World of Warcraft Reaches 11,500,000 Subscibers!

Blizzard Entertainment have announced that their ultra popular MMORPG World of Warcraft has hit a new milestone. 11.5 Million subscribers are currently subscribing. They also noted that the newest expansion, Wrath of the Lich King sold 2.8 million copies worldwide within its first 24 hours of sale which makes it the fastest selling PC game of all time. Nothing to turn a blind eye at to say the least. Wrath went on to sell 4 million copies its first month.

Lich King Is Out!!

And I definitely do not have it, so whoever does have it should tell me how awesome it is. :)

Titan Studios Forms in Seattle

Epic Games China have opened up a new game development studio in Seattle called Titan Studios. Titan is made up of senior developers with previous experience at such well known dev. studios as Ubisoft, Epic Games, Scion Studios, Blizzard Entertainment, and Lionhead Studios. Quite the repertoir indeed it would seem, but we will have to wait and see what they come up with. They will be making games mostly using Epic's Unreal Engine 3.

According to official statements, a new mmo is in the works. No details on what it might be yet but updates will be available when they are released. Lets just hope for something kickass. Something with electric blanket mobiles and hamburger earmuffs! ok ok, maybe not but hey stranger things have happened....

World of Warcraft Patch 3.0.2 Released!

Version 3.0.2 of World of Warcraft is released and its a big one! There are quite a few new improvements over the last client including the all new achievement system which seems to be a big hit with azeroth's finest.

All players have had their talent points reimbursed to make way for an all new talent tree for all classes. New spells and abilities are available and many adjustments were made to pre-existing spells and abilities.

Another new feature in the patch are the barbershops scattered among the major cities of Azeroth. This will allow players to change their characters facial and hair features, for a fee somewhere around 5g.

Pictured above is the all new addition to the human capital of Azeroth, Stormwind Harbour.

Other new additions can be found in the official patch notes at the official site.

I play in the Kael' Thas server as a rogue named Overshadow for those wondering.

Diablo 3 Barbarian Skill Tree!

Blizzard have released the skill tree for the barbarian class in Diablo 3, I know what your all thinking, that I am obsessed with either Blizzard or Diablo 3. Well the answer is both. I have always loved Blizzard's games, the way they made them and what they achieved in gaming.

Well here it is folks:

Juggernaut Skill Tree
-Juggernaut skills are mostly active attack skills that are controlled by the player from the hotbar.

Battlemaster Skill Tree
-Battlemaster skills are passive buffs for the Barbarian Class.

Berserker Skill Tree
-Berserker Skills are agressive attack skills and passive buffs that alter damage, attack speed and similar effects.

Diablo 3 Details!

Diablo 3 is one of the hottest up and coming games this year, the third in the Diablo series. Blizzard has improved the interface with the addition of a hotbar where your potions used to be in Diablo 2. They have modified the skills system so you can easily switch your fighting style on the go and no longer have to be stuck with one or 2 skills.

There are new playable classes which are Wizard and Witch Doctor. The ladder of which you can see in the picture above. Blizzard have also changed the way you can gain health in Diablo 3. Instead of having to rely on potions so much, there are new drops from enemies which look like a glowing red orb. The orbs will provide you with health that will allow you to keep battling and makes the game flow a little bit better.

Another big gameplay addition in Diablo 3 are the fully interactive 3d environments. Players will now be able to destroy the environments and even use it to their advantage against enemies.

Long time Diablo fans will notice some old friends in the new game, one of which being Deckard Cain, as well as many new and exciting friends and foes. Some familiar locations will also be rendered in full 3D for the first time such as Tristram.

I will post more details as news breaks.

Blizzard Reveal Diablo 3 Details At Blizzcon

Blizzcon 2008 is here. For those of you unfamiliar with the event, it is a two day show full of guild meetings, developer panels and tournaments. Blizzard Entertainment runs the show and it is growing in popularity every year, this year being its third annual. The show is not open to the public, so the very fortunate ones who managed to nab a ticket surely felt superior to those non ticket holding folks. Those who are in the show will also get first hand looks at Blizzard's impressive upcoming line-up including Diablo 3, Starcraft 2 and the 2nd World of Warcraft expansion Wrath of the Lich King.

In the opening remarks of the show Blizzard announced the new wizard and witch doctor classes as well as the classic barbarian class. They also announced the first ever Starcraft 2 tournament.

Lich King System Requiremtents Released

Here are the minimum and recommended system specifications released by Blizzard.

PC System Requirements

OS: Windows XP (Service Pack 3), Windows Vista (Service Pack 1)

Processor:
• Minimum: Intel Pentium 4 1.3 GHz or AMD Athlon XP 1500+
• Recommended: Dual-core processor, such as the Intel Pentium D or AMD Athlon 64 X2

Memory:
• Minimum: 512 MB RAM (1GB for Vista users)
• Recommended: 1 GB RAM (2 GB for Vista users)

Video:
• Minimum: 3D graphics processor with Hardware Transform and Lighting with 32 MB VRAM
Such as an ATI Radeon 7200 or NVIDIA GeForce 2 class card or better
• Recommended: 3D graphics processor with Vertex and Pixel Shader capability with 128 MB VRAM
Such as an ATI Radeon X1600 or NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GT class card or better

Sound: DirectX-compatible sound card or motherboard sound capability

Mac System Requirements

OS: Mac OS X 10.4.11 or newer

Processor:
• Minimum: PowerPC G5 1.6 GHz or Intel Core Duo processor
• Recommended: Intel 1.8GHz processor or better

Memory:
• Minimum: 1 GB RAM
• Recommended: 2 GB RAM

Video:
• Minimum: 3D graphics processor with Hardware Transform and Lighting with 64 MB VRAM
Such as an ATI Radeon 9600 or NVIDIA GeForce Ti 4600 class card or better
• Recommended: 3D graphics processor with Vertex and Pixel Shader capability with 128 MB VRAM
Such as an ATI Radeon X1600 or NVIDIA 7600 class card or better