Recently in WoW Category

Some news the Obama administration may want to contend with when considering any plans to boost American economic productivity right around now: Amid the slew of high-profile new games coming out of late (Fable 2, Fallout 3, Gears of War 2, Call of Duty: World at War), Blizzard's much-awaited 2nd WoW expansion, Wrath of the Lich KIng, drops tonight at midnight. In other words, that serious drag on the Internets tomorrow, as well as the frantic clicking sound you'll be hearing in offices and cubicles around the world, is eleven million people frantically trying to be the first to level from 70 to 80. (I myself plan to take a slightly more leisurely pace with WotLK, meaning I'll probably stop playing through the coming weekend for such relative luxuries as food, sleep, the monthly library book sale, and the new Bond flick.)

Update: [Note: If you're not among the WoW-inclined, just skip over this paragraph.] Ding 80, as of Sunday evening during the Obama 60 Minutes. So far, I've been extremely impressed with the art direction of Northrend, as well as the imagination put into some of the quests. (Lots of fun nods throughout too -- See, for example, the Lost hatch in Sholazar Basin, the Time Bandits quest in Zul'Drak, or the time-travel paradox from Infocom's old Sorcerer game in Dragonblight.) That being said, I am slightly afraid they've made the game too easy to allow more (re: bad) players to access end-game content. I guess we'll soon find out...

I have no pride, I have no shame...and I'm not above pimping for Blizzard Entertainment every so often if the price is right. So, as my MMORPG of choice is trying to build out its network prior to the coming expansion, and are now offering various goodies to veteran and signee to do so, send me a note if anyone's thinking of taking the World of Warcraft plunge. On the upside, it's relatively cheap and addictive entertainment. On the downside, did I mention it was addictive? Don't say I didn't warn you if your life takes an Aqua Vita turn.

"The cultural and behavioral norms of virtual worlds and gaming are generally unstudied. Therefore, Reynard will seek to identify the emerging social, behavioral and cultural norms in virtual worlds and gaming environments. The project would then apply the lessons learned to determine the feasibility of automatically detecting suspicious behavior and actions in the virtual world." The Director of National Intelligence announces a project to uncover terrorists in World of Warcraft and other MMORPGs. It seems the US government has finally awakened to the catastrophic dangers posed by Bin Laden's vast army of h4x0rs and ninjas. (Via Yglesias, where the game-savvy commenters are already having a good deal of fun with it.)

Whoosh! That giant sucking sound you'll hear in a few months is the free time, productivity, and normal sleep cycles of 9 million people around the world suddenly being consumed within the vortex of another ten-level grind...Blizzard announces Wrath of the Lich King, a forthcoming second expansion pack (a la Burning Crusades) to their popular and addictive MMORPG. [If you're not a WoW player, just skip over the rest of this entry -- it won't make any sense.] Right now, my guild is done with Kara, has SSC essentially on farm, and is now plugging through the Eye (Void Reaver on farm, Al'ar recently down, Solarian and Kael'thas to come.) (As for my own character, I'm pretty well-geared these days -- all of Tier 4, starting Tier 5 -- and still reference EJ's handy rogue spreadsheet whenever a possible upgrade falls.) So I expect we'll be getting bored with Mt. Hyjal and the Black Temple at right around the time the new continent of Northrend drops. Well-played, Blizzard.

The fanboy/fangirl nation is once again congregating in San Diego this weekend for Comic-Con, so expect a lot of news on that front over the coming days, including more word from Indy 4 (including probably the title) and maybe even (fingers crossed) a Dark Knight teaser. First up, tho', the new trailer for Robert Zemeckis' CGI-animated version of Beowulf, with Ray Winstone (CGI-buffed), Angelina Jolie (using her Alexander voice), Robin Wright Penn, and John Malkovich, poses this hypothetical quandary: Can they create an Anthony Hopkins out of pixels that's hammier than the real guy? We'll see. I gotta say, it looks a little "WoW cutscene" at times, but my curiosity is piqued.

A pause for breath: One short week before The Burning Crusade starts consuming my non-dissertating/blogging moments and late-night hours anew, I've made it to level 60 on the ridiculously addictive World of Warcraft (with an undead rogue by the name of JackLowry, in case you were interested.) I tried Second Life around the same time back in November and didn't really get into it, but, oh my, WoW is gaming crack, the most virulent stuff I've experienced since Civ4. If you haven't tried it, be warned.

"Teamwork and competition do make the game much more fun, but everybody's stuck in the same grind. With little at stake, your quests feel less like Frodo and Sam's trip to Mordor than a night shift at Hardee's. Every new level brings more of the same, and fatigue sets in the 10th time you've run through the same high-level dungeon, or when you're trying to crack level 38 but can't bring yourself to kill another goddamn swamp jaguar." Also in Slate, Chris Dahlen calls out World of Warcraft (while, unlike too many contrarian Slate pieces, offering valuable suggestions for improvement.) I only recently tried out (re: binged on) WoW for the first time -- I'm at Level 29 and climbing -- and he's got a point. The game is good, addictive fun, but I do wish there was more Infocom-style problem solving involved and less repetitive point-and-click pixel-bashing.

"'We're like a stock exchange. You can buy and sell with us,' says Alan Qiu, a founder of the Shanghai-based Ucdao.com. 'We farm out the different jobs. Some people say, "I want to get from Level 1 to 60," so we find someone to do that.'" Via a friend in the program, the NYT examines Chinese online gaming factories. "Most of the players here actually make less than a quarter an hour, but they often get room, board and free computer game play in these 'virtual sweatshops.'"