offline
Latest
Battle.net registration now online in China
World of Warcraft has, as you have probably heard, been offline in China for a while now. Even though The9 originally said they'd transfer over their servers to NetEase, they later decided to fight it out, leaving WoW offline for a matter of weeks. And it isn't quite up yet, but they're getting there -- this (very roughly) translated article says that Battle.net servers are now up and running, so Chinese players can now at least sign in to Battle.net, if not into the game itself. We already went through the same thing here in the US and the EU, so Azeroth should be back online in China any day now.Meanwhile, the poor folks at The9 have not been doing so well -- they were on top of the world last year, but when World of Warcraft up and flew the griffon out of there, they lost the majority of their business. A new AP article has them revising their expected earnings down by an "estimated 55 to 75 percent." Ouch.Let that be a lesson, NetEase. Keep your instances running and your downtime low, because if Blizzard pulls the plug on a game you're running, they'll be taking a ton of money with them.
With the game offline in China, others aim to step in
As you may or may not have heard, the World of Warcraft is currently offline in China, thanks to a fight between the game's former licensee, The9, and its current licensee, Netease. Yes, if you think a day or so of downtime is bad here in the US and the EU, that's nothing compared to this: the game has been down since June 7th, and neither Blizzard nor Netease have given an estimate of when the game might be back online. An analyst from China does say that they expect most players to return to the servers once they return, but in the meantime, many players have spread over into Taiwan's WoW server. We don't believe that Blizzard allowed transfers during this time, so they've likely started and leveling brand new characters over there.And don't think that other games haven't noticed this unique window of opportunity: there are currently millions of MMO players looking for something to do in China, and there are at least three big other games looking to give them something to do. Aion, which is currently in beta here in the US but is apparently up and running in Asia already, is making as much of a play as they can, and there are two local Chinese games, Zhuxian Online and Chibi Online, both developed by a company called Perfect World, that are also aiming to steal some of China's WoW players.Very interesting situation over there -- imagine how much the MMO world would be thrown off here if WoW just completely disappeared for multiple weeks, if not longer. Blizzard is likely scrambling to get things moving over there as fast as possible.
Dozens of realms under long maintenance tomorrow
There will be two kinds of maintenance tomorrow.The first kind will be from 3:00 a.m. PDT until 11:00 a.m. PDT. This is the "normal" maintenance time. This will apply to all realms that are not on the list after the break.The second kind of maintenance will be from 12:00 a.m. PDT until 12:00 p.m. PDT. The realms after the break will be undergoing this maintenance.It is likely the Wintergrasp changes we just broke will go live tomorrow. There's a bit of uproar about them, and it'll be interesting to see exactly what the changes are. There is no indication if patch 3.1.2 will be dropping tomorrow or not.The list of realms down for half a day after the break.
Google's new Gmail mobile web app sports offline message caching, lots of floaty goodness
If you've been losing sleep in eager anticipation of the new Gmail for mobile, rest assured that you'll sleep soundly tonight. With support for both Android phones and iPhone / iPod Touch OS 2.2.1, the gang over at the Google mobile blog are justifiably proud of the new app. Expect nothing less than a more robust cache that utilizes Gears (for Android) and SQLite databases (for iPhones / touches) to allow you to compose messages and access recently read messages without a network connection, an improved look and feel, and the all new "floaty bar" (their name, not ours) that keeps popular menu commands from scrolling off screen, as this bad boy rolls out progressively over the course of the day. Most interestingly, using the new Gmail on your devices doesn't require any tweaks or installs -- it's utilizing HTML5 (and its offline storage APIs) already present in the browser. Google is just turning on the juice behind the scenes. And for those of you who are resistant to change, fear not -- the previous version is still available. Check it out for yourself over at gmail.com, but not before peeping that super-sweet video after the break.
Google demos offline Gmail for iPhone, Android at MWC
If you were thinking offline Gmail on your desktop was the greatest thing since sliced bread, prepare yourselves people. If an MWC keynote from Google's VP of engineering, Vic Gundotra, is any indication, the same functionality might be coming soon to an iPhone / Android phone near you. Amongst other things, the souped up web app boasts an overhauled interface, supports labels, and of course, offline access. Despite our own hunch that Google's just using black magic and voodoo to make this happen, Gundotra claims that it's all made possible through HTML5 standards -- AppCache being the biggie. This development certainly opens the doors to more offline-enabled web apps in the future -- Docs, anyone?. Of course, we know Apple has a thing about people messing with its own apps, so it's probably going to take some time / knee-breaking to get them to come around, but for some reason, we don't think it'll take as long with Android. There's a demo video available after the break, and please, try to contain yourselves.
Realms offline until at least 6:00pm EST [Updated]
Breaking news from the service status forums:All realms will be offline until at least 6:00pm EST / 3:00pm PST. They are having to keep the realms down for this extended period due to errors in the mail system.Essentially, every piece of mail that was sent prior to the realms going down at 8:00am EST was lost when the servers came back up. Blizzard has said that they are actively looking for a solution to the problem. We're keeping our mailbox post updated with the latest information on that front.Hopefully this extended downtime is not foreshadowing things to come when Wrath of the Lich King starts to enter circulation tomorrow evening at midnight*. Update: Please see this post for more information concerning the downtime.Stay tuned to WoW Insider for more updates.Are you ready for the challenges that await you in Northrend? WoW Insider has you covered with our 8-day guide to Preparing for Wrath. Also, check out our feature on AddOns new, old and outdated and Essential AddOns for Wrath written especially with the expansion in mind.
Why are the servers down and other questions
For many of us, realms excitedly went up for a few minutes but quickly came crashing down. Reader Venorize was kind enough to send us a link to an F.A.Q answering all the pertinent questions about our realms... and why they're currently borked. Important questions like why our loading screens take forever to load (answer -- thousands and thousands of other people are logging in at the same time) and why our screen is cluttered with all sorts of incomprehensible gibberish and weird images (hint -- turn off your AddOns first).If you're having trouble logging in, experiencing difficulty in playing the game, or simply can't access of play World of Warcraft post Patch 3.0.2, head over to the F.A.Q., there are a lot of good answers to important questions. Even those not answered by our very own F.A.Q. assembled by Eliah. If you've got a question that isn't addressed here at WoW Insider or there, that's probably when you can head on over to the forums and bug Blizzard. Or... you can try and see if your realm's back on. A little patience goes a long way.
Space radiation knocks Giove-B Galileo satellite into "safe mode"
Safe mode, huh? While we had previously assumed only our clearly cursed PCs could fall into such a dark, dark place, apparently we were badly mistaken. The recently launched Giove-B satellite, which is the second bird launched for Europe's next-gen satnav network, was recently sent into some sort of "safe mode" after being "rocked by a surge of space radiation." Reportedly, said mode halts the satellite's mission activities and forces it to "concentrate on keeping its batteries topped up by ensuring its solar panels are properly aligned with the sun." Thankfully, the poor Giove-B was able to resume its frolicking in outer space around a fortnight after being blasted, though we hear if it had been just a tad worse, ground control would've had a real mess on their hands with the Blue Screen of Death.
Google Gears beta for Safari
Google Gears has been around for Firefox on the Mac for quite a while. However, Safari users have been left in the cold. Google Gears allows you to access certain Google services, most notably Docs and Reader, offline (as well as other offline-enabled web services like Remember The Milk). This week, a beta for Safari has become available.With Google Gears, for example, you can view all of your Google Docs offline -- and even edit them (word processing docs only, spreadsheets and presentations are viewable but not editable). When you connect back to the internet, you will be able to sync the changes back to Google.We're glad that Google has finally seen the light and released a version for our Safari-using counterparts. To make Google Gears work with Safari, you will need to download and install the Google Gears package for Mac OS X. Once installed, navigate to a "gears enabled" page, you will be able to use the Google Gears system. Remember, this is a beta and we've heard there might be issues if you've tweaked Safari in certain ways.Oh, and there appears to be limited support for Fluid, which is nice.[via the Apple blog]
Byline: Google Reader for your pocket
As someone who manages whole metric scads of information in Google Reader, I was excited to see Byline, from Phantom Fish software, in the App Store. Byline, as you might expect, fetches all your subscriptions from Google Reader and displays them for you to read. It also keeps track of the items you've read and starred. The greatest thing, though, especially for iPod touch owners and subway riders is this: Starring or Noting an item saves it on your iPhone or iPod for offline reading. If you star an item either using your desktop browser, Mobile Safari, or Byline itself, it saves it for later. Noting an item is even better, because you can save pages that aren't even in your RSS subscriptions for offline reading with Byline. They mention you can do this very easily with a bookmarklet. Now -- I can hear you screaming: NetNewsWire does all this, and it's free! Without boring you with detail, it's worth ten bucks to me to keep my Google Reader workflow the way it is, rather than spending time changing the way I work. Agreed: it's probably too steep for people who aren't heavily invested in Google Reader already. Additionally on the downside, Byline doesn't allow you to browse by tag, instead opting to lump everything together in one list by date. Phantom Fish says this is for performance reasons, as people with many feeds would experience sluggish behavior. They're looking into it, though, and I personally hope they figure it out. Byline is $9.99, awesome, and available through the App Store.
Apple Store down
The Apple Store just went offline. The site has been updated to show the yellow sticky note that we've all come to love. What could it mean? Might it mean that MobileMe boxes will be available and ready for shipping? One could only hope. If you notice anything new, be sure to send us a tip! Stay tuned here as we keep you updated. Thanks to everyone who sent this in!
Server prepares for WotLK...in July
I know that I wasn't the only one that did a double take today when I opened up WoW and saw the "Breaking News" maintenance announcement that included a tidbit about the realm Dreadmaul undergoing hardware upgrades for Wrath of the Lich King.I find this interesting for several reasons. First, the expansion hasn't even had a release date announced yet and they're already making hardware changes. Now this is obviously a good practice – getting ready for things before hand – but then again, if it's not going to be released in October / November of this year all these hardware changes could be done later and for much cheaper. No matter if you agree with my pricing analysis or not, it is definitely a bit odd to hear about hardware upgrades when the release date hasn't even been made public yet.
Tuesday morning at WoW Insider
It's Tuesday morning and the hamsters that run the servers are being fed by Blizzard, which means all the realms are down for extended maintenance until at least 11:00 a.m. PDT. There is no patch 2.4.2 to look forward to when the servers go back up this afternoon, but that might not be that bad of a thing. Usually patch days mean add-on trouble and serious server stability issues. Those spell disaster for anyone expecting to enjoy the evening.While the servers are offline, go ahead and get your WoW fix from us! We've got a few dandy articles to entice you and keep your WoW addiction in full swing. Take a look at the official and unofficial patch notes for patch 2.4.2. Highlights include reduced cooldown timers, changes in the hand specifications of some weapons, and new polymorphing mechanics. A talented rogue was able to tank the seventh boss in the Black Temple, Mother Shahraz, by stacking insane amounts of avoidance and agility. Take a look at the video of the encounter, definitely worth watching if you have a minute. SK-Gaming killed M'uru (the next-to-last boss in the Sunwell Plateau) over the weekend. M'uru dropped some nice loot for them. Check out what they got in their world first kill. Did you know Blizzard launched a new and improved online store? The best part about it is that if you buy something, you can click a little check box that gives you a chance to be selected to participate in a beta. I ordered a tee-shirt over the weekend, and have my fingers crossed that I'll get in a certain beta test pretty soon (I could care less about the tee-shirt, naturally). Sean Forsgren recently profiled one of my favorite add-ons, Dr. Damage. It's a great tool that gives you very useful statistics about all your spells in the form of extended tooltips. Take a minute to look into it now, and get it all downloaded and setup for when the servers come back online later today. When the severs do come back online, WoW Insider will let you know. Hopefully there won't be any major stability issues tonight, but if there are, we'll be covering that too. Enjoy your downtime!
PTR goes up
Usually Blizzard is pretty definitive when they take something down. However today they've decided to take down the PTR (Public Test Realm) in the morning, and then put it back up early tonight. I'm reminded of a recent Simpsons episode I watched where Homer is sitting in his hospital bed awaiting a heart bypass surgery and goes "Bed goes up, bed goes down. Bed goes up, bed goes down." PTR goes down, PTR goes up. All of these announcements come from the same person, Hortus, so it's not an issue of him being confused or anything (unless the whirly jig in his head has gotten to him). Hortus does tell us that they've put it up for "some additional testing," which really isn't a surprise given it's a test realm.This probably means that patch 2.4.2 won't go live tomorrow if there is maintenance. Once we know more we'll post and keep you updated.
Tuesday morning maintenance
Sometimes I feel like Blizzard chooses a handful of random servers to Ice Block every few days – not letting players on, and giving a (hopefully) short window when the servers will be offline.If you're on the unlucky servers of Agamaggan, Azshara, Baelgun, Dark Iron, Detheroc, Emerald Dream, Greymane, Kalecgos, Lightninghoof, Maelstrom, Malfurion, Moonrunner, Nazjatar, Sargeras, Staghelm, Twisting Nether, Ursin, WildHammer, or either of the Tournamenet Servers, you're going to have at least two hours of downtime from 5:00 a.m. PDT until 7:00 a.m. PDT. Blizzard will also be doing rolling restarts across all realms this morning.For those of you waiting to get your morning fix of WoW, fear not. There are several pieces of news and entertaining reads to catch up on.New WotLK alpha screenshots – Did you know that WotLK is in alpha, and the first batch of new screenshots has been leaked? We've got them confirmed from an inside source and mirrored here for your enjoyment.As a tank, I hate to pug. Our Warrior columnist Matthew Rossi agrees with me. Check out his enlightening piece for One reason tanks won't pug. And I hope the subject of his piece, Primula, enjoys his or her new found fame as one lowly ninja-looter.Do you have a life outside of WoW? Not that I do, but if I did I would be a casual player and appreciate Robin Torres' advice from WoW, Casually: Finding groups fast. Just remember that they don't always have to be random pug groups.Two pieces of Season 4 gear have been accidently enabled by a GM on the live realms. You can check out the new stats and have look at them. They remind me a bit of the Ori from Stargate, so I have to ask: Hallowed are the Ori, anyone? Hopefully the bosses at Blizzard are a bit more understand than the Ori and will let the GM that made this mistake keep his job.And finally you can check out my new favorite column of the week, [1. Local] by Lisa Poisso. Lisa takes a look at all the comments posted on WoW Insider and rounds up the best of them for us to marvel over. I know that I've sent her a few lately.Happy Tuesday everyone!%Gallery-21057%
No Sunwell Plateau this weekend
If you were expecting to trash around in the Sunwell Plateau this weekend, think again. According to a Daelo post, Blizzard has taken the instance offline for the next couple of days.While I can understand the Blizzard dev's taking the realm offline here or there, and taking down an instance for an extended period of time during the week, it does strike me as odd that they would choose to remove access during the weekend – a prime playing time for a lot of folks. And I know that I and many of my friends only raid weeknights, so we have ample opportunity to test out the content on the weekends.Nonetheless, we can all look forward to reentering the Sunwell on Monday. If this changes, expect to see an update on WoW Insider.
Tuesday night live!
Live, from Blizzard H.Q., it's Tuesday night!The Blues (official Blizzard forum posters) have given us a few important late night news tidbits, including some new patch 2.4 news. However, they lack the comedy stylings of John Belushi in a bee suit: The World of Warcraft website at http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/ will be taken offline for about 90 minutes tonight, starting at midnight PST. There is no reason to suspect this will affect players in the game. On the PTR, Shattrath Flasks will soon work inside the Sunwell Plateau raid instance. Also on the PTR, the transporter to the Caverns of Time will soon require revered reputation instead of exalted. If you notice strange happenings with your sever, you can always checkout the realm status forum on Blizzard's site. And of course, stay tuned to WoW Insider for the latest news.Updated 12:16 a.m. EST: We are getting user reports of Canadians not being able to access either the game or the World of Warcraft website. However, Blizzard has yet to officially comment on this. We'll keep this post updated with anything more we learn.Updated 12:33 p.m. EST: I heard your calls for help! I've written up an article titled Solving recent connection issues, which goes into some details about what you can do, including Blizzard's tech support phone number.
Tabula Rasa servers down, rabble rabble rabble! [Updated]
In a bit of news that I am quite displeased to report, Tabula Rasa appears to be having server troubles this evening, as both Western servers, Cassiopeia and Orion, have gone offline for some seemingly unscheduled maintenance. When we first sat down to write this post, the European server Centaurus was down as well, but has since come back online. We're hoping that this is just a freak incidence of somebody tripping over a power cord or something, and not a debilitating outage. The Bane can't be trusted on a server by themselves all weekend.No word from Destination Games yet, but we'd expect an update soon. In the meantime, I'll be... I don't know, reading a book or something?[Update: As of 10:37 EST, the servers all appear to be online and in working order. Back to battle with you, soldiers!]
EA to stop online support for six PSP games
Starting September 1st, EA will officially shut down servers for the following online-enabled PSP titles: FIFA Soccer 06 FIFA World Cup 2006 Fight Night Round 3 Madden NFL 06 NBA Live 06 In addition, Need for Speed Most Wanted will go offline starting November 1st. It looks like those of you that need an online racing fix might need to consider an alternative (like Test Drive Unlimited?). Unfortunately, it's commonplace for games to lose online support after a few years. Considering EA's love of making their franchises annual, it seems like they're really urging you to buy a new version of one of their products. [Via PlayStation boards]
Widget Watch: Stikkit widget
Last week, Mat Lu found a Quicksilver plugin that plays well with Stikkit, the online personal info organizer that thinks so you don't have to, but there's also another method for all you Dashboard junkies out there: a full-on widget from James Adam. This widget, like its Quicksilver plugin cousin, is great for getting your stuff into Stikkit, but it also has the advantage of being a compact window into your Stikkit world. You can create or edit any number of Stikkits and sync them when you want, making this widget a sort of offline, syncing client for Stikkit.Adam is providing this widget free of charge, and you can grab your copy from his interblah.net site (love the domain Adam!).[via Stikkit's Values of n Blog]
