Tag Archives: blizzard

Xbox always-online: Maybe it’s not so terrible

Posted on by

Chris xbox 360Morris explains that having a big company like Microsoft step up could make always-online more palatable for next-gen

Will the next Xbox continue the reign of success Microsoft has seen this generation or will it stumble Sony-style, losing momentum at a critical junction for console systems? The answer could lie in a single feature.

Kotaku recently reignited the rumor about the next Xbox requiring a constant connection to the Internet – and Microsoft Studios’ creative director did nothing to put out that growing brushfire with his Twitter fiasco last week.

Will the next generation Xbox require an ‘always-on’ connection? There’s nothing to base that on right now except for rumors and the echo chamber of the Internet. But, for the sake of argument alone, let’s say that is an upcoming feature. Is it as bad as it seems?

Read more at GamesIndustry.biz

Happy birthday, StarCraft! Strategy megahit turns 15

Posted on by

It starcraft_630x350was 15 years ago that StarCraft hit store shelves. And while anyone who knew even a little bit about the game’s developer, Blizzard Entertainment, knew they had something special on their hands, no one could predict the global phenomenon that this fast-paced science-fiction strategy epic would blossom into.

It’s one of the premiere titles in eSports – and its player base in Korea is dedicated nearly to the point of fanaticism. (In 2005, for example, 120,000 people went to a stadium to watch a StarCraft championship. That was 40,000 people more than were present at that year’s Super Bowl.)

Read more at Yahoo! Games

Blizzard unveils Hearthstone, a free-to-play collectible card game

Posted on by

Through hearthstone-top640games like World of Warcraft, StarCraft II and Diablo III, Blizzard Entertainment built a real-world fortune. Now it’s about to see what happens when it gives a game away for free.

At the PAX East convention in Boston, the company unveiled Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft, a free-to-play collectable card game set in the well-known Warcraft universe. And in very un-Blizzard-like fashion, you’re not going to have to wait a couple years to try it out. A beta of the game is due out this summer.

Read more at Yahoo! Games

World of Warcraft movie gets a new director

Posted on by

When warcraft-movie-jonesfamed director Sam Raimi dropped out of the long-in-development World of Warcraft film last summer, fans feared it would never get made.

That discouragement has turned to optimism once again, though, as Duncan Jones — whose directorial work on films such as “Source Code” and “Moon” has earned him heaps of critical praise — has signed on to shepherd Azeroth to the big screen.

Read more at Yahoo! Games

Class action lawsuit targets Blizzard over security issues

Posted on by

Three months after suffering a security breach that affected millions of players, Blizzard Entertainment is facing a class action lawsuit from users who say they should have been protected better.

Carney Williams Bates Pulliam & Bowman, PLLC, a law firm in the Central District of California, has filed the suit against the publisher on behalf of players. (It’s worth noting that no user financial data was reported taken during the attack.)

Read more at Yahoo! Games

World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria launches

Posted on by

World of Warcraft might be dealing with a subscriber downturn these days, but nothing draws the crowds back like a new expansion.

World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria, the fourth expansion for the hit MMO, releases today, bringing with it a higher level cap, a new character class and a new race — pretty much catnip to lapsed WoW players.

Read more at Yahoo! Games

Is the MMO dying?

Posted on by

Just a few short years ago, massively-multiplayer online games (MMOs) were considered the future of gaming.

Virtually every publisher was running one, building one, or contemplating one. A lot of those failed. A few struggled along with small but loyal audiences. And all of them acknowledged that they lived under the shadow of perennial champ World of Warcraft.

Read more at Yahoo! Games

Millions of World of Warcraft, Diablo, and StarCraft players at risk after server hack

Posted on by

Add Blizzard Entertainment to the long list of video game companies that have been hacked in the past 18 months.

Mike Morhaime, president of the company behind titles such as World of Warcraft, StarCraft II, and Diablo III, announced the breach of the company’s Battle.net servers in a note to users late Thursday afternoon, urging them to change their passwords.

Read more at Yahoo! Games

Ohio teen collapses after Call of Duty marathon

Posted on by

A 15-year old from Columbus, Ohio was rushed to an area hospital Tuesday after collapsing during a marathon session of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 that lasted between four and five days.

Tyler Rigsby was admitted to the Ohio State University Medical Center, suffering from dehydration. Hospital officials say he was released later in the day.

Read more at Yahoo! Games