Posts tagged Battle.net

The Blizzard team has published an in-house interview with World of Warcraft: Cataclysm quest designer Dave "Fargo" Kosak. The interview covers a wide variety of topics including what Kosak feels worked and didn't work in the Cataclysm expansion.

It's a terrific read and worth the time to visit the World of Warcraft site.

Blizzard has announced that it is currently working on a fully localized Italian version of World of Warcraft. The Italian version of the game will be available later this year and will join English, German, French, Spanish, Russian and Brazilian Portuguese as fully translated versions of WoW.

Italian players will benefit from Blizzard Entertainment’s 24/7 Europe-based customer service in Italian, including in-game support as well as phone and web support. The  World of Warcraft community site and forums will also be offered in Italian, and  World of Warcraft realms dedicated to the Italian community will be made available to all European players.

Check out the Italian version of the World of Warcraft site.

In a new study conducted by North Carolina State University, researchers have discovered that World of Warcraft can give senior citizens a brain boost by improving spatial awareness, memory and help them to better focus their attention.

The study was conducted with people in the 60-77 age range. Half of the participants did not play WoW, the other half played about an hour a day over a two week period. After two weeks, participants were retested. Those playing WoW over the two week period showed 'marked improvement' in cognitive function.

“Among participants who scored well on baseline cognitive functioning tests, there was no significant improvement after playing WoW – they were already doing great,” McLaughlin says. “But we saw significant improvement in both spatial ability and focus for participants who scored low on the initial baseline tests.” Pre- and post-game testing showed no change for participants on memory.

“The people who needed it most – those who performed the worst on the initial testing – saw the most improvement,” says Dr. Jason Allaire, an associate professor of psychology at NC State and co-author of a paper on the study.

Read the full report at the link above.

Source: Gamasutra

In The WoW Factor today, we take a look at the concept of "utility" in an MMO with specific regard to a recent post by Blizzard's Ghostcrawler. "For MMO purposes we'll just say anything that isn't directly prioritized on fulfilling a roll of the holy trinity of tank, healer, or DPS is utility." Check out what we think about utility and how it can be managed in WoW. Let us know what you think in the comments.

In Ghostcrawler's most recent post the lead system designer addresses the topic of "The Role of Role" and throws around some ideas about how things may be handled in WoW’s Mists of Pandaria Expansion. All in all it is a very interesting write up that shouldn't be missed by anyone who concerns themselves with MMOs, yet I feel Mr. Ghostcrawler left out a bit of desirable discourse on the topic of utility within the role system. Whether this was through intent or with forethought for length and readability I cannot say, nonetheless there is plenty to discuss regarding what I see as the sickly bastard child of the holy trinity.

Read more of Joe Sanicky's The WoW Factor: The Role of Utility.

That is one crustacean More >

http://pc.gamespy.com posted:I’m paraphrasing here, but Blizzard’s response when it learned Valve trademarked “DOTA” in August 2010 was, “Not cool.” A year-and-a-half later, Blizzard has evidently realized that politely expressing mild disappointment wasn’t enough to dissuade Gabe Newell and company. Hence, this news: Blizzard has filed a Notice of Opposition against Valve’s DOTA trademark and is seeking full control of all things Defense of the Ancients — but Valve isn’t giving up without a fight.

Rock Paper Shotgun directs us to Blizzard’s DOTA legal filing with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), which was submitted on November 16, 2011. In presenting its case, Blizzard outlines how the original Warcraft III mod first came about and argues that all things made in the game’s World Editor are property of Blizzard as per its EULA.

“At all times, the DotA Mods have been marketed, advertised, and promoted as Warcraft III scenarios that require purchase and installation of Warcraft III and knowledge of Warcraft III’s gameplay mechanics, user interface, and on-screen display,” Blizzard states. “The fact that the DotA Mods are ’mods’ of Warcraft III and that to be played the user must first purchase Warcraft III is well-known and well-publicized throughout the United More >