Continued from Part 1.

Vanguard sticks out as one of the biggest failures in MMORPG history. The game was praised as the hardcore player’s wet dream; promising as it was, the publisher made a crucial mistake by releasing the game before it was finished. The coding was largely incomplete, and the game required extensive polishing.

Without proper coding or optimization, the players who played Vanguard felt they had been sold an unfinished product. This lead many players to cancel their subscriptions and move on to another game. Furthermore,the developers were forced to spend their time fixing coding issues after the game was released.

Players left the game in droves, and Vanguard would become just another failed MMO.Vanguard 595

Hellgate: London had many of the same problems. Many players had the feeling that the game was unfinished when released and the developers should have been given more time. Even now, Hellgate: London players feel that the developers are still working to finish their game. Continued…



No Tauren Looking back at 2007, we can see that a record amount of MMOs have been released. As World of Warcraft hit ten million subscribers — setting a new milestone in MMOs — many people look forward to see where the MMO will be in ten years.

Will World of Warcraft still be on top? Will a WoW killer be released in 2008? What can kill a MMO? To find out, we must look to other MMOs who have withered away and examine their deaths.

Studying what kills an MMO can be an involved process. The life of an MMO is affected by countless variables and changing just one of these variables could result in a game’s upheaval. In 2007 alone countless MMO titles have died; Vanguard, Fury, Hellgate: London, and Tabula Rasa were all very promising, yet somehow they fizzled out.

While some MMOs have a dedicated audience that will allow a game to live on for years, other MMOs have had their population decimated in a matter of months. Many MMOs are destined to burn out quickly in a crowded and turbulent market. Continued…



World of Warcraft addicts everywhere celebrated this morning as the highly anticipated 2.4 patch, dubbed Fury of the Sunwell, was released.

The new patch introduces adventurers to Sunwell Isle. Here new quests can be found, along with new 5-man dungeons and a 25-man raid where gamers get to battle Kil’jaeden.

The rest of the patch has less noticeable changes. All the details can be found here.

Read: Blizzard Unleashes Fury Of The Sunwell.



Register now for GGL to receive more information about the Digital Games!

Erstwhile World of Warcraft blog-turned news site Gameriot has interviewed GGL’s Chairman and CEO, Ted Owen, about the upcoming Digital Games competition.

Here’s an excerpt:

GameRiot: You said professional gamers will have a say in basically the event (games, etc.). Will there be a board of advisors, or will that say just simply be feedback?

Ted Owen: To be honest with you, we haven’t really gotten that far. You know, and I know, what the professional gaming community wants to see there, and it’s not going to disappoint with that. I think there might be a plan in place to reach out to the some of the well-respected gaming cultural icons. You know, the Marcus Grahams, who we have on staff, and people outside of that. And we’re going to certainly listen to that. We’re going to probably publish the games that we want on the professional gaming side that we’re going to have people compete in shortly, and if we get some feedback on that and if there’s some huge outcry for some game we’ve left out or shouldn’t have, we’ll respond to that at that point. It’s certainly not going to be without the input of the rest of the world on this.

Head to Gameriot for the full interview by Shashi “Detonator” Singh.



Blizzard has released more details on its upcoming World of Warcraft tournament, showcasing NPCs who will equip you for all your battles.

In what I consider to be a brilliant move, the tournament will not require players to level up their characters. Instead, you will start at level 70 and get free epics in order to compete–separating the PVP and PVE portions of the game, hopefully, forever.

Gold will be obtained by speaking to an NPC gold giver. If you ask him/her for gold, you’ll get an easy 5,000 in order to pay for respecs, repair damage, and buy pretty much whatever you want. Speak to another NPC to get free epic items, and so on. Continued…



Today Blizzard Entertainment announced that they will be hosting a series of tournaments using the Arena system in World of Warcraft. Competitors will come from Europe, South Korea, North America, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau and will have to pay a $20.00 entry fee.

Due to the fact that you don’t need to level a character to play in the tournament, and epic/arena-quality gear is available from the start, all 10 million-plus WoW players are potential competitors.

The tournament will run for six weeks on special tournament realms. Throughout these six weeks, teams will play 3-vs.-3 matches. The top four teams from each round will advance to the regional finals. Here players will compete for more than $27,000 in cash prizes. Those who win the regional will then move on to a global championship event. At the championship event, players will then compete for $120,000 in cash prizes, including a $75,000 grand prize.

Competitors won’t actually be using their characters they put all that time and effort into leveling. When they go to make a character on the special realm, they will “instantly create level-70 characters with epic equipment.” According to Blizzard, this is to place the focus “on tactics and execution rather than normal adventuring.” Continued…



They weren’t content with a trading card game or personalized character statues. Over 10 million subscribers weren’t enough.

World of Warcraft wasn’t printing enough money, so now they’re going to create a tabletop game. My brain feels like scrambled eggs; thanks Upper Deck.

The WoW tabletop game will feature miniature characters and heroes such as Thrall and Leeroy Jenkins (is the real Leeroy getting paid for this?) taking on raid dungeons in 5-man scenarios. Up first: Onyxia.

Can you say “50 DKP minus?”

Source: Upper Deck



Blizzard has announced its 3rd World Wide Invitational, which will take place between June 28 and 29 at Porte de Versailles Exposition Center, Paris, France.

Here’s what you can expect at the convention:

Discussion panels with Blizzard Entertainment developers

  • Artist and developer signings
  • Professional eSport tournaments and casual tournaments for attendees
  • Hands-on play with World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King and StarCraft II
  • Merchandise and other products based on the Blizzard Entertainment game universes
  • Silent auction
  • Musical performances
  • And more…

With StarCraft 2 on the way we may get a better idea for a release date and likely will see a playable build with Zerg units.

Tickets will be on sale in a few weeks from the BWWI Website.



ClanBase’s Kincaid submitted this report.

Personal choice and civil liberties for gamers took another bashing as China’s Ministry of Culture published details of ten games it deems “suitable” for minors.

In an effort to “purify the ‘on-line environment,” ten games have been selected by the ministry’s on-line games censorship committee, that are deemed healthy and can “enhance intelligence.” The games are all domestic products so you won’t see the likes of World of Warcraft, Counter-Strike or Call of Duty on the list.

Instead they are made up of five role playing games, four recreational/chess games and one educational game.

This isn’t the first time though - in 2005 People’s Daily Online published an article relating to the Culture Minister’s 15 clean online games. Another list was collated again in January 2006. Continued…



Most game studios dream about making $1.2 billion for their parent companies on a yearly basis. Blizzard is living that dream as we speak.

Vivendi Games, parent company of the Irvine, CA-based Blizzard, generated €1.02 billion last year, or around $1.8 billion in USD monopoly money. Of that, €814 million ($1.2 billion USD) came directly from World of Warcraft.

We all knew it was printing money, but, geez. Still, you should know that figure doesn’t refer to profit, which is calculated after business expenses such as salaries, server maintenance, and Mike Morhaime’s blow fund are deducted. Now you know…and knowing is half the battle!

Read: WoW Blasts Vivendi Games Past €1 bln



GGL’s Reid Landeen translated this GGL China article.

World of Warcraft had a tumultuous 2007 in China, with the release of The Burning Crusade expansion and addition of many new players. Here’s a journal-style rundown of the year for TBC in China and around the world.

Jan. 16, 2007
World of Warcraft’s first expansion, The Burning Crusade, ships to North America and Europe.

March 8, 2007
Blizzard Entertainment announced today that WoW’s expansion (The Burning Crusade) has already sold more than 3.5 million copies in North America. In the first 24 hours of release, it sold more than 2.4 million copies, which is more than any PC game has ever sold in a single month. Blizzard’s President, Mike Morhaime explained, “The passion that gamers have for The Burning Crusade makes us feel really excited.” At this time, Chinese gamers did not know when The Burning Crusade would be released in China.
Continued…



Bow down, mortals and worship at the altar that is World of Warcraft! 10 million of your puny brethren have already joined the religion!

Your initiation begins with you jumping up and down repeatedly on a nationally televised talk show’s couch proclaiming your love for the game. Then, we’ll send you a free game card. Afterward, you can begin paying the low price of $14.99 a month to further your addiction subscription.

Here’s how Blizzard counts the masses of levelers that grovel at the Dark Portal, waiting to enter the mythical realm of Outland: The 10 million number counts those who have paid an addiction subscription fee or hold an active prepaid card. Visitors to Internet cafes also count toward the total.

Essentially what your overlords are saying is that they’re not counting expired subscriptions in any fashion. There really are 10 million active players scattered throughout the realms.

What are you waiting for? We’ll see you on the other side!