Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
General: Editor's News Year In Review
Szark
News ManagerMember Posts: 4,420
MMORPG.com Managing Editor Jon Wood took some time in this editorial to talk about some of the most memorable news days of 2007.
2007 was an interesting news year for those of us who follow the MMORPG industry. With the calendar now showing 2008, it seemed like a good time to sit back and reflect on some of the biggest news stories of the last year:
January 16th, 2007
Blizzard released the first full expansion for their colossal MMORPG, World of Warcraft. The expansion, dubbed “The Burning Crusade”, added new areas, new content, new classes, new features, and even a pair of new races (Blood Elves for the Horde and Draenei for the Alliance).
The real story for the release of this expansion though was the retail frenzy that it created. Shortly after launch day (which began at midnight on the 16th, with people lined up for hours at their local game stores), Blizzard announced that they had “broken the day-one sales record to become the fastest-selling PC game ever in North America and Europe, with a worldwide total of nearly 2.4 million copies sold in the first 24 hours of availability.”
The outstanding success of the expansion and the continued growth of Warcraft’s player base in 2007 resulted in the announcement of a new expansion for the King of MMOs titled, Wrath of the Lich King”.
;)
Read the whole thing here.
Comments
Brings me to the one question, how much is Blizzard going to demand in royalty over this or are they just suing right out?
I know many have done youtube videos of in game stuff like this before but the difference is this is a movie in progress that they have publicly let known. I doubt Blizzard is in on this because they could easily make a awesome cg WOW movie like the original cg movie that came with the game. Doing that they would certainly pull in more subscribers because the actual WOW movies that Blizzard can make would be really good. Again looking at the original cg movie.
And paying 10k in gold out to keep people away! They probably bought that gold to use, which blizzard should enforce that within the EULA.
I was thinking the same thing. The only way they could even attempt to get away with it is as a fan film and charging no money for it. Still, I think Blizzard could take them to the cleaners.
Only thing i keep thinking is "Why didn't they just do it on a private server?"
------------------------------
I can't believe they're actually paying people...
I've seen movies made, not full-length jobs, but they still included sequences where a lot of people were required and everyone was happy to help out for free.
Ever heard of asking nicely?
It's one of the reasons i hate when the npcs in an mmo don't talk... i know people get paid for that kind of thing but anything that involves a fan base means they'll be loads of people who being able to say "OMG! Thats my voice!" would be payment enough.
Ofc Blizzard will claim any dollars made, rightly too. I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt though that they aren't THAT stupid and have thought it through.
Notice how they didn't tell us which server it's being done on!!! LOL I could just see the login to that server!!! I don't think Blizzard will stop them it will turn into great advertisement for the game maybe another 9 million subscribers.. When where time I wanna watch..
Blizzard wont sue, after all its free advertising for them.
I would much rather watch Red vs Blue.
Indeed, indeed.
/signed
The idiots. Guess they don't know much about games
If this movie turns out anything like this movie then its worth the wait.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQvjNRIsyDM - its a true movie with charcacters and dialog. not some lame PvP frap btw.
and a teaser of episode 2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlCt6KH6vUU
I am guessing that would be harder to get around then just saying they are doing it on a normal server.
Hey that was nice, those folks are talented indeed!
Not saying they should go out and shout it, and write it in big letters, it would just be easier overall i'd imagine.
------------------------------
First off Blizzard won't sue unless they try to sell the video. You are allowed free-speech to "parody" various copyrighted works, as long as you do not try to profit from the other company's property. There have been many webcomics that borrow from existing games for their storylines, since they are free the original company doesn't mind.
Second, I agree that this is free advertising and I'm sure Blizzard won't mind that at all.
About paying off players, I'm sure some left the "set" when asked. However, there will be jerks that will throw a fit and eventually you'll have to find other ways to shut em up and make em leave. Bribery works well I'm sure.