Solo MMO Player

Friday, August 6, 2010

Q2 Results for Activision

Yesterday Activision revealed its revenues were down (but earnings up) during the last three month period.
http://g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/706744/Activision-Q2-10-Earnings-Net-Revenue-Down-Online-Sales-Exceed-Retail-For-First-Time-.html

Highpoints apparently are that Wii game sales are down a lot, Activision is selling more via digital downloads than via retail outlets, and "Worldwide subscription numbers for World of Warcraft are holding steady at more than 11.5 million players." Blizzard is also working on adding tournament play and private chat functions to Battle.net. As for Cataclysm, "we are on track to launch the expansion by the end of the year." In the Q&A Activision staff say there are no new Call of Duty map packs available and that the launch of Starcraft 2 hasn't impacted the numbers of subscribers for WOW.

Kotick is claiming "The relaunch of Battle.net is a perfect example of how we are rolling out the next generation of services and online environment to our audiences, while others are just beginning their complicated and costly explorations of where to begin. The combination of technical capability and tangible benefits Blizzard is delivering to its StarCraft audience represents the next evolution in the arenas of gaming, social networking, online commerce and customer service." I guess he's forgotten about xBox Live, Steam, etc.?

If you want to read the transcript of the entire conference call, it is here. The numbers are at the end, with Blizzard's numbers separate from console games. The Q&A session at the end with analysts is also quite interesting as they try to pry subscription numbers and such out of Blizzard staff.
http://seekingalpha.com/article/219068-activision-blizzard-q2-2010-earnings-call-transcript?source=thestreet

***************************
Copyright Solo MMO Player at http://solommo.blogspot.com

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Activision Loses Another Lawsuit

This one was a fight over use of a paintball player's name in video games. The dirt is buried in the article about his newest paintball game which I think is for the Playstation. Thanks to 1Up for pointing this article out.
http://www.gamesradar.com/xbox360/greg-hastings-painball-2/preview/greg-hastings-hates-activision-and-says-crazy-things-about-greg-hastings-paintball-2/a-20100803163257556083/g-20100803123623996086

***************************
Copyright Solo MMO Player at http://solommo.blogspot.com

Guild Perks in Cataclysm

Arloch has taken the guild perks list posted on MMO Champion and started to analyze them with guesses as to how they will actually work. There's a link in the article to the MMO Champion list if you are interested. I'll post further info here as followup articles are published.
http://clearcasting.wordpress.com/2010/08/05/guild-perks/

http://clearcasting.wordpress.com/2010/08/10/more-guild-perks/

Don't forget WOWHead has a guild perks section. WOW Insider has published two articles to date on guild perks also. Search on "perks" to find everything I've collected here.
http://www.wowhead.com/blog=163763

***************************
Copyright Solo MMO Player at http://solommo.blogspot.com

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

The Role of Women in WOW (and Games in General)

In the way these things seem to happen on the Internet, I've found three interesting articles about sexism and the role of women in WOW. The first article I found via a posting on 1UP. It explains why Activision doesn't create games starring female characters.
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/29719/InDepth_No_Female_Heroes_At_Activision.php

Simultaneously The MMO Melting Pot asks why there is sexism in WOW, and...
http://www.mmomeltingpot.com/2010/08/the-mental-shaman-sexism-in-wow-whats-the-problem/#respond

....links to this article exploring the problem in depth.
http://mentalshaman.com/2010/08/04/i-dont-see-your-problem-sexism-world-of-warcraft-and-geekery/

Here's the direct link to the statistical analysis of female characters in WOW mentioned above.
http://paperclipchains.livejournal.com/101267.html

***************************
Copyright Solo MMO Player at http://solommo.blogspot.com

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=

***************************
Copyright Solo MMO Player at http://solommo.blogspot.com

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

***************************
Copyright Solo MMO Player at http://solommo.blogspot.com

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Cataclysm Beta Uploader IMPORTANT UPDATE

There is a new launcher/uploader/downloader program that will be added to the Cataclysm Beta shortly. It will arrive for all players when Cataclysm arrives this fall sometime.
http://www.wowhead.com/blog=165181

IMPORTANT UPDATE FOR OCEANIA PLAYERS: Apparently to test the beta of this program, you have to erase your Cataclysm beta and download everything all over again. Details here about how to avoid the broken download URL.

Remember to be very careful when you get an email list this as your WOW email address login is known to every spamner or con artist on the planet.
http://pwnwear.com/2010/08/05/new-launcherinstaller-available-for-beta/

***************************
Copyright Solo MMO Player at http://solommo.blogspot.com

Activision has been much criticized for the cost and skimpy content in its Call of Duty series downloads. However, the Call of Duty map packs have been downloaded more than 20 million times. They cost $15 each currently. You can do the math yourselves, but at that rate, skimpy content at high prices will continue to flow.
http://kotaku.com/5602915/call-of-duty-map-packs-downloaded-over-20-million-times

In other Activision news, Kotick has lost a sexual harassment and sexual discrimination lawsuit and the appeal which seems to involve a dispute over what he owed a lawyer in the case for representing him. Details here. Note that he wasn't the one doing the harassing but did not prevent it. Instead he fired the complainant. Many thanks to Kotaku for leading me to the LA Times story.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertainmentnewsbuzz/2010/08/activision-ceo-kotick-loses-battle-with-top-hollywood-litigator.html

***************************
Copyright Solo MMO Player at http://solommo.blogspot.com