Project Lore

Ever have trouble finding quality versions of Blizzard cinematics on the internet and refuse to spend the time downloading them from the official site? Well, now there's an easy and convenient solution! Perhaps as part of their social networking kick lately (see their Twitter accounts), the company has established their very own YouTube channel. As yet, the selection is a curious mix of "wow, that's available?!" and "where the hell is it?" In other words, it's primarily pre-rendered introduction movies and upcoming game previews that go from unreleased titles all the way back to Diablo II and the original StarCraft (though the inclusion of Wrathgate is a curious anomaly). The good news is that all of them are available in High Quality, and the newer ones in High Definition. Just don't expect to be able to view every in-game cutscene from their catalog just yet. Though, considering the prevalence of amateur recordings so comprehensive that you could watch the entire plot of WarCraft III unfold just by surfing YouTube for an hour, I wouldn't be surprised to see Blizzard to start buffing their own offerings real soon. There's nothing wrong with honoring and showcasing the work of the developer's tremendous art team, but since the service is fueled by its rich community of content creators, I'd also like to see Blizz host things like machinima, StarCraft II Battle Reports, tournament play records, and other fan offerings so that it could all be accessed in one place. Clearly, there's still some work to be done, but if you ask me, what's there is already pretty worthwhile for a channel that's still in its infancy. In fact, I think i'm going to go watch the Cataclysm preview trailer again right now. Goblins? Worgen? Massive, world-changing events and new lands to conquer? Ooh, it gives me chills every time!

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We reported, pre-Blizzcon, that Blizzard had created several new Twitter accounts, each focused on one of the company's key franchises. Some of you started following them instantly, while others maintained their distance from the social networking site wonder what, precisely, it could offer beyond the usual community or news features. Well, so far, the latter would be right. Posts have generally concerned themselves with daily questions, opinion polls, and highlighting the more creative aspects of the Blizzard fandom (things like fan art, stories, and, most recently, papercraft). Though there is an on-going Battlecry contest -- in which fans of the Horde or Alliance update their own accounts with "For the ____!" whenever their side's banner is lifted -- there have yet to be any prizes that you can actually use within the game. But, a recent post on the Warcraft Twitter page hints that might not be the case for long:

We are talking to our licensing department about giving out some#WoW in-game pets/mounts through Twitter. Looks promising. Stay tuned.

That's right, soon enough, you could be earning in-game content just for participating in the usual Twitter shenanigans. I can tell you from personal experience that it's not a sham, either. I recently won a Starcraft 2 Beta Key through Blizzard's Starcraft Twitter page. Generally, these contests involve little more than "re-tweeting" a phrase or offering up your own thoughts on a given subject. At 140 characters, that's not very hard at all. So what sorts of things might Blizzard actually give out? According to another tweet from yesterday, quite possible pets and mounts normally available only through loot cards:

What types of in-game prizes would you like to see us give on Twitter? Interested in #WoW TCG loot items? Spectral Tiger Mounts maybe?

This is wonderful news for those who have no interest in playing (or spending money) on the Trading Card Game. I wouldn't expect to see anything game-changing to be offered through these contests, but vanity items like Spectral Tiger Mounts, alone, are desirable and rare prizes. Do you think this sort of giveaway might get you to sign up for Twitter if you haven't already? Well, if you do, please make sure to follow Project Lore and myself, as well! We're always keen on having new friends to talk to!

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Can the awesomeness of Blizzard games be distilled into a scant 140 characters? The company's Licensing Project Manager, Kat Hunter, seems to think so. According to her own account, all three of Blizzard's core franchises are being given the Twitter treatment. So whether you're a fan of Warcraft, Starcraft, or Diablo, there's something for everyone. Or just add all three (hint: clicking the previous links take you straight to the games' respective Twitter pages)!  These accounts appear to be alternate news feeds for all of the latest Blizzard buzz. I'm willing to bet that they get quite the work out during Blizzcon. And did someone say licensing? Considering Mrs. Hunter's involvement (and the pedigree of corporate Twitter accounts in general), I think we can expect to see plenty of posts about events, new merchandise, and promotional opportunities in addition to general news items. So go ahead and add 'em. And while you're at it, why not follow Project Lore, as well? We provide a link to every new article as it's posted and it's a great way to keep up with our schedule of live streaming feeds. So what do you think of this readers? Do you even use Twitter? Is this something useful and interesting to you? I don't think you can fault Blizzard for giving their fans options and the convenience factor can't be beat. Where else can you keep up on the latest WoW news and pretend like you're best buds with Ashton Kutcher at the same time? Wait... does Ashton Kutcher play Warcraft?

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The biggest news in recent memory is WoW.com's hat eating guarantee over the next expansion's details.  According to sources for the lucky domain squatters, the third expansion is indeed called WoW: Cataclysm, and the previously rumored Goblins and the Worgen are the upcoming playable classes.  The news, that was likely going to be one of BlizzCon's big reveals, has overshadowed all else the past few days, but I am here to put an end to that. Below you will find stories that were lost in the shuffle, abandoned to the fates, and pushed down the stairs.  Some are gems, others are mix-ups, but they were all passed over thanks to the assertions of Cataclysm and our excitement around it.

• Ozzy Ozzborne at BlizzCon - The Ozzy @ BlizzCon 2009 rumor has been around the block.  It first appeared in early July, and I didn't really take it that seriously then.  Sure, he was in a (damn fine) commercial for WoW, but that doesn't mean he's going to perform.  Well, with VideoGamesLive out of the picture this year it does!  Blizzard has confirmed that the junior "Prince of  F&*^ing Darkness" (since 1979) will be rocking out Anaheim in just over a week.  The concert will also be viewable as part of the DirecTV package.  What are the odds that Ozzy actually plays?
• Icecrown to have 31 bosses - "Promising" 31 bosses in a raid for a PvE content junky like myself is more than a pony, Ghostcrawler.  Everyone knows the ratio of boss fights to ponies is 10:1, and here you promise 31:0.  How dare you sir!  And how dare you quip later on that you were joking...maybe.  Damn your brain teasers!  Who do you think you are J.J. Abrams?  /shakesfist
• Battle.net v2.0 news - StarCraft II was "delayed" to 2010 earlier this month, and you can at least partially blame Blizzard's matchmaking, login and purchasing platform known as Battle.net for that.  According to the bigwigs at Activision Blizzard the service is still in the infant stages of re-development with "social networking features, cross-game communication, unified account management" and more being added to the service.  Bobby Kotick stated that the service would be "similar to Xbox Live".  Hopefully the term was used for that service's perceived quality, and not the monetary fee associated with it.  Either way, it appears that BNet 2.0 will be just another gaming service to keep track of.  Sigh.
• Collegehumor WoW video - My friend turned me on to this World of Warcraft-based video last night, and it is absolutely hilarious.  He claims that "that's what it will be like in five years" and although I wish it were true, I just don't believe it.  Thankfully, the laughs it gets are on purpose.  The video is safe for work.

Nothing earth shattering, but interesting nonetheless.  Hope you enjoyed the little recap of the last week or so.  If I missed anything major feel free to leave a comment with the details and the source.

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[caption id="attachment_5290" align="alignright" width="300" caption="I Love Clutter, But Not At $5 Per Ball"][/caption] Don't worry if you weren't lucky enough to score BlizzCon tickets, or you were lucky enough to trick someone into giving your Press Passes, because the store isn't all that impressive.  Actually, in my opinion it's a bit of a disappointment.  The BlizzCon 2009 section contains just five pages, forty products, to chose from. I, like pixiestixy, was incredibly excited when I heard that Blizzard would be offering attendees a chance to purchase the company's branded goodies outside the show.  Not only does it allow us to avoid lengthy lines and enjoy the festivities to the utmost, but, and this was the clincher for me, there's no need to worry about becoming a pack mule the rest of the day.  Or needing to bring an extra suitcase for all the stuff your friends make you buy.  Nope, we just buy our goods via the intertubes and forget about needing the extra cash at the show.  Look at that, Blizzard is even helping us budget our disposable (to them) income!  Too bad the items aren't exactly show stopping. Blizzard's attempt at smoothing the purchases process is not lost upon me.  It is appreciated, but I'm a bit upset as to what is offered in the "exclusive" store.  It's "exclusive" because a large portion of the goodies are actually available to the general consumer, Arthas: Rise of the Lich King for instance, already (or have been) on the Blizzard store or are leftover treats from last year.  Bubble Hearth Beach Balls, Inflatable Frostmournes, and gaming mice can make fine purchases, but the store was touted as a bonus for attendees, not a 2008 flea market or eBay replacement. As I mentioned, the idea was not lost upon me, and it is by no means all bad.  After all, the items that are new (I have no idea exactly how many are new) don't encompass everything that will be on sale at the show proper.  The offerings are just a "selection".  But in terms of serving customers, it's a pretty poor storefront.  Short, useless descriptions (what does the StarCraft 2 puzzle look like finished?) and the inability to filter the goods in a reasonable fashion caused me to close my wallet sooner than I expected. Of course that was after I purchased the stupid puzzle (need more wall ornaments), a plushie, magnet and two posters anyways.  Now I have to think about how much more I'll drop on the non-selected goods.  God I am such a sucker.  At least the lines should be shorter. What did you pick up, and how was your shopping experience?  Where you underwhelmed by the selection of goods as well, or did you expect numerous repeats?

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Pixiestixy wasn't the only part of the PL crew who thought about crafting a story for the Creative Writing Contest.  I've been writing about video games for nearly a decade now, so I contemplated the opportunity to create my own lore, but thought better of it.  It had nothing to do with time constraints or any reasonable excuse.  It came down to sheer confidence, something I have never had in my right brain.  Heck, I did actually give it a shot.  I came up with a trio of plot ideas, but I didn't believe that I had the chops to flesh the story out for 3000+ words.  With the little birdy in my ear yelling "stick to what you know" I dropped the ambitious project and returned to my comfort zone, reporting, dissecting and analyzing other people's work. Thank god that my affliction, being technical rather than creative, doesn't hamstring the whole populace or we wouldn't have 18 winning entries to the contest.  In case you missed the post on the official forum, the winners have been announced with Sarah Pine taking the crown for her story In the Shadow of the Sun. According to Nethaera, Metzen himself had to make the decision in the end. Being a Blizzard run project it should be no shock that we still can't read any of the award-winning stories.  At least not in their entirety.  Nethaera made no mention of the word soon, but Bornakk stated that no stories, winners or losers, can not be "legally" posted.  This gives me some hope that the winning articles will get bound in some sort of physical release.  Otherwise, I do not really understand the lengthy delay in their release.  It would be great of Blizzard to launch the winning stories in a budget-priced physical form as a treat to the community.  But we will have to wait and see. Pine's story isn't one of the shorts on the excerpts page, but there are some quality ones across all three of Blizzard's properties.  Kuma's Song, a tale, or at least the excerpt is, about the horrors of AV, caught my eye as the most intriguing of the seven.  Where Loyalties Lie, a StarCraft piece also seemed particularly interesting.  The collection promises to spread the gauntlet of emotion if the subset of stories are anything to go by.  We have revenge plots, exploration, war, death, destruction, humor and remorse all represented.  I can't wait to digest the rest of the content these unappreciated writers have created. Which story did you enjoy the most from the selection?  Would you be interested in picking up a budget-priced collection of the shorts?  Any readers submit their own stories? I'll take the plunge.  I'll put out one of my creative story ideas for you to giggle and poke fun at.  The favorite plot that I came up with was to be, at least largely, a joke piece, entirely based on boss mobs of various instances.  Not just any boss mobs, but the boss mobs that are effectively tank and spank.  The story would be a collection of soliloquies where the bosses would speak about their strategies to defeat the incoming raid and ruminate over their continued failings.  We'd be treated to colorful plans, elaborate schemes and complex strategies, only to see them fall apart due to personal issues like anxiety, stupidity, or other character flaws.  As for linking the normally unrelated bosses together, the story - One Hit Wonders - would be presented as if they were all in the after life, reminiscing their last minutes on Azeroth to each other. I know open the floor to the Internet for comments and analysis.

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New Destination For SC, WC3, WoW Replays Since StarCraft hit Korea Blizzard has been a part of the eSports community, extending the range from FPS titles to RTS.  Their Sci-Fi epic still maintains a strong following, but the company has seen Warcraft III and World of Warcraft's Arena system gain a foothold in the realm of professional gaming as well.  With their last three titles becoming a major player - arguably dominant player part due to their longevity - it should come as no surprise that the developer wants to reap some sort of benefit.  Yesterday, Blizzard and ESL TV announced a new partnership, the Blizzard eSports Channel, to deliver professional eSports content to the masses. Not everyone possesses the desire to watch other people play a video game, but these aren't just other players, they are the best of the best.  If you're one of those gamers that strives for perfection at everything you do, then you should immediately bookmark the site.  Unlike many other professional gaming sites, the Blizzard eSports Channel isn't full of any fluff.  Sure, the site lacks any and all community features, but finding and sorting the vast amount of readily available content is a snap on the uncluttered and advertisementless website.  One of the big perks is that the content is from full-blown tournaments, meaning it will have professional commentary and analysis.  That, along with being able to sort by game, game type, name, date, archive or live footage makes the portal a powerful tool for pros in training. It's a good start for Blizzard, but I expect a bit more polished things from them, even if ESL TV did set it up.  More than anything, the website needs more descriptions of the videos.  If you're looking for specific battles, say an Undead vs Orc match or Terran vs Terran, you'd be hardpressed to figure it out via the "details" page.  This can either be solved by additional sorting capabilities or a basic tagging system.  To make matters worse many of the descriptions are in various languages, not a single or carefully chosen few.  Hopefully the site will continue to be refined, because you know StarCraft 2 will be added to it when it launches later this year *crosses fingers*. Although I love Warcraft III, I don't think I will do more than check the site after big tournaments.  My brother - a former sponsored WC3 player - has probably already begun devouring the 29 pages of Warcraft III replays.  I'd be cool if they added some WoW PvE content, specifically captures of the hardcore raid guilds like Ensidia running through something.  And why not?  They consider themselves professional after all. Now to watch more Grubby replays.  My Blademaster skills are terrible.

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Kotaku just came to the realization via Official Blue Post (tm) that one of Blizzard's projects, their unnamed next-gen MMO, is an entirely new franchise, which means it's not Starcraft, it's not Warcraft, it's not Diablo, it's not Lost Vikings, it's not Rock n' Roll Racing, and most disappointingly it's not Battle Chess. Zarhym says, in response to a poster wondering why Blizzard hasn't started advertising for their new MMO:

We have nothing to advertise for the new MMO because it's a shell of a game thus far. We've already stated it'll be a brand new franchise, which means the lore, art, and game play are being developed entirely from scratch. It's an overwhelming process, but a process through which we excel. Our track record supports this.

So, they're working on all new stuff. They have two fantasy titles releasing along with a Sci-Fi future title, so what's next? Where will their new MMO end up being set? The wild west? An apocalyptic future? A realistic contemporary world? Ancient Egypt? A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away? Canada? I'm thinking none of the above, because Blizzard has a way of surprising us all. Nevertheless, it may end up being a battle between two Blizzard MMOs at the top, with some players unable to tear themselves away from WoW, but many making the transition to their new property. What do you think? Are you getting tired of the Fantasy MMO? Are you looking forward to Blizzard's new title? Where do you want to see it set, and what do you want it to include? How many question marks fit in one post?

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The Folks over at MMO-Champion have once again dug through the latest game files and found new stuff for everyone to drool over. Grunty the Murloc Marine is just that, and if they're following their trend from the past few events (a murloc pet, murloc costume, and mount with a murloc doll), the murloc space marine might just be the in-game item from 2009's BlizzCon. Considering Starcraft 2's public beta is on the verge of coming out, it fits quite perfectly. The pet itself has an awesome gun and an animation of shooting the gun, which you can see above. Check it out or head to MMO-Champion for high res screenshots!

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We saw a glimmer of this when installing Wrath, and its now beginning. Players now have the option to create an overarching Battle.net account and link all of their Blizzard games together. This may become mandatory in the future. After registering, you can "merge" your WoW account and your Battle.net account. Whenever you login to WoW, you then use your Battle.net credentials, namely the email address you used for your Battle.net account and your new password. Login for the non-WoW Blizzard games still uses their existing logon system and they will not (yet?) accept the new Battle.net credentials. You can add StarCraft Anthology, Warcraft III, Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne, Warcraft Battle Chest, Diablo II, Diablo II: Lord of Destruction, and Diablo II Battle Chest into your Battle.net account by providing the site with your CD key. You can also buy a CD key online from the Blizzard store. You are then able to download the fully patched game to your computer using the standard Blizzard downloader used for all WoW patches and media, and in the future there may be more integrated features to unify the games. Warcraft II Battle.net edition is notably not on the list. In the future, its likely that we will see "account wide achievements" and other such things. Its unclear how or if the older games will play into this, but you can be certain that Starcraft II, Diablo III, and the currently unannounced MMO that Blizzard is working on will use the new Battle.net heavily. Warcraft II, Warcraft III, Diablo II, and Starcraft all shared the same Battle.net servers and game channels could be joined by anyone from any of those games. I'd love to see WoW join in on this, as I still hop on Warcraft III and Starcraft once in a while and would like to chat with players across all of these games. In addition, Blizzard annouced that the highly popular Blizzard authenticator will be available as an application for mobile devices, namely the iPhone and iPod touch. Its a great piece of equipment that improves account security. It is being re-branded as the Battle.net authenticator. The authenticator will work with all Battle.net games. Downloadable software is much easier to keep in stock than hardware, so hopefully this will provide players with a venue to get an authenticator. Price is not yet announced, and it may be free to increase account security. Since mobile devices (especially the iPod) must authenticate over the internet, I don't think its unlikely that an exploit to replicate the authenticator will happen at some point in the future.

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