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SteelSeries and Blizzard partners offer BlizzCon Sweepstakes
A few of Blizzard's partners (including Jinx, Upper Deck, and SteelSeries) have all teamed up to offer you what for many, Blizzard couldn't: two tickets to BlizzCon in October. Yes, in the first of what we're sure will be many contests and sweepstakes for BlizzCon tickets, these guys have set up a giveaway to hook up one lucky winner with passes for two to the event that's a Blizzard fan's dream.All you've got to do to enter is put your info in over on their site -- the Grand Prize winner will pick up an all expenses paid trip to BlizzCon, and ten other winners will get some WoW-related gear from the contest's sponsors (SteelSeries makes the Zboard, and apparently they're releasing one for Wrath, so you might get one of those as well). There is a checklist that you can leave unchecked to supposedly keep the sponsors from contacting you, so even if you don't want your info opt-ed in, it looks like you're in the clear.If you do enter, good luck! (And if you win, we'll see you at BlizzCon!) There are bound to be a few more of these contests showing up before the big event, so even if you don't walk away with a trip from this one, stay tuned.
WoW TCG Loot gives away a few special Tabards
We've mentioned WoW TCG Loot before -- they track prices of those TCG Loot cards, and while I don't think I'd ever pay money for an ingame item, if you want to, their price guides are pretty invaluable (not to mention that they provide a helpful directory of all the cards released so far).And now they're hooking up some lucky folks with some TCG loot of their own, specifically some of those tabards that got released a while back. Usually, items like the Tabard of the Void and the Tabard of the Arcane are only available through Upper Deck's points system, but WoW TCG Loot is giving three Tabards to folks who enter on their contest page. And even if you don't get a tabard, they're also randomly giving away a paper airplane kit to one lucky winner.Entering is as easy as telling them why you want it and putting your email address in (they say they don't send unsolicited email, but as always, enter your info at your own discretion), and you've got to enter before August 17th to be a part of the contest. Good luck to everyone who enters!
Upper Deck releases WoW Minis "demo"
The WoW Minis game is picking up steam towards a release later this year, and after a first play chance at the ComicCon last week, Upper Deck has posted a downloadable demo of the game on their website. In this case, a "downloadable demo" actually means a printable PDF, complete with little figurines to cut out and assemble into a game board. Not exactly the most quality experience, but a DIY demo is a pretty interesting way to test and see how you like the game mechanics.And inside the PDF, you can find a coupon that you can redeem at Gen Con this coming weekend for a chance to play in a preview event, and walk away with some real product from the game. If you can't be at Gen Con, don't worry, Upper Deck is planning some WoW Minis events for BlizzCon later this year as well.And if you don't have the cash or the time to be flying all over the country and visiting huge groups of nerds enjoying their favorite pasttimes in packs, no big deal either -- the WoW Minis game itself is set for release sometime this Fall. So pretty soon you'll be able to play it yourself in your own nerdy way.
WoW Insider at the Comic-Con WoW panel
Blizzard, as well as reps from companies that make Blizzard products (TokyoPop, Upper Deck, Wildstorm) were on hand at Comic-Con in San Diego today to talk about their plans for the rest of the year. Comics, books, sculptures, miniatures, and the trading card game were all discussed and WoW Insider was there to bring you back this report.Wildstorm Comics, makers of the WoW comicsWildstorm kicked off the session by polling the audience on who would like to see a comic title that focus solely on Horde, then solely on Alliance and then pitting the two against each other. As you can imagine, the audience was very happy to hear this. No details were given, but clearly something along these lines is already in the works.
WoW Insider's Winter's Veil in July contest
Hey, everybody, it's Great-father Winter! What's up G-FW?! What's that? You want to give some Winter's Veil swag away right now? But Great-father, it's the middle of summer here in the real world -- the Winter's Veil festival takes place in December! Aw, look at that scraggly beard, we can't say no to you. What the heck, we'll do it!Yes, WoW Insider (and Great-father Winter, along with our our friends at Upper Deck) is giving away a TCG Winter's Veil Collector's Set, featuring all kinds of holiday-themed TCG goodies. To enter, just leave a comment on this post telling G-FW how your summer is going before next Friday, August 1st, at 11:59 PM EST. You may enter only once (please use a real email to comment, so we can get in touch with you afterwards), and one commenter will be selected in a random drawing to get a free Winter's Veil Collector's Set (MSRP $39.99). You must also be a resident of the United States or Canada, and age 18 or older -- all the rest of the contest rules can be read by clicking here.Good luck! Thanks, Great-father Winter, for spreading your holiday cheer even during the offseason!
UDE Tabards delayed until August
If you remember way back to the end of June, we told you about the new tabards available for purchase using your UDE points from the WoW Trading Card Game. At the time, Upper Deck said the new tabards would be included with patch 2.4.3. Well, 2.4.3 is here, but the tabards are sadly not. According to UDE_Patrick, the plan for releasing the tabards is now a little different. The first tabard will be available on August 1st, and each additional tabard will be added one at a time over "several months." He doesn't really specify why this change has been made, or even which tabard will be first. Some of us will obviously be disapponted (like tipster Donna, who already has ample points to pick up one for her, and one for her boyfriend). Some of us will have a little more time to pick up more points in before the release, and maybe score some of the cool loot cards from the new set.
Phat Loot Phriday: Perpetual Purple Firework
For the Fourth, we're going with the obvious choice: a hot little infinite fireworks trinket that isn't all that easy to get.Name: Perpetual Purple Firework (Wowhead, Thottbot, TCGLoot)Type: Epic (sometimes Uncommon) TrinketDamage/Speed: N/AAbilities: Use: Shoots a purple fireworks display into the air that explodes into a rain of sparkles. It has infinite uses (hence the "perpetual"), and a 30 second cooldown. The whole display itself lasts about 4 seconds, but it does like pretty purty. No level requirements, so anyone can use it -- provided you can get it. How to Get It: Yes, it's a TCG item, but not one of the normal ones, where you just buy a booster and hope you pick it up. Nope, this fireworks trinket is part of Upper Deck's "points" program, in which points is just a fancy word for "spend more money!" Every booster pack you buy has a certain number of points in it, and when you've collected enough points cards, you can spend them on UDE's website for ingame items like this one. There's about 100 points per booster pack, and this item currently costs 3,000 points (it used to cost 10,000!), so you'd have to buy 30 booster packs (MSRP around $5, though you can find them cheaper and more expensive in different places, so about $150 total) to get enough points for the trinket.Fortunately, we have eBay, where people are selling and buying the UDE points for as cheap as $15. Still not really a great way to get an ingame item (spending real money for virtual stuff, woo!), but if you really want to get your hands on this trinket, there you go. Otherwise, just do a few runs of Scarlet Monastery's Armory, and you'll have all the fireworks you need.Getting Rid of It: You can't! Vendors won't take it, and it'll never run out of charges, so the only way to get rid of it would be to destroy it. And that would be like throwing money down the drain, which is something that TCG buyers would never ever do, right? Right?
New tabards from WoW TCG
Tabards have been a fairly frequent subject lately. There are the summer-themed tabards you get from the Shards of Ahune, which are a part of the Midsummer festivities. And, of course, there was the "glitch" that may have revealed a Legendary tabard. The World of Warcraft trading card game is getting in on the action by letting you purchase tabards with your UDE points. The ability to purchase these tabards will be included with patch 2.4.3, according to the Upper Deck. Each of the six tabards are all variations on the same skin or pattern, with the only real difference being a change to the color pallette. This is the Tabard of the Void on the right. They don't say exactly how many UDE points each will cost yet, and ask us to stay tuned for details. If you don't know, you get UDE (Upper Deck Entertainment) points by purchasing UDE products. I know, that's a stretch. Eeach WoW TCG pack you buy has a card with points on it. So far, you get a 100 point card with each booster pack. We'll let you know if and when we hear more about how many packs you have to buy to get a tabard. %Gallery-26114%
Video of the new TCG loot in action
Last week we told you about the new loot Upper Deck was launching a new expansion to WoW TCG. We even showed you pictures of what the cool new stuff will like for Patch 2.4.3. Well, now you can see these juicy tidbits in action with our movie of them. You'll see us testing The Path of Illidan, trailing green felfire from our footsteps while running, jumping and even dancing. We've also got video of a few cross-faction D.I.S.C.O. parties gettin' down and funky, with the music and sparkly lights. It was dance fever! Then it was time to try out the Ethereal Soul-trader. He announces himself as if your life is finally complete and follows you around very dutifully. Enjoy the movie - Adam, Zach, and I sure enjoyed making it for you!
New loot items announced for the WoW TCG
If you're looking forward to Upper Deck's next expansion to the World of Warcraft collectible trading card game, The Hunt for Illidan, as we are, you'll be doubly excited by the new loot cards they've come out with. One card, The Path of Illidan, gives you glowing green footprints wherever you walk. Have party members that just can't seem to keep up with everyone else? Show them where to go (pro tip: leave footprints leading into lava pits, just for them!). Also included, a D.I.S.C.O. ball for when it's time to par-tay, and the nicest of the bunch, an Ethereal Soul-trader who keeps track of what you kill when he's out and rewards you with money you can trade in for a bunch of cool items, including the very clothes off the old guy's back (complete with complementary dry-cleaning, natch).[Via WoWInsider]
Test the loot items on the PTR
We've never seen this one before, but then again, we've never seen a loot item as complicated as that Ethereal Soul-trader before. Blizzard wants to test those new Upper Deck loot items on the PTR, so if you go Landro Longshot in Booty Bay on the test realm only, you can input special test codes for each of the new items: 1111 for the Path of Illidan item, 2222 for the D.I.S.C.O. ball, and 3333 for the one everyone wants: the Ethereal Soul-trader.The only news coming off of the PTR is that the disco ball object still has the placeholder tag on it ("[PH] Disco ball"), which means the name might be a little more formalized when it actually appears on the live realms. But this testing might answer one of the more pressing questions we've got about the Soul-trader -- we already know that any player (not just the one who summoned it) can exchange the "Etherium" currency that you use to buy items off of the vendor, but does that mean that any players who kill mobs that give experience or honor near the trader can gain currency, or only the person who summoned?We'd assume that everyone can do it -- in that sense, getting this card is really like opening up a special vendor rather than just getting all the trader's items for yourself. And there's one more bit of news we can take from this: since these cards are going into stores on July 1st, we'll very likely see patch 2.4.3 on the live realms before then. To the PTR!
Upper Deck announces new loot items, including an Ethereal vendor pet
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/pc_games/Upper_Deck_announces_new_WoW_loot_cards'; Upper Deck has sent news of the newest loot items in the WoW TCG, and yowza they're neat. These will all come in the new expansion, called The Hunt for Illidan and launching July 1st. The Path of Illidan, which is a super common loot card (like the Pet Biscuits), and will enable players to leave glowing green footprints around Azeroth and Outland as they walk around. D.I.S.C.O., which creates a disco party anywhere, along with a disco ball, lights, and music. And finally, most interesting, the Ethereal Soul-trader, who is a full-size Ethereal as a pet. Additionally, this card is actually a whole slew of items in one -- the Soul-trader will give you currency for creatures killed while summoned, which can then be traded off for other prizes, including special foodstuffs, a special alcoholic drink, a ball of energy (to throw in people's bags and play catch with), and even the Ethereal's outfits as wearable items. Pretty incredible. Upper Deck is hosting a preview of the next expansion on Saturday at various locations around the country, and the cards will be out, as we said, on July 1st. The Spectral Tiger Mount was great, but I think we have a new loot card winner with the Soul-trader. A mobile NPC with their own currency gained from killing mobs? Yes please.%Gallery-25476%
Penny Arcade to appear at Upper Deck's Darkmoon Faire in Seattle
If you've never been to Upper Deck's Darkmoon Faire event before, it's a pretty good time. It's obviously a lot more fun if you're a fan of the WoW TCG (as they have open-to-close tournaments and events going on), but even online game players will find something to do -- UDE sets up an event realm provided by Blizzard, and they sometimes even have leveling and instance contests as well.Upper Deck is holding a Darkmoon Faire event in Seattle next weekend, June 13-15, and they sent along a note letting us know that the guys from Penny Arcade are going to be there in attendance. Both Gabe and Tycho, you'll know if you're an avid reader of the comic, are fans of the card game, and while Upper Deck isn't clear about what they'll be doing there (all they tell us is that the guys will "partake" of the gaming), it's not hard to expect that at least Tycho will be eventually running a Molten Core raid game.Should be fun -- if you're around Seattle and get to stop by the Seattle Center next weekend (it's free to visit the event, and various tournaments have different costs associated with them), definitely take pictures and let us know how it went.
Upper Deck starts "Road to Worlds"
Upper Deck has announced the series of tournaments that will bring them down the road to the World Championships for the WoW trading card game -- "The Road to Worlds," they're calling them -- and the events began this past weekend. You can check on their website right now to see what's going down where -- odds are that if you're near a metropolitan area, there's something happening near you. These events aren't that big themselves (the prizes are a few art pieces and some extra cards, including this awesome Robotic Chicken quest card), but the big deal here is that the top two from each event move on, and eventually will try for a chance to compete in the World Championships later this year.Good luck if you do go, and as always, bring your camera and let us know if you get pictures of the events. This is the small end of Upper Deck's tournament year (things will get much bigger later on as they move towards the big Championships), but all the same, every time they show up somewhere to play cards, there's a lot of fun to be had.
World of Warcraft miniatures game brings conquest and art
The World of Warcraft miniatures game has quite the appeal for artist and gamer alike. You can admire your opponent's incredible figures and then destroy them all in a bloodrage rivaling anything the orcs could ever imagine! Over at Blizzplanet, that is exactly the idea, but with less bloodrage. Figures of orcs, dragons, gnomes, and beasts from WoW impress us with their awesome, yet small, presence. The artwork, in our estimation, will blow your mind straight through the Dark Portal!Beyond that, Upper Deck had a surprising announcement to make at this week's GAMA trade show. The folks behind your favorite rookie cards announced that they would be unveiling the Onyxia piece. We immediately ran to the center and applied more dots for a chance to catch a glimpse. The Onyxia figure, which is pictured about to devour some poor tank, looks amazing. Claiming some of the most talented sculptors from around the world on the design team, the WoW miniatures game is sure to make a big splash when the game hits shelves sometime in the fall of 2008.
Real-time Call of Duty card game coming in Fall '08
Here at Joystiq, we've always felt that the intense, highly realistic military action of the Call of Duty games would be better captured by a card game. Thankfully, someone at Upper Deck had the same idea, because the company announced the Call of Duty Real-time Card Game at this weekend's New York Comic Con.MTV's Stephen Totilo got an early demo of the game, which comes off as a mix between the Pokémon TCG and the traditional card game Spit. Players lay down soldiers, protective cover and weapon cards as fast as possible, until someone plays a "freeze" card and all the damage and effects get tallied up. The game will be based on the non-modern Call of Duty games (sorry, COD4 fans) and could possibly include special cards that unlock in-game content for Call of Duty 5 (much like similar cards in the World of Warcraft card game) -- though this feature isn't yet confirmed. Look for it in stores this Fall.Read - MTV playtest impressionsVisit - Official Upper Deck game site
Penny Arcade's WoW CCG contest ends, hilariously
Early this month we discussed a contest, announced by the creators of Penny Arcade and aimed squarely at the hearts of card-and-mmo-players everywhere. It seemed so simple: craft a ten-word story about World of Warcraft and win yourself a huge pile of trading card game loot. The devil is, as is so often the case, in the details. With many hundreds of entrants the competition was quite fierce, and today's unveiling of the top five entries proves out just how fierce. Like you, a lot of bloggers from the site submitted stories, but we know when we're beaten. How can you top "Overlord Saurfang is only afraid of one thing... Mrs. Saurfang?" Or "Naked they run, level 1 banks: Clark Kents of Azeroth?" I espcially like winner #3's tale: "The gunshot echoed like a ghost with nobody to haunt." Many of the honorable mentions are great too, like "'Small trogg problem in Orgrimmar's basement.' What an understatement, Thrall", or "Tipping his sombrero in salute, he dismounted his mechanical chicken." We're curious, though: did you enter? If you'd be willing, why don't you share your submission(s) with us in the comments? This blogger volunteers to go first: "The murlocs, their scales glinting, advanced with hungry mouths wide."
New York Toy Faire previews the WoW mini game
The WoW Minis Game has a bit to go before it sees release in Fall 2008, but wowminifan.com has some news fresh from the New York Toy Fair to whet your appetite, including a few pictures. The miniatures themselves especially look pretty awesome, and I can see a lot of non-players buying sets just for display purposes, especially if they haven't managed to get their hands on a Figureprint.
WoW TCG March of the Legion Tour coming to hobby shops this April
Here's some fun news for our TCG players. Upper Deck reveals a new March of the Legion Tour coming to various North American hobby stores this month. WoW TCG team members will be coming to the stores and playing against all comers at sealed deck tournaments at each stop. Anyone who beats one of these "Legionnaires" will win a Varimathras extended art card and a Leeroy Jenkins T-shirt. Everyone who stops by will get Weeble extended art card (I approve of cute Gnome Warrior chicks, but how is she a protector if she's dual wielding? Learn to use a shield, newb). It sounds like the events should be fun. I'm actually liking the Varimathras card, if only because he's one of my favorite shady characters in WoW lore thus far, and I cannot wait for the day that he assassinates the Dark Lady and uses his loyal pawns, the Deathstalkers and Defilers, to take over the Undercity and rule with an iron fist as the new supreme ruler of Lordaeron. But I digress. Anyway, it look like it should be a good time for all you TCG fans.
The life and death of Stefen Colbear
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/pc_games/The_life_and_death_of_Stefen_Colbear'; He's a man of myth, legend, and internet memes -- a Paladin crusader for Truthiness, justice, and the Alliance way. His name is Stefen Colbear, and he's putting the Horde on notice. That's how it would have been anyway, but sadly, this hero never came to be. Upper Deck hired artist Todd Lockwood to produce the above image for a special WoW TCG card inspired by The Colbert Report's Stephen Colbert -- a known video-gaming and role-playing enthusiast. Lockwood's finished product depicts a microphone-sword wielding Human Paladin named Stefen Colbear, who exudes the very essence of Truthiness.Unfortunately, Colbert's agent nipped the idea in the bud. According to Lockwood, he didn't even show the artwork to his client. Blizzard and Upper Deck presumably had hoped Colbert would feature the card on his show, giving them mega-publicity. An unknown individual leaked the image onto the net a few weeks ago, and WoW and Colbert fans excitedly spread it around in both card and wallpaper forms. Even though Colbear never saw the light of day, his legend nevertheless strikes fear in the hearts of those who would threaten the Colbear Nation. So watch out Kael'Thas, watch out Archimonde! But most of all: watch out, bears.
