Gadgets and Video Games

Filed under: PC There have been widespread reports of earthquakes happening around Azeroth , seemingly at random. People believe that these earthquake are the beginning of a very large world event that will usher in WoW ’s third expansion, Cataclysm . After a bit of digging, WoW.com speculates that they might be coming form invisible mobs roaming around the virtual world.

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The best of WoW.com: December 22-29, 2009

Filed under: RPGs , Meta (about Joystiq) , MMO It’s patch day again in the World of Warcraft , and that means there’s a whole bunch of upgrades and updates and brand new challenges, quests and things to do in the most successful MMO ever made. Joystiq’s sister site WoW.com has all the patch 3.3 info you’d ever need, from the new Dungeon Finder system to class changes, to all of the various UI tweaks and tips for getting your add-ons ready.

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The best of WoW.com: December 1-8, 2009

Mother of pearl! We thought it was safe to assume that Shanghai-based MMO operator The9 would lose a chunk of its revenue after handing the license for World of Warcraft over to competing company NetEase. By “a chunk” we, of course, meant”a fraction.” Not “almost all revenue,” which according to the company’s Q3 2009 financial report , is how much it lost year-over-year after passing off the rights to run WoW . To put it numerically, The9’s revenues dropped 94 percent from the same quarter last year. A hit that big must have left a sizable dent in the ol’ pocketbook — however, we’re guessing the company’s board members take some small, spiteful satisfaction from the tribulations the game has brought to its new operators.

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The9 posts 94 percent drop in Q3 revenues after losing WoW

Gaze on it, and despair! The abomination above is a common sight in the World of Warcraft this week — Blizzard has kicked off their marketing season with another commercial from Mr. T , as well as an in-game item to go along with it. It’s the Mohawk Grenade, an item that, when thrown, makes WoW characters look like T himself

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The best of WoW.com: November 10-17, 2009

Blizzard just opened a huge can of worms — or of pandas, in this case. The company announced the opening of an in-game pet store in World of Warcraft , wherein players can purchase their own Pandaren Monk or Lil’ K.T., the Littlest Lich , for ten bucks. Half of the purchase price of the Monk goes to the Make-a-Wish Foundation until the end of the year, but all of the Lil’ K.T. proceeds go to Blizzard’s spare Ferrari fund. Blizzard currently offers for-pay services including realm transfers, race and faction changes, and character appearance edits, but this shop offers the first in-game items for sale — and these items are exclusive to the Pet Store

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Blizzard opens real-money pet store in WoW

Ubisoft has reported financial results for the first half of its fiscal year, ending September 30, 2009. Coming in at €166 million ($246 million), this year’s sales represent a drop of 52% when compared to the first two fiscal quarters of the previous year. Second-quarter sales totaled €83 million ($123 million) — a drop of 53.1%, though one that Ubisoft states falls within previously issued guidance.

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Ubisoft reports first-half sales drop, deems Q4 most important quarter in company history

The virtual lands of World of Warcraft have played host to a number of strange sights these past few days — and we’re not just talking about the Halloween festivities which have turned once proud heroes into foam-mouthed candy addicts. No, we’re talking about the new “Race Change” feature , which has basically turned the game’s sociological landscape into the ending of the music video for Michael Jackson’s “Black or White.” Only … with, like, Trolls and Orcs and stuff. For a cool $25, players can change the race (provided that race is in the same faction — changing that costs extra! ), gender, appearance and name of their character

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Race changes now allowed in World of Warcraft, cost a pretty penny

GamesonNet reports that the uncensored version of Borderlands is now available for Australian Steam users. 2K Games is asking all users who preloaded the game to delete the previous content and re-download the eight gigglebyte title. That should fix the issue of Aussie Steam users receiving the “low violence” version of the game, a laughable mistake after the OFLC granted the “high violence” edition entry into the country. Forum users are commenting that there are alternative fixes available out there, but let’s all just agree that re-downloading the game is probably the safest and most “official” way of handling the issue. Of course, redownloading 8GB is not going to make Aussies who have a download limit from their ISP happy.

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Aussie Borderlands fixed, requires another Steam download

After discussing his vision for Fable ’s future , Lionhead’s Peter Molyneux recently reiterated his mantra of inclusive gaming innovation to attendees of BAFTA’s Annual Video Games Lecture. Citing their ability to challenge “the foundation stones of conventional wisdom,” he revealed five titles (documented by That VideoGame Blog ) that he considers to be among the most revolutionary within the last two decades. Molyneux praised Tomb Raider for subverting gaming’s tough-guy protagonist and named Mario 64 as the genuine precursor to 3D titles like Grand Theft Auto 3 . Dune 2 got a nod for its encouragement of more thoughtful tactics, while Bungie’s first Halo earned mention for halfway introducing the now-ubiquitous regenerative health system and curtailed weapon swapping

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Peter Molyneux picks his 5 favorite innovators

It’s that magical time of year in Azeroth — pumpkins adorn the inns, players are chowing down on candy like crazy, and a deep rhyming voice echoes throughout the world, originating from somewhere in the Scarlet Monastery. Yes, it’s the in-game Hallow’s End holiday again, and the Headless Horseman is terrorizing newbies and veterans alike. Head past the break for all the information you need about trick-or-treating your way through Azeroth. Continue reading The best of WoW.com: October 13-20, 2009 The best of WoW.com: October 13-20, 2009 originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 21 Oct 2009 03:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds

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The best of WoW.com: October 13-20, 2009