The WoW Insider Show's Weekly News Update
by Adam Holisky 
Jun 11th 2011 at 2:00PM
This week we cover:
- PVP Season 9 ending soon, release of 4.2 imminent
- Dev Watercooler -- content for the casual 85
- Ask the Devs Round 9 tanking questions
- Fandrals Flamescythe turns feral cats fiery
- Skarr and Karkin -- two new hunter pet taming challenges
- EA's CEO wont share Old Republic release date because of WoW and Blizzard
- Mat has really cute cats, but you can't see them because we're not doing a video podcast ...
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Filed under: Podcasts, WoW Insider Show
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Tim Jun 11th 2011 2:09PM
Video podcasts would be cool. :)
hjunk Jun 11th 2011 2:51PM
Any idea when we'll see another column by Archmage Pants? Two weeks and counting of no warlock hate makes for a sad panda.
Sally Bowls Jun 11th 2011 4:48PM
He has a column out now with a family illness explanation. And he even talks arcane. So all is right with the world.
Sally Bowls Jun 11th 2011 5:00PM
Great pocasts; love both formats.
I do think you and many of the commenters are quite naive on EA's comments.
Regardless of how good TOR is, they will make **more** money the less time Blizzard has to prepare their "counterpunch." It would be stupid to help Blizzard out.
This is not unique to EA or MMOs. Press releases, product announcements, product tours, advertising campaigns, trial offers, discounts, reduced price extended subscriptions (sign up for an additional year of WoW during TOR launch month at a cheaper price?), are all standard responses to a competitor launching a product. Blizzard would be incompetent if they don't use most of the weapons in their arsenal.
TOR has a 2011 ship date irc. And nobody wants to launch close to Christmas. Ergo, for example, I bet Blizzard would really like to know whether TOR launches before, during or after Blizzcon. ( Software development cynics would say EA would like to know the same thing right now but that is another argument. )
This isn't a 17th century dual; this is business. And I think a lot of the commenters don't understand it.
Mathew McCurley Jun 11th 2011 5:34PM
Do people really think that within the industry the TOR release date is secret? Because gaming companies talk to each other. There is no way Blizzard doesn't know the release date. This is all posturing.
Lemons Jun 12th 2011 4:40AM
Blizz also knows when you're asleep, and when you're awake, and when you get an extra 25 bucks so they can release another mount on the online store.
Sally Bowls Jun 11th 2011 5:53PM
I had assumed that any date known by someone who was not covered under NDA and/or could be fired made it to the blogsphere/twittersphere quite rapidly these days. Except for Apple.
But I accept your superior knowledge of the situation.
Hmm, if Blizzard were to hire an EA marketing manager right now, we might even see a LawBringer column about this. Noncompete clauses being pretty unenforceable in California but not in Microsoft's Washington with enough NDA nuances to keep the attorneys employed.
Luotian Jun 11th 2011 6:40PM
Greedy hunters McCurly? Really? It has agility on it, I have as much right to it as those guys. So there :P.
Yes, I'm teasing. Kind of. More like fighting against the huntard image I keep getting branded with.
Now, to say what I was TRYING to say last week:
I love you for being so down to earth about everything. It is so refreshing to find someone in the fandom that can keep things in perspective and isn't obsessed with complaining that Blizzard isn't doing things exactly how he/she thinks it should be done. I love it, and I love listening to it.
Darkfreak Jun 11th 2011 7:02PM
What was with the remark about you and Rossi hating eachother? Did I miss something?
mdienekes Jun 14th 2011 5:51PM
Mat McCurley, I too love WoW, I think the game is incredibly well designed and polished. However, I do think that from time to time the developers make mistakes. While that does not mean that the sky is falling it is important to maintain a detached viewpoint when you cover WoW related news. I've listened to you reading the news on the Friday show for the past month or so and with each week that passes I am more and more convinced that Blizzard is somehow paying you directly out of some secret Swedish bank account. With almost every news item you mention profusely how much "we" love this or "we" are looking forward to this new implementation. It may be true that you're looking forward to new content, but you need to understand that the developers truly do listen to the player base, and your program is one of the most visible independent sources of information on our game.
I'm not saying that you have to be critical of anything that Blizzard does, I just have a problem when you are actively trying to convince us that everything is going to be grand when there are legitimate contrary viewpoints. Please take the time to read the following article written by one of your colleagues: http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/06/14/shifting-perspectives-why-the-tank-qanda-sucked/ This is an example of criticsm done right.
While you're not running an editorial podcast, I think a little dose of objectiveness would go a long way.