Last night the first round of BlizzCon tickets went up for sale. Thirty minutes later, they were sold out. This isn’t much of a shock since last year it only took eight minutes for tickets to sell out.

If you weren’t expecting it to sell out so quickly and would like a chance to buy a ticket, the next round will go on sale June 5th, at 10:00am PST. You’d better act quickly though or you’ll miss your second chance

Even then, coverage of BlizzCon will also be shown on DIRECTV as a Pay Per View event. It will be available via satellite as well as a multi-channel Internet stream, so all hope is not yet lost.

Yesterday, Blizzard released a few screenshots of the new zone in which players starting new Troll characters will have their own zone, instead of sharing the zone with Orcs.

The new zone, labeled Echo Isles, provides new quests for levels 1-5 such as protecting the Bloodtalon raptors that trolls use as  mounts and protecting the local food supply from other animals. You’ll soon move up to larger targets like a naga invasion force. Eventually Vol’Jin, the head of the Darkspears trolls, calls for you and gives you quests.

Cataclysm, the third expansion pack for WoW, aims to fill in the map of Azeroth with new zones. It will also add two playable races, implement numerous class changes and do a whole lot of other stuff too.

Check the images after the cut.

Read the rest of this entry »

As a MMORG player, I haven’t been terribly impressed with anything coming out of the major game studio’s as of late.  Just call me old and a little bitchy.  With some huge flops by Cryptic, and a less than impressive look for the video coming out for DC Online, I’m debating where to place my money for my online gaming and social time.  It’s time to look at what the independent developers are coming out with.

Read the rest of this entry »

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

Blizzard has just released comprehensive details for the raid dungeon that will feature in World of Warcraft’s 3.3 content patch, Icecrown Citadel, which will see adventurers finally take the fight to the Lich King himself!

Check out the screenshots and full details below.

Read the rest of this entry »

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!

Read the rest of this entry »

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.

Read the rest of this entry »

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.

Read the rest of this entry »

Looks like Australia is at it once again; the country’s federal government is pushing plans to block websites which contain unclassified or “riskier than MA-15+” games, with the censorship applying to all age groups.

Yup, you read that right.

Communications Minister spokesperson Stephen Conroy told the Sydney Morning Herald that Flash and downloadable games, as well as online retailers who also sell boxed copies of MA-15+ games, will be filtered.

Read the rest of this entry »

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!

Read the rest of this entry »

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.

Read the rest of this entry »