Da Newz – June 26

Story of the Week: Richard Bartle’s WAR=WoW Remark

• The rule of the blogosphere is that if there isn’t enough real news going on, we’ll make it up ourselves. Richard Bartle, crown prince of MUDs, was quoted in an interview effectively saying that Warhammer and Warcraft were the same game. This ignited a firestorm of nerdrage, dozens of posts, and (surprisingly) dozens of replies from Bartle himself.

Beta Ticker:

• 743,603
• +14,757 from last week

Quotes of the Week:

• “I’ve already played Warhammer. It was called World of Warcraft.” ~ Richard Bartle
• “It’s fantasy with all the crap bits taken out.” ~ Paul Barnett
• “If a developer’s confidence equated directly to the excellence of a video game, then Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning would easily be one of the best MMOs ever made.” ~ IGN
• “[Age of Conan's launch] showed us that it’s very important that you be as polished and complete when you launch your game.” ~ Jeff Hickman

New Blogs & Sites:

• Bloghammer Online – it’s bloggy, and it’s hammery.
• Vid’s Blog – the roommate you never had.
• CyberVic – less creepy than it sounds.
• Doubt the Stars – Carrie Gouskos’ (Tome of Knowledge designer) blog
• A Wall of Text – it crit me, hard.
• Wizards & Wenches – how awesome is that name?

From EA Mythic:

• James Nichols gives a vague clarification for the beta invite process
• Iain Compton assures you: if you bought a CE pre-order pack, you will get the CE.
• News from the Front: Aegis of the Oathbearers @ Warhammer Herald
• Carrie Gouskos laments that players don’t do what they’re told…
• Paul is tired.
• WAR in LA - a wrapup of recent press events
• IainC swung over to Brook of Grudges to clear some facts up about GOA.
• Are toons from the Open Beta being carried over to live release? James Nichols says, once again, NO.
• James clarifies that the system being used for the EU guild beta isn’t the same as the NA system.
• Paul Barnett on Games Journalism at Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Articles & Features:

• Book of Grudges is in a love/hate relationship with Europe’s GOA (the company handling the accounts and servers in Europe)
• The Cogworks has a theory about the release date — I think you should check it out
• Teh War Noob worries about staking a claim to his name. Me? I’m going for Professor McFussyPants. And don’t you steal it.
• Champions of Stuff makes a good catch in the Herald — are guild betas imminent?
• Rock Paper Shotgun does a decent wrapup of the Dreamhack LAN party with Paul Barnett.
• Is WAR on track for release, or are there red flags going up? Werit investigates.
• Book of Grudges wonders how WAR will win over the non-PvPers to PvP.
• What fears do different races and classes in Warhammer hold? The Greenskin knows.
• Vid brings back a wholloping Baltimore Games Day article, complete with screenies.
• Werit wasn’t too happy with the G4 coverage of Warhammer.
• Warhammer Gamers preps for a new modding section.
• “Order Strikes Back: Archmage” at The White Tower is more than meets the eye.
• “Order Strikes Back: Shadow Warrior” slices open a Taun-Taun to stay warm for the night.
• IGN has an updated WAR hands-on article with a look at troll country.
• Browncoat plugs the newest carebears on the WHA Waaagh!
• Gordo is leaving Age of Conan and preparing for the long wait until this fall’s WAR.
• Werit looks at Richard Bartle’s viewpoint with the whole “WAR is WoW” speech.
• The MMOG Nation looks back at an earlier conversation they had with Paul Barnett — and how things have changed since then.
• The Book of Grudges gushes a bit (it’s messy!) about the Collector’s Edition.
• Learn how to paint your Warhammer models over at The Greenskin. I like to dunk mine in paint, like Easter eggs.
• We’re treated with a full Toronto Games Day report on WAR over at Warhammer Conflict.
• Khaos chooses an army: Empire. Part 45 in this exclusive series! Then part 46: Dark Elves!
• Keen roasts Richard Bartle a bit for his WAR quote…
• Then Tobold jumps into the fray and coins the term “WOW+”
• Then Hardcore Gamer is all like, “Whoa!” and “Sheaaa!”
• A walk down memory lane spurs Champions of Stuff to sign up for the WAR beta.
• Bloghammer caved in and got that sex change he always wa… what? Oh, I mean, he pre-ordered the Collector’s Edition.
• WTB 1 [Squig Launcher] @ Werit’s Cafe
• Will WAR living guilds be a new best-selling item? Wizards & Wenches speculates.
• Career Smackdown: Bright Wizard v. Sorceress at War Noob. My money’s on the Skaven.
• The girls at Book of Grudges have some questions… and they want some answers.
• If WAR is like WoW, War Noob wonders, will it be that bad?
• The WAR Class Portal at TTH is now active, although pretty much every page is identical to the ones on the official Warhammer site.
• JoBildo has an interesting theory behind the possible September 23rd release date.
• What’s Bloghammer going to play in WAR? I bet you’re dying to know!
• Expansion. You’re thinking it, I’m thinking it, Champions of Stuff is thinking it.
• Book of Grudges LURVES the idea of Level 1 PvP! The Greenskin has a quick response to it as well.
• What’s “Kill Credit” and where can you spend it? Snafzg has the answer on The Greenskin.
• War Noob starts looking into personal ads for Guild Applications.
• “Behind the Career System: Part One” at MMORPG talks with Adam Gershowitz about the differences and similarities between classes.
• “The Currency of WAR” at Wizards & Wenches wishes orc teeth could be used…
• “Loading… WAR Lore Galore” at TTH gives us a nifty little overview of the Warhammer racial conflict.
• Flashy on the WHA forums studied the Games Day videos and wrote down an impressive list of class spells.
• Tanks, healers & gender — where’s the connection? Book of Grudges investigates.
• War Noob asks, “Will WAR focus too much on war?” Watch out! It’s a trick question!
• Werit looks into his magic 8-ball — “outlook good” — to determine what’s in store for WAR content updates.
• Likewise, Snafzggfdz takes a look at Warhammer’s possible future.
• Warhammer Alliance forums has posted a useful list of currently known emotes in WAR.
• European Guild Beta is set to begin in the next four weeks, WHA reports.
• What’s “fun” in WAR? Bloghammer daydreams.
• /random worries that WAR will be just another step in the life-long leveling treadmill.
• UGO has a short, standard preview of WAR… hey, I’M short and standard! How dare they!
• “WAR: Prospering in a PvP World” @ TTH looks at what might and might not be different than a PvE experience.

Videos & Podcasts:

• Keen has the G4 Warhammer clip, along with some lite commentary.
• ChaosCast #2 was featured in Massively’s weekly MMOG Podcast Roundup.
• IGN threw up five new WAR videos. Well, not “throw up” as in barfing, but as in posting them.
• The MMOG Nation Broadcast (MNB) went to visit Mythic and recorded a great podcast with them.
• Bloghammer shares the extended 7.5 minute G4 interview with Paul and Jeff.
• Warhammer Vault has reposted a neat Shaman combat video to enjoy.
• Hirokana made a cool Warhammer tribute video, which was posted on Warhammer Vault.
• If you need to convince a friend or loved one to play WAR, you would do well to show them these Game Trailers videos — I love it!
• This isn’t Warhammer Online, but I know a lot of WAR fans are fond of Blood Bowl — check out this hilarious new trailer!

Fun & Games:

• Warhammer Vault has a really kickin’ Dark Elf wallpaper for you to “ooh” and “ahh” over.
• CyberVic made a Greater Daemon of Tzeentch from the Spore creature creator.
• “The Inquisition (Part 2)” at Secret Life of Mobs continues this nail-biting storyline.
• Clint Eastwood is playing Order. You heard it at The Cogworks first, folks.
• Get to da choppa!
• Warhammer Geek has a new musical parody: “Sigmar’s Name”

Picking Over The March Newsletter

You know it’s been a breakneck news cycle lately since the monthly WAR newsletter — usually the topic of discussion for an entire week on any WAR fan site — was largely shoved aside in the wake of the delay announcement, the CE details, the Paris Event and my blossoming into puberty. Well, that last part technically happened in 1987, but I keep getting visited by the Big Honking Zit Fairy, so I assume that I’ve still got a growth spurt or two left in me.

Instead of breaking down the March newsletter piecemeal, I thought I’d give it a read through (which you can also do here) and note things that haven’t already been talked about to death in the past couple weeks:

• Lots of rehashing over the delay and CE. The delay gets one paragraph, and the CE gets dozens. Huh.
• Games Workshop is inviting future WAR players on April 12-13 to a GW store to get free lessons in tabletop Warhammer.
• In March, Beta testers wrapped up both the HE/DE and Chaos/Empire focus tests, along with early crafting, renown ranks, and UI changes. They quote a few beta testers on these changes (positive, of course).
• If you snag a copy of a Warhammer comic book from BOOM! Studios, you could win a chance in the beta.
• There’s a nice article on the making of the Inevitable City — not so much the nitty-gritty aspects, but more the feel and process of its creation.
• Marauder and Witch Hunter overviews & mastery paths. Nothing revolutionary, but I think both classes will be incredibly popular.
• A really neat Bright Wizard wallpaper (sneak peak for the trailer).
• Some of the concept art for weapons, like the Engineer’s wrenches, are pretty cool.
• The Grab Bag is always my favorite (I’m tired of wading through videos at this point, and I appreciate some direct Q&A’s). Interesting tidbits: players as low as level 7 can travel to their capital cities, and when you capture an enemy city, you can kick down doors and loot to your heart’s content!

The End Is Coming! The End Is Coming!

Or… something. But when Warhammer Europe posts a big-ass countdown on their front page, the hairs on the back of my neck perk right the heck up. Keen speculates that it might be info about release, the CE box, NDA drop or the pre-order box — all of which are valid, and we know for sure that we’re going to find out about the CE and pre-order boxes next week.

As of this writing, the timer has 4 days and 19 hours to go, which puts us at next Wednesday morning, EST. If you need to join in with the speculation, Warhammer Alliance and the Warhammer VN Boards are doing a great job.

Here’s a copy of the pre-order card that you’ll get:

That’s it for me this week — see you all next Monday!