Regardless of how funny this episode may or may not have been, one thing needs to be said...

Their use of the WoW engine in the episode was AMAZING. Blizzard had to have given them a bunch of help, and for that I give Blizzard a lot of credit. A lot of companies would shy away from a South Park tie in, but Blizzard knows their target audience. Maybe this is why they make so much darn money.

As for the episode itself, while the plot didn't make a whole lot of sense from an actual game standpoint (and it doesn't have to, as this is, you know, a cartoon), they seemed to take care to mention actual places and keep things fairly consistent within the game. From Butters' frustration at only four Alliance races to choose from to bragging about questing in the Fargodeep Mine, they did a decent job trying to keep things grounded in the game. You can tell they have at least one WoW fan writing for the show. And who is betting we might see a Sword of 1000 Truths at some point in the WoW universe?

Of course, some things in the episode weren't consistent with WoW game play (human hunter?), but again, this is a cartoon meant to entertain the masses, not just the WoW geeks who tune in. The stereotype of the fat, lazy WoW player was out in full force, but if you are playing for 18 hours a day, everyday, it might be hard to be fit and trim.

All in all, I was pretty entertained. However, if I was not a WoW fan, I'm not sure if this would be among my favorite episodes. My playing WoW added a lot, and I don't think I'd have enjoyed it nearly as much as an outsider looking in. Either way, the marriage of South Park and WoW was certainly something to see, and will surely keep the WoW community buzzing for a while. What did you guys think? Funny? Lame?

Oh yeah, one more thing...you can rest assured we will be launching Hello Kitty Island Adventure Insider very, very soon.

Tags: South Park, SouthPark, World of Warcraft, WorldOfWarcraft

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, News items