warcraft-iii posts

Amazon.com has one day sale on Blizzard "Battle Chest" game collections

by John Callaham Oct 7th 2009 @ 4:00PM

Amazon.com has the occasional one day sale that might be of interest to our audience. Today their one day sale deals with the "Battle Chest" game collections from Blizzard Entertainment. For today only three of these collections are on sale for 50 percent off.

If you haven't bought these games already you can get the Diablo Battle Chest (Diablo II and its expansion plus strategy guide) for $19.98, the Warcraft III Battle Chest (the original game, the expansion plus strategy guides) for $19.98 and the StarCraft Battle Chest (the original game, the expansion plus strategy guides) for just $9.98. That's 50 percent off their normal price.

Filed under: RPG, RTS, Starcraft II, Diablo III

Defense of the Ancients main developer hired by Valve

by John Callaham Oct 5th 2009 @ 3:00PM

The current lead developer behind the popular Warcraft III mod Defense of the Ancients has made the suprising announcement that he is "now leading a team at Valve". Presumably he means the same Valve that has mostly worked on first person shooter game titles like Half-Life and Left 4 Dead. In his announcement on the official DotA page "IceFrog" (that's the only name he goes by) he stats that now he has "all the resources needed to do some very exciting stuff that you guys will love. I look forward to revealing more specific details when the time is right."

This would certainly be a change of pace for Valve if they decide to develop a DotA-like game. The mod has become an inspiration for a number of current and upcoming commercial games including Demigod, Heroes of Newerth and League of Legends (who have former DotA team members as part of their dev team).

[Via Shacknews]

Filed under: Mods, RTS, Strategy

Intel contests let you win before and during BlizzCon

by John Callaham Aug 1st 2009 @ 11:00AM

With BlizzCon coming up in less than three weeks (August 21-22 to be exact), the various sponsors of Blizzard's massive fan event are gearing up for their own promotions. Intel is doing what they can with special contests that will be held both before and during BlizzCon. No, Intel isn't offering trips to the event but they are giving folks a chance to win some gaming laptops from Asus if they pick the winners of the three main BlizzCon tournaments (World of Warcraft, StarCraft and WarCraft III) By the way, Blizzard plans to stream the BlizzCon tournaments in both SD and HD for free on the BlizzCon web site.

If you happen to be lucky enough to go to BlizzCon, Intel will also be running contests on the show floor as well including giving away five Intel Core i7 processors each day of the event. You can head over to the Intel blog site for more info.

Filed under: Contests, Hardware, MMO, RPG, RTS, Starcraft II, World of Warcraft, Diablo III

World Cyber Games select new PC titles for 2009 season

by John Callaham Apr 20th 2009 @ 3:00PM

One of the few remaining pro gaming tournament organizations with tournaments in the US is the World Cyber Games. Recently the organization announced which games will be the official tournament titles that will be used in the WCG championships.

Some of the games have been used before like Counter-Strike 1.6, Starcraft: Brood War, and Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne. The WCG will also use the PC version of FIFA 09, Carom3D (a billiards title) and the MMO game Red Stone. In an unusual move, the WCG have also added the racing game Trackmania Nations Forever as a new official title in tournaments. Regional and national tournaments will be held throughout the year all over the world. The WCG World Championships will be held in Chengdu, China on Nov. 11-15

Filed under: Contests, Culture

Independent Minds: Player Creativity

by James Murff Apr 14th 2009 @ 2:00PM

Independent Minds aims to take various aspects of indie gaming and present them to you each week. From game round-ups to design elements to interviews with prominent members of the scene, it's an exploration of what makes indie gaming great as well as what makes someone an indie.

For the game developer, nothing is more important than the longevity of a game. Will people be playing your opus a year after release? Ten years after release? The answer should be yes, but the ways to extend the life of a game are often overlooked. There are many different methods to add replayability, including multiple story paths, procedurally generated content, and non-linear gameplay. However, the best way, and the one that has ensured the survival of games like Unreal Tournament or Half-Life, is allowing players to fiddle with the content themselves. The more your players can tweak the game, the more they will play it, and that's a lesson all developers should take to heart.

Continue reading Independent Minds: Player Creativity

Filed under: Features, Mods, Indie, Opinion

Korean Warcraft III pro gamer gets a record contract

by John Callaham Mar 16th 2009 @ 2:00PM

With the current economic situation you would think that there would be less money to pay professional gamers. Not in Korea. According to Sk-gaming.com, Warcraft III gamer Jae Ho 'Moon' Jang (the guy in the Star Trek outfit) just signed a new contract for a new team that gives him a whopping $486,500 for three years.

That amount is the higher ever for a Warcraft III gamer and the second highest given for any gamer in Korea. The number is topped only by Yoon Yeoi "NaDa" Lee. The Starcraft pro player signed a three year $521,250 contract back in 2007.

[Via Joysiq]

Filed under: Culture, Multiplayer, RTS, Starcraft II

MODmonday: Defense of the Ancients

by David Craddock Jan 12th 2009 @ 4:00PM

MODmonday: Defense of the Ancients

The quest to attain the title of "most popular mod" is a difficult and arguably meaningless one. Ask the devotees in any mod's camp, and they're sure to tell you that their mod of choice is the only correct answer. What mod, then, is the most popular mod in the world? Counter-Strike is a possibility. First released in 1999, Counter-Strike has ten years of experience behind it, and an exponentially larger fan base. Team Fortress boasts just as many dedicated gamers, if not more.

These and other mods are undoubtedly popular, but according to an analysis on Gamasutra written in June 2008, Defense of the Ancients, a strategy-RPG hybrid fittingly developed for Blizzard Entertainment's strategy-RPG WarCraft III, is the most popular "free, non-supported game mod in the world."

Continue reading MODmonday: Defense of the Ancients

Filed under: Features, Hands-on, Multiplayer, RTS, Opinion

Interview: Riot Games talks about League of Legends

by John Callaham Nov 10th 2008 @ 6:00PM

The new Los Angeles based game developer Riot Games made a big splash a few weeks ago when they first announced their plans for League of Legends. Their fantasy based PC action-strategy game is in a way a stand alone extension of the popular Warcraft III mod Defense of the Ancients.

Big Download wanted to get some more info about both Riot Games and their plans for League of Legends. We sent a number of questions for the team to answer and they responded in kind (we were told that more than one person answered the questions so the credit for the answers will be given to Riot Games).

Gallery: League Of Legends

Continue reading Interview: Riot Games talks about League of Legends

Filed under: Features, Interviews, Action, Multiplayer, RPG, Strategy

Blizzard two disk music CD announced

by John Callaham Oct 27th 2008 @ 10:00AM

If you love the musical soundtracks for the games created by Blizzard then you may be in for one heck of a treat next month. Music 4 Games has revealed plans to publish The Music of Blizzard Entertainment: Echoes of War, a two disk CD of various themes from Blizzard's games as performed by the Eminence Symphony Orchestra.

The CD package will have 70 minutes of music from Blizzard's games include tracks from unreleased games like Starcraft II, Diablo III and World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King. Two versions of the product will be released. The standard edition with just the music CD will go on sale Nov. 22 for $29.95. A "Legendary" edition will be released on Nov. 1 for $49.95 and will include the two CD disk along with a DVD that has behind-the-scenes footage of the recording sessions and more, along with a 32 page booklet and nine artcards.

[Via Blue's News]

Filed under: Culture, Starcraft II, World of Warcraft, Diablo III

Alt-Tab: Activsion before Blizzard?

by Kyle Horner Oct 16th 2008 @ 3:00PM

We've all been told that Blizzard wasn't -- and continues to not be -- affected by Activision. But is that really the truth? I hadn't questioned the claim until recently, when changes began to trickle out of BlizzCon 08.

At first, there was an announcement of a new StarCraft II singleplayer addition each year, for the next three years. Blizzard says: We wanted to make so much StarCraft II, that we needed to split it into three separate games that each need around a full year of development -- huzzah! I was ecstatic, it was Blizzard-nerd nirvana. Then these pesky questions began creeping into the forefront of my mind, buzzing about like infuriating flies that refuse to leave your room on a particularly hot summer day.

Continue reading Alt-Tab: Activsion before Blizzard?

Filed under: Features, Opinion, Starcraft II

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