New Illidan wallpaper from Blizzard

by Mike Schramm Jul 2nd 2008 at 1:00PM

Vaneras is apparently clearing house on cool Burning Crusade artwork before we get to the next expansion -- he's posted a new wallpaper up on the Blizzard site, and it pretty much rocks. Our good friend Illy D is still hanging out with that dusty old skull, literally dripping with demonic power, while a bunch of slimy Naga stand threateningly behind him. Very nice.

The second poster in the thread wishes Illidan actually looked like this in game, and to a certain extent, he's right -- Blizzard has always made games as easy on the CPU as possible, so ingame models, while usually textured very well, aren't quite as detailed as their concept art. But the concept art (and the cinematics) is what, I think, allows these characters to have so much of a life outside of the game. Most of us have never been told that we weren't prepared by Illidan ingame, but we surely remember him telling us the same thing before the last expansion.

Tags: burning-crusade, demonic, graphics, illidan, ingame, models, vaneras, wallpaper

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Blizzard, The Burning Crusade, NPCs, Fan art, Hardware

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

peaglemancer Jul 2nd 2008 1:22PM

He sure does love that skull, the bastard never seems to drop it when he dies.

Doz Jul 2nd 2008 1:24PM

They need a lot more cinematics, its what made all of Blizzard's other games stand out in my mind. I've been very disappointed with only 2 for WoW. Seems like the could have made one for each of the raids, something played the first time you entered the instance. The "cutscene" in MrT is an almost perfect example, except for the fact that its just in-game camera flying.

Tridus Jul 2nd 2008 1:28PM

Sure, who doesn't want Illidan to look this detailed in game? Most people also don't want the game to be a slideshow, and the computing power to do this level of detail in real time rendering is NOT cheap.

Tomah Jul 2nd 2008 1:46PM

They've gotten a lot better at the concept -> model transition, I think.

Compare:
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/insider/07/images/ss5.jpg
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/insider/07/images/ss15.jpg

prudychick Jul 2nd 2008 1:59PM

That's about as freaky as yesterday's Around Azeroth!!!!!

Allen Jul 2nd 2008 2:18PM

So, uh, whoever is drawing these needs to realize that it would not be possible to contract a biceps muscle when it is taller than it is long. If Illidan was actually proportioned that way he would not be able to bend his arms.

peaglemancer Jul 2nd 2008 3:35PM

I see, and your doctorate in blind, half-night elf mongrel physiology is available for scrutiny?

jbodar Jul 2nd 2008 6:09PM

His bicep IS flexed, hence why it's more ball-like. I think it just looks odd since the forearm is coming toward us, but the upper arm muscles aren't rotated outward.

Whatever, I think the art rocks.

Mark Jul 2nd 2008 2:30PM

"Alas, poor Yorick!"

jbodar Jul 2nd 2008 7:41PM

"... I ate his soul, Horatio."

Randy Jul 2nd 2008 6:12PM

More cinematics would be nice I will admit. I however am grateful Blizzard doesn't require the most high end PC's to play their games....its about the gameplay, not always the graphics. Other MMOs like Age of Conan are unavailable to people because they require high specs.

Draenors Jul 2nd 2008 7:06PM

Adding better graphics to the game would might be a bad idea and push my fps in Shattrath from 1 to -10, but making more cinematics doesn't do anything bad, unless perhaps you fill the game with them. On YouTube, you can watch all the cinematics about how Illidan recruited the Naga, how Arthas killed his father, how Archimonde dying by humping the Tree and so on, and those are usual interesting to watch. Give more, please ;)