WoW.com reports that its learned through multiple sources that the upcoming World of Warcraft: Cataclysm expansion pack will contain two new playable races. The horde will gain Goblins as a playable race, while the Alliance side will be able to play as a Worgen, which are said to be like werewolf's.
Blizzard has gone live with a new feature that will allow players to switch race in World of Warcraft. You can check out a full FAQ here.
Yoichi Wada is president of Square Enix, and he's supremely confident Final Fantasy XIV will be giving Blizzard's goliath MMO a challenger. WoW is "a tough competitor" admits the boss, but there's "never been" a studio with a "continuously successful" number 1 and 2 MMO.
Blizzard supposedly begins the 'Friends and Family Alpha' today for World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, with an alleged DVD shot on the net. Barring "any unexpected hurdles", January 12th is the start date for the alpha phase it has been confirmed. Are you a friend or family to Blizz?
The ongoing court case between Bethesda and Interplay over the Fallout MMO has revealed that the Elder Scrolls developer is working on a "secret World of Warcraft type MMO". Transcripts from the court case reveal that Bethesda has dedicated "tens of tens of millions of dollars" and over "a hundred people" to work on the unknown MMO. It has been in development since 2006, although has only been heavily worked on from 2007.
Developer Blizzard is teasing the gameplay 'aftershocks' of what the Cataclysm expansion update will mean for the World of Warcraft realms. The team is "continually polishing" the MMO says J.Allen Brack, adding that Cataclysm updates all original world zones "dramatically".
Developer Blizzard is a little obsessed in trying to think up ways World of Warcraft could spread to the home console, admits J. Allen Brack. It's the shear "technical challenges" that stop it from happening like lack of HDD space for content and no keyboard; a "very challenging proposition."
Blizzard still has World of Warcraft: Cataclysm in its 'Friends & Family Alpha' stage, which means the public aren't welcome anywhere near it. Thankfully some just can't contain their excitement and have leaked tons of images, and blabbed about all new stuff like recipes and titles.
Don't get all comfortable thinking that World of Warcraft's latest expansion will definitely see a release this year, because Blizz warn otherwise. Co-founder Frank Pearce reaffirms Blizzard's commitment to quality, saying if they feel it's still not ready "then we'll hold onto it." Beta here soon.
Using DRM for PC releases to combat piracy is "really a losing battle" says Blizzard, because the community is "always so much larger". Either because they want free stuff, or it's "a curiosity for them," groups of people will break DRM technology. Blizz prefer to stick with 'cool content'.
Co-founder Frank Pearce of Blizzard has warned that they face "a constant struggle every day" to make sure they stay on track organisationally. Such has been the success of World of Warcraft that Blizz finds itself with "lots of room for improvement." Has no "sense" of family anymore.
Cataclysm, the third expansion to World of Warcraft, brings with it over 3 times the amount of new quests 2nd add-on Wrath of the Lich King did. About 1k will be in zones giving players a boost from level 80 to 85, while the rest occupy the revamped "old world". Paths of the Titans is scrapped.
Publisher THQ strongly believes their Warhammer 40k: Dark Millennium Online MMO will "shake up Blizzard" with what they have to offer gamers. Core Games VP Danny Bilson says Blizz "are awesome" by all accounts, but THQ are "in the game" with this massive Space Marine role-play onliner.
Blizzard has announced that anyone in Korea with an active World of Warcraft subscription will get to play StarCraft II completely free as a bonus. It's a way of "giving something back" to such a "supportive and skilled community" unlike any other. No such love for western gamers though.
Blizzard has sounded the trumpets for World of Warcraft's closed beta for the Cataclysm expansion, meaning you might have an invite in that inbox. This latest add-on's focus was to "build on the knowledge" Blizz has gained from the previous two, and deliver the "best, most compelling" yet.
Big wigs at Blizzard HQ recognise that at some point it "may not make sense" to have subscription charges for World of Warcraft anymore. Don't believe it's just around the corner though as Blizz are "not spending a lot of time" thinking about it. MMOs go free-to-play to 'cannibalise'.
It's not just the kids these days that are tech savvy but divorcing loved ones too, that's according to the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers. 81% of their members have dealt with divorces citing social networks as evidence. Time stamps from MMOs and Facebook status updates are fuel.
In a bid to stamp out trolls (the forum kind), Blizzard is instituting a 'real name' policy for it's Battle.net community boards which includes WoW. There'll be no more throwing bile into posts behind the iron wall of"anonymity", which should lead to a "more positive" environment say Blizz.
Under South Korean law any online community that has over 100k users per day must ensure its users go by their real names and not an alias. Given the high popularity of StarCraft and World of Warcraft in Korea, did this law nudge Blizzard toward their own real names policy for Battle.net?
The upcoming plans from Blizzard to force forum goers to use real names instead of an alias have been dropped "at this time". Real ID optional. Forum and in-game plans for Real ID are "completely separate" said Mike Morhaime, adding that anonymity at character level is to remain.