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Watch the MLG Providence National Championships live, right here on Joystiq!
A roaring crowd, concession-stand popcorn and panicked cries for additional pylons can only mean one thing: It's pro-gaming season. The sound of furiously clicking mice can be heard for miles around in Providence, Rhode Island, where Major League Gaming's Pro Circuit National Championships are happening right now. The greatest Starcraft 2 players from around the world have assembled and are putting on one hell of a show, which you can enjoy irrespective of your proximity to The Ocean State thanks to the embedded stream above. Jump past the break for the day's complete schedule, and peep the tournament bracket here.
Why you might like Blizzard DOTA
Fans of Defense of the Ancients, the immensely popular Warcraft III mod that spawned an entirely new genre of gaming, are already conditioned to love Blizzard DOTA. I got to play it this week at BlizzCon 2011 and had a great time getting into the very familiar world. However, many Blizzard fans are not DOTA enthusiasts or even privy to the genre itself. WoW players may not really understand what this Blizzard offering is about or even why they should be interested. Warcraft fan-favorite characters Thrall and Arthas are making appearance in Blizzard DOTA, which means gamers who have ever wanted to pit these monolithic figures against other Blizzard staple characters will get the chance. Here's what you need to know about Blizzard DOTA and why you just might like playing as one of your favorite WoW personalities. Defense of the Ancients was originally a Warcraft III mod that became so incredibly popular that it spawned the genre know known as MOBA (multiplayer online battle arena) or ARTS (action real-time strategy), depending on who you ask. The game consists of three paths that connect two bases with destructible buildings and towers along the path routes. Waves of minions or creeps, NPC characters that spawn endlessly from both bases, meet in the middle of these lanes to do battle. You control a powerful hero who levels up, gains skills and abilities, and can purchase items from a shop. Your goal is to fight these minions and enemy players, destroy the enemy towers and buildings, and win the game.
World of Warcraft makes inroads into southeast Asia
World of Warcraft may be slipping in the subscription department over this past year, but a recent deal may change all that. Blizzard has signed a contract with game publisher Asiasoft to bring the title to three additional countries: Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore. Blizzard's Paul Sams sees this move as a great way to expand ever further: "One of our top priorities is ensuring that our games are easily accessible to players all around the world. We are confident that as a leading online game services provider in southeast Asia, Asiasoft will help us reach many new players in this growing region." Asia is one of WoW's biggest markets, with countries like China producing massive amounts of players who are into the game. Under the terms of this deal, Asiasoft will get the rights to publish World of Warcraft and all of its expansion packs to the three countries, as well as Starcraft II and Diablo III.
BlizzCon 2011 schedule app available for Android, iPhone
Blizzard Entertainment has released a new app for iPhone and Android users, a scheduling assistant for BlizzCon 2011. Included with the app is a map of the convention hall and the full schedule of events, as well as feature to personalize your own schedule while at BlizzCon, with an event alert so you don't miss any important panels. Along with the usual run of tournament play for both World of Warcraft and StarCraft, this year's BlizzCon includes a host of panels for Diablo 3, StarCraft 2, and World of Warcraft. Everything from class talent systems to lore and publishing will be covered. Download the free app now on your iPhone or Android device! Turn to WoW Insider for all your BlizzCon 2011 news and information. Get ready to kick off the weekend with the WoW Insider Reader Meetup cohosted by Wowhead, and look for our liveblogs of the convention panels, interviews with WoW celebrities -- and of course, lots of pictures of people in costumes. It's all here at WoW Insider!
Recap of Blizzard Entertainment at Gamescom 2011
Blizzard has returned from Cologne, Germany, and the Gamescom convention with tales of triumph, competition, and tons of patch 4.3 goodness for us World of Warcraft players. The community site's blog was updated with a big recap of all of Blizzard's events from the show, in case you missed any of the fun from the live streams. World of Warcraft was represented by top guilds For the Horde and Ensidia trouncing through the Firelands in live raids for Gamescom attendees, as well as the new patch 4.3 features Void Storage, Raid Finder, and transmogrification. StarCraft 2 showcased some cool show matches between top players, and Diablo 3 had a big hands-on gaming area that, obviously, filled up quicker than humanly possible. Seriously, can't that game just come out already? Blizzard wrapped up its recap with familiar dance and costume contests, with winners earning a trip to BlizzCon in October. Check out the full recap at the World of Warcraft community site for an awesome video of the Diablo 3 street art from the show.
Blizzard quashes speculation about a potential World of StarCraft
There's a very good reason why the now-infamous World of StarCraft mod had so many people so excited -- it seems like a pretty obvious project. After all, Blizzard has certainly made a big impression on the MMO world with World of Warcraft, so it seems like a no-brainer that their science fiction RTS might follow a similar path. Unfortunately, those of you waiting for just such an announcement have been told the exact opposite -- Blizzard currently has no plans to adapt the StarCraft setting to an MMO. According to senior VP Frank Pearce, it's not so much a case of not liking the idea as not having available staff and time to pursue the angle, with the company's teams currently occupied by Diablo III, the mysterious Titan project, further sequels to StarCraft II, and of course World of Warcraft. While the title remains in Blizzard's trademark arsenal, it doesn't look as if the company will be using it for a game any time in the near future. It's good news for players who want the series to remain as an RTS, but bad news for the many fans hoping to make their own mark on the galaxy.
MSI outs its latest GE620DX gaming laptop, orcs prepare for virtual slaughter
Spilled Mountain Dew on your last laptop during that marathon session of Starcraft II? MSI's got your back buddy, with its newly announced GE620DX. There's a serious bit of dedicated gaming punch lying under this notebook's brushed metal finish thanks to its 2GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor, an NVIDIA GeForce GT 555M card and the audio tag team of MSI Premium Sound and THX's True Studio Pro. In addition to its 15.6-inch 1366 x 768 HD display, this "dream machine" sports a 720p camera, an HDMI out port and USB 3.0. The company's also thrown in a GPU Boost feature, which frees up the internal graphics chip should you be running any graphics-intensive apps. Unfortunately, your zerg Swarm-slaying hands will have to wait for an official price and retail date, but when you do get a hold of it, make sure to keep that caffeinated brew far from the keyboard.
Starcraft Universe alpha gameplay video released
What if the year's most noteworthy MMO release wasn't a mega-budget corporate themepark but a crazy-detailed mod produced by a tiny team of fans? A lot of gamers out there would love to see a StarCraft-flavored MMORPG, and modder Ryan Winzen is in the process of making that dream a reality with StarCraft Universe, a total conversion for Blizzard's StarCraft II that turns the strategy title into a full-blown massively multiplayer experience. Eurogamer has published a four-minute video of the mod in action, and viewers will get a good look at the alpha-state UI, combat, and a glimpse of character creation before the clip is done. As to the legalities involved, we reported earlier this year on Winzen's amicable accord with Blizzard, and though the gaming giant invoked its right to block the distribution of videos promoting the mod, it allowed development on the project to continue.
The Lawbringer: The odd future of bill S. 978
Pop law abounds in The Lawbringer, your weekly dose of WoW, the law, video games and the MMO genre. Mathew McCurley takes you through the world running parallel to the games we love and enjoy, full of rules, regulations, pitfalls and traps. How about you hang out with us as we discuss some of the more esoteric aspects of the games we love to play? The machinima and streaming communities built around World of Warcraft are filled with some of the most talented and creative people in gaming, from awesome musicians to dedicated streamcasters. The first time I ever got to experience the WoW beta back in 2004, I was watching someone stream footage of their human warlock messing up mobs in (if I remember correctly) Westfall. Streaming is beneficial to gaming, MMOs, and e-sports because of video games' competitive nature and spectator-oriented design. You've probably heard of Senate bill S.978 already, most likely from many video game blogs and news outlets or YouTube campaigns fighting against the passage of this bill. Bill S.978 aims to institute a "10 strikes" policy, making the unauthorized streaming of content a felony, resulting in potential jail time. The main purpose of the bill is to strengthen the law and punishments available to organizations such as the MPAA and other content conglomerates to stop illegal streaming of millions upon millions of dollars in stolen entertainment. As is the way of things, gamers might be caught in the crossfire. Some of you fine readers sent me a few messages on Twitter asking me to weigh in on the 10 strikes streaming bill and maybe give a basic analysis of the thing, so I shall oblige. Lawbringer this week is all about the odd future of bill S. 978 and what it could mean for MMOs and WoW.
Behind the Mask: From the shadows, I come
There have been a lot of updates to Champions Online recently. The dev team has really focused on putting out small bits of content at a rapid pace, including a new costume pack, the Light Speed travel power, and two big updates to the Darkness and Gadgeteering frameworks. The Void, the first of CO's premium archetypes, basks in the twilight and wields the power of darkness. She came with a big update to the Darkness framework as a whole, and we'll cover all the changes to her sexy powers this week in Behind the Mask.
Predicting Battle.net's social future
If you think we've scratched the surface of Battle.net cross-game implementation with Real ID, you are going to be amazed at what is coming next. Do I know any of this for sure? No, of course not. I base my predictions on three simple facts: Blizzard has created an account-based loyalty program that has encapsulated each and every one of its games; Blizzard is chock-full of smart individuals who understand community, as illustrated by the new community website; and Blizzard has made your account mean something into perpetuity. If you think Battle.net is sharp at 2.0, you can't even imagine 3.0.
MMO Roundup: World of StarCraft, RIFT news, and more
Sometimes you'd like to know that there are other MMOs out there, right? It's not all WoW, all the time! Our sister site Massively can provide you with everything you need to know about all of the other MMOs around -- past, present and future. StarCraft II turned into World of StarCraft by enterprising fan World of StarCraft is, by all indications, high on the list of desirable games that have never been announced or even hinted at. It's certainly a universe ripe for development, and it's not as if Blizzard doesn't know anything about running an MMO. But why wait for an official release when you can put the game together yourself? The latest RIFT news If upcoming MMO RIFT has caught your attention, the past week had a number of RIFT-related news stories that might strike your fancy. New beta additions? PvP details? New class reveals? Massively has it all. First Impressions: Battlestar Galactica Online Last year, developer Bigpoint announced that Battlestar Galactica Online was being developed as a free-to-play browser MMO. Just last week, Massively was able to get its hands on the game and take it for a spin. The Guild Counsel: What every leader should know about recruiting Do you like WoW Insider's Officers' Quarters? Then you might like Massively's Guild Counsel. This week, The Guild Counsel tackles the topic of guild recruitment, discussing the right and wrong ways to do it. Hello Kitty Online meets Manhattan Hello Kitty Online is near and dear to our hearts here at WoW Insider. We were all excited to hear about the latest HKO update. Hello Kitty Online visits New York City, where the locals have gone missing for mysterious reasons. Find out what happened, and cheer up the victims! Week in Review: It's all about souls Don't let WoW Insider do all of the talking when it comes to Massively's best content of the week. The Massively staff themselves have picked out what they think is the best content their site has to offer in their own weekly roundup.
Blizzard plays nice with World of StarCraft modder
Gaming giant Blizzard Entertainment has officially weighed in on the World of StarCraft controversy, and the verdict is something of a happy ending for fans of the MMO-flavored mod and its mastermind Ryan Winzen. Gamasutra reports that Winzen has been invited to meet the StarCraft II development team, and his hard work won't be for naught despite the removal of his YouTube preview videos. "It was never our intention to stop development on the mod or discourage the community from expressing their creativity through the StarCraft II editor. As always, we actively encourage development of custom maps and mods for StarCraft II, as we've done with our strategy games in the past," Blizzard said in a prepared statement. The company went on to explain that issuing a take-down order for the offending videos is part of its standard procedure when dealing with fan mods and possible copyright infringement and that it is "looking forward to seeing development of the mod continue," according to Gamasutra.
Ask Massively: It's my birthday and I'll devote a column title to it if I want to edition
Yes, 28 years ago, something very special (to me, anyway) happened. That means that while I'm going to spend the day on my usual cocktail of whatever the heck I do, I get the opportunity to make Ask Massively's opening even more of a non sequitor than it normally is. Here, have a screenshot from one of the worst-animated episodes in all of the original Transformers cartoon. I swear that looks bad even in a still frame. It was either this shot or the one of Blaster and Ultra Magnus getting married. (That's what it looks like, anyway.) Now that I've gotten that out of my system for another 10 minutes or so, we can move on to this week's column, which is sadly devoid of giant robots. It does have questions about DC Universe Online and the sad story of World of Starcraft's rise and subsequent fall, so I still get to indulge in things that I like. And birthday or not, questions can be left in the comment field or mailed along to ask@massively.com.
[Updated] Starcraft MMO modder wins the internet with a job offer from Riot Games
Modifying video games is nothing new. Most mods are overlooked by game developers because a good chunk of them are not malicious and the modders themselves aren't looking to break the game; they just want to improve it in some way. However, yesterday, we reported that a talented modder named Ryan created an MMO mod using the Starcraft II engine calling it World of Starcraft. Blizzard had the trailer for the mod pulled from YouTube citing copyright infringement, but no other contact was made. Ryan attempted to make contact with Blizzard regarding the issue, but was directed to another department leaving the issue unresolved for the moment. There is, however, a silver lining in all of this. The popularity and quality of the mod caught the attention of Riot Games, the creators of League of Legends. A developer from Riot contacted Ryan via Pixelated Geek offering him a job. This was later confirmed as an actual offer on the League of Legends official forums. Lead Designer Tod "Zileas" Cadwell said this: "When I see a modder with a lot of drive that has done something cool, I tend to contact them. I shot him an email recently asking if he was interested in exploring an opportunity here. As to what comes of that, who knows -- that depends on the mutual fit and his own goals." Cadwell believes the legal issues do not extend beyond the name of the mod, so it is very possible Ryan will be living out his dream as a game designer. Sometimes dreams do come true. [Update: We want to clarify that Riot Games is only talking with Ryan at this point, and no actual job offer is pending (despite previous reports).]
World of StarCraft modders clash with Activision Blizzard
Last night, we brought you the news that a talented StarCraft II modder had begun developing a full MMO based in the StarCraft II engine. World of StarCraft, as the mod came to be known, used the game's open modding and map-editing tools to produce some pretty impressive MMO-style mechanics. But the project has not been officially endorsed by Activision or Blizzard Entertainment, who own the rights to the StarCraft intellectual property. Given the huge popularity of both StarCraft and StarCraft II, an MMO based in that setting would be a sure bet to attract a lot of interest. There has even been speculation that Blizzard may be planning to develop an official StarCraft MMO in the near future -- a move that, after the rampant popularity of World of Warcraft, would seem like a no-brainer. Today brings some bad news for fans of the World of StarCraft mod and its development, as Activision has finally taken notice. The alpha trailer released on YouTube has been removed at the request of Activision, the reason being cited as copyright and intellectual property violations. This may pertain to the use of StarCraft II material in a game trailer, the similarity of the name to World of Warcraft's, or something else entirely. Whatever the reason for it, it's clear that it won't be plain sailing for the development of this popular StarCraft II mod.
StarCraft II turned into World of StarCraft by enterprising fan
World of StarCraft is, by all indications, high on the list of desirable games that have never been announced or even hinted at. It's certainly a universe ripe for development, and it's not as if Blizzard doesn't know anything about running an MMO. But why wait for an official release when you can put the game together yourself? That's what's behind the rather intuitively named project making the rounds today -- an effort to use the powerful map editor in StarCraft II to create a full MMO within the existing game's framework. While development is still in the very early stages, and of course the project is wholly unofficial, it's a fascinating use of player-edited gameplay as well as a display of just how much people want to play in the world as an MMO. Take a look at the trailer past the cut to see the surprising amount of work that's been done on converting the RTS into a more familiar genre -- although bear in mind that the official forums have been getting rather hammered before you go nuts.
G-Star 2010: From the show floor
With the booming popularity of Korean games in western culture, the G-Star convention in Busan, South Korea is quickly turning into an international event. We had an opportunity to attend the four-day convention to see the latest and greatest from Korean online gaming. Follow along after the jump as I describe my experiences on the first day of the convention, as well as take a look at what else you can expect as we go into days two, three and four.
The Lawbringer: Buying precedent
Pop law abounds in The Lawbringer, your weekly dose of WoW, the law, video games and the MMO genre. Running parallel to the games we love and enjoy is a world full of rules, regulations, pitfalls and traps. How about you hang out with us as we discuss some of the more esoteric aspects of the games we love to play? The following is an opinion piece dealing with Blizzard's ongoing litigation. The opinions and views expressed are solely those of me, Mathew, the columnist. You might have heard that Blizzard and its lawyers have recently started new litigation against three StarCraft 2 hackers in District Court. To a lot of people, this looks like another case of Blizzard going after more hackers for screwing with the online experience. To me, I see Blizzard's lawsuits as positive EULA-builders with huge benefit to the independent game market. It sounds crazy, but less so when you think about the concept of buying precedent.
BlizzCon 2010: Closing ceremonies
As BlizzCon 2010 comes to an end, Paul Sams (chief operating officer of Blizzard) started out the ceremonies. A series of intentionally bad gamer jokes followed as he got the crowd ready. He then took it to a serious note and thanked attendees both attending in person and at home. Blizzard used this opportunity to bring out the tournament winners. Warcraft 3 winner Remind (night elf) from South Korea and StarCraft 2 winner NEXGenius (protoss), also from South Korea, were presented with $25,000 for being grand prize winners. They will also be getting an eSports ring customized to their game that's the size of Superbowl rings. The WoW Arena tournament was still going on at this point (*aAa* vs compLexity.Red), so there was no winner to announce for it yet.
