The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You’re playing the game, you’re fighting the bosses, you know the how, but do you know the why? Each week Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft.
IncGamers recently sat down with Guild Wars 2’s lead designer, Eric Flannum, and fellow designers Curtis Johnson, Jon Peters and Ree Soesbee to talk about the upcoming MMO and ask some burning questions.
The team discusses the game’s lore, the community, changes to game mechanics, PvP and more.
It’s been extremely quiet about StarCraft 2 after Blizzard decided to move the "Summer 2009" beta to an unknown point in the future (hopefully at least in 2010), but the people over at Blizzard seem to be doing something, as new lore as well as pictures have been released.
Cat writes: Emberwind is a charming fantasy platformer from indie developer TimeTrap. You play as gnome watchman Kindle and are accompanied by your snowy owl Hedwig. I mean Wick. King Gyro rules over typically safe streets, but now an evil army has hit town. Bummer. A Fire Gnome, Kindle has the duty of lighting the lamps of Grendale and thus delivering it from the invading gremlins and the evil CandleFinger while Wick provides taxi service. Other than that, Emberwind is light on lore and heavy on combat. Of course, how many of us really cared about why we were rescuing Peach, or how the gal got herself into such a predicament anyway? We were in it for the mushroom devouring, Koopa stomping glory, and Emberwind largely forgoes the pretense.
When publisher Black Isle Studios closed its doors, the Baldur’s Gate saga ended abruptly, leaving fans of the High Fantasy RPG series with few other options as polished and fully-realised as Shadows of Amn and its expansion, Throne of Baal. When Bioware took up the crown itself, eventually wowing a legion of players with Knights of the Old Republic and Mass Effect, a new RPG heavyweight had assured its place in the tomes of gaming lore.
Diablo 3 Lead World Designer Leonard Boyarsky reveals a new ‘lorebook’ feature, and talks at length on D3 as a Lovecraftian gothic horror game with an emphasis on action and story in this newly released interview.
Diii.net has posted the second part of their exclusive interview with Diablo III Game Director Jay Wilson, and this batch of questions focus entirely on the newly-revealed Monk character. Jay talks about the Monk’s unrevealed skills, his lore and design, and drops the first word that the party-boosting Auras will return in Diablo 3, most likely as Monk skills.
Very little information on Bungie’s latest game in development – possibly the last between Microsoft and Bungie as partners – Halo: Reach, has been released to the public, other than it may very well be the largest game yet from Bungie. What has been shown by Microsoft and Bungie is a small teaser that covers the fall of the planet Reach, a pivotal time point in Halo lore. When asked about the game, Bungie community manager Brian Jarrard answered:
"Reach is going to be a tough project for us to wrap just because the scope is really big – it’s up there," said Jarrard. "It’ll probably be our biggest game ever just in terms of the amount of people working on it and the expectations for it. I mean, it’s a big deal for us."
Personally, I thought this would be a small game, focused on the Halo universe; like Halo 3: ODST. The way Jerrard explains it, it seems like I was wrong, and that Reach will be much bigger than I ever imagined.
Bungie’s back in action following Halo 3: ODST
"I know just for at least the next year our hardcore focus is going to be on getting Reach done and awesome and hopefully getting people excited about it," he said.
Dan, from Gameolio, checks out the latest video from PAX09 involving lore and discussion on the upcoming novels that will serve as a bridge between Guild Wars and it’s sequel.
G4TV doesn’t know much about Halo: Reach yet. Microsoft and Bungie showed off a teaser for the possibly final collaboration between the two companies at E3, which chronicles the fall of the planet Reach, a major part of Halo lore. At the Penny Arcade Expo, they had a chance to ask Bungie community manager Brian Jarrard about Halo: Reach.
"Reach is going to be a tough project for us to wrap just because the scope is really big — it’s up there," said Jarrard. "It’ll probably be our biggest game ever just in terms of the amount of people working on it and the expectations for it. I mean, it’s a big deal for us."
To be honest, G4TV thought it was a small, focused spin-off, ala Halo 3: ODST. It’s not. Halo: Reach sounds much bigger than I’d ever imagined, the way Jarrard puts it.
"I know just for at least the next year our hardcore focus is going to be on getting Reach done and awesome and hopefully getting people excited about it," he said.