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[1:Local]: Perspectives on WoW past, present and future
Reader comments – ahh, yes, the juicy goodness following a meaty post. [1.Local] ducks past the swinging doors to see what readers have been chatting about in the back room over the past week. Be sure to dive into the comments area of each thread (not this one!) and add your own thoughts – unlike your mama, we like us some hot, fresh backtalk. We don't miss that at allThis Breakfast Topic, which looked back at the little annoyances we're not sorry have gone the way of the dodo, included plenty of nostalgia for the epic-length Alterac Valleys of old. Players claimed to have hated them back then – but they seem to miss them now that they're a thing of the past. A number of readers pegged a different annoyance that early WoW players remember with chagrin. "One of the things I remember with the least amount of fondness is unconnected flight paths," noted lightningjynx. "There wasn't the clicking a destination halfway across the world and going to do something productive while you waited. No, you had to stare at your character flying to get anywhere in a reasonable amount of time, unless you had all the flight path times memorized and played that way." "Wow, yeah, I had forgotten about that," agreed MadScientist17. "Had to try to remember which flight points went where." We agree, too – but ultimately, we think Veil has the pointiest point: "Definitely don't miss old Andorhal. That place was an f'ing death trap."
Felicia Day on having Microsoft as a Guildmate
In this day and age, you have to applaud geeks who take their ideas and make good on them. Take, for example, Felicia Day. Talented, beautiful, and geeky to boot, Felicia recognized that all the drama we know and love as part of MMO culture would make for one hell of a sitcom. She could have quit after networks repeatedly turned her down or told her they didn't get it, but she stuck to her guns. Producing the show herself and releasing it to YouTube, she's become a pretty epic Internet celebrity in her own right. Since then, The Guild has built up enough buzz that when it came time to distribute Season 2, she apparently had several offers to choose from. (No real shocker there!)Why choose to sign up with Microsoft, then? Well, okay, beyond being able to send your video out on Xbox Live - which is pretty geeky from where I'm at - Microsoft isn't generally known as a heavy player in the sitcom business. According to Felicia in an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Microsoft is not only is willing to distribute The Guild on Xbox Live, for Zune, and on MSN Video in high-definition, but they're also allowing her to keep full creative control and ownership of all of the work. The deal lets Microsoft have it exclusively for four weeks up to the end of the season, but after that period, she's free to post it to YouTube (or wherever she wants, really) so anyone who doesn't own a Zune, isn't on Live, or willing to surf over to MSN Video can still enjoy the second season of The Guild. I just hope that Felicia and crew will keep us laughing with their geeky hijinks for a long time to come. Short of letting a baby nom on a powerstrip (and if you've seen that in real life, I don't envy you) there's quite a bit of The Guild that rings home with MMO geeks. Much like Jell-O, there's always room for more geeky humor - and more of the awesome cast of The Guild!
The Guild: Christmas special 2008
Yes, The Guild is back with another Christmas special this year, and this time it's a retelling of "The Night Before Christmas" with a decidedly MMO spin. St. Nick is a level 90 rare spawn, apparently, and the guidies have to be careful -- not only does he have a few mean adds (including a reindeer with a Shiny Nose buff), but he's got more than one phase to get through, too.Very cute. The video should be on Xbox Live and the Zune marketplace as usual, and we should be very close to having the rest of the guild's episodes sitting right on The Guild's site as well, so stay tuned for that. Maybe next year we'll be able to see some of St. Nick's dropped loot tables.
The Guild, episode 3 of season 2 out now
The latest episode of The Guild is out now (should be up on Xbox Live and Zune soon if the last few weeks are any indication), and it's a good one -- we get a peek into the life of the man, the myth, the legend, the guildleader Vork himself (played perfectly by Jeff Lewis), Felicia Day gets naked (you read that right), and a mysterious new face appears at the end. This might be one of my favorite episodes yet.In other Guild news, Felicia twittered just the other day that shooting has now wrapped on season 2, so while I'm sure there's plenty of editing yet to do, the cast and crew can now take a little bit of a break. Good for them -- the switch to the weekly schedule was probably a big jump up in workload, but so far they've stayed right on top of things. And while we haven't seen or heard actual numbers yet since the switch to the Microsoft deal, the new series appears to be doing well.Good news for both The Guild and web video in general. Enjoy the new episode -- we can't wait to find out who Mr. Eyepatch is next week.
The Guild episode 2 of season 2 out now
Episode 2 of The Guild's second season is out now -- you can view it right over on The Guild's website (you'll have to click to it), or in the other usual places: on Xbox Live in HD or on the Zune marketplace. This week's ep deals with all the craziness that got set up last week: the loot drama continues, Zaboo's T1 temptation leads to an unlikely quest, and Clara plots revenge. Vork has a new job as well, which will probably lead to trouble.If you were eating turkey last week and missed it, don't forget to listen in to our talk with Felicia Day on the WoW Insider Show. We chatted about the new season and what's in store for these characters, the big exclusive deal with Microsoft, and how to best explain geeky things like guilds, choose your own adventure books, and loot drama to people who have never heard of any of them.Weekly releases by The Guild is pretty exciting, we have to admit, even though the gang is working overtime to get them done. We can't wait to see what happens next week.Thanks, Hatorihanzo of Mug'thol!
WoW Insider Show Episode 66: Felicia Day and her show
Yes, our podcast is a little early today (due to the holiday, I'm going to be traveling on Saturday, so no live show as usual this week), but we've got a bonus for you anyway: Felicia Day, creator of The Guild and star of Dr. Horrible's Sing-along Blog, joined us to talk about the second season of her web series, which just started up the other day, and the deal they've recently made for Microsoft to show it exclusively on MSN, Zune, and Xbox Live.Since most of our bloggers were out for the holiday this week, it was just me and her, but we had a lot of fun -- there are some good hints in there about new characters coming to join our favorite guildies this season, the third season (!) of the show, and how Felicia is able to get MMO concepts (like "DKP" and the idea of a "guild" itself) across to people who may not play MMOs. And I also got to read some emails and get a little bit of WoW talk in there -- if you'd like to email the show a question or comment for next time, you can do so at theshow@wow.com as always.We'll be back as usual live on Ustream on Saturday, December 6th at 3:30 Eastern, so make sure to tune in then when we'll get back to the WoW talk. In the meantime, enjoy the show, and do go check out the first show of The Guild's second season (or watch it in HD on Xbox Live) -- it's great.Get the podcast:[iTunes] Subscribe to the WoW Insider Show directly in iTunes.[RSS] Add the WoW Insider Show to your RSS aggregator.[MP3] Download the MP3 directly.Listen here on the page:
Felicia Day on meeting girls in WoW
Felicia Day is a girl. Felicia Day plays WoW. Felicia Day tells boys how to meet girls in WoW. If that just didn't get the attention of every hormone-infused-female-liking nerd on the planet I don't know what will.Felicia say down with the Asylum and talked about this topic for a bit. Their interview with her touches on a few interesting points."Would it matter if the guy's a noob?" Asylum asks. "Yeah..." Felicia answers. She goes on to mention that the difference is like seeing a guy in a Ferrari. Not being a total noob and having some good gear at least catches the eye. This makes me and all my purples happy. The interview is an interesting and entertaining read. Hit it up when you have a minute and enjoy.And stay tuned to WoW Insider for more news on Felicia Day and The Guild. She'll be sitting down with Mike Schramm and a few folks on our podcast soon talking about Season 2 and Wrath of the Lich King.
First episode of the second season of The Guild now live
You can watch the first episode of the new season of The Guild over on MSN videos today. The video is not available for embedding currently because it's MSN, so you'll have to head over there.In the episode there's some cuteness between Zaboo and Codex as Zaboo taunts her with a T1 line, and we're introduced to Clara's husband. The gang also gets a rare drop and are all contemplating spending their DKP. The drama unfolds...Be sure to watch the video the whole way through. There's an easter egg at the very end featuring Zaboo.And after you're done watching it head back here and let us know what you think. Keep an eye on WoW Insider as Felicia Day will be joining Mike Schramm on the next WoW Insider Show.
Felicia Day talks WoW addiction, characters, oldschool PC gaming
G4TV's X-Play interviewed the lovely Felicia Day on video about her soon-to-return web video series The Guild and her past gaming experience. Fans of Ms. Day and her show will eat it up no matter what we say, of course, but we will note that she reveals what her main World of Warcraft character was and what games she played when she was a kid.Be sure and watch the video after the break, but if you just want the information (we'd think you'd be more interested in seeing Felicia Day's delightful personality than raw data, but here goes): her main was a Warlock (who apparently did some Alchemy on the side), and she had Priest and Mage alts. She grew up playing everything from Zork to Wizardry to Nethack, and has mostly been a PC gamer rather than a console one. We buy it -- she's got cred!Day is doing these appearances to promote The Guild's second season, which debuts exclusively on Xbox Live today.
The Guild available for free in HD on Xbox Live's Independent Video channel
The second season of Internet MMO comedy short The Guild is ready to debut in high definition tomorrow (according to Major Nelson Seasons 0 & 1 are available right now) on Xbox 360, MSN and Zune. Sponsored by Sprint, Reuters reports this is due to appear on the Independent Video channel, with 12 4-7 minute episodes plus a holiday special appearing first on Microsoft platforms, and later on the series website. Also appearing tomorrow is Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog starring the legen -- wait for it -- dary Neil Patrick Harris. Best of all? They're free, however with friends needing one more for that next Left 4 Dead run through and The Thing queued up on Netflix, our time might not be.[Via Evil Avatar]
The Guild strikes a deal with Microsoft, becomes a timed Xbox Live exclusive
The second season of the explosively popular online video series The Guild, which is a fictional story about the lives of a group of World of Warcraft players (and which was created by and stars Felicia Day, later of Doctor Horrible's Sing-a-Long Blog fame), will be distributed by Microsoft. Each episode will appear first on Xbox Live, and will only be available through the show's website four weeks later.The entirety of Season One is now available on Xbox Live, according to Felicia Day's personal blog. The first episode of Season Two will start airing via the service tomorrow, November 25th. The show will remain free to viewers through all venues, and ad supported -- including product placement by Sprint. Microsoft will have its hands in the ad revenue, but will give Day free creative reign. Also, the second season will be shot in HD to accommodate the Xbox 360.Looks like the scrappy underdog TV series about MMO players has hit the big time, and we're cheering Day on. Next stop: movie deal, right? Fortunately, Microsoft's contract promises that Day will be free to shop around outside of the company for movie and TV deals.[Via Kotaku]
Felicia Day's "The Guild" signs exclusive deal with Microsoft
This is interesting -- we at WoW Insider are big fans of Felicia Day's "The Guild" webseries, which will now be shown exclusively via Microsoft apparently. They've announced that the second season of the popular series will premiere exclusively on Xbox Marketplace, MSN, and the Zune marketplace, and will apparently be released for free (with Sprint as an ad sponsor).Very interesting. Formerly, The Guild posted their episodes on YouTube, which not only let browsers there find them easily, but let sites like this one embed and spread the word about the series. But while MSN has a video site, it's not immediately clear that they'll allow embedding -- it may not be so easy to spread around/watch episodes if The Guild is no longer uploading to YouTube and other video sharers. The Guild will have an embedded MSN player on their currently-being-redesigned site (complete with ads), but we're not sure whether we'll be able to embed it any more or not.We will, however, find out the whole story on the new season (which will apparently include a holiday special) this week when we talk to Felicia Day herself on a special episode of our podcast, the WoW Insider Show. Look for that by next weekend, and keep an eye on the site on Tuesday -- even if we can't embed the new episode, we'll be sure to let you know where you can see it.
BlizzCon 2008: WoW Insider meets The Guild
We here at WoW Insider have been big fans of The Guild since day one -- way before Felicia Day sold appliances or hung out with Dr. Horrible, we knew she and her show were something special. And so, when we finally got a chance to meet The Guild today at BlizzCon, we made sure to take it.They've been doing a lot of press lately -- they've been to ComicCon recently, they're actually hosting a panel here at BlizzCon, and lots of different community sites are sitting down to talk with Felicia and her Guild. So we wanted to try and ask them something they'd never heard before, and we think we pulled it off: the entire cast, made up of Robin Thorsen (who plays Clara), Sandeep Parikh (Zaboo), Jeff Lewis (Vork), Vincent Caso (Bladezz), and Felicia herself submitted to even our strangest questions with grace, dignity, some chipmunk-related jokes, and the kind of pull-together attitude that makes watching their adventures as a guild so much fun.Jeff Lewis had actually just come off the main BlizzCon stage when we retreated behind a curtain for the interview -- he'd done a quick set of silly jokes in character as Vork (right after folks had come up telling their own bad jokes for the joke contest), and as we started talking, all of the cast members were congratulating him on the job he did.
BlizzCon 2008: The schedule for day 2
It's day two of BlizzCon 2008 in Anaheim and it's going to be even bigger than yesterday. And WoW Insider has you covered. Here's the schedule of what we are liveblogging today: 10:30am PT/1:30pm ET - WoW PvP panel 12:00pm PT/3:00pm ET - Raids and Dungeons 1:30pm PT/4:30pm ET - WoW Q&A 3:00pm PT/6:00pm ET - WoW classes (round two!) 5:30pm PT/8:30pm ET - Closing ceremonies Plus, be on the look out for video from the dance contest, more costume galleries and more!
BlizzCon 2008 Breakfast Topic: We need your questions
Today's the day! BlizzCon 2008 is underway in Anaheim, and WoW Insider is of course here -- stay tuned all day today for news from the panels going on all morning and afternoon. We're going to see Blizzard, talk to Blizzard, listen to Blizzard, and if we can get close enough, we may even smell Blizzard, too (Bornakk probably has a musky Old Spice kind of odor, right? Chris Metzen probably smells like bourbon and granite).And we need your help -- let us know what you want us to ask Blizzard. Is there a class question you need an answer to, or something that's been bugging you since launch? Want to know something about Wrath of the Lich King that we haven't heard yet?And let us know if there's anyone else you'd like us to talk to -- FigurePrints, Upper Deck, and DC Comics are all here, and we'll be talking to the folks from The Guild later today, so let us know what you want to know and we'll make sure you get to know it. Thanks, and enjoy the show -- we definitely will.
Reminder: Meet WoW Insider tonight at The Lost Bar at 8pm
Don't forget -- if you're in Anaheim for BlizzCon tonight, our meetup starts in just a few hours at 8pm. We'll be over at The Lost Bar -- you can follow the map above, and from the convention center entrance (where you're grabbing your passes today), it's just about a 10 minute walk north and then west of Disneyland. It's a big open air bar -- we'll be sitting, chatting, and drinking, so walk right up and say hi (just look for the folks going through the BlizzCon goodie bags greedily and talking about the latest beta changes).We'll be there late this evening (and later on, we'll do some trivia and giveaways), so even if it's kind of late and you've just made it into your hotel, feel free to come by and say hello (and if you're stuck at home, stay tuned for a post live from the meetup later on this evening). And don't forget that even if you can't make it to the meetup tonight, we're taping our podcast in front of a live audience (with WoW Radio and The Guild) tomorrow evening, so make sure that's on your schedule as well.Have a safe trip to BlizzCon if you're coming down, and we'll see you at the Lost Bar this evening!
WoW Insider Show Episode 58: Live at BlizzCon
Not only will WoW Insider be at BlizzCon all weekend, and not only will you get a chance to meet-and-greet with us on Thursday night at The Lost Bar, but this is the first BlizzCon in the life of our podcast, the WoW Insider Show, and the show's going on the road, too. Friday night at 8pm, we're inviting you to come see us do a live recording of the show, direct from right outside the Anaheim Convention Center. Our partners at WoW Radio will be set up in the courtyard between the Convention Center and the hotel next door, and all of us will be there, doing a live recording of the podcast for you to hear and see as we do it.And as if that wasn't enough, we've got another surprise, too: the folks from The Guild will be right there with us. Felicia Day and her cohorts will have a panel during the day, but they're spending the evening with us, so we'll talk to them about making the series, their experience with WoW, and what they think of all the craziness that's sure to be at BlizzCon. We'll have some other guests from around the community as well: both Totalbiscuit from WoW Radio and Starman from World of Warcast will be on hand to talk shop with us. And as is usual on the WoW Insider Show, we'll talk about everything going on in World of Warcraft, our most popular posts on the site, and don't be surprised if we have some good giveaways for passers-by to win as well.It's going to be a lot of fun, and you'll get to see us make the show right there in front of your very eyes. Friday night at 8pm, come right outside the Convention Center, and look for the WoW Radio setup, because that's where we'll be. Everybody have a safe trip out to BlizzCon, and have a great time while you're out there.
Cast of The Guild to be at BlizzCon
Both by way of the World of Warcraft official website and Felicia Day herself, the news is out that the cast of The Guild will be at BlizzCon. The cast of the web-based sitcom will be sitting on on a discussion panel and giving a preview of the upcoming second season of The Guild.If you have absolutely no idea what The Guild is, you're really missing out and I recommend giving it a watch. The first episode is embedded above to get you started. If you want to know a little more about Felicia Day (who you may know from the more recent internet phenomenon Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog), WoW Insider interviewed her back in August of last year. What do you say, Felicia. Up for round two? You can bring the whole crew this time! We won't try to groom you, I promise.
PAX 2008 Interview: Felicia Day (The Guild)
Felicia Day at the Jonathan Coulton concert During PAX 2008 we had a chance to sit down (on very comfortable bean bags, mind you) and talk with Felicia Day, producer and star of The Guild and star of Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. Day also sang "Still Alive" with Jonathan Coulton the first night of the convention. Some notes from the interview: Filming for Season 2 will begin next month. HD cameras will be used, not so much for web streaming but for potential download and the Season 2 DVD. The 13- to 15-episode season will be "a little bit longer," approximately 5 to 6 minutes apiece. Day has a level 66 Warlock and level 63 Priest. As an example of life imitating art, Day explains that her fans from the show and the actors who play Zaboo, Vork and Bladezz all play in a guild together. She signed the chest of one Dr. Horrible cosplayer and saw another with "actual Wonderflonium." (Warning: Interview contains spoilers.) Day guest stars as the patient in episode 2 of the upcoming season of House, but she does not have Lupus. Not mentioned: Her demand that Tycho groom her.
Pre-orders now available for The Guild DVD
If you enjoyed the first season of The Guild as much as we did, then you may want to head over to the show's official site and place a pre-order for the upcoming DVD. When it ships out on the 1st of August, the DVD will include all of season one's episodes, gag reels, interviews, and commentary tracks, and comes at a price of $20 with free shipping for pre-orders.The anticipated second season of The Guild is in the process of being written by Felicia Day, and shooting should start a little later on this year.[Via WoW Insider]
