MMO Weekly 18/11/08

Good day, fellow game-geeks! And how are we today? In good spirits, I hope? That's good to hear. Feeling jolly? Or perhaps you need a bit of a pick-me-up? Well, that's what MMO weekly is here for. We bring you the quirky, the disturbing, and the painfully funny stories of MMORPG gaming, all wrapped up in a pretty pre-holiday package with a bow on top.

Ok, now that my experiment with strange, overly-perky introductions is over, let's get on to this week's MMORPG news!

Among the more curious stories to emerge this past week is the sudden resignation of Richard Garriott from NCSoft. Garriott says his leaving was prompted by his recent trip to space. This experience has really broadened his horizons, and he wants to pursue some other interests, devoting his time exclusively to them instead of his MMO, Tabula Rasa.

In a purely unrelated story, NCSoft has released an earning statement for Q3 2008. Things are looking a little bleak at NCSoft, we must say. Profits are down 53%. Despite this, Lineage and Lineage II turned in good numbers. City of Heroes/Villains also did pretty well, as did Guild Wars. A small footnote at the bottom of the page also mentions a little game called Tabula Rasa, which earned...hmmm.....where are my glasses....1.2 million dollars.

Now look, we here at MMO Weekly aren't saying that 1.2 million dollars is bad. I mean, there's a convenience store around the corner from our headquarters here at the IncGamers corporate skyscraper, and we're pretty sure they make about that same amount of money. So, you know, it's a respectable amount to earn. And we're not making fun of the fact that Guild Wars, which is five years old and completely free to play, is somehow making more money (actually, twice as much) than brand new Tabula Rasa is. Nor are we making snide jokes about how you can buy TR online for a dollar, or how the game can now be found in bargain bins in local game shops.

In fact, at this juncture, we'd like to affirm our belief that these two stories – Garriott leaving NCSoft, and TR making less money than your average gas station – are completely coincidental. Despite the fact that they both broke on the exact same day, they're totally unrelated. Yep, yessiree, no doubt about it, there's no connection between these two stories whatsoever.

In complete contrast to NCSoft, Blizzard Entertainment is apparently making more money than the entire eastern hemisphere of the planet. This huge influx of cash is, of course, related to this week's launch of Wrath of the Lich King. Coverage of the launch is, quite frankly, exhaustive. Here is but a sampling:

A video interview of a very pumped up lead producer, J Allen Brack can be found right here.

There's also a video chat with Blizzard CFO Paul Sams to be found right here.

Frank Pierce, VP of something important at Blizzard, can be found here.

Some guys with American accents who've been on line for 30 hours got some camera time, too. After sleeping on a sidewalk for a day or so, they're in an interesting mood.

If you prefer the English accent, these intrepid queuesters also got interviewed.

Does the idea of looking at 128 pictures of the WotLK launch from various parts of the world thrill you? Then this is your fix.

Does an article written by a cranky pregnant lady at the WotLK launch tickle your funny bone? After all, she's 7 months pregnant, her feet hurt the entire time she was there, and the baby was kicking like he drank 4 cups of coffee. So, yeah, she's got a unique perspective on the launch.

Wait, there's more pictures! Woot!

And another video, posing as a news report! Excellent!

Ok, ok, enough of that. Instead of talking about the launch of Wrath of the Lich King, let's talk about something completely different: playing Wrath of the Lich King! Since the launch occurred a whopping 6 days ago, of course several people are now level 80. When you think about it, what took them so long? Here's the story of the first person to accomplish the task. And here's the story of exactly how she did it.

While we're on the subject of truly devoted game-geeks, here's a story of a guy who very nearly reached level 80 before anyone else, but then got banned. The irony is threefold: 1) the guy we're talking about is Athene, who's either hilarious or a complete jerk, depending on who you ask, 2) he asked a GM about his specific power-leveling technique, and was told it was perfectly legal, and 3) he got banned anyway, but only when he was more than halfway done with level 79. (Since Athene bills himself as “The Best Paladin in the World”, and has made a series of hilariously arrogant videos, it's a little hard to feel too sorry for him.)

In other news, there's this touching love story: David and Amy both play Second Life together, and they even got married in real life. David's character in Second Life runs a prostitute-friendly bar in SL, and there he became very good friends with Linda, an 'escort' that works in his bar. Very, very good friends (wink wink, nudge nudge). Well, one day Amy, the wife, walked into the room and saw her real life husband having virtual sex in SL with Linda. Naughty.

Things got out of hand; Amy considered this the “ultimate betrayal.” (Seriously? They're toons, Amy...) David and Amy got divorced. David, the owner of the whore-friendly bar, and Linda, his extra special whore friend, eventually connected up. They're now engaged in real life and in Second Life. Isn't that romantic?

But the story doesn't end there. Amy, who was on the losing end of this sordid love triangle, has moved on and found love once again. In fact, she's now engaged to her online paramour. But this time, Amy wised up, refused to make the same mistake again. She didn't meet her new man in Second Life. She met him playing World of Warcraft. Way to go, Amy!

And that's all for this week, folks! If you found this little write-up amusing, then come and visit us over at WanderingGoblin.com. We serve up a daily dose of this kind of MMO news, each and every day. (That is, when we're not too hung over to blog. On those days, we just sit quietly in front of the TV, with the volume turned down, until our heads clear.) Until next week, ciao!