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GDC Roundup, day four

The tenth annual Game Developers Conference is in full swing in San Francisco, CA, and our sister sites Joystiq and Massively are on the scene! No matter what kind of games you're into, there's a ton of news on its way out of the convention, and we're compiling some of the stuff that might matter to you in daily roundups just for you. If you want the whole GDC news experience, check out all of Massively's and Joystiq's coverage, or previous roundups. I apologize for my appalling lack of Michael Sacco-ness. Saccosity?


Massively's Interview with DC Universe Online
"We're hitting major milestones right now. We're pushing as hard as we can right now to get a launch date out there. [...] We're trying to get it in your hands as quick as possible. The great thing about Sony is we really are taking our time. We have been given the opportunity to make this right."


Fable 2 Episodes Massively Successful
"That was hugely successful. There were something like over half a million. I think it was 600,000 downloads of the first episode, which was very, very cool."




"Save your fork, there'll be pie"
After confessing to having a big appetite for Borderlands, the Gears of War developer used the pie analogy to explain to Joystiq how games without any sort of DLC "hooks" are becoming increasingly rare.





GDC 2010 Microtalks: Big ideas, tiny speeches
Ten lecturers -- all from different sectors of the game industry -- each spoke for five minutes and each were allowed to use 20 different slides. Naughty Dog's Richard Lemarchand set the stage for the speakers, announcing the theme of the talks as "come play with us."




Massively's Interview with Dungeons and Dragons Online
Today, the numbers speak for themselves. Their revenue is up 500%, they've had over one million new players, and you'll be hard-pressed to find anyone who would refer to the game as "forgotten." Turbine has arguably set the standard for a hybrid free-to-play business model, and it's paid off very well. However, it wasn't always a sure thing and it certainly wasn't a snap decision.



GDC 2010: The Future of Champions Online
At the end of our brief discussion on the future of Champions, Bill had this to say, "Past that, I think it's just about remaining as responsible as possible to what the community is telling us they want." That sounds the right approach to us.

Filed under: News items

WoW Insider Show live today at 3:30 PM Eastern

Every week, we broadcast live from several places worldwide to present you with the WoW Insider Show podcast -- an hour's worth of WoW community discussion, covering everything from the week's top stories here on WoW.com to emails from our readers to what's been going on with our particular characters in Azeroth.

Along with your hosts, WoW.com editor Michael Sacco and contributing editor Matthew Rossi, we also feature rotating guest hosts, whether regular WoW.com contributors or personalities from other sites.

Today's WoW Insider Show features:

Want to participate? Join in the conversation in the chat channel on our Ustream site while the show's broadcasting! Want to have your question read on the air? Drop us a line any time at theshow@wow.com!

Just want to listen? Follow the jump.

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Filed under: WoW Insider Show

WoW Insider Show episode 130



Despite some horrendous latency issues (sorry folks), the WoW Insider Show podcast broadcast this Saturday with special guest hosts Basil Berntsen and Kelly Aarons, and we discussed the upcoming 3.3.3 patch, as well as the Ruby Sanctum raid instance coming with Patch 3.3.5. We also answered reader emails, as we do each week -- you can email theshow@wow.com to have your question read on the air.

Get the podcast:

[iTunes] Subscribe to the WoW Insider Show directly in iTunes.
[RSS] Add the WoW Insider Show to your RSS aggregator.
[MP3] Download the MP3 directly.

Listen here on the page:

Filed under: Podcasts, WoW Insider Show

WoW Insider Show live today at 3:30 PM Eastern

It's been a wild day for WoW news, and what better place to hear about it than on the WoW Insider Show podcast? We return to the airwaves today at 3:30 PM Eastern time, with your host Michael Sacco, cohost Matthew Rossi, and special guest hosts Kelly Aarons and Basil "Euripides" Berntsen (our new auction house columnist). We'll be answering reader emails, shootin' the breeze, and discussing the week's top stories on WoW.com and around the web.

And, of course, we'll talk live with the folks in the chat channel. You can email the podcast any time of night or day at theshow@wow.com, and you'll be able to listen in to the show on the feed on our Ustream site, or after the jump.

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Filed under: WoW Insider Show

WoW Insider Show live today at 3:30 PM Eastern

The WoW Insider Show returns to the airwaves today at 3:30 PM Eastern time, bringing with it familiar faces Michael Sacco and Matthew Rossi (your host and co-host, respectively), with special guests Tim "Heartbourne" Tusing and Jimmy "DJTyrant" Blocksom of Project Lore bringing their unique perspectives to this week's top stories, both here and around the internet.

And, of course, they'll answer your emails and talk live with the folks in the chat channel. You can email the podcast any time of night or day at theshow@wow.com, and you'll be able to listen in to the show on the feed on our Ustream site, or after the jump.

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Filed under: WoW Insider Show

WoW Insider Show Episode 123: Goodnight everybody


The WoW Insider Show podcast aired once again this Saturday, with me and my guest hosts Matthew Rossi and Colby Moore delving into reader emails and this week's top stories on WoW.com. Thrill as we answer the age-old question of "Is it worth it to skip bosses in random heroics?" Marvel as we say it's pretty okay for Blizzard to help out the police! Gasp as I forget to thank my cohosts at the end of the show and pull a Yakko Warner! Goodnight everybody.

As always, you can email us at theshow@wow.com with any questions or comments -- we might even read yours live on the air.

Get the podcast:
[iTunes] Subscribe to the WoW Insider Show directly in iTunes.
[RSS] Add the WoW Insider Show to your RSS aggregator.
[MP3] Download the MP3 directly.

Listen here on the page:

Filed under: Podcasts, Wrath of the Lich King, WoW Insider Show, Cataclysm

WoW Insider Show Episode 122: Press the [Spoon] button

The WoW Insider Show podcast continued along its very merry way this Saturday, and a good time was had by all. Guest co-host Matt Rossi and I discussed our favorite WoW.com stories from the first half of 2009 (with more to come this Saturday), talked a little about Icecrown progression and gating, and weighed in on the quality of Wrath's various patches. We also discussed some very romantic Saber Lash fight strategies, as you might guess by the title of this week's show.

Thanks to everyone who stopped by to listen this week -- we've still got a few kinks to work out with the new format, but we're pretty pleased with this week's show and next week's should be even better. As always, if you have a question or comment for the show, email us at theshow@wow.com and you might just hear it on the air.

Get the podcast:
[iTunes] Subscribe to the WoW Insider Show directly in iTunes.
[RSS] Add the WoW Insider Show to your RSS aggregator.
[MP3] Download the MP3 directly.

Listen here on the page:

Filed under: Podcasts, Podcasting, WoW Insider Show

WoW Insider Show live today at 3:30 PM Eastern

The WoW Insider Show returns to the airwaves today at 3:30 PM Eastern time, bringing you a hot, steaming plate of holiday leftovers. Well, if the latest WoW news and views are what you ate for Christmas dinner, anyway. Michael Sacco will be your jolly host, likely getting his halls decked by co-host Matthew "Burly Ives" Rossi, with a possible appearance by venerable editor Adam Ho-Ho-Holisky. We'll be discussing the part of Winter Veil to which everyone really looks forward: the presents, as well as the team's and our favorite articles of 2009 and the wait for more Icecrown bosses. Maybe we'll even talk about Christmas.

And as usual, of course, we'll answer your emails and talk live with the denizens of our seedy chatroom. You can email us any time of night or day at theshow@wow.com, and you'll be able to listen in to the show on the feed on our Ustream site, or after the jump.

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Filed under: WoW Insider Show

WoW Insider Show live today at 3:30pm Eastern

Our podcast is live on the virtual air today at 3:30pm Eastern (8:30pm GMT) over on Ustream, and it's an all-star show for sure. We'll have Michael "Belfaire" Sacco, Matthew W. Rossi, and Adam Holisky all on the show with us, so I don't expect to have to say anything. Maybe I'll just shout out something like "patch 3.3" and see what evolves from there. But Turpster and I will still be on, and if we can corral these guys, we'll be talking about how big a change the Dungeon Finder really is, Corehound Pups in the mail for Authenticator users, and this patch in general. Should be quite a show.

And we'll be answering your emails -- if you have a question for any of us, feel free to send it along to theshow@wow.com. And of course we'll be doing the usual preshow and aftershow, so if you plan to turn up live after the break (or listen via the Ustream app on the iPhone), make sure to stick around for a little bit afterwards and we'll be chatting with you directly. See you this afternoon!

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Filed under: Items, Analysis / Opinion, Podcasting, Blizzard, Instances, Raiding, WoW Insider Show

WoW Insider Show Episode 117: Classing up the place

We had a great show this past week -- Michael Sacco jumped in via dialup from his country home to join Turpster and I to talk about the most popular stories in World of Warcraft over the past seven days. We talked about Mr. T and his mohawk grenade, how the new tier 10 system will work in patch 3.3, the beautiful axe that is Shadowmourne, and what it means for weapons coming in Cataclysm.

Plus, we answered your emails (including wishing one of our listeners a happy birthday), and we even played two operatic intros by our new friend Ethan B. I don't know anything about opera, but seems to me that dude has quite the vocal chords on him. And finally, we talked about our bid for the Podcast Awards -- we're asking you to vote for us every day until the end of the month. If we win, we'll not only give away the SleepPhones prize to one lucky listener, but we'll record a Warcraft bedtime story for them (and all of you others via mp3 download). Please vote! Thanks, enjoy the show.

Get the podcast:
[iTunes] Subscribe to the WoW Insider Show directly in iTunes.
[RSS] Add the WoW Insider Show to your RSS aggregator.
[MP3] Download the MP3 directly.

Listen here on the page:

Filed under: Podcasts, Podcasting, Fan stuff, Blizzard, Humor, WoW Insider Show

WoW Insider Show live this afternoon at 3:30pm Eastern

Our podcast (which, if you haven't heard, is award-nominated now -- please give us your vote every day until the end of November) returns to the series of tubes this afternoon on Ustream, and the great Michael "Belfaire" Sacco is coming along with it. Turpster, Sacco and I will chat about night elf mohawks, and what's up with the patch 3.3 PTR (including how to get the gear and some axe that people might like) and the next expansion. And as usual we'll chat live with the chat channel, answer your emails, and just generally have a good time talking about the World of Warcraft.

The show kicks off at 3:30pm Eastern/ 8:30pm GMT on our Ustream page, or we've also embedded a feed in the second half of this post, so you can just go there. If you're planning to be out and about, you can also listen to the show on your iPhone or iPod touch (assuming you've got the Internet connection required to do so). And of course even if you can't make it to the live recording, we'll have the show on the feed next Monday as we usually do -- you'll miss the aftershow, but such, as they say, is life. Hopefully we'll see you today.

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Filed under: Podcasting, WoW Insider Business, Virtual selves, WoW Insider Show

WoW Insider Show Episode 105: All medicated up

Our podcast took to the airwaves yet again last Saturday, and it was what you might call a rollicking good time. Turpster and I were on, and we welcomed both Alex Ziebart and Michael Sacco back to the show, to talk about BlizzCon last weekend, our experiences with the expansion's new starter zones, and why Deathwing is actually a great choice for the Cataclysm's bad guy.

And we answered your emails, including information about PvP vs. questing XP, our meetup (and the trip after BlizzCon to Disneyland -- you can check out some pictures of the trip in the gallery below), and racial bonuses to tradeskills -- how they work and what they'll look like in the next expansion.

Was a great time, and you can hear all about it on the podcast below. If you have anything you'd like to tell us (either about something you heard on the show, or something you didn't hear us talk about yet), feel free to send an email to theshow@wow.com, and you might hear it on the show next week. Enjoy.



Get the podcast:
[iTunes] Subscribe to the WoW Insider Show directly in iTunes.
[RSS] Add the WoW Insider Show to your RSS aggregator.
[MP3] Download the MP3 directly.

Listen here on the page:

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Podcasts, Podcasting, Fan stuff, Odds and ends, Expansions, BlizzCon, WoW Insider Show, Cataclysm

WoW Insider Show today at 3:30pm Eastern


Man it seems like ages since we've done our podcast at the usual time, but we're returning to the airwaves at the regular 3:30pm Eastern today (that's August 29, 2009 3:30 PM EDT), and it's going to be a good one. We'll have perspectives on BlizzCon both from people who were there (Turpster, Alex Ziebart, and I) as well as from someone who wasn't there (Michael "Belfaire" Sacco), and we'll talk about everything we saw in the new starter zones and all of the other new things we saw on the show floor. We'll also talk about this Deathwing guy and why he's a great choice for the next big bad, as well as how close we actually are to the expansion's release.

And of course, seeing as it's been a few weeks since we really dived into the inbox, we'll answer your emails -- you can send them along any time to "theshow AT wow dawt com." And I believe that during our livestream of the meetup, I promised some loot cards and wasn't able to deliver, so we'll do that as well. Should be a great show - we'll see you over on the Ustream page (or in the embedded feed after the break) this afternoon.

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Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Podcasting, Fan stuff, Virtual selves, Humor, BlizzCon, WoW Insider Show, Cataclysm

WoW Insider Show today at 3:30pm Eastern


Gonna be a great podcast this afternoon -- we'll welcome two familiar voices to the show, including the great Zach Yonzon (have you seen his new Battlemasters comic yet?) and the talbuk Mike "Belfaire" Sacco, as well as Turpster and I as usual. We'll be talking about (what else?) patch 3.2 and what we think so far, including the new 5-man instance, bugs that have appeared so far, and everything else we like and hate about it. And if we have time, we'll also talk about classes and what they get invited to groups as (you know Turpster will love seeing that big slice of Warriors on the tanking chart).

And of course we'll answer your email as well -- you can send us whatever you'd like us to read or talk about at theshow@wow.com. It all kicks off at August 8, 2009 3:30 PM EDT over on our Ustream page, or, as always, you can find the embedded stream below. Be sure to stop by this afternoon and give us a listen live -- you'll enjoy it, or your money back*!

Note: As the podcast is free to listen to, you will not be receiving any money back. But you will enjoy the show. If not, you can blame the Ret Monkey. That's what we do.

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Filed under: Patches, Fan stuff, Virtual selves, Instances, Humor, Bosses, Classes, WoW Insider Show

WoW Insider Show Episode 97: Chasing silhouettes

Good times as always on our podcast this past holiday weekend -- while Turpster was away, we Americans took over the show, and declared our independence the only way we know how: by talking about the most popular stories in the World of Warcraft this past week. Adam Holisky, Alex Ziebart, Michael "Belfaire" Sacco and I answered your emails, and then chatted about Blizzard's addition of faction changes to the game (and who'll go for it), patch 3.2 and its extendable raid lockouts and universal armor tokens, Exodus and Ensidia and how Blizzard has dealt with both, and of course, that sneaky Cataclysm trademark and what it might mean for Blizzard's future releases.

Whew! If it sounds like a full show, that's because it was. It even went on longer than usual, so you can enjoy the extra-long WoW Insider Show at any of the links below (including clicking on the iTunes link to subscribe directly there). We won't be back next Saturday -- instead, we're setting up for a special Thursday evening show this week at 6pm Eastern, so those of you who can't make it on Saturdays can instead tune in on Thursday night to chat and listen live with us on the Ustream page.

Enjoy this past weekend's show, and we'll see you on Thursday.

Get the podcast:
[iTunes] Subscribe to the WoW Insider Show directly in iTunes.
[RSS] Add the WoW Insider Show to your RSS aggregator.
[MP3] Download the MP3 directly.

Listen here on the page:

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Podcasts, Podcasting, Virtual selves, Humor, Raiding, Making money, WoW Insider Show

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