Mod creation and distribution further simplified – the best of Blizzcon 09

“Cataclysm hits World of Warcraft!” “Diablo III Monk class gets old juices going!” “Battlestar’s Tricia Helfer to play Kerrigan!” Blizzcon dominated videogame and tech news sites and discussions boards last Friday, Saturday, and Sunday without breaking a sweat.

Held last weekend at the Anaheim Convention Center, Blizzcon is “a celebration of the Warcraft,StarCraft, and Diablo franchises and the communities that surround them,” or so says developer/publisher, and organizer of the con, Blizzard. The company owns additional properties, but they’re not as critically lauded, recognizable, and/or financially successful. Focusing on the big three’s a smart move for the company. You list your absolute best qualities and work experiences on your resume, right?

After each announcement, cheering, unending adoration, and maybe a few tears followed. Every warm body in attendance, and maybe a few thousand streaming the event online, succumbed to the will of Blizz. It’s not a cult (the integral “religion” component’s missing for that term). But spiked Kool-Aid is probably served somewhere in gaudy steins.

Other news emerged from the event, but were buried by the frenzy caused by the “major” three announcements. Who cares if Tricia Helfer lends her voice to the vindictive Kerrigan? Thousands, possibly millions, apparently. No offense to the beautiful and talented Helfer. She’s neat.

Read more at IPR's Multimedia blog.

Forget Facebook and the iPhone, the future of apps lies in…World of Warcraft?

 

Atari founder Nolan Bushnell once told his new bosses at Warner Communications that the company’s newest console, the VCS, is “over” immediately following its release. Understanding nothing of the videogame industry, the suits yelled “What?!” and demanded an answer. “You have to think of it that way,” he insisted. Bushnell, in a way, created the industry, so he knew better than any of technology’s accelerated evolution (see also: Moore’s Law), and possibly even more of the consumer’s desire for new hardware. Shortly after his well-intentioned explanation, Bushnell was fired from the company he founded and built with an investment of $500.

Founder of Atari and avid pipe smoker.

Taking a note from the book of Bushnell, I’d like to go on record saying that Facebook and the iPhone’s application heydays might soon be over. Activision Blizzard, through MMOs like World of Warcraft and the other unnanounced one, will one day wear the DIY app crown while CEO Bobby Kotick bathes in a shower of $100 bills in a diamond-plated bathtub made of gold bullion. Dude’s got a keener sense for money than a pig for truffles (maybe it’s the physical resemblance). Drop $20 in a landfill and Bobbo would find it. Just don’t expect to get the money back.

This weekend thousands will flock to Blizzcon – the big convention celebrating everything Blizzard. Lavish, but tacky, costumes will be worn, Ozzy will perform, and hopeful job-seekers will hand out hundreds, if not thousands, of business cards.That’s all given. And as terrifying as it all may seem, combined they are not nearly as scary, and potentially good, as the prospect of an MMO app store.

I play WoW roughly every other day. Sometimes more, sometimes less. My character, a level 80 Dranei Shaman, might not be decked out in the latest and greatest tier nine gear, but he can hold his own in most player versus player and player versus enemies battles, especially after the class received a buff in patch 3.2. As I’ve expressed many times before, my time spent in Azeroth, the game’s landmass equivalent of Earth, can largely be attributed to the social element. Many of my family and friends are members in the small guild I lead. In some cases, chatting and/or questing in WoW remains the only time when particular members communicate.

Read more at IPR's Multimedia blog.