w797 – The Collection of Game Post

Allakhazam poster Brisin has shared a good cause with us in our World of Warcraft general forum. Katherine Allen, a Blizzard employee, is going to be running in a marathon to benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, an organization that provides funding for cancer research and helps cancer patients pay for their treatments.

While this is an important fundraising effort by itself, Allen has sweetened the deal by enticing WoW players with the possibility of receiving one of three 1-year time cards if they donate $25 and leave “For the Alliance!” or “For the Horde!” as a comment on her fundraising page. And one lucky player will get free WoW for life since she broke the $5,500 mark!

Allen’s initial goal was to raise $5,000. She’s already shattered that and currently sits at $15,555. You have until Jan. 5 to donate if you’d like a shot at the free WoW time. You can read her full post here or below.

Oh, Brisin got this information from Ctrl+Alt+Del, a great web comic for gamers. If you’ve never read it before, here’s one about Wrath of the Lich King to get you started.

‘Tis the season for giving…So this year…

Give a cancer patient and their family some hope!

 

From now till January 5th, when you make a donation of $25 to the LLS via this website and leave either “For the Alliance!” or “For the Horde!” as a comment, I will put your name in a hat. On January 8th, 2009 , I will pull three names from the hat to receive one of three (3) 1-year time cards for Blizzard Entertainment’s hit game, World of Warcraft, as a “thank you” gift from me to you! I will mail the card to your home address with an official Blizzard Entertainment 2008 Holiday Greeting Card personally thanking you for your donation.

 

Make sure you use a valid email address when donating, so that I can contact you to verify your address if you’re selected to receive a gift!

 

If I reach $5,500 in donations, I’ll draw one more name… If it’s you, your prize will be having me pay for your WoW subscription for as long as you keep playing!

 

You can donate as many times as you’d like, each $25 donation will earn you one piece of paper with your name placed into the hat.

 

The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS) not only works to provide funding for cancer research, but also to provide funding for current cancer patients and their family, to help lessen the out-of-pocket expenses. As anyone that’s been around someone that had or has cancer knows, treatment and recovery can be extremely expensive. The LLS provides financial aid where possible from our donations, so even though money’s tight with the current economy, if you have a bit to spare this holiday season, it’s definitely appreciated.

 

Every donation made goes directly to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (www.lls.org), I do not make any profit from this at all.

 

If you have any questions, feel free to email me at kallen4tnt@yahoo.com.

 

Thanks again for your support!!

Katherine Allen

Blizzard announced today that World of Warcraft is now played by 11.5 million subscribers worldwide. This should really come as no surprise to anyone since the game surpassed 11 million subscribers in October, but it does continue to demonstrate WoW’s immense popularity when it can gain 500,000 subscribers in about two months.

Also, Wrath of the Lich King has sold more than 4 million copies in its first month, setting a new record for monthly PC-game sales. The expansion sold more than 2.8 million copies in its first 24 hours of availability alone.

You can read the full press release after the jump. For those of you who are curious what exactly being a subscriber entails, here’s the definition: “World of Warcraft subscribers include individuals who have paid a subscription fee or have an active prepaid card to play World of Warcraft, as well as those who have purchased the game and are within their free month of access. Internet Game Room players who have accessed the game over the last thirty days are also counted as subscribers. The above definition excludes all players under free promotional subscriptions, expired or cancelled subscriptions, and expired prepaid cards.”

IRVINE, Calif., Dec 23, 2008: Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. today announced that World of Warcraft®, its award-winning subscription-based massively multiplayer online role-playing game, is now played by more than 11.5 million subscribers worldwide. This new high was reached following the November 13 release of the game’s second expansion, Wrath of the Lich KingTM.

Within its first 24 hours of availability, Wrath of the Lich King sold more than 2.8 million copies, making it the fastest-selling PC game of all time. In addition to winning a number of editor’s choice awards from major gaming publications, the expansion has now gone on to sell more than 4 million copies in its first month, setting a new record for monthly PC-game sales. Both sales records were previously held by World of Warcraft’s first expansion, The Burning Crusade®.*

“We’re pleased to welcome the new and returning players who have helped World of Warcraft reach these new milestones, and we appreciate the enthusiasm and support that the game’s global community has continued to show,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment®. “We look forward to providing all of them with an excellent entertainment experience for a long time to come.”

“Not only is Wrath of the Lich King still doing well, the base World of Warcraft game and the World of Warcraft Battle Chest® are performing better than last year,” said Bob McKenzie, senior vice president of merchandising at GameStop. “That type of traction is very impressive for a game that is going into its fifth holiday season and speaks to the enthusiastic player base Blizzard Entertainment products have.”

To keep pace with the continued growth of World of Warcraft as well as development on other Blizzard Entertainment games, the company is currently hiring for numerous open positions. More information on available career opportunities can be found at www.blizzard.com/jobs. More information about the latest World of Warcraft expansion is available at the official Wrath of the Lich King website: www.worldofwarcraft.com/wrath.

World of Warcraft’s Subscriber Definition

World of Warcraft subscribers include individuals who have paid a subscription fee or have an active prepaid card to play World of Warcraft, as well as those who have purchased the game and are within their free month of access. Internet Game Room players who have accessed the game over the last thirty days are also counted as subscribers. The above definition excludes all players under free promotional subscriptions, expired or cancelled subscriptions, and expired prepaid cards. Subscribers in licensees’ territories are defined along the same rules.

About Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.

Best known for blockbuster hits including World of Warcraft® and the Warcraft®, StarCraft®, and Diablo® series, Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. (www.blizzard.com ), a division of Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ:ATVI), is a premier developer and publisher of entertainment software renowned for creating some of the industry’s most critically acclaimed games. Blizzard Entertainment’s track record includes eleven #1-selling games and multiple Game of the Year awards. The company’s online-gaming service, Battle.net®, is one of the largest in the world, with millions of active users.

*Based on internal company records and reports from key distribution partners.

We’re fans of the Child’s Play charity at Allakhazam, but it’s also great to see other gamers donating their time and money to other good causes, such as Toys for Tots.

Edward Fear, owner of Millennium Games in Rochester, N.Y., ran a World of Warcraft Miniatures tournament at his store over the weekend and plans to donate about $2,000 raised between fees and donations to Toys for Tots.

Blizzard even sent some extra loot to the store, including Arthas helmets previously only available at BlizzCon. World of Warcraft Trading Card Game World Champion Jim Fleckenstein was also in attendance.

Since the launch of Wrath of the Lich King last month, millions of players around the
world have stormed the shores of Borean Tundra and Howling Fjord. In fact, more than
4 million copies of the new expansion were sold in the first month of release –a new record for
PC-game sales. To go along with that record, World of Warcraft’s global community has now grown to
more than 11.5 million subscribers. Read more about these latest achievements in the official ,
and from all of us at Blizzard Entertainment, happy holidays, thank you for taking World of Warcraft to new heights,
and enjoy your time in Northrend!

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Events, Breakfast topics

Today is the last day of 2008 and, consequently, the last Breakfast Topic of the year. The biggest thing to happen to World of Warcraft players this year is Wrath of the Lich King. Captain Obvious golfclaps. There were also some monumental patches and WWI and BlizzCon were pretty cool, too. But these were Blizzard’s accomplishments. For the last day of the year, let’s talk about what we, as players, accomplished and also what we didn’t do this year, but wish we had… perhaps to prepare our in-game goals for the next year.

My biggest accomplishment in WoW was discovering the class in which I am having the most fun ever since playing the game in open beta: the Mage. I only wish I had discovered how much I love playing her much sooner, so that I could be farther along in the content on what is my new favorite character. Instead, I am 2 years behind, hanging out in the Outland with all the Death Knights.

Continue reading Breakfast Topic: The end of 2008

Breakfast Topic: The end of 2008 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 31 Dec 2008 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Druid, Analysis / Opinion, Humor, Burning Crusade, (Druid) Shifting Perspectives, Wrath of the Lich King

Every Tuesday, Shifting Perspectives explores issues affecting Druids and those who group with them. This week, our author is completely spaced out on cold medication, and is somewhat concerned that her raid performance has improved under the circumstances.

The time has come (the Allie said)
To talk of many things.
Of Roots and Bash and Travel Form,
And Strength (which scales with Kings).
Why Tauren cat form sucks so hard,
And whether trees have wings!

And, yes, before anyone asks, I’m tripping on too much cough syrup and ibuprofen after receiving a belated viral Christmas gift from a relative. So I’ll just put this out there right now; this column’s probably on the weird side. I took a long look at all three Druid specs over 2008 and saw a few sad things, a few happy things, a little song, a little dance, a little seltzer down your pants, and now I’m channeling the famous Mary Tyler Moore episode “Chuckles Bites the Dust,” and that has to stop because I do not believe Mary Tyler Moore ever played a Druid.

If you’re completely uninterested in reading an account of any spec that’s not your own — although that would make me weep into my little cup of generic label cough syrup — here’s a set of quick links to each:

• Balance
• Feral
• Resto

Continue reading Shifting Perspectives: The Druid of 2008

Shifting Perspectives: The Druid of 2008 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 30 Dec 2008 23:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Fan stuff, Guilds, Instances, Humor, Guildwatch, Bosses

Lots of guilds were off for the holidays, but we still had a surprising amount of news: lots of drama, plenty of downs to report, and a few more guilds recruiting for a serious run at the new endgame.

Hope your holidays were happy — here at Guildwatch, we got exactly what we wanted: angry forum threads, tips from all over the realms, and even a few very offensive vent recordings. If you’ve got news of guild drama, downings, or recruitment, send it to wowguildwatch@gmail.com. And hit the link below to see this week’s GW.

Continue reading Guildwatch: Farming instances for the holidays

Guildwatch: Farming instances for the holidays originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 30 Dec 2008 23:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, News items

The Huffington Post (among other sources) is reporting that FCC Commissioner Deborah Tate has resigned. This is the woman who, less than a month ago, said that World of Warcraft was one of the top reasons for college drop-outs. Now, I can’t entirely blame someone for seeing MMOs as a bad thing, there are certainly a lot of people who don’t seem to have the ability to throttle their playtime, but that really wasn’t her first silly act or statement while she held her position (taking advice from corporations is bad, mmkay). A lot of people will take this news as a godsend.

Of course, that doesn’t mean she didn’t do any good at all. Your personal views may differ from hers depending on the topic, but she’s generally pretty well regarded for her efforts when it comes to issues regarding children and their protection. Personally, I don’t agree with the extreme ‘think of the children!’ mentality (or Tate’s approach to it) that’s become increasingly common, but again, my opinion doesn’t represent a nation. A few out of line comments don’t negate her efforts entirely.

Continue reading FCC commissioner Deborah Tate resigns

FCC commissioner Deborah Tate resigns originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 30 Dec 2008 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Blizzard, Account Security

Back in late October and early November, you may (or may not) remember that Blizzard was having some substantial issues with their character transfer system. To prepare for the release of Wrath of the Lich King, there was an epic number of people moving characters around for one reason or another. A problem came up where some characters were getting lost in limbo along the way. Stuck, and unable to be played.

One of our readers wrote in this morning with a followup, and it seems that everyone who had issues is being granted a 15-day playtime credit on their account to make up for it. Half a month across the board is a pretty substantial credit, especially considering many of the people we’ve heard from were only locked out of their characters for a couple of days. I’m sure we’d all prefer there was never a problem to begin with, but this is a pretty generous compensation if true. I was impressed when they gave everyone a three day credit awhile back.

Continue reading 15 day credit given to players affected by character transfer issues

15 day credit given to players affected by character transfer issues originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 30 Dec 2008 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Fan art

Emkephalin from Terenas sent us this picture of a wonderful Christmas present created for him by his mother. As the story goes, Emkephalin introduced his mother WoW a few years ago, like so many other players who play with their family. She waited until she’d officially retired before starting the game, which probably was a wise move. In a few short days, she reached the limits of what you can do on a trial account, and immediately went out and picked up her full retail copy.

Flash forward to this Christmas season. Among WoW-playing and scuba diving, it turns out Emk’s mother also creates tile mosaics. You can imagine his surprise when Emkephalin removed the wrapping paper from the top of this table to see the wonderful Horde pattern created on the right. Emk was obviously pleased enough to drop us a tip, as well as a picture link to see it for ourselves.

This is a continuation of how WoW has inspired people for the season. I can’t wait to see what next year brings, and am probably going to invest my time between now and then to learn how to make something myself. It certainly would be awesome to enjoy coffee over such a distinctive table.

A table for Horde, please originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 30 Dec 2008 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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