Archive for the 'Gaming' Category
The creative world has suffered a huge loss today. Many of the skills I use on a daily basis, I learned and developed from this man’s games.
Journey well to the Outer Planes Gary…
justisengard dugg this:
(From WikiPedia) According to Steve from Troll Lord Games, Gary Gygax has passed on to the Great Gaming Table on March 4th 2008. This has not yet been verified independently, but is from a reliable source: http://www.freeyabb.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=4373&
mforum=trolllordgames
Well if you have ever wondered why the stores cannot keep the Wiis on the shelves, and the PS3s are simply gathering dust, here is a visual explanation. 
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljZOHnZNaBc[/youtube]
Anyone who reads my blog here knows I am a huge World of Warcraft fan, however, before WoW was introduced in 2004, and before Battlefield 1942, there was Diablo & Diablo II. It was one of the first games that you could really bring your friends into and then everyone would leave work early to get home and get online and play the game. It was my first speaker phone game; meaning that we all chained three way calling into a conference call so we could all talk and play at the same time.
Diablo II was released waaay back on 2000, and Blizzard, has been talking about Diablo III as long as Microsoft was talking about Vista. Well, Vista is out, where is Diablo III? Blizzard got a wee bit side tracked with this world-record setting little game called World of Warcraft, and then the expansion to it. 8 million people purchasing a game and then subscribing to a monthly fee - yeah, I can see how to that would side track a company’s resources. However, I just got an email from a friend of new news. One article (on the Diablo 3 forums) that confirms that the game and the storyline were not dead, and another article (on IGN) suggesting 2010 as a possible timeframe. …a decade between releases…wow!
The article on the forums is a Q&A with Richard Knaak, author of a book that takes place in the Diablo universe. In the interview Mr. Knaak mentioned that he is working directly with Chris Metzen on the story, and it will be part of the lore for Diablo III. After hearing this, I am starting to see why Blizzard takes soo long to develop new games and expansions. It is because it is all running through one guy, Chris Metzen. To connect the dots for you, I purchased to the Collector’s Edition of WoW the Burning Crusade Expansion. Part of this edition was a DVD entitled the Making of the Burning Crusade. On it are interviews with the designers and the processes they went through for the expansion development. In it everyone stated that all storylines, even every single quest must be reviewed and approved by Chris Metzen. ‘Every quest’ - OMG. Talk about micro-management. Now do not get me wrong, I am enjoying the WoW expansion, but now I understand why it took a while to develop and release it. It seems that same is true for Diablo too. So I reckon that means if work starts on Diablo III, all work on any WoW expansions stop. One man can only do so much. I understand the need to have oversight, but delegate man, delegate!
Oh my, you have to check out the new engine for this game and then the demo for the game afterwards.
Talk about next generation. Wood breaks based on well it being wood and the direction the object crashing into it comes from. Then Storm Troopers have AI for self-preservations.
justisengard dugg this
If you do not play WoW, have never played WoW…ya probably not going to find this humorous. However, if you do play WoW, and for some unspeakable reason, have not yet gotten the expansion (The Burning Crusade)…..you should check it out.
…”and they do cut glass”
[youtube]D7VKgvLbv_M[/youtube]
Burning Crusade Arrives
After long and patient waiting, the Collector’s Edition of the World of Warcraft, the Burning Crusade arrived.
Installation is in process….the adventure begins anew.
Updated: January 16th:
Installation complete. Well, after three post BC install patches. Started a new Draenei Shaman (Devem).
Updated: January 17th:
Oaryon (my Main) steps through the Dark Portal into Outland.
The Unboxing of the Collector’s Edition:
The unboxing went a bit like this…well exception, i immediately went for the DVD and started the upgrade…while that was happening I looked through the rest of the stuff in the box. (hehe)
[youtube]po75PNlh3ww[/youtube]
World of Warcraft subscribers hit 8 million. See article WoW: 8 Million Served
Currently, the population of Earth is estimated to be around 6.7 billion people. As of this week, roughly 0.1 percent of the sum of modern humanity plays World of Warcraft. Today, Blizzard Entertainment announced that more than 8 million people subscribe to the massive massively multiplayer online role-playing game, setting a new milestone for the title more than two years after its fall 2004 release.
For anyone that plays WoW (World of Warcraft), you already know that the new expansion will be released on January 16th, and most already have their Collector’s edition on order and anxiously awaiting with baited breath for the UPS guy to know on there door on Tuesday. (Myself included, see previous post: World of Warcraft - Burning Crusade Expansion - Collectors Edition)
All that being said, I am browsing through the BBC News website, because the BBC has not forgotten what ‘real’ journalism is, unlike their US counterparts - after some of the regional political pages, I clicked on the Technology home page. I was rather surprised to see at the top of the page - the main headline: Date given for Warcraft expansion.
Wow, WoW makes front page news on the BBC News. Given that 7 million player subscribe to WoW globally…maybe it is not a big thing. I mean it was side-by-side with the Apple iPhone.
Burning Crusade Highlights:
If you want to get an idea of what is coming in the Burning Crusade Expansion - checkout the Preview Trailers and Cinematic Intro Movie. ..and yes, I did say Into Movie and trailers - games are BIG business now. One small thing to think about as far as big business. WoW has around 7 million subscribers all paying approximately $15/month. (Now before you start with any OMG about the month charge - Everquest set this standard for this back in 1999, and people have been paying it every since.) That is $15/month x 7 million — that is alot of money!
So next week if you are online with the new expansion on WoW - look me up. My main is Oaryon on the Durotan server.
If you currently play WoW (World of Warcraft), then you probably already know that the expansion set release date has been announced. November 28th, 2006. There is a Collector’s Edition on sale for a limited time. I just pre-ordered mine from EBGames last night. The Collector’s edition will include the following extras:
- Behind the Scenes DVD (games are starting adopt some of the same features as movies now.)
- The Art of WoW: The Burning Crusade (Hardcover Art Book) - a must for any gamer’s coffee table. Well that is games out of college with coffee tables.
- 2 WoW Trading Card Starter Packs (Yep, they have gotten in the card game thingy too now.)
- Map of Outland Mouse Pad (Outland is the new expansion continent.)
- WoW: The Burning Crusade Soundtrack CD
- …and the most important thing of all — Exclusice In Game Pet Netherwelp (Sweet!)
WoW was release back right before Thanksgiving 2004. The expansion is being release the week afterwards. Looks like WoW is potentially becoming a Thanksgiving tradition for me. For more info on the expansion, checkout the details here (WoW: The Burning Crusade.)
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