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AFAIK he uses prepaid cards which are available.... I guess he pays it with his allowance. I never asked, but I don't think his mom gave him her credit card. Heck, I don't think she has a credit card. He certainly doesn't.

I hear there is this small shop nobody has ever heard of that makes some kind of chat client with dragons in it. But what would I know, I'm a Windows guy.

Not only that,

#2, Halo has Estimated Sales: 4.2 million
#1, GTA:VC has Estimated Sales: 7 Million

I think it's pretty safe to say WoW's had more than 4.2 box sales, which puts them at either #2 or #1.

After all,
"World of Warcraft's European customer base is currently at more than 1 million players, with the worldwide total now at more than 6 million players."
http://www.blizzard.com/press/060228.shtml

I'm sure there are Blizzards with their own network storage, but I don't know about Frost Nova...

All of the bigger ones. You would have to check the indiviual companies for their policies, but for example, here is what Blizzard's http://www.blizzard.com/SUPPORT/?id=asc0133p replacement CD policy is -
Damaged or broken CD:
You will need to mail in the damaged or broken disk(s), and a $10 US dollar money order (per game) to the P.O. box listed below to cover shipping and handling costs. No personal check or cash will be accepted.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blizzard_Entertainmen t#Titles

Blizzard released a half-dozen console games before they stuck gold with Warcraft.

There are flash-based playable demos of a couple of 'em here:

http://www.blizzard.com/blizzclassic/

Nothing really special.

This is why I don't think Blizzard will make a Starcraft or Diablo MMORPG.

Ummmm yea.

The whole way they went about this thing sucks. They need to spend more time and effort to develop a system of analyzing accounts before banning because alot of good people got caught up in this fray including one of our admins, a long time player. We posted his story on our front page yesterday: http://www.abfnet.com/ Here's the whole story, just on case: Warning to all who play World of Warcraft By ctcost Late last week, one of our Administrators, *cough cough* Wolfman. Had his World of Warcraft account summarily banned. The sequence of events went like this: 1) Wolf received a letter out of the blue stating his account was suspended because a character he had never created, or heard of received "something" from a compromised account. 2) 2 days later, without any questioning or correspondence from Blizzard on the account, he received an email stating his account was permenantly closed. Not for the original reason mind you, but because he supposedly had let someone else accesss his account this time. 3) Wolf replied to this letter with the following: Quote: Hello, My account name is w0lfman I have recently received an email saying my account was "banned/closed". Please provide me all the information available regarding this matter. 3) He called Blizzard Support. After a half hour of wrangling the guy said he could do nothing, his Supervisor could do nothing because it was the wrong department. Wolf had to contact the account admins that had closed his account via EMAIL ONLY. His second option was to send a letter to a PO BOX in Irvine, CA. No matter how hard Wolf tried he could not get a phone number for these people, he could not get a physical brick and mortar address. Also, there is no listing on the State of California's website for a Blizzard Entertainment in terms of INC. LLP, LLC or any other limited partnership. 4) Wolf receives an email return from his original query: Quote: Hello William, > > Account Name: W0LFMAN > Offense: Unauthorized Account Access Policy > Details: Unauthorized access to another World of Warcraft account > > The actions detailed above have been deemed inappropriate for World of > Warcraft by the Support staff of Blizzard Entertainment. Please review the > World of Warcraft Unauthorized Account Access Policy at > http://www.blizzard.com/support/wowgm/?id=agm01889 p. Access to another World > of Warcraft account which is not registered in your name constitutes > unauthorized access to another World of Warcraft account, whether or not you > had permission from the registered user. As such, this World of Warcraft > account has now been closed by the Account Administration staff based on > review of the above account infraction incurred. This action has been taken > in accordance with the Terms of Use > (http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/legal/termsofuse.h tml) and our game policies > (http://www.blizzard.com/support/wowgm/?id=agm0171 2p). > > Last, according to the World of Warcraft Terms of Use, to which all players > agree when installing World of Warcraft, Section 3, Paragraph C [Rules Related > to Game Play] states that you may not do anything that Blizzard Entertainment > considers contrary to the "essence" of World of Warcraft. This entails access > to another World of Warcraft account, including, but not limited to, the > deletion of items/characters and redistribution of in-game currency or > possessions. The bottom line is that we want World of Warcraft to be a fun > and safe environment for all players. > > We thank you in advance for your time and for respecting our position. > > > Regards, > > Alchavian > Account Administration > Blizzard Entertainment > http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/ Talk about general....there is nothing in this email that remotely tells what

I seem to recall that Blizzard [blizzard.com] has been using the MPQ format to store its games data since Warcraft 2 (maybe earlier). "Woohoo! Look at all this music that came with this! *plays hissing and garbled sound* Ouchie..." Also, what's to stop people from setting their sound system to record off the sound card what's being played, and save out the proprietary DRM'd music as OGG or MP3?

If you had read the official Blizzard press released, then you'd know they only count active Internet Game Room accounts which have been active in the last 7 days. So yes, their figures can be taken at face value.

From http://www.blizzard.com/press/060119.shtml

World of Warcraft's Customer Definition

World of Warcraft customers include individuals who have paid a subscription fee or purchased a prepaid card to play World of Warcraft, as well as those who have purchased the installation box bundled with one free month access. Internet Game Room players that have accessed the game over the last seven days are also counted as customers. The above definition excludes all players under free promotional subscriptions, expired or cancelled subscriptions, and expired pre-paid cards. Customers in licensees' territories are defined along the same rules.

Press release.

http://www.blizzard.com/press/060509.shtml

IRVINE, Calif. -- May 9, 2006 -- Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. and Legendary Pictures today announced that they have entered into an agreement to develop a live-action film based on Blizzard Entertainment®'s award-winning Warcraft® universe. Based on the terms of the agreement, Legendary Pictures has acquired the movie rights for the best-selling game universe, and both companies are now focused on translating the high-quality Warcraft entertainment experience to the big screen.

Let people download games either through their 360 (plug in, get games/movies/music, walk away - which would make it a useful media hub) or through their main computer.z

Perhaps this isn't really the proper place, but I feel this needs to be said. Blizzard is actually hiring people to run the realms. Go to http://www.blizzard.com/jobopp/ and see what is there. They have had a senior Oracle guru post up there for over a year. Maybe someone looking at these forums can get a job there and help them suck less.

Actually you're wrong. The 6 million number does NOT count expired accounts. From their press release here: http://www.blizzard.com/press/060119.shtml "World of Warcraft's Customer Definition World of Warcraft customers include individuals who have paid a subscription fee or purchased a prepaid card to play World of Warcraft, as well as those who have purchased the installation box bundled with one free month access. Internet Game Room players that have accessed the game over the last seven days are also counted as customers. The above definition excludes all players under free promotional subscriptions, expired or cancelled subscriptions, and expired pre-paid cards. Customers in licensees' territories are defined along the same rules."

Here you go... troll. http://www.blizzard.com/press/060228.shtml

Your website requires me to disable images or override your CSS to be remotely legible. Don't use dark backgrounds.

You mean like this? Really, the 'bright text on dark background' format is becoming nearly as common as the more traditional 'dark on bright'. Though I think this is mostly a matter of personal preference.

And if that didn't do it.. the BurgerCraft thing would have sunk it home, right?

Get ready for Burgercraft! http://www.blizzard.com/press/060401.shtml

For the third year in a row, Urgo's list of April Fool's Jokes on Websites contains the most complete list of April Fool's Day pranks websites have created. Featured by news.com.com.com.. and Microsoft, the site strives to list EVERY joke site, and is updated every few minutes with new verified jokes.

Here is a sample, the twenty most popular ones:
blog.outer-court.com - Google Rooms
thinkgeek.com - USB Tanning Center, RFID Blocking T-shirt, Grow Your mymsnsearch.com - fake (but hilariously accurate) search results gtachicago.com - gta chicago does not exist, (*hint check the whois info*)
tveps.net - Isaac 'Chef' Hayes not leaving southpark after all. Comes clean that it was a publicity stunt.
iwantoneofthose.com - tiny device that downloads your brain's memory to a 2GB USB Flash Drive
blizzard.com - BLIZZARD ENTERTAINMENT® PRESENTS BURGERCRAFT(TM)
bolloxcomics.co.uk - Myspace parody
figuiere.net - int is_computer_on(void)
wiebetech.com - 5 TB iPod
googlesystem.blogspot.com - Google Browser is finally launched. Installer 1.68MB
steampowered.com - VALVe purchased by Apple
slashdot.org - OMG!!! PONIES!!! (and pink layout)
ogrish.com - (NSFW) Bizarre Baby Born In Nepal
worldofwarcraft.com - Blizzard to put Wisps as a playable race for World of Warcraft.
gearlog.com - Laptop Lingerie: Bringing Tech & Pleasure Together
2600.com - 200600 google spoof
bungie.net - Bungie's next game, Pimps At Sea, progessing nicely for the Xbox360
forums.worldofwarcraft.com - World of Warcraft 1.11 patch notes leaked
theregister.co.uk - customise The Register to suit your needs - from blocking ads, to selecting the kind of stories you really want to read.

For the third year in a row, Urgo's list of April Fool's Jokes on Websites contains the most complete list of April Fool's Day pranks websites have created. Featured by news.com.com.com.. and Microsoft, the site strives to list EVERY joke site, and is updated every few minutes with new verified jokes.

Here is a sample, the twenty most popular ones:
mymsnsearch.com - fake (but hilariously accurate) search results
thinkgeek.com - USB Tanning Center, RFID Blocking T-shirt, Grow Your Own 1up Mushroom Kit, Caffeine Inhaler, and more
blog.outer-court.com - Google Rooms
gtachicago.com - gta chicago does not exist, (*hint check the whois info*)
tveps.net - Isaac 'Chef' Hayes not leaving southpark after all. Comes clean that it was a publicity stunt.
blizzard.com - BLIZZARD ENTERTAINMENT® PRESENTS BURGERCRAFT(TM)
iwantoneofthose.com - tiny device that downloads your brain's memory to a 2GB USB Flash Drive
bolloxcomics.co.uk - Myspace parody
wiebetech.com - 5 TB iPod
googlesystem.blogspot.com - Google Browser is finally launched. Installer 1.68MB
figuiere.net - int is_computer_on(void)
steampowered.com - VALVe purchased by Apple
slashdot.org - OMG!!! PONIES!!! (and pink layout)
ogrish.com - (NSFW) Bizarre Baby Born In Nepal
worldofwarcraft.com - Blizzard to put Wisps as a playable race for World of Warcraft.
gearlog.com - Laptop Lingerie: Bringing Tech & Pleasure Together
2600.com - 200600 google spoof
bungie.net - Bungie's next game, Pimps At Sea, progessing nicely for the Xbox360
forums.worldofwarcraft.com - World of Warcraft 1.11 patch notes leaked
theregister.co.uk - customise The Register to suit your needs - from blocking ads, to selecting the kind of stories you really want to read.

For the third year in a row, Urgo's list of April Fool's Jokes on Websites contains the most complete list of April Fool's Day pranks websites have created. Featured by news.com.com.com.. and Microsoft, the site strives to list EVERY joke site, and is updated every few minutes with new verified jokes. wikipedia also contains a sizeable list.

Sample:

tveps.net - Isaac 'Chef' Hayes not leaving southpark after all. Comes clean that it was a publicity stunt.

thinkgeek.com - USB Tanning Center, RFID Blocking T-shirt, Grow Your Own 1up Mushroom Kit, Caffeine Inhaler, and more

theregister.co.uk - customise The Register to suit your needs - from blocking ads, to selecting the kind of stories you really want to read.

worldofwarcraft.com - Blizzard to put Wisps as a playable race for World of Warcraft.

tvpredictions.com - Ready for X-ray TV? New TV picture technology even clearer than HDTV; you can actually see through people's clothing on TV.

blizzard.com - BLIZZARD ENTERTAINMENT® PRESENTS BURGERCRAFT(TM)

bolloxcomics.co.uk - Myspace parody

bolloxcomics.co.uk - YTMND parody

wiebetech.com - 5 TB iPod

sideshowtoy.com - Half a Darth Maul Figure Exclusive?

slashdot.org - OMG!!! PONIES!!! (and pink layout)

whirlpool.net.au - Telstra will only release 2mbit ADSL2+ in Australia.

forums.worldofwarcraft.com - World of Warcraft 1.11 patch notes leaked

mymsnsearch.com - fake (but hilariously accurate) search results

gearlog.com - Laptop Lingerie: Bringing Tech & Pleasure Together

googlesystem.blogspot.com - Google Browser is finally launched. Installer 1.68MB

sordeo.com - mirror image and the title says, 'Now optimized for those afflicted with Dyslexia'

eternal-lands.com - Free Software Foundation buys Eternal Lands

For the third year in a row, Urgo's list of April Fool's Jokes on Websites contains the most complete list of April Fool's Day pranks websites have created. Featured by news.com.com.com.. and Microsoft, the site strives to list EVERY joke site, and is updated every few minutes with new verified jokes. wikipedia also contains a sizeable list.

Sample
tveps.net - Isaac 'Chef' Hayes not leaving southpark after all. Comes clean that it was a publicity stunt.
thinkgeek.com - USB Tanning Center, RFID Blocking T-shirt, Grow Your Own 1up Mushroom Kit, Caffeine Inhaler, and more
theregister.co.uk - customise The Register to suit your needs - from blocking ads, to selecting the kind of stories you really want to read.
worldofwarcraft.com - Blizzard to put Wisps as a playable race for World of Warcraft.
tvpredictions.com - Ready for X-ray TV? New TV picture technology even clearer than HDTV; you can actually see through people's clothing on TV.
blizzard.com - BLIZZARD ENTERTAINMENT® PRESENTS BURGERCRAFT(TM)
bolloxcomics.co.uk - Myspace parody
bolloxcomics.co.uk - YTMND parody
wiebetech.com - 5 TB iPod
sideshowtoy.com - Half a Darth Maul Figure Exclusive?
slashdot.org - OMG!!! PONIES!!! (and pink layout)
whirlpool.net.au - Telstra will only release 2mbit ADSL2+ in Australia.
forums.worldofwarcraft.com - World of Warcraft 1.11 patch notes leaked
mymsnsearch.com - fake (but hilariously accurate) search results
gearlog.com - Laptop Lingerie: Bringing Tech & Pleasure Together
googlesystem.blogspot.com - Google Browser is finally launched. Installer 1.68MB
sordeo.com - mirror image and the title says, 'Now optimized for those afflicted with Dyslexia'
eternal-lands.com - Free Software Foundation buys Eternal Lands

This isn't even an interpretation issue, since the TOS is quite clear.

Really? I searched for "keyboard" and got nothing. I searched for "macro" and got 2 terms, one of which was clearly not relevent, and the other was "(vi) You may not use software products which ... provide scripting and/or macroing to obtain information from World of Warcraft to gain a competitive advantage over other players.".

A keyboard is not a software product.

Then there's the "penalty volcano". "Accounts are closed when a player has excessively and/or grossly violated our policies. When an account is closed, the player is no longer able to access the account. Account Closures are rare and represent a player who is unable to abide by our rules and insists on negatively affecting other players' enjoyment of the game or harming the service itself". The violation was minor and doesn't even justify a 3 hour suspension according to these rules.

I'm actually amazed that the company acted so responsibly. It would have been easy to just backtrack and forgive and forget, but they forged ahead, making an enemy and losing a customer, to try to maintain the "rules of the land". Good for them.

You have a funny definition of "responsible". If you read TFA, he went through great lengths to attempt to resolve the issue with Blizzard, keeping his emails polite at all times. He pointed out that both Logitech and Blizzard had advertised the keyboard as being good for WoW, and even offered to accept a temporary ban to make up for any accidental infractions.

Blizzard ignored all his correspondance, and went for a permanent ban, apparently in direct violation of their own terms of service.

Blizzard was WRONG, and paid no attention to a reasonable customer. I find it perfectly acceptable if he was currently considering either legal or grass roots responses to their gross negligence in the matter. If that is the best they can do for loyal customers who attempted civil resolutions, then they deserve to end up in a media circus of bad press and class action suits.

I don't think you actually read the rules, did you? You should try it. They're pretty clearly spelled out. Be sure to read the whole thing, or you'll miss the point. http://www.blizzard.com/support/wowgm/?id=agm01719 p

Too many people are responding to this article in hysterics because Blizzard has changed its policy to revoke a ban on gay chat and overt sexual references in guild names and to allow descriptions of homosexual acts in public chat channels.

That's not the case now, nor has it ever been. Blizzared never banned gay chat in public channels, only insulting references to sexuality. And descriptions of sexual acts always have been, and continue to be, forbidden. The policy has not changed.

So before you have a freak out, you might want to read the posted policy. It's here:

http://www.blizzard.com/support/wowgm/?id=agm01719 p

Insultingly refers to any aspect of sexual orientation pertaining to themselves or other players
(http://www.blizzard.com/support/wowgm/?id=agm0131 5p#sexualorientation

So apparently Blizzard has to remain politically correct in their fantasy world. This is really too bad, actually, because the action should have gone through in the first place.

Let's take a quick look at the harrassement policy page. Notice under "Highly inappropriate" they have "Sexual Orientation" listed.

Now scroll down to the "Situational Factors" and notice that the public channels (which were the ones the guild was using) are considered to have the strictest regulation of speech on them. If they wanted to talk about GLBT stuff in their guild chat, that's fine. (Note that sexual orientation is NOT listed as disallowed in guild chat.)

They were bringing up sexual orientation in a public chat channel. By the rules they agreed to when signing up for the game, their account would be suspended for 72 hours. There's nothing wrong with that! It's a FANTASY GAME! GLBT chat is fine in a private guild, but it is SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED over the public channels.

It's really depressing to see Blizzard cave in on this issue over concerns of being politically correct. I don't want to be exposed to GLBT chatter over PUBLIC CHANNELS. If they want to do it in the privacy of their guild, that's cool! But it should NOT be allowed in public channels.

as told here, is there any doubt that porting WoW to the 360 would be a waste of time? When you have 6 million paying subscribers, you're already exceeded your goals by your wildest imaginations and it probably wouldn't be a sound financial investment given the technical hurdles and (relatively) small install-base for the 360.

And, yes, you can use a keyboard with the 360, so this is not one of them.

Having passed 3.5 million subscribers over six months ago, conservative estimates of their monthly revenue on the World of Warcraft franchise exceed $41,965,000.00. That translates to over half a billion annually, with long term foreseeable growth.

Why?

Blizzard delivers the game via a streaming model, has absolute control of the content, owns the servers delivering the goods, and can continue adding content to keep it's subscribers coming back as long as it's profitable to do so.

Movie studios could do the same by offering a tiered system of streaming content at increasing resolutions on a subscription basis, i.e. 5 movies monthly/annually @ 640x480 = $X / 5 movies monthly/annually @ 800x600 = $XX / 5 movies monthly/annually @ 1024x768 = $XXX. Increase the frequency, pay more. While a simple concept, the watermarking/security technology to ensure there's no redistribution would hardly be trivial.

This then cuts "piracy" off at the knees, and gives studios control of their content again, without the overhead of egregious legal fees or bad PR. Everybody wins.

But, for this model to be profitable it would mean that studios would have to concentrate on putting out quality instead of quantity, and give up using Fx to coverup nonexistent storylines, and that's a topic for another thread entirely.

Now back to our regularly scheduled programming....

I agree Katamari is amazing, but the one thing that I was hoping to see a glimpse of was Starcraft Ghost.

I never could get into Halo. It was just like all the other FPS since GoldenEye [now THAT was a fun FPS console game]

SC Ghost will be the reason I buy a next-gen console. It's due 2Q-2006. I think they are going to coordinate the release with PS3, but we will have to see.

The Screenshots, clips, etc. are extremely impressive. Blizzard cares about making kickass prodcuts, and I think they are going to show everyone what a real FPS should be. RTS and MMPORPG are already catagories they OWN I don't see why they won't dominate the FPS genre as well. Plus who they hell doesn't want to blow up a firebat and drive a seige tank?

"Dishonorable Actions
Actions that would typically be considered "dishonorable" are considered appropriate actions in a PvP situation and will not be addressed by our Game Master (GM) staff. Dishonorable actions include, but are not limited to:
Corpse camping.
Tricking players into getting flagged for PvP (i.e. jumping in the middle of another player's area effect spell).
Killing players well below your level."

From http://www.blizzard.com/support/wowgm/?id=agm01654 p

As crazy as it seems, World of Warcraft hit 5 million subscribers in December. It seems to appeal to high-school level students all the way up the age ladder.

Statistically, it's not crazy to think that one of those people might be president one day, just improbable. The population of Los Angeles in 2004 was 3.8 million, and you probably wouldn't think it that unlikely that a future president might be any one of those people.

If Blizzard's actions piss you off, tell them about it.

I remember watching (a long time ago) a dvdrip with all the cutscenes from HiRes cutscenes from StarCraft®, Diablo® II, and Warcraft® III

http://www.blizzard.com/market/blizzard-dvd.shtml

I've never played any of those games, but damn those cutscenes were pretty in HiRes.

I remember watching (a long time ago) a dvdrip with all the cutscenes from HiRes cutscenes from StarCraft®, Diablo® II, and Warcraft® III

http://www.blizzard.com/market/blizzard-dvd.shtml

I've never played any of those games, but damn those cutscenes were pretty in HiRes.

Blizzard itself is not being agnostic about the issue, it has an anti-harrasment policy for various groups (religious, racial, sexual), and rightly so in my opinion. This sentence is ripped verbatim from the Blizzard in-game harrassment policy found here: http://www.blizzard.com/support/wowgm/?id=agm01315 p#sexualorientation "Insultingly refers to any aspect of sexual orientation pertaining to themselves or other players." Should Blizzard censure itself for even mentioning sexual orientation in its behavior policy? After all, couldn't the behavior policy itself incite some 13-year-old to call Blizzard "gay"? And according to Blizzard's logic, Blizzard would be to blame for it.

I find it odd that their policies say they may suspend people if their character/guild/pet name contains a reference to sexual orientation, but the worst that happens to a name that contains a reference to religion (covered under "inappropriate") is a warning.

Here you go

Not from what I heard.

http://www.blizzard.com/support/wowbilling/?id=abl 01131p

"If your subscription ends and there is no payment information listed on the account then it will become frozen and inaccessible for play. Provided that the characters do not get deleted by the account holder, we will retain all character information on our servers indefinitely."

Seems pretty clear to me - unless you yourself delete the character, they will hold on to it. Makes sense - they want you to come back.

Let's say they did allow you do download your character. You now have an XML file describing your stats, reputations, equipment, and gold. What exactly did you plan to do with this?

Thats not the point.

What is the point? I'm afraid I've missed it. Besides, even though Blizzard doesn't provide that option, a number of sites (allakazam, wowguru) exist that will let you do just that - extract your profile from the game, and save it. For example: http://www.wowguru.com/ui/48/wow-guru-data-collect ion/

No story here, guys. Move along.

Mod: QtElfASSASSINlord596 was kicked for violating the Terms of Service, section "Titles".
Taco: Rough, aren't they?

Thinking about it, River really reminds me a lot of Kerrigan from Starcraft, at least before she became Zerg, in fact one might argue Firefly has various similarities with Starcraft.

Thinking about it, River really reminds me a lot of Kerrigan from Starcraft, at least before she became Zerg, in fact one might argue Firefly has various similarities with Starcraft.

Read the facts before you talk trash: http://www.blizzard.com/press/060119.shtml They clearly state that they only count the people currently subscribed, and those who've played from Internet game rooms in the last 7 days only.

From http://www.blizzard.com/press/060119.shtml

World of Warcraft's Customer Definition
World of Warcraft customers include individuals who have paid a subscription fee or purchased a prepaid card to play World of Warcraft, as well as those who have purchased the installation box bundled with one free month access. Internet Game Room players that have accessed the game over the last seven days are also counted as customers. The above definition excludes all players under free promotional subscriptions, expired or cancelled subscriptions, and expired pre-paid cards. Customers in licensees' territories are defined along the same rules.

And JFYI, World of Warcraft was the best-selling PC game of 2005 in the U.S., according to "NDP Group":

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/tech/D8F6N8L0A.htm? campaign_id=apn_tech_up&chan=tc

DB: Oracle.

DB: Oracle.

http://www.blizzard.com/press/051219.shtml

In truth, that's only a drop in the bucket. There are 6 billion people in the world, (pulling numbers out of a hat here) 1/4 who could afford $15/month and about half of them are 'eligable' gamers. That means 750 million people are possible, future online gamers. 5 million is a drop in the bucket.

Microsoft is defately going where the money is.