EVE is Better than WoW

Silicon Knights chief and Too Human mastermind Denis Dyack has told videogaming247 he thinks EVE Online is better than World of Warcraft.

The details are as below:

“I used to,” said Dyack when asked if he played World of Warcraft. “I pulled myself off… Within four weeks I was at level 57, so I almost got to level 60 and then I said, ‘You know, I’ve got to stop this.’

“I was really, really big into EVE Online,” he added. “I love EVE Online, and actually for me personally I actually think it’s a better game. I know it’s a lot harder core, but the depth of it’s unparalleled and I love it. But I have to stop, force myself to stop playing those games because it takes so much time.”

It’s not just MMOs that float Denis’s boat, though. He’s a whatever, whenever kinda guy. Expect when he’s crunching on a game.

“I play games across the board, you know,” he said. “Whatever I can play I’ll try, and I’m looking forward to getting home and actually playing some games, now that I’m not working on Too Human 24/7.”

So there you go. EVE wins. For now.

BlizzCon Ticket Drawing Winners Selected

The winners of the BlizzCon 2008 Ticket Drawing have been chosen. We’ve sent emails to 1,500 randomly selected eligible Blizzard Account holders containing instructions for purchasing up to two tickets to the show. For your security, please note that in this email we are not asking winners to email us credit card information directly, nor are we asking winners to call Blizzard for any reason.

If we still have tickets remaining after this initial round, we will select more winners from the original opt-in pool. We will make an announcement on our websites once all tickets available have been sold. For more information, refer to the BlizzCon Ticket Drawing FAQ.

Win a Trip for Two to BlizzCon 2008

Our friends at SteelSeries, Jinx, Upper Deck, and BradyGames have just launched the Win a Trip to BlizzCon Sweepstakes. The grand prize winner will receive a trip for two to Anaheim, California, along with two free tickets to attend BlizzCon 2008. For more information or to enter the contest, visit www.blizzconsweepstakes.com.

DC shows off what look like Series 4 Figures

Mike Schramm showed us the first hint of DC Unlimited's Series 4 WoW figures back during ComicCon, but now the DC Direct website gives us a view of the new statues.

The first female "deluxe" collector's figure is being released as part of the new series: Lady Vashj. "Deluxe" mostly means that she's bigger -- she's being hailed as standing as tall as Illidan's sculpt. But, yeah. She looks cool.

Your lineup for Series 4 inclues:

Succubus Demon: Amberlash • 8.5"

Tuskarr: Tavru Akua • 7"

Gnoll Warlord: Gangris Riverpaw • 7.75"

Murloc 2-pack: Fish-eye and Gibbergill • 6.5"

Uh huh. It's got a Murloc 2-pack. I suspect that's going to become my premier Christmas gift for friends and foes alike. The Tuskarr also looks pretty cool, and confirms this Series lives in the world of Wrath.

You've still got a little while to wait on these new figures, though. The advance solicits advertise that they won't go on sale until April 2009. That's about eight months out. So maybe they'll be the premiere Christmas gift next time around.

WoWWiki Olympics is underway

With about a week left to go in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, our favorite wiki WoWwiki gets with the Olympic spirit and holds the WoWlympics, a scavenger hunt-type contest over at their site. With the help of Blizzard, WoWWiki is giving away five Wrath of the Lich King US Beta keys and twenty Worldwide Invitational cards which contain the codes for EU Beta keys and the Tyrael vanity pet. Both US and EU Beta keys can be converted for use between regions as necessary.

The WoWlympics kick off with Clopper Wizbang asking players to search the site for five missing items, each located on a WoWwiki page, providing clues along the way. Each item or wiki page is worth one entry to the WoWlympics sweepstakes, with a bonus three entries for finding all five -- a total of eight entries eligible for the grand draw. You've got until the 25th of August to find all five rings -- and if you're stumped, you might just need the help of a lore nerd. If you're a sucker for scavenger hunts, eager to get into Beta, or want a mini-avenging angel, head on over to WoWwiki's WoWlympics page and get started!

Willie Nelson Influenced Achievement

According to an article over on dasgamer.com, the American country singer-songwriter and actor Willie Nelson influenced a thing or two in World of Warcraft.

In an interview recently, Jeff Kaplan, lead game designer of WoW, spoke about an achievement called "To All The Squirrels I’ve Loved Before". The achievement requires players to do the /love emote to various critters in the game, but the name is obviously a nod to Nelson's song "To All The Girls I’ve Loved Before". I know most of the younger readers may not have heard of Nelson before, but he was quite a celebrity back in the 70s by all accounts, and many of his songs are still popular, including the one that's been referenced in WoW.

Kaplan revealed the love of Willie Nelson comes from his father, who used to take the young Jeff to concerts featuring the 70s icon.

Arena Junkies hosts Arena Olympics

If you haven't heard, Arena Junkies is hosting their own Arena Junkies Olympic Contest. So while many of us are working on getting our own Spirit of Competition from the Azeroth Olympics, the Arena minded can compete to win a key to the Wrath of the Lich King beta.

Basically, you start a team with the phrase "AJOlympics" included in its name. Then, you go play in the Arena. The better you do, the more chances you get to win a key in the final drawing. You have to get at least a 2k Rating to even get one chance, so finally a 2000 rating will mean something again.

They'll keep updating their leaderboards until the end of the contest, so you can see how many people you'll be facing off against in the final drawing. I think it's a pretty cool contest, and I wouldn't mind seeing one of our readers win it. Not that I'm hinting at y'all or anything.

Olympic battleground rewards appear on European and Chinese servers

Despite the extensive problems and human violations rights perpetuated by the Chinese government, some in service of the Olympic games themselves, most of the world seems to content to settle in and watch the Beijing Olympics one way or another. Apparently, that attitude has spread to Blizzard itself.


Currently on the European and Chinese servers, there are NPCs at each major Battlemaster area in the capital cities who proclaim that Battlegrounds are hosting some type of "Spirit of Competition."

For simply participating in a battleground, you are sent a Competitor's Tabard, which features 4 multi-colored rings on a white background, a clear reference to the Olympics itself. If you win a battleground during this time period, you may also have a chance at receiving a gold medal which summons a spirit of competition, which looks like a small Chinese dragon according to tipster Ichthallus.

This competition does not appear to be live on the US Servers, nor has anyone from Blizzard spoken up to reveal if it ever will be as of this writing. We'll have to watch and see what happens. As Blizzard does not appear to be an official Olympic partner, there is some concern from some quarters that this could simply be a copyright issue. It's also possible that this was meant to be a Chinese servers only event, and it only accidentally got onto the EU servers.