All Articles: World of Warcraft
A Day-By-Day Guide to All of 2016’s New Video Games (April – September)
The Spring and Summer months are currently less dense with new releases than the first three months of the year, but that should change fairly soon, especially since publishers have staked a claim to every week from the beginning of April to the end of June with at least one big new release dropping every seven days.
Are you ready? Because here… we… go… (more…)
Blizzard reveals World of Warcraft: Legion expansion at Gamescom 2015
Announced yesterday at Gamescom, the next expansion to World of Warcraft will be known as Legion. With Legion, players of Blizzard’s massively popular MMO will gain access to a new Hero Class (Demon Hunter), a new continent (The Broken Isles), and an increased Level Cap (110). The expansion will also include powerful “Artifact Weapons” to use against the demonic Burning Legion, a new “Order Hall” to recruit a regiment of NPCs, and a new PvP Honor System.
Will players need all these features to take on the Burning Legion? Probably, because they sound like bad dudes…
In this dire new chapter of the Warcraft saga, the demonic Burning Legion has returned, seeking to call forth their fallen leader—the dark titan Sargeras, Ravager of Worlds. As destruction rains across Azeroth, its heroes must seek salvation among the ruins of the Broken Isles, doomed center of ancient night elf civilization and birthplace of myths dating back to the world’s creation. In the face of hopeless odds, they must learn to master mighty Artifacts—legendary weapons that hold the potential to bring down the corrupted armies of the Legion—and strike an infernal pact with the dread Demon Hunters of the Illidari… accursed followers of the infamous Illidan the Betrayer.
We don’t yet know when World of Warcraft: Legion will be available, but a more complete rundown of the game’s features (including a very informative trailer) can be found after the break. (more…)
Blizzard will announce sixth World of Warcraft expansion at Gamescom 2015
Blizzard has announced they will reveal the sixth expansion to World of Warcraft at this year’s Gamescom expo.
According to a post on Battle.net, the expansion will makes it worldwide debut as part of a presentation will take place on Thursday, August 6 at 12:00 PM (Eastern Time). If you’re not going to be in Cologne, Germany next week for the expo, don’t worry, Blizzard plans to livestream the entire event at BlizzGC.com.
Blizzard will host a second presentation during Gamescom on Sunday, August 9 at 11:00 AM (Eastern Time). This “World of Warcraft developer chat” will reveal more information about the MMO’s next expansion.
If you do find yourself in Cologne, Germany next week, Blizzard will have a booth at Gamescom in Hall 7.1 and they’re encouraging all their fans to stop by.
World Video Game Hall of Fame’s Class of 2015 is Tetris, Super Mario Bros, Pong, Doom, WoW, Pac-Man
The World Video Game Hall of Fame, which is administered by the International Center for the History of Electronic Games and The Strong in Rochester, New York, has announced its inaugural list of inductees. Drum roll, please.
The 2015 Class of the World Video Game Hall of Fame includes…
- Doom, id Software’s pioneering first person shooter.
- Pac-Man, the dot-eating, ghost-chasing hero of every 80s arcade.
- Pong, one of video gaming’s earliest arcade hits.
- Super Mario Bros., the side-scroller that put the NES on the map and made Mario a household name.
- Tetris, the falling block puzzler that’s surely invaded your dreams at least once.
- World of Warcraft, Blizzard’s MMO made the genre what it is today and is still going strong after a decade.
While all of the games are at least ten years old, it’s amazing how important they still are to video gaming’s current climate. Bethesda will pull the curtain back on the next game in the Doom series at this year’s E3 Expo. Pac-Man recently celebrated his 35th anniversary and will star in a new mobile game this Summer. Super Mario Bros. is also celebrating a big anniversary this year and will influence this September’s Mario Maker. The Tetris Company, and Alexey Pajitnov, continues to license new version of Tetris and the latest, Tetris Ultimate, was released last year. Finally, Blizzard released World of Warcraft’s fifth expansion, Warlords of Draenor, in November and a sixth is already in the works.
These six games represent gaming at its greatest and are excellent choices for the Hall of Fame’s inaugural class. As part of their selection, the inductees will be on permanent view (and in playable form) at The Strong’s “eGameRevolution” exhibit.
Nine other finalists were considered for inclusion by the international committee including Angry Birds, FIFA International Soccer, The Legend of Zelda, Minecraft, The Oregon Trail, Pokemon Red/Blue, The Sims, Sonic the Hedgehog, and Space Invaders. I’m sure it’s only a matter of time until all of them are enshrined in the Hall of Fame. But if you want to campaign for your favorite game, nominees for the Class of 2016 are currently being accept at the World Video Game Hall of Fame’s website.
The Strong announces finalists for the World Video Game Hall of Fame’s Class of 2015
The Strong National Museum of Play and the International Center for the History of Electronic Games have announced the finalists for the inaugural class of the World Video Game Hall of Fame. More than a dozen classic games passed this first test on their way to video game immortality, which were selected from thousands of nominations that poured in from gamers all across the world. Nominations for the Class of 2015 were accepted from February 17 through March 31, but in case you missed out, the Hall of Fame is already accepting games for next year’s class.
This year’s inductees to the World Video Game Hall of Fame will be chosen from the finalist pool by an “international selection committee” made up of journalists, scholars, and other individuals. The inaugural class will be announced on June 4 at 10:30 AM (Eastern Time) during a ceremony at The Strong.
The finalists for the World Video Game Hall of Fame’s Class of 2015 include:
- Angry Birds
- Doom
- FIFA International Soccer
- The Legend of Zelda
- Minecraft
- The Oregon Trail
- Pac-Man
- Pokemon Red/Blue
- Pong
- The Sims
- Sonic the Hedgehog
- Space Invaders
- Super Mario Bros.
- Tetris
- World of Warcraft
“The 15 finalists for the World Video Game Hall of Fame span decades, gaming platforms, and geographies… but what they all have in common is their undeniable impact on popular culture and society in general,” said Jon-Paul Dyson, the Director of the International Center for the History of Electronic Games.
Inductees into the World Video Game Hall of Fame will be selected based on the following criteria: “Icon Status,” “Longevity,” “Geographical Reach,” and “Influence.” All 15 finalists certainly qualify, but I know I’ll be rooting for Tetris.
New Releases: Halo Master Chief Collection, AC: Unity/AC: Rogue, Lego Batman 3, More
With Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare‘s launch behind us, game publishers have moved forward with a massive amount of mid-November releases. Chief among them (that’s right, I went there) is Microsoft’s Halo: The Master Chief Collection, an Xbox One repackaging of Halo: Combated Evolved, Halo 2, Halo 3, and Halo 4. More Achievements than you could ever ask for and four of the best shooters to ever grace a gaming system. Not a bad deal. Also available this week is a double shot of Assassin’s Creed from Ubisoft. Assassin’s Creed: Rogue (PS3, Xbox 360) closes the book on the franchise’s “Americas” saga while Assassin’s Creed: Unity (PC, PS4, Xbox One) shifts the series to the French Revolution.
The remaining new releases can also be slotted into several long-running franchises including WB’s Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham (3DS, PC, PS3, PS4, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One), Sega’s Sonic Boom two-fer (Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric on the Wii U and Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal on the 3DS), Bandai Namco’s Tales of Hearts R (Vita), and Konami’s Pro Evolution Soccer 2015 (PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One).
Finally this week, Blizzard is back with another World of Warcraft expansion… World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor.
A complete list of this week’s new releases can be found after the break. (more…)
World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor will march into stores on November 13
Today, during a special Gamescom presentation, Blizzard announced that the fifth World of Warcraft expansion, Warlords of Draenor, will be released on November 13.
Warlords of Draenor adds a world’s worth of exciting new content for World of Warcraft players to discover. As Azeroth’s displaced heroes venture across Draenor, they’ll build and manage a mighty Garrison, a customizable fortress that grows with them on their journey; delve into otherworldly draenei temples and clash in the heart of hostile orc clans’ territory; fight the opposing faction for control of Ashran, a huge and dynamic PvP zone featuring a variety of personal and cooperative objectives; and take on a wide array of Dungeons, Raids, Battlegrounds, Challenge Modes, and more. No matter what kind of content you enjoy, your legend is waiting to be forged on Draenor.
As part of their presentation, Blizzard unveiled Warlords of Draenor’s opening cinematic, which you can view above. They also debuted the first episode of Lords of War, an animated miniseries that will introduce players to some of the expansion’s major characters. The premiere episode is known as “Shattered Hand” and is available after the break. Additional episodes will be posted on WorldofWarcraft.com “in the weeks ahead.” (more…)
Blizzard @ PAX East 2014: Heroes of the Storm, Diablo III PS4, Hearthstone, WoW: Draenor
Blizzard will have plenty to showcase at this year’s PAX East expo, including playable demos of the PS4 port of Diablo III, Heroes of the Storm, Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft, and World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor.
Players who get a chance to visit booth #848 will be able to play as The Crusader in Diablo III’s “Ultimate Evil Edition” with a DualShock 4 controller for the first time. If they slide over to the WoW: Warlords of Draenor demo, they will experience “updated character models” and the expansion’s “intro experience.” A brand-new demo of Heroes of the Storm will also be on hand, with never-before-seen heroes to try out. And finally, the iPad edition of Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft will be playable at Blizzard’s booth.
As always, PAX East will be held at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center. This year’s expo will begin on Friday, April 11 and run through Sunday, April 13.