14TH ANNUAL AWARDS ISSUE
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World Events
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With so many new online games hitting the shelves, you could spend all winter trying to
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form an alliance with an NVIDIA GPU, every little part of the world looks as epic as it feels.
For blazing performance and rock-solid reliability without the “jaggies,” nSIST on NVIDIA.WORT Sae te ae See SeedThe 14th Annual Computer Games Awards
Though 2003 was a good year, one domi-
nated by quality console ports like Knights of
the Old Republic, Prince of Persia, Grand Theft
‘Auto Vice City, and The Simpsons Hit and Run,
2004 was filled with purely PC-based games
of almost unprecedented quality.
Picking the top game of the bunch, though,
was extremely complicated. So many of the
year's best games offered such completely
different kinds of experiences. What is the
thread that connects World of WarCraft to
Painkiller, or Sid Meier's Pirates! to Rome:
Total War? And for that matter, what con-
nects Catwoman to Spider-Man 2? Maybe
it’s best not to think about that one,
Without further ado, flip the page for the "10
Best Games of 2004;” plus the year’s worst.
storsoters: William Ane, Kyle Ackerman, Steve
Bauman, Bret Berger, John Callaham, Tom Chick, Troy
odfellow, David Long Tiffany Martin, Gregory Micek,
Dave Panchyk, Kevin ice, Kurt Squire, Peter Suciu, Bet
Tod, Kelly Wand, and Cindy YansWORLD OF WARCRAFT
the
hat happens when you throw thou:
sands of peo
populate it with stuf to do and
things to kill? There have been plenty of
‘games offering up answers, from the wild
wild-west early days of Ultima Online to the
gold standard—subscriber-wise, at least.
of EverQuest. Each new entry has been met
with varying levels of anticipation, but
nothing short of Star Wars G
the expectations of Word of War
it exceed:
le into a world and
laxes has had
raft. That
hose expectations, much les
‘meets them, is practically a revelation,
As with Di
StarCraft, and Wa
lizard Entertainment
Vivendi Universal Games
Blizzard isnt redefining the formula for the
genre as much asit is working toward per
fecting it. World of WarCraft, by any
stretch of the definition, a bog-standard
massively multiplayer game. Ithas all of the
-onventions down pat: interesting charac
ter selection choices with two distinct sides
Horde vs. Alliance), a massive world, lots of
interesting things to kill lots of motivators
to push you to the ‘next level ites you
craft, and tons of amazing loot and
It wont necessarily convert all of
the players that find MMOs boring or poin
less. Ithas the same du
choices that no one would ever put in a
single-player game, lke the need to re
cover your body after you di
dious busywork, and lots and lots of run-
ning from point & to B, though mounts,
zeppelins, and gryphon/bat rides help
somewhat. Some changes were added
after the lengthy beta test in order to slow
players down—if you can reach the level 60
cap in a matter of days, that’ a problem.
e changes made it lia
8 worse for
everyone, which shows how the hardest of
the hardcore are really harming the MMO
have met the
-xperience for everTHE 14TH ANNUAL COMPUTER GAMES AWARDS
Combat can get quite choot
and thos
(PVE vs, PvP). The PvP implementation i
launch, rather point
superb job of making every
ass choice distinct. Players hav
their character, and
you rarely find people
tended period
unhappy.
are better than most hy
drole to pla
be played
much of the game. Ifyou rea
u can find the
ing, Fishing, and Fie
ble to everyone}, and all ae in
ing and surprisingly entertaining. They
ally emphasize adventuring to find ma
snd the actual act of constructing
fast and painless, The “Create All
godsend.
button for
‘Watch out fr this guy: hes a5 tough ase ks
ling found and
me standard in
mini-eBay for buyin
festand out crafted items)
: every future game
killed players
ability
ver the predictable mob
sults) The only
problem for most players
play PvP, wl
sort of “MMOs for
he interface is superb: yo
ish” approach of Electronic
‘the feeling tha if
4 every element of make it as complex as you like (particularly behavior and combat
ulled out the best ones, ith the free Cosmos aftermarket ut realy screw up is their
ou dont g
ttention to putting ev
hit needed, without all 19 against c
every other game on fea- MMOs. It makes th Jopers;you feel like
gating players who d.In keepingth that approach, there are minimal
death penalties (mostly time, never ex
cel, and it never feels like a grind. It do
its incredible world without making it feel
once in town, all ofthe people wit
are identified with a yellow exclamation
their head. (IF you've completed
itchanges to a question mark
This removes the tedium of talking to even
single person to find that one guy whol
ell you what to do next—in other words,
doing quests is alot more interesting than
looking for the
J the sheer quantity of available
quests (literally thousands)
killing mob after mob of
monsters, Sure, finding 15 Bloodscalp ear
‘means you need to killa bunch of Tol
but
of the quests are
annoying, (Lik
unny, and only a few are
P
ne are mundane (Stockade)
(Gnomeregan)
While PvP is pointless, it does add a
new dynamic to the usual gameplay. The
fiction separates players out of the gate,
but quests inevitably draw you into ‘con.
ested” zones, w
gle. On PVE servers, you can avoid the
other side and optionally dabble in PvP
combat; it's a terrific compromise. Armie
flag, Anyone defending also be
comes a target, atleast until a person's
PvP flag wears off The Auton Hous prety much the greatest thing ever.
Another draw for new players—and vet
trans as well—is the art direction, Almost drop. And all ofthe charming touches, ike All ofthe areas are unique, but it still man
everyone immediately the rabbits and cows wandering around, to ages to fee ike a world
k. Sure, EverQuest the personality-filled and amazingly ar Whether World of WarCrotis better tha
‘ogy, but Wor isa much, much mated monsters (a personal favorite is th m vestisn't af
petter-looking game. Not that it's a arvest Watcher), all comes together to _—_question, though if you compare what it de
Jouch—is technology is subtle from the make itlooklike some Warner Brothers car- livers today to all existing MMOs, its ama
ymazing sound and music to the way light toon come to life, A oft : inman ts alrea
ounces off snow at the right angle and as being unique, from the lu
ow the water ripples. And the citi Ashenvale tot eset be ik Hi
One glance at lronforge, Underc artens, from to the majestic hil urns out, one thing is clear:it's the bTHE 14TH ANNUAL COMPUTER GAMES AWARDS
SID MEIER'S PIRATES!
Firaxis Atari
World of Half-Life 2
WarCraft Doom 3HALF-LIFE 2 '
He Valve
Software| Vivendi Universal Games
h technology to die for,
THE SIMS 2
ewes
Electronic rts
«Thief: Deadly Half-Life 2 Kohan Il: Unreal
Shadows Vampiretve Kings of War Tournament 2004
Malttife2 ‘Masquerade: Bloodlines Done opeaeasTHE 14TH ANNUAL COMPUTER GAMES AWARDS
EVERQUEST Nl
RK
Online Entertainment
‘munity management syst
have improved upon n
cessor, But ju
KOHAN II: CITY OF HEROES
KINGS OF WAR | gy tonto
peers TimeGate he MMO
Studios Global Star Software ll
jominated by games that ti
0 3 dendupdongnathng pr
particularly ref
Thief: Deadly Shadows, Warhammer 40K: Davn of War, Unreal Tournament 2004,
Battlefield Vietnam, Tribes Vengeance, Joint Operations
World of The Sims 2 Dene ec
savvier over the years, having, on
Cer eure
leap directly into a "promise em every-
Cra ee he
selves engaging in a tail-between-the-
legs retreat when (a) It just wasn't ready,
OT ee ee as
didn’t work, period. Now we see alot
De ee et ee
pletely upfront indication that no space
ee eed
launch, City of Heroes’ not announcing a
Dees
Cer eae
Ter cere
well in keeping with this trend,
Cr ener
Ce ee oe eae
‘ments throughout the life of the game
Eee ee eed
See ees
PvP Battlegrounds, and “special events.”‘fost lant makes an appearance near some Aliance payers. Alterac
aly ists place for players to battle there are unfriendly mon-
ers that wil attack both sides, and many quests to undertake aswel
The Twist of Nether—For the Good of Many
The biggest effort early on wil be to add many new instances in
cluding raid instances, to the current mix of spawned areas (see the
sidebar). The rid instances are designed to challenge around 40
people a a time with various objectives in mind, with some pretty
‘amazing loot at stake. At this writing the highest level of tems in
the game is coded purple, or Epic” such as the Deathstriker Dagger,
with a speed of 1.70, and 45.6 damage-per-second, with all atacks
‘guaranteed to land, all of which wil be critical strikes forthe next
three seconds (eat your heart out. But ina raid, you might be able
to pick up two more valuable classes of equipment Legendary
(Red, and Artifact (Orange)
The reason they picked 40 a sot of the“magic number"fora
raid population cap was because, on average, tha’ the sizeof a
WoW guild. They foresee these encounters as mostly guid-elated
aff, since guilds wil initaly have the easiest modes of organza
tion within the game's guild interface, or via their wn websites
They/d like to enhance this though.
Long term, once we get some extra resources, says lead de
signer Rob Pardo, “weld like to do some of the web-based [group
coordination] stuff—some of the stuff that EverQuest lis doing, but
that is, as | said, more long term?
There are what they're calling "sc ters of difficult
yin the raid in
‘This Taurens special armor denotes his station as one ofthe premier leaders ofthe
Worde army in Alterac Vale.
stances, and they anticipate guilds working through them lke play
fers might work through levels (and hence gain the ability to survive
in the next highest-level instances).
"We designed our raid game very methodically” says Pardo. At
the bottom levels youl fight something like Onyxia, one ofthe low
tend dragons, but as you get to the higher levels, oul need a lot
better gear to survive. We consider Onyxia a tier six dragon, which is,
the bottom tier... and then the Molten Core, whichis in Black Rock
Depths, is a tier five area”
But you can go to Molton Core without having slain Onyxia, i's
just that they balanced it to be more difficult. "I's been a big pain inFiraxis is hard at work on Civilization IV; more on that can be
found on page XX, People Can Fly is working on anew, yet
tunannounced game. It will not be a sequel to Painkiller.
‘According to Valve, i's working on bringing Half-Life 2 toat
least one console" and stil has plans for Team Fortress 2. Also,
in the works: Day of Defeat: Source, and updates for Counter-
ste
at The Creative Assembly can be found adapting its Total War
series to television, as well as working on “unnamed future
products" (Unnamed in large part because no one could get
hold of anyone) The frst expansion for is
Control your Sim through his or her"young adult”
life stage, which may or may not involve dorms, fats, sororities
and/or projectile vomiting. Sony Online was clearly so stunned
with the positive re-
sponse to EverQuest I
that it was dumbstruck
and speechless when
asked fora peek into its
future. The chances are
pretty good that there's
‘an expansion in the
‘works. TimeGate
Studios is working a
couple of next-genera-
ton real-time strategy games, which they say will set a new
standard’"The titles are unannounced, so no details are forth
‘coming at this point. Cryptic Studios is hard at work on
Its add-on to City of Heroes twill let you create the
super villain of your dreams, and work your way up the crime
ladder tothe point where you can take on all of those awful,
awful do-gooder superheroes. Sweden's own Starbreeze
Studios plans to follow up Chronicles of Riddick with something
or other (they didnt respond to e-mails at press time). Theres
been some talk ofa sequel to Enclave, but the developer isnt
working on any projects for Vivendi Universal at this time, so
don't expect another Riddick (atleast from ther) anytime soon
Compe Games| Mar 205,
3: Source and Half-Life 2 Deathmatch. The creative chaps
‘frend of Vrimatras—imitationis the sincerest frm of hoovey.
jure out what should be harder than what, so we could
anticipate what the order should be’ continues Pardo. “In some
cases, there isa litle bit ofa forced progression. For instance, you
do need to kill Onyxia before you can kill her brother, Nefarian, who
isa tier four dragon. ot more organic
froma difficulty point of view!
(Onyxia Lar isan instance that a really good guild could conquer
from stat to finish in hal-an-hour to an hour’ time, whereas enter:
ing the Molten Core to kill Ragnaros, the really amazing-looking fire
‘elemental, will probably require sweat and tears over several days.
but in alot of cases it's a
“We're really trying to go fora lot of variety and depth, says Pardo,
me you can do right away, and some yo
‘raid instance will be available through a green, instead of blue,
portal, and while similar to the regular dungeon i
behave the same way. In the latter, f you leave, or die, you havea
short time to go back before the die critters respawn. In a raid In
stance, though, itl start out the same way, but there'll be a pre-de
fined event that will trigger an automatic “save of your raid groups
state. This will often be'The Slaughter of the First Boss"’Once the
set amount of time to finish the
rest ofthe instance, or the whole encounter wil reset. But take
save is triggered, your group ha
heart, this doesn't mean dreadfully tedious and long play sessions.
rk Age of Camelot: Trials of Atlantis master level
that resemble
marathons,
For example, The Molten Core instance, when triggered, wil give[above] More battles between the Horde and theAliance in Alterac ale. ght] ll
tend to swoon at the feet of aia Proudmoore
you up to seven days to finish the dungeon, This way ifall your
healers and tanks are at a wedding or Bar Mitzvah, you can just hold
off fora day or so."Wette trying to be sure we have really reasonable
time periods defined” says Pardo. “We really don't want the in
stances to be a race against time—that’s definitely not the point of
them. Molten Core is a good example. Seven days should be plenty
of time to do what you want to do. Ifyou can't kill Ragnaros within,
seven days, then you probably just can kill him yet tal
Death works pretty much the same way, with just a few differ
ences, Some of the raid instances are actually behind dungeon in
stances, Molten Core, the raid instance, is actually within the group
instance of Blackrock Depths, and there's another one in Blackrock
Spire. So when you die, you actually respawn outside the instance
‘of Blackrock Depths—which will have most likely regenerated many
gly things. At that point, hopefully, you have a surviving Warlock in
the raid instance that can summon you back beyond the green
door (Warlocks being the only class that can summon members
into an instance), or if your group wiped completely, i'l be a long
Fight back.
The raid stuff is probably the content we'e adding the most to
says Pardo, "since thatll be the endgame:en eee
te errr tn)
roe See ere et
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et ee eo
Ce a eet ele
For Instance
When you alone are never really alone
Here is what you can expect from a few of the new
high-level instanced dungeons that Blizzard has
planned for early this year.
Dire Maul
This great city, now in ruins, once comprised the greatest Night
Ef city in ancient Kalimdor. Known as Eldre'Thalas, it was the
crown jewel of Highborne society and arcane research and study.
Yet, as Kalimdor was shattered by the Great Sundering, the city
was broken and the Sorcerous Highborne were cursed to wander
the wreckage forever. The city lay abandoned for centuries until
the mighty Ogre, King Gordok, took possession of the ruins. Now
the Ogres hold the city in an iron grip—covetous of the arcane
secrets still held by the Stirring Highborne ghosts. Its also ru
‘mored that a band of Satyrs have slipped into the shadowed
ruins —also bent on plumbing the city’s secrets for their own
dark machinations.
GAMEPLAY: Located in Feralas, Dire Maul willbe a“winged” instance
dungeon similar to the Scarlet Monastery I's being tuned for groups
of players ranging from levels 46 to 57. This dungeon should be a
nice Kalimdor counterpart to Blackrock Depths.
Alterac Valley (Battlegrounds instance)
‘The frosty peaks of Alterac valley have been stained with the
blood of warriors. The windswept valley has been claimed by
both the Horde and the Alliance. The Frostwolf Ores (Warchief
‘Thrall’ hereditary clan) have lived inthe secluded valley for
many decades, but their village has been threatened by the re
cent arrival ofthe Dwarf expeditionary force led by General
Vanndar Stormpike. The Dwarves, seeking the precious minerals
beneath the frosty earth, care litle for the Ores land claims. Now
the forces of the Horde and the Alliance spill into the area
daily-intent on retaking the valley for their respective causes
However, unbeknownst to both factions, the Winterax Trolls
have arisen to make their own claim upon the frozen wasteland.
Only time will tell which faction will have final dominion.
GAMEPLAY: Alterac Valley is nestled in the Alterac Mountains. This
zone is the first of World of WarCraft’ planned Battleground Zones.
The primary focus here will be PvP combat, with team-based goals
winere the Horde and the Alliance can square off against one another.
This zone willbe for players that are level 51 or above,
‘Abn Qiraj
Little fs known of the ancient kingdom of Ahn'Qiraj, save for
scattered legends concerning its creators—the enigmatic sorcer-
ers known as the Qiraji Night Elf tales abound of the Qira’s
strange hold over the insectike Silithid—and their symbiotic
link with that terrifying race. I's become clear that the Qiraji are
stiring once again behind the sandblasted walls of their king
dom. The Slithid have begun to amass in the southern regions of
Kalimdor. None know what vast evil might spew forth ifthe
gates to Ahm Giraj were ever breached.
GAMEPLAY: The gates of Ahn’Qiaj can only be opened by a mighty,
player-driven quest. Once the gates are open, the spells of Ahn‘raj
will be available for any on the server who can ise to the challenge.
This wil be a full: blown raid zone, tuned for 40 players of maximum
level. Encounters will be vatied in the zone, with some taking place
con the sprawling sands of this once epic city, and others taking place
deep within the hive tunnels
Blackwing Lair
At the fiery pinnacle of Blackrock Spite lies the menacing
Blackwing Lait. Originally built as part of the Dark ron fortress,
the lair has recently been transformed into the abode of the sin-
ister back dragon, Nefarian. Guarded by fanatical dragonspawn,
and various agents of the black flight, Blackwing Lairis one of
the most hazardous locations on Azeroth. Nefarian is ruthless in,
protecting his dark sanctum and the vile experiments he lords
‘ver. Only those brave enough to enter his lair will discover the
terrifying secret of the black dragonflight—and uncover their
true plan to re-conquer the mortal worl.ee eed
GAMEPLAY Blackwing Lair is an upper-ter raid zone, designed for
raid groups of 40 players of maximum level. The Lairlies deep
Within Blackrock Spire inthe heart of the Eastern Kingdoms
Karazhan
Nestled in the forbidding peaks of the Deadwind Pass, the
lonely tower of Karazhan stands as a haunting reminder of
slories past. Once the home and sanctum of the Guardian
Medivh, Karazhan andits surrounding hamlet have fallen to
complete ruin, Now the dead tower's home to the restless
dead—and worse. Rumors abound that Medivh’ private labo-
ratories and libraries hold the key to mysterious portals to the
“Twisting Nether. Those who have returned from the dark
tower told of demonic horrors that roamed the upper floors.
‘Though none now know who truly controls the tower, itis
clear that some evil force has taken up residence in Medivh’
stead.
GAMEPLAY: Karazhan isan instanced dungeon found in Deadwind
Pass. Only the players of highest level wil be able to overcome
the challenges ofthis dungeon. Unique in its design, Karazhan
will offer multiple sections, each of which will play as a dungeon
Inand ofitselt, with atleast three seperate instance entrances.
Zul'Gurub
Zul'Gurub isthe capital of the fallen Gurubashi empire that
‘once dominated the lands of Stranglethorn, and various is-
lands of the South Seas. Zul'Gurub is still quarded by the can-
ribalistic Jungle Tolls and their holy order of Hakkar priests.
‘Some believe that the nefarious priests seek to bring their an-
cient blood-god, Hakkar the Soulflayer, back to life.
the secrets to Halkar's rebirth are kept safe
within the crumbling Troll city. However, none who have ven-
tured into the savage land have ever returned to confirm
these dark rumors.
‘GAMEPLAY: Zul'Gurub will be aleve 55-60 instanced exterior zone,
similar to Zul'Farrak. Tuned for groups of 5 the instance should
prove tobe both challenging and rewarding for those who feel up
to the task of conquering the savage Trolls.
least for the PvP environment folks it will—PvP-ers, who have been
long awaiting a more structured environment for fairer combat, wl
be looking forward to the Battlegrounds,
An Alternative to Ganking
The Battlegrounds are also instances where players can compete
against the opposing faction in a more organized way than in
other areas of the world, and you can anticipate many different
types of goals.
“In our fst Battleground, the goa sto defeat the enemy com
‘mand’ says Pardo, “You can try to accomplish this by charging the
enemy base, but that will be extremely hard, f not impossible, un:
less you have an overwhelming advantage in numbers
Yu can make your goal easier, though, via various quests that
will give your side a greater advantage when it comes to taking
cover the enemy base. For example, you can gain control of the
graveyards, which allows you to respawn closer to where the action
is. Once you defeat the enemy commander, your side has tempo
rary control ofthe Battleground and everyone with be rewarded
with additional honor points.
Honor points are the “reward! for doing well at PvP. You can think
cof them as PvP Experience Points" Prior to their
was no thyme or reason to PvP activity, and grifing was rampant
(on PVP servers only, ofcourse). While that'll probably continue, the
honor point system will atleast give some players the incentive to
play nice” when they're massacring one another. As long as youre
killing
which wil transfer into what might be considered “military ranks:
‘And these ranks are what confer you different benefits such as ven
dor discounts, or special gear. The very highest ranked players will
leven be able to buy equipment and weapons that are on par with
the stuff you'd only find inthe raid instances.
itll worka lot ike the WarCraft Illadder where your gained expe:
rience is always decaying, so you have to keep playing to stay on top
of things. You don't actually gain honor for killing a player atthe mo-
‘ment he dies instead, youl gain honor atthe end of each week
istence, there
players within a
nable level range, you'll gain honor,
Based on your ranking and how well you PvP for the week, you get
a certain amount of honor. You'l always be able to view your current
status, though, to see how you're doing, and they'e also looking
into a daily update mail notice. Finally, at the end of the week, youll
{get your reward. Ths type of thing makes the game competitive
within your own faction, as well as against the opposite side.
That way, we're never going see that ever-escalating situationike
you see in Dark Ag
ppoints just go into the gazilions. Our system will kinda always be set
‘up more like the WarCraft system, where itl be more of ladder so
that there'll always be more of atop group. So even if you join a
server, say year late, you can still become the number one player
‘Along with individual PvP honor in the game at large, there are
also team-based goals—which is where the actual Battlegrounds
come in. (For the people on the regular servers, this is the only
place they'll encounter PvP at all) I you control a Battleground,
then your whole side is awarded honor points, so that way, every
Cone that participated for the week will get more honor than they
would have if
Pardo explains: "So even though you'e kind of competing
‘among your own alliance to be the number one person, everyone
still wants to complete team-based goals because then everyone
‘of Camelot” notes Pardo.”In that game, realm
xs hadn't gotten that control.Making sense of PvP
Alliance versus Horde action gains some substance
Quests will play a major part in PvP Battlegrounds. While some
players will be actively engaged in fighting enemy players, oth-
ers will contribute by fulfilling quests that directly help their
side's war effort. One of the earliest quests you can complete to
help your cause is finding mounts to create NPC cavalry units.
(On the Alliance side of Alterac Valley roam large rams, while
frost wolves wander in the Horde side. One of the quest-giving
NPCS in your base will tell you that your side is in need of
‘mounts for their cavalry unit. Alliance players will be able to tag
rams and bring them back to base, while Horde players will be
able to do the same with the frost wolves. After you bring back
the appropriate number, the quest will be complete and your
side will automaticaly spawn a unit of cavalry troops that will
‘then rush to the frontlines of battle to assist your side's player
characters. Players can repeat this quest, and thus send in
waves of cavalry throughout the battle. They're hoping this type
of activity will add a bit more meaning to happily slaughtering
members of the other faction.
will get more honor. Whether or not you participated in the battle
grounds at all, youl! stil get honor experience”
There will be modifies, though, in diferent areas of the world
that will afford you more individual honor, giving you an incentive
to accomplish certain tasks such as killing the other side's world
leaders, lke Thrall, Caime, and so on. If you're defending your
town—say youre in Stormwind and you're fighting against invading
Horde trying to kill the General—your reward will be pumped up
with a bonus, since the very act of defending your own city const:
tutes one of those modifiers
‘There are things that they definitely plan on adding, lke siege
combat, but they'll need more live testing in the Battleground envi
ronment before they decide on other things that'l work. Pardo
‘even hinted at air combat (non-definitively of course}, so you can
just imagine things like Gryphon vs. Zeppelin ar wars.
Snowballs and Fishing Derbies
(Over the holidays Blizzard showed the first example of the type of
‘special events” that the team is planning. Special Christmas cookie
‘quests, snowball fights, decorations, and other holiday hoopla def
nitely added to the ambience of the games major areas. They're
{going for a kind of Animal Crossing approach, where seasons pass
and everything is cyclical.
Computer Games March 205
“There's not really an MMO that's doing anything similar to what,
ete trying to do with our world events” says Pardo, “because most
{games at this point have either done the Asheron’ Call thing, which
isthe huge unfolding story'that they do every month, And then
you have kinda the EverQuest or Ultima Online examples where you
have GM-run event stuff”
What they are really trying to do is build content over time
throughout the lifecycle of the game, much of which will be linked
to the calendar. For instance, they might have something like a fish
ing contest that runs every Sunday, or big festivals that run for a
two-week period of time. They might have certain zones that
change during the summer solstice—a whole variety of stuff
‘And the really cool thing about that approach is there are always
things to look forward to, and even if you miss something you still
can see it again next year says Pardo. It really gives a dynamic feel-
ing to [the world), and really kinda keeps on using this content:
overtime’ approach. We really want to,
‘much more living and breathing,
If they're thinking about regular annual events, then they must
be pretty confident that World of WarCraft will see an awl lot of
seasons come and go. If they can produce a continuing flow of new,
duality content akin to what they started out with, though, they can
pretty much bank on that. "Lothar!"
make the world feel that