World of Warcraft Message Board older than one year ago

Ever since it came to light that Anders Behring Brevik, the psychotic killer who murdered more than 70 innocent people in Norway last week, happened to have a penchant for video games--chief among them World of Warcraft and Modern Warfare 2, which he ludicrously claimed helped "train" him for the attack--the games press has been on perpetual night watch for the first sign of some kind of knee-jerk legislative attack on video games. Let's face it: we've been conditioned to react with defensive aplomb every time someone thinks video games are to blame for anything. I suppose we can all thank the Jack Thompsons, Keith Vazs, and Fox News' of the world for our constant, Pavlovian "Come at me, bro!" reactions to these sorts of things.

Violence! Sort of! I guess...

Thankfully, despite a bit of blowhard lobbying from reactionary political groups, no governments have made any significant moves to try and curtail violent game sales to those who are of the proper age to purchase them. However, that hasn't stopped one retailer in Norway from pulling 51 'violent' titles from their store shelves, including all Call of Duty titles still in circulation, Homefront, Counter-Strike Source, and World of Warcraft.

Coop Norway's decision to remove the games was purely at the behest of the company itself, and done in "consideration for those affected" by the attacks, according to an interview with a company spokesman in the Norwegian newspaper Rogalands Avis (as reported by VG24/7).

"The decision to remove the games was made around the time we realised the scope of the attack," he said. "Others are better suited than us to point to the negative effects of games like these. At the moment it's [appropriate] for us to take them down. I wouldn't be surprised if others do the same."

While this company's decision to do what it feels is respectful to the victims and their families is entirely within their rights, the fact that a title as generally benign as World of Warcraft is being pulled off shelves solely because of Brevik's apparent fondness for it strikes as a slightly reactionary measure. World of Warcraft currently commands a T-rating on North America's ESRB scale, as well as a 12 rating on Europe's PEGI ratings board.

Still, Coop Norway seems resolute in their desire to keep these games off shelves for the foreseeable future.

"We have to think very carefully about when to bring these goods back. The economy involved is of no importance."

#crime The internet is abuzz with the story of a Chinese couple that's gotten in trouble for selling their three children for money to spend on online games. As it turns out, that's not the sort of thing people take kindly to no matter where you live. More »

#worldofwarcraft First Russian President Dimitri Medvedev joined Twitter. Next he visited Twitter and Apple HQs. Now he's suggesting that someone make a World of Warcraft knock-off to teach about his country's history. More »

#andersbehringbreivik The accused shooter in yesterday's massacre in Norway has been linked to 1,500 page manifesto that recommends using Call of Duty to train combat skills for an upcoming war with Islam. More »

#comiccon2011 Blizzard Entertainment, maker of World of Warcraft, StarCraft and Diablo, comes to Comic-Con each year armed with all-new things for fans to rabidly consume. From books to belts to food to thigh-high demon socks, Blizzard and its partners innovate new ways for fans to spend, spend, spend. More »

#ohchina Joyland, a theme park in China built with massive (if unlicensed) tributes to the video games of Blizzard Entertainment, has actually opened its doors. People are going on the rides. And taking photos. More »

It would be simply rude to say ‘isn’t this the kind of thing that every MMO in its right mind should have at launch?’, so instead let’s just celebrate that, finally, friends from different World of Warcraft servers can band together to give some sort of huge boss with a repeating attack pattern what’s coming to him/her/it/them.(more…)

#worldofwarcraft Finding time to play normal video games as the father of newborn baby boys is tough enough as it is. I was certain my thirst for massively multiplayer online role-playing games would go unquenched in the face of fatherhood. Then I discovered the joy of dailies. More »

#blizzard Blizzard's Real ID system allows World of Warcraft buddies to chat no matter what game server they reside on, but talk is cheap, and we came to party. With the Real ID Party system, star-crossed pals can now team up to take on dungeons no matter what realm they roam. More »

#thebattleofblizzcon If you thought competitive StarCraft II in a bar was wild, wait until you see it amidst a throng of thousands of fans at BlizzCon 2011, home of the 2011 Global Battle.net Invitational and the 2011 Global StarCraft II League October Final. More »

#bigbrother World of Warcraft players be wary. Big Brother may be watching. Game developers may start paying closer attention to your gameplay in order to predict your next move. More »

#deathvertising Dying in a video game pisses people off. In-games advertising pisses people off. Independent free-to-play browser-based online game developer Artix figures it might as well kill two angry birds with one annoying stone, merging death with in-game ads. Isn't it just perfect? More »

According to the game's designer, there have been 10 million registered Minecraft players, putting it in the same ballpark of World of Warcraft's 11.4 million players. [The World of Notch via Edge] More »

The University of California at Santa Cruz is studying how WoW players arrange their interface elements to do various in-game tasks, such as raiding. If you play WoW, click on through and answer away! [WoWIU Study] More »

#blizzard Players of World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, the most recent expansion to Blizzard's still rather popular online role-playing game, are now in the throes of the game's latest content update, "Rage of the Firelands" (AKA patch 4.2). But if you're a new, WoW-curious gamer, Blizzard has something new for you too. More »

Yesterday I was wondering out loud about whether World of Warcraft was being significantly worried by the free-to-play revolution, and now they’re expanding the trial to have no time limit on the first twenty levels (which was my favourite bit of the game.) They’re calling it the World Of Warcraft Starter Edition, and it’s still limited by other trial aspects, such as not being able to use the auction house, and suffers a few other caps such as a limit of 10 gold. If trialees get to level 20 and want to open up their game and keep playing then it’s possible to to purchase the Burning Crusade for $20 and subscribe for the normal amount. The Burning Crusade has also now been unlocked for free for anyone who owned the original game.

There’s a detailed FAQ about the Starter Edition here.

We respect the tenacity of every human being left on the planet who hasn't played Blizzard's mind-bogglingly gripping MMORPG World of Warcraft -- but unfortunately, your teetotaling has come to an end. In the game's latest update, titled "Rage of the Firelands," WoW's free 14-day trial has been extended, allowing Azerothian adventurers to grind to their heart's content -- but their levels will remain capped at 20 until they upgrade to the full version.

It's a clever ploy that Blizzard's calling the World of Warcraft Starter Edition, which even includes some of the content from the game's first expansion, The Burning Crusade -- for instance, free players can create Draenei and Blood Elf characters, two races added in said expansion. Should you decide to upgrade, you can get the core game and Burning Crusade for a cool $19.99 as part of the digital World of Warcraft Battle Chest -- though you'll first have to wait for the site to stop getting Zerg rushed by newcomers. (Apologies for mixing our Blizzard metaphors.)

Already a hardened WoW veteran? There's plenty more in the update to slake your thirst -- check out WoW Insider's handy FAQ for a rundown.

#fanart The World of Warcraft fan art of Chinese artist Jian Guo sits somewhere between medieval storybook art and stained glass window, telling visual stories of Warcraft lore. More »

#watchthis You know a game is big when its patches get big fancy trailers. More »

Blizzard's World of Warcraft and StarCraft franchises would be the perfect fit for LEGO sets. Sadly, the company has instead signed a deal with rival Mega Bloks to create toys and sets based on the franchises instead. Mega Blocks? More like Mega Sucks. [MEGA] More »

#crossoverbattle 8-bit SoupRobot is a new web comedy series focusing on current affairs, country & western music, vintage automobiles, and 18th century German literature. Oh, wait. No, it's about video games. More »

#sad It took five years, but a woman who played World of Warcraft day after day as her three-year-old daughter wasted away, dying of malnutrition and dehydration, is headed to prison. Rebecca Colleen Christie of Las Cruces, New Mexico was sentenced to 25 years in prison yesterday. More »

#hardlabor Inmates at China's Jixi prison labor camp are tasked with backbreaking, mind-numbing work: mining rock, carving chopsticks by hand, and assembly line work. Some are even forced to endure grueling video game play, farming for gold in online games. More »

#guestoped An open letter to my fellow developers and gamers who follow the industry. More »

#totalrecall Before its realm of Azeroth was brought to life in 2004's World of Warcraft, Blizzard had tried once before to add a little depth to their fantasy franchise with a game that sadly never saw the light of day. More »

Splitting players into different servers has always been one of the strangest decisions an MMO can make, even if it’s obviously an entirely practical. We hear all about WoW’s 11-odd million subscribers, for instance, but it’s not like it’s a virtual world populated by 11 million people – instead, it’s a series of clone-worlds with a few hundred thousand folk trotting about. A few games have, of course, gotten around it in various ways – most famously and effectively Eve’s division of system in shards, but others have various instancing or the option to switch between servers on the fly. It’s perhaps too late for WoW to do that, but what it has now introduced is the option for players from different servers to meet for the same dungeon. No matter where you’re from, no matter who you are, you’ll be able to beat up trolls skeletons together. Join hands across the worlds, everyone.(more…)

Whenever a company teases a new game based on a "new business model," we wince a bit.

Most companies have become console-focused, outside of trying to topple World of Warcraft every few years. Tucked away in its earning release this morning, however, Ubisoft casually mentioned it would be announcing an "ambitious" PC game based on one of its "top gamer" franchises. Makes ya go hmm.

Here's the full quote:

"In the coming days," said Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot, "we will officially announce an ambitious project on PC based on one of our top gamer franchises that will illustrate our capacity to take advantage of new business models."

The last bit there set off some alarms: "new business models." Free-to-play remains a popular testing ground for Western companies, even if most commercial success is happening on Facebook. Ubisoft has been playing around with Facebook games for a while now, though, even debuting the first pieces of information about Assassin's Creed: Revelations through a recent Facebook-based viral campaign.

#speakuponkotaku In today's Speak Up on Kotaku, commenter Kain's Legacy asks a poignant question: Why do we invest so much time in massively multiplayer online games that will one day cease to be? More »

#lookatthis This full-back tat by Andrei Kirilenko, a free agent most recently with the Utah Jazz, speaks to what kind of pro athlete plays World of Warcraft. Usually, it's the iconoclast in the locker room, a guy like Minnesota Vikings punter Chris Kluwe. More »

Well, 5% down to 11.4mil, so it’s still got about as many subs as people who live in London. On the conference call that revealed the drop, Blizzard president Michael Morhaime explained: “As our players have become more experienced playing World of Warcraft over many years, they have become much better and much faster at consuming content… And so I think with Cataclysm they were able to consume the content faster than with previous expansions, but that’s why we’re working on developing more content… We need to be faster at delivering content to players. And so that’s one of the reasons that we’re looking to decrease the amount of time in-between expansions.”

Yes, more expansions! Faster! Crack the whip on those lazy expansion developers, I say.