I’ve always been slightly skeptical about custom key setups. But, of course, I don’t usually play the types of games where a truly custom keyboard might be really handy. Maybe in Guild Wars. But I can certainly see, for games like WoW, EVE Online, and now Warhammer: Age of Reckoning, that a custom keyboard might actually be a real plus. As much as I’m used to it, it does feel a little weird hitting something like just “h” for an AoE heal when I could be hitting, you know, the “AoE Heal” button.

Since SteelSeries took over Ideazon, they’ve assumed control of the zBoard brand, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they put out something completely separate soon.
Read More

Flickr’d. Wow.

Blizzard has made Warcraft III (and its expansion, separately) and StarCraft Anthology available for download from its Web site. Both games, originally released in 2002 and 1998, respectively, have won awards left and right. Warcraft III (and the expansion) cost $20, while StarCraft is $15. Mac and PC.

Wanna hear a secret? I’ve never played either game. Does that make me a bad person?

via Macworld

We can close YouTube now. This is the best video that will ever be uploaded to it.

(It’s a parody of the recent WoW ad campaign, in case you’re lucky enough to have a life.)

WoW Moviewatch: Belated pimp parody of WoW commercials [WoW Insider]

The one and only, PVD. Don’t worry, the pic is relevent.

What’s the most exciting part about the holidays? There aren’t any, unless you’re 7-years-old and get oodles of presents under a dangerously dry tree or metal pole or some other object. Like, who wants to go through the stress of talking to your relatives about what they want? The only smart way to do is to hand out cash to each and every one of your special guys and gals and let them buy whatever they want. Yes, it would be smarter to realize that exchanging money or gifts is a zero-sum affair, but the holidays are all about the spirit of giving, the spirit of going into mountains of credit card debt.

So, given that cheery (yet logical!) introduction, what could I possibly recommend you spend your hard-earned dollars on this Christmastime?

A few things, as a matter of fact.

Read More

Today’s a big day for World of Warcraft fans. Once the servers come back online at around 1:00 pm EST, users will experience the ecstasy that is Patch 2.3. This is one of the bigger patches of late, with several changes and additions, including Guild Banks, easier leveling from levels 1-60 (increased XP, less XP required to level up, etc.), changes to pre-level 60 dungeons and the introduction of The Gods of Zulman, a level 70+ instance. Being only level 35, it’ll be a while before I’m able to mess around in there, but I’m sure my friends will tell me what’s up.

An incredible amount of information, as always, can be found at Wowwiki. It’s going to be long and lonely weekend, that’s for sure.

Official Patch News [Blizzard]

More Patch 2.3 Info [WoWWiki]