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AT&T gets with the program, offers unlimited calling to 'A-List' numbers
Remember how ECON 101 taught you that competition was good? 'Tis true! Long after Alltel introduced the idea of giving customers unlimited calling each month to a select list of numbers, AT&T is mimicking Verizon's Friends & Family and T-Mobile's myFaves offerings with its new "A-List with Rollover." Subscribers with individual Nation plans of $59.99 or higher can phone up their very own VIP cast without tapping into their monthly bucket of minutes, theoretically allowing that rollover pool that you never, ever use to grow even larger. For individuals, you'll be able to select up to five domestic phone numbers (mobile or landline) to call for free, while FamilyTalk customers with plans of $89.99 or more can select up to ten numbers. As with competing plans, AT&T users will be able to manage their A-List online and change them anytime, though new numbers do take 24 hours to register. The time to field bids on securing a coveted spot within your own A-Team is now, with the feature opening up to all on September 20th.
BlizzCon 2009: Laguna Art Museum VIP dinner (Attn: Lore nerds)
When I found out that my friend Joe Gilbert AKA Kyliaar from the U.S. realm Destromath was attending the Laguna Art Museum VIP dinner on the eve of BlizzCon, I said "Get pictures and ask questions!" Happily, he did both. For those of you who don't know, Blizzard held a benefit dinner for the Laguna Art Museum, which is also currently hosting a WoW art exhibit. Attendees got to choose a Blizzard personality to speak with at their table, bid on Blizzard art and hang out with the biggest Blizzard names. Following is an excerpt from my chat with Joe about the event (I've tried to edit out most of the fangirl swooning), as well as a gallery of his photographs.%Gallery-71059%
Laguna Art Museum releases VIP dinner details
Earlier today, emails started going out to those who were interested in an opportunity to attend the Laguna Art Museum's VIP Benefit Dinner, sponsored by Blizzard themselves. The benefit will take place the night before BlizzCon, at a to-be-determined location near the convention center.For the curious, tickets are $500 each and include the meal, a BlizzCon ticket, a signed print of Blizzard artwork, two-for-one admission to Laguna Art Museum's current WoW-themed exhibition, and "an opportunity to converse with executives, artists, developers, and community managers from Blizzard Entertainment as well as Laguna Art Museum's curator." If you signed up to win a chance at buying tickets, you might want to make sure you check your email sometime soon. You'll only have a 48 hour period to buy your tickets (limit two), so if you don't get it done soon you'll miss your chance.If you're in the area but can't attend the benefit, don't feel too bad. It just so happens that WoW.com is doing something around the same time and we'd love to see you there.
Forza 3 Limited Edition comes with 'VIP Membership' status
If you're willing to drop bundles of real-life cash for a bit of virtual notoriety, Turn 10 has got a deal that should tickle your unusual fancy. The U.S. Gamestop-exclusive limited edition bundle for Forza Motorsport 3 will hit store shelves in October, selling at $79.99, and giving its purchasers a 2GB USB dongle, a few extra cars, a dashboard theme and a "Forza Motorsport VIP Membership."What does this exclusive title give you? According to the Gamestop listing, the benefits of being a Very Important Person include "special treatment within the online Auction House, Community Storefront and on the Forzamotorsport.net forums," as well as five additional exclusive vehicles. The type of "special treatment" offered is still unknown, but our money's on virtual sensual footrubs.
Moto introduces the MotoCharger 1000 remote for its VIP series
Not sure why everyone lucky enough -- ha -- to get a Motorola STB from their provider can't use this new remote, but those U-Verse customers with the VIP series of IPTV set-tops will. The MotoCharge 1000 remote should last about four months before you have to dock it on the included charger, which also features a digital clock that reminds of something right out of the eighties. More interestingly, it includes a "find" button which can be used to locate the remote via RF. The charging dock can be plugged into the wall or into an open USB port on the box, which is nice if outlets are tight behind your TV.[Via ConnectedHome2Go]
The rebirth of Ryzom
After the recent onslaught of bad news coming from the MMO industry, with layoffs, cutbacks and closures, it's uplifting to finally hear some good news on the return of an MMO. Nevrax's Ryzom has pulled itself up through the ashes and announced its return to the MMO playing field. For the past few weeks, they've re-launched the website and re-opened the servers to all former Ryzom subscribers with completely free VIP access. Now they've decided to open this VIP access to anyone who had an active account, including free trials. However, Ryzom is still closed to new accounts at this time, but they plan to reopen the account activation pages shortly.If you're not familiar with Ryzom and its history, now is a great time to do some research before the new account activation begins. Keep your eyes glued to Massively for all the latest information on when new accounts are allowed and the game is completely re-opened.
Barbie Girls Online: Been there, done that, got the tiara
How will you ever tell your little girl that her friend Jane is a special VIP in Barbie Girls Online, but you won't even give her a dented copper tiara? Jane's tiara is made of diamonds, platinum and unicorn hair! Your daughter: No tiara. You: resented in real life. But you're a good mommy or daddy, and you'll buy your little girl her VIP membership and her tiara will be gold, with rubies, because you love her just that much. Welcome to the wonderful world of getting to your wallet through your children. It's not entirely new; Kid-oriented web sites such as Webkinz and Neopets have offered dolls with codes for use on their website for some years now, but they were real dolls, and the special perks on the website were theirs forever. They had something to keep when the computer was off. Now, your daughter's tenuous reign as VIP lasts only so long as you keep paying for a VIP membership. (Barbie Girls Online also requires a Barbie-shaped dongle/MP3 player to be plugged into the computer for full access but is not required for most of the site).
Rumor: EB Games offering VIP cards for discount Wii games
One of our readers wrote in to tell us of a website reporting that EB Games would be offering a special VIP card allowing customers to purchase select Wii titles on the cheap. Supposedly, the first title to be featured in this service is Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam. In checking up on the story (it's what we do), we called two different stores, GameStop store #764 and EB Games store #4130, speaking to each store's manager, and they had no idea as far as an actual VIP card used to get discounts on Wii games. The manager at EB commented that they have a VIP program which allows you to trade in games in exchange for a new release, however it did not sound as if they were one in the same.[Thanks Spex!]
TiVo fanatics livid over Series3 shipping delays
So if you're a consumer electronics manufacturer in the midst of a highly-publicized product release, you'd think that the last group of customers you'd want to alienate would be the die-hard fanatics who participate in your forums everyday and were among the very first to place orders for said product, right? Well judging by the tone of the comments on the TiVo Community boards, that's exactly what the company has down to its so-called VIP subscribers -- you know, the ones who possess those coveted lifetime subscriptions and woke up extra-early this past Tuesday to ensure that their new Series3 boxes would arrive the next day. Except TiVo apparently wasn't ready to handle the deluge of orders that it received, and after two days of wondering what the heck was going on (calls to customer service were met by confusion and misinformation on the part of the phone reps), everyone finally received an email confirming the delays and promising shipment by Friday. Luckily TiVo had the good sense to refund the shipping charges -- in some cases $50 worth -- to these early adopters, but much to the VIPs' displeasure, they learned that they'd be unable to cancel their pending orders if they wanted to go the retail route; and what's more, there was some confusion as to whether store-bought TiVos would even be eligible for the $200 lifetime subscription transfer. As of this writing it seems that only a handful of folks actually got their boxes on Friday, with everyone else scrambling to reschedule the CableCARD installation appointments they'd made with their cable providers. So while there's little argument that TiVo makes a fine product with a world-class interface, perhaps when it eventually comes out with the Series4, it'll do some better planning or leave distribution to the professionals -- apparently, TiVo and e-commerce don't seem to go too well together lately.[Via HDBeat]
Chicago signing for Uematsu, Aki, & Roth tonight
Are you in Chicago tonight for the big PLAY! concert tomorrow, but weren't willing to shell out $125 for the VIP meet-and-greet at the event? Well, you might be in luck (even if you're not attending), as a few famous folks from the concert will be on hand to sign autographs in Chicago proper for free tonight.From 7 to 9 PM (presumably Central time) at the Tower Records store on 2301 N. Clark St., Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu, bilingual songstress Angela Aki (who wrote and sang the theme song for FFXII), and Principal Conductor and Music Director of PLAY! Arnie Roth will be signing autographs to promote the world-tour premiere of 'PLAY! A Video Game Symphony' and the CD for More Friends - Music from FINAL FANTASY.While this blogger is sadly occupied with prior engagements tonight, gamers in the area are more than welcome to mob that Tower Records and cause the store's employees much consternation and bewilderment. If you don't have any imported CDs to sign, however, don't fret: the store's web site claims to have "some awesome Japanese imports available for you to purchase and have autographed at the event." Not only that, Angela Aki will be performing live as well. Score! Anybody wanna tell us how this evening turns out when it's all sung and done?[Via The Daily Northwestern; image culled from Angela Aki's blog, Nobuo Uematsu's Squenix profile, and Arnie Roth's 2005 interview with IGN]See also: Official page for Tower Clark Street (with details on the signing) Ticketmaster site for the PLAY! concert debut tomorrow Sonic and Chrono composers to join PLAY! in Chicago
