Hopefully you’re at Blizzcon and not reading this, but if you’re not we’re here for you! I’m home from work for today and I’m keeping my beady little spice addicted eyeballs at the newswire, anything majore comes up and I’ll have it posted right here for you folks. Stick around, I’m sure we’re gonna hear something major from them in the next couple days.

Simply put, I’m not playing WAR. My subscription ends in eight days and I won’t be adding more time.

I also liked to think of myself as an MMO player, but I’ve finally realized that I’m not and MMO player – I’m a WoW player. I’ve played WoW for almost 4 years now, and not s single MMO has taken me away for more then 3 weeks. There is just something about WoW that can’t seem to allow me leave. I can, honestly, no longer (after AoC, WAR, etc. disappointed me) see myself playing any other game than WoW, and I picture myself playing WoW until Blizzard takes the servers down (or discontinues the creation of new content). I originally planned to write a huge post about all of this, but I decided to keep it short because of what I’m about to say next.

Yes, I am done with Bloghammer (but I still do Blogcraft). However, this does not mean that I want Bloghammer to die out. Now, I am looking for a couple of people out there to take over for me. If you would like to write for Bloghammer, you’re going to e-mail me at worldofblogcraft@gmail.com with your name, why you want to write for Bloghammer, your “WAR credentials”, and a short 100-300 word example blog post. You may also add any other information that you feel I should know.

Now, don’t be surprised if you see me periodically post some new things on Bloghammer. I still be checkin’ around the WAR blogosphere every so often.

-via Bloghammer Online

-Matt Graham

Curse had this article posted earlier yesterday with the usual patch notes for Wrath of the Lich King, but nestled in it were one of the things I never thought I’d see for World of Warcraft, increased minimum system requirements. One thing that WoW touts as one thing that brings a lot of people to it are it’s miniscule system requirements, it’ll be interesting to see how the community handles these changes, here they are for your reading pleasure:

PC System Requirements

OS: Windows XP (Service Pack 3), Windows Vista (Service Pack 1)

Processor:

* Minimum: Intel Pentium 4 1.3 GHz or AMD Athlon XP 1500+
* Recommended: Dual-core processor, such as the Intel Pentium D or AMD Athlon 64 X2

Memory:

* Minimum: 512 MB RAM (1GB for Vista users)
* Recommended: 1 GB RAM (2 GB for Vista users)

Video:

* Minimum: 3D graphics processor with Hardware Transform and Lighting with 32 MB VRAM
Such as an ATI Radeon 7200 or NVIDIA GeForce 2 class card or better
* Recommended: 3D graphics processor with Vertex and Pixel Shader capability with 128 MB VRAM
Such as an ATI Radeon X1600 or NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GT class card or better

Sound: DirectX-compatible sound card or motherboard sound capability

Mac System Requirements

OS: Mac OS X 10.4.11 or newer

Processor:

* Minimum: PowerPC G5 1.6 GHz or Intel Core Duo processor
* Recommended: Intel 1.8GHz processor or better

Memory:

* Minimum: 1 GB RAM
* Recommended: 2 GB RAM

Video:

* Minimum: 3D graphics processor with Hardware Transform and Lighting with 64 MB VRAM
Such as an ATI Radeon 9600 or NVIDIA GeForce Ti 4600 class card or better
* Recommended: 3D graphics processor with Vertex and Pixel Shader capability with 128 MB VRAM
Such as an ATI Radeon X1600 or NVIDIA 7600 class card or better

All Platforms

Controls: A keyboard and mouse are required. Input devices other than a mouse and keyboard are not supported.
Connectivity: You must have an active broadband Internet connection to play.
Mouse: Multi-button mouse with scroll wheel recommended.
Hard Drive Space: 15 GB free hard drive space

Section: News, Reviews, Exclusives, Originals, Features, Previews, Consoles, PS3, Ads & Media, Web, Other Media, Genres, Web, Game-Genres-Other

While looking for any more information about the Playstation 4 and any goodies coming out soon for my Playstation 3, I came across this blog from the new executive producer of the Playstation Network, Kevin Furuichi, announcing a Halloween-themed episode of Qore available in the Playstation Store this Thursday, October 9, 2008, and this strange looking game interactive site, whatever it is, is called Linger in Shadows. I can’t tell what it is but you can also access it on PSN on October 9, 2008.

Although it looks like a cool game and uses the PSN Trophy system like a game, it is definitely not a game. Senior producer of Linger in Shadows, Rusty Buchert wrote, “Some of you may have heard about it already from coverage here and there, but there are a lot of questions surrounding this unique title. It will be releasing on the PlayStation Network on October 9, [2008] so I wanted to explain today about what Linger is and what it isn’t. I’ll start with the easier side, and that is Linger in Shadows is NOT a game. It was never meant to be a game and it will never be a game. Yes it has [T]rophies, but it still isn’t a game and I’ll explain why a little later on.”

Curiosity is about to light a match under the cat’s paw. I kept reading the article for some glimmer of a hint as to what Linger in the Shadow is, and the mystery is killing me. The only thing I can figure out in the blog is Linger in Shadows was created by Plastic, a demo group founded in 1997 by bonzaj and zayka.

The artwork was so captivating that I looked into other projects by Plastic to see if I can find another glimpse of this project and found this example of Linger in Shadows which I found to be a gorgeous treat for the eyes:

I’m definitely going to keep an eye on this project, I’m curious to see what becomes of the cat.

Read [PlayStation Blogs] Site [Plastic] Site [PlayStation Network]

Full Story » | Written by Lucy Newman for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

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Linger in Shadows the not-a-game coming to Playstation Network

Section: News, Consoles, PS2, Xbox, PCs, Windows, Game-Companies, Developers, Publishers, Genres, 3D, Action, FPS, Shooter

Who can say “no” to a free game? I certainly can’t do it, especially if the free game wasn’t all that bad to begin with. I’m referring to Area 51 which was released on the PS2, Xbox, and PC back in April 2005. Cruise on over to Strategy Informer to get in on all the alien splattering action.

The complete download will take up close to 2GB of space on your hard drive and features the voice talent of David Duchovny, Marilyn Manson and Powers Boothe. How’s that for a star-studded cast?

Area 51 is a typical first-person shooter that didn’t break any new ground when it was released. If you’ve played Resistance or any Halo game, you pretty much know exactly what to expect. You’ll have access to a variety of weapons that has two firing modes such as standard shooting, or extra damage shots that gobble up more ammunition. Just shoot at anything that doesn’t look human and you should be fine. You also get some nifty mutated powers as the game progresses.

Download [Strategy Informer] Read [Gamershell]

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Download Area 51 for free

Section: News, Features, Research-Studies

The two biggest stereotypes when it comes to gamers are a) that they are kids and b) they are males. A recent study put out by, IBISWorld, Inc. (one of the nation’s most respected independent publishers of business intelligence research), indicates that the complete opposite it true.

Results of the study suggest that most of the current gamers are older adults and may of those are – you guessed it – women.

According to the study, the average purchaser of games in the U.S. is 39, which means these adults started playing video games when they were teenagers and haven’t stopped. As if that’s not enough, 24% of current gamers today are in their 50s. These gamers would have easily been in their late 20s when video games became popular.

The early ’80s was certainly a high point for the video game industry. I’m not talking about Pong either, I mean systems like Atari, ColecoVision and the Sega Master System (then, of course, the Nintendo Entertainment System which came a little later). Sure there were systems before that (Odyssey for example) but those aforementioned systems were the ones that really started the era of “gamers”.

As for “girls,” the study shows that a whooping 38% of US gamers are female, stomping out the ridiculous stereotype that “girls don’t play video games.” This could be due to the fact that the market produces much more games geared towards girls then in the previous years but that’s not the only reason. The basic fact is that plenty of girls enjoy the action, strategy and challenge that video games produce.

Girls love to play Halo for the same reason boys do. Plus, girls grew up with these games too.

Of course, there are plenty of girls who don’t enjoy video games. This could because a lot of girls are not into all the violence and challenge associated with video games, or they just simply didn’t grow up with them. Maybe their parents never bought them a Sega Genesis. (I’m banking on the latter.)

All the girls that I know of that grew up with a game system (even the real girly-girls) love to play games. Those who didn’t grow up with it think they are a waste of time or boring.

So, it seems that if you grew up with game systems, you are a fan for life. With all the technology that comes with gaming, and all the new ways to play, it would impossible to not be a lifer. So it’s really no surprise that today’s gamers are adults, and women. This is not to say that children aren’t also a huge contribution to the industry, but they are not the majority anymore.

Site [IBISWorld USA] Via [The Earth Times]

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Duh of the Day: Study indicates adults and girls are gamers, too

Section: News, PCs, Windows, Game-Companies, Publishers, Genres, MMO, Role-Playing, Updates, Game-Content, Web-Sites, Official-Sites

Today is certainly the day for free-to-play, online game updates. The latest is an announcement from IGG concerning Zu Online‘s Fight in the Righteous Pagoda version update. A definite date hasn’t been set for the release of the latest version of the free-to-play, mmorpg, but IGG confirms that it will be released before the end of October, 2008.

IGG has created a special page for Zu Online – Fight in the Righteous Pagoda that discusses the version’s new features and also chronicles updates on the game update. The three major additions are the Justice Killer opponents in the Righteous Pagoda, which drop rare items and give lots of experience, outfits that will allow players to change their avatar’s gender and the ability to create level 6 Epic gear for their avatars.

Zu Online is a massive, but fairly accessible game. You’ll need a computer with Windows 98 or higher and a broadband connection to play, and enough time and space for the 973mb game client you’ll be downloading. You’ll also need an IGG account to actually play your game.

Read [SpawnPoint] Also Read [Games32] Site [Zu Online]

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Zu Online Fight in the Righteous Pagoda update details revealed

Section: News, PCs, Windows, Game-Companies, Developers, Publishers, Genres, Flash, Online, Sim, Updates, Game-Content, Web-Sites, Official-Sites

WEBMMO’s free-to-play, browser based, online game Lords of Evil has just entered the open beta phase. This Flash based game allows players to interact with others and build up a massive empire. The only downside is that closed beta players’ empires’ data and statistics have been reset, so veterans are on the same level as newcomers. Veteran players do get to keep items earned during the closed beta, so I suppose it isn’t a total wash for them.

I was a bit disappointed with Lords of Evil. I was hoping for more of a standard, mmorpg. Instead, its a city/castle management simulation. You build an empire, try to accomplish tasks, become stronger than others and then take over. I was also disappointed in the character selection. I assumed once you picked a class (human/orc/demon), you’d be able to further customize your character. Instead, you retain the same static image.

If you like kingdom management/building simulations, then you may really enjoy Lords of Evil. Especially since its free and doesn’t require you to download anything. Other players may find it a bit tedious, since so much time is required to really build up an empire. If you’re interested, it only takes a minute to make an account and give it a try. Plus, it has a tutorial that guides you through the first few steps of the game.

Read [Gamers Daily News] Also Read [GamersHell.com] Site [Lords of Evil]

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Browser-based Lords of Evil’s open beta begins