Warhammer Online: 750,000 Strong and Growing

a quick gaming update from Renzie Baluyut.

No doubt about it: the whole gaming community's tuned in to the latest on what Blizzard has to offer on BlizzCon this weekend. But Mythic reveals the latest figures on its own MMORPG title- Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning- which hit shelves just last September 18.

At the 2008 Tokyo Game Show, Turbine CEO James Crowley delivered a keynote address, and announced that EA Mythic now pegs the registered player total for the fantasy MMO title at 750,000. That's a full quarter-million up from when Warhammer Online came out just less than a month ago.

Already, Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning may be "the fastest-selling new MMO of all-time," as EA Mythic claims. But can it sustain its subscribers after a couple of months?

Funcom's Age of Conan- another MMORPG- racked up a fairly impressive 400,000 subscribers in its first week upon dropping in stores. Three months after launching however, while Funcom may have sold some 800,000 copies of the game, only 415,000 subscribers stuck around.

Both Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning and Age of Conan will be up against some pretty stiff competition in a few weeks. World of Warcraft's latest expansion, Wrath of the Lich King, comes out on November 13. WoW already has at least 11 million subscribers to its name- and those numbers are expected to shoot up once WotLK hits shelves next month.

Cheers, everyone!

Great Moments in Gaming: The Onyxia Wipe Video

a quick break from actual gaming by Renzie Baluyut

I don't know if you've already seen this video, but I just did a few months back.

Backgrounder: if you've been playing World of Warcraft, then you know that the later storyline brings in Onyxia, this big-ass black dragon boss, who has decided to take the southern part of Dustwallow Marsh as her lair.

It takes a massive effort to bring Onyxia down, with guilds organizing large raiding parties still getting wiped. Onyxia on her own is tough enough, but adventurers also have to deal with all kinds of Black Dragonspawn- among them, Black Dragon Whelps. Many, many whelps.

Now here's a disturbingly hilarious video of one such guild who had come knocking on Onyxia's lair. And promptly got wiped. Thanks to Alachas1985 for capturing this moment in viral video form- truly one of the greatest moments of gaming. Ever. Take a look.

Here's a transcription of what went down. Mind you, if you it's filled with expletives- so a word to the sensitive ones. Just had to stay faithful to the original material, is all. With that out of the way...

Odd groups go to the left, even groups go to the right. That means 1, 3, 5, 7 - left, 2, 4, 6, 8 - right. Seven and Eight are Whelp Groups.

Okay, now listen the fuck up: you're going to DPS very very slowly. Now... and by slowly, I mean fucking slow.

If you get aggro, it means you're going to lose 50 DKP 'coz you didn't know what the fuck to do!

And watch the fucking tail!

If you get kicked into the whelps, you lose 50 DKP again- for not being where the fuck you were supposed to be.

There is no aggro reset. The only... there's some shit about an aggro reset when some people don't know how to manage their aggro.

After 2 Sunders, you can basically start doing damage to it. Assuming you know how Aggro works, you son't over-Aggro.

OK, nuke it, DOT it, help the whelp groups...

When it's in phase 2, nuke it as hard as possible. You want to get it down as fast as possible. Have DOTs up on- on every time. 2 rows: Shadow Word: Pain, Warlock Curses, Rend, everything.

I don't see enough DOTs, more DOTs now! Come on, more DPS! Hit it like ya mean it! You'll get time to rest in Phase 3 while (down) getting Aggro.

Remember, save your Aggro-reducing abilities for when it lands. That means Feign Death, Vanish, -erm- fucking Fade, anything that you can use to reset Aggro.

At 40%, you will stop DOTs. Until then, you will throw more DOTs. Throw more DOTs, more DOTs, more DOTs. Come on, more DOTs! 'K, stop DOTs.

Now hit it very hard. And very fast!

Lee, run to the center! Mogrus, run to the center! Foresight, run to the center! Sarp, run to the center! Isis, run to the center! Whatever the fuck you do, don't stand next to other people!

Mogrus, center! Just heal me.

Lee, do NOT..! Go away from the head, Lee! Go away!
'K, DPS! Slowly! Come here, you fucking cunt! Watch the tail!

(Someone else) Whelps. (Somebody else) Crushim was Feared into...

WHO THE FUCK WAS THAT? Crushim, what the FUCK? Whelps- left side! Even side, many whelps! NOW, HANDLE it!

FUCK!

That's a FUCKING 50 DKP minus! What the FUCK was that SHIT?

If you stand in the right fucking place, there is NO WAY you are going to FUCKING get into the GODDAMNED whelps, whatever fucking FEAR, Tailswipe- whatever the FUCK! Okay?! It's like one in a fucking million!

From the- fucking north corner, to the middle, into the fucking Whelp cave, it's not even FUCKING remotely imaginable!

(end)

From Alachas1985's YouTube entry: The audio was created by "Dives" from Wipe Club, I had nothing to do with its creation, I only made the animation. Cheers to the guys from "Wipe Club" (http://www.wipeclub.eu) for making the sound clip!

Cheers indeed!

Have You Checked Out The World of Warcraft Comics?

Here's something every World of Warcraft gamer can appreciate: a whole bunch of World of Warcraft funnies- 15+ pages of comic strips- right smack in the WoW Official Website Community Page, which you can check out right here.

I gotta credit my girlfriend for pointing this one out to me. Yes, she plays World of Warcraft- heck, even more so than I do. Just the other night, she was checking both our accounts to see which ones needed renewing, and she stumbled upon the motherlode of WoW humor.

We eventually ended up reading them all. Of course some were funnier than others, but it was great to know how there are so many passionate players out there who came up with all these great strips.

You can see all kinds of renditions of familiar World of Warcraft character archetypes- some anime-ish, some intentionally drawn crudely- the variety in itself is a testament to WoW's universal appeal.

It seems that World of Warcraft players have been submitting these funnies since May of 2006- that's exactly 2 years ago- and more seem to be coming in. We're both looking forward to seeing more of these entertaining comic strips.

So next time you check out your World of Warcraft account, take some time out to browse through the rest of the WoW Official Website. Drop by the Community Section and check out the comic strips. Good times, man.

Cheers, everyone!

Have You Seen These World of Warcraft TV Spots?

Check out these funny World of Warcraft TV commercials- I actually was able to catch a couple of them on TV while I was watching VH1 in the 'States over the holidays.

This one has William Shatner as a Tauren Shaman.



This one has Mr. T as a -uh- a Night Elf Mohawk (really more of a Warrior, but don't say it out loud in front of Mr. T)



And lastly, here's Mini-Me, Verne Troyer as a Gnome Mage (what else?)!



Also, here are a couple of other TV spots, apparently for a European audience. This one has Jean-Claude Van Damme as a Troll Mage:

Translation:

"My name is Jean-Claude Van Damme... and I am a mage."
"Hand-to-hand combat for me: it's over!"
"Now I can cast powerful spells!"
"Just try messing with me... I'll turn you into a sheep."
"A sheep!"
"...Because we all are a bit like sheep, you know..."
"I am Jean-Claude Van Damme, I am a mage.
"And you?"
"What's your game?"

World of Warcraft. Try it free at www.warcraft.fr!

Lastly, here's Willy Toledo as a Human Paladin:



Cool huh, hope you had fun. What's your game?