Latest Updates
By Phil Elliott, GameSpot UK
''Release day for The Burning Crusade, the much-anticipated add-on to the blockbuster massively multiplayer role-playing game World of Warcraft, is drawing near, and Blizzard has now finished fine-tuning the expansion's various new factions, zones, and instances. Following on from our last hands-on-preview we take one final look over what could be another momentous event for online games. ''
To see the rest, click right here.
Ten years ago, Blizzard released Diablo and with it established its second major entertainment universe. With legions of players assailing the Lord of Terror around the world and numerous critics hailing its design, Diablo quickly became a bestseller and went on to earn multiple Game of the Year awards. Battle.net, the free Internet gaming service that shipped with Diablo, proved to be equally important for Blizzard’s continuing growth as a game developer and publisher. Evolving and expanding with subsequent Blizzard titles, Battle.net is still going strong today as the largest service of its kind, with millions of active players worldwide.
Read more about both of these core Blizzard properties in our 10-year-anniversary retrospective.
As said, The release date is planned for January 16, 2007. There will be a regular version or a collectors edition. The special edition includes the game, a special in-game Nether whelp pet, an art book, trading cards, the soundtrack and a mouse pad with a map of the outlands. Both versions of the game will be the same, aside from the cosmetic pet. With all the new content, and the races, adventurers will have their hands full for a long time coming.
Here's a preview from Gameshark.
Bizzard is pleased to announce that it has signed an agreement with
Soft-World International Corporation for the operation of World of
Warcraft: The Burning Crusade in the regions of Taiwan, Hong Kong, and
Macau. Soft-World, Blizzard's current partner for World of Warcraft in
these regions, will manage the distribution and operation of the
expansion there, in addition to providing community and customer
support. Localization into Traditional Chinese is underway, and both
companies are working hard to complete the process and release the
expansion as soon as possible following The Burning Crusade's January
launch in Europe, Korea, North America, and the Oceanic regions.
Regarding the release of World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade
in mainland China, Blizzard is continuing discussions with The9 on that
topic and hopes to announce further details in the near future.
The trailer offers an epic cinematic introduction of the Blood Elves
and Draenei, as well as a foreboding message from Illidan Stormrage,
who makes an appearance as well. The January release of the expansion
is just a few weeks away now, so check out the opening cinematic here and prepare yourself for the challenges that await you in Outland.
Source: Blizzard Entertainment Website
Read its full list of details inside or at the official website (might as well read it here since its a much faster website
).cold-blooded fighters a place to compete against each other in
gladiatorial battles for honor, glory, and power. Gather your allies,
build your teams, and prepare to face off against merciless foes and
formidable enemies in a race to claim the honor of being the highest
ranked Arena Team on your realm.
Read Inside
Blizzard released something about the new Battle Plan for WoW. A lot of new info to read.
''Since our previous Battle Plan, World of Warcraft has gained a considerable amount of new in-game content, as well as improved and expanded service features -- all of which have been focused on enhancing the game experience for our passionate, ever-growing community.
One example of the new content we’ve added is Naxxramas, a multi-winged 40-player raid dungeon that pits players against the forces of the lich Kel’Thuzad. We’ve also revamped Light’s Hope Chapel to make it a fully functional and exciting quest hub. In addition, many new items have been implemented, including new PvE and PvP armor sets, along with a powerful new Legendary caster item. "
Read the rest inside.
Union Directory
Found some movies, screenshots, new info of Wow's first expansion pack, The Burning Crusade. Because you will have to wait until the 16th of January next year, here's an update that will keep you busy for a while. What are you waiting for ??
The amazing Trinity Divine has published part one of her two part The Burning Crusade Faction Reputation Guide. This first part is chock full of information and a must check out...
The Blizzard Union board has been updated. Here is a short list of all new things on the board.
- 4 New wallpapers to download
- A new artwork of Arthas, the Lich King
- Beta keys topic updated
- Off Topic: Next-Gen Consoles discussion
- Read and give opinions about a future Starcraft
Roy van der Hoorn
The Burning Crusade Beta Giveaway
IGN has the following about the Beta of TBC:
''Here we go folks... We are excited to bring you a series of sweepstakes drawings that could land your butt in the The Burning Crusade Closed Beta. We were originally going to run some form of "contest" like every other site has done, or will do. But I felt that was too limiting for the very large, and diverse, WoW community. I wanted something that will give everyone an equal chance at winning. So, we have a standard random drawing sweepstakes set up for the community to do just that. Just fill out the form and hit submit -- that's it! We will most likely pull 10 names every few days and announce them to keep this thing going for at least 2 weeks (with 90 chances to win this round!).''
News Story from World of Warcraft Vault -- WoW
News Date: Thursday, 2 November, 2006
Link: http://wowvault.ign.com/fullstory.php?id=22883
StarCraft: Queen of Blades novel now available in the Blizzard Online Store
The story of StarCraft continues to unfold in the latest novel set in the epic StarCraft universe. Jim Raynor, dismayed over Emperor Mengsk's betrayal of the powerful telepath, Sarah Kerrigan, to the ravenous Zerg, follows haunted telepathic visions in hopes of rescuing Kerrigan from her fate in the volcanic alien world of Char. But is it too late? Click here to find out.
