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Blizzard’s Wrath of the Lich King Presentation

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May 13, 2008 08:32 PM PDT

Via worldofwar.net

Earlier in the week, worldofwar.net were invited to attend a Wrath of the Lich King presentation at Blizzard’s offices in Irvine, California. Once there, we were shown Northrend in its current state of development, a Death Knight in action, given several hours to play the expansion for ourselves, and were also permitted interview sessions with three of Blizzard’s top developers - J. Allen Brack, Jeff Kaplan and Tom Chilton.

Blizzard dished the dirt on a whole range of things about Wrath, and you can read all about the trip in our Wrath Presentation Article, as well as articles covering all we learned about Death Knights, filmed interviews with the game producer and designers, a tour of the Blizzard campus and museum and much much more. We’ve gone into great detail on all of this, but for now, here are the most exciting things we learned from Blizzard about the coming expansion:

General

All 25 man raids in Wrath will also be available to complete with 10 players. This is so that more players will get to see end game content (Even the Arthas encounter will be available as a 10 man raid).
There will be completely different loot tables for the two different raid types. They will also be on separate cool downs, so players could fight in both the 10 man and 25 man raid on the same day if they wish.
The mounts available to buy in Wrath will probably be able to take passengers. These mounts will also work in the old world (Provided they are land mounts), so players can give low-level characters a ride! The new mounts will also be slightly faster, around the speed of the Armored Netherdrakes.
All 5-man instances in Northrend will feature Heroic modes, and the loot tables for the 2 modes will be totally separate. Heroic dungeons will have their own “Tier” of armor completely unique to that level dungeon.
Death Knights

Death Knights will be available to players who have a character level 55+ on the same realm. There is no other requirement at this time.
Players are allowed 1 Death Knight per realm that they have a level 55+ character on.
Death Knights will be “born” in a floating Necropolis over the Eastern Plaguelands, similar to Naxxramas.
Death Knights will start at level 55.
A Death Knight’s starting armor will be a mixture of green and blue quality items. The first few quests that they encounter will provide upgrades to these starting items, and these upgrades will be armor specific to Death Knights.
Death Knights can dual wield.
One Death Knight spell is Raise Dead, which converts a fallen unit into a ghoul for a time to serve the Death Knight, similar to a Hunter’s pet. If the spell is used on a fallen friendly player, the player will be presented with an option box similar to a resurrection message, and if they accept, they will take control of the ghoul and will be able to use its abilities for the period of time that it is active. This can work as a sort-of battle res, and Chilton stated it may be available in Arenas.
Northrend

Northrend is Huge. It is larger than Outland by a couple of zones, and some of the zones in Northrend are bigger than the largest zone in Outland.
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Blizzard’s Wrath of the Lich King Presentation

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May 13, 2008 08:32 PM PDT

Via worldofwar.net

General

Northrend is Huge. It is larger than Outland by a couple of zones, and some of the zones in Northrend are bigger than the largest zone in Outland.
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World of Warcraft WoW Still Ruling

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May 12, 2008 08:58 PM PDT

Comparing WoW to other MMOs, we all know WoW rules, but there has been speculations that WoW might have peaked, and that it’s generally just filled with teh fail. Looking at the graphs, you’ll see the trend curve seems to have a peak around April 2008, so perhaps things are starting to turn?

On the other hand, we have the Wrath of the Lich King expansion coming up, and the current game sales charts for PC clearly show that WoW is still on top. 3 out of 10 top-10 spots taken by WoW? Seeing how this has been a constant fact since at least late last year, it seems unlikely that WoW’s popularity really is waning.

NPD’s top-10 best selling PC games. US for April 20th-26th:

The Sims 2 Kitchen & Bath Interior Design Stuff Expansion Pack- Electronic Arts - $17
The Sims 2 Double Deluxe - Electronic Arts - $28
The Sims 2 FreeTime Expansion Pack - Electronic Arts - $27
World Of Warcraft: Battle Chest - Vivendi - $40
World Of Warcraft - Vivendi - $20
Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare - Activision - $49
Sins Of A Solar Empire - Stardock - $39
World Of Warcraft: Burning Crusade Expansion Pack - Vivendi - $30
Assassin’s Creed: Director’s Cut Edition - Ubisoft - $47
Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 - Ubisoft - $49
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World of Warcraft WoW Still Ruling

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May 12, 2008 08:58 PM PDT

NPD’s top-10 best selling PC games. US for April 20th-26th:

Along with Hellbound’s launch, Luna will go live too

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May 11, 2008 11:29 PM PDT

Ornery, the producer of Lineage 2 have provided us with some concrete information concerning when the new Hellbound expansion will launch. Along with the expansion’s launch, the new European server, Luna will go live too. More information was provided about details surrounding the account services such as character transfers.

I just want to give a quick update on what’s currently going on in the world of Lineage II.

Luna, the new European server that we have been talking about for a while now is almost here! The server will go live with the launch of our new update Hellbound. After much internal and public debate, we have decided to not allow character server transfers to Luna, immediately at live launch. We do plan to offer transfers to Luna at a later date. This should give new and old players a fresh start, and allow for the economy to be established before we insert higher level players.

In regards to account services, we will be re-enabling limited server transfers to servers 9 and 10 (Teon and Franz respectively) in May. Our goal is to offer a small number of transfer slots each week on a continuous basis. When the changes go live, the PlayNC system should display to you when Teon and Franz are available to transfer to. Stay tuned for further updates.

Finally, we will be launching Hellbound to the live servers next Wednesday April 23rd. There will be no regular maintenance on Tuesday April 22nd. Item distribution and account services will be executed during update maintenance on Wednesday the 23rd.

LoTRO’s update hits Europe

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May 08, 2008 10:09 PM PDT

Turbine’s Book 13 content update for Lord of the Rings Online has finally touched down in Europe, while Gandalf wannabes over in North America have been nerding their way through it for nearly a week already.

Book 13: Doom of the Last-King introduces a brand new region, a new faction, a new class for LotRO’s PvP solution Monster Play, a new hobby system, loads of new quests and the continuation of the epic storyline that threads through the title.

Turbine’s working its arse off to get these updates out and the next one, Book 14, is due this summer. The first full expansion for LotRO, Mines of Moria, should be with us in the autumn.

Keep eyes peeled for an interview with Turbine on Mines of Moria gracing these pages in the not-too-distant future.

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NCsoft Europe reveals new Lineage 2 high level area: Steel Citadel

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May 07, 2008 06:53 PM PDT

Getting tired of the same old areas in Lineage 2? NCsoft Europe has revealed a new high-level area called the Steel Citadel. This instance should go live when the Collector’s Edition of the game on April 25.

The Steel Citadel in Hellbound is said to be a place where high-level players (the press release recommends level 85) can test their skills. The instance is composed of four different areas called “towers” which must be completed before a showdown with Beleth.

The first area, called the base tower is a two story structure. The first floor is filled with fast spawning monsters which players have to survive to get to the second floor. The second level of the tower acts as a gateway to the three other areas that have to be finished before facing Beleth.

To access Lineage 2’s Tower of Infinitum, every member of the party will need to possess Fiery Demon Blood, a buff they can get from the Base Tower. This tower is composed of five levels and has two raid bosses, namely, the Demon Prince and Ranku.

After finishing up that level, players are then directed to Tully’s Workshop. Bigger than the last tower, this eight level instance has the raiding party going through a gauntlet of foes ending with an encounter against not only Tully but a set of powerful enemy creatures and raid boss Darion.

If the raiding party managed to survive that, then they can finally move on the the Tower of Naia, which is the home of Beleth. After taking down Epidos, the players will have to take on Beleth itself. Making this encounter more difficult is the fact that a number of fake Beleths will be showing up to make the players’ lives more difficult.

If this sounds like your idea of fun, then you might want to start leveling up in preparation for the instance in Lineage 2. Before we go, you might want to check out some screenshots of the raid to help inspire you through the grind.

There is a short cut to make your WoW life better. Do you need a buddy help you powerleveling, or buy wow gold or cheap wow gold safely? joint us: gmbar

Blizzard launches new online store

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May 06, 2008 07:41 PM PDT

The new and improved Blizzard store opened recently, and it’s definitely worth a look. It has a very clean layout, making finding what you want pretty simple. They carry everything from the Blizzard games to the Warcraft action figures to WoW game time. Their apparel selection isn’t very large due to that primarily being handled by Jinx, but the store is still worthwhile.

Plus, registering for the Blizzard store comes with another perk. You can register for the Beta Test lottery, which is a chance at being chosen for upcoming beta phases of various games. Wrath? Starcraft II perhaps? All of the above? Who knows!

The Blizzard EU store is not yet live, but I imagine it will be soon.

Lineage II Limited Collector’s Edition

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May 05, 2008 07:00 PM PDT

Special Limited Edition collector’s box to contain exclusive in-game items, artwork book, posters and Kamael statueWednesday 2nd April - Brighton, UK/… NCsoft® Europe, the world’s leading publisher of online computer games is pleased to announce the launch of the Lineage II Limited Collector’s Edition. This limited edition version is the ultimate collection for hardened fans and provides new players with a host of incredible, exclusive extras as they embark on their adventures in this stunning online role-playing game.

Lineage II is an epic massively multiplayer online fantasy adventure in which players must work together ? and against each other ? for economic and political control of the captivating Kingdom of Aden. Since its global launch in 2003, Lineage II has been an unprecedented sales success, with more than 17 million players worldwide and a universally acclaimed reputation as the premier player-versus-player MMOG.

Within the Limited Collector’s Edition, players receive the current version of the Lineage II game client; The Kamael. The first chapter in The Chaotic Throne saga and the largest update to Lineage II yet, The Kamael introduces a whole new playable character race along with numerous game enhancements courtesy of the brand new Hellbound update. The Limited Collector’s Edition also contains three game account codes ? a full 30 day activation code, 14 day buddy code and 14 day trial code ? together with an additional 15 days game time code, each printed on an attractive collector’s art card*.

In addition, owners of the Lineage II Limited Collector’s Edition also benefit from three exclusive in-game items that help enrich the player¡¯s online enjoyment. These consist of the Black Half Mask accessory item, the Pig Lollipop, which allows players to transform themselves into a pig, and a token for discounts on the new Lineage II server features, such as name/gender change and character/server transfer.

Also included is a stunning 148 page, “The Art of Lineage II” artwork book, filled with examples of Lineage II’s strikingly beautiful character design, an exclusive mini-standee and a hand painted, limited edition Kamael statue, of which just 5500 have been produced. As a special bonus, 50 lucky Collector’s Edition boxes also contain a premium ‘golden ticket’, which is redeemable for a beautiful and extremely rare Dark Elf figurine.

Rounding out the Lineage II Limited Collector’s Edition are: an updated official soundtrack CD, featuring Hyo Beom Lim and Inon Zur; two exclusive A2 posters that combine to form an enormous A1 size image; and the official Lineage II map, reprinted on A2 ¡°vintage¡± paper.

Mirko Gozzo, Marketing Manager at NCsoft Europe said: “Lineage II is one of our most popular and enduring titles and we are delighted to be celebrating its continued and growing success with such a fantastic Collector’s Edition. This limited edition box set is sure to be the centrepiece of many a gamer’s collection for years to come.”

The Lineage II Limited Collector’s Edition will be available from 25th April 2008 at all major retailers at a recommended retail price of £54.99 / ?79.99. The standard edition box of Lineage II is available at a recommended retail price of £14.99 / ?19.99 and at the PlayNC® store (http://eu.plaync.com/eu/store/). The game includes a 15 day time card in addition to the standard 30 days play; giving players a total of 45 days play time. Monthly subscription fee to the game is £8.99 / ?12.99. The game is rated 12+ by PEGI (http://www.pegi.info). For more information please visit http://www.discoverlineage2.com

Trial, Buddy & Game Time Codes Explanation Both Trial and Buddy codes allow the user 14 days of play within Lineage II: The Chaotic Throne. Once a Trial account expires, to continue, purchase of the full version of Lineage II: The Chaotic Throne is required. When a Buddy account expires the user may continue by adding more time to their account, either by NCsoft Game Time Cards or account subscription via http://eu.plaync.com (no box purchase is neceesary). Game Time Codes are used to increase subscription within the game. Time is increased via the accounts page within PlayNC.

Lord of the Rings Online: Book 13 goes live

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May 04, 2008 07:20 PM PDT

If you’re part of the populace in Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar, you’d have noticed that Book 13: Doom of the Last-king is already available for download. For a quick recap, here are all the new features available in the game.

Book 13 introduces a whole new bunch of features, the biggest of which are the new region of Forochel and the faction of Lossoth. Check out all the new updates here:

New Region - In the far, frozen north of Eriador lies Forochel. This new region lets players see the ocean for the first time and introduces several new temperature based landscape effects.
New Damage Type - Players will need to be mindful of the cold due to a new damage type - frost. Frost will slowly damage their character until they find a source of warmth in the form of shelter or a campfire.
New Faction - Beneath the brooding skies of Forochel dwell the hardy tribes known as the Lossoth. Players can earn favor with the Lossoth by helping them in the struggle against their ancient enemy, the Guaredain. Lossoth reputation rewards include unique armor sets, weapons, a new mount, housing decorations, and class specific items.
New Class - The Orc Defiler is a healer that will round out any War Band in their quest to dominate the Ettenmoors. The Defiler uses new healing skills such as Fertile Slime and Fungal Bloom to aid its party in battle and has a host of new Debuff skills including Curse of the Lethargic Heart to defeat their enemies.
The Hobby System - Fishing is the first hobby being introduced in LOTRO. From the Midgewater Marshes to the Shores of Evendim, players will find fishing to be a relaxing, entertaining and beneficial pastime. Players can earn deeds and traits as they improve their fishing prowess and captured fish can be used to cook in recipes or be mounted as trophies in a player’s house.
New story arcs - At Elrond’s urging, players venture into the frozen wastes of the north to continue Laerdan’s search for the remnants of the ring Narchuil. Aided by the Snowmen of Forochel, players will uncover the fate of an ancestor of Aragorn and strive to thwart the terrible aims of Angmar.
Over 100 New Quests - The story continues for players as they aid the Fellowship and encounter new adventures in Middle-earth.
Book 14: Ring Forge of the Elven Rings will be released this summer, and the adventure will continue into the Mines of Moria. Check back for more updates on Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar!

There is a short cut to make your WoW life better. Do you need a buddy help you powerleveling, or buy wow gold or cheap wow gold safely? joint us: gmbar

Recruit a Friend in WoW - New Functions Soon?

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May 03, 2008 06:36 PM PDT

Some interesting things have been found in the game files - error messages that appear to relate to in-game abilities based on the recruit-a-friend facility.

Currently, if you invite a friend to WoW, you receive a free month’s subscription fee, and that’s it. The error messages that have been discovered make it look like there will be the ability to “Grant Levels” to your friend, and maybe “Summon” them. Here’s all we know so far:

ERR_REFER_A_FRIEND_SUMMON_COOLDOWN = “You can only summon your friend once per hour.”;
ERR_REFER_A_FRIEND_SUMMON_LEVEL_MAX_I = “You cannot summon players above level %d.”;
ERR_REFER_A_FRIEND_TARGET_TOO_HIGH = “That player’s level is too high.”;
ERR_REFER_A_FRIEND_TOO_FAR = “That player is too far away.”;
FACTION_STANDING_INCREASED_BONUS = “Reputation with %s increased by %d. (+%.1f Refer-A-Friend bonus)”;
ERR_REFER_A_FRIEND_DIFFERENT_FACTION = “You cannot grant levels to a character of the opposite faction.”;
ERR_REFER_A_FRIEND_GRANT_LEVEL_MAX_I = “You cannot grant levels to players level %d or higher.”;
ERR_REFER_A_FRIEND_INSUFFICIENT_GRANTABLE_LEVELS = “You have not earned enough levels to grant any more levels.”;
ERR_REFER_A_FRIEND_NOT_NOW = “You cannot grant that player a level right now.”;
ERR_REFER_A_FRIEND_NOT_REFERRED_BY = “You were not referred by that player.”;
Obviously, Blizzard may never implement this. On the other hand, after Wrath, there will be 80 levels for new players to tackle. Are Blizzard planning to bring in fresh ways for new players to level a little quicker?

Patch 2.4.2 PTR Patch Notes

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April 29, 2008 07:26 PM PDT

This evening Blizzard has released the patch notes for The World of Warcraft 2.4.2 PTR patch. Please remember that these are only PTR notes and could be subject to change before anything goes live.

World of Warcraft PTR Patch 2.4.2

The latest patch notes can always be found Here.

The latest test realm patch notes can always be found at http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/patchnotes/test-realm-patchnotes.html

Hunter

* Dire Ravens in Blade’s Edge Mountains now tameable.
* Tamed Drywallow Snappers now will know Bite 5 (instead of Claw 5.)

Mages

* Talent: Improved Blink (Arcane) now reduces chance to be hit by 13/25% and the duration of Rank 1 has been increased to 4 seconds.
* Completing the quest “Arcane Refreshment” will now properly teach the spell Conjure Water (Rank 7).

PvP

* Arenas
If a character’s personal rating is more than 150 points below the team rating, they will earn points based on their personal rating instead of the team rating.
If the average personal rating of the players queuing for a game is more than 150 points below the team’s rating, the team will be queued against an opponent matching or similar to the average personal rating.

There is a short cut to make your WoW life better. Do you need a buddy help you powerleveling, or buy wow gold or cheap wow gold safely? joint us: gmbar

Lord of the Rings Online: Book 13 goes live

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April 28, 2008 07:34 PM PDT

Book 13 introduces a whole new bunch of features, the biggest of which are the new region of Forochel and the faction of Lossoth. Check out all the new updates here:

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The Lord of the Rings Online Lorebook: Dwalin

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April 27, 2008 07:43 PM PDT

The rich lore behind Turbine Inc. and Codemasters’ The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar is what keeps a lot of players coming back for more. A recent update on the LotRO lorebook focused on one of the key NPCs in the game: Dwalin.

Dwalin, son of Fundin, is the brother of Balin and was one of Thorin Oakenshield’s companions on the Quest of Erebor. Long after Smaug was slain and the Lonely Mountain reclaimed, King D¨¢in Ironfoot sent him to the Blue Mountains to inquire as to why the Master of Thorin’s Hall had stopped sending tribute to Erebor. With the aid of the Sons of Elrond, he uncovered a plot by the outcast Dourhand clan to raise their evil lord, Skorgr¨ªm.

Dwalin remained at Thorin’s Hall as its new Master, charged with defending the dwarf-realm from assault by both the Dourhands and the goblins who had begun to sneak back into the Blue Mountains. Strange happenings and unfortunate accidents have strained relations between the Dwarves of Thorin’s Hall and the Elves of Duillond, however, and only the diligent efforts of Lord Dwalin have kept the peace.

Dwalin is just one of many characters in The Lord of the Rings Online™: Shadows of Angmar™ that was drawn from the lore created by J.R.R. Tolkien. Players in LOTRO will encounter him many times throughout the game, from the dwarf and elf newbie experiences to high-level Epic Story quests.

The Lord of the Rings Online Lorebook: Dwalin

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April 27, 2008 07:43 PM PDT

The Lord of the Rings Online Lorebook: Dwalin

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April 27, 2008 07:43 PM PDT

The Lord of the Rings Online Lorebook: Dwalin

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April 27, 2008 07:43 PM PDT

New Season 4 items sneak out on live realms

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April 24, 2008 08:18 PM PDT

Yes, that pic below is the priest’s robe, direct from Arena season 4 (you can click on it to see a bigger version), and here is the priest’s helm from season 4. As the story goes over at World of Raids, a player on EU Arathor accidentally deleted some season 1 items, and a GM then accidentally gave him season 4 items in replacement instead. The items were taken right back (duh), but their IDs were activated on that realm, so anyone with a little item ID knowledge could pull up the stats.

For comparison, these have boosts almost all around from the season 3 items, which is pretty much to be expected. And while the Stamina is clearly much higher than anything we’ve seen at the higher levels, the actual damage doesn’t compare much to even the Tier 6 stuff. PvP gear in season 4 is all about staying alive — we’ve seen a few other items leak out already, and it’s the same deal on those.

Which is probably as it should be. We should note, also, that this stuff may not actually be done — although the fact that it’s spawnable on the live realms might mean that Blizzard is ready for season 4. I still don’t think we’ll see it until after the arena tourney, but who knows?

There is a short cut to make your WoW life better. Do you need a buddy help you powerleveling, or buy wow gold or cheap wow gold safely? joint us: gmbar

New Season 4 items sneak out on live realms

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April 24, 2008 08:18 PM PDT

There is a short cut to make your WoW life better. Do you need a buddy help you powerleveling, or buy wow gold or cheap wow gold safely? joint us: gmbar

New Season 4 items sneak out on live realms

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April 24, 2008 08:18 PM PDT

There is a short cut to make your WoW life better. Do you need a buddy help you powerleveling, or buy wow gold or cheap wow gold safely? joint us: gmbar

LotRO ‘Almost’ Unlocks Mines of Moria Website, Minigames

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April 23, 2008 08:10 PM PDT

Turbine has announced the new website for the first Lord of the Rings Online expansion, Mines of Moria is up for North America and Europe.

There are also new minigames including King Under the Mountain available for play as part of a new PR campaign for the expansion.

“The ‘Unlock the Mines of Moria‘ campaign is part of an innovative launch strategy that offers players an interactive social gaming destination where they can individually and collectively delve into the first major expansion to The Lord of the Rings Online,” said Jim Crowley, president and CEO of Turbine, Inc. “Whether you are new to the world of Middle-earth or a long time member of our community, we invite everyone to explore and share the wonders of Moria.”

The King Under the Mountain game is based of Tolkien’s description of the building of Khazad-Dûm; the Dwarven capital and testament to Dwarven ingenuity built in the depths of Moria. This “old Dwarven” tactical strategy mini-game features the winning combination of caverns, gems and fighting. Players who register at www.unlocktheminesofmoria.com can play solo or take on their friends. You don’t need to have a subscription to play.

Unfortunately, when I checked the site had this message posted:

Due to overwhelming response this website is temporarily down for maintenance.

Please check back soon for site updates and news about The Lord of the Rings Online™: Mines of Moria™

Via Press Release.

LotRO ‘Almost’ Unlocks Mines of Moria Website, Minigames

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April 23, 2008 08:10 PM PDT

Turbine has announced the new website for the first Lord of the Rings Online expansion, Mines of Moria is up for North America and Europe.

There are also new minigames including King Under the Mountain available for play as part of a new PR campaign for the expansion.

Unfortunately, when I checked the site had this message posted:

Due to overwhelming response this website is temporarily down for maintenance.

Please check back soon for site updates and news about The Lord of the Rings Online™: Mines of Moria™

Via Press Release.

MMO Causing Deaths in Russia

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April 22, 2008 08:03 PM PDT

A guild dispute ended in a real world meet and a brutal beating, the victim dying on the way to the hospital. This is the third MMO-related murder in just under a year that has taken place in Russia. Lineage II seems to be lethal, if your online nemeses are weak of mind with powerful fists in real life.

33-year-old Albert used to spend hours in front of his computer. On the web he had his own clan and a dozen of warriors. Just days before the New Year in a virtual battle his clan killed a member of the hostile Coo-clocks.

Days later the enemies agreed to meet literally face to face in the real world.

Their confrontation led to tragedy. Albert was badly beaten and died from his injuries on the way to hospital.

“I think they have confused the game and reality. And after we buried him on December 31, they continued to threaten us,” Albert’s sister Albina says.

The alleged murderer hasn’t shown regret and hasn’t justified himself. 22-year-old student just calmly explained why he killed his opponent.

The article mentions another beating in Moscow (only available subscribers of the paper, but you can read an old Kotaku article on it) and third incident where a 20-year-old gamer from Petrosavodsk killed his grandmother after she interrupted his game calling him to eat.

Despite this tragedy it’s interesting to see that instead of trying to make online games appear dangerous to the public (which seems popular in mainstream media) the Russian Today internet news paper urges people to avoid jumping to conclusions.

However, internet experts say these cases shouldn’t be lumped together just because some people can’t handle the situation.

“Not many talk about the benefits of internet games for disabled people who don’t have a chance to communicate with others like themselves or able-bodied people. Nobody mentions the benefits the internet can offer in education,” says Aleksandr Kuzmenko of a computer game magazine.

the High Pass through the Misty Mountains

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April 22, 2008 01:13 AM PDT

For those of you who wander the Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar, you’ll be familiar with that nigh-impregnable ribbon of earth, the Misty Mountains.

The long string of mountains divide the land in two, making travel difficult. However, as treacherous as travel may be, it is still necessary.

There are few roads that allow you to pass the mountains. You can go south to the tip of the ribbon and go around the mountains, but this path is laden with Orcs.

The second, much safer, yet still dangerous path, is the one through the Redhorn Gate, leading to Rivendell. Although this too has become treacherous. There is a third passage that travelers can go through, and that is the High Pass.

Tolkien fans would be familiar with this place, as it was the refuge where Thorin and the rest of the characters in “The Hobbit” took shelter in. You can visit the place in Lord of the Rings Online, but beware, even this place is not free of darkness.

‘World of Warcraft’ hits new high in China

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April 21, 2008 08:41 PM PDT

SHANGHAI — “World of Warcraft” has hit a new high in China, with the massively multiplayer online game registering more than 1 million players online at one time, local distributor The9 said Monday.

The figure marks a 25% increase in peak concurrent users since the last time an official count was revealed — Oct. 4, 2007 — when 800,000 were said to be simultaneously, according to spokeswoman for The9.

At the end of 2007, there were 10.3 million total registered “Warcraft” users, she said.

Shanghai-based The9 also announced Monday that it has expanded its licensing agreement with Irvine, Calif.-based “Warcraft” developer Blizzard Entertainment, to include the “Wrath of the Lich King” expansion pack.

For fiscal year 2007, net revenue from online games and merchandise stood at $161.6 million, an increase of 21% from $134.0 million in 2006. The increase was a result of the continued growth of the “Warcraft” game, The9 said.

In the fourth quarter of 2007, revenue from “Warcraft” alone totaled $11.8 million, the company added.

The9 licenses “Warcraft” from Blizzard, which is not allowed to distribute in China directly.

There is a short cut to make your WoW life better. Do you need a buddy help you powerleveling, or buy wow gold or cheap wow gold safely? joint us: gmbar

‘World of Warcraft’ hits new high in China

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April 21, 2008 08:40 PM PDT

At the end of 2007, there were 10.3 million total registered “Warcraft” users, she said.

In the fourth quarter of 2007, revenue from “Warcraft” alone totaled $11.8 million, the company added.

The9 licenses “Warcraft” from Blizzard, which is not allowed to distribute in China directly.

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April Fool's Days of Blizzard's past

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March 31, 2008 07:16 PM PDT

es, loved by some and hated by others, tomorrow is 4/1, April 1st, known around the world (or at least the Internet) as April Fool's Day, and odds are that you'll have a lot of fools trying to play with your head. As you probably know, our friends at Blizzard love April Fool's, so you can probably expect to see some shenanigans from them tomorrow.

Just to get you ready, here's a quick roundup of what they've done in the past few years. It seems like they've been upping the ante for a while now, so be "prepared": you never know what we might hear from them tomorrow.

2004: Blizzard announced that two-headed Ogres would become a playable race... playable by two players, that is. Not many people fell for this one -- MMOs are all about being social, but playing a character with another player? A little too wacky to be legit.

Lots more after the break, including the chaos that went down last year (Tinfoil Hats, anyone?) in the Warcraft community.

2005: Pandaren Xpress. This was the real beginning of Blizzard's silliness -- Sony had just recently announced a (real!) deal with Everquest and Pizza Hut, so the announcement by Blizzard that they'd made the same deal with a Chinese food chain sounded legit to many news outlets (including Slashdot), and got quite a bit of coverage for a joke. Blizzard must have smelled blood in the water, because after this, April Fool's Day was never the same for them.

2006: The first year that others picked up on Blizzard's jokes and started kicking off their own. The official joke was about Wisps as a playable race -- everyone was wondering just who the Alliance race was in the Burning Crusade (later revealed as the Draenei), and a lot of people bought the "Detonate" racial ability, though the "permanent death" feature was really the giveaway here. But the official joke wasn't the only one: Blizzard as a company gave some official credence to the BurgerCraft rumors, and Caydiem posted those (still brilliant) fake patch notes for the upcoming patch 1.11. And thanks to Gamespot, rumors of a "World of Starcraft" (along with a "leaked screenshot") also swirled around.

2007: And last year things went even further over the top. Blizzard announced a "new" RTS called Warcraft: Heroes of Azeroth ("WHOA," for short) "based in the WoW Universe," which was really the old Warcraft RTSes made to look like a WoW tie-in. The forums went a little nuts with "Blue for a Day," as every poster but the CMs got to go blue, also resulting in Tseric's classic "lol wut" remark (and making a few people unhappy). Unofficially, WoWWiki got turned into MeowWiki, Wowhead got sold to Blizzard (providing a weird foreshadowing for later that year), and a number of other Warcraft-related jokes flew around. But the big one was, of course, the Tinfoil Hat -- with the release of the Armory earlier in the year, lots of players were concerned that their gear choices were being shown off, so Blizzard released an engineering item that would supposedly keep your character out of the Armory (as well as dropping Intellect by 10 and preventing mind control... or maybe not). And they also poked fun at all of their attunements, with a hopelessly complicated attunement chart.

What's Blizzard got planned for this year? We haven't heard yet, and they haven't said. But whatever it is, if you're the gullible type, you might want to stay off the Internets tomorrow. Blizzard has a long tradition of pulling our legs right out of their sockets on April 1st. Get those grains of salt (and, please, that sense of humor) ready.

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