BLIZZARD IS HIRING!

Deep within the cavernous halls of Undermine, goblins labor and toil over their strange and fanciful engineering creations. When they are not constructing powerful devices of destruction, they find making fireworks a diverting pasttime. They work tirelessly over strange chemical concoctions used to produce precisely the right color and, of course, spectacular explosion. It is an artform that comes naturally to those who find great pleasure in making things explode in a variety of ways. Competition is fierce among the engineers as they strive for perfection within their pyrotechnics.

Since holding an exhibition indoors -- particularly within range of a goblin engineer's workshop -- is completely out of the question, it was decided by the Tinker's Union that a day would be chosen wherein the pyrotechnists would go out into the world and share their creations with the world (for a modest fee, of course). For one glorious day, the sky would be alight with the fantastic creations of engineers throughout Azeroth.

Whether Alliance or Horde, these pyrotechnists are more than happy to help you set the sky on fire during the Engineers' Explosive Extravaganza! (Just remember, point all incendiaries away from the face.)

Eyonix While I'm not sure of the original reasoning behind the Black Lotus herb being made bind-on-pickup, I do know that this is going to be changed for patch 1.7, which is the patch scheduled to release sometime after the next content patch. If your desire is to sell them for profit, feel free to hang onto them until that time.

WoW is absolutely reaching the mainstream market. I'm in a guild in WoW where there are many players who are playing their first MMO, and beyond that, playing their first video game ever! For example, my girlfriend plays and she would've never thought to buy a video game until trying out WoW. She works at a medical device company, and her female co-workers talk about playing WoW. But then again, WoW is the best MMO out there for hardcore and casual gamers alike. World of Warcraft is a great license also, but to most casual gamers, Star Wars or the Matrix are more notable names. It's not about the license, it's about making a great game.
-Tony Dormanesh, Midway

• Watch the Wow/iCoke Commercial (Quicktime Player required -- PC | Mac)
  
• The Coca-Cola/World of Warcraft Website
  
• Wow China Launch photos
  
• Our Gallery has screenshots from the movie.

Eyonix: Weather is still being worked on, and you'll be happy to know that the progress of effects looks phenomenal. Once I have additional details to provide, or am able to show off a preview of such, I will do my best to share with the entire community.

Enter a World of Adventure!

In a world ravaged by conflict, age-old enemies struggle to rebuild society amid a tenuous peace sparked by flares of violence as threats new and old clash in an endless conflict. Heroes battle undead and demons, explore strange and dangerous lands, uncover powerful magic, develop fascinating technological creations, and return glory to great cities and civilizations. They stand at the cusp of a new age - an age they shall forge by their allegiances and their exploits!

Calling All Heroes!

World of Warcraft the Roleplaying Game translates the hugely popular computer game setting into a pen-and-paper roleplaying game. Published under the Open Game License, it features complete rules for play that are 100% compatible with revised 3rd Edition rules and the d20 System. Everything you need is now in one book - from character generation to 10 races and 12 core classes, from extensive technological creation rules to a wide variety of spells, from combat rules to details on generating settlements and cities! Also compatible with existing Warcraft RPG game material. Full Color Hardcover.

Warcraft RPG books are published under license with Blizzard Entertainment and utilize the Open Game License.

Monsters 3+ levels higher than the attacking player were resisting spells at a greater rate than intended. This has been addressed, and players will now be able to land spells with greater success.

Boss monsters in Molten Core, Onyxia, Azuregos, and Kazzak had their HP increased to compensate for the increase in caster DPS they will see. The reduction in resistances outpaces the HP increase. Overall, this is a positive change which will increase casters' effectiveness against higher level monsters.

Since this change has had a significant detrimental impact on players, we have hotfixed the bug so that players can use their spells and abilities in these situations to their intended effect now rather than waiting until the next scheduled patch.

• WHAT: BlizzCon will be an ideal event for gamers from around the world to meet each other, participate in live Q&A's with Blizzard developers, and share their passion for their favorite Blizzard games.
  
• WHO: Gamers who enjoy playing any of the games developed by Blizzard Entertainment.
  
• WHERE: Orange County, California. Exact location to be announced at a later date.
  
• WHEN: Friday and Saturday, October 28 and 29, 2005. The event begins at 8 a.m. PDT on both days.

We would like to thank you for your interest in Video Games Live. There is only one week to go before the world is introduced to this amazing, groundbreaking event!

Over the past few weeks, we have released a great deal of information about the tour, as well as the kick off event on July 6th at the Hollywood Bowl in California. We have been updating the Video Games Live official website (http://www.videogameslive.com) with news, up to date information, and press releases.

To view the most recent press releases:
http://www.videogameslive.com/index.php?s=news

For Tours in a city near you, check out the list of USA cities to be visited:
http://www.videogameslive.com/index.php?s=tourdates

To join our growing community: http://www.videogameslive.com/board/

As an added thank-you for your support of Video Games Live, we would like to announce the following exclusive:

Composer & Designer public meet & greet: we were able to get game designers and composer friends, from all over the world, to fly in for the premiere of Video Games Live at the Hollywood Bowl on July 6th.

Announced Game Titles in Video Games Live for the 2005 concert tour:
Music to be played by the L.A. Philharmonic Orchestra:
Mario?, Zelda?, Halo?, Metal Gear Solid?, World of Warcraft?, Warcraft 3?, Myst?, Castlevania?, Medal of Honor?, Sonic?, Tron, Tomb Raider?, Advent Rising, Headhunter, Beyond Good & Evil?, Splinter Cell?, Ghost Recon?, Rainbow Six?, EverQuest? II and a special retro arcade segment that goes from Pong? to Donkey Kong?!

Other previously announced music of the concert:

The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind?, Arcanum?, Spellforce 2?, International Karate?, Silent Hill 2?, Battlefield 2?, The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay?, Dragon Quest?, Brothers in Arms?, Chrono Cross?, The Lord of the Rings?

Some of the names confirmed:

Hideo Kojima (Metal Gear Solid)
Yuji Naka (Sonic the Hedgehog)
Toby Gard (Lara Croft/Tomb Raider)
Bill Roper (Warcraft, Starcraft, Diablo)
John Romero (Quake & Doom)
and many more??.

Also joining us for this meet and greet are the composers of the music featured at the show, celebrity guests, and a - very special - Meet & Greet appearance by none other than... STAN LEE! (creator of Spider Man)

We look forward to your reactions to this incredible event! And thank you for your continued support of Video Games Live.

~*~ Becky Young ~*~
Marketing Coordinator
Video Games Live

• EB Gamers Choice
  
• Best Cinematic
  
• Best Multiplayer Game
  
• Best Original Soundtrack
  
• Game of the Year

• Warrior: Protection and Fury talent line improvements
  
• Warlock: Demonology talent line improvements
  

Miguel: This, in my opinion, is the definitive WoW PvP experience. The map is huge, densely populated with players, NPCs, and monsters, and it greatly rewards coordination and strategy. Case in point: try taking the Alliance base without both Lokkmar (the huge, summonable epic boss that aids the Horde in its assault) and a group of beefed-up wolf raiders. It's impossible. The arches on those last two guard towers will chew you up, not to mention the entire Alliance raid that's sure to have gathered in the meantime. It's insane. My last match lasted six hours, and I got over 1,000 honorable kills. It was really late at night by the time it was over, but once we took that last graveyard, and destroyed one of the last guard towers, I knew it wasn't going to be long.

Jason Hayes: I just finished working on a really cool television commercial for Coca-Cola in China! It's scheduled to launch this summer, and I'm going to try and get permission to post it here after it's released - perhaps at the end of July. I had spoken with the project manager on the commercial about my getting permission to post the spot here on the website. He said that would probably be ok, as long as I wait until the commercial debuts in China first. That's supposed to happen very soon (it might have already started), probably to coincide with the recent launch of World of Warcraft in China.

He asked me to get back with him at the end of this month, and he can let me know if it's ok to post it. So maybe we'll be uploading it here soon! I'll let you know as soon as I know more.

"We had the final Blackwing Lair playtest on Monday at which time the dungeon was "locked out" and sent through the QA process so it can be delivered to you guys. So I wanted to give an early head's up that Blackwing is on the horizon and should be in-game in the near future. Keep in mind, there are other things that can hold up a patch. I would expect Blackwing to be delivered to you guys around the end of June or early July. That's my rough estimate at least.

As for Zul'Gurub, the zone is making great progress. We've recently re-lit the zone and replaced many of the buildings in there. I've seen people release screenshots of the zone that they've obtained by cheating their way in (this will get you banned btw!) but I think everyone will be pleasantly surprised to see the actual zone when it is live. The item and quest guys have some real challenges with this zone. Their goal is to keep all of the items and quests for the top end dungeons relevant while still making Zul'Gurub items desirable. Yet at the same time, the Zul'Gurub quests and items cannot outshine the Molten Core and above loot.

Some of the boss fights are really cool, as well. We had a ton of fun designing them and we're really looking forward to getting them out there for you guys.

The dungeon and raid team has also been working on some "top secret" stuff that you'll probably hear about soon.

But in the meantime, Blackwing Lair and Zul'Gurub are not that far off!"