PAX is just around the corner and most of the PC Gamer crew is mid-flight to the convention center. There they’ll be meeting readers, hosting a panel on PC gaming, and of course playing the best games and reporting on the latest news in the industry. Our ground team, Andy Bauman and Josh Augustine, talk about what they expect to see at PAX, the latest news–including Elemental’s review and ATI disappearing off the face of the earth forever–and answer some reader questions. Enjoy and be sure to tune in for PAX coverage over the weekend!
Download it here!
World of Warcraft isn’t just a game, it’s a money-making empire for both Blizzard and an army of criminals that would love nothing more than to make real money from your virtual gold. You might think you’re safe, but the techniques they use to get their hands on it go far beyond guessing your password.
Scapegaming, a private World of Warcraft server company that wrote its own software to host a private version of the world’s biggest MMO, has been ordered to cough up $88,594,539 and hand it over to Blizzard. Whoops.
Making movies from games is a tricky business. So far, the best that most have been able to aspire to has been utter mediocrity, and there have been many that fail to reach even that distinctively un-lofty goal. Still, if anyone’s going to break the cycle, it might be the colossal gaming juggernaut that is Warcraft. But what do we know at this point?
Let this be a life lesson. There are no better ways to solve conflicts than by rendering them in cardboard and letting fireworks determine the victor. World of Warcraft guild Ouroboros have done precisely that by constructing delightful cardboard replica’s of both the Horde and Alliance aerial gunships and letting them solve their differences through the use of brightly coloured explosives.
In the wake of the near-fiasco with Real ID, which, if implemented, would have forced StarCraft II and World of Warcraft posters to use their real names on the official forums, Blizzard has compiled a Q&A on their plans for the future of the Real ID system. It’s a lengthy read, but if you have any questions about exactly how your real name will be used by Blizzard, you may find the answer after the jump.
My favorite quote from the whole thing? Right here:
“...We plan to include an option that will allow players to opt out of appearing on their Real ID friends’ “friends of friends” lists. We’re anticipating this feature to be available for StarCraft II shortly after release of the game, and World of Warcraft at around the same time — we’ll have more information for you in the coming weeks.”
Blizzard have just revealed that they will no longer be requiring real names to be used on the Battle.net forums. In a message to users from Mike Morhaime, Blizzard’s CEO and co-founder, the company has said that it has been listening to the feedback from forum users and has “decided that at this time real names will not be required for posting on the official Blizzard forums.” Instead, once the new forums launch, players will be identified by their Starcraft II username and character code. The full posting is below.
For a little while, it was possible to throw EZ-Thro Dynamite into pools in World of Warcraft and watch a bunch of debris float up, which you could then loot. It was removed shortly afterwards, but that doesn’t sound like a bug. That’s a bit of code that shouldn’t be running – a feature that was implemented too early. Dynamite fishing in Cataclysm, eh?
Blizzard have just posted a lengthy update to their forums in which they discuss removing multiple talents from all of World of Warcraft’s current talent trees.
Blizzard poster Zarhym explains that “When we first announced our design goals for class talent trees back at BlizzCon 2009, one of our major stated focuses was to remove some of the boring and “mandatory” passive talents. In an upcoming beta build, we will unveil bold overhauls of all 30 talent trees.” One of Blizzard’s stated goals of Cataclysm, as revealed in our Tom Chilton interview, is to deliver meaningful choice without overburdening the game systems. This effort to prune the talent trees is a significant step in that direction, and will be live in the Cataclysm beta very shortly. The full statement is below.
The Cataclysm is coming and PC Gamer will be there to watch the fireworks. We recently visited the Blizzard campus in Orange County to discover what secrets the next World of Warcraft expansion pack will deliver. There, we met Tom Chilton, the game’s lead designer, and talked over the challenges and headaches that come from revitalising a game that has such passionate and devoted fans. Here is our conversation in full.
