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According to MMO-Champion’s post Blizzard has just registered a new name to be used in the online gaming sphere. This name is Mists of Pandaria and is supposedly the upcoming expansion of the world’s most succesful MMO World of Warcraft. The reason it is believed its for WoW and not for their project that’s codenamed Titan is because the Panda’s already play a part in the Warcraft world. This youtube vid is proof:

In the forums, speculation is already underway, general opinion is that this expansion will see the addition of two new playable races and will expand the level cap to 90. I’m curious to see how long Blizzard can keep its users entertained. And I’m very curious to see what project Titan is. Any ideas?

And another tech company going for an IPO very soon; Zynga. Developer of Facebook games like Farmville and Empire and Allies, commanding millions of daily player on the world’s biggest social network. With the IPO, Zynga would value itself somewhere between $15 – $20 billion. By comparison, Electronic Arts is worth only $ 8 billion, and Activision Blizzard has a market cap of about $ 13 billion. So, once again, I feel an IPO coming up that is too highly prices. I understand; it’s climbing together with the huge Facebook valuation, but still, the current major publishers have better and more sustainable businesses than Zynga has right now.

Some arguments? Activision Blizzard has 12 million subscribers for World of Warcraft, and that’s for the past 5 years, Blizzard’s development studio has the #1 IP’s in the world and they actually have a trackrecord of being able to adapt to change; what’s Zynga going to do when Facebook fails? Which I know for certain it will.

VentureBeat wrote a more objective article about it here.

Nice post on VentureBeat today about the once quite succesful MMORPG Star Wars Galaxies and the recently announced termination.

Star Wars Galaxies was successful because it was unlike other MMO games at the time. Players could master several classes at once and create characters who suited themselves. You could create a doctor who was a deadly sniper, or a fighting monk who could also build starships. It was also extremely difficult to unlock the Jedi class, but very rewarding.

Full article here

Who still thinks of the current economic climate when it comes to gaming? China certainly doesn’t! Revenues are up 39,5% in Q2 of 2009, with the first two places in terms of market shares going to Tencent Holding, operating China’s largest online messaging platform and Shanda Games who both hold about 20% of the market. (more…)

Where I wrote that Activision Blizzard will pass by console, Turbine is looking to do the exact opposite! Craig Alexander, Turbine´s vice president of product developmment states that the MMO´s revolutionized the PC as  a gaming platform and it is going to do the same for consoles. (more…)

Normally, Blizzard does not speak out about upcoming titles. The company, nicknamed ‘Fortress of Solitude’, did manage to slip some information to the public at the Deutsche Bank Securities Technology Conference; telling gamers to expect something with a broader appeal than World of Warcraft.

Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick said:

What we’ve announced at Blizzard is that we have Starcraft II coming, Diablo has been in production… and a new, unannounced MMORPG that has a little more broad appeal

So the new title will NOT be a competitor to World of Warcraft, they will try to find an additional audience. To make sure this happens, Jeff Kaplan, the World of Warcraft game director, has been moved towards this brand-new property.

The upcoming changes to Battle.net; Battle.net 2.0, will also be incorporated in the new MMO, so the upcoming and current Blizzard titles; Diablo 3, Starcraft 2, World of Warcraft and now the unnamed new title, will all be woven together on one platform. Adding cash play and more rewards and recognition systems will likely expand their audience even more, if they manage to integrate it all, it will make for one hell of a platform!

This is quite ironic. One of the biggest gaming markets and the biggest game of them all, should be a healthy combination, or would it? Because of China’s strict rules in terms of content, the latest expansion, Wrath of the Lich King, has not yet been approved for release, causing Chinese players to activate Taiwanese accounts and start playing there. China’s owner of the WoW license is now facing bankruptcy due to high costs already present. (servers and license fees)

Lets see if the Chinese government will help out and get the game cleared in time.

http://www.wowinsider.com/2009/03/14/chinese-wow-provider-the9-faces-bankruptcy/