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Posts Tagged ‘Blizzard’

So It Goes: World Of Warcraft Loses 1.3 Million More Subs

By Nathan Grayson on May 9th, 2013.

Clearly, all this 'massively multiplayer' silliness was a fad. Can we have Warcraft IV now?

That’s subscribers. Not subway sandwiches. Don’t get me wrong: I’d definitely put out a press release and hold an investor call if I misplaced a veritable volcano fortress of sandwiches. In it, I would drastically downgrade my quarterly expectations and ask if I could borrow a few hundred-thousand loaves of bread from anyone. But anyway. Activision gathered its friends and countrymen for another sermon on the moneymount today, and of course, World of Warcraft was a big focus. And while the previous reported total of 9.6 million subscribers was still quite impressive in its own way, it wasn’t exactly on the up-and-up. Since the end of last year, the most massive player in the massively multiplayer arena has bled another 1.3 million people, their shiny crimson change pooling into the gutters below. The kicker? In a decidedly un-Activision move, the publishing behemoth’s actually starting to feel a bit worried.

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MMOTCG – Hearthstone: Heroes Of Warcraft In Action

By Nathan Grayson on April 13th, 2013.

Enthralling.

You’re probably thinking, “Action? Hah. The closest card games have ever gotten to action was the grisly paper cut massacre of 1912.” But actually, Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft keeps quite a brisk, effects-packed pace. Ice and fire sing down from on high (or at least slightly above the coffee table), and monster slabs snap, crackle, and pop en route to shattering to the winds. Turns, meanwhile, go by in a flash – at least, when players who know what they’re doing are trading heated strategic blows. See for yourself via a full Shaman vs Mage match after the break.

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Wot I Think – StarCraft II: Heart Of The Swarm Singleplayer

By Alec Meer on April 11th, 2013.

It probably won’t come as any shock to learn that none of the current RPS team have gone the distance in StarCraft II’s incomparable multiplayer, but I can at least tell you what I made of the expansive singleplayer campaign in its first expansion, Heart of the Swarm. No throwaway side-dish, this is a vast, bubbling, consciously epic, setpiece-filled cauldron of scifi RTS-RPG. This time around, the stars are hiveminded alien nasties the Zerg and their sometime ruler Sarah Kerrigan, seeking a comeback and revenge after the events of StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty. Scuttle this way and I’ll tell you more.
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The Buttocks Of StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm

By Alec Meer on April 9th, 2013.

Zagara visits the gym regularly, clearly

Playing through the StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm campaign this weekend, I couldn’t help but be struck by Blizzard’s equality-minded approach to how it depicts its characters’ hindquarters. I’ve just been through every cutscene again, and screengrabbed every bottom I could spot (barring repeat shots and most of the slow zooms).
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Blizz-Card: Hearthstone – Heroes Of Warcraft

By Adam Smith on March 22nd, 2013.

PAX East is happening right now and even though I’m not there to watch people announce things on stages, I’ve recently discovered a magical portal that allows me to read about reactions to things that are happening on the other side of the world. Currently, the tiny aperture is bursting with words and letters, things like ‘CCG’, ‘Free to play’, ‘first’, ‘Warcraft’, ‘Blizzard’ and ‘oh…really? Oh’. It would appear that the denizens of whatever land exists at the other side of the portal are discussing the announcement of Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft, Blizzard’s first free to play game, which is a strategic collectible card game. Either that or they’ve all gone mad.

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StarCraft II: Heart Of The Swarm Starts Beating

By Craig Pearson on March 12th, 2013.

Screeeeeeeeeeeeeeech!

“… and over to Craig, who you might say is at the ‘heart of the launch’. Ahahah! Craig?”

“Thanks, Cara. I’m reporting live from the StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm launch. You might say I’m at the ‘heart of the launch’.”

“I just said that, Craig.”

“I know you did. I was just, er, vamping. You know? Okay. Look, I’ll admit. I wasn’t paying attention. Someone just told me Heart of the Swarm had been released. I was asleep 10 minutes ago, dreaming about helping Vince McMahon’s daughter choose survival clothes. It wasn’t even Stephanie. So, yes: Heart of the Swarm, the second game of the second StarCraft, went live just over eleven hours ago, and the always-on-the-ball RPS have a barely awake Scotsman telling you all about it.”

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StarCraft II: Heart Of The Swarm Makes Replays Playable

By John Walker on February 21st, 2013.

The latest trailer for Blizzard’s StarCraft II: Heart Of The Swarm focuses on eSports and multiplayer. eSports are like regular sports, except it’s playing videogames in a chair, and not sports. Multiplayer is when other people spoil your game for you.

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BlizzConCaliNov

By Alec Meer on February 19th, 2013.

and they say we Brits have bad teeth

Even though no-one plays games with a keyboard and mouse anymore, Blizzard’s annual fan-con somehow attracts huge crowds and helps the Activision-owned developer to earn All The Money from PC games. They’ve just announced the 2013 (and seventh annual) Blizzcon, due this November in Anaheim, California, the United States of America, Land of the Free, Home of the Brave, origin of sausage and chocolate chip pancake on a stick. What will be there? VIDEOGAMES.
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Power MMOverwhelming: StarCraft Universe Prologue Live

By Nathan Grayson on February 19th, 2013.

On today's episode of When Things Look Bizarrely Similar For No Real Explicable Reason: http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/11/14/oh-the-lack-of-humanity-primordia-out-next-month/

StarCraft Universe is a fan-made StarCraft MMO and – in all likelihood – the closest thing to World of StarCraft we’re gonna get until Blizzard realizes it wants all the money instead of just most of it. You might find it a bit weird, then, that StarCraft Universe – Chronicles of Fate is entirely single-player. But paving over a fundamentally RTS-focused engine with an entirely different genre is apparently a slightly complicated process, so developer Upheaval Arts is taking baby steps. But hey, that still means we get an (admittedly WoW-ish) single-player StarCraft RPG in the meantime. Worse things have happened. Maybe. I assume.

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Heartfelt Swarm: Blizzard Discuss Starcraft Techniques

By Jim Rossignol on February 8th, 2013.


Be you noob or ninja, Starcraft‘s Heart Of The Swarm expansion wishes to cater for you. Yes, everyone is welcome at the table of extra-terrestrial strategy. In their latest seven minute preview, which you can watch below, Blizzard community manager “Cloaken” explains a bit about this approach, as well as announcing “unranked play”, which should allow veterans to kick back and mess about without threatening those precious ladder rankings.
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Promising: WoW Movie Snags Moon, Source Code Director

By Nathan Grayson on January 31st, 2013.

Once upon time, Legendary Pictures’ long-stalled Warcraft movie had a director. Then it didn’t. In the wake of Spider-Man and Evil Dead maestro Sam Raimi’s mighty battle-leap into Oz, Blizzard’s own heaving epic seemed destined to stall. Surprisingly, however, it’s once again back on track. With David Bowie’s son at the helm, naturally. But Duncan Jones is an excellent creator in his own right, having previously been responsible for the likes of Moon and Source Code, both of which did super interesting sci-fi things with unique settings and characters. Granted, he’s not the first person I’d think of for a preposterously mega-budgeted fantasy swordsplosion, but who knows? I’d have never tagged Chris Nolan for Batman, either.

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