blizzard
BlizzCon 2017: World of Warcraft and Less Important Stuff
Last year, I ponied up for my BlizzCon 2016 Virtual Ticket. I’m not posh enough to afford a trip to California, hotel stay for that weekend, and two tickets for BlizzCon (my daughter would disown me if I went without her). Besides, there was little news I cared about. I only wanted news on Overwatch and Diablo III. Those were the games I was playing. StarCraft II was nearing its end, and I never j...[Read More]
Blizzard to Upgrade StarCraft and Make it Free
New Patch on the Way Soon Blizzard is working on a remaster for the original StarCraft and its expansion, Brood War. While they work on giving the classic game the 4K spit-shine, they’re also working on an update to the original game. That update – version 1.18 – will drop sometime in the next week. Along with the update comes another benefit: Blizzard will make the game completely free. The...[Read More]
We Have a New Overwatch Hero. Her Name is Orisa and She is a Robotic Centaur!
There has been a bit of speculation as to who the 24th hero in Overwatch is going to be. Many speculated that Doomfist, the hero turned villain, would make an appearance. It turns out that the new hero selected as the latest playable hero is the entity selected to protect the city of Numbani: Orisa! The hero is a tank-based centaur-like character and is meant as a counter-balance to Reinhardt fans...[Read More]
Blizzard Job Posting Leads to Speculation of Overwatch Campaign
A couple of job postings on Blizzard’s website are calling for Lead Software Engineers, Engine and Tools, for “unannounced games/projects.” There is no information on what game it could be, but many, including Eurogamer, are speculating that it could be for an Overwatch campaign. The postings call for people who are experienced working with a “robust first-person engine for an unannounced project&...[Read More]
Retro Review: Blackthorne (SNES)
Release Date: 1994 Developer: Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. Publisher: Interplay Productions Ltd. On February 8th, 1991, three UCLA Bachelor’s graduates decided to start making video games for the SNES under the name Silicon & Synapse. The games were good but not spectacular. Sometime in 1993, Silicon & Synapse became Chaos Studios. They eventually caught the attention of distributor...[Read More]
BlizzCon 2016 Impressions
Every year, the High Priests of Blizzard gather their flock and descend upon Anaheim, California to profess their faith and devotion. They call it BlizzCon, and they bill it as some celebration of gaming. Obviously, it’s just a front ritualistic activity. I’ve seen the pictures. People dressed as demons and orcs and pandas. There’s even a Weird Al Yankovic sighting this year. It’s obviously pagan ...[Read More]
New Overwatch Animated Short formally introduces Sombra
For BlizzCon 2016, Blizzard played a new animated short that finally introduced Overwatch’s much-hyped hero, Sombra. The short interrupted a retrospective of Overwatch’s launch day, glitching out the video in true Sombra style. It follows the stealthy hacker on a mission alongside Widowmaker and Reaper. She looks exactly like she does in the most recent leaked image. Judging by her mov...[Read More]
Overwatch Leak Shows Halloween Terror Event…and Another Secret
As usually happens, screenshots talking about Halloween loot boxes has leaked. The particular leak happened on the Xbox Store. This shows that Blizzard is planning for special event, named Halloween Terror. Players who play during the event that grab loot boxes will receive Halloween-themed loot, similar to the loot for the Olympics. That in itself is not too much of a surprise. Players will now h...[Read More]
Blizzard Doing Away with Battle.net Name
Blizzard has been using the Battle.net name since it launched Diablo in 1996. Twenty years later, Blizzard is doing away with the Battle.net name. The service, which started as just an online gaming and platform, has become Blizzard’s digital distribution and digital rights management (DRM) platform on PC. When Battle.net was created, the very thought of online multiplayer gaming was alien to the ...[Read More]
My Ode to Chris Metzen
I have been playing video games for as long as I can recall having memories. There are literally dozens of video games that I feel have stayed with me as touchstones. I would have to say that my first was Atari’s Football arcade game. As a child, I distinctly recall being told by my mother to watch after my younger brother after she left us at an arcade to go shop at Richard’s, a popular departmen...[Read More]
World of Warcraft Legion Review
World of Warcraft was a game that had seemingly lost its place. In the eyes of players, like me, who had put years into the MMORPG – and especially those who had cut their teeth during the “vanilla” years – WoW was washed up. The Warlords of Draenor expansion was generally accepted as a vastly inferior product. Interest in the MMO dwindled, and players fled like birds from gunfire. World of Warcr...[Read More]
World of Warcraft Legion Review
Developer: Blizzard Publisher: Blizzard Platform Reviewed: PC Release Date: August 30, 2016 Acquired via: Purchase via Battle.net World of Warcraft was a game that had seemingly lost its place. In the eyes of players, like me, who had put years into the MMORPG – and especially those who had cut their teeth during the “vanilla” years – WoW was washed up. The Warlords of Draenor expansion was gener...[Read More]