Blizzard’s decision to force posters on its forums to use their real name isn’t exactly going down too well. But is posting on the internet as, well, yourself really all that bad? More »
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Real
Duh, you say. Well, the usefulness of the report suggests that playing video games ain’t entirely sedentary, and aren’t a threat to actual exercise. Ah, now do you see? Sports games are our friends. More »
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World of WarCraft developer Blizzard has announced plans to extend the use of its Real ID feature, stipulating that anyone posting on their official forums must use their real name – thus prohibiting anonymity.
Real IDs were introduced as an optional social networking feature during the StarCraft II beta, allowing players to see both in-game and real names in their friends list. Although players will remain anonymous within Blizzard games, Real IDs will now become mandatory for all posts on the official Blizzard forums.
Revealed in a post by Blizzard employee using only the nickname “Nethaera”, the changes are intended to address the forums’ “reputation as a place where flame wars, trolling, and other unpleasantness run wild”.
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Executives from major game companies expressed concern with the Supreme Court’s recent decision to revisit a California video game law that would restrict the sale of mature-themed games to minors, in a new report on CNBC.com. Game execs are worried that the law could strain relationships with major retailers like Walmart, which could stop carrying mature titles if M-rated games are deemed suitable only for legal adults. Execs also have other reasons to be on …
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Polycount, an online resource for video game artists, has been running a Team Fortress 2 competition, asking users to submit their ideas for new weapons and items for the game. Valve, I hope you’re taking notes. More »
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Yesterday Blizzard launched patch 3.3.5 for World of Warcraft, one of the last patches in the lead-up to their third expansion pack, Cataclysm. Part of the changes in this patch include the implementation of a new chat system and an upgraded friends list that lets you see when buddies are logged on across games and on any character.
The new real ID system (pictured above in StarCraft 2) is a major facet of what Blizzard is calling Battle.net 2.0. To add someone as a real ID friend, you need to know their e-mail address rather than just their character name. Once you do, though, you'll see their real name, what game they're playing, and what character they're logged on as in your friends list. You'll also be able to send messages to buddies who are playing a different game or playing on a different server than you.
The new patch also was supposed to introduce a new raid boss encounter, the Ruby Sanctum. Although that encounter has been added to the game, Blizzard is keeping the raid closed for at least a week while they work on getting the patch out in other territories.
I downloaded the patch last night and checked it out a bit. As someone who will likely be playing a lot of future Blizzard releases (and with guild members who will be doing the same), I'm happy to have the cross-game chat option. The small tweaks made to the game's regular chat system are also quite nice. These are minor quality of life improvements, but it's good to see them set up and running before the next big expansion.
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While the last Civilization V trailer got us hot and heavy with menu footage, this one hits a little closer to home, dealing with the trauma and tragedy of Civilization addiction. More »
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