It was announced unofficially yesterday by Xpecial himself that he would be benched from the starting roster of NA LCS' #2 seed, Team Solo Mid. The decision has been finalized earlier today by a direct statement from the team's owner and coach, Reginald, who claims the move was made not for Xpecial's performance but as a business decision. This comes as a shock to many fans, who are now criticizing Reginald for his actions.

Xpecial, who is NA's 2013 support all-star and veteran player for the iconic League of Legends' pro team, TSM, is regarded as NA's best support player and is said to have some of the best gaming mechanics among his peers. In several occassions, he has made most of the plays in a handful of games for his team. With accolades like that, of course fans of the player, as well as the team, will riot. But of course, before any one comes to any crazy conculsion, I feel we need to analyze what we have and piece together as much of both sides of the story as we can.

The League of Legend's summer promotionals have come and gone and the North American League of Legends Championship Series (LCS) has two new teams to add to the line-up: Complexity Gaming and LMQ.

Unfortunately, with two teams coming in to take two of the eight elusive team slots implies that two teams must give up theirs. The LCS had to say goodbye to the youthful and aggressive Team Coast, who held a spot in the top 8 for the past two seasons, as well as Team XDG, who was originally regarded as one of the top NA teams prior to season 4.

Legend spoke of a game so horrible, that the company themselves buried the game in a landfill in New Mexico. While I definitely don't condone the 'hate it, bury it' motif, E.T. the video game was cited as the contributing factor to Atari's massive financial losses during 1983 and 1984. Somebody up above must have been really angry, yeesh.

For years, I thought this gamer's folktale was just a myth, but it turns out it's nothing short of real. Escavators in the Alamogordo, New Mexico area unearthed the hidden stash of plastic cartridges. While no one is sure if there are millions or thousands of these games in the ground, at least a few "hundred" of them have already been dug up.

You know, I have always wished eSports could have been a party of my daily High School life but sometimes, it takes the previous generation to push the next one forward. The High School StarLeague is an organization that sets-up eSports competitions -- featuring some of the hottest titles like League of Legends, Dota 2 and StarCraft 2 -- for high school students across North America. This season, the final round of the competition set in June is offering a scholarship of more than $20,000. Twitch and Newegg each contributed $10,000 to the league to help support the cause. I really wish I had an opportunity like this in school so for all you youngins reading this, take advantage!

Wondercon 2014's video game showing wasn't all too grand but Nintendo never fails to give the event a jolly good show. A demo for Mario Kart 8 was available to play on the Wii U.

The demo had a slew a playable characters to choose from, like the classic Mario and Yoshi all the way to new additions like Roselina. From the looks of things, the characters don't make a difference in terms of driving performance since I did not see any stats or character classes like Mario Kart 7's light,medium, and heavy archetypes. That's faily dissappointing since I liked playing different characters because of their styles but I guess Nintendo went for a more casual approach, giving everyone the ability to play whatever racer they wanted. Mind you, this is an impression on the demo so if the game does have archetypes, enlighten me.

Today is a day I've been waiting for for almost a year:  Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft has officially been released on iPad.  Now you can play your favorite CCG anywhere.  And yes, it's still free.  Head on over to the iTunes store to download the app.  It's important to note that Hearthstone requires an internet connection to play.  Sorry wifi-phobes.

Okay, now I would write more about how great the game is, but you know, I have to go jump into Arena Queue.  Catch you on the flip side!

I am saddened to say that Martin O'Donnell, the composer behind the epic music of the Halo franchise, has had his contract officially terminated by Bungie after more than a decade with the company.

Martin O'Donnell
@MartyTheElder

I'm saddened to say that Bungie's board of directors terminated me without cause on April 11, 2014.

It's a sad day for most League of Legends fans as the infamous U.R.F. mode has officially been removed from the game. What started as an April Fool's joke grew into something quite big and surprisingsly well-recieved. Many players from all over the world enjoyed it, some even returning to the game from a brief absense. I for one enjoyed it. May you R.I.P URF mode!

However, after URF has left us, what was originally labeled as "second place" on my Recent Matches Tab are now "Defeats." Riot just added salt to my wounds and made me cry even more. C'mon Riot! I live for second place! Guess it was just one big April Fool's Joke after all... /le sigh.

It's a bright Monday morning down here in SoCal at the moment so I figured why not start a game?

Game: Think about the last two games you have played and combine them together. Comment below the premise and synopsis of your new title. Genre is all up to you! You can be as creative and as humorous as you wish to be.

Spiders' upcoming fantasy-based RPG, Bound by Flame, just got a hot new combat trailer. At least that's one everyone says. To my dismay, while the combat is of a style that suits my tastes -- being fast-paced and full of action -- the characters seem to lack any "oomph" to their attacks. Yes, I'm going to be 'that guy'.

The trailer shows off some customization as well as live gameplay on what players can expect. But for a game designed around the combat system -- where players will go around absorbing power trying to get stronger -- the trailer doesn't seem to show any true power. Honestly, it looks like the character is doing no damage even though I'm sure he is. Big point reduction for immersion there. Perhaps they're holding back the cool stuff for later levels but when you show me something as big as combat aspects, I feel a reveal trailer should pack some more heat, even just a taste.

Bound by Flame is scheduled to release on May of 2014 for Playstation 4, Playstation 3, and Windows PC. Check out the trailer after the jump.

Broken and defeated, Eden Industries' Citizens of Earth will rise from the ashes of a failed kickstarter and be picked-up by major gaming publisher, Atlus. Last October, Eden failed to meet their kickstarter goal of $100k for the game but who would have thought everything wouldn't come to an end when the bar was not met? While not all Kickstarter ideas seem great, perhaps Citizens of Earth was just a case of bad/or lack of advertising since the game looks pretty epic.

Citizens of Earth is a comedic turn-based RPG where players will take on the role of Vice President of the World (imagine?) who wakes up to find the world has gone coo-coo. From there, you must recruit 40 people to fend of the evi- ahem, craziness, and presumably, save the world. Good guy Vice President.

Citizens of Earth launches on September 2014. For now, enjoy this teaser trailer.

The Game Developer's Conference Career Center was a pretty neat place and a great resource for those who have already fully experienced the show floor. Actual developers and representatives from various well-known gaming companies like Riot Games, Campcom, and Microsoft just to name a few, were on-site to give advice to people who are looking to get work in the industry. I know a handful of you readers out there are looking to catch a break so I did all of you a favor and went around asking common job-seeker questions to a handful of different companies and representatives to see what responses each one had.

I was incredibly busy at the event myself so I had to come and go to the Career Center whenever I could to ask each question to whatever company, so the responses might not be from the same person. I am just going to assume these people had their company philosophy in mind still so perhaps it's not even a relevent issue. Regardless, this is here to help industry job-seekers so i hope you find some use out of it!

As an avid MMO player and advocate of the 'gotta look good to kill good' initiative, I care deeply about my character's appearance. Most of the games I have played in the past have pretty basic character creation, where everyone among you will look the same with maybe some variations in height. However, in an upcoming MMO by Pearl Abyss called Black Desert, character creation is taken to a whole new level.

In Black Desert, not only are the graphics phenomenol but it seems like you can adjust every feature of your character. When I say every, I mean every feature -- from your torso size to thigh size -- and I'm talking more customization than Tera here when I say this. You can tell Pearl has put a lot of effort into the character creator. This is one of those moments where words just can't describe it, so I'm going to show you a video instead!

Click the jump below to see the future of character creation:
 

Lately I've been itching to get back into Minecraft.  It's been a few months since I last played the block sim, and certain things have been triggering my urge to build.  Take this project by redditor FoxGaming for instance.  Dubbed Titan City, the massive undertaking is a recreation of New York City.  And when I say massive, I mean it.  It took him 18 months to complete.  That means he started it right about the same time that my son was born.  Crazy talk.

Each structure on the map took about ten hours to create, and all of them were based on real world works of architecture.  For those that no longer exist (like the Twin Towers for instance) FoxGaming turned to documentaries to provide the information necessary in order to make his recreation as close to the real thing as possible.  Now that the project is complete, he has released the map to the world.  I'm downloading it as soon as I finish this article, because I really want to see this thing for myself.  

I'm continually amazed at the works of genius that come from using such a simple game.  I once toyed with the idea of building Disneyland in Minecraft, but only got as far as the compass in front of the park.  That's okay, it's sort of a special place for me anyway. What epic project would you take on if you had the time to build it in Minecraft?

Final Fantasy XIV's Path 2.2 has come and we have a little taste of what's inside. Curious to see what the Leviathan primal fight is like? Check out this video! Don't worry, there aren't too many spoilers here. The real fight can be found in the Extreme Mode version of the encounter but we'll save that for a later time. For now, you can enjoy Leviathan HM from a healer's perspective. Hold on to your chair though, #themotionsicknessisreal.

Click the jump below for the video:

Riot Games has a lot of plans for League of Legends and they're ready to show the world what they've been cooking. During the April 1st patch, players will have live beta access to the game mode: Ultra Rapid Fire, which previews the future of the game and what Riot has in store for its players for the 2015 season. I guess Riot just could not contain their excitement and really wanted to put these changes into the hands of its very critque-centric players immediately.

The motive behind all these changes is a complex mathematical equation that explains the theory behind mana and fun. Turns out leading engineers behind the scenes have cracked the code and have found the ultimate answer which lead to the official decision of removing all mana costs and cooldowns from the game. This move is the culmination of everything players enjoy from the game since "when you are out of mana, you are not having fun," Jatt, esports analyst for Riot Games exclaims.

If you've stopped playing League of Legends, or have not tried it yet, it's best to play now so you can see the future of the game and what it takes to truly have fun playing video games. The full patch preview can be seen below:

As of late, Google has been looking to push the augmented reality business further but it turns out they want in on the goldmine that is the Poke-industry. Starting on April 1st, 2014, Google is looking to acquire some of the world's most qualified Pokemon Masters by filling the globe with Pokemon. If you meet the qualification and think you have what it takes to be hired by one of the world's most leading companies in the AR department and push the pokemon world to new heights, now is your chance.

The decision by Google to make this move is quite baffling considering Nintendo's very dominant monopoly in the Pokemon industry. However, a company as big as Google, who only hires the best kind of people, might prove to be an enticing location of work for top tier pokemon trainers. Since Masters seek challenge and only wish to be number one, Google is considering this challenge to be the "most rigorous test known to man."

Those who are looking to apply for the position of Google's "Pokemon Master" must catch every Pokemon available in Google Maps Pokemon Challenge by the deadline: April 2nd, 2014: A task of that level shouldn't be too difficult for leading poke-ologists. However, applicants must be able to travel for long periods of time and participate in rigorous exercise due to the terrain some of these Pokemon might be in. For more info, check out the video below:

This year's Game Developer's Conference came packaged with Obsidian Entertainment and their upcoming action-based RPG, Skyforge. The game is currently being developed by Allods Team, a Russian-based gaming studio. Players will be able to take on the role of a demi-god and destroy their adversaries with visually-intense abilities.

Skyforge is primarily an amusement park MMO where you can jump in, slay some bad guys with wicked cool abilities, and only worry about what you're capable of doing as well as what outfit you are wearing. When you're done, just hop out. Sounds like everything I have ever wanted and more.

Are you a fan of cute?  Do you play Blizzard games?  Have you ever rolled a character on an MMO?  Then you will appreciate the innaugural episode of WoWCraft, the new World of Warcraft machinima from the brilliant minds at Carbot Animations.

This first episode starts where every player starts -- in character creation.  Check out this clever take on the experience of rolling a character after the break: 

This year's Game Developer's Conference was quite exciting for me as I got to spend time with Obsidian Entertainment and My.com to check out some of the new stuff they had in the works. One of the games I had the privilege of seeing was a title called Armored Warfare which was actually announced at the event itself. I'm not going to lie, I thought I heard "Armored Core" at first and had MECHs on the brain, but I digress. While I did not get towering MECH warriors, I was still given a nice treat when I found out AW was all about the tanks and I love me some tanks.

Throughout my session, I had a few of the game's developers stand behind my back to answer all of my questions. Convenient, no? Either way, it was definitely a necessary part of the experience. The demo itself was fairly lackluster in the sense that it was a tech demonstration merely available to present the idea of the game, I felt. Under no circumstances am I going to use the demo as a basis to fully talk about Armored Warfare because it was clearly not optimized as evident by constant FPS lag and a handful of the key features I asked about in my conversations were not implemented yet.

It is just one of those days where you check your email only to find out Facebook has officially acquired Oculus VR, Inc in a huge $2 billion deal. Turns out the social network-titan really wants to push for virtual reality in this new age of mobile gaming and with the wave of Zuckerberg's magic money wand made the deal a reality.

The official statement was made on Zuckerberg's Newsroom Wall and while the gaming side of VR was mentioned, he has A LOT of plans and visions for the technology. The Facebook CEO stated, "this is just the start. After games, we're going to make Oculus a platform for many other experiences. Imagine enjoying a court side seat at a game, studying in a classroom of students and teachers all over the world or consulting with a doctor face-to-face -- just by putting on goggles in your home."

Pikachu has been chosen as Japan’s official mascot for the 2014 Soccer World Cup.  Since he’s a fan favorite and easily one of the most recognizable Pokemon in the franchise, I feel Japan made a great choice in making Pikachu their team’s mascot.

Pikachu will be representing the Japan National Football team “Samurai Blue” and will be joined by ten of his Pokemon friends.  This includes classic Pokemon such as Squirtle, Charmander, and Meowth as well as the some of the new Pokemon featured in Pokemon X/Y such as Fenniken, Chespin and Froakie.  With so many Pokemon joining the tournament to represent Japan, let’s hope Team Rocket won’t get involved.

In addition, the Pokemon will be wearing special uniforms of the team during the event as part of a partnership with Nintendo and Adidas.

Earlier this month, I had the opportunity to attend the Video Games Live concert at the Orpheum Theater in Phoenix, Arizona.  Hosted by video game composer and founder, Tommy Tallarico, VGL is an international concert that performs iconic music from video games such as The Legend of Zelda, Super Mario Bros., Halo, and Sonic the Hedgehog.  As the orchestra and choir perform, videos from some of the games are shown on a large screen behind the orchestra.  Though I had previously attended the concert in Los Angeles at the Nokia Theater, I decided to check out the one in my friends’ hometown of Phoenix.

The Video Games Live concert in Phoenix was presented by the ProMusica Arizona Orchestra and Chorale at the elegant Orpheum Theater; not as large as the Nokia Theater, but it looked luxurious with its decorative paintings and sculpted pillars.  What’s more, the tickets my friends and I had were front row Pit level seating.  I was so close to the stage, that I could nearly see Tommy Tallarico’s guitar collection. 

The Game Developer's Conference is ramping up in San Francisco, CA, and announcements are already pouring out of Moscone Center.  Sony came out swinging with the reveal of Project Morpheus, a virtual reality addon that will be making its way to the PlayStation 4 sometime in the future.

It looks a little like something Geordi La Forge would be wearing in Star Trek, but Sony promises that it will combine the latest in proprietary 3D graphics with outstanding audio to create an immersive gameplay experience.  I imagine this opens up developers who have been creating for the Oculus Rift to also work with Sony's hardware.  It seems like a wise decision to break into the VR market, knowing that Microsoft is years behind in this technology, and gamers are looking for more immersion in their gaming.  Well as long as that is actual immersion and not another Virtual Boy.  Yeah, I said it.

Morpheus will be touchable during GDC 2014, so if you're heading to the conference you should definitely swing by Sony's booth on the Expo floor to check it out. No doubt we'll hear more about the timing of the release of Morpheus and its cost as the year progresses on toward E3.

As the Year of Luigi draws to a close, it’s important to take a look back at Nintendo’s favorite green plumber.  Originally announced during a Nintendo Direct video in February 2013, Satoru Iwata declared that 2013 would be the Year of Luigi, celebrating the character’s 30 year history since his initial debut in the arcade classic Mario Bros.

Since then, Luigi has always been by Mario’s side throughout many of their adventures; even though most of the time Mario is the one getting most of the attention.  In fact Luigi was initially a mere palette swap of Mario, and it wasn’t until Super Mario Bros. 2 that Luigi had his own unique design and abilities.

Thankfully Nintendo went all out to celebrate Luigi’s big year, and released several great games that put him in the spotlight for a change.  These games included Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon, New Super Luigi U, Mario & Luigi: Dream Team, and Dr. Luigi.  Additionally, Nintendo released a special edition Luigi-themed 3DS XL, and distributed numerous promotional Year of Luigi collectibles such as pins, coins,  and even pillow cases at special events including the San Diego Comic Con.

For anyone who loves creating cosplay or fashion for geeks, Her Universe has just announced the contest for you.  They are going to be creating the first ever Geek Couture fashion show at this year's San Diego Comic Con, and they are seeking to support geek talent from across the world.  If you are the sort of person who looks at Chewbacca and thinks about creating a full length fur gown complete with bandolier, you are definitely their type of people.

Any designer over the age of 18 can submit designs to the contest between now and April 4th. Winners will be selected April 18th after which their designs will be walking in the show. Two prizes will be awarded: one prize to be chosen by a panel of judges which will feature experts from the world of fashion and the second prize to be chosen by the show audience. 

The Her Universe Fashion Show itself will be a first-come first-serve free event at SDCC hosted by Her Universe founder Ashley Eckstein and sponsored by Nerdist Industries. "Fangirls are already using the halls of San Diego Comic-Con International as their runway to showcase custom fashions. We wanted to give these designers a bigger stage to share their talent and also provide an educational experience in the fashion industry," said Eckstein. If this sounds like you, then head on over to the contest page and sign up.  We could be buying your clothes from Hot Topic next year!

Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn really has come a long way having been given Best MMO of 2013 and a whole landslide of awards despite a rocky start. Now, Square Enix is getting ready to launch one of the game's next biggest patches, Through the Maelstrom: Patch 2.2, which has a ton of new content for Eorzians to enjoy. The update is scheduled to go live on March 27th, 2014 and Yoshida just put out a nice preview video for us to splurge over:

Today marks the fifteenth anniversary of the granddaddy of all Fantasy MMOs, EverQuest.  In an age where subscription MMOs -- and indeed even many free-to-play games -- are failing, it's heartwarming to realize that the original game that so many others are based off of is still going strong.  

To mark the occassion SOE has released some fascinating statistics about the game, which they've turned into the handy infographic you'll find after the jump.  I myself have virtually no experience playing the original EverQuest, or EverCrack, as my friend Rebecca used to call it.  I know several on our team though that have fond memories of the game. Perhaps it's time to step back in time and honor where MMOs came from because while EQ was not the first, it certainly was the seminal MMORPG for the games we play today.  

Hit the jump to check out the infographic and video, and if you're interested in the festivities happening over at SOE to celebrate this momentous occassion, head on over to their blog.

Midway through yesterday, Blizzard Entertainment posted the reveal trailer for Tychus Findlay’s entrance into their upcoming MOBA, Heroes of the Storm. As part of the announcement, they decided to hold a small impromptu challenge on their official twitter channel, @BlizzHeroes, to see who could best sum up Tychus in less than 140 characters.

Heroes of the Storm ‏@BlizzHeroes  [link]

How would you describe Tychus in 140 characters? Be sure to use the hashtag #Tychus140. We'll share the best!

Naturally, when I saw this come across my twitter feed, I opted to take on the challenge. I have been known to pretend to be a writer at times, and I had played through all of Wings of Liberty, so I was fairly certain that I could gun down this challenge like a Yamato Cannon through hot zerg hide. Within a minute or two, and with some minor thought pruning to fit within the character limit, I was able to unleash this little gem (spelling error and all) on to the twittersphere and return my attention back to my day job, already in progress.

Arturis ‏@LordArturis  [link]

An angry man in a hallow prison shell. His selfish choices get him exactly what he deserves. Hell. Its about time. #Tychus140

Little did I know that not only would I get a response, it would come from Tychus’ very own voice.

Warning: The following post discusses some plot details about StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty. If you have not played through the entire story at this point, I urge you to do so - it is a brilliant game. If you wish to brave the spoilers ahead, you do so at your own peril.

Today must be International MMO PreOrder Announcement week, because not only did Blizzard announce the Warlords of Draenor preorder, Carbine Studios also stepped into the pre-purchase melee with the rewards they will be offering for WildStar players.  Preorders for Carbine's upcoming Sci-Fi MMO will officially start on March 19 -- one week from today.

Gamers who are already planning on buying the game should seriously check these perqs out:  

• Exclusive Rocket House
• Exclusive Housing Trophy
• Exclusive In-Game Title: "Chosen of the Progenitors"
• Access to Beta Weekends
• 3 Day Head Start
• In-game Storage Bag

The WildStar team is also hinting that more swag will be on the table, so my guess is we'll hear about that next week as they lure players into preordering the game. Two Editions of the game will be offered, the Standard and the Digital Deluxe.  Sound familiar?  Both come with three 7-day passes to give to friends, and both editions are eligible for the preorder rewards, but only the Digital Deluxe edition will come with: 

• Eldan themed hoverboard
• Eldan augmentation costume
• Special Eldan title
• Eldan colored dye for your armor

The way I see it, if you've already decided to get the game, you might as well get some free stuff by locking in your vote early.  If you still haven't decided whether or not you're going to buy WildStar, check out our WildStar Week coverage and see what we thought of our experience playing the game.

Yesterday Blizzard Entertainment snuck a game launch into the unsuspecting gaming community.  Two days after ending their Test Season 4, Blizzard gave us all a delightful surprise by launching Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft earlier than expected.  They must have a card or two up their sleeve because features are still missing from the game, namely a way to view your achievements.

And speaking of achievements, those that play Hearthstone and win three games will get access to the Hearthsteed, and World of Warcraft ingame mount.  Now that the game is live, it might take some time to win a game with all the people flooding the servers, but if you're concerned you'll get trounced by epic beta players as you push through the Ranked mode, don't: Blizzard implemented a new Bonus Star system with their latest patch that bumps those who achieved rankings in previous seasons up a couple of tiers.  I ended up starting at level 23 this season, which was a nice little reward for all my hard work in the previous seasons -- and my hard work I mean losing so very, often.

To celebrate the launch of the game, Blizzard will be hosting a whole slew of social media tie-in events on Friday, March 14th.  First they'll be asking people to Vine their best murloc impressions with the tag #HearthstoneDay.  Next they'll be looking for Instagram photos of people reacting to their best pack opening moment with the same hashtag.  And finally they'll be hosting a Google Hangout Q&A with the team on Friday from 11:00 AM to 11:30 AM.  

Looks like the developers down at Projekt Red want to give the third installment in The Witcher franchise, Wild Hunt, a little bit more time to polish. An official statement released by the company says The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt will be pushed to February 2015. The devs have said in the past the game is expected to be 20% larger than Skyrim so the ambition is high so I feel the game definitely should get more time despite the anticipated late-2014 launch they had set.

I used to say that I don't post about crowdfunding campaigns, but considering how much awesome floated before my eyes today, I realized I simply cannot hold myself back any longer.  So I thought that rather than limit myself to writing about one of these great game concepts, I would instead share all three with you, so that you too can follow (or even support as your heart and wallet move you) these projects for yourself.

So without further ado, here's a little mini gaming crowdfunding roundup.

Have you ever experienced a story that moved you, surprised you, and touched you in a way that didn't always feel comfortable, but definitely felt meaningful?  That was my experience playing Gone Home.  It only took a few hours to get through the game, but it stayed with me for days afterward.  It's the sort of game that I wouldn't recommend to everyone, but I would recommend it to anyone who is a fan of nonlinear storytelling games.

Today the game's creators over at The Fullbright Company announced that Gone Home will be heading to consoles this Fall.  They haven't given any specifics on which consoles will get the chance to share this game with their player base, but my guess it will be an XBLA and PSN title.  And of course since it's a Steam title already, you can play the game on the Steam Box of your choice.  We'll have more details on this as we discover them.  Until then, enjoy the console announcement trailer, and be moved all over again.

It's official! The location for the next League of Legends All-Star event is the Le Zenith Arena located in Paris, France. The big live eSports event will be held on Thursday May 8th, 2014 to Sunday May 11th, 2014. Following a very successful live event in Shanghai, China at the 2013 All-Stars, it was no surprise at all that Riot Games would decide to hold another world event.

Today Blizzard Entertainment announced that they are beginning preorders for the upcoming expansion to World of Warcraft, Warlords of Draenor.  

As a reminder, the new expansion will send players back in time to follow Garrosh Hellscream into the past to try and prevent the destruction of the present via the Iron Horde.  WoD will allow players to level one charcter instantly to 90, will give gamers the opportunity to build their own garrison on Draenor and customize their stronghold to their liking, will provide content from levels 91 thru level 100, and usher in an entire revamp of the current playable character models up to the Worgen and Goblins.  That's quite a bit of content for one expansion.

Are you on the fence about which version of the game to get?  Well if you're a digital purchaser like I am, you can choose between the Standard Edition  for $49.99 and the Delux Edition for $69.99.  Much like previous expansions, the Deluxe Edition provides three sets of rewards, each for WoW, StarCraft II, and Diablo III.  

This week the folks over at Blizzard Entertainment have been rolling out character previews for their upcoming MOBA Heroes of the Storm.  First they highlighted the Diablo III character set, then the StarCraft II playable heroes, and rounded out their Warcraft III personalities. Here is the complete list of heroes:

Diablo III

Barbarian

Normally I wouldn't write about the business affairs of gaming companies, but when that gaming company is Sony, and the business affairs happen to be the exiting of yet another big name CEO, I take notice. �Yesterday Jack Tretton announced that after 19 years with Sony this would be his last month with the company. �

In his blog addressing PlayStation fans, he talks about how positive the PlayStation 4 response has been, and how the console is fast approaching Next Gen domination, but I have to wonder. �This has been a very hard year on CEOs at the big three. �First, Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata took a 50% cut in pay because WiiU sales failed to live up to shareholder expectations, and then Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer was rushed out of his post after failing with the Surface RT and issues with the Xbox One launch. �Now the third ship in the big three armada is losing its captain, and you have to wonder what this will do to the industry.

On paper it's not that big a deal. �Sure Tretton was the driving force for the company, and especially for the focus on gaming at Sony -- but the company COO will be stepping up to take his place so it's not like the new CEO won't have any knowledge of Tretton's plans. �No, at this juncture, just as GDC starts and we head into another game industry reveal cycle, this shift in power structure seems to be more of a confidence shaker more than anything else. �It's as if we got used to playing a game of Poker, and then a new dealer steps up to the table and pulls out a Pinochle�deck. �We don't know the cards, the faces are all new, and we feel more than a little out of sorts.

Are you looking for a game you can play co-op, but you simply hate people?  You're in luck!  Today Defrost Games released Project Temporality, a singleplayer co-op puzzle platformer. While this isn't the first time I've seen this mechanic, this is the first time I've seen it where you are actively trying to use multiples of yourself, and I do mean multiples.  The trailer shows upwards of 6 to 8 copies being made to solve one puzzle, so it's going to get crowded on them there stages. There ain't room in this town for the two of us, but that's mostly because there's already ten of me here.

Project Temporality is available today on Windows PC for $14.00 via Desura.com, a game distribution platform I haven't heard of before.  The game has been greenit for Steam though, so if you're interested in getting down with your bad self, you can just wait until the game heads over there.  You'll find the launch trailer after the jump.  You might even find a copy of yourself there already watching it, you never know.

Finally, after all the images haunt me in my sleep, Ubisoft officially announces Watch Dogs will launch on May 27th, 2014, which interestingly enough falls right on my birthday. Oh, Ubi, you knew! But seriously, it was supposed to be a next-gen, console launch title they said. Before 2014 they said... The artwork on the Playstation 4 retail box is nothing but a lie! However, the news of this launch date shall suffice for now, heh.

The reason for the delay was a deliberate need to further refine and polish the game, which is fine with me. I'm hoping the game retains it's espionage-y, smarter, and darker feeling when compared to similar open-world genres of the same nature like Grand Theft Auto. I like the idea that every character in the game has a "backstory" that you can tap into.

Click the jump for the trailer below.

Respawn Entertainment's Titanfall has had quite the positive reception since the game's beta and with good reason too. It combines a lot of the great aspects of popular franchise, Call of Duty, and simply gives players more power in the palm of their hands with mechs, jet packs, and extremely large maps. It's so refreshing to be less limited in-terms of player movement.

Unfortunately, I got little hands-on time with this beast of a shooter but what I did see, I liked. The game is vastly more fast-paced than most of the shooters out right now yet still has mechanics that make it viable for FPS fans of all types. I do enjoy how it's not limiting on the ability to summon your Titan Mech as it is achievable through killing AI-controlled units rather than putting in a ceiling of entry and relying on player kill streaks only. And well, this trailer shows the rest.

Click the jump below for all the mechanized goodness you need for today.

Yesterday Ubisoft released the co-op trailer for their beautiful little 2D platformer Child of Light. In this game you play as Princess Aurora, tasked with returning the Sun, Moon, and Stars back to the world.  In the co-op mode, a second player inhabits the adorable little blue Spark that acompanies Aurora on her mission to get back the three sources of light. 

Charming doesn't even begin to describe this game, and when it launches April 30th on XBLA, PSN, Nintendo eShop, and PC, I will jump at the chance to let it brighten my day.  Hit the jump to watch the trailer for yourself.

With the release of Reaper of Souls just around the corner, the Diablo III Dev team has been hard at work getting the game systems revamped and ready for the new Crusader class and continued story in Act V. And we aren't talking just adding in another class icon to the UI and calling it a day, either. What we have been treated to in the latest patch is essentially a reworking of several of the games core systems, including the one that drives the majority of Diablo's game play: The Loot System. Only the foolish will deny that it is the "epic loot" that compels us to click the everloving snot out of things until they explode like overfilled blood and treasure piñatas.

Behold the official Blizzard video after the jump, where they break down what new changes patch 2.0.1 has brought to the world of Sanctuary. While you watch, be sure to be on the lookout for a sly nod to one of World of Warcraft's most famous legendary weapons. Not mentioned in the video: There is currently a 50% Experience boost buff that will vanish when the expansion drops - so if you want to get your D3 on, now is as good a time as any!

Over the last few days the gaming blogosphere has been a twitter about hints that a new Batman game was coming from Rocksteady.  Today, the world was officially introduced to Batman: Arkham Knight, the third game in the Arkham Asylum trilogy (we just won't talk about Origins, shant we?) via the announcement of the April Game Informer cover.  In addition Warner Brothers Interactive released an official, and very awesome, trailer.  You can watch the awesome for yourself after the jump.

Batman: Arkham Asylum was one of the first Action Adventure titles that I remember playing from start to finish.  I absolutely loved the stealth and detective aspects of Batman's talent set that the game brought to light.  I hope that Arkham Knight builds upon these mechanics while also bringing something new to the table.  We know the something new already: This last game will have a much larger world than the first two (*ahem* three) games, as Batman now has use of the Batmobile.  Suddenly all of Gotham will lay before him, so baddie beware -- the masked man in black is coming for you.

Batman: Arkham Knight will launch October 14, 2014 for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Windows PC. That's two 14s for the folks playing at home. 

No, it's not a joke, but it totally started out that way.  No kidding, Goat Simulator now has a release date -- of April 1st no less.  Coffee Stain Studios describes their own creation as "the world's dumbest game." Clearly they haven't played Infinite Undiscovery. 

Goat Simulator (or Teh Goat Sim as they call it, well, nowhere outside my head actually) got it's start as a tech demo that was so beloved by YouTubers that Coffee Stain was forced to turn it into a full fledged game. For the unitiated, I've included the video after the jump to, err, initiate you.  Yes, I'm just clever like that.  

If you want to purchase Goat Simulator early to get into the beta, it's available on Steam for $9.99.  You can also buy it from the GS website, which uses both PayPal and Amazon Pay options, which I find fascinating.  I guess I'm easily distracted by new payment technologies.  Good thing Mt. Gox is no longer around.  Anyway, hit the jump for the Goat Simulator video that spawned it all, as well as a gallery of images of all the bully, bully goatness.  Now if only there were a multiplayer option, where you had to find the other two Billy Goats Gruff, now THAT would be epic.

Even though I have always placed myself on the "Ninja" side of the classic Pirates Vs Ninjas debate, I have spent more than my fair share of time playing Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag. And for good reason - it is a beautifully detailed simulator of the swashbuckling life on the open Caribbean. Now Ubisoft has decided to capitalize on AC4's success by offering some items for sale that have real world buckles, and they are charging a king's ransom for them.

In a blog post a few days ago, Ubisoft has unveiled two real world bags you can purchase made of real leather and fake heritage. Offering both a messenger bag and a sailor's duffel, these carrying containers are certain to increase your inventory slots, but at a privateer's expense of $500 each. That's right, for more than the cost of either a PS4 or an XBox One, you can buy a leather bag that is made to look like it came out of the world of Black Flag. That is if pirates in the Black Flag world were partial to messenger bags.

Check after the jump for images of both bags, and decide which you would rather wear down to Davey Jones's locker.

Good morning Geex!  Last Sunday saw the movie industry fawn over itself in order to give out awards for film's best performances.  As a gamer, I naturally thought "what game would I give an Oscar to?" 

So let's play a game.  Tell me which game you would give your Oscar to.  Any game, any year, the best of the best.  If you could hand out a little gold statuette to your favorite bit of interactive entertainment, what would it be? My answer?  World of Warcraft -- this tiny little game released back in 2004.  I don't know if you've heard of it.

What's your answer?   Best response gets a gif of a sandwich. I would send a real sandwich, but it would probably get soggy in the mail.

I began my blogging career in 2007 when I was accepted onto the WoW Insider team.  At that time, I was full of vim and vigor, eager to tell my stories about the game I loved, and even more eager to have other people read them.  I had a short tenure at the site, and was eventually let go for reasons I still don't fully understand.  The official reason was "spelling errors," FYI. Despite this I look at my formative months at WoW Insider with nostalgia, knowing that I will never have that broad of an audience for my writing again.  It's hard to explain what it feels like to wake up in the morning and realize that thousands of people have read something you put your heart and soul into, and that hundreds of them decided to comment on it.  I hope that one day we reach that sort of readership here at GameGeex, but for now all I can do is look fondly back on my time as a World of Warcraft blogger and sigh for the experience that was cut short all too quickly.

This past week the vast majority of WoW Insider writers were culled when the site's budget was slashed and the site was no longer paying for articles.  It still exists, as the letter from the editor says, in a much reduced form, but the heart of the site was its writers, and now that heart is gone.  The writers themselves have banded together, and you can follow them on Twitter or on their own blogging projects as they strike out on their own, riding high upon a tide of community support.  

While it saddens me to see so many of my fellow bloggers out of a job, it does not surprise me in the least.  Here at GameGeex we've been feeling the tide shift when it game to blog readership for a while now. Much in the same way that middleware games are disappearing from the gaming landscape because every publisher wants a triple AAA title and so won't bank on the smaller projects anymore, the middle sized blogs are vanishing from the horizon.  Most people today get their gaming news information from the big sites like IGN, Kotaku, and Gamasutra, and even when they do get their news, it's usually from a social media feed rather than the blog's mainpage.  This means that people can scroll a Facebook or Twitter feed and get the headlines, and then click on a story if they want more information on the subject (or fall for the link bait that are half-finished titles and subject lines that tell you how you are doing a normal activity wrong, but that's a rant for another time.)

After spending some weeks in the WildStar beta, I have to say I am largely impressed. For the most part there is a lot of deep content available for the tinker and collector in me,  and I'm sure I'll be spending untold hours hip deep in the housing system when I get the time.

I have one major issue with the game though, and it dives straight into spoiler-infested waters. Because you see, I have an issue with the storyline of the Exiles,  and in particular with a lady known as Sadie Brightland.  If you're the type that doesn't want to know the storyline of a game before you play it (I'm the same way, which is why I rarely play beta content deeply), you'll need to stop here. Normally I wouldn't discuss storyline because I hate to break the experience for other players, but in this case I have to make an exception.

Read on at your own risk; there be spoilers ahead!

It’s Wildstar Week here at GameGeex, I’m sure you’ve heard. We’ve been grouping together and tackling beta content. I’ve stuck to one class, one race, no shirt, no blouse… Wait, sorry I’ve got a song stuck in my head. I’ve been playing the Granok Engineer Scientist, no that isn’t some fancy hipster name. See the Granok is a race of mercenaries with a penchant for beer and ass-kickery. Their homeworld was taken over by the Dominion, so you can imagine they don’t smile unless they are kicking some teeth in. Logically I felt they were perfect for being an Engineer and Scientist, don’t judge me.

Engineers are known for building things and in Wildstar they’ve built mechanized combat armor and very big guns, that sounds like a beautiful combo to me. What could make that combo better, science. Each of the paths in Wildstar offers different types of play styles to match what you like to get out of your experience. It’s a fantastic concept that could really give this game some legs. The Scientist, that’s me, likes to dig into and examine the world around them, they want to know the meaty mysteries of Nexus.

During the past month, I was able to try out one of the six classes that Wildstar has created, the guy with the claws. No I am not talking about Wolverine, though he has giant claws too, I am talking about The Stalker, the rogue-type class that stealths around and strikes at the right moment. They also get a hand full of James Bond-esque gadgets and a sexy looking nano suit armor to wear.

Carbine Studios' Wildstar has some intense PvP. It's super frenetic enough to be considered a competitive party game and has kept me playing the darn mode for hours on-end. So far, all I have to say is the game does PvP quite right, at least where it is at right now. This is because the classes are balanced in the arena enviornment and the battles are intense and crazy enough to keep you entertained for a good chunk of your time. Also, you can level your character purely off of PvP batlling which is a nice bonus for those who are deeply into it.

When it comes to MMO tropes, you can't get very far without some sort of healer in the party.  Without someone there to patch you up, combat becomes a very dangerous and slow process, requiring the sort of hesitant spirit gamers today are usually lacking.  Luckily WildStar has its own healing class, the Medic, a versitile blend of support class and damage dealer that can still drop the base.  Is the Medic the sort of class that's fun to play, or merely a required element in larger group dynamics?

More than most classes in WildStar, the Medic is a flexible unit capable of molding to almost any playstyle.  I say "almost" because the Medic as a ranged class has no melee abilities, and so if you're the type that likes to jump quickly into a fight then this isn't the class for you.  In fact, if you're the sort that likes speed of any kind, think twice before choosing a Medic, as all of the abilities I've encountered so far have a cast time associated with them.  This makes for a rather frustrating gameplay experience in a game touted to be an action MMORPG, since you have to stand there and wait for your ability to charge while baddies are chomping on your face. Dodging out of the way of attacks is necessary however, since you are a medium armor wearer and can't take a huge amount of damage unless you beef up your Grit stat.

And this is where the flexbility comes in, because it's your choice exactly how you want to play your Medic.  I don't advise completely forgoing the Support abilities because I doubt there's much room in the game right now for a healer that only does DPS (there might be in the future, should they add healing abilities to the other classes), but you certainly have the freedom to build a power set that only uses Assault abilities.  It's up to you how you play your particular mix of Medic -- Support vs DPS vs Utility.  

MMOs, by their very definition, are social games. When you get Massive amounts of players together, they are going to want to communicate with each other, and there are always systems in place to make that happen. In WildStar, there are several Social Systems available, but not all of them work the way you would expect them to, and at least one of them has fallen victim to counter intuitive game design decisions. But let's take this one step at a time, so that you understand where I am coming from with both my praises and my gripes.

Wildstar hosts six unique classes but right now, we're going to examine the Spellslinger, a precision-focused, skill-based, dual-wielding, space cowboy mage class who brings pistols to a magic fight. Try putting all that on on your resume' and yes, I mentioned guns. Who said the game was fair? Sure, it is cool to rain down fire and ice from the heavens and stuff, but why not actually make them accurate and more deadly through enhanced weaponry? Oh yea, our firearms heal allies and did I mention we have teleportation too? Boo-yah, bet you didn't see that that stuff coming.

Having been given access to Wildstar's Beta, my immediate reaction was to make a Chua Spellslinger. It was all planned from the moment I heard about this race and class. There was just something about the daring combination of skillshots and healing that intrigued me enough to try it out. Oh, and using dual-handguns never hurt anyone either, except for those who opposed me. I dove in face first into a class that not only fit my personality, but ended up being more fun than I could imagine. It also helps that I was a Chua, the master race, Chuehuehue.

Carbine Studios' Wildstar has some pretty interesting professions, or what they call "Tradeskills." At around level ten you get a quest that leads you to where the trainers are so you don't need to go on a wild goose chase, and from there you learn your craft. While the selection may seem like a list of standard MMO crafting options, they are not as straight-forward as you might think. In fact, it took me quite a bit of time to figure some of them out. But my suffering is your gain, and I can now share with you my hard earned knowledge. Without any futher ado, here is what I have learned about tradeskills so far.

Recently I got some hands on time with the Wildstar beta. When I think of RPGs and classes that dish out damage I’ll be honest and say I don’t think Engineer. Generally I see Engineers as a support class, dishing out combat buffs or erecting utility based constructs. It’s a rare thing to see in an RPG. Then Carbine steps in and says, “Hey, shouldn’t the guys who make things to blow stuff up be the ones to blow stuff up?”. I totally just made that up, but I can imagine that’s how it started.

It won't be long before Carbine Studios' highly anticipated MMO, Wildstar, will fall into the laps of all the players who wish to play it, and trust me, there are a huge number of them. But having played the game across multiple classes, multiple times and even taking a character just shy of the lv.50 cap, one of the biggest questions in my mind is what exactly is the overall difficulty of the game in later-level content. This is a huge question to consider since out of the 950k who are suffering just waiting for a beta key, what percentage of that pie (and the pie that includes the thousands of other people who don't care for a beta key even) would one consider "hardcore" or better yet, skill-shot inclined? If we're talking real pie, I'm thinking the piece would be thin enough to make you think it were part of the plate.

Of the six classes available in WildStar, only two of them are focused on up close, in your face melee action. One of which is the Stalker, but we will get back to talking about them later in the week. The other is the Warrior, and like their name implies, they are all about the waging of war on everything that moves. Whether it is taking down intergalactic bad asses or running a package to the next town, the Warrior sees every problem as a block of butter and their massive Greatsword as the red hot butter knife of indiscriminate justice.

From the very beginning of his/her/its adventuring career, the Warrior has three essential tools that help in their quest to separate limbs from bodies (or body chunks from other body chunks, in the case of those odd creatures that have no limbs). First, there is the aforementioned Greatsword, a six foot long slab of nuclear powered metal that is 85% blade, 10% handle and 35% attitude. Secondly, they (along with the Engineer) are one of the two classes that can make use of Heavy Armor, which helps keep the knicks and scrapes off their delicate skin as they wade through all manner of chaos. Thirdly, every Warrior sports a multi-function Battle Gauntlet, an arm mounted Swiss Army Gizmo[TM] that in a moment's notice blasts a hole through enemies as an arm cannon, deflect incoming attacks as an energy shield, or cook a small woodland critter until it is golden brown and delicious.

Ladies and gentlemen, you're invited to a grand event. It won't be black tie,and it doesn't require knowing someone to get in the door.  No this event is GameGeex WildStar Week, and it starts tomorrow.  We here at GameGeex got a rare opportunity to play Carbine Studios' upcoming MMO as a group, and we're funneling our experience with the game into one huge party dedicated to everything we know about WildStar so far.

Each day we'll bring you class overviews, game mechanics impressions, and other nifty goodies to inform, amaze and tantalize.  One caveat though:  We just got our press access a few weeks ago, and we did our best to explore the game as a group -- which in this day and age is quite a challenge.  The result is that we didn't get all that far into the game.  Some articles during this week will be introductory impressions, therefore, while others will be more far reaching -- as some of the team simply had more time to play than others.  Fear not, we're still going to be covering the beta as we go, this is only the Nexus appetizer platter if you will.  Here's a rundown of our planned posting schedule for WildStar Week. We'll let you know if any of this changes:

Monday: Warrior Class Overview | The WildStar Endgame 

Tuesday: Engineer Class Overview | Tradeskills

Wednesday: Spellslinger Class Overview | Social Structures

Thursday: Medic Class Overview | PvP Overview

Friday: Stalker Class Overview | Scientist Path Overview | The Lament of Sadie Brightland

In addition to the scheduled posts above, we hope to pepper other articles and videos throughout the week to properly season your WildStar buffet.  Come back tomorrow to get started on all the awesome!