahn'Qiraj (and I couldn't agree more, as long as the guild that opens the event doesn't do it on Monday morning like they did on Elune), and they are looking to avoid with Wrath what Kaplan "personally consider[s] a mistake in the Burning Crusade."In addition to world events and the possibility of unlocking an attunement for all a player's characters once one of them has achieved it, Kaplan also says they are looking into improving the trade skills with Wrath. He points to leatherworking as an example of a trade skill that received little lovin' in TBC. Essentially leatherworking became obsolete as players entered Outland and received dropped items that were superior to anything they could make. "In the Wrath of the Lich King, we want everyone to be satisfied with the trade they choose and we want it to be rewarding. Therefore we're going to analyse[sic] everything we did with The Burning Crusade and previously to work out what was good and what was missed out."
Kaplan SAT prep on your iPod
There are two things the kids love today : iPods and standardized tests. Apple has teamed up with Kaplan, one of the leading test prep companies in the world, to create a product that combines both of these things into one: Kaplan SAT Prep 2008 for the iPod! These three iPod games (there are three different versions, each covering a different area of the SAT: math prep, reading prep, and writing prep) are probably the most boring games available for the iPod. Each features the kind of questions you would find on the SAT, and boasts the ability to let you listen to your music whilst you prep.The three games are sold separately for $4.99 and are available now.
Rumor: Marketers head for the hills, a fond farewell to Kaplan and Harrison
It's a wild week in the world of Nintendo's upper management in marketing ... we think. Recently, Nintendo's marketing department was told they'd need to ship off to either New York or San Francisco from their current homes in Redmond. According to Game Informer, as astounding 90% decided to remain in the area and take severance pay. What's even more shocking are that Beth Llewelyn (senior director of public relations), Perrin Kaplan (vice president of marketing and corporate affairs) and George Harrison (senior vice president of marketing and corporate communications) are among the dearly departed. From Nintendo, we mean.Those are some big names dropping from Nintendo's ivory towers, and we've got to sad we're sad to see them go. George was always a nice, candid fellow, and who can forget drunk Perrin (pictured above)? Now that was a classic. We would like to reiterate that Game Informer's claim has not yet been corroborated, so we'll post an update with confirmation or denial when we get it.[Thanks, Jensonb!]
Wii Warm Up: Continued shortages and our periodic check-in
Every now and then, we just have to ask -- if you've been looking for a Wii, have you found one yet? Have you given in to bundles just to get it over with? Give us a status update! And in general, we'd love to hear about demand where you are. Are random people (read: not gamers) still crowing about the Wii where you live? Have the shortages seemed to have an affect -- good or bad -- on the desires of the masses? Some people think the demand will wear down eventually, but the commercials and word of mouth seem to be fueling a continued momentum.
Nintendo and Sega execs talk about Sonic and Mario at the Olympics
In the spirit of Sonic and Mario uniting for a friendly sporting exhibition, N'Gai Croal brought Nintendo of America Vice President Perrin Kaplan and Sega of America President Simon Jeffery together, ushering in a new age of Sega and Nintendo Doing Stuff Together. In addition to the quite promising info that Shigeru Miyamoto is involved in Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games "more ... than sort of the average game," there are some hilarious quotes from Kaplan, who seems to be euphoric in the extreme over the Sega-Nintendo collaboration. On why Mario gets top billing in the title: "He's Italian, he's really sexy, and he can get more women than Sonic." Depressingly, we have evidence to the contrary of that last point (said evidence is a Sonic 360/PS3 spoiler, so be warned ... in fact, be warned in general).
Nintendo UK: GameCube is SO not dead!
Looks like Perrin may have jumped the gun a bit when she said that the company would not be manufacturing any more GameCubes and we should all just consider the thing to be dead. At least, that's according to Nintendo UK spokesperson who recently told Europgamer "I can confirm that globally, Nintendo is still continuing production of GameCube hardware and GameCube software." He said, she said ... it makes our head spin.[via Joystiq]
Wii Freeloader is en route
After a bunch of Perrin Kaplan flip-flopping and general mass hysteria, it turned out that the Wii would in fact be region-specific after all. Importing games that the world has deemed too insane for the American public is one of our greatest joys in this world, and lo, Nintendo cut us down without mercy. But in this rare tale of Nintendo playing the role of evil, a shining knight gallops toward us with an interesting coat of arms adorning yon shield ... it's Datel, Advanced Gaming Technology™! Yes!Apparently, Datel has announced plans to bring a Wii version of their popular Freeloader boot disc, allowing a gamer to essentially ignore any and all region-locks. Though the updatable nature of the Wii theoretically might allow Nintendo to block this product in the future, we'd imagine that even evil has unexpected bouts of lenience.
Japanese hardware sales, 16 October - 22 October: Nintendo All Hallows Eve Edition
Satoru Iwata (dressed as a vampire): DS Lite perform amazing feat in global market! More hundred thousand units in time of week! Much party enjoyment, everyone, so scary is coming! George Harrison (dressed as Link): Ugh, these tights are starting to chafe. Perrin, wanna trade costumes?Perrin Kaplan (dressed as a slutty cat): Um ... no. But you should ask around, really. Has anyone seen Matt? He looks so damn good in that costume ....Matt Cassamassina (dressed as Mega Man, special guest to the event): Perrin. Storage closet. Now.Perrin: Rawr.Iwata: They are doing the fun, yes?George: Uh, yeah. Where's Miyamoto-san, by the way?Iwata: There. (points)George: The dinette set?Shigeru Miyamoto (dressed as a dinette set): Ah! You see, this is the inspiration for my next masterpiece. Get ready for the next generation of fun!George: Sunnuva bitch. Miyamoto, stop doing shrooms, and...ah! Finally, someone normal. But why aren't you dressed up, Reggie?Reggie Fils-Aime: What do you mean?George: It's Halloween. You need a costume. You're just dressed normally.Reggie: This is my costume.George: ...Reggie: Bitch.George: ...Reggie: Now get me a sandwich.George: Friggin' ... fine ....- DS Lite: 116,941 12,454 (11.92%) - PS2: 22,380 2,347 (9.50%) - PSP: 20,271 1,332 (6.17%) - GBA SP: 2,421122 (5.31%) - Game Boy Micro: 1,660 54 (3.15%) - Xbox 360: 1,287 456 (26.16%) - Gamecube: 638 15 (2.30%) - DS Phat: 130 143 (52.38%) - GBA: 37 25 (67.57%) - Xbox: 6 3 (100.00%)[Source: Media Create]
The Wii isn't region-free, after all
We've never really had a reason to dislike Perrin Kaplan, Nintendo of America's vice president of marketing and corporate affairs. Sure, she got a little drunk at E3 (seriously, watch that video, it's awesome), but who wasn't? But now...she's crossed the line. We reported yesterday that the Wii would be region-free for first-party titles, and left up to the publisher for third-party ventures. However, a UK Nintendo rep flatly denied her claims, and the official line from a U.S. rep was this:"We've heard conflicting reports from lots of folks out there, but can tell you that Wii will be region encoded, as will first-party software."How dare you, Kaplan? We trusted you; put our ability to play quirky Japanese Wii games in your hands! You failed us, you fibbing...fibber! A curse upon your soul!
