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As part of NVIDIA's The Way It's Meant to Be Played programme, World of Warcraft will undergo extensive compatibility testing to ensure a "no hassles" install-and-play experience for gamers equipped with NVIDIA GPUs. Blizzard has optimised the game for NVIDIA hardware and is working with NVIDIA to ensure the game plays well across a broad line-up of GPUs, from the brand new GeForce 6800 series to the GeForce 2.
Blizzard and Sony Online have revealed over the weekend that Ivan, last week's hurricane to hit North America, has caused temporary interruption for their respective MMORPG, World Of WarCraft and Star Wars Galaxies.
Earlier today the gaming community got a little bit excited over an article in the Detroit Free Press which quoted Vivendi's North American President, Phil O'Neil, giving a definite release date for Blizzard's MMORPG World Of Warcraft.
The title will launch simultaneously in Australia and New Zealand, and is also planned for release in Korea, Europe, and other countries throughout Asia shortly thereafter.
"World Of Warcraft has been our largest undertaking to date," said Mike Morhaime, president and co-founder of Blizzard Entertainment. "When we set out to create a massively multiplayer online game, our goal was to expand the scope of the Warcraft universe by offering an incredibly dynamic game experience. We're extremely proud of the game we've created, and we believe players will be very pleased when they see what we have in store for them."
In World of Warcraft players assume the roles of legendary heroes and interact with thousands of other players online as they explore and adventure across a vast world. Whether journeying together or questing on their own, players will engage in heroic battles, develop friendships, forge alliances, and compete with enemies for power and glory. The game features customizable character classes with thousands of weapons, spells and abilities. With an innovative, easy-to-use interface, an action-packed combat system, and thousands of quests that build an immersive storyline, World of Warcraft offers a MMORPG experience that will appeal to both veteran and casual players alike.
Blizzard is obviously thrilled by the World of Warcraft success as sales numbers show WoW has broken day-one sales records in North America. World of Warcraft sold over 240,000 copies at retailers in North America on Tuesday, November 23, selling more in its first 24 hours than any other PC game in history.
Blizzard Entertainment today announced that World of Warcraft has sold more than 600,000 units in North America, Australia, and New Zealand, with over 200,000 simultaneous players online during the holiday period.
Depending on what server you play on, you may have had some rough going in World of Warcraft last night. As you may already know, 20 of the game's 88 servers have been subject to major technical issues as a result of a recent hardware overhaul. Players on those servers have experienced login queues more lengthy than any since the game's launch, as well as server-related performance issues -- including lag, crashes, and disconnects -- after they've logged on. Blizzard's President Mike Morhaime apparently realizes the severity of these issues.
Dustin Browder, game design director for Battle for Middle-earth for Electronic Arts, will be leaving the company March 9 to join Blizzard as a senior designer.
Browder, who has been with EA since the Westwood Studios days, has worked on several RTSs, including Red Alert 2 and C&C Generals. He said he will be working out of Blizzard's Irvine office and will be answering to Rob Pardo, who has worked extensively on Blizzard's Warcraft franchise, most recently, World of Warcraft.
World of Warcraft continues to surpass all expectations as gamers around the world embrace it with overwhelming support," said Mike Morhaime, president and co-founder of Blizzard Entertainment. "We want to thank our players for their incredible response, and we promise to continue supporting World of Warcraft with more updates and content. The new Battlegrounds are just the beginning of greater enhancements to come."
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