Showing posts with label Console Games. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Console Games. Show all posts

WOW: Wrath of Lich King Review


Four years and well beyond 10 million subscriptions after the release of World of Warcraft, Blizzard's phenomenally successful massively multiplayer online role-playing game is barely recognizable as the same game that sold almost a quarter of a million copies in its first 24 hours. The game has been in a near-constant state of evolution since 2004, and up until last month, the steady flow of new features and improvements had all been patched in for free, with only one exception: the Burning Crusade expansion pack that's required to play Wrath of the Lich King. The recently released second expansion pack doesn't boast as many back-of-the-box bullet points as its predecessor, and it doesn't offer anything for new players, but if you're still playing WOW or you're looking for an excuse to get back into it, this thrilling new adventure is not to be missed.

All of the new content in Wrath of the Lich King comes with a character-level requirement. You can't play the new death knight hero class until one of your existing characters reaches level 55, and you can't attempt any quests in the new Northrend continent until you're at level 68. The most significant exception to this rule would have been the new inscription-crafting profession, but that ended up being patched in shortly before the expansion's release alongside new talents for every character class in the game, an Xbox Live-style achievements system, barbershops, an extremely useful in-game calendar, and numerous user-interface improvements. There's new content for low-level players, but you don't need the expansion pack to get it.

Home Open Beta (Finally) Arrives On December 11th



The perennially forthcoming PlayStation Home is finally entering open beta tomorrow, allowing those of us who weren't invited to the closed beta to figure out what all of the avatar-centric fuss is about.
It's an ambitious idea -- a sort of console-based Second Life, where players can create avatars that can walk around and do stuff, unlike those on Nintendo and Xbox 360.
While access to Home will be free of charge, prepare to swept up in a sea of advertising and microtransactions. Players will get their own apartment, and activities will include fraternizing with strangers in themed locales, playing social games, buying your digital self designer clothing, or picking out fancy furniture you couldn't hope to afford in meatspace.
Home will also be a place to gorge on all sorts of media, with content providers like Hexus TV, Eurogamer, and Paramount providing exclusive programming to watch, with trailers and merchandise from the upcoming film The Watchmen kicking everything off.
But it's still all about the games, right? A Far Cry 2 space will be one of the first available, where you can chat with other players about all things Far Cry. Uncharted, Warhawk, and Motorstorm spaces are set to follow shortly, and Sony is reportedly working with the likes of EA, Ubisoft, Sega and others to create even more environments for us to frolic in.
As for the new question on everyone's mind: will it all be worth the wait?
Image courtesy Sony.
blog.wired.com