RPG Trader's Blog

A new and fairly convincing video has appeared on YouTube showing WoW being played on an iPhone.

There have been many fake videos and rumours on the net in the past about WoW becoming available to play on a phone, but what sets this latest claim out from the rest is that the software being used in the video is made by the people that brought Second Life to the 3G mobile phone, Vollee.

Vollee’s technology allows the streaming of PC games to mobiles over 3G networks and Wi-Fi. The client for popular MMO Second Life was announced last year, sparking speculation over whether they would be able to make a similar client for WoW. Although Blizzard has not been connected with Vollee directly, Vollee had announced a relationship with Activision, who later merged with Blizzard.

To further confuse matters, the video in question was removed from YouTube over the weekend after receiving over 41,000 views. More interestingly however, Vollee’s website is completely down. We had a look around and found a video (seen after the break) that shows the original demonstration with commentary over the top. The commentator describes the Vollee client as a likely ‘Jailbreak App’, which means it only works on phones that have been altered from their original state, allowing unauthorised programs to run on them. The video itself (copied version) appears genuine; many videos like this in the past are simply a recording with the demonstrator performing movements and clicks at the right moment to appear as if he is working the application, when it is in fact just a playback. This clip is over four minutes long though, a tricky prospect for anyone hoping to remember that many moves. The smart UI and the operation also give it more credibility. The response time and quality of the image are believable for such a device, meaning that simple actions such as checking auctions in the in-game auction house, checking mail and basic combat are all possible; tasks people may want to do when away from their computers.

We contacted Blizzard to see if this might be an early version of something they are working on with Vollee or another hoax but unfortunately, and unsurprisingly, they refused to comment. We’ll be keeping our eye on this though, so check back for updates.

News, World of Warcraft iPhone, phone, video, wow, youtube

World of Warcraft has been a huge hit closing in to about 12 million players worldwide. Quite an achievement and after that much presence, we expected WotLK to take a big bang as well. It did but not in China, according to JLM Pacific Epoch, the game has yet to even hit the stores.

When I’ve first heard of the big news, I figured it would too addicting to the already “WoW addicts” and they probably don’t need another reason for their youths to spend another 3 hours a day on “crack”. Apparently, that wasn’t the case. The Chinese gov’t did not approve because censorship, the content did not meet the requirements.

Blizzard has been forced to alter the undead characters so that exposed bone is now covered up. That’s a cultural taboo, and the censors didn’t like it. Once that got changed, the game was permitted.

Again, Blizzard is running into the same problems with the Undead class. Additionally, the Death Knight class was not even included on the expansion. That was pretty much the main selling point for WotLK. It would probably be a matter of time before Blizzard/Activision will break through the gov’t strong points, afterall, what’s their $3 billion in cash handy for?

News, World of Warcraft

We’ve made several announcements about a Warhammer Online Trial. First was about a limited trial offered by iGames. Second, was a refer a friend trial which is also limited. Third, a trial offered by Mythic through Fileplanet. Finally, Mythic announces an official 100% free trial.

Boy did Mythic go through a lot of trouble passing out those trials slowly. What happened in return? They lost a bulk load of potentional subscribers. Their subscriber base dropped under 500,000. I don’t ever recall hearing them ever hitting the 1 million mark. It was a very big disappointment considering I expected this to be the next big MMORPG second to WoW.

Potential North American and Oceanic players should head to the official trial starter page, which includes links to a quick start guide, list of system requirements, cinematic trailer, and 41MB game installer. European players can head directly to War-Europe.com and create their trial account. Anyone wishing to upgrade free trial accounts can do so by purchasing a retail copy from their favorite game shop and following these simple steps. Mythic also put together an official free trial FAQ page which should answer any other questions you might have.

Since the enormous 1.2 patch dropped earlier this week, now seems like a great opportunity for anyone sitting on the fence to give WAR a shot for free. Additionally, the game is currently going for $14.00 + $3.99 shipping on Amazon and $6.6+ $3.99 “used“. I don’t quite understand how you can sell a used MMORPG, but good luck and enjoy.

News, Warhammer Online

Insurance companies offers services for your important items such as your car, life, policy but would you ever think World of Warcraft?

A new website service has ignited controversy among gamers with its claims to provide compensation for World of Warcraft players who experience problems with the game. The site will apparently offer payments for laggy gameplay, system outages and waiting queues.

YouPlayorWePay.com has been setup to offer WoW players the option to take out insurance against not being able to play the game. So if the WoW servers are down, or the launch of a new expansion means you can’t login because it is so busy, you can claim compensation.

When news first broke in the WoW Insider forums, a number of users dismissed the site as a scam and most wanted to know: “how could these guys get away with asking for a fee and taking people’s money on the promise that they might get some back?”

The site also raises the issue – why isn’t Blizzard offering compensation to paying customers for problems with its game? And are these problems considered serious enough to warrant refunds?

The company has no association with developer Blizzard, but believes that such a service is viable and warranted. The site will charge a monthly fee for the cover which is based on how many characters you add to your account, the maximum being 10 characters, and the level of those characters. Each character is then monitored and the player receives compensation if their realm server goes down or it has a high population meaning access is difficult.

Compensation scheme or pyramid scam?

WoW Insider interviewed George Tung and Milos Golubovic, the site’s founders, to quiz them about their service to the massive MMO community of over 11 million gamers worldwide.

Tung informed them that compensation is calculated from the amount of downtime experienced and a “datalog” compensation factor that’s offered when the game is in “high” population mode. He described it as when the game’s servers are: “just maxed out and there are waiting queues…”

A subscription to the service varies in cost (dependent on your character’s level and realm), but Golubovic notes that it is: “close to five or six dollars. It can get as high as, I believe, 11 dollars.”

So, what do they say to those critics calling the scheme a scam?

“A scam is where we take the money, but we don’t pay out anything,” says Tung. “Of course, we’re a new site, so people will feel like it’s a risk… in terms of just taking a risk to see if people actually make money, yes that’s a risk.”

Tung also added that: “We’re also taking a risk, because our calculations are based on [data] we’ve gathered for only six months. It could be very different this year, or next year, or the year after. We could end up losing a lot of money by doing this.”

Blizzard yet to respond

Blizzard has yet to respond to this third party WoW compensation scheme. The YouPlayorWePay guys, despite highlighting the flaws in Blizzard’s game, claim that they’d: “like to become close partners with Blizzard so that we can implement more features ­­– account security and stuff like that.

Our opinion

So even if they are not a scam, what are really the big benefits? Their max payout is capped at 1.75x your monthly charge. If you’re paying $10, which is almost the price of the subscription, you will only get back $17.50 for it. If you do manage to play all through out the month you’ve just lost $10 out of your own pocket. Is it really worth going through the trouble to pocket a few dollars?

In my sense, it feels to be more of another online casino masked as an insurance company. You either lose money or gain, the odds are calculated through their own algorithm.

So, legitimate compensation scheme or get-rich-quick scam? Make your own mind up. The full interview can be found here.

News, World of Warcraft

Last year Curse launched WOWDB last year which competed against WOWHEAD from ZAM. Both are World of Warcraft database websites but was created with a very similar resemblance as well as similar functions. Perhaps maybe even used to mislead users and create confusion.

Turns out the ZAM network which bought WoW Head for $1 million dollars filed a lawsuit under the radar for copyright infringement for $1.5 million dollars. ZAM says in the suit, copies of which obtained by WoW Insider, that they’ve “expended substantial resources to maintain, update, and promote use of the WOWHEAD website so that it would become… one of the most recognized, and utilized websites designed to attract individuals” who play World of Warcraft. They claimed that WoWDB stole their look and layout purposely to create confusion among customers. This story wasn’t reported in the WoW community at the time — we hadn’t heard about it at all until now.

The case was dismissed completely in January by a judge. As mentioned by WoW Insider, both parties actually wanted out: “Pursuant to the parties’ stipulation for dismissal, the court hereby dismisses the above-captioned action without prejudice.” There has yet been any information released yet on this matter or whether they’ve made a private agreement of any type. The 2 websites still have many similarities so we’re assuming WoW DB will not be changing their interface.

Another possible outcome is that ZAM didn’t think it was worth fighting and decided to no longer pursue to take any action. Additionally, an attorney has also mentioned that they usually do this in order to preserve their rights to bring it back later. There is usually a ticking statute of limitations from when the infringement occurs, so if you bring suit, you preserve the rights to bring it again, where as here, you agree to dismiss without prejudice.

We’ll keep an eye out and keep you posted. Feel free to share your thoughts on this matter.

News, World of Warcraft

Researchers hit a virtual gold-mine recently when they asked Sony for backlogs of data for Everquest 2. Much to their surprise Sony handed over over 60 Terabytes of textual data regarding player interactions, chat, and character behavior. The end result is a log that includes four years of data for over 400,000 players that took part in the game, which was followed up with demographic surveys of the users.

From the original article:

Thanks to a partnership with Sony, a team of academic researchers have obtained the largest set of data on social interactions they’ve ever gotten their hands on: the complete server logs of Everquest 2, which track every action performed in the game.

Researchers ranging from psychologists to epidemiologists have wondered for some time whether online, multiplayer games might provide some ways to test concepts that are otherwise difficult to track in the real world. A Saturday morning session at the meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science described what might be the most likely way of finding out. With the cooperation of Sony, a collaborative group of academic researchers at a number of institutions have obtained the complete server logs from the company’s Everquest 2 MMORPG.

As the researchers who are dealing with this new resource describe it, it’s one of those “be careful what you wish for” situations—with nearly 60TB of data, the standard procedures for tackling social data sets just aren’t up to the job.

So if you thought someone was watching you this whole time…well…You were right.

EverQuest 2, News

Few technologies have been subject to more hype and subsequent disappointment than Second Life. Corporations from shoe manufactures to cruise lines to news services set up shop with hopes this new frontier would bring soaring profits. Most evacuated shortly thereafter when the effort resulted in spaces devoid of audiences and buyers. A notable exception, though, is education.

Education is thriving in Second Life. This enthusiastic subculture is abuzz within the Second Life realm, constantly interacting inside and outside Second Life. Educators are exploring every possible tool the 3D virtual world offers and establishing best practices along the way.

Linden Lab, the creator of Second Life, reports on the company’s Web site that universities such as Harvard, Texas State, and Stanford have Second Life campuses. While Linden Lab states that more than 200 educators and about as many universities are using Second Life, all signs point to a far larger community.

The Second Life Educators (SLED) community is an e-mail list that includes more than 4,700 working in or interested in education in Second Life. SLED was created in October 2005 to help newcomers adjust to Second Life, exchange resources, network, collaborate on projects, and share best practices.

Real Life Education in Second Life is a group inside the 3D realm that boasts 3,500 members. It is for sharing information, asking questions, and getting notices of in-world and “real life” events.

CC International is a group of 4,200 that promotes the use of virtual reality for education. The goal is to provide training seminars and certificates in building, scripting, furniture making, and more, offering college-level classes for credit, possibly toward a degree.

Thousands are involved in these three groups alone. There are many more groups, some of which focus on fields of study, such as architecture, music, and business.

Read more…

News, Second Life

Blizzard announced today that it will carry on the tradition of its annual BlizzCon event with the 2009 incarnation taking place Friday, August 21 and Saturday, August 22.  Per tradition, the Con will be on at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California.

This year’s BlizzCon will take a similar format to that of last year’s with hands-on game previews, panel discussions, tournaments, specialty merchandise, and other community-oriented events.

Blizzard fans can expect a Christmas morning’s worth of announcements during the event.  BlizzCon 08 played host to a number of major unveilings, including a bulk of information about Diablo III, the splitting of StarCraft II into a trilogy, and numerous revelations relating to World of Warcraft.

In years past, Blizzard used its own convention to lift the curtain on World of Warcraft expansions Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King.

Tickets are not yet available, so would-be attendees should regularly check the BlizzCon site for ticket availability and pricing information to appear.

News, World of Warcraft

Registration for the 2009 World of Warcraft Global Tournament is now open. The tournament features 3v3 matches with level 80 characters and gear. Prizes come in the form of cash and range from $600 to and impressive $75,000! Grab the details below:

• The registration fee is $20 per account for the online qualifier
• Live tournaments with a chance to win cash
• Instantly create new, fully-customizable level 80s with full sets of epic gear
• 3v3 Arena team combat
• Earn exclusive rewards: Armored Murloc Pet, “Vanquisher” title

We invite the most dedicated and skilled Arena combatants around the world to enter the new World of Warcraft Global Arena Tournament! Your glorious victories in the Tournament will not only grant renown and recognition for your prowess, but will also grant your team a chance to earn cash prizes as well.

Within a structured format comprised of one online qualifier, players will battle on special Tournament realms purely dedicated to the competitive format of 3v3 Arena matches. The characters used in these realms are new level 80s that you create, bristling with PvP armor and weapons. The top teams from the online qualifier will battle in an invitational ladder for a chance to participate in the regional finals, culminating in the live global finals - featuring a total cash prize pool of over $200,000!

Tournament registration is open to any active World of Warcraft account upgraded with the Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King expansions. Registration costs one payment of $20.00, which grants one eligible World of Warcraft account access to the tournament realms for the duration of the six-week tourney. Players will be able to create up to three new fully customizable level-80 characters on these realms and deck them out with a full set of epic gear. Then form your new 3v3 team and enter the Arenas, where a whole new level of competitive play awaits you. Good luck!

$20 is a bit too much for the tournament IMO. I can have just as much fun playing in the regular arena. With the economy as it is is, I doubt their tournament may be as successful as it was last year.

News, World of Warcraft

World of WarCraft Lead Producer, Jeffrey Kaplan, will now head up development of Blizzard’s next MMO:

I wanted to take a moment to let the community know that I’ve switched roles here at Blizzard to work on our upcoming, unannounced MMO. World of Warcraft has been such a central part of my life these past six and a half years, and it’s success would not have been possible without the tremendous community around it, so I wanted to say thank you to all our players who’ve shared this amazing experience with us so far. Also, while I have served as the spokesperson and Game Director for World of Warcraft on Wrath of the Lich King, by no means would WoW be where it is today without the dedicated team that we have in place. The WoW development team is comprised of some of the most talented and experienced game developers in the world, and it was an absolute honor to serve amongst them, and they will continue to make WoW better than ever. I still plan to be very involved with the future course of World of Warcraft, but will leave the day to day operations of World of Warcraft to my partners in crime, Tom Chilton and J. Allen Brack.

When all is said and done, WoW is still my favorite game. I play it every day. None of that passion is gone. If anything, it fuels the challenge of making our next MMO even better. We know we have some big shoes to fill. So thank you to everyone who has been so supportive over the years, and likewise, thanks to those who have given us pointed feedback on all areas of the game. Without all of the feedback and participation, WoW would not be the game that it has grown to be. Azeroth truly belongs to you and we’re lucky to have shared in your journey. And as always, I’ll still be lurking on the forums and in the game. Mostly, I just wanted to say thanks. It has been an absolute honor.

StarCraft II in 2009, Diablo III in 2010, Unannounced Blizzard MMO in 2011?

News, World of Warcraft