Posts with tag e32006

Xfire's E3 Coverage

by Elizabeth Harper Jun 5th 2006 at 2:45PM

Xfire has posted a video of their E3 interviews. It's not really focusing on news (which we've probably all seen by this point already), but commentary (some interesting and some just for comic value) from Jeff Kaplan (Tigole), Caydiem, Ordinn, and Eyonix. It's an entertaining watch with a few interesting tidbits, though I must admit that I had to laugh when Tigole commented, "We know the honor system is a bit of a grind."

Filed under: Blizzard, Expansions

Blizzard's Paul Sams on the Wow Movie

by Mike D'Anna May 18th 2006 at 9:00AM

Everyone has been buzzing about the announcement last week of a live-action Warcraft film, and now Gamespot has an interview with Blizzard exec Paul Sams, where he discusses some of the goals in bringing WoW to the big screen.

" We're not trying to take what we've done and...try to make a literal translation to the big screen. What we want to do is to make a great movie that happens to be set in a video game universe. That's a differentiator, and a key differentiator."

It sounds to me like they have the right attitude about the project, as no direct adaptation, if one is even possible, is going to please everyone. The best idea is for them to craft a solid, compelling story that happens to be set in the gameworld we all know & love, and just try to make a good film first & foremost. From this interview, it seems that's exactly what they're trying to do, so lets just hope the suits don't stick too many fingers in the pie between script & screen...

Filed under: Fan stuff, Odds and ends, Blizzard, News items

Expansion Map Previews

by Mike D'Anna May 17th 2006 at 9:00AM

It looks like some enterprising soul managed to snap a couple of pics at E3 of some maps that are supposedly of the new Blood Elf & Draenei starting areas. MapWoW.com has posted the images on their site for the interested to check out; you can see them right here.

The Draenei area is called Azuremist Isle, in Amman Vale. The Blood Elf area does not identify itself on the given image, so the name is still a mystery as of now. I vote for Bloodelphia...

Filed under: Fan stuff, Odds and ends, Blizzard, News items, Expansions

WoW Moviewatch: Napolean Blood Elf

by Mike D'Anna May 16th 2006 at 11:00AM

Well, we knew someone would do it sooner or later. Now with added soundtrack music & jealous spectators, the new & improved Blood Elf dance!

Filed under: Machinima, Fan stuff, Odds and ends, Expansions

Young and Wired

by Mike D'Anna May 15th 2006 at 8:00AM

In the continuing saga of our nation's youth being taken over by evil computer overlords, the San Fransisco Chronicle has jumped into the scene with an article about technology use among teens, and what the consequences might be.

According to research by the Kaiser Foundation (apparently they study more than just rolls), young people spend over 6 hours per day engrossed in some form of media or the other, which is up an hour from five years ago. And yes, of course WoW gets to share a little bit of the blame.

It's hard for me to even imagine growing up today as a kid, with the internet & all the other technology we have available. There's a pretty good chance that if I'd had a modern PC when I was 13 or so, I would have never left the house...especially if my parents were as lax about monitoring it as they were about cable TV.

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Virtual selves, Odds and ends, News items

Blizzard Not Relying on it's Cash Cow

by Mike D'Anna May 14th 2006 at 3:00PM

With over six million subscribers to WoW, and with no end in sight, it might be understandable if Blizzard focused all of their rescources on support for World of Warcraft. According to this Gamespot article, however, WoW is only one iron in Blizzard's fire, as they plan to actively develop a wide range of new games, for both PC's and consoles.

Of course, there's no mention of what these new games might be, or exactly which platform they will appear on...but they're working on it, apparently. Which is fine with me, as long as they don't spead themselves too thin & allow WoW to suffer as a result. You know what I mean by suffer; long queue times, server outages, lag.....oh, wait a minute...

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, Blizzard, News items

More Dev Interviews from E3

by Mike D'Anna May 14th 2006 at 1:00PM

Tentonhammer has an exclusive piece from E3, featuring interviews with WoW developer Tyven, where he discusses much of the news we've already heard from E3; the main subjects being Draenei, flying mounts, and the rest of the announced content. Nothing shockingly new, but for all you E3 news completists, there's some good info there.

Also included are a few tidbits of information from Blizzard's Mac team member Rob Barris, discussing Bootcamp on the Imac & other platform news. The full article can be found here.

Filed under: Patches, Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, Blizzard, News items, Expansions

How to Spot a Bot Farmer

by Mike D'Anna May 14th 2006 at 11:00AM

I'm not sure if this counts as racial profiling or not, but the official Blizzard forums have an interesting thread on ways to spot a bot farmer. For those of you unfamiliar with the term, a bot farmer is a program, running without direct human control, used by lowdown, cheating gold farmers to collect money in the game without even having to actually play it.

The thread lists several different, highly debatable (all alliance bots are Night Elf females?), criteria for spotting a bot , and even gives some screenshots & video examples to back them up. I don't know how close to the truth it actually is, but it's an interesting read. I've never knowingly come across a bot myself (although I probably have & didn't realize it), but I'll be keeping a curious eye out after reading this...

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Tips, Cheats, How-tos, Fan stuff, Odds and ends, News items, Economy

Interview With WoW Producer Tom Chilton

by Mike D'Anna May 14th 2006 at 9:01AM

The news from E3 keeps pouring in, and the folks over at WorldofWar.net have secured an entertaining video interview with Tom Chilton, one of the producers of WoW. The interview is rather lengthy, and split into two parts, but it's well worth watching, as Mr. Chilton discusses the Burning Crusade, changes in upcoming patches, and more.

The interview can be seen via streaming video right here.

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, Blizzard, News items, Expansions

The Question on Everyone's Mind...

by Elizabeth Harper May 12th 2006 at 5:15PM

Beyond racial skills and available guilds, I know everyone's just dying to know what the new race's dance is. Well, here's one of them - the male blood elf dance. The voice commentary in the video also does a good job of addressing the obvious questions brought to mind...

Filed under: Odds and ends, Expansions

A brief tour of Outland

by Jennie Lees May 12th 2006 at 2:30PM

Outland, the remains of the planet Draenor, is an alien and futuristic place. Entering through the Dark Portal, players encounter a vista with a strong science-fiction feel -- giant planets hang in the sky, highlighting the scorched red earth. Populated by creatures including Hellboards and Stormsnout-style Mutated Clefthoof beasts, it's reminiscent of the Blasted Lands and similar areas of Azeroth.

Filed under: Blizzard, Instances, Expansions

WoW Moviewatch: Naxxramas Trailer from E3

by Mike D'Anna May 12th 2006 at 2:00PM

This video, Shadow of the Necropolis, gives us our first glimpse of action in the upcoming Naxxramas instance, included in the 1.11 patch, from the Blizzard previews at E3. Those are some seriously gnarly spiders...

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Machinima, Fan stuff, Odds and ends, Blizzard, News items, Expansions

Hands on with baby Draenei

by Jennie Lees May 12th 2006 at 1:45PM

The Draenei that feature in The Burning Crusade are firm believers in the Light, and I took a Draenei Paladin out for a spin. As a healing class, the Blessing of the Naaru racial becomes another tool to be used in tricky situations, but its effectiveness leaves a lot to be desired. The spell takes 1.5 seconds to cast, with a 3 minute cooldown, and acts as a fairly weak heal-over-time.

The alien feel of Ammen Vale works well with the storyline -- the Draenei are survivors, and much of the questing revolves around healing. The vale is dark and blue in atmosphere, similar to Teldrassil but with hints of Un'Goro Crater's otherworldliness. It's a futuristic and strange place, and serves as a nice bridge between the fantasy feel of the current WoW zones and the new planet Outland.

Filed under: Events, Blizzard, Expansions

Hands on with baby Blood Elves

by Jennie Lees May 11th 2006 at 4:29PM

I played through the first few levels as a Blood Elf Mage at E3 today. As a veteran of every other newbie land, I have to say that starting from scratch as a Blood Elf has a similar feel to the other races -- there's only so much you can do as a newbie, after all.

However, the newbie quests have an interesting twist. Thanks to the Blood Elves' Mana Tap racial, levelling downtime is reduced, and quests teach you how to use the racial effectively. It's going to be a really vital get-out-of-jail card -- when you Mana Tap enemies, their mana is reduced and you receive a buff with no immediate effect. You can stack this effect up to three times, and then unleash the Arcane Torrent racial to restore your much-needed mana at a time when it really counts. The cooldown means you can't use this all the time, but I can see it becoming really vital for healers, for instance.

Filed under: Horde, Expansions

WoW Moviewatch: Flying Mounts at E3

by Mike D'Anna May 11th 2006 at 4:00PM

Again, from an anonymous, on-the-spot cameraman, some hazy, blurry, brief, yet extremely cool glimpses of flying mounts at E3. Take off, eh?

Filed under: Odds and ends, Blizzard, News items, Expansions

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