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Upper Deck hosts a Spectral Safari event for the WoW minis game
Haven't gotten a chance to play last year's Game Product of the Year yet? You're in luck -- Upper Deck is hosting another "Spectral Safari" event about a month from now, on March 14th, and you could pick up a Spectral Tiger, one of the hottest TCG items in history. Entry for the big tournament costs $20, but not only do you get to take home a WoW minis booster, but you have a chance to win prizes, and everyone who plays in the tournament will get entered in a contest to have an official mini made of their very own ingame character. That's pretty wild.They've just sent us the list of where the events are taking place, so if there's a tournament going on near you (there are locations all over the world), now's the time to make your plans. The game is a lot of fun -- it's kind of a cross between a turn-based strategy game (in that both players take turns with their characters to move and attack) and Arena battles (in that you move around on a field using the various abilities and weapons available to your character's class). An event like this is a great way to check it out and possibly even win some prizes for playing well.
Xfire contest rewards you for playing Lord of the Rings Online
Xfire and Turbine are teaming up to offer a Lord of the Rings "Play 2 Win" event. Gamers playing either the full game or its demo, and who've joined the Official Xfire Lord of the Rings Online Clan, are eligible to win prizes in the contest. The time you spend logged in determines your prize eligibility, if you're selected: Gold Level Prizes (50 hours +): Ten winners each get a 6-month subscription, in-game Bree horse mount, and a LotRO t-shirt. Silver Level Prizes (15-49 hours): Ten winners each get a 3-month subscription, and a LotRO t-shirt. Bronze Level Prizes (under 15 hours): Ten winners each get a 30-day subscription. The contest runs from January 28th to February 11th. You can check out the rest of the details of The Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria Play 2 Win Event on the official Xfire site.
Upper Deck giving away Drums of War packs
Our friends at Upper Deck have decided to break out a series of contests for free cards from the WoW TCG. Over on their forums, they've posted a Card Caption contest -- they'd like you to come up with a caption for the Ryno the Short card (because Gnomes and short jokes are always funny -- and probably because the card bears a striking resemblence to Ryan O'Connor, the WoW TCG content manager), and in return, they're giving away free stuff: 12 packs of the Drums of War expansion for the first place winner (which means it's almost guaranteed that you'll pick up a dance grenade at least), and six packs each for a second and third place.So if you've already honed your caption making skills on our caption contests, head on over there and try your luck. You've got to enter before Sunday night, but the good news is that you can apparently enter as much as you want, so go crazy.And keep checking in over there on their forums -- we're told that they'll have new contests with new prizes every Monday. And we all know that while the WoW TCG is fun, the best way to play it is with free cards.
Figureprints lottery is over
Blizzard has posted on the official WoW site that the Figureprints lottery is over, and though there are no big news items over on the Figureprints site, all mentions of the lottery have disappeared also, so it looks like if you've been waiting for demand to clear up over there to order your figure, now's your chance. Figureprints is a company we've covered extensively here at WoW Insider - they'll make little custom statues of your character with a 3D printer. A print will run you $129.95, but if you're willing to pay for it, you can have a custom-made real-life souvenir of the toon you've spent so much time playing in game.The last time we talked to the guys over there they were working on all kinds of ways to make printing the figures easier and better, and it looks like they've found a few: Blizzard says that better methods have led to increased production, so even if you haven't heard from your lottery entry yet, odds are that you will soon. Unfortunately, they still haven't landed on a way to print out Hunter and Warlock pets to go along with those figures (their site still says they're working out how best to do it), so if you want Battlecatlol to go with your Hunter, Hemanlol, you'll have to wait a while longer.Of course, like Rossi, you might still be saying to yourself, "what's the point?" But if you do want one, now's apparently the time to come and get it.
Slay a festive goat to win game-time and prizes in AoC
In keeping with the macabre nature of the Conan world, you won't be helping orphans for Age of Conan's seasonal event. Nope. No delivering festive cookies to elves or spreading holiday love. Just hunting down mountain goats. Nothing says Christmas in Hyboria like a freshly slain and skinned goat carcass for that special someone. The problem in this particular case is that these "holiday" goats are in short supply -- extremely short supply in fact, as there will only be one special goat per server. All the bragging rights (and prizes) go to one lucky person per server who manages to track it down.There will be a hefty portion of luck involved in winning your server's event, but Funcom is also providing clues to the goat's whereabouts in the form of riddles on the official site. The events will take place on different days across the servers, and the goats won't be in the same place either. Now we've got to admit that we were a bit slow to catch this (we'll blame the spirit of the holidays for making us lazy) and some servers have already had their riddles posted and goats killed. However, if your server hasn't had the event yet, then it will be either be on later today, or the 29th, the 30th, or the 31st of December. Each server's winner will receive a pack of prizes (the same as the Season give-away pack) and two months of free game-time. Happy hunting!
Attend the WoW Insider Blizzcon meetup tonight, meet cool people
Blizzcon starts tomorrow in Anaheim, CA, and WoW Insider and Massively are already on-site to provide the best coverage we can! If you're in town, we want to invite you to the WoW Insider meetup tonight at 8:00 PM Anaheim time. You'll have chances to win cool prizes and swag if you know your World of Warcraft trivia, and the WoW Insider podcast will be taped in front of a live audience, so you can be a part of that mayhem as well.The meetup will be at The Lost Bar at 1150 W. Magic Way, near the Disneyland Hotel. The party will go on through much of the night, so even if you're not getting in until after 8:00, feel free to show up late and relax with the WoW Insider crew post-flight or drive.
Announcing the second annual WoW Insider BlizzCon meetup
Yes, folks, it's almost October, and that means it's time to start making those big plans for BlizzCon. And when you do, don't forget to include us -- just like last year, we're having a blowout reader meetup right near the Convention Center in Anaheim. Save the date for the second annual WoW Insider BlizzCon Meetup: Thursday night, October 9, at 8pm PST in The Lost Bar near the Disneyland Hotel (1150 W. Magic Way, same place as last year). If Blizzard does things the same way they did last year, badges will be pick-up-able that Thursday, so we'll all be awash in our goodie bags and passes already, and excited about what the rest of the 'con holds.Just like last time, we'll bring lots of prizes (and you may even get another round of trivia questions from me), plus you'll get the chance to meet and greet all your favorite WoW Insider bloggers (and commenters). And as you know if you were there last time, The Lost Bar has lots of great food and drink. And little boats to race!So if you're headed out to BlizzCon and will be in town on Thursday night, October 9th, at 8pm (or are in town anyway and want to come say hi), definitely come by our second annual reader meetup. And stay tuned for more -- we're planning on having at least one more live event at BlizzCon (we have to record the WoW Insider Show sometime that weekend, right?), so we'll let you know more about our schedule there soon.
Funcom announces its Dragon*Con plans
American readers: are you going to Dragon*Con this Labor Day weekend? Funcom (developer of Anarchy Online, Age of Conan, and The Secret World) is! Its specific plans have been laid out at the Age of Conan website.The company will have its own booth, of course, which will be open from 10:00 AM to 7:00 PM Friday through Sunday, and from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM on Monday. More interestingly, though, Funcom will be hosting what it calls the "FunCon Event" in the Sheraton Capital Ballroom on Friday at 10:00 PM. The party will feature music by DJ Tarryk and visitors from the teams of all three Funcom projects.The following day, Funcom will present its two currently-released games -- Anarchy Online at 10:00 AM and Age of Conan at 7:00 PM. Somewhere amidst all these proceedings, fans will have the opportunity to win posters, inflatable swords, t-shirts, lanyards, custom PC cases, and "one special customized Anarchy Online PC." That's cool. It's probably not cool enough to go out of your way to go to Dragon*Con for, but if you're already gonna be there you might as well stop by. Check out Massively's complete Dragon*Con schedule for other events and booths to hit up, too.
Guild Wars announces PAX tournament prizes
With gaming expo season also comes live tournament season to most of these events. During the Penny Arcade Expo's event later this month, ArenaNet plans on continuing their trend of hosting competitive Guild Wars tournaments with some great contests held at the ArenaNet/NCsoft booth, and also at their VIP after-party. As we previously reported, this party will be held at the Gameworks across the street from the Washington State Convention & Trade Center in Seattle.These contests include a 2v2 tournament and a Rollerbeetle racing tournament. The prizes range from ATI graphics cards, laser mice, gaming keyboards, character slots, bonus unlock packs and more! Head on over to the main GW website for more info on each of these prizes.
LotRO Competition: Spend your summer in Middle-earth
The first week of the newest Codemasters European contest has come to a close, and we're already set for more. Last week's winners have been announced and now it's time for you to enter for your own chance to be the next week's winner.How do you enter? Simply log in to Lord of the Rings Online at any time during the week and answer the questions on the competition web page, and from there you'll automatically be entered into a drawing for a chance to win some great prizes including iPod Nanos, NVidia graphics cards, lifetime LotRO subscriptions and more. Even if you're not a current LotRO subscriber, you can play the 14-day trial for eligibility. Keep in mind though that this contest is only open to those players in Europe and South Africa. Sorry Americans!
GotFrag's Orlando Tournament Preview
American arena's best of the best will be back in action this weekend as MLGs PC Circuit continues in Orlando. Once again, the winning team will be awarded $12,000 and three Blackbird Gaming PCs. There is a lot on the line with a total prize purse is $31,500. You can watch the tournament live on GotFrag TV. Broadcasts will begin Saturday and Sunday, July 12th and 13th at 9am Eastern time. Many of the same teams from the San Diego event will be representing in Florida. GotGrat's Knitt Quinn posted a preview analysis of the teams to beat. The analysis describes the strengths and weaknesses of each team. You can expect to see some well known teams and a few newcomers to the MLG scene. Many of the teams have a pool of known compositions to draw from:
Watch Arena, Win Prizes!
If you get the chance, be sure to tune in to GotFrag's coverage of the MLG's PC Circuit' Arena competition this weekend. The action will be going on throughout the day today and into tomorrow. I can think of five great reasons to watch this event: Get to see stunning arena action by the best players Support WoW Arenas as a spectator E-Sport Learn ways to improve your own play style by watching the pros It's more fun than watching golf on TV Win fabulous prizes. That's right, you don't even have to be an arena champ to take home the goods today. Heck, you don't even have to be in San Diego. GotFrag announced a prediction contest on their website. The first player to post the top four finishing teams and the final score in the comments of GotFrag's post will be granted an A40 MixAmp and A40 Headset. Take a look at some of the teams that will be playing and post away. Check the post at GotFrag for more details.
Lanwar hosts WoW levelling contest
Lanwar holds a variety of large-scale events focused on computer gaming. Their 7th MillionManLan convention is in Louisville, Kentucky over the weekend of July 4th. The MML events have, in the past, hosted over a thousand gamers, so it's fair to expect a pretty big turnout this year.What's interesting about the contest line-up this year is that World of Warcraft is making a different kind of appearance. Lanwar is hosting a levelling contest. And, yup, there's cash money as the prize. (How much will be determined by the number of registrants.)This is a fairly significant diversion from the kind of eSport that's usually associated with WoW. You have to wonder what the rules are going to be like -- Lanwar's web site doesn't go into a lot of detail. Does everyone have to start with the same race and class? Or is that decision considered to be part of the contestant's strategy? What's the time limit like? Do you use your own account? Is Blizzard aware of this contest? I'm hoping to see more information posted as the date for MML gets closer -- it's certainly an interesting idea.
WWII Online: Battleground Europe to honor servicemen and women
World War 2 Online: Battleground Europe will be holding cease-fires today at 2 PM and 8 PM CST to honor the men and women who gave their lives during the actual World War II. This will mark the culmination of a week's worth of activities and events centered around the celebration of the game's seventh anniversary.The treats began on the 6th with seven days of free game time, and continued with events such as the veteran's brigade challenge on the 7th, and the best fighter pilot challenge on the 8th. The following days let players take arms against Cornered Rat employees in various locales, with the chance to win big prizes. Full details are available on their site.The cease-fire will last for 15 minutes and be held on the bridge at Dinant, and is open to all players, whether Axis or Allies.[Thanks, Al!]
CGS opens registration to the public
The Championship Gaming Series, which is having its second-annual WoW competition this year, has just announced that they are opening registration to the public! Previously, the tournament was invitation-only from the top-rated 1000 Arena teams.The tournament will be 3v3, played on special tournament realms, just like Blizzard's own tourney. The qualifier rounds start on this coming Monday, June 9th, and run through the 22nd, and the top two teams in the qualifiers from each region, North America and Europe, will be flown out to Los Angeles for the final competition, live on July 19th. The cash money totals to $50,000, with the winning team taking home $25,000, the second-place team $12,500, and the third- and fourth-place teams $6,250 each.If you are interested in registering, which is free, do it by June 8th, since that's when registration closes. You have to be 18 or over and a resident of the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Spain, Sweden, Belgium or United Kingdom to compete. Here are the registration links for the different regions: Europe, North America. For more on the CGS tournament see their rules and FAQ.
Week 3 Arena Tournament Update
Teams continue to vie for top position in the $200,000 3v3 arena tournament Slash Bark continues to hold on to the top spot with a rating of 2056. Last weeks second and third place teams Let's Be Friends and Jacked as F have dropped into fourth and fifth places respectively, giving way to MoB Gaming (2022) and Eclipse (2020). RMP teams are well represented among the top contenders. The top 11 teams are all within 100 points of first place, and I wouldn't count out any of the 20 teams over 1900 ratings just yet. At this point all team rosters have been locked and new additions cannot be made. The remainder of the tournament will include a second qualifying round, followed by regional contests for a shot at the prize money. MLG Is preparing a $22,500 tournament as Blizzard works to make a place for WoW PvP as an Esport, without damaging the PvE game. I suspect that the second qualifying round on the tournament server will be much less popular than the first. The WoW Insider team fell prey to scheduling difficulties with our Friday Night bouts, but should be back in the saddle this week.
Blood Sport: Tournament Time
V'Ming - who thinks that gnome warlocks are travesties of nature and need to be KOSed has been bound with copious amounts of duct tape and is currently suspended by his toenails in the basement of the WoW Insider headquarters where he is currently serving as a practice piñata for the rest of the crew. Amanda Dean has temporarily hijacked his column to bring you this important announcement. The servers are live and Blizzard's $120,000 arena tournament has begun. This is your chance to prove that your team is the best in the world, or at least among eligible participants. The first two qualifying rounds are divided into Asian, European and North American Regions.* You have to place among the top four teams in one of these rounds to qualify for the big bucks. Before you sign up, be sure to check out the official tournament rules. Players must have their accounts upgraded to tournament status in order to view the tournament realms. Entrance into each of the qualifying rounds will run individual participants $20 USD. Qualifiers run from March 31-May 20, 2008 to June 3-July 15, 2008. Players may use user interface modifications in the qualifying rounds, but will be limited to the default UI and custom macros in the live stages of the tournament.
Arena tournament items revealed
You remember that 3v3 Arena tournament we told you about? The one with $200,000 worth of prize money, that's going to be played on private servers full of premade characters and paved with free epics? Well, today Blizzard announced which items you're going to be able to choose from, should you decide to cough up the $20 entrance fee. Let's take a look.First off, there's high-quality ammo, reagents, bandages, poisons, food, and water. Boring enough. In case you feel the need to look really bad-ass, or to get from place to place faster, you can grab Reins of the Black War Tiger/Horn of the Black War Wolf. All that is fine, but what about actual gear? All the Season 2 Merciless Gladiator gear is available, and all the Tier 5 class sets. There are also selected other items from the tier 5 raids (SSC and TK), as well as some badge loot to fill in the gaps. I'm even seeing the odd T4 raid item, like the Eye of Magtheridon and of Gruul, and some Heroic drops like the Scarab of the Infinite Cycle (these seem to be limited to the accessories).
Arena Tournament details
Blizzard provided further details on the much anticipated 3v3 tournament. A mere $20* entry fee per player will give you a shot at the $75,000 grand prize. That's $25,000 a piece (unless you have more players on your team), which is not too shabby. Second place will net your team $30,000 and the third place team will get $15,000. There will also be monetary rewards for regional finalists. Your entry fee will grant you access to the arena server for the entirety of the six-week qualifying tournament. You will be able to create up to three characters on the server. This tournament will be about skill rather than gear. You may select your weapons and armor from arena and raid epics. You will also be able to select honor-based rewards and enchantments for your items. If you don't like your original selections, respecs and gear will all be free of charge.
Blizz announces WoW arena tourney with $75,000 grand prize
Do you have a hot 3v3 team in WoW? Do you want to win some money? If so, this news is for you. Blizzard announced a new global 3v3 arena tournament yesterday, starting in April with two qualifier rounds. The tournament events will run on specialized realms where players can create level 70 characters and choose epic gear from vendors, to level the playing field. The vendors will be stocked with Arena and honor gear as well as "a selection of raid epics with the approximate power level of the Arena gear." Characters will also be given access to gold, gems, enchants, and class-specific items like ammo and soul shards. There will be an entry fee to compete in each qualifier round of $20/€15/local equivalent per competitor.The qualifiers are broken down by region: Europe, North America, South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Macau, and run for six weeks. After this, the top four teams in each of the two qualifying rounds for each region advance to the regional finals, competing for "more than $27,000 in cash prizes." The regional winners will then compete in the championships, with $120,000 in cash prizes available. And the grand prize? $75,000. Who's going to take a stab at it? For more details, see the tournament FAQ.[via WoW Insider]
