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Blizzard's not talking about its unannounced MMO at BlizzCon this year, either
Remember that one time when Blizzard accidentally leaked some info stating that it's working on a new MMO (codenamed "Titan"), and we all got excited? And then BlizzCon happened, and we all thought the studio would tell us more, but it didn't? And then remember when that happened the next year, too? Well, it's happening again this year. In a clarification statement to IGN, Blizzard has confirmed that it will not be discussing the "unannounced MMO" during BlizzCon 2011. This follows a VentureBeat interview with M2 Research senior analyst Billy Pidgeon, who predicted that news of Titan must be breaking at this October's event. Oh well, we still have emote dance contests and the Foo Fighters, right?
Windstorm Studios announces partnership with 226 Productions for an upcoming MMO
While Windstorm Studios has been very tight lipped regarding what they're currently working on, they certainly have been offering up a few glimpses into what looks to be a retro-future themed MMO they have in production.The art of the game has recently been entrusted to 226 Productions, a Russian based art company that has done work on Pirates of the Caribbean: The Legend of Jack Sparrow, NBA '07, and TimeShift. 226 is no stranger to the IP that Windstorm has been brewing -- some of the pre-production artwork was completed by them.As to what exactly Windstorm will bring to the MMO table remains to be seen, but if these pictures are any indication, it looks to be something fresh, exciting, and filled with laser shooting scooters.
Blizzard files trademark for 'Cataclysm'
The identity of Blizzard's unannounced MMO project may have just been revealed. Anonymous gaming news bloodhound superannuation recently uncovered a trio of trademarks from the MMO juggernaut, reserving the name "Cataclysm" for use in the fields of computer games, online games and paper-based products. We assume that last one doesn't mean Blizzard's dealing in Cataclysm-branded stationary. Our acronym-infused sister site WoW.com reminded us of a very important point -- not all Blizzard trademarks turn into actual games (isn't that right, StarCraft: Ghost?). However, they also noticed that the domain name wowcataclysm.com recently expired and is now held by GoDaddy -- who handles all of Blizzard's domains. It looks like Big Blizz is up to something -- but we might have to wait till BlizzCon to find out what that something is. [Via WoW.com]
Realtime Worlds to announce second MMO project next year
Not one, but two MMOs are to come out of Realtime Worlds, the Scotland based developer of All Points Bulletin. Even more intriguingly, this second MMO is actually the company's original MMO project!According to Realtime's CEO, Dave Jones, during his keynote speech at GameHorizon, their original investment drive of 30 million dollars was actually for their new product, this unnamed MMO. However, due to the ambitious nature of the project, All Points Bulletin was moved forwards in the production list to give the company a solid foundation before moving onwards. While all details of this next project remain a mystery, Jones has said that the company is very excited to move fowards with this next project, their original MMO project. While we can't first hand attest to how ambitious this project is, we believe that actually moving your project backwards just so you can get another MMO out first really says something about how ambitious the project is.
Rumor: Square-Enix to debut unannounced MMO at E3?
While we've known of a new Square-Enix MMO that has been in the works for some time now, we've recently received information that Square might be showing off this unannounced title during a special press conference on Wednesday at E3.The conference doesn't have specific details as to what's going to be presented, but fellow press site Gameplayer has made the claim that it will be this unannounced project, codenamed Rapture. Rapture will be a PC and PS3 only title, with Sony announcing the game during their own press conference, scheduled for Tuesday.Currently only Gameplayer has announced these details, putting this story firmly in the category of rumor. However, Massively.com's Shawn Schuster, Elizabeth Harper, and Krystalle Voecks will be on site to follow up on the story and deliver the latest announcements as they occur during our coverage of E3. If this is a taste of what Square-Enix has to offer us, then it's going to be one heck of a week next week!
First official confirmation that new Blizzard MMO is original IP
While we've had reason to believe that Blizzard's next MMO would be a new IP, but this marks the first occasion that we've had some kind of official confirmation of our speculation.In a post on the official World of Warcraft forums, Blizzard community manager Zarhym came out and said the new MMO was in fact an original IP, saying, "We have nothing to advertise for the new MMO because it's a shell of a game thus far. We've already stated it'll be a brand new franchise, which means the lore, art, and game play are being developed entirely from scratch. It's an overwhelming process, but a process through which we excel. Our track record supports this." While it's no press release or big event reveal, this is certainly the closest we've come to someone officially with Blizzard saying that, yes, it's not a previously created franchise.So now that speculation on whether or not it's a new IP is over, we can begin to speculate on what genre this new IP will be! Science fiction, steampunk, cyberpunk or another fantasy setting? It's hard to say, although our hopes go for something decidedly not fantasy since Blizzard has already spent plenty of energy in those genres up to this point.
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.
