Archive for March 24th, 2009

Vista sidebar widget available for WoW players

Tuesday, March 24th, 2009

If you're a Vista user, that odd sidebar has suddenly become relevant to your WoW lifestyle. Available for free from the Wndows Live site, WoW Explorer has a host of neat little plugins. The simplest of these features include the ability to put your realm on the Explorer skin -- ...

The9 to lose agent business of “World of Warcraft” in China, hearsay

Tuesday, March 24th, 2009

Online game operator and developer The9 Limited (NCTY.NASDAQ) hasn't reached agreement with Blizzard Entertainment and is very likely to lose its mainland agency right on operation of "World of Warcraft", according source familiar with the deal Tuesday. The insider said that the American game runner, Blizzard Entertainment was unsatisfied with The9's ...

Possible addon business models

Tuesday, March 24th, 2009

Ever since that new addon policy came to light, some addon devs are furious, and threatening to stop publishing their addons completely. But others are being a little more optimistic -- instead of shutting down their addons, they're trying to figure out new ways around Blizzard's rules in order to ...

Lunch In WoW Should Keep Free? – Addons and Rights

Tuesday, March 24th, 2009

Addons and rights   Anyone remember the mazzlegasm? Two years ago there was an addon for World of Warcraft called MazzleUI which to advertise itself had your character /yelling "I've had an intense Mazzlegasm" across the entire zone, and many of the users of that addon didn't find that funny. WoW addons ...

Neutral Auction houses (and putting them in Northrend)

Tuesday, March 24th, 2009

You've probably heard, by now, the reason why there are no auction houses (or class trainers) in Dalaran or Shattrath. Blizzard doesn't want the old world towns (like Ironforge and Orgrimmar) to become ghost towns. Ghost towns like, for example, Shattrath -- have you been there lately? But as Gnomeaggedon ...

Developers call for focused PvP testing on the PTR

Tuesday, March 24th, 2009

The calls for focused testing on the PTR continue, this time with a focus on PvP and the arena. This Thursday, March 26th, the developers are asking volunteers to queue up for any rated arena bracket and give it a go. They'll be observing (and possibly participating?) throughout the day ...

65% fewer Arena teams in Season 5

Tuesday, March 24th, 2009

Roma Victor over at Gameriot had an eye-opening entry recently that gives some hard numbers to a phenomenon that I'm sure a lot of players have known for a while... fewer people are playing Arenas lately. A lot fewer. About 65% fewer. He perused the Season 5 ArenaJunkies title calculator ...