As the lucky bastard that I am, I got my hands on a Starcraft II beta key. Initially, SCII wasn’t the Blizzard game I was looking the most forward to (because let’s be honest, Diablo III!), but the more I kept hearing and reading about how amazing the beta was, the more I started wanting in. So I used my extensive contacts network (*ahem*), and secured myself a place in the beta.

Now, as a self proclaimed “‘PC’ “Gamer’”, I’ve played my share of RTS’s, but I’ve never delved into the online multiplayer part of them. When I play any of the artehsus, like Age of Empires 2, or LotR: Battle for Middle Earth 2, I have usually only played the single player campaigns, or I have played it LAN with my friends, who employ the same tactics as I: Turtle up, hoard resources, amass a giant army, then send them all at once for an epic, chaotic battle.

Needless to say, that shit don’t fly in the realm of online multiplayer Starcraft. If you try something like this you’ll quickly get Zerg rushed straight up an uncomfortable place… and I’m not talking about the back of a Volkswagen either.

So with this series of articles I will at the same time try to give you my impressions of the beta, and document my quest to become a “real” RTS player. Join me, whydon’tcha?

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If anything, MMOs are created to be played almost ad infinitum, constantly awarding your efforts with better gear, higher levels and an all around more fun gaming experience. There’s never really an end in sight, and that’s probably what attracts most gamers.

But a Taiwanese man has gone as far as to proclaim himself the first person to “finish” World of Warcraft, and it’s not a stretch if you think about it.

The man’s character, Little Gray, is the first to successfully complete all of WoW’s 986 achievements. To get to this point Little Gray had to kill 390,895 creatures, accumulate 7,255,538 878 points of damage, complete 5,906 quests (an average of 14,62 quests per day!), raided 405 dungeons and hugged 11 players. If that doesn’t give him bragging rights among WoW gamers, I dunno what will.

Technically, Little Gray did cheat. According to the player he’s missing one rare, event-tied achievement called the “BB King”. He avoided this by exploiting a glitch to award himself one extra, and false, achievement point. I say he needs to get back on his ass and get the final achievement before he gets full bragging rights. Read more on MMO-Champion

Want to admire all of the gorgeous artwork and concept art from the new WoW expansion, World of Warcraft: Cataclysm that Blizzard has generously made available?

Then look no further than below!

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The official debut trailer for World of Warcraft: Cataclysm has gone live.

Check it out below.

The official site for the new World of Warcraft expansion, World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, has already gone live, mere minutes after the announcement was made at BlizzCon

You can check it out by clicking here.

So it seems like all the rumours were true; the next World of Warcraft expansion, simply called World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, was just announced at BlizzCon 2009.

All the rumoured information appears to be correct; a completely remade Azeroth, flying mounts in the old world, a level cap of 85, new Goblin and Worgen races, and a new profession called Archaeology.

Hit the link for the full list of new features. Obviously major spoilers ahead.

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Blizzard Entertainment and Legendary Pictures announced today that Sam Raimi has been chosen as director for the upcoming movie based on the titanic Warcraft franchise.

“At its core, Warcraft is a fantastic, action-packed story,” said Raimi. “I am thrilled to work with such a dynamite production team to bring this project to the big screen.”

Charles Roven (The Dark Knight, Batman Begins) has been confirmed as producer, whilst Blizzard’s senior vice president of creative development, Chris Metzen, will co-produce to movie. It looks like this movie is going to be in some very capable hands.

“From our first conversation with Sam, we could tell he was the perfect choice. Sam knows how to simultaneously satisfy the enthusiasts and the mainstream audience that might be experiencing that content for the first time. We’re looking forward to working with him to achieve that here.”

With Sam Raimi penned as director, expect to see Bruce Campbell making a guest appearance as a mighty, zombie slaying paladin at some point in the movie.

Catch the full press release after the cut.

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Here it is people, the hotly anticipated World of Warcraft 3.1 patch has finally gone live after months of testing! With it comes numerous content additions, including Dual Specs, the new Ulduar raid, and Argent Tournament, and the usually spread of class changes that come with every major patch.

Check out the trailer below to catch up on the story so far in the World of Warcraft, then hit the Read More link for the official patch notes. Warning, they’re long!

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Tired of your World of Warcraft mount looking like every other raptor, wolf, horse, kodo, or nightsaber out there? Want to spice it up with some armor plating, a few spikes or chains, or maybe even some flaming decals?

Then Z to the A to the zzber (whew, that’s a mouthful!) will be glad to welcome you to his shop where you can epic-ize your mount with some phat total pimpage!

Coming in a future content patch, Blizzard plans to bring you a new feature that will allow you to alter the colour, the armour, or add decorations to your in-game mounts. Simply drop in to Zazzber’s Local Fix-’Er-Up, pay a small fee, and leave your mount there overnight.

The next morning, you’ll pick up a mount that is uniquely yours!

With 70 odd publishers and developers that have already signed up to this years E3, World of Warcraft and Diablo developer Blizzard will not be attending the annual show. Speaking to VG247, a representative of the company said that the team will be busy working on the highly anticipated Diablo III and Starcraft II.

“Regarding E3, our current focus is on the ongoing development of Dioblo III, StarCraft II and World of Warcraft” Blizzard’s Bob Colayco stated.

“We are already planning to participate in a number of shows this year and look forward to sharing the latest news on our games at these events.”

Blizzard usually hold sits on BlizzCon for its fans which last year had attracted record numbers to it in Anaheim, California. The developer is yet to officially announce a BlizzCon 2009 at this time.

Recent decisions by the Australian classification boards has degreed that, until they receive an age rating from the board itself, the majority of MMOs available to buy in the country can’t be legally sold.

Up until now, MMO were exempt from requiring a legal age rating due to their lack of single-player content, but the law has since changed to include multilayer only titles.

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The World of Warcraft 3.0.8 patch went live today; the first major game patch since Wrath of the Lich King back in November. The main focus of the patch is class balancing (read: nerfing) and major bug fixes.

You’ll have to wait until 3.1 if you want the good stuff.

If you enjoy reading pages and pages of WoW lingo, or love analysing every single change in the game, hit the jump for the full list of patch notes.

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The worlds most popular MMO, World of Warcraft has now reached a userbase of 11.5 million says Blizzard, sale of the game have been fuelled by the new Wrath of The Lich King release, which shifted over 4million copies in it’s first month.

“We’re pleased to welcome the new and returning players who have helped World of Warcraft reach these new milestones, and we appreciate the enthusiasm and support that the game’s global community has continued to show,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO of Blizzard.

Only two months ago, Blizzard was saying that there was a fanbase of  11 million, 500,000 new people have subscribed.

Soon everyone will be playing the game.

Blizzard Entertainment has confirmed in a press release today that the new World of Warcraft expansion, Wrath of the Lich King sold 2.8 million copies in its first 24 hours on sale, becoming the fastest selling PC game ever.

The past record holder… ironically… was the previous expansion, The Burning Crusade.

2We’re grateful for the incredible support that players around the world have continued to show for World of Warcraft,” said Blizzard boss Mike Morhaime.

“Wrath of the Lich King contains some of the best content we’ve created for the game so far, and we look forward to seeing even more players log in to experience it in the days ahead.”

A well deserved success for an epic series.

You know you’ve been playing too much WoW when…

Playing Wrath of the Lich King, expansion for the highly successful WoW MMORPG, for 24 hours took its toll on a 15 year old Swedish boy. What might have been a drive to accomplish the European feat of reaching level 80 in a one 27 hour marathon turned into an epileptic seizure.

Doctors described his body as “…systems had been disrupted by a combination of sleep deprivation, lack of food and the prolonged period of concentration on the game.”

Since the experience, the kid’s father is putting his foot down on the time spent on playing video games once he’s properly recovered. Let’s hope the boy learned his lesson on how to enjoy his games responsibly.