Yikes. It’s no surprise that the Blizzard China manager who let this slide leak has been fired. I’m surprised he wasn’t “relocated” to a labor camp in the deep north or something. It pretty much leaks Blizzard’s plans for the next five years, though a savvy analyst might have come to the same conclusions. → Read More
There is no shortage of Groupon clones. With literally hundreds of daily deal sites popping up all over the world, it’s a pretty saturated market. Or maybe it’s the next big thing. Either way, AOL (our new corporate owner) is about to find out. It is going to launch its own daily deal site called Wow!
The site will come under the purview of Ned Brody, the president of AOL’s Paid Services group. That includes all of the subscription business (both the remnants of dial-up and bring-your-own broadband), along with premium services such as SafeSocial (based on sofwtare from startup Social Shield, which just raised $10 million today) and Computer Checkup. Dial-up is a dying (but extremely profitable) business, and Brody wants to find new growth for commerce and subscription revenues. Daily deals are the new black. → Read More
Funny story. Back when the Oblivion horse armor DLC hit, people couldn’t make enough fun of it. No in-game value, pure vanity, who’s got an extra $5 to spend on a game they already bought, and so on. And then Blizzard releases this magic space-horse, which 1up states with some authority as being “the fanciest [magic space-]horse ever born,” and people are buying it at a rate of 20,000 per hour. I guess WoW players just love them some Pegasi. → Read More
Short Version: Fresh from the box, Creative’s World of Warcraft, is here! They were designed for WoW players and their performance definitely reflects that. While a tad bulky, they don’t feel heavy.
Pros
• Very Comfortable
• Hard to hear outside the headphones
• Wireless Mic works well. Does not get in the way.
• Driver allows deep customization of audio to serve your needs.
Cons
• No way to determine battery power.
• Volume buttons feel a little flimsy.
• Microphone can adjust but not very well.
• In order to download drivers, you must register the product.
• Reasonable but not impressive range.
• Not compatible with consoles (at least the PS3) → Read More
We have a few WoW players on staff here and they’ve been pretty excited about this headset. That said, I got a chance to take a look at them and I’m quite pleased. The styling is great and the light-up logos on the sides add a fun way to identify yourself in a crowded LAN party. The wireless version is $159 and the wired is $119 and they should be available in March.
Click through for video. → Read More
That’s right, ladies and gentlemen. Our own Nicholas Deleon hit level 75 with his Blood Elf Warlock yesterday in World of Warcraft.
Only five more levels to go until, “I’ll have nothing to do anymore,” said Deleon. → Read More
SteelSeries continues to work that IP license with Blizzard by announcing two new products aimed directly at gamers: a Zboard StarCraft 2 keyset, and a World of Warcraft: March of the Scourge mouse pad. → Read More
You can run, but you can’t hide (in cyberspace). In one of the strangest stories of 2009, it’s been reported that Blizzard worked with law enforcement to help catch a drug dealer. → Read More
Above: Nicholas and Dave talking about World of Warcraft in the CrunchGear chat room. I threw in some stuff about EverQuest to try to be funny and they ignored me. Nerds [CrunchGear.com] → Read More
In case you missed it, Blizzard made some big announcements the other day. Yep, an MMO is releasing another expansion set. However, this one is going to completely reshape the entire World (of Warcraft), and that’s really the best possible thing that they can do. → Read More
While I haven’t logged into World of WarCraft since, I don’t know, February (for the Valentines Day things), a new expansion should bring me back into the fold. Most fans know that Blizzard trademarked the name “Cataclysm,” and that’s what we expect the name of the next expansion to be. But now! Now, friends, wow.com’s sources have pretty much confirmed two new races for the expansion. Say hello, probably, to the Worgen (Alliance) and the Goblin (Horde). → Read More
This is a new trailer for Mega Man 2.5D, a new version of the classic Mega Man currently in the works. It’s being built by designer Peter Sjostrand and looks like 15 pounds of amazing. → Read More
Okay, this is one of the better “gadgets” I’ve yet seen. It’s called the WoWPod, and it’s a self-sufficient tiny room for World of Warcraft players. Easy-to-reach food and water, built-in toilet, no annoying people distracting you, etc. It’s probably the closest thing to Heaven that a certain section of our society will ever encounter. → Read More
“World of Warcraft is the crack cocaine of the computer gaming world. Some people can’t drag themselves away and will play it till they drop.” This chilling warning comes from the Swedish Youth Care Foundation, which swooped into action after a 15-year-old boy “collapsed” (says The Sun, which is quite sensational) after playing the game for 24 hours straight. → Read More
What good is that Optimus keyboard without World of Warcraft? None good, I say, which is why it brings me great joy to see this homebrew WoW layout. It was created by one of the blokes at an Optimus Keyboard message board—message boards are the new salons—and is primarily for Warlocks. → Read More
When I was a kid, Pac Man was big. There were backpacks, lunchboxes, and even Pac Man board games. I remember one Christmas in particular when we were fascinated by the game even though none of the kids I played with were old enough to go into arcades – we must have been five or six – and none of us had really actually touched the game. We were enamored of the concept.
The video after the jump is like that. → Read More
By using ultra-fine polymer fibers, military researchers have been able to regrow damaged or missing organs and limbs. They will announce their findings officially next month at the 26th Army Science Conference in Florida. One example given by John Parmentola, a director of research and lab management, involved a man who lost the entire tip of his finger while starting up a model airplane. → Read More
Blizzard released Wrath of the Lich King last night at midnight, and while I didn’t do a live UStream.tv stream of the installation—chill out, WoW Insider—I’m now prepared to give y’all a quick “here’s what’s up” of sorts. Thankfully, the game ships on a DVD. No more “please insert disc 87” nonsense when installing. So that’s good. → Read More
Heads up, World of Warcraft players. There’s a few of you out there. Not only does the game come out at midnight tomorrow—I’ll probably pick it up over the weekend—but that crazy SteelSeries keyboard comes out tomorrow, too. (The SteelSeries mouse doesn’t come out till the end of the year.) The keyboard, which has several game-specific keys, costs $70. → Read More
