EVE Online has been taking a band of faithful gamers to a galaxy far, far away for about five years now. This coming spring, the space-based MMORPG is hoped to get an interest jolt thanks to a new deal with Atari.

According to Geek.com, CCP, the creator of EVE, has inked a deal to put the game with a cult following back on retail shelves. A boxed release is said to be coming to stores throughout North America, Europe and the Asian Pacific. The boxed set will include all nine expansion packs, 60 days of free play time and some extras. The targeted release is March 2009.

CCP’s CEO, Hilmar Veigar Petursson, is quoted as saying, “This partnership comes at a great time in the history of EVE where, through a series of technical breakthroughs, we are able to support a vast increase in the number of concurrent players in our single shard persistent world.”

EVE, as Geek.com points out, is a very pretty game. While it hasn’t necessarily taken off like some other MMORPGs (WoW), it does have a loyal following. A few friends of mine have been playing the title since practically its launch and have continued to play despite being involved in other games like AoC, Vanguard and CoV at the same time.

The team up between CCP and Atari sounds like a stroke of brilliance that will potentially breathe some new life into this underestimated title. Now, if someone would step in and save AoC from the incessant PVPing that has turned that beautiful game into a veritable ghost town as far as new blood is concerned!

Labels: AoC, atari, EVE online, wow

Blizzard Entertainment has reason to celebrate. Not only is its Wrath of the Lich King expansion almost ready to roll out, but its subscriber numbers continue to blow the mind.

Blizzard announced today that its subscription base now exceeds 11 million players. When this number is brought into perspective, the gravity of the announcement becomes clear.

Many countries around the world have population figures that are less than 11 million. For example, New Zealand, Ireland, Sweden, Switzerland and even Portugal have population numbers that are lower than the entire subscription base for WoW.

So, why is this game so popular when other, arguably more challenging and visually pleasing MMORPGs flounder with their subscription bases?

It all comes down to playability. Blizzard, unlike so many other game companies, has managed to create an ever-evolving world that balances challenge and fun. The game, its updates and expansions tend to work as expected or close to it. WoW has managed to pull in serious gamers and casual players alike. It, in short, represents everything a massively multiplayer game should offer – something for everyone.

Now, don’t get me wrong. WoW has had its share of problems, but Blizzard has managed to overcome most of them. This is obvious by the numbers. In fact, the figures from Blizzard speak for themselves.

“Since debuting in North America on November 23, 2004, World of Warcraft has become the most popular MMORPG around the world,” Blizzard’s recent press release read. “It was the bestselling PC game of 2005 and 2006 worldwide, and finished behind only World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade(R), the first expansion pack for the game, in 2007. In addition to being the bestselling PC game of 2007 in both North America and Europe, The Burning Crusade holds the record for fastest-selling PC game of all time, with nearly 2.4 million copies sold in its first 24 hours of availability and approximately 3.5 million in its first month.”

Now available in a total of eight languages, WoW continues to please its client base. The company is even proud to announce in this time of layoffs and cutbacks, it’s even hiring.

Whether you played it and hated it, played it and loved it or never played it at all, there’s no denying the incredible impact WoW has had on the gaming world and continues to have.

The next expansion is due out Nov. 13.

Links:
World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King
WoW's new patch one week on
WoW Insider Weekly Podcast

Labels: wow, wrath of the lich king

Echoes of Doom went live on WoW europe servers last week and I've had some time to check out all the new features. Basically the patch is a preview of the upcoming expansion pack Wrath of the Lich King, and includes major new gameplay features though no new content. That will all come on Nov 13th when Lich gets released. Echoes of Doom offers tons for players to do in the meantime however.

There are countless other changes that are all documented in the patch notes (for example Northrend is now viewable on the world map, and there are zeppelin towers being built for transport there when the expansion is released), but the major changes players met upon logging into Echoes of Doom were the revamped talent trees, the achievements system and the inscription profession.

When I logged in the first thing I noticed was all of my talent points had been reimbursed and I had access to the new 51 point talents.

After a week of play it's quite obvious that these talents have made level 70 characters far more powerful than they had been before, and a lot of the end game content is now laughably easy compared to how it had been.

A few days ago I joined a random group and cleared Zul'aman in 75 minutes, including the 'timed event' where the raid needs to complete 4 bosses against the clock, whereas my (casual) guild had been struggling to clear Zul'aman for weeks before the patch hit. Other guilds on my server reported 3-hour clears of Black Temple that would have taken a few days beforehand.

The new talents shook up the pvp aspect of the game as well, with previously all-powerful classes like rogues and restoration druids finding themselves at the mercy of hugely buffed paladins and mages. My first encounter into a battleground felt like the first time I'd ever played the game, because I didn't know the capabilities of my opponents anymore. My character is a restoration druid (a class many thought to be overpowered) but I soon learned the hard way that the new king at the moment is the retribution paladin, and I foresee the top combos on the arena ladders will change radically as time goes on.

As I previously mentioned, the inscription profession is also now live in the game, allowing players to upgrade the individual spells of their characters. At the moment players can attach two major "glyphs" and three minor ones to their characters spells, but will have the option of adding more when Lich comes out.

Last but not least, Blizzard introduced the fantastic achievements system in the patch, which rewards players for great feats like completing all quests on each continent in the game, as well as fun ones like re-enacting Leeroy Jenkins infamous raid wipe(this achievement will earn you the title 'Jenkins' to display proudly over your characters head).

The achievements system is a clever scheme by Blizzard, as it gets all players regardless of how long they have played back exploring the old content in order to complete their achievements. Dusty old raids like Molten Core, Upper Blackrock Spire and Onyxias Lair are being revisited on a daily basis by players increasing their achievement points, which is impressive considering the content is over four years old at this stage.

There are over 900 listed achievements of all varieties to keep players busy building up points. It's unspecified what the points will be used for at the moment, though I suspect we will be able to trade them in for weapons and armour in Lich King.

Some other notable features are a new in-game calendar that lets guilds plan and sign up for raids, a threat meter (of sorts), new storage for mounts, pets and currency (battleground marks, heroic badges and such), and a 'barber shop' in each city which lets you customise your character for a fee.

Despite the re-learning curve in pvp and some bugs that need to be ironed out (a particularly annoying one is the eating/drinking bug), I'm enjoying the new features very much as well as the Hallows End event which began at the same time as the patch.

Here's some more links I've collected about the patch:
Official patch notes
Essential addons for Patch 3.0.2
Complete list of achievements
What are Glyphs?
Raiding has never been easier than in 3.0.2
Ret Paladins to be nerfed "to the ground"

Labels: wow, wrath of the lich king

As the May 19 date for a Blizzard Entertainment event in South Korea approaches, speculation is running high about what the company's newest installment in the StarCraft series will be.

According to CVG, a new MMO will be revealed, following in the footsteps of the company's incredible success with World of Warcraft.

"Well placed US sources have revealed to us that the StarCraft MMO will be unveiled at an upcoming Blizzard event on May 19 in South Korea - the epicentre of the sci-fi RTS series' rabid fandom," CVG says.

With millions and millions of subscribers to WoW found all over the globe, there's no doubt this company is a master at creating an MMO. A science fiction entry that has the mass appeal of WoW and the popularity of StarCraft would be hard to beat.

Still the science fiction MMO arena already has some pretty big names that aren't doing as great as one might expect. EVE is considered on of the best MMOs out there by fans, but its subscription base is miniscule compared to WoW and Sony's Star Wars Galaxies is continuing to flounder along.

But, with Blizzard behind the wheel of a StarCraft-based game, anything could be possible. It will be interesting to watch this develop, if it does.

Related:
Blizzard Planning Diablo, Starcraft for DS/PSP?
WoW Edging Toward 7 Million Mark
EVE Online Hits 30k Online At Once
Star Wars Galaxies Subscribers Strike Back
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Labels: blizzard, mmorpg, starcraft, world of warcraft, wow

Blizzard is cooking something up for next-gen console fans who happen to love MMORPGs.

The company responsible for World of Warcraft and Diablo currently has three positions open that specifically point to a next-gen MMORPG being on the way.

“Blizzard Entertainment is looking for an individual to lead an engine-programming team focused on next-generation massively multiplayer online games,” reads one of the three ads on the Blizzard site.

There’s no indication as to whether this would be a remake of an older Blizzard game, such as WoW or Diablo, or a completely new creation. There’s some speculation that it might be a Diablo remake. Since Blizzard execs have said a WoW versions for next-gen consoles would be incredibly difficult, the Diablo guess does sound like a good one.

Still, a completely different game by these skilled creators wouldn’t be a bad thing either.

There’s no indication based on the job postings which next-gen consoles Blizzard is looking at. Whatever it ends up being promises to be good.

Related:
WoW Won’t Come To The 360
World Of Warcraft Mod Site List
Diablo 3 Not Good Enough for Blizzard
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Labels: blizzard, diablo, mmorpg, next-gen console, wow

AT&T’s Blue Room offers a little bit of everything for gamers. From reviews and commentary to tips, tricks and codes, the site is fast making a name for itself. As if the site didn’t already offer enough, it’s got one heck of an exclusive 14-day World of Warcraft trial going on.

The exclusive direct download trial allows wannabe WoW players to check out the game that’s played by more than 8 million people worldwide for a full two weeks. Unlike some other exclusive trials that are restricted to one country, this one is open to gamers in the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore directly through the Blue Room site.

Gamers that check out WoW and find themselves hooked as millions already have can easily transfer their trial toons to full paid accounts, too, so there’s no starting over.

Check out the trial here.

Related:
WoW Beats Jesus, George Bush On Searches
Gaining Real Wealth With WoW
'South Park' WoW Parody Is Scary Accurate
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Labels: ATT, blue room, free trial, world of warcraft, wow

There’s a new site dedicated to teaching World of Warcraft players how to make gold the old fashion way – by earning it.

The World of Warcraft Gold blog is dedicated to giving players, especially new ones, an overview in the quick and non-banned ways to make gold.

“New players to World of Warcraft—nicknamed “newbies”—especially need help in learning the basics that will maximize their gold inflow,” says the site’s media release. “Even before venturing into an auction house, there are simple tips and tricks to maximize gold income from killing beasts and humanoids, finishing quests, and selling items to non-player characters (NPCs). While these money-making tips won’t rocket a character into WoW wealth, it definitely helps characters, especially low-level ones, get an edge on the server.”

The site already has a few entries up, including one by Dan West, the author of “The Wow Mastery Guide.”

This will be an interesting site to watch grow and develop. It’s refreshing to see someone dedicate time to teaching the ins and outs of a game without tutoring players on how to cheat or pointing them in the direction of a place they can buy their gaming success.

Related:
Gaining Real Wealth With WoW
WoW Remains In Top 10 List For PC Games
Unofficial WoW Guide Back On Sale
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Labels: world of warcraft, wow, wow gold, wow tips