Tag: BLIZZARD

After more than 12 years -- a lifetime in video game terms -- the long-awaited 'StarCraft' sequel, 'Wings of Liberty,' has finally arrived. The initial impressions are very good, if not very surprising. What's here is familiar without being mundane, thanks to countless small tweaks, along with an entirely new graphics engine and more spit and polish than those classic cars in the original ...

According to 1UP.com, a new virtual horse generated about $2 million in sales within four hours of being made available to 'World of Warcraft' users at the Blizzard Pet Store. By Thursday at 6:30 p.m. EST, according to WoW.com, nearly 140,000 nerds had purchased a 'Celestial Steed' (which costs $25 and offers no extra abilities) like it was going out of style. So what would make a person ...

Monday marked the fifth birthday of the most successful, massively multi-player online game in history -- 'World of Warcraft.' 'WoW,' as it's otherwise known, is an expansion of the popular 'Warcraft' franchise, and has become far more successful than publisher Blizzard could have possibly imagined. With more than 12 million subscribers worldwide, 'WoW' is a phenomenon and pop culture icon. ...

In Australia, if a video game doesn't have an Australian Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC) rating, typically, it's not carried on store shelves. Similarly, if a game has anything over an MA15+ rating (suitable for children 15 and up), it's also not carried in stores. The exception? A number of massively multiplayer online games, including the one and only 'World of Warcraft.' ...

Balancing reality and virtual worlds can be a problem for some gamers, but one Beijing restaurateur is hoping it leads to a booming business with his 'World of Warcraft'-themed eatery. Geeks need to eat too, right? The entrance to the restaurant is a recreation of the Dark Portal, the intro animation from 'WoW: The Burning Crusade.' Once you get inside, the walls are lined with pictures and ...

Postings on the job boards for Blizzard, the company behind 'Warcraft' and 'Diablo,' have given away a little secret. The boys at Blizzard are working on a next-generation Massively Multiplayer Online game (MMO). Blizzard did confirm that it was working on an unannounced MMO, but would not divulge any further details. Of course, this leaves all of us to speculate what the game will be. Message ...

For years now, Electronic Arts has been the global powerhouse in the video game industry thanks to multi-million dollar franchises like 'Madden' and 'The Sims.' Now, though, it's about to be relegated to second place thanks to a new, multi-billion dollar deal that would merge two powerhouse game publishers: Activision and Vivendi Games, creating the largest publisher of video games in the ...

Everyone figured World of Warcraft (WoW) would be successful in its own right, but no one could have imagined it would become the cultural powerhouse that it is. The massively multiplayer online game's runaway success has lined Blizzard's (the company behind WoW, Warcraft, Starcraft, and Diablo) pockets with boatloads of cash. So what is Blizzard doing with this deluge of income? Marketing, of ...