World of Warcraft Message Board older than one year ago

Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol co-star Paula Patton and Daredevil villain Colin Farrell have been offered lead roles in the upcoming film adaptation of Blizzard's Warcraft series, Deadline reports.

Warcraft production company Legendary Pictures previously signed on Source Code director Duncan Jones to helm the project, with K-PAX writer Charles Leavitt handling scriptwriting duties.

Neither actor has been confirmed for the film, and Legendary is negotiating with other performers in case Patton and Farrell decline. Production will begin in January.

Find the quest giver! The latest patch for Mists of Pandaria dropped last night and the days after a major content patch always mean pure chaos. This is the Timeless Isle, one of the new zones in the game, and the only thing that you can clearly see is that the screenshot was taken on a PvE server.Read more...

Christian Thurau and Anders Drachen have written an academic paper. A very important one. It's all about the patterns and significance of the names people give to their World of Warcraft characters. Their findings? That there are patterns. And that the most popular names are pretty terrible.Read more...

Luckily, that didn't stop Anthony Rosner.Read more...

Warcraft and Civilization may contain two completely different game worlds with distinct game mechanics, but modder Bamington's Civilizations of Warcraft mod pack for Civ V—a huge project designed to add as much from the Warcraft universe as possible—fits like a glove.Read more...

Oh man, Ariel as a Naga from World of Warcraft? That is truly frightening, not to mention Beauty and the Beast with Werewolves and a horrifying Bambi. In his latest video, WoW Machinima veteran SlightlyImpressive shows us how classic Disney characters and stories would fit into Azeroth.Read more...

Only a couple short years ago, most pasty, naked, Earth-dwelling flesh creatures (aka, humans) figured World of Warcraft would forever remain the final bastion of subscription MMOs’ heyday. Now, however, it’s screaming “mayday” as subscriber numbers plummet, proving that no institution is immortal and I should never be allowed to rhyme things. Recent comments from Blizzard suggesting a free-to-play conversion might not be that far off, then, shouldn’t come as much of a surprise – especially since the slowly deflating MMO titan recently added a microtransaction store.

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Both the World of Warcraft community and the game they play have changed a lot over the years. Just how much? Well, an out-of-nowhere revamp of Ian Beckman's much-loved fan video runs down the changes, featuring every class from the game.Read more...

Here's composer/songwriter Laura Shigihara with a lovely a cappella version of "Lament of the Highbourne" from World of Warcraft.Read more...

Activision Blizzard announced that World of Warcraft's subscriber base has shrunk to 7.7 million users, down from the 8.3 million subscribers it reported three months ago.

Last quarter's report revealed that World of Warcraft lost 14 percent of its players between January and March, as 1.3 million users either canceled their subscriptions or declined renewal. Users who have recently purchased the game and are within its initial 30-day trial period are counted among World of Warcraft's current subscribers.

Despite its shrinking subscriber base, Activision Blizzard notes that World of Warcraft "remained the world's #1 subscription-based MMORPG" heading into the third quarter of 2013.

Day one of my Comic-Con shopping experience was mostly about what I wanted. What about my family? What about their needs? I think I've got them covered. Read more...

So it was discovered by dogged data miners, so shall it be. After dabbling in microtransaction-based cosmetic items but largely buttering its bread with sweet, sweet subscription money, World of Warcraft is finally rolling out an in-game cash shop. Do you have excess moneydollars lining your pockets/sofa/cat? Are these “tough economic times” secretly treating you better than everyone else? Do you (for now) play exclusively on WoW’s Asian test servers? Then you’re in luck. Well, if you like XP boosts, pets, and mounts, anyway.

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Blizzard has confirmed that yes, an in-game microtransaction store is in the works for World of Warcraft. "First, we’ll be testing the in-game store with some new kinds of items we’re looking into introducing (in Asian regions, at the outset) based on player feedback: specifically, an experience buff to assist with the leveling process, as well as an alternate way to acquire Lesser Charms of Good Fortune. We’ve had a lot of requests from players in different regions for convenience-oriented items such as these, and as with other new ideas we’ve introduced as WoW has evolved—including Pet Store pets, mounts, and more—your feedback plays a hugely important part in determining what we add to the game."

I think it’s a bit of a stretch to say that MMOs are dying, but big traditional ones are certainly in a rough spot. Approximately seven-hundred quadrillion of them have responded by fishing a finger into free-to-play’s jangling pockets, but one titan’s managed to stick with subscriptions. I’m talking, of course, about World of Warcraft, ruler of the MMO realm since time immemorial (2004 was how many years ago? No seriously, I forgot). But things change, and even the most negligent of subscribers’ credit cards eventually expire. WoW can’t hold out forever, so Blizzard’s dabbling in the darkest gold-producing alchemy of them all: in-game microtransactions.

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Blizzard has released a statement revealing that there's been a "recent increase in unauthorized World of Warcraft account-logins". These are coming in via Blizzard's site and the WoW mobile armory app, leading Blizzard to temporarily suspend access to its auction house via the game's mobile app. Affected account holders are being contacted by Blizzard and reminded, hey, two-step authentication exists for a reason. Account Security Warning [Blizzard]

A "We Are The World"-inspired music video about World of Warcraft featuring Jimmy Fallon, Felicia Day, Chris Hardwick, and Leeroy Jenkins. Need I say more? The crew of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon created the video as a tribute to "one of the greatest games of all time." It, of course, automatically becomes a tribute to those unfortunate ones who, upon watching the video, immediately went and reinstalled World of Warcraft. They shall be missed. Late Night's Video Games Week had plenty of cool stuff for us so far. Check out a few examples below. Questions? Comments? Contact the author of this post at andras-AT-kotaku-DOT-com.

Optimus Prime's legendary scene from the 1986 Transformers movie gets a badass World of Warcraft remake, only here the Horde is playing the Autobots, and Mimiron's Head shoots laser beams. Thank goodness they cut away to Stan Bush before getting to the part where Hot Rod ruins everything. Really great tribute from the U.S. horde guild Arm of Hades, who previously also made a similar video for another awesome 80s show. To contact the author of this post, write to gergovas@kotaku.com

Crime is a constant feature of video games writing. Somewhere, someone is doing something illicit with them—sometimes comically stupid, sometimes tragic. Games and consoles are currency, objects of dispute, sometimes even weapons themselves. Kotaku's Police Blotter is here to round up the latest in games crime. The Most Gears Apology, Ever GLASGOW, Scotland—The teenager accused of slashing the throat of a friend he met playing Gears of War—the victim's neck was sawn down to the windpipe—will spend the next three years and nine months in prison, following his sentencing last week in High Court in Glasgow. The accused (unnamed per U.K. law) sent two voice messages to his victim. One said "Honestly you don't know how upset I am. I'm sitting here on the x-box just to say I'm sorry, bro." [BBC] Malign Neglect ANAHEIM, Calif.—Authorities say two girls, 10 and 5, were found malnourished and living in virtual imprisonment for the past three years inside a moldering, feces-strewn mobile home where the adults played World of Warcraft all day. The relationship of the adults to children was not specified by cops, but both Lester Louis Huffmire and Petra Huffmire, both 41, face up to seven years in on felony charges of child abuse. Prosecutors say the neglect stretches back to May 2010; a social worker inspecting the home after a neighbor phoned a tip to police found "kitchen appliances covered in mold and cobwebs and stacks of trash, debris, mold and feces scattered throughout the home," the Los Angeles Times reports. Star Witless PEORIA, Ill.—A blame-games defense put forth by a man on trial for the grisly slaughter of an entire family—a tire iron was the weapon—failed to impress a jury here despite the appearance of a star witness testifying for the accused. Chris Harris, on trial for five counts of first-degree murder for the 2009 slayings, claimed he had happened upon 14-year-old Dillen Constant attacking the family and was forced to act in self defense (Constant was among the dead.) Craig Anderson, the Iowa State academic known for saying violent video games have a definite causal link to aggressive behavior, was called to testify for the defense and say that Constent had multiple circumstances in his life making him at risk for violent episodes, and that playing violent video games could have contributed to such an outburst. The jury considered this alibi and Anderson's expert opinion over a day of deliberations before convicting Harris on every count. [Game Politics] It Only Does Arrests WORTHINGTON, Ohio—A message sent over the PlayStation Network may prove to be the key in solving a spate of burglaries here over the past month. Cops had been investigating a burglary in March that included a TV, laptops, an iPad, jewelry and cash and a PlayStation 3 among the loot. The victim shrewdly had serial numbers written down for the items that had gone missing, but it was a big screwup the day after the burglarly that led to an arrest. Police said the next night one of the suspects logged into PSN and sent a message through it to one of the victim's co-workers. Detectives worked with Sony and AT&T for a month to confirm the location from which the message was sent, and the identity of the suspect who sent it, ending in his arrest on Tuesday. Police believe more are involved [WCMH-TV] Lots of strange things happen in the pages of your local newspaper or on the 6 o'clock news. If you see something, say something. To me, that is. I'd like to write it up. Remember: You need not reveal your identity. To contact the author of this post, write to owen@kotaku.com or find him on Twitter @owengood.

Inspired mostly by Medieval architecture and the Middle Ages, fortified stone castles in video games are always among the most exciting locations. These bastions are the keepers of many secrets, hidden cellars and lost knowledge all awaiting the player to find them. We collected some of the most amazing video game castles, opting for those that have an astonishing atmosphere that makes it easy to get lost in them. We also chose some of the most iconic ones that continuously reappear in certain video game series. Final Fantasy VI Edgar's home, Figaro Castle in Final Fantasy VI, can burrow underground thanks to its unique, advanced technology. Dark Souls Anor Londo is just beautiful in Dark Souls, but most of us probably hate this place because of that damned Ornstein and Smough fight. Castlevania: Lords of Shadow Dracula's Castle is an iconic one, and it's the setting in most of the Castlevania games. Castlevania: Lords of Shadow might not be the best Castlevania game, but Dracula's home looks stunning in it. Age of Empires II Once the Castle Age is researched, this robust, awesome fort can be built in Age of Empires II. Ico The castle in Ico is an eerie, mysterious place. New Super Mario Bros. U Princess Peach's Castle appears in dozens of Super Mario games, including New Super Mario Bros. U. Heroes of Might & Magic III The overview of the Castle faction with fully a upgraded building in Heroes of Might & Magic III is glorious. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Just like Peach's Castle, Hyrule Castle in the Zelda games is also a recurring one. Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines The giant German fortress in the last mission of Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines even has V2 rockets inside. Stronghold The Stronghold games are all about castle building and management and, because of this, the best-looking ones are built by players. Assassin's Creed The Masyaf Castle, found in Syria, had a significant role during the Crusades but was also remade beautifully in Assassin's Creed. Final Fantasy VIII The main antagonist, Ultimecia's castle in Final Fantasy VIII looks like an over-designed building from the Victorian era. Baldur's Gate 2: Shadows of Amn The fighter class' stronghold, the De'Arnise Keep in Baldur's Gate 2, is occupied by trolls in the beginning of the game. Super Mario World Poor Iggy's castle in Super Mario World is the only fort with pink grids all over the place and probably sits at the number one spot on the "Video game castles that have been destroyed the most" list. World of Warcraft With the most epic castle gates (and castle themes) in video games, no one will ever forget entering Stormwind, the human capital in World of Warcraft for the first time. (Sorry Orgrimmar.) Here it is again, though it looked a bit different back in the 90s in Warcraft: Orcs & Humans. Submit your picks in the comments below to show us what else is out there! sources: CommandosHQ, FF Wiki, Konami, Team Ico Wiki, uinea's screenshot on Wowhead To contact the author of this post, write to gergovas@kotaku.com

With subscriber numbers declining and top-tier raid guilds disbanding, we're getting to a point where the army of powerful boss creatures Blizzard has assembled will find itself unemployed, but don't worry — once a boss, always a boss. SlightlyImpressive shows us a world where WoW bosses are real bosses, and it is indeed slightly impressive. I wasn't sold on the idea until the Lich King showed up halfway through. "Table five hungers" is the most sinister means of dispatching garlic breadsticks ever.

These past few weeks haven't seen a lot of good news thrown World of Warcraft's way. The MMO shed more than a million users over the past year, a development Activision's CEO called "troubling." Before that, some of the game's hardest-core players called it quits, too. Exodus, on April 26, said it was disbanding as a 25-man raiding guild and had no plans yet to re-form as a 10-man guild. Guild member Killars, in this post, said "this game isn't to blame," but rather, "it's the raiding community," saying that the competition of top-end raiders carries an "inevitable sort of flaw. "We've basically been killing ourselves off slowly since day one," Killars wrote. "In the last few years we've certainly picked up the pace, but the 'hardcore raider' is a dying breed and it's certainly becoming a more difficult breed to be a part of." Killars laments the time commitment and other costs required to get to the top and stay there. "Unfortunately we (hardcore raiders) pushed too hard," he says. "Tier after tier we just keep adding to the insanity in both farming preparations and actual progressing. It's almost as if progression itself never really ends after a end tier boss dies. " For himself, Killars isn't quitting; he's joined another guild. Still, it is not a good sign when hardcore raiding has become too hardcore for the hardcore. Exodus is dead?! [Facebook, via PCGamesN, h/t Dave Oshry.] To contact the author of this post, write to owen@kotaku.com or find him on Twitter @owengood.

World of Warcraft's subscriber base is down to 8.3 million, representing a 13.5 percent drop in the last three months. In the previous quarter financials, Activision-Blizzard said the MMO had 9.6 million subscribers, but since then 1.3 million have said so long to Azeroth.

World of Warcraft...as a fighting game? Hey, it could work judging by this mock-up by Redditor GuardianReflex.

A month ago we got the 3D re-release of Jurassic Park, and a few weeks later we got Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon featuring dinosaurs of all kinds shining under neon lights. This happy coincidence provides us an opportunity to gather some of the most amazing video games with dinosaurs stomping around inside them. Raptors, T-Rex and Pterodactyls all have their cool statuses safely secured, but they're even more fearsome with mounted cannons or lazer guns on their back. You just don't mess with that. As we march forward in time the changes are easily noticable. In 30 years we went from the cute little Bubble Bobble characters to the most insane, blazing neon monsters with rocket launchers. And this is an awesome thing! B.C.'s Quest For Tires (1983) In Quest for Tires we have to rescue our girlfriend on a stone uncycle who has been kidnapped by a dinosaur, who apparently looks like a really cool guy. Dino Eggs (1983) Save the scattered dinosaur eggs from prehistoric creatures of all kinds as our time traveller main character. Bubble Bobble (1986) Taito's classic, popular arcade game that was later ported to almost everything featured Bub and Bob, who easily can be considered as the cutest dinosaurs in video games. Rampage (1986) Lizzie, once a young woman, is mutated into a godzilla-like dinosaur is one of the playable characters in Midway's 80s arcade game Rampage. Super Mario World (1990) Mario's number one dinosaur buddy Yoshi first appeared in Super Mario World as a mountable pet. Jurassic Park (1993) The 1993 movie resurrected the dinosaur craze with the speed of light that resulted in several video games linked to the film. Sega's side scroller was among the better titles. Jurassic Park Arcade Game (1993) Sega also had a Jurassic Park themed arcade rail shooter that wasn't half bad. E.V.O.: Search for Eden (1993) We have to navigate through Earth's geological periods including the Mesozoic Era full of dinosaurs in Square's really unique game for the SNES. Cadillacs and Dinosaurs (1993) Survivors in a post-apocalyptic Earth have to face dinosaurs in one of the best Capcom side scroller beat'em ups based on the comics of the same name. Primal Rage (1994) A traditional 2D fighter also set in a post-apocalyptic Earth featuring seven playable dinosaurs (mostly). Turok: Dinosaur Hunter (1997) Acclaim's dino themed first-person shooter was one of the first games that utilized the capabilities of the very first 3D graphics cards. Dino Crisis (1999) Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami's survival horror is set on a remote island where a failed military time travel experiment spawned hundreds of dinosaurs from another era. Dino D-Day (2011) World War II with a little bit extra mad. The dinos with cannons mounted on their backs or on their jaws look absolutely insane in 800 North's first-person shooter. Tokyo Jungle (2012) Survival with dinos can be hard in a post-apocalyptic Tokyo, even when they are supposed to be at the top of the food chain. World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria's 5.2 content patch (2013) Azeroth had dinosaurs before (just think about Un'Goro crater or Epicus Maximus) but the latest content patch took it to another level with the Isle of Giants. Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon (2013) Everyone wanted to hunt for giant dinosaurs in the vast jungles of Far Cry 3, and we finally got them in the standalone expansion. Not enough dino craziness? Then you should post the most awesome ones you know from any video game in the comments below! sources: Wowhead, CGR, Frankomatic, MamePlayer, CosmicCheese, Retrojuegoschile, HardcoreGaming101 To contact the author of this post, write to: gergovas@kotaku.com

Chris Kluwe, the outspoken NFL punter, World of Warcraft and JRPG fan we've featured here frequently over the past season, was let go from his team, the Minnesota Vikings, today. Kluwe would frequently refer to his team's upcoming game in the language of an MMO. His next objective, so to speak, is to find a new guild. Kluwe, 31, was also known for being a staunch and very public defender of marriage equality and equal rights for gay men and lesbians, positions that may also have factored into his release, as punters are the epitome of a be-seen-and-not-heard position in American football. (He frequently retweets Anonymous' news feed, too.) The Vikings took a punter in the fifth round of the NFL Draft two weeks ago. Only one other team took a punter in the entire draft, so this was a sure sign that Minnesota intended to part company with Kluwe. Kluwe debuted in 2005 and three years later became notorious when he told a radio station he considered changing his name to "Chris World of Warcraft," because of his love for the MMO. ChrisWarcraft then became his Twitter handle. In the Vikings clubhouse, he said he recruited a lineman to play Dark Souls (who complained it was "one of the hardest games ever") and introduced all-galaxy running back Adrian Peterson to Magic: The Gathering. In an interview late last week with NFL.com, Kluwe appeared to know what was coming after this weekend's rookie camp, when he'd likely be out of a job unless his replacement completely bombed. Though punting is a very situational performance, depending a lot on the quality of the offense you're bailing out, and where their drives typically stall out, Kluwe's average distance has remained strong. Kickers and punters with his kind of tenure are, by definition, survivors, and are almost always in demand. He should catch on somewhere else. Thank you to all the fans, my teammates, and the Wilf family for the past 8.5 years. I wouldn't have traded it for anything. — Chris Kluwe (@ChrisWarcraft) May 6, 2013 To contact the author of this post, write to owen@kotaku.com or find him on Twitter @owengood.

NetEase, the China operator of World of WarCraft has just started pre-order sales for a limited edition WoW: Mists of Pandaria Mahjong set. The set looks like two of China's biggest names in gaming have combined and spit out a baby. According to NetEase's homepage, there will only 1000 of these special Mahjong sets available world-wide. No clue what that means for western players but so far the set's only appeared to be for China. Each set will cost 1288 RMB, or about $209. The set is a fully playable Mahjong set, tiles, table mats, dividers, chips and all. Everything is decorated with WoW-esque decals, the table mat features in game maps. The whole set comes together in a nifty wooden case. So far, many online commenters have questioned the pricing of the set saying it's too expensive. Other comments were more about it's availability, they were concerned that if the set was truly a limited edition for the whole world there would be too few to go around. One Chinese gamer asked if "foreigners play mahjong at all,". Mahjong is one of China's oldest table games around. Played with a set of 136 tiles split between four players, the game can be played either for sport or for money. Despite the ban on gambling in China, Mahjong is still played for money in various locations across the country. It'd be interesting to see if anyone actually uses the WoW set to play Mahjong. Western players can attempt to pre-order this set at NetEase's official WoW Site. [魔兽世界熊猫人之谜全球限量麻将预约火热开启] [NetEase] Kotaku East is your slice of Asian internet culture, bringing you the latest talking points from Japan, Korea, China and beyond. Tune in every morning from 4am to 8am.

Despite the jokes about telling our parents that NO we can't pause the friggin' game to take out the trash, the truth is, the inability to pause a live game is a real problem. Real enough that even Man of Steel's star, Henry Cavill, has grappled with it. Actually, he almost didn't get the role of Superman because of it! IGN reports that the latest issue of GQ has an interview with Cavill, where he discusses his love of video games and the incident with World of Warcraft. Indeed, his love of games is so great that when director Zack Snyder called to offer him the Man of Steel role, he nearly missed out due to playing World of Warcraft. “I saw it was him [calling] but the thing is, you can’t save World of Warcraft, you can’t pause it. It’s live.” But mercifully Cavill called him back and gratefully accepted the part. Imagine that. Nearly jeopardizing a major film role because you just can't leave your game of World of Warcraft for a little bit. Dang. And just in case you're wondering, Cavill is rather fond of Skyrim. Superman Star Talks Skyrim, World of Warcraft and Bond [IGN]

The World of Warcraft movie just got a VFX supervisor. Oscar-winner - and hardcore WoW player - Bill Westenhofer.

You just can't take gnomes seriously, even when they're embroiled in a desperate struggle for control of Westeros. The smallest, most sophisticated race in World of Warcraft are the perfect raw material for WoW machinima, this time for a Game of Thrones parody from the fine folks at Slightly Impressive. Seeing all the characters in gnomish form is amusing, but that Hodor Panda is a direct hit, not to mention the awesome Throne of Swords model occupying Stormwind Keep in the background. Game of Gnomes (Game of Thrones Parody) [YouTube]