RandomNPC – Video Game RPG Reviews, Editorials, and Features

Still hot out of the oven, World of Warcraft‘s latest expansion, Mists of Pandaria, didn’t quite meet the sales bar set by Cataclysm. Pandaria sold about 2.7 million copies during its first week – a significant amount, to be sure – but well short of Cataclysm‘s record of 3.3 million on the first day. These sales did, however, boost the game’s player base back above 10 million for the time being.

Source: Eurogamer

Hello and welcome, everybody! It’s that time again. GDC occupied a lot of the news this week, but among that we have the following:

• Valve’s marketing director clarifies that they are not working on a Steam box… for now.  Actually they left off the “for now” part, but let a man dream :3
• Peter Molyneux leaves Lionhead and Microsoft to start his own company once more.  Shine on, you awesome fibber.  Shine on… or go on to develop social/iOS games like other gaming legends.
• Blizzard offers a rather hefty bounty returning bonus for players who bring friends back to World of Warcraft…
• …which doesn’t quite distract from their announcement that Diablo III will not have PvP at launch.
• A quartet of big names – Will Wright, Sid Meier, John Romero, and Cliff Bleszinski – offer various insights on the state of the industry, ranging from concerns about self-referential development to homeless simulators.  It makes sense in context.
• Tim Cain gives a postmortem on Fallout, sharing the dirt on how the now famous post-apocalyptic RPG almost never saw the light of day.  Short answer: blame Windows NT.  Watch the whole thing if you can, it’s enlightening stuff.
• Two men make more or less the same complaints about Japanese games, with vastly different levels of tact (and authority), I suggest the big picture might be a bit more complicated, and more!

Continue reading ‘What Happened This Week – There He Goes Again On His Own’ »

Howdy-howdy! Slowly getting back to a working schedule, though still suffering connection issues. Making some progress on my end, or at least narrowing down the problem. But enough about my griping, we’re here for the news! News, and the joy of shows about time-travelling quad bikes on YouTube.

Gotta love Klyka, man. Anyway, let’s get at it:

• Sony is reportedly beginning work on game concepts for the yet-unannounced PS4, with an expected release window of 2014…
• …while Microsoft looks to debut the “Xbox Next” at E3 2013. Also, Fable will get a chance to disappoint people on the Next.
• A Gamasutra interview on Rage sparks… rage. The writer responds, arguing that being potentially blacklisted for a pointed question or two is kind of an overreaction.
• Blizzard offers up a side of Diablo III free with $180 worth of World of Warcraft. Such a deal! Blizzard, throw in Warcraft 4 or the rest of Starcraft II and we’ll talk.
• Speaking of tie-ins, Mass Effect 3 teams up with Battlefield 3 to prop up the latter gain early access to the ME3 multiplayer demo. Maybe they’re hoping BF3‘s multiplayer mojo will rub off or something.
• Namco Bandai is set to publish Ni no Kuni in Rest-of-the-Worldia, Yoshida says more about FFXIV, Batman: Arkham City opens up fresh DLC wounds, and more!

Continue reading ‘What Happened This Week – New Generation, Same Tricks’ »

Blizzard has confirmed the latest expansion for World of Warcraft, titled Mists of Pandaria. Centered around the home continent of the bear-like Pandarans, the expansion adds these creatures as a playable race, along with the new monk job and a boosted level cap of 90. Other features were mentioned, such as challenge mode dungeons and a “pet battle system,” but given few concrete details.

In related news, Blizzard’s president Mike Morhaime revealed an Annual Pass for World of Warcraft, basically a year-long subscription. Sweetening the deal is a free digital copy of Diablo III when it releases, though a release date has not been set. Additionally, Pass holders are guaranteed access to the Mists of Pandaria beta.

Source: 1UP

At the Citi 2011 Tech Conference, Activision Blizzard COO Thomas Tippl stated that the company is expected to release six “proven property” titles over the next three years. Tippl confirmed that this includes both Starcraft II titles – the Zerg and Protoss campaigns – two World of Warcraft expansions, Diablo III and its own expansion.

Source: 1UP

Hello once more, folks! Hope you’re enjoying the weekend, and not too busy getting drunk and shooting bottle rockets at each other to check out the news. Quite a bit happened this past week, so let’s break it down:

• Zynga prepares to go public, and LinkedIn makes a surprising gain through no action of their own.  Pay no attention to that Greece problem in Europe, that could never affect us!
• Facebook hires George Hotz, possibly for iPad or security-related development.  So you know, this is the man himself. Feel better about yourself?  I sure do.
• Resident Evil: The Mercenaries‘ save system prevents players from deleting saves.  Capcom says no really, it’s not about the used market, please don’t be mad GameStop.
• Nintendo thanks its fans for their loyalty and concern over Xenoblade Chronicles, The Last Story, etc. before ripping their hearts out and stomping on them.
• Politics: SCOTUS rules in favor of game developers/retailers, while a Senate bill plays dueling banjos while eying up YouTube.
• IGN reveals the ugly truth about LA Noire‘s stay in development hell.  Read the whole thing then wonder why there aren’t more fistfights in the office.
• World of Warcraft changes its subscription model, Namco-Bandai’s community manager retracts her statement re: Vesperia on 360, and much more!

Continue reading ‘What Happened This Week – Free Market V. Captive Audience’ »

Hello everybody, and welcome back! Sorry to push the update back without notice, but a shortage of time this week really cut into the editing process. It’s a long story, but after careful consideration, What Happened This Week will now be uploaded every Sunday instead of Saturday. Again, my apologies. With that said, let’s get to the news:

• Zynga buys out yet another indie developer, then tries to bribe tax cuts out of San Francisco.  Where have I seen this behavior before…
• Blizzard moves its MMO veterans to other projects.  Negative projections may be premature, but a decade is a long time.
• Microsoft has something big coming up for 2015.  Let the Xbox 720 speculation begin!
• BioWare: Our romances are for everyone, not just straight men.  But don’t misunderstand, they are quite angsty.
• AT&T rolls out bandwidth caps in May, invests in a doom fortress, and hires a short man with a bladed hat.
• Portable gaming news, Metacritic rating people, and more!

Continue reading ‘What Happened This Week – AT&T Bills Zynga, Blizzard Gets Too Old for This’ »

Blizzard Entertainment today released the numbers for World or Warcraft‘s second expansion, Wrath of the Lich King. The game sold 2.8 million in its first twenty-four hours, so it’s now officially the faststest-selling PC game ever, beating out its younger brother The Burning Crusade by some 400,000 copies.

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Source: Gamespot