While World of Warcraft is the king of the MMORPG world and Starcraft is busy keeping people in Korea busy, sometimes a little change can be good. According to the Internets, Blizz is working on a brand new franchise that will be released in MMO-form. Looking for details or a release date? Don’t hold your breath. They’ve still got Starcraft II and Diablo III in the works.
Why bother sleeping or eating when that next piece of loot for your World Of Warcraft character is only one more hour away? I’m assuming that’s the mentality behind the 15-year-old kid who collapsed and suffered convulsions brought on by an epileptic fit. He was enjoying the latest expansion, Wrath of the Lich King, with some friends. After 24 hours of grinding and downtime, the kid finally broke.
In Japan, you apparently can be charged with illegal access of a computer and manipulating electronic data if found guilty of intentionally “killing” someone’s MMO character. Some guy divorced his online wife’s avatar in Maple Story and in her anger she killed his character. Now, she faces a prison sentence of up to five years or a fine of up to $5,000 dollars.
Yowch! I believe a few lessons can be learned here. Firstly, never marry in a video game. Virtual settings and life-long relationships don’t mesh. Secondly, don’t play Maple Story. It sucks.
Star Wars MMO, round two! LucasArts managed to completely destroy any redeeming concept that a MMORPG held in the Star Wars universe, with help from Sony Online Entertainment. Forget Star Wars Galaxies because a new Star Wars MMO has been announced and it’s going to take place in the time frame of Star Wars: The Knights Of The Old Republic.
I didn’t know that different time frames require seperate liscensing for the same series or is this just a way to pretend like Star Wars Galaxies never happened? With the length of the Star Wars time line, I wouldn’t be surprised if the next three MMOs LucasArts announces are each individually based on the time line of the new Star Wars films that no one enjoys watching. Until I play the beta for Star Wars: The Old Republic, I’m slapping the “suck stick” on it. With everything LucasArts has been doing with this franchise, I feel my opinion is justified.
If you just so happen to play World Of Warcraft all day and night, then you obviously have the game installed on your computer. Did you know that you have access to the Wrath Of The Lich King game manual before the game has been released? Well, you do.
Blizzard either underestimates the nosiness of its players or they just don’t care that you can gain access to the manual by simply going to your World Of Warcraft game folder. In the “\Data\enUS\Documentation” folder you’ll find a file called “Manual_WLK.pdf”. I think “WLK” stands for Wrath Of The Lich King, but I have no confirmation, it’s just guess; a shot in the dark.
Some people who play World Of Warcraft have more friends in-game than in the real world. Typically, when one has built up enough friends online, they form a guild. Once everyone has decided on a guild tabard, it’s time to show off a little guild pride by flaunting the virtual garment around a virtual city.
But what if your guild tabard wasn’t a virtual garment? What if it were as real as any other shirt? That’s the idea behind the custom World Of Warcraft tabard creator. It’s a program that lets you design your own one-of-a-kind t-shirt which displays your guild name, your specific tabard design, your character name, realm name, race and class. That way, if you ever happen to run in to a fellow guildie out in the real world, you two won’t be strangers.
It’s a no-brainer that some people play WoW a little too much. MMORPGs have always been about investing an insane amount of time to develop your character. We won’t ridicule forum-goer Gamer Prepared who runs 36 accounts of World of Warcraft because after all, that requires a serious gaming rig. What better way to eliminate the entire purpose of playing in a MMORPG community full of other players by playing with only yourself.
Finding a guild is just too hard these days and dealing with newbies is horrendous. However, these aren’t the reasons behind Gamer Prepared playing 36 different characters. What’s the real reason? He wants to raid Ironforge and Stormwind with his guild. What a dork. It costs him $5711 in subscription costs per year and when he goes to pick up Wrath Of The Lich King, it’ll cost him $1500 for 36 copies of it. All of that money for one unsatisfying night of PVPing with 36 of your own characters with a town full of idle players and NPCs. Sounds fun.
Sometimes a normal mouse just won’t cut it. When you’re going to be spending the next three weeks of your life farming gold because you’ve already reached the max level in World Of Warcraft, you’re going to need a mouse that’s not going to flake out on you.
Enter SteelSeries’ new World Of Wacraft themed gaming mouse. It’s got the armor of an armadillo with the mass confusion that encompasses 15 programmable buttons. It also offers 16 million variations of flashing lights to keep you up during those all-night raids you’ll be doing. It’s due out next month for $90, so you better get on top of it before the rest of your guild does.
Many of you World Of Warcraft addicts have been waiting for this moment for a long, long time. It’s the moment where logging on to play your character doesn’t leave you with a fruitless goal of doing nothing more than obtaining gear because now, once again, the level cap will be raised. That means more grinding which will then lead to more talent points and those points will lead to more kills in PvP.
Wrath of the Lich King has been given an official release date of November 13th. So you better make sure your experience bar is fully rested. You wouldn’t want to waste all that time in the new zones for nothing, now would you? Hit the jump for details on the collectors edition :
For those not familiar with Marc Owens’ work, he’s the man behind the Avatar Machine. It’s a suit which allows the user to view themselves as a virtual character in real space via a head mounted interface. Now he’s working on another suit that’s sure to turn heads. According to a study that found that 54 percent of all males and 68 percent of all females gender swap in a virtual setting, psychologists have proven that the majority of people aren’t satisfied with their gender and want to cut their genitals out.
Thankfully, Marc Owens has the cure. If you’re the kind of guy that feels comfortable dressing up in your mother’s clothes or the kind of girl whose always wanted to play QB on the high school football team then the Virtual Transgender Suit was made for you. It replicates the aesthetics of the typical virtual female form while portraying it in physical form, kind of like if you were to act out Facebook in a real life setting. So, if cross dressing just seems a little too gay for you, how about trying out the Virtual Transgender Suit? You’ll look like a woman but no one will criticize you because you’ll look like a virtual woman.
