Kotaku
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twitter
At Long Last, an in-Game Twitter Client for Warcraft
Do you spend six hours a day playing Warcraft and another three hours Twittering pointlessly? Well now you can spend nine hours doing both! More »
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143
By Owen GoodComment by (Zombie) Jolan: Only loosely related but can anyone else not fucking stand the people who use twatspeak in non twitter places? I'm... 25 Responses | Other threads
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blizzard
What's Inside Blizzard's Library?
Blizzard's main campus is home to what might be the coolest (and nerdiest) library you've ever seen. The employee library, from which Blizzard staffers can check out books, software and more, is a great place to lose oneself. More »
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Comment by Alternate: I saw Blizzard's library and I, JIZZED. IN. MY PANTS. 12 Responses | Other threads
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comics
This Week In Video Game Comics
Here's a rundown of the new video game-based comics going on sale in comics shops in the U.S. on Wednesday. More »
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Comment by Tom Clancy's Samuraidino: The gears of war comic I read a while back was pretttyyyy much the worst comic I ever read. ....untill the... 11 Responses | Other threads
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blizzard
Writing Contest Offers Trip to Blizzard HQ
Fanfic writing just got a little less thankless and potentially more rewarding with a creative writing contest just announced by Blizzard. Winners get a sword, lunch, and a peek at Blizz HQ. More »
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By Owen GoodComment by Fallible.: Fanfic writing is thankless for a reason, it generally being terrible. That said, I'm seriously considering opening up word processor and... 5 Responses | Other threads
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Blizzard'
Death Knights Officially All Over The Place
As mentioned in the Test Realm patch notes we posted on last month, a blue Blizzard post confirms that they are indeed removing restrictions to allow players to create Death Knights on any server. More »
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By Mike FaheyComment by Primebuster: Good thing I decided to quit WoW. LOL 17 Responses | Other threads
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warcraft
The Warcraft Retrospective - From Utopia To Adventures
Gametrailers has just launched part one of their in-depth look at everything Warcraft, The Warcraft Retrospective. It's a comprehensive look at the origins of the Blizzard property, and when I say comprehensive I mean they go back to the original real-time strategy game, Don Daglow's 1982 game Utopia for the Intellivision, through Warcraft 1 & 2, and even feature footage from the abandoned Warcraft Adventures game. So entertaining and informative that I almost forgot to set this post live. More »
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By Mike FaheyComment by underbaker: Is it true the warcraft was suppose to be a warhammer game but something happened and they changed the story... 7 Responses | Other threads
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Comment by Xagest: Now I'm confused. I play Dota regularly, and I haven't heard of anything called Riot Games. Last I... 7 Responses | Other threads
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two great tastes that taste great together
Bejeweled Coming to Warcraft. Yes, Really.
Had to rub my eyes when I saw this Onion-esque headline at Wired. "Bejeweled, Warcraft Combine to Form World's Most Addictive Game." No, it's not April Fool's. The puzzle game will be added into WoW next Thursday, allowing players to kill time when they're on long, tedious tasks, like waiting for a raid or gold/item-farming. More »
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By Owen GoodComment by taftsearlobe33: So... Blizz saw that people had a lot of downtime in the game. So they decide to add another game... 5 Responses | Other threads
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academia
UC Irvine Gets Grant to Study WoW
The National Science Foundation has awarded $100,000 to do a cross-cultural study of World of Warcraft — Bonnie Nardi, an infomatics professor at Irvine, will be looking at player gaming habits and culture in the United States and China. Nardi has already spent time in the field, observing WoW players in Beijing internet cafés; she's already noted some basic differences in play styles and similarities in culture, so I'm curious to see where she'll go from here: More »
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Comment by Fadakar: Oh shit I might go to UCI...but...this is kind of embarrassing. Video games shouldn't get that big that they're taking... 7 Responses | Other threads
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mmos
WoW is a Dirty Word
Most of the Rock, Paper, Shotgun guys recently posted their thoughts on the Warhammer Online closed beta; they were descended upon by WAR supporters (some rabid, some a little more even-tempered) for drawing more comparisons between WoW and WAR. After this little display of MMO chest thumping, Alec Meer put up a thoughtful piece on why it is that WoW has become a dirty word, both in and out of the industry, and why people are so quick to leap to vociferous defense of their games: More »
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Comment by Jonbo298: Because WoW is an inferior product which nothing should be compared to. *waits to be flamed even though its my personal... 12 Responses | Other threads
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Comment by robur: I actually had fun playing up to level 70, enjoying all the lore and such. I can see the point... more » | Other threads
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looking for love
Gaming for Love: Finding Love in MMOs
There's a more or less constant trickle of mainstream articles discussing people 'finding love in all the wrong places' — but Tom Francis has a hilarious look at his attempts to play the dating game in MMOs. He tracks his progress in EVE Online, WoW and City of Heroes. The CoH section is my personal favorite, featuring Francis' trenchcoated character, 'Manley Power,' whose bio page read "Power's two favourite things are commitment and changing himself.": More »
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Comment by MellowJade: One of my friends on RO liked me once. I thought it was funny that every guy on RO plays... more » | Other threads
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blizzard
Blizzard Splashwatch Day Four - Lost Edition
Great, now you folks have me wide awake at 3 in the morning my time, hunting for clues like an over-the-hill Encyclopedia Brown. The Blizzard splash page has updated once again, revealing what certainly look like a pair of glowing eyes peering through the broken ice. Is it Diablo? Arthas? Or is it Hurley? The reason I ask is because the latest secret image has appeared in the CSS of the page, bearing the number 16. That makes the sequence so far 4, 15, 23, 16. Fans of the television show Lost know those numbers, along with the numbers 8 and 42, as the numbers that keep popping up throughout the show on lottery tickets, prescription bottles, etc. Will the next two numbers follow suit, or is Blizzard throwing us another curve? If it is the Lost numbers, what does it mean? More » -
wow
Doing Science In WoW
Here's something fun: a bunch of scientists decided to get together and do some field research, and assembled a conference. In Azeroth. They published their findings in the American Association for the Advancement of Science's magazine, and it's an entertaining read: More »
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Comment by alex45: The warm feeling I get when someone is thoughtful enough to say thank you for having been helped far outweighs... more » | Other threads
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politics
A Politician Who Actually Games
Meet Jeanne Stevens, the Republican nominee for Connecticut's House of Representatives (101st District). She will not allow Grand Theft Auto IV in her home. That's OK, she's also a level 70 Orc hunter in World of Warcraft. As for GTA IV, "If you’d like to play it in your home, go for it." More » -
timewasters
Holiday Timewaster: WTF?!
While I have enough work to kill an ox this weekend, I took some time last night to play with this delightfully silly side-scrolling WoW sendup. Here's one introduction to a quest: "Now that you've begun to get the hang of that most fundamental of skills - killing shit - and started to properly become a bit more class conscious, we can tackle a slightly more disturbing problem." Karl Marx even makes an appearance (never mind the Mario appearance pictured above). It's worth checking out if you've got some extra time to waste this holiday (in the US) weekend. More »
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Comment by HeartBurnKid: Agent of R.O.A.C.H.: Anybody else having problems with the mouse pointer? It just kind of meanders in the direction I move the... more » | Other threads
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book release
Digital Culture, Play, and Identity: A World of Warcraft Reader
Looking for new reading material? A new book is out examining WoW, and is available from Amazon for the nice price of $19.77 (not bad for a book coming from an academic press!). I'm personally really fond of edited volumes, and this one sounds pretty interesting — both in the contents and background of the research. Scott Rettberg, one of the contributors, explains: More »
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Comment by dumanue: For some reason, Maggie's intellectual article just turned me on... more » | Other threads
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blizzard
Blizzard Gets Its Digital Download On
Last week, Blizzard launched a spiffy new website. The improvements run a little deeper than just a cosmetic touch-up, however: they've for the first time begun offering digital downloads of their games from their own online store. Warcraft III ($20), Frozen Throne ($20) and the Starcraft Anthology ($15) are all available, with more (including Diablo) promised to appear later down the line. More »
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Comment by Hiphopopotamus: @mespme: I just downloaded the OS version of Starcraft... It doesn't work. The digital download games do NOT work on Penryn Macs.... more » | Other threads
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blizzard
Tokyopop Publishing More Warcraft, StarCraft Manga
News out of the New York Comic-Con - where I wish I was right now - Blizzard Entertainment and Tokyopop have announced a three-year publishing plan that will see twenty-two new manga adventures from the Warcraft and StarCraft series. The two companies had previous collaborated on The Sunwell Trilogy, which was interesting enough for not including a single f***ing gnome. Racists."We're pleased to continue working with TOKYOPOP to bring our game universes to an entirely new audience," said Paul Sams, chief operating officer of Blizzard Entertainment. "Warcraft: The Sunwell Trilogy proved to be a top-quality adaptation of Warcraft to the manga format, and we look forward to matching that quality with the upcoming StarCraft and Warcraft books."
The first two books will be released this August. StarCraft: Frontline is a series of short stories, and Warcraft: Legends. Both books will feature the writing talents of Richard A. Knaak, who wrote The Sunwell trilogy as well as several amazing Dragonlance novels. Hit the jump for more details! More »
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By Mike FaheyComment by Aseran: I'm going to have to chime in with everyone else who says that Knaak sucks. His prose is amateurish, his storylines... more » | Other threads
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warcraft
The Evolution of Warcraft
GameSetWatch has an interesting column up on the evolving nature of WoW; the rules of contest are frequently 'in play,' so to speak, in most sports or games, so why would a MMORPG be any different? Patches and additions codify, so to speak, some of the player-created games, but there are plenty of 'unsanctioned' game making that goes on: More »
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Comment by Lokku: Interesting, i have played WoW since the day it came out, and just decided to quit it last week, because... more » | Other threads
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only in china
Chinese Kid Becomes 'Fire Mage,' Sets Fire to Classmate
Ai you - to add to the ever growing collection of bizarre stories from the Chinese gaming world comes news that a 17 year old high school student has been sentenced for setting a classmate on fire. What does this have to do with gaming, you ask? Because the kid 'thought' he was a WoW fire mage. Now, in China, the 'but the video game made me do it!' defense doesn't work so well (the kid was sentenced to 8 years in prison, his accomplice - who lured the victim outside with the old line about wanting to chat for a bit - was sentenced to 7, and both boys and their families were ordered to pay a 760,000 RMB restitution - over $100K USD - to the victim and his family), so there's nothing to gain - nor a lawsuit to pursue - by pointing the finger at Blizzard, The9, or Warcraft. From billsdue: More » -
rumor
Foreign WoW Servers Blocked In China?
A Kotakuite emailed us yesterday regarding problems he (an expat living in Beijing) is having connecting to non-Chinese World of Warcraft servers (and the US version of the WoW site) as of 14 December. I nosed around to see if there was any news, and only found some pretty pissed off expats at both official WoW forums and a board for Shanghai expats. I didn't manage to dig up anything pertinent in Chinese, so I'm curious what's going on here. More »
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Comment by AronneCyzicus: im american and i play wow on american servers. im currently passing through the Guangzhou, CHINA airport and im trying... more » | Other threads
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warcraft
World of Datecraft
Yes, you read that correctly. Some enterprising folks have put together a Warcraft social networking site with the specific purpose, as they put it, of " Provide[ing] a simple and intuitive website which assists and facilitates the building of relationships between World of Warcraft enthusiasts." Now given the name of the site, one would assume that these "relationships" are meant to be romantic in nature although whether they are meant to be real life or in-game dates is unclear. Maybe both? I just wonder if they'll be able to drag people away from the game long enough to actually go on dates. More »
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By fdemarcoComment by John [at] Datecraft: A lot of "interesting" comments. It's good to see the full "gamut" of responses I suppose... which is better... more » | Other threads
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education
Play MMOs, Learn A Second Language
While perusing GameSetWatch, I hop skipped my way through a couple of blogs and found myself at a very interesting article in T.H.E. Journal on using MMORPGs in educational contexts, specifically on their use in second language acquisition. And here I've been doing it the old fashioned way all these years! It's a lengthy article, but worth a read through - author John K. Waters talks about a number of studies and approaches to the topic, but all of them are focused on use WoW and its ilk for educational purposes: More »
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Comment by Shinryoma: I thought this was common knowledge. A lot of people have learned second languages from pursuing their hobbies. I even... more » | Other threads
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game design
World of Evecraft?
Jim Rossignol has some thoughts up over at Rock, Paper, Shotgun on MMO design - a study in why, despite WoW being WoW and 'the' MMORPG in a lot of ways, EVE Online is potentially a better base for future MMO designs. Not in terms of creating a better "PvP-heavy spaceship-centric world," but by applying some of their design principles to games with more mass appeal? The two concepts that Rossignol picks out as being vast improvements over the WoW model are no levels (collecting skills, not level grinding, becomes the object) and money - not XP - would become the driving force in a game. There are some interesting thoughts, but lest you think it's an EVE love fest, he cautions: More »
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Comment by Sauceinator: EVE and WoW are two massively different games. A couple things: 1. When I play WoW I expect to be doing... more » | Other threads
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china
Even Shangri-La Is Mad For Warcraft
This week's "The China Angle," Gamasutra's roundup on what's going on in the wild, wild world of the Mainland Chinese market, leaves behind the urban areas we typically associate with internet cafes and too much time spent with WoW and heads to Yunnan Province, more specifically Shangri-La County (formerly known as Zhongdian County). Despite not having a Starbucks or a McDonald's, the area is relatively wealthy, making it easy to swallow the hourly fees to pay WoW - in China, it's less a matter of geography and more a matter of finances: More » -
virtual worlds
'Life After Warcraft' - the Academics Speak
Some academics get all the fun: five members of the Ivory Tower were interviewed by Gamasutra, and their topic was migration in virtual worlds. What's the MMO landscape going to look like in a few years? What about single player games? And why do people give up their level 80 Night Elf to go grind in another playground? Neils Clark digs in with some PhDs and PhD candidates to examine the shift: More »
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Comment by mcderek3000: How about making a deal with Blizzard to give incentives for games with past characters in Blizzard's games to start... more » | Other threads
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warcraft
China Finally Getting WoW: The Burning Crusade
It's been out in the rest of the world for several months, but Chinese gamers have yet to see The Burning Crusade expansion pack for WoW - but The9, the Chinese operator for the game, has finally announced it will be arriving 10 September. Chinese gamers haven't gotten any new content since October of last year, and their patience is running thin - not a good position for a currently beleaguered company to be in (lawsuits, pissed off gamers, and possible early license termination - oh my!): More »
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Comment by ireidt: wow, It should have been released by now there! Another expansion is on its way and China is just getting... more » | Other threads
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blizzcon07
Warcraft Movie Details Revealed At BlizzCon
At BlizzCon today, representatives from Blizzard and Legendary Pictures hosted a panel on the upcoming WarCraft film adaptation, giving attendees an update on the film's progress and addressing fan concerns with a follow-up Q&A session. On hand were Paul Sams and Chris Metzen Blizzard Entertainment and, from Legendary Pictures, CEO Thomas Tull and Chief Creative Officer Jon Jashni. In addition to confirming that the Warcraft movie will be a live action film, with a yet to be determined level of computer generated environments and effects, Jashni told the crowd they're still working toward a 2009 release date. More »
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Comment by LindaAlope: The art of WarCraft is basically out of proportins characters, so if blizz go for live action how are they... more » | Other threads
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academia
Academics Like Online Gaming, Too!
According to the BBC, a new review in the journal Science shows that some academics (those wacky social scientists, to be precise) are turning to online games like World of Warcraft and Second Life as a low-cost alternative to real-life studies in a world where spendy grants are increasingly hard to find. From the mundane ('Look! People stand the same distance apart online as they do in real life!') to the not-possible-in-real-life-thanks-to-IRBs ("large-scale studies of alternative governmental regimes"). Earlier academic studies have shown that people share many behaviors on and offline, thus boosting the validity of such studies, but of course they're interested in the differences, as well. More »
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Comment by lordhewlett: hehehe, i sent in the link to the bbc page of that more » | Other threads
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erudite
Read Warcraft Comic, Get Smarter
What a cool idea. Kaplan and Tokyopop have teamed up to produce a series of mangas designed to increase your vocabulary and thus your SAT and ACT scores. More »
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Comment by Narsil: Me fail english? But that's unpossible! Seriously, though, something tells me the horrible feeling of being patronized I'm getting right now... more » | Other threads
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Comment by Tezs: My vote is for Diablo 3...............as long as the give Asia it's own multiplayer and keep them the hell off... more » | Other threads
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history
The 10 Most Important Video Games
Henry Lowood, the curator of the Stanford University History of Science and Technology Collections, announced this past week a list of the 10 Most Important Video Games of All Time. This game canon has been created to preserve to cultural and historical significance of gaming. The list is a result of a collaboration between Lowood, Warren Spector, Steve Meretzky, academic researcher Matteo Bittani and gaming journalist Christopher Grant from Joystiq, and represents the games we must protect at all costs...our cultural artifacts. More »
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By Mike FaheyComment by rpatnode: @Volante3192: You are correct. Henry Lowood was my professor/advisor. They will be adding 10 more games at each year's GDC.... more » | Other threads
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warcraft
The World of Mariocraft
One upside to the ease of levelling in World of Warcraft is that players get bored and create things like this Super Mario homage that mashes up the most popular game of then with one of the most popular games of now.More »
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By Mike FaheyComment by Wernstar: I don't play WoW, but I always enjoy user created vids like this. Very well done. more » | Other threads
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Comment by Kaneda: domin4n, there are more pro players in Korea than anywhere else in the world. And they get paid more... more » | Other threads
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wow
Addiction or Lifestyle?
From the "parents without nuts, literal or otherwise" department comes the harrowing Current Affairs report on a child lost to the dregs of addiction. His smack of choice? A "violent computer game" known as World of Warcraft. More »
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By egaugerComment by rainofwalrus: Amen, StratfordX. I have two types of friends IRL*: Those that can easily pull me away from Internet/WOW and those... more » | Other threads
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greater internet fuckwad theory
Molten Core More Revealing Date than TGI Friday's
TerraNova addresses a topic dissected by artist and gamedev Andre Fryer at the recent Sex in Video Games Conference. The piece is concerned mostly with a phenomenon most of us have encountered already, which is meeting brain before brawn online. That is to say, becoming acquainted with a personality before ever laying eyes on the fleshwrapper it pilots. More »
warcraft
Denver, 2:01 PM
Fri Jul 10
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