Ragnar’s Realms

Admin wrote: 

What on Earth? Infinity Ward community manager Robert Bowling has made a YouTube video of himself unboxing the absolutely epic “prestige edition” of Modern Warfare 2 Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. When we say “epic,” we’re talking “it includes working night vision goggles” epic. Also in the box is a voucher code for downloading the previously rumored PSN/XBLA version of the original Call of Duty. This plus a steel game case, art book and a custom molded plastic head for displaying your working night vision goggles on. (But of course!)

There’s no mention of a retail price for the set, but we can’t imagine it’ll be anything less than stupid crazy expensive. We’re also working to find out if and when Activision intends to distribute the downloadable remake of the CoD that started it all. Check out the unboxing after the break — but only after ensuring that your socks are safely and securely pinned to your pants.

[Thanks, Morey!]

Continue reading Modern Warfare 2: Prestige Edition includes working night vision goggles, original Call of Duty for PSN/XBLA

Modern Warfare 2: Prestige Edition includes working night vision goggles, original Call of Duty for PSN/XBLA originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 13 Jul 2009 21:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Today,  

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Blizzard, News items

Activision-Blizzard released September quarter results yesterday. Most of the document is pretty dry and won’t mean much to the majority of their devoted fans. They reaffirm the 11 million subscriber base of World of Warcraft and remind us that Guitar Hero’s doing pretty well. Yeah, and they have an expansion coming up.

There is an interesting gem, however, to be found in their discussion of Wrath box sales:

“Revenues related to the sale of World of Warcraft boxed software, including the sale of expansion packs and other ancillary revenues will continue to be deferred and recognized ratably over the estimated customer life beginning upon activation of the software and delivery of the services.”

That’s a pretty packed statement. In summary, it means that the money Blizzard makes from selling the game box isn’t immediately counted in their performance metrics at the time of sale. (There’s no December “bump” to revenue directly from the 50ish dollars you pay for an expansion.)

Instead, they count the revenue gains throughout your customer lifetime. Doesn’t sound like a big deal, does it? Let’s talk about why that’s such a significant notion.

Continue reading Activision-Blizzard September results reveals box sales paradigm

Activision-Blizzard September results reveals box sales paradigm originally appeared on WoW Insider on Thu, 06 Nov 2008 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Admin wrote: 

Acclaimed — and quite verbose — director James Cameron today revealed the full extent of Ubisoft’s involvement in the creation of his latest film, Avatar. In what’s possibly a further sign of synergy between Cameron and Ubisoft, the very first glimpse of what Avatar actually looks like comes in the form of three images … from the video game.

We thought the shot of winged beasts attacking the human gunship looked a little … Halo; then we saw the Warthog Jeep-like vehicle with a soldier behind the wheel and — well, have a look yourself at the gallery below.

Avalook at James Cameron’s Avatar originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 02 Jun 2009 07:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Today,  

Filed under: Business

Building upon assurances delivered several weeks ago, GameStop COO Dan DeMatteo continued his utter disregard for the impending retail crisis as the gaming industry steadily shifts to digital distribution. “The first digital distribution was Napster and it was illegal. Let’s just start there,” DeMatteo began his lesson to GameDaily. “The software publishers are afraid to death of piracy. Once a full game is lying on a hard drive, there’s the potential for piracy. Aside from the games, the bandwidth, etc., our studies have concluded that the network won’t be in place to do digital distribution of full games until 2020 to 2025.” And by then, well, it’ll be too late. Even conservative projections place GameStop in control of the global marketplace by 2017.

The important thing, DeMatteo reminds publishers, is to keep selling your games to GameStop. After all, he claims, Microsoft and Sony take a big cut when you go direct through consoles. Plus, GameStop guarantees it’ll sell a single copy of your game at least three times. Er, wait a minute … you’re not supposed to hear that part.

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Today,  

Filed under: Patches, Items, Blizzard, Instances, Raiding

Our good friend Boubouille at MMO Champion tipped us off to some of the loot items he expects to come out of the Sunwell. He doesn’t say a source on these, but the guy knows his upcoming items, so here they are for your viewing pleasure. Plus, even if they don’t actually turn out to be real, it’ll still be fun drooling over them. Look at that Soul Render sword! And the Vial of the Sunwell trinket!

Hot stuff. Of course, the Sunwell isn’t like Zul’Aman– it’s the new endgame. So if you haven’t seen Illidan yet, and think Mount Hyjal is that level in the old RTS game, odds are you won’t be carrying these around anytime soon. But it is cool to know that if this stuff is real, we’ll see some records broken in patch 2.4.

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Today,  

Filed under: Deals and Bargains

Hop, skip or sprint over to Amazon.com’s Gold Box deals page if you’ve been putting off a Grand Theft Auto IV purchase and feel the need to run over pedestrians, do drugs and have promiscuous “love making”. Amazon.com’s current Lightning Deal is non other than GTAIV where, for the next few hours or until supplies exhaust, they’re selling the game for a rather satisfying $44.99 or another way to put it, 25% off retail. Pull out the plastic and get your buy on.

[Thanks, ThePhase]

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Today,  

Filed under: Peripherals

The Go!Explore pack looks to be a rather fun and useful addition to the PSP’s lineup of features. The GPS system is hitting France (and perhaps other parts of Europe) on July 2nd, if amazon.com’s French site is to be believed. There are packages bundling both a GPS and PSP system: giving brand new consumers the chance to jump on the PSP bandwagon. We hope SCEA will announce a similar program in the not-too-distant future.

[Via MAXCONSOLE]

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Today,  

Filed under: News

Our chum over at Infinity Ward, Mr. fourzerotwo himself mentions on his personal blog that a Call of Duty 4 title update and playlist update are nigh. Can we get a collective w00t for that? The title update will usher in a slew of multiplayer playlist changes that are so numerous, we don’t have enough space to list them here, so you’ll have to make the jump to read about them. Also, Infinity Ward will be releasing a patch independently from the playlist changes and it’s aimed at fixing bugs, network issues and other general online problems. Both the playlist update and patch will release at separate times in the near future, so keep your eyes peelified. Happy fragging CoD4 fanboys!

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Today,  Most of ngmoco’s iPhone games have been insta-classics, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t experience a little envy from time to time. We asked boss Neil Young which iPhone hits he wished that he had made.

1. Fieldrunners (this was an easy one, which he answered without any need for reflection)
2. Ocarina (though he would have done it differently)
3. Pocket God (though, again, he would have done it differently)
4. (he flips through his apps before answering) Aurora Feint

He also mentioned that he considered publishing the gorgeous Zen Bound, but the timing wasn’t quite right. We’ll give him half credit for that one. Look for more from our GDC one-on-one with Young coming soon.

GDC 09: The four iPhone games ngmoco’s Neil Young wishes he’s made originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 25 Mar 2009 23:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Today,  

Every Monday Scott Andrews contributes Officers’ Quarters, a column about the ins and outs of guild leadership.

Is it possible to turn a roleplaying guild into a casual raiding guild? Can the two groups mingle in the same community, or is it like mixing oil and water? This week, one guild leader has tried to do just that. Read on to find out how it has worked so far!

Hey Scott,

My boyfriend, and I recently made a guild. He’s more into the RP aspect of the game, and mainly focuses on recruiting RPers. Most of these individuals are nice people, but are usually under level 40, and don’t play or care enough to do anything serious end game when they get there. I was set on making it more of a raiding guild. Nothing too hardcore, but enough progression to be able to down most bosses in current raids. Before it was all put into practice it seemed like a good idea.

Continue reading Officers’ Quarters: Oil and water

Filed under: (Guild Leadership) Officers’ Quarters

Officers’ Quarters: Oil and water originally appeared on WoW.com on Mon, 04 Jan 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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