News

• Worldwide Invitational Paris: The roundup
  Everything we posted from and about Blizzard's Worldwide Invitational event in Paris this last weekend. If you weren't there, read this, and you'll feel like you were (and it's a lot cheaper than a plane ticket).
• Hands on with WWI '08 Death Knight demo
  We actually play, for the first time, the first new class implemented in the game since launch.
• WWI '08 Costume Contest gallery
  Let's face it, the real reason you go to these nerdy events is to see the wacky cosplayers. Here they are.
• Blizzard unveils Diablo 3
  What were you doing last Saturday morning at 4:30am? Sleeping? We were compiling information on Blizzard's newest game.
• Blizzard's splash screen changes for June 27th
  Of course now, we know it was all for Diablo 3, but last week, we were still guessing our hearts out as to what the splash screen ice meant.

Features

• Arena Season 4: Brutal Gladiator
  Season 4 started last week, and we've got the most definitive guide on the Internet for what to spend your Honor on.
• Midsummer Fire Festival quest guides
  All the news coming out of Paris might have distracted you, but we didn't forget: the Midsummer Fire Festival is live on the realms.
• The Care and Feeding of Warriors: Titan's Grip!
  Yes, Warriors can do in Wrath what we never though possible: wield a two-hander in one hand.
• Blizzard Authenticator introduced at the Worldwide Invitational
  Blizzard is selling a physical key, to make sure the only person who signs into your account is you.
• Two talent trees for the price of one?
  We dip into one of the most underrated pieces of news coming out of WWI: could Blizzard be making it easier for players to respec?

Wow. We have had tons of news, downloads and new content for Big Download this week . . .and that's just for Diablo III. Let's take a look at the highlights for the past week.

Exclusive Features

• Games for Windows Press Conference: We attend Microsoft's press event where they give their views on the future of PC gaming.
• Guide to TF2 Pyro Achievements: Want a details look at all of the new achievements you can get while playing the Pyro in Team Fortress 2. Then check out the first five parts of our series: Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four, and Part 5.
• Shattered Suns Interview: We have an extensive interview with Chas. Cooper of Clear Crown Studios about their upcoming space based RTS game.
• Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford: We chat with the head of the extremely busy game developer on Brothers In Arms: Hell's Highway and their other projects.
• Alone In the Dark Interview: We chat with Atari US producer Todd Slepian about their just released survival horror game.
• Hands-On: Deer Hunter Tournament: We get hands-on with the newest entry in the hunting sim series from Atari.
• In-Depth: Armaggedon Empires: We take a detailed ook at this acclaimed indie strategy game.
• In-Depth: The Political Machine: We offer a look at the just released political strategy game from Stardock
• Big Ideas: Why do we play video games?: Our editorial takes a look at why we need playtime with games anyway.
• BigCast 001: Our debut podcast has three of our team members chatting about, what else, PC gaming
• Freeware Friday: Our weekly look at free games has a look at Freeciv, a free tribute to the great Civilization games.
• Spore Creature Creator contest: You still have time to participate in our contest; make the best creatures and win some cool prizes

It has been a wild week in WoW -- first, we heard about patch 2.4.3, with level 30 mounts and big changes to the talents. Then, new loot cards for us to drool over. On Saturday, the Midsummer Fire Festival started, with new quests and a new boss to fight. And this week, we're all puzzling over what Blizzard will announce at the Worldwide Invitational (and what "Icefield" means -- it's like Cloverfield, only colder). Big stuff happening at WoW Insider! Here's all the links you need to catch up.

News

• Patch 2.4.3 patch notes
  Level 30 mounts? A new bag from Haris Pilton? Cheat Death nerfed? It's the patch we never saw coming.
• Upper Deck announces new loot items, including an Ethereal vendor pet
  New items to drool over from the WoW TCG.
• WotLK Wiki is back in action
  After suffering a C&D late last week, the fan-run wiki covering all the alpha leaks is back and running.
• GotFrag releases videos of the MLG 3v3 Tournament
  What's almost as exciting as playing WoW? Watching other people play it.
  
• Blizzard's Icy splash screen changes, hints at Diablo and Wrath of the Lich King for WWI
  What's behind the icefield? WoW Insider wraps up all the rumors (here's hoping for Diablo 3, since, as you can see above, Diablo is clearly hidden in the ice. Clearly.).

Features

• Lord Ahune strategy and walkthrough
  We tell you exactly how to take down the new event boss (and nab his tabards, if you know what we mean).
• Azerothian Spore creatures continue to crawl in
  Creatures from Azeroth have invaded Spore -- here'a gallery of some of the best.
• Midsummer Fire Festival quest guides
  Everything you need to know about getting the most out of Blizzard's mid-Summer event.
• Patch 2.4.3 gallery of eye candy
  Construction in Stormwind! New TCG items! Feast your eyes on everything there is to find in the new patch.
• The Art of War(craft): Farewell to season 3
  Season 4 starts today -- before you get to all the good stuff, take a look back at what just happened.

Update: Did we mention that Season 4 starts today? WoW Insider has both a roundup of Season 4 news as well as an in-depth gear guide to the new set. Go get that Arena gear!

It's yet another huge week here at the Big Download news site. For a "game" that's not really a game, Maxis' Spore Creature Creator generated more buzz than most true PC game titles. But that's not all we had. Take a look at the highlights from the past week.

Exclusives

• Spore Creature Creator: Not only did we chat briefly with Spore's executive producer Lucy Bradshaw, we launched a Spore Creature Creator contest that will give the winners some cool prizes.
• Interview: Brad Wardell of Stardock: We chat with the CEO of Stardock about The Political Machine 2008, Sins of a Solar Empire, their new Impulse game delivery system and lots more.
• Interview: Randy Stude of The PC Gaming Alliance: We quiz the president of the non-profit organization on their plans to promote and improve PC gaming.
• Freeware Friday: Our latest free game spotlight goes to the sci-fi action strategy game Battleships Forever.

If controllers were measured by the number of buttons, the 32-bit Atari Jaguar had one of the best controllers ever. It is rivaled only by the Xbox 360 controller (with chat pad) and the Steel Battalion controller. (Tangent: Does anyone remember playing the Jaguar when it toured shopping malls? Maybe we're making that up, our memory's a bit hazy.)

Here's what we'll be playing this weekend. Be sure to let us know what games will be occupying your time!

• Alexander Sliwinski: I will be getting in some Sins of a Solar Empire and messing around some more with the Spore Creature Creator. I've also had a Rock Band hankering again.
  
• Andrew Yoon: Doing some traveling this weekend, so it's all about the PSP. I'm going to keep on playing Hot Shots Golf: Open Tee 2, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, and I have to finish Secret Agent Clank so I can review it. I'll also be playing a hotly anticipated PS3 game.
• Chris Grant: As soon as this pre-E3 week is over and I'm back in the comfort of my home (not to mention my Coast) I'll thrust myself back into the waiting and capable arms of Old Snake and Metal Gear Solid 4.
• Griffin McElroy: I'm actually playing through BioShock for the second time. I know it's a little early to break that one out again, but with the proverbial well being dry until next Tuesday (Final Fantasy Tactics A2, which should keep me entertained until about this time next year), my weekend gaming options are somewhat limited.
• Jason Dobson While most of my time this weekend will be looking for a roof to put over my head in the Beaver State, I'll also be trying to discover who framed Ratchet for theft in Secret Agent Clank. Bizarrely, the PSP has been getting the lion's share of my portable love of late, but I just can't resist a robot in a bow tie.
• Justin McElroy: I finally broke down and got Metal Gear Solid 4, so I'll be playing that. Also, I'll be playing my favorite drinking game: Drinking.
• Kevin Kelly: I'm finally revving up some GRID action, and I'm playing some board games I've been finding at thrift stores lately: Lost Treasure, Arch Rival, and Zombies!!! (the !!! is part of the name, not just me being a geeky fanboy).
• Ludwig Kietzmann: My plan is to continue inching my way through Condemned 2, but I'm certain I'll just end up playing Metal Gear Solid 4 again. No alerts this time!
• Randy Nelson: I have this problem, you see. I want to finish MGS4 ... but I don't want it to end. I think my only choice is to just bite the bullet and beat it over the weekend, then play through it again. And again. Then it's back to my considerable backlog until Alone in the Dark hits next week.
• Ross Miller: I beat Metal Gear Solid 4 last week, but I feel the urge to go no-kill this time. Instead, I'll be giving my PC some love. Free Team Fortress 2 via Steam this weekend (I regret buying Orange Box for consoles now), and time to revisit some classics: Deus Ex, Thief and Grim Fandango.
• Scott Jon Siegel: Hopefully Key Largo, and also crossing my fingers to get a little Risk: Black Ops going on. I WOULD be playing Space Invaders Extreme, if any retailers were actually carrying the game within a week of its release. Grumble grumble.

News

• WoW player more ashamed than porn addict
  Addiction is out there, and people suffering from it need to get help.
• Combat stats and spellpower consolidated on Alpha
  A huge change to the way talents and gear will work hits the expansion's Alpha servers.
• Seven graphical WoW generators, and one for your car
  Seven different ways to put your World of Warcraft character into graphical form.
• Starting from scratch with two weeks to Season 4
  The new arena season was announced this week, and even if you weren't prepared, we've got you covered.
• Reading between the lines: are more PvE to PvP transfers possible?
  Blizzard broke their precedent for the first time this week to save a dying server -- will they do it again?

Features

• Ask WoW Insider: /roll abuse?
  The number one way to cause drama in the game? Be unfair with loot.
• Tank Talk: The better (and lesser) angels of our nature
  Our raid Tanking column talks about that little DPS devil on your tanking shoulder.
• Ask a Lore Nerd: The evil-o-meter
  Lots of players know some things about lore, but the Lore Nerd knows all.
• Changes to old Azeroth coming in the next expansion
  What's changing in the old world when Wrath of the Lich King releases? A lot.
• 'Tis the Season 4 making money
  Zach Yonzon tells you exactly how to cash in on the news that Season 4 is coming soon.

In the world of professional game blogging, the people are represented by two separate, yet equally important groups: the bloggers who investigate the stories and readers who make silly comments. These are the first group's stories.

• Name: Kevin Kelly
  
• Job Position: Contributing Editor, Los Angeles Area Monkey For Hire
  
• Past Experience/Education: I studied radio, television and film production and writing at The University of Texas in Austin, and although I never planned on moving to Los Angeles, I've now been here for umpteen years. To think, it all started with one simple internship.
  
• Life Outside of the 'Stiq: There's life outside the 'Stiq? What the?! In the spare time I'm able to muster up, I also write about movies, television, and other pop culture things for various sites around the web. I also hike a lot in the Los Angeles area, hit the beach (literally, with my fists) and try to be a well rounded dude. And no, I haven't tried surfing out here yet.
  
• Why I'm Blogging: I still don't know the answer to this, because it happened by accident. I worked in the movie industry for ten years, and a good deal of those were at The Jim Henson Company. When Disney bought the Muppets, I went into limbo. Somehow I emerged into the realm of blogging, as if from a wormhole.
  
• First game experience: Pong. The original version, so very long ago. I still remember bouncing between friend's houses because one had a ColecoVision, an Odyssey, an IntelliVision, and we had the Atari 2600. Ah, the heady days of practically no-bit gaming. A few years later, and I had a subscription to Coin-Op Monthly. It was a good day when you'd come home from school and that was in the mail.
  
• Favorite games: Literally anything from Infocom (interactive fiction, ftw!), Full Throttle, King's Quest, The Last Express, Myst, Alternate Reality, The Bard's Tale, Ultima III, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, The Dig, Day of the Tentacle, Elevator Action, Cliffhanger, Dragon's Lair, Halo (1, 2, and 3), Catan, Um Jammer Lammy, LocoRoco, Super Mario Galaxy, and tons and tons of board games. I have a closet full of 'em, almost like that scene in The Royal Tenenbaums.
  
• What the hell kind of clown are you?!: The crying on the inside kind, I guess.
  

There's more to come every Tuesday and Thursday.

Frequent readers may have noticed a few things in their last four years of reading Joystiq. First, and most unfortunate: you've all gotten older and grown hair in uncomfortable places. Second, you've seen our humble gaming blog grow from a scrappy publication (a "blawg") to one of the top gaming destinations on the web.

In that four year period, we've amassed over 27K posts and nearly a million of your comments. Doing the math, that breaks down to almost 20 posts a day on our side and over 600 comments a day on your side ... for four straight years. Clearly you're working a lot harder than we are and that's why the collective "we" wants to thank the collective "you" for reading along at home and making Joystiq not only a huge success, but something we're all very proud to be a part of. Here's to you, Joystiq!

Love,
–Chris, James, Ludwig, Ross, Alexander, Justin, Kyle, Jason, Scott, Griffin, Randy, and Kevin

Did you have a good week? We had a terrific one at Big Download but with the release of Spore Creature Creator next week it promises to be an even busier time for our site. In the meantime here are the highlights from the past week

Exclusive Features

• Interview: Vic Davis of Armaggedon Empires: We chat with the creator of the acclaimed indie turn based strategy PC game.
• MODverlous Monday: This week we examine two custom mad maps for Blizzard's classic RTS game Starcraft.
• Casually Speaking: We take a look at the "death" of the video arcade.
• Freeware Friday: This week's free featured game is the nearly graphics-free RTS/RPG title Dwarf Fortress
• Big Iron: Our regular hardware column takes you through some video card basics

To celebrate the first-ever Joystiq WRUP (or "What Are You Playing"), we've all pulled out our dusty old 3DO consoles that none of us regret purchasing, given there's nothing else that really came out this week worth playing. Well, except maybe Metal Gear Solid 4. And Dolphin Olympics 2. And ... anything else. Here's what we'll be playing this weekend, be sure to let us know what games will be occupying your time this weekend.

• Alexander Sliwinski: I will be hunkering down with some Sins of a Solar Empire. I'm also going to test the Civilization Revolution demo a little more, which will get me itching to play some Civ IV, so then I'll probably do that.
• Andrew Yoon: Depending on how devastated I am by tonight's Battlestar Galactica finale, I'll be playing Metal Gear Solid 4 (PS3). For my multiplayer fix, I'll be back in Team Fortress 2 (Xbox 360) and Grand Theft Auto IV (Xbox 360).
• Chris Grant: Unfortunately my $20 bid for BenHeck's portable PlayStation 3 wasn't a winner, so that means trying to cram the entire epic Metal Gear Solid finale into one hurried weekend before heading out to LA next week for some pre-E3 stuff. Go!
• James Ransom-Wiley: My folks are in town for the weekend, but I'll be "sneaking in" some MGS4. Unfortunately, the PS3 (and everything else I hold dear) is in the all-purpose office / entertainment / guest room. No place to hide!
• Jason Dobson: MGS is good and all, but right now I am neck deep in GRID, which honestly is the effing gold standard for quasi-realistic racers. I expected as much given the majesty that was/is DiRT.
• Justin McElroy: Dolphin Olympics 2, obviously. ... What's that? There are other games? I wasn't aware.
• Kyle Orland: My word processor. I've been stealing some moments with Trackmania United, actually, since Joystiq featured a post on it being free. Very frustrating, but the feeling when you actually win a race is the best.
• Ludwig Kietzmann: I'll be playing Metal Gear Solid 4, mostly because I enjoy bowling people over with oil barrels. And, should I get too happy, I'll just play some Ninja Gaiden 2 to remind how disappointing a sequel can really be. I suppose I have to find time for GRID as well (hint: it's excellent!).
• Randy Nelson: It's been a pretty slow couple of months for new releases, so I figured I'd check out this little indie deal called Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. I've heard some good things about it. Once I've watched ... er, beaten that, it's back to that Saint's Row wannabe, GTA 4. If I get a chance, I really want to sit down and get with the silly in the Spore Creature Creator. Sporky needs a friend.
• Ross Miller: Given my new addiction, probably Metal Gear Solid 4 until my eyes bleed. Then Spore while I let them heal. I'm also thinking I'll bring Wii Fit and Rock Band home to my family to play on Father's Day.
• Scott Jon Siegel: Super Mario Galaxy, in the capacity of star-bit collector. Also, hopefully Key Largo and Risk.

In the world of professional game blogging, the people are represented by two separate, yet equally important groups: the bloggers who investigate the stories and readers who make silly comments. These are the first group's stories.

• Name: Scott Jon Siegel
• Job Position: Blogger / Columnist
• Past Experience/Education: Four years as a Literature and Integrated Arts major at Bard College; Game Politics correspondent from way back in the day.
• Live Outside of the 'Stiq: Just moved to San Francisco, following a six-month stint living it up in the South of France (Bonjour! Où est la bibliothèque?). When I'm not blogging, I'm designing games, and blogging some more. I'm also engaged to an awesome blogger. Imagine that!
• Why I'm blogging: I like writing, I like video games, and I like paying my rent on time, so it made sense. I started as a columnist (Off the Grid's coming back soon, I swear), and graduated into a full-time blogging position once I got out of college.
• First game experience: I really can't remember. Must've been so awesome it erased itself from my consciousness, lest I become incapacitated by its glory. Obviously.
• Favorite games: Rez, Metroid II, Chrono Trigger, and basically everything in this photo.
• What do you really look like? This, plus 16 years or so.

There's more to come every Tuesday and Thursday.

In the world of professional game blogging, the people are represented by two separate, yet equally important groups: the bloggers who investigate the stories and readers who make silly comments. These are the first group's stories.

• Name: James Ransom-Wiley
  
• Job Position: Senior Editor / 3,434 posts and counting...
  
• Past Experience/Education: Joystiq plucked me fresh from the "outside" in July 2004. I did manage a BA in Sociology from Wesleyan University a year before that.
  
• Life Outside of the 'Stiq: Is a mostly quiet, mostly Hispanic, quickly gentrifying neighborhood in Brooklyn. (Call it "East Williamsburg," or just plain Bushwick.) Lex and I share an Astroturf'd yard set away from the street between buildings, where she really got her flower pots going this spring and on warm evenings we dine at Brittany Perez's just-painted baby blue (from pink) picnic table. On late nights back from the city we hit up the best sandwich place no one's heard of: T&A Deli. There, Alex greets us with, "Goodmornin! The usual, baby?"
  
• Why I'm blogging: I needed to supplement my income, so I responded to a Craigslist ad for a part-time writing position on a developing video game blog. I submitted three samples in the style of a site I'd never heard of: "Engadget." Five weeks later I got a response. I was hired and began blogging for Joystiq alongside the then only contributor, Ben Zackheim. Coming up on four years later, Joystiq has grown far, far (far!) beyond my naive expectations and completely sucked me up with it.
  
• First Game Experience: Big bro's ColecoVision. I remember Tarzan, mashing the 5-key to set off the monkey-man's signature cry; and thrashing the mini-wheel on the mammoth alternate controller to flicker around the bases in Super Action Baseball; and helping my color-blind brother figure out which blocks he'd changed in Q*bert. Plus: River Raid, Time Pilot, Smurf: Rescue in Gargamel's Castle, Cosmic Avenger, Donkey Kong, Venture, Zaxxon, Front Line, Looping, Mouse Trap -- yeah, they got me hooked young...
  
• Favorite Games: Contrary to what GTA IV reviewers will tell you, there still isn't anything quite as "perfect" as Castlevania: Symphony of the Night -- but I'm gonna go with five close to my heart: The Legend of Zelda, Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!, Ninja Gaiden (NES), F-Zero, and Halo ... and five shoutouts to: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Arcade Game, Tecmo Super Bowl, Gitaroo Man, Pac-Man C.E., and Shufflepuck Café.
• Stick or Automatic? Stick.

There's more to come every Tuesday and Thursday.

It's heating up outside, but the World of Warcraft is growing ever colder, as we get closer and closer to the Wrath of the Lich King expansion. And as usual, Joystiq's sister site WoW Insider is covering every temperature drop that goes down -- from interviews with world-first guilds to the latest rumors and updates on what we'll find in Northrend, WoW Insider is there. Here's our most popular posts from the last week in WoW.

News

• WoW Insider interviews SK Gaming about downing Kil'jaeden, the Sunwell, and why to stack +haste
  The world first guild to down the last boss of the endgame talks with us about high-end raiding.
• Blizzard changes the description of the Death Knight trees
  Blizz clarifies (or makes more vague, depending on how you look at it) what the Death Knights will do in the expansion.
• No pure +damage gear in Wrath, claims Kalgan
  A fundamental change to the way caster gear improves spell damage and healing stats.
• The Brewfest Kodo and what it may mean for Wrath's release date
  An October holiday mount is hidden in the expansion's files, which means we may see a release before then.
• Ten Druids go on nom spree in Kara
  Half of Karazhan is brought down by ten Druids all on their own.

Features

• Guildwatch: Open your face jellyfish
  A wacky drama queen in our weekly look at guild drama spawns a new catchphrase.
• Illusionary Tactics: Orb of Deception
  Our new weekly column examines items and spells that can change your appearance.
• Know Your Lore: The Scarlet Crusade
  KYL examines the enemy faction that's probably been killed the most in-game (well, except for the Alliance).
• Tank Talk: Do you feel lucky, punk?
  Our new column for raiding tanks covers everything from armor to threat control.
• The Art of War(craft): DotA-style battleground in WotLK?
  Think you've seen the last of Defense of the Ancients (a.k.a. "Dhota")? Think again.

In case you haven't noticed, Google just added 13 new features to Gmail, including Old Snakey, affectionately known at Joystiq HQ as "the reason old cell phones are still superior to smartphones" (note: why don't new phones come with this game?). Check out the highlights for today:

Joystiquery
Japanese hardware sales, May 26 - June 1: Sales Chart Pie edition
Massively.com's exhaustive coverage of Warhammer Online
The Best Of Big Download: June 1-7, 2008
This Week in Review is Captivated
Weekly Webcomic Wrapup has a snake in a box

News
Leonardo DiCaprio to star in Nolan Bushnell biopic
Ninja Gaiden II demo sneaks into North America
Soul Calibur IV gameplay video dump
Sony makes official PS3 theme creation walkthrough
Glimpse some Dawn of War II gameplay footage
Team Fortress 2 update nearly complete, Sniper getting intro, Pyro getting axe
Lvl 70 Republican specced legislative candidate LFG
The Naked Gun intro reborn on Grand Theft Auto IV
Rock Band 2 to feature the late Bo Diddley's guitar

Rumors & Speculation
Pachter: EA will raise Take-Two bid, it'll get rejected, merger will still happen
Rumor: Microsoft to announce Blu-ray 360 tomorrow

Culture & Community
Wii Spray transforms Wii-mote into grafitti spraycan
Metal Gear Solid 4: A history of trailers
Jimmy Kimmel previews The Bourne Conspiracy: Guillermo edition

(Yes, that picture is impossible to do without magic.)

It was an extremely busy week at Big Download in the past week; we got invited to two big press events, we talked about the DRM in Mass Effect and . . . well, just read this post and see for yourself.

Exclusive Features

• 1C Company press event: The Russian based developer-publisher held a press event in the Russian Consulate in San Francisco and we have a ton of coverage: 1C Company announces Theater of War 2 and other new titles at press event; Hands-On: Cryostasis, Hands-On: Hummer 4x4, Hands-On: Necrovision, Hands-On: Men of War; Hands-On: Death Track: Resurrection; Hands-On: Captain Blood (Xbox 360);
• GRID Launch coverage: Codemasters' latest racing game hit stores this week and we have extensive coverage: In-Depth: GRID; Big Versus: GRID; Codemasters' GRID launch event.
• Sound Off: DRM Mass Hysteria: Is the DRM system in the PC version of Mass Effect good or bad? How about a little bit of both?
• MODvelous Monday: We look at the classic They Hunger total conversions for the original Half-Life
• Casually Speaking: Do casual games offer the amount of depth that other games have?
• Freeware Friday: We look at the great free title Torus Trooper this week