WOW (and Starcraft 2) on the iPad

All about the everyAir app which allows players to play WOW on an iPad.
http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/11/24/15-minutes-of-fame-players-bring-touchscreen-wow-to-the-ipad/

Win coupons for the app at WOW Insider. Contest ends tomorrow.
http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/11/24/win-everyair-desktop-app-for-the-ipad/

UPDATE:  Starcraft 2 is playable on the iPad now ussing an app made by a company called iSwifter.
http://kotaku.com/5703026/lets-play-starcraft-on-the-ipad

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Starcraft 2 Pirated Big Time (Part 2 Leaked?)

Starcraft 2 sold 3 million copies the first month it was released (and Blizzard gave away untold copies in Korea).  Now it looks like there over two million copies were pirated through BitTorrent.  Looks like there are more unpaid copies available than ones folks paid for.
http://kotaku.com/5690866/pirates-are-all-over-starcraft-ii

In other Starcraft 2 news, Kotaku has a video that supposedly leaks the ending of next year's Starcraft 2 expansion.
http://kotaku.com/5709838/ending-leaked-for-starcraft-iis-next-chapter

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Starcraft 2 Not As Popular in South Korea

Kotaku says Starcraft 2 isn't a big hit in Korea, due to the struggle between Blizzard Activision and e-sports authorities over control and money. That's turned players off on the game.  Edge says a month after Starcraft 2 was released, only 2-3% of Internet cafe gamers were playing the game which Blizzard gave away for free in South Korea.  Here is the short report at Kotaku which summarizes the full Edge story in the second link.
http://kotaku.com/5688166/hey-korea-why-you-so-down-on-starcraft-ii

http://www.next-gen.biz/features/the-battle-for-starcraft-ii?page=0%2C0

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Blizzard About to Sue Korean TV Companies

Blizzard and Korean cable companies are fighting over control of Starcraft match broadcasts and how much is to be paid to show them.
http://kotaku.com/5676092/starcraft-legal-tussle-over-tv-rights-brewing

UPDATE: The PR war starts as Blizzard prepares to sue the Korean e-sports league as well as its former television partners. (Dec. 2010)  Thanks for the tip, Kotaku.
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/tech/2010/12/133_77381.html

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New Gaming Peripherals from SteelSeries and Razer

SteelSeries showed off their latest gaming mice and keyboard at Blizzcon.
http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/10/26/blizzcon-2010-steelseries-shows-off-cataclysm-mmo-mouse-pro-ga/

http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/10/27/razer-announces-specialized-mmo-gaming-keyboard/

SteelSeries has just announced that they will have a MMO key set for their new SHIFT keyboard.
http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/11/18/steelseries-introduces-new-shift-key-set-for-mmos/

UPDATE:  Kotaku has a review, complete with video, on their website of the SteelSeries Shift.
http://kotaku.com/5709650/review-steelseries-shift-is-a-mighty-morphin-power-keyboard

Razer has a headset, keyboard and mouse set geared for Starcraft 2 fans.
http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/10/28/blizzcon-2010-razer-demos-the-naga-epic-starcraft-2-gear/

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Blizzard Prepares to Ban Starcraft 2 Cheaters UPDATED WITH SECOND BAN

Blizzard is threatening to ban Starcraft 2 cheaters (Sept. 2010).
http://www.1up.com/news/blizzard-ban-starcraft-2-cheaters

UPDATE:  More banning of cheaters (Dec. 2010).
http://kotaku.com/5702863/starcraft-2-developers-initiate-ban-rush

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Activision Considers a Cutscene Starcraft Movie

Per quote from Bobby Kotick.  Sigh.
http://kotaku.com/5639929/activision-considers-selling-video-game-cutscenes

UPDATE:  Apparently Fahey didn't dream the above.  1Up reports they are thinking about a digital download movie.
http://www.1up.com/news/activision-in-game-cutscene-movies

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Starcraft 2 Review

If you are curious about Starcraft 2, here's a fairly comprehensive review.
http://www.1up.com/do/reviewPage?pager.offset=1&cId=3180705&p=

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Blizzard's Going to Patrol One Role Play Realm (and Starcraft 2 mods)

Apparently a father complained to Blizzard about the behavior on Moon Guard, a role-playing realm notorious for terrible behavior and Blizzard GMs plan to patrol Goldshire Inn on this realm heavily.
http://www.wow.com/2010/08/04/blizzard-to-patrol-moon-guards-goldshire-for-harassment-erotic/

I think it's about time.  Given the behavior that the Solo MMO Player sees every day, WOW should be rated M for Mature instead of T for Teen (age 13 or older).  Personally I'm astounded WOW hasn't ended up on Fox News already as the new in-game Sodom and Gomorrah.

Anna of Too Many Annas pretty much sums up what most players feel about Blizzard's new policing.
http://toomanyannas.com/feature/policing-roleplay-somewhere-else/

UPDATE:  Blizzard is apparently policing Starcraft 2 mod maps and removing those it finds offensive in any way.
http://kotaku.com/5605333/blizzard-policing-inappropriate-starcraft-ii-maps-because-they-can

According to this story, the only inoffensive item in the map that was removed was the word "badass."  I'm pretty sure my mother would disapprove if I used badass in her presence, but I don't think she'd wash my mother out with soap.
http://www.1up.com/news/blizzard-deleting-inappropriate-starcraft-maps

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Starcraft One Plot Lines Explained

...in a five and a half minute video.  Thanks to Adam at WOW Insider for digging this out.
http://www.wow.com/2010/07/27/the-queue-hell-its-about-time/

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Activision Did Not Place $100 Million Bet

Activision is now saying that the Wall Street Journal article that quoted them as spending $100 million on Starcraft II is wrong.  That's how much they spent developing and maintaining World of Warcraft.  You can raise your eyebrows at their statement here.
http://kotaku.com/5594862/starcraft-ii-did-not-cost-100-million-to-make

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Starcraft 2 Videos

If you are curious about Starcraft II, Kotaku has posted two of five tutorial videos that explain how the game is played.  This article also has links to the other three videos in the series.
http://kotaku.com/5592293/what-you-need-to-play-starcraft-ii

Speaking of Kotaku and Starcraft, Kotaku thinks Blizzard should stop making games and start making movies.  Evidence is this brand new Starcraft II trailer.
http://kotaku.com/5593086/kerrigan-returns-to-finish-the-job-in-starcraft-ii-ghosts-of-the-past

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Attention Starcraft Forum Users

With Starcraft II coming out July 27, the old forums will be erased according to a blue posting.  If there are articles you want to keep, you have to back them up, then repost them after the new Starcraft II forum opens.
http://www.wow.com/2010/07/20/the-daily-blues-2/#continued

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Activision Places $100 Million Bet UPDATED

The Wall Street Journal reports that Activision has spent over $100 million developing Starcraft II per Kotaku, but Kotick expects they will make 5-10 times that much on the game.
http://kotaku.com/5589040/starcraft-ii-has-a-100-million-price-tag

The WSJ online article is subscription only (and a very hefty subscription, too!) but here is a similar article by the same author that doesn't mention development costs.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/activision-looks-to-pump-growth-with-starcraft-ii-2010-07-15

Starcraft II comes out July 27.

UPDATE:  Activision is now saying the $100 million number refers to what they spend developing and maintaining World of Warcraft.
http://kotaku.com/5594862/starcraft-ii-did-not-cost-100-million-to-make

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Blizzard's Q&A About Real ID

The meat of the posting is that the ability to remove your real name from Real ID will hit about the time Starcraft II comes out, they are trying to come up with some sort of unique ID for the forums but there won't be a way to add a game name to Real ID inside the game.
http://kotaku.com/5589238/questions-and-answers-about-blizzards-real-id-plans

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Starcraft II in 3-D

1Up is reporting that Blizzard plans to patch Starcraft II after it releases so that it can be played on 3-D monitors and televisions.  There's no word on what type of stupid glasses you'll have to wear.
http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3180243

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Battle.net Problems

WOW Head pointed this morning to an article at Zam about the upcoming changes to Battle.net that will add the Real ID system.  The problems aren't what you expect--they relate to Starcraft II beta players who discovered they can't play with friends in another region without buying and registering a second game and the fact that there are no chat rooms.  Whether this will impact WOW players or not is another issue, but I suspect at least a few folks won't like this among the WOW player base.
http://www.zam.com/story.html?story=22533

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Blizzard Signs a Broadcast Deal

with the Korean broadcast entity GOM tv to show all their game contests.
http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3179547

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Stop the Presses! It's a Miracle! UPDATED

Blizzard says that they don't plan to use micro transactions in Starcraft 2 because they "don't make sense."  However, the article goes on to talk about other ways of making extra cash from Starcraft 2 than micro transactions.
http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3179496

Thanks to 1UP for pointing this out.

UPDATE:  Blizzard has confirmed there won't be any LAN play in Starcraft 2.
http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3179525

However, there won't be any DRM restrictions, either.
http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3179516

By the way, WOWHead has an article up pointing to what they say is a great site for Starcraft 2 race guides.
http://www.wowhead.com/blog=157729

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Starcraft II Censored for South Korea

Blizzard has made changes to the game like making blood black, removing references to smoking, and deleting vulgar language so that it will be rated 12+ in South Korea.
http://kotaku.com/5543906/south-korean-starcraft-ii-censored-to-shake-adults-only-stigma

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