All Entries Tagged With: "Blizzard"

Blizzard Hopes For StarCraft 2 Mac Beta in April

Let’s assume that you’re participating in the StarCraft 2 beta for a second. Now, just imagine how many StarCraft fans hate your guts because of this. Yep, plenty. And this is just the PC folks. Imagine what would happen if that beta made its way over to Mac. Oh, wait… it is. The sequel to one of the most successful and most played RTS will be migrating over to the Mac platform in April, the developer – Blizzard – hopes.

In a recent Twitter Q&A with Blizzard, the studio is “currently working on a Mac version of the beta and hope to release it sometime in April.” See Mac owners? Blizzard does care!

What is J!NX? DualShockers Interview Sean “Jinx” Gailey To Find out!

Did you ever wonder what or who is behind the clothing company that gamers know and love as J!NX?  I definitely wondered. I recently had the privilege to sit down with Sean “Jinx” Gailey, the Creative Overlord of J!NX, for a one on one interview. We discussed how J!NX came into existence, what their motivation is and what gamers can expect to see from upcoming lines (MLG and pro-gamer lines) and products. As Kyle  McCarthy (J!NX’s Deacon of Sales & Networking) refers to Sean “He’s kind of the face of the company.”

Starcraft 2 Planetary Fortress Rush

If you ever played Starcraft you know that there are very different play styles that can be implemented to whip your opponents. Some players choose to play long drawn out games with technical upgrades and large hordes of units, while others decide to “Rush”. A good Rush is when you build up a quick force of units and storm your opponents base before they have the opportuniity to build up units or defend themselves. One of the most classic Rush maneuvers has to be the “Zergling rush”, where you could fast build Zerglings (puppies) and take out your opponents harvesters rendering them resourceless and done.

Since the launch of the Starcrafft 2 beta videos have been popping up and this one caught my attention of a new rush that is pretty epic called the planetary Fortress Rush. In essence the Human characters have the ability to float their headquarters and buildings over to an enemy and now they can mount a turret on top of the Command Center making it a large weapon of death right next to an opponent’s base.

Hit the jump and watch this classic rush in action, diesel.

New WoW Raid: The Ruby Sanctum

Attention all raiders!   Today Blizzard announced a new raid dungeon that will be releasing in patch 3.3.5, The Ruby Sanctum!   And before you say it, yes we are still awaiting the content patch for 3.3.3, but I know all you raiders are twisting your hands anxiously, feeling the itch to slay another host of bosses.

StarCraft II Wings of Liberty Closed Beta Begins!

Attention!  The StarCraft II Wings of Liberty Closed Beta has begun!!!  One of the most anticipated Real-Time Strategy games of all time is finally opening up to thousands of gamers.  The first phase of invites have begun and you could be among those who are in the beta!  Testers will be able to fully addict themselves to the new graphics engine, give direct feedback on multiplayer balance that could potentially change the game, as well as catch the first glimpse of the redesigned Battle.net system!  In StarCraft II Wings of Liberty players continue the epic struggle between Protoss, Terran, and Zerg with veteran, upgraded, as well as brand new units.  For more info on the game itself, visit the Starcraft II site.

I wonder if the beta will include a test of the map editor and new free share / map sale features.  To sign up for an invitation visit Battle.net today!  The game should release some time in the ‘first half’ of 2010.

Will Call of Duty Become Subscription Based?

Move over World of Warcraft, there may be a new subscription based sheriff in town. During the Investment call Activision Blizzard held this week, a hint that might affect the way we play Call of Duty was reported. We all know that Call of Duty will be a yearly release, but Activision has thoughts to go the route of Blizzard’s epic World of Warcraft. Blizzard brings in a lot of money each month with subscriptions to battle it out in Azeroth. Gamers may be facing the same type of service to enjoy the Call of Duty franchise as well. What does this mean for the millions of fans that play the game everyday? It means you may be paying $14.95 a month to do so. Activision spokesman Bobby Kotick had this to say:

World of Warcraft Pet Plushies!

Is that how you spell plushies?  I hope so.  The spell checker doesn’t recognize it.  Of course, it doesn’t recognize strategery either…oh, wait…  Anyway, on to the point!  Being the WoW vanity pet fanatic that I am, I have to make mention of this little news item that appears on the official World of Warcraft site yesterday.  At Blizzard’s online store, you can already purchase in-game vanity pets, but this time they’re shaking things up a bit and doing something different.  They have a new line of plushies that will be arriving at the store soon.  Each plush comes with a code for a matching in-game vanity pet, bound to whichever account you give it to.

This is kind of a nice addition to the store, however you feel about the whole “spending real money for in-game items” debate.  The pets are a Wind Rider Cub and a Gryphon Hatchling.  I do expect more in the future where those come from, as well.  So, keep an eye on the Blizzard store and the WoW homepage to see when these items become available so you can snatch yours up.  I know I will be.

Activision | Blizzard 4th Quarter Earnings Call Highlights

For those of you unaware, Activision and Blizzard merged and became one company.  That company is called Activision | Blizzard.

With Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 dubbed “the largest launch in entertainment history”, World of Warcraft maintaining its position as #1 subscription based MMORPG, and numerous franchises like Guitar Hero, Diablo, DJ Hero, and Starcraft all under one umbrella, it is no surprise that this company is sitting pretty.  In fact they are the top third-party publisher in the United States and EU.  What I really want to know, as a owner of Starcraft, Warcraft, Modern Warfare 2, Diablo 2, and perspective buyer of future Activision Blizzard titles, is what are their plans for the future?  What will they do the same as usual and what will they do different?

Prepare yourself to go deep into the corporate mind of Activision | Blizzard as we sit in on their Fourth Quarter ‘09 Conference that was held today where it was revealed that not only has ‘09 been a great year for the company but many of their specific plans for 2010 solidify their successful position going forward as well.  It should be noted that the statements made are not set in stone as they are referring to the future and may change at any time, however I still feel some perspective has been gained from this conference on the future of not only the Call of Duty and World of Warcraft franchises but also Guitar Hero, Starcraft, DJ Hero, and True Crime franchises.

It may seem a tad on the dry side at first glance.  We probe deeper beyond the large numbers showing tons of money earned.  We find more numbers breaking down 200 million estimated potential customers by December 31st 2010 in US and EU across PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, and handhelds.  Then we begin to find the voice of the company which praises Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2’s success and credits the “excellent game quality, retail and marketing execution, and favorable competitive environment” for that success.  One thing gamers already know is that Activision plans to continue releasing 1 or 2 Call of Duty games a year.  The conference echoes this sentiment once further but furthermore states a planned “selling in” to the largest franchise audience to date.  Does this mean they will start putting Nazi zombies in every Call of Duty out there, and listen to many other fan recommendations soon?  It seems likely, or did they simply commit a typo and mean to say “selling out”.  Only time will tell.  With a arguably fair sized chunk of Call of Duty fans are steamed the next two games in the franchise are already in progress, this could also be an opportunity for Activision to give those same fans the innovation they’ve been demanding.

In the world of Guitar Hero and DJ Hero games, it must feel good up there at top of the music genre in gaming.  DJ Hero is the most successful new intellectual property of 2009, and it should be no surprise that there will be more Guitar Hero and DJ Hero games this year.  Activision is taking the hint from fans by reducing the number of different music games they put out and instead broadening the audience to each one.

World of Warcraft, with an estimated 11..5 million subscribers, is being innovated in many ways this year.  Innovations to the Battle.net communications capabilities that will allow cross-communications across World of Warcraft realms, as well as other current and future online games, will give Blizzard fans a way to get in touch even they don’t agree on which Blizzard game is the best!  World of Warcarft: Cataclysm expansion is planned to innovate the game in many ways that will benefit veteran and new players alike.  Activision | Blizzard is also planning to release the Wrath of Lich King expansion pack to World of Warcraft in China soon.

As far as StarCraft II goes, it’s coming!  It will undoubtedly be one of the most anticipated PC exclusives of all time and deliver over head strategy junkies an everlasting fix as well as continue the religion that is StarCraft.  Blizzard is expecting massive growth from this game and are releasing it on disc as well as digitally distributing it via download on the Battle.net site.  There are a plethora of reasons this game will be immensely popular to gamers of all walks, but one of the unique features I’m personally interested in is the built-in capability to sell and buy user-created content.  This means that making your own content to StarCraft II will not only reward you with potentially infinite replay value, but also might make you a little video game cash on the side!  Definitely a title to look out for if you have any PC RTS (Real-Time Strategy) gaming skills whatsoever, or are a hardcore gamer interested in making some maps for cash with what will hoepfully be a legit, hassle-free system.

Last but not least Activision | Blizzard talks about its plans to release “new and exciting” downloadable content, especially for its popular Call of Duty franchise!  With such a forward looking company strategy and the idea of selling in to fans ideas a major possibility, could we be on the verge of a rebirth for the Call of Duty franchise via unexpected original DLC and installments?  Maybe we are in for something new from the top shooter on the market, instead of being fed more of the same old, same old.  While we watch World of Warcraft: Cataclysm expansion pack, StarCraft II, and most likely new Guitar Hero and DJ Hero games release this year we should keep our eye out on how much has changed and how much has stayed the same for these intellectual properties.  After all, we shouldn’t continue to buy the same games over and over with little innovation.  That is why they invented updates and DLC for games.  Hopefully this conference let us in on the idea that yes, they are thinking what you’re thinking.  Time to step it up!  Look out for this industry leader as this insanely packed year in gaming progresses.  It will be nothing short of enormous by the time Activision | Blizzard has made their contribution to gaming in 2010.

[Starfeeder]

WoW Armory To Allow Auction House Control

We’ve had a lot of World of Warcraft news lately.  It appears Blizzard is speeding up their time table for world domination.  In addition to releasing an armory Facebook app as a way to keep all your friends updated on your exploits in Azeroth and beyond, now comes confirmation that the WoW armory will soon be able to have some control over your in-game auctions.  This goes for both the official armory and the armory iPhone app [iTunes link].

World of Warcraft Invades Facebook

Today Blizzard launched their official armory app for Facebook users.  Now, as if people didn’t have enough ways to stalk your character(s),  they can see them on Facebook, too!  Hide your daughters!  You can apparently use the app to broadcast real-time data about up to five of your WoW characters to all your Facebook friends.

Fall of the Lich King Ending

Want to know what happens to the Lich King? Click on warriors! Spoiler Alert!

Trip to Azeroth Delayed

As I started to play World of Warcraft again something recently delayed my latest return this past evening and it went a little something like this:

Arthas is Full

Position in queue: 365

Estimated time: 15 min

To my regret my trip to Azeroth was indeed delayed by 364 players who were already in line to play WoW ahead of myself. Arthas is a High population PVP (player vs. player) server and at time of this log in attempt (10 P.M. EST) the server was apparently full. This is something I had forgotten about when taking my break from WoW. If I wanted to play a game on my Xbox 360 or PS3 my biggest delay typically was locating the game or waiting for an occasional patch, but never a fifteen minute line just to step into the game. This would be the equivalent of a line forming outside of my house and 300 people lining up to call next on my 360. Yes, I know it is a bit different than a console as WoW is a huge MMORPG and Blizzard is both trying to keep the lag to a minimum and keep the world and servers balanced, but it still did not get me into Azeroth any faster.

So on this night when my urge to play WoW was in full bloom it was dissipated by a queue from Hades. Has this happened to you before? Are you willing to accept the tedium just to play Blizzard;s masterpiece? Let me know your thoughts.