World of Warcraft; Cataclysm smashes PC games records over 3.3 million sold in 24hrs

The latest expansion for Blizzard Entertainment’s MMORPG reaches a record 3.3 million copies sold through as of its first 24 hours of release

World of Warcraft: Cataclysm video game collector's edition announced - set up a Battle beta account now - link

Blizzard announce plans for a limited-release Collector's Edition of World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, the third expansion for the world's most popular subscription-based massively multi-player online role-playing game, World of Warcraft. The special Collector’s Edition package, which will only be available at retail stores, will include the following exclusive bonus items in addition to the game disc:

Has StarCraft II hit World of Warcraft - not much say Blizzard

With the release of Starcraft II Blizzard have been quick to point out that World of Warcraft hasn't lost loads of player to the new game.

While Starcraft 2 takes place in the future World of Warcraft is set in medieval times, this is the main difference in the game.

UK gamers spend almost £200 million on MMO (Massive Multiplayer Online) video games

It has been reported that UK video gamers have splashed out almost £200 million on online video games like World of Warcraft and Runescape...

All you need to know - How to make gold by blacksmithing in World of Warcraft video game including patch links

This post on Master of Warcraft explains the best ways to make loads of gold in World of Warcraft. It includes links to the patches that get the job done.

All the items explained in great detail - if you want to make gold then all the information you need can be found here...

World of Warcraft Wrath of the Lich King Patch 3.30 Official video game Trailer

A trailer introducing the new Icecrown Citadel raid added by patch 3.30, where Arthas himself awaits the forces of justice.

World of Warcraft patch allows Character Race Change - at a cost...

Blizzard today launched a new service that allows World of Warcraft players to change the race of their characters.
The racial swap will cost players $25, and can only be performed on an inter-faction basis. In other words, you can't resurrect your undead dude into a human.

World of Warcraft movie script to be written by Robert Rodat

Sam Raimi, who directed all three Spiderman movies, confessed to MTV that Robert Rodat is set to write the forthcoming Warcraft movie. Having written Saving Private Ryan and The Patriot, Rodat is no stranger to scripts that are heavy on combat.

Aion could steal World of Warcraft's Fantasy Game crown

Once upon a time, in the world of online gaming, there was but one king: World of Warcraft — the role-playing extravaganza that has snared millions of fans to become one of the most valuable entertainment properties.

Over 4600 people employed by World of Warcraft, 20,000 computer systems and 1.3 petabytes of storage...

Thursday morning's GDC Austin keynote was met with a large crowd as Blizzard Entertainment's J. Allen Brack and Frank Pearce took the stage to offer a detailed look into the inner workings of the genre-dominating World of Warcraft.

World of Warcraft developer Blizzard Entertainment conquers respected yearly list of planet's best studios

Today sees the publication of the fifth Develop 100, a respected annual listing of the world's most successful games developers.

The book is published, in association with technology firm Emergent, by the editorial team behind Develop magazine (www.developmag.com) – the leading international publication for games developers.

World of Warcraft developer Blizzard Entertainment takes the top spot, knocking last year's number one Nintendo down to second place.

Generating over a billion dollars in revenue every year from both online transactions and boxed product sales, Blizzard is responsible for one the most famed massively multiplayer online games ever with over 11 million players.

The Develop 100 is an invaluable guide that throws light on the real winners in the world’s fastest-growing creative industry. The list is put together by the magazine's editorial team, taking into account a variety of criteria including key sales charts made available by the likes of GfK-ChartTrack, NPD and Famitsu, success of online business models, Metacritic scores and industry standing.

31 studios from across Europe feature in the list - 26 of them in the UK. These include the likes of Rockstar North (third on the list and responsible for the Grand Theft Auto franchise), LEGO Star Wars developer Traveller's Tales (11th) and Media Molecule (18th), the developer of LittleBigPlanet - and the highest placed independent UK studio on the list.

"Our yearly Develop 100 has become an essential read for games industry executives the world over," said Develop editor-in-chief Michael French. "It is read by everyone in the sector, from the tiniest independents to business leaders at gaming giants like Electronic Arts HQ in America to Kojima Productions in Japan. With widened criteria which better reflect the fast-changing and various business models adopted by studios across the globe, this edition is no different."

The listing, from 1 to 100, plus a free digital edition, can be found at www.develop100.com. More analysis and data can be found at www.developmag.com

Develop 100 is sponsored exclusively by Emergent.

World of Warcraft extents into China

New license agreement lays groundwork for continued operation of world's most popular online game in mainland China following expiration of the current license agreement

Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. and NetEase.com, today announced that Blizzard Entertainment's World of Warcraft will be licensed to an affiliated company of NetEase.com, Inc. in mainland China for a term of 3 years following the expiration of the current license agreement.

Both companies announced a partnership on Blizzard Entertainment's Warcraft III,StarCraft II, and Battle.net gaming platform last summer. Today's announcement further enhances the partnership between Blizzard Entertainment and NetEase and promotes a consistent level of quality and service in mainland China for all Blizzard Entertainment games involved in the partnership.

"We appreciate the enthusiasm that Chinese gamers have shown us over the years, and we've always worked hard, in collaboration with our partners, to ensure that these players receive the same high-quality service and gameplay experiences that we deliver in other regions," said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. "This new agreement with NetEase will support that goal for years to come, and we look forward to collaborating with them on a smooth transition for World of Warcraft moving forward."

"We are excited to be working with Blizzard Entertainment now on World of Warcraft in addition to Warcraft III, StarCraft II, and Battle.net," stated William Ding, CEO of NetEase. "By combining Blizzard Entertainment's expertise in developing world-class games with NetEase's strength in online-game operation in China, I am confident that we will be able to deliver the best gaming experiences in the world to our players."

Are Blizzard working on a new Project?

Blizzard appears to be working on a fifth title according to two new job postings.

The fifth brand-new unannounced game surfaced last week following previous hints that Blizzard was interested in working on a completely new IP.

Currently Blizzard is working on Starcraft II, Diablo III, a new World of Warcraft expansion, a next-gen MMO, and a new unannounced game that may be a new IP. Blizzard hinted at developing a game based on a new IP back in 2006 when Blizzard COO Paul Sams commented: "I wouldn’t be surprised to see a new franchise from us at some time in the future; there’s certainly a desire to do so."

Blizzard is recruiting again and have been looking for programmers on programming job site forums where two new positions have been advertised by Blizzard's 'Slouken' who has been working on World of Warcraft, specifically with the UI and interface community.

The positions have been advertised stating:

"Blizzard Entertainment is seeking an experienced gameplay engineer to focus on game rules systems for an unannounced title. This is your chance to get in on the ground floor of a dynamic and focused team working on a brand new project. Blizzard Entertainment offers a fun, creative, and technically challenging environment with excellent compensation and a full range of benefits."

Based on these two new job postings for software engineers, we can assume that a new IP from Blizzard is in the works.

Source: IncGamers

Vin Diesel, Jonathan Ross, World of Warcraft and the level 80 wife...

On Friday's Jonathan Ross show with guest Vin Diesel (Wheelman fame) they talked about Vins involvement in games from Dungeons and Dragons to World of Warcraft.

Ross admitted to playing WoW (a level 7 dwarf) but the revaluation that his wife is a level 80 in the game...

Watch the video and read the transcript....

Jonathan Ross: Do you play those games?
Vin Diesel: Oh, how could you not?
Jonathan Ross: What level are you in World of Warcraft?
Vin Diesel: Oh ... I'm deadly.
Jonathan Ross: What level are you? Bring it on Diesel. Because I'll tell you what you're looking at right here. You're looking at a level 7 dwarf. That's a very low level I should point out, but I haven't a lot of time. My wife is a level 80.
Jonathan Ross: You're right to look amazed.
Vin Diesel: Level 80 what?
Jonathan Ross: I don't know ... [Diesel looks like he's thinking this is BS]. But she's green and rides a spectral tiger.
Vin Diesel: Oh my God, you're not - He's not kidding. Seriously he's not kidding. No this is really, really serious.

Can World of Warcraft (WoW) save the planet?

When you consider how many people play World of Warcraft, it might occur to you that if every one of those 11.5 million people changed the way they lived to a more environmentally friendly method, it just might make a big difference to the planet. That's exactly what Professor Byron Reeves of Stanford University believes, and he's looking for a way to put it into practice.

Reeves understands that one of the main ways WoW works is by completing tasks as a team, also known as a group, raid or even guild. What if your performance in WoW, and therefore the performance of your team, was affected by how much electric you use? If you use too much, you won't do as well as someone else who lives very efficiently when it comes to using energy in the home.

The idea sounds a bit far-fetched, for example, how would the game be able to tell how much electricity you're using? Scientists have proposed using a Smart Meter which gathers information for billing purposes usually, then sends it back to the utility company; this is the method Reeves suggests.

Of course for this to work every WoW player would need one of these attached to their homes, which would then have to be fed into the game somehow. And what about people who play from net cafes, not to mention Blizzard's stance on it - you can imagine what it would do to all the carefully balanced class stats!

We've contacted Professor Reeves for more information on his idea.

Sims 2 tops US PC video games chart - 8 out of 10 games form EA or Activision

Electronic Arts and Activision dominate the top ten of the US PC games chart for the week ended January 24.

US PC games chart follows:

01 The Sims 2 Double Deluxe
02 World Of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King Expansion Pack
03 Spore
04 The Sims 2 Apartment Life Expansion Pack
05 Fallout 3
06 World Of Warcraft: Battle Chest
07 World Of Warcraft
08 Left 4 Dead
09 Civilization IV
10 Call Of Duty: World At War

You can't stop gold farming in video games...

Kerry Fraser-Robinson, founder of virtual worlds developer RedBedlam, has called on the sector to embrace gold selling and realise the importance of economy in MMOs.

Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, Fraser-Robinson explained that gold farming would always exist so long as it offered the path of least resistance and that it has the potential to ruin games unless action was taken against it.

"It's going to happen whether you like it or not," he said. "People will always find the path of least resistance, if you stop them buying your gold then they'll buy that gold from somebody else who is gold farming."

"If you don't build that into your system then you're not going to be able to compete with the gold farmers and that will ruin your in-game economy, which will in turn ruin your game. At the very least having the recognition that virtual economics is a discipline and is a very important integral part to being a virtual world," he added.

Full post on Gamesindustry here...

World of Warcraft over 11 million players worldwide - Lich King adds 4 million plus World of Warcraft job application...

Wrath of the Lich King expansion fuels growth with record first-month sales of more than 4 million.

World of Warcraft, the award-winning subscription-based massively multiplayer online role-playing game, is now played by more than 11.5 million subscribers worldwide. This new high was reached following the November 13 release of the game's second expansion, Wrath of the Lich King.

Within its first 24 hours of availability, Wrath of the Lich King sold more than 2.8 million copies, making it the fastest-selling PC game of all time. In addition to winning a number of editor's choice awards from major gaming publications, the expansion has now gone on to sell more than 4 million copies in its first month, setting a new record for monthly PC-game sales. Both sales records were previously held by World of Warcraft's first expansion, The Burning Crusade.*

"We're pleased to welcome the new and returning players who have helped World of Warcraft reach these new milestones, and we appreciate the enthusiasm and support that the game's global community has continued to show," said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. "We look forward to providing all of them with an excellent entertainment experience for a long time to come."

"Not only is Wrath of the Lich King still doing well, the base World of Warcraft game and the World of Warcraft Battle Chest are performing better than last year," said Bob McKenzie, senior vice president of merchandising at GameStop. "That type of traction is very impressive for a game that is going into its fifth holiday season and speaks to the enthusiastic player base Blizzard Entertainment products have."

To keep pace with the continued growth of World of Warcraft as well as development on other Blizzard Entertainment games, the company is currently hiring for numerous open positions. More information on available career opportunities can be found at www.blizzard.com/jobs. More information about the latest World of Warcraft expansion is available at the official Wrath of the Lich King website: www.worldofwarcraft.com/wrath.

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• Ultimate Guide to World of Warcraft No2

Ultimate Guide to World of Warcraft No2

The release of Beckett Massive Online Gamer Presents: Ultimate Guide to World of Warcraft, Issue No2. This new issue includes extensive coverage of the largest MMO game on the planet: World of Warcraft.

Beckett MOG Presents: Ultimate Guide to World of Warcraft is geared to both casual players and advanced players, with over 35 pages of detailed class guides that will help gamers improve their characters and gameplay, special features on the crafting profession, Aldor vs. Scryer and a guide to playing the World of Warcraft Miniatures Game. In addition, there’s also a rare interview with the Game Director of WoW, Jeff Kaplan, and a Free WoW Minis Game figures poster inside.

“This is a terrific companion guide for all players of World of Warcraft,” said Doug Kale, Editorial Director of Massive Online Gamer. “Plus, if you play and collect the WoW TCG cards, we even included an up-to-date Price Guide for all the Booster Series that have been released to date. This Guide has a lot to offer and it’s out just in time for the Lich King expansion.”

You can buy the guide ($9.99) here...

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World of Warcraft is 4 today Blizzard celebrate with a FREE baby bear companion...

Four years ago on November 23rd, Blizzard opened its doors to Azeroth and then quickly shut them, opening and closing them several times until they were sure they had enough servers to handle the massive rush of players eager to enter the World of Warcraft.

To celebrate 1,460 days of lost time, broken relationships, and weight gain, folks who log into the game today are gifted with the achievement "WoW's 4th Anniversary" and an adorable little baby polar bear to follow them around everywhere they go.

For those of you online right now, you actually have to log off, then log-in again to receive the award.

Consult your instruction manual for directions on how to actually log off.

Source: Kotaku

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