This fall, Blizzard’s World of Warcraft will have been around for ten years. Just ahead of its tenth anniversary, Blizzard announced that the flagship of the MMO genre reached the 100 million account milestone. Those 100 million players have created over 500 million characters in the world of Azeroth. Sure, WoW might not have as many players now as it did at its peak but it’s still the biggest game in MMOs.
For more about the last ten years of WoW, we have a handy infographic for you.
Every so often, we take a look at the most epic fails from the week that was in the Fails of the Week. This week, we have five pictures, GIFs and videos that we think are the most epic fails of the week. Well, five fails that aren’t from F1. We’ll have more F1 fails next week.
We’re just a few days away from the Super Bowl and can you feel the excitement in the air? Okay, neither can I. All I can feel is frozen. Mind you, I would like watching a game with snow and cold. It’s like the Snow Bowl edition of the Grey Cup. Fantastic setting for a football game.
Anyway, it’s Wednesday so that means that it’s time for the links. Let’s start with Canadian model Danielle Knudson.
It’s been a while since we had some good old-fashioned fact checking but Rob Ford’s speech to the Toronto Economic Club warranted it. It was for the stuck in an elevator story though. (Torontoist)
While the Americans are struggling with unemployment after the bank bailouts and economic crisis, Iceland letting banks failing has allowed their unemployment to get below 4%. (Bloomberg)
People often mock Republicans for living in a bubble and creating their own reality but Ted Cruz confirmed that on national TV this weekend. He went on Face the Nation and flatout lied about the government shutdown. Even veteran journalist Bob Schieffer couldn’t help but laugh at him. (Raw Story)
The oldest man to take over the helm of the TARDIS gets an old-school costume that harkens back to the outfit that Jon Pertwee wore as the Third Doctor. Peter Capaldi’s Doctor has lost the bowtie, tweed, cuffed pants and boots for a more elegant looking ensemble that I’d be more than willing to cosplay in.
Formula One teams have started unveiling their 2014 challengers ahead of the upcoming winter pre-season tests. There is a big shift in technical regulations for the upcoming year with smaller front wings, lower noses and revised cooling packages required for the new turbo V6 engines.
The first few cars unveiled aren’t exactly confidence inspiring. In fact, some of them are hilarious and ugly looking. So here are some F1 design fails. And you thought stepped nosed were bad.
If it’s a Sunday, then it must be time for us to drop some links for you to read. Since there’s no football this weekend, there isn’t much for you to do, right? Wait. Pro… Bowl? Never heard of it.
Anyway, let’s kick it off with Canadian actress AJ Cook.
There’s no proven link between vaccinations and autism but there is a proven links between the decline in vaccinations and increased instances of preventable diseases. Fools who believe anything have brought this upon themselves. (Los Angeles Times)
Remember last year’s big maple syrup heist? Here’s a recap in illustrated form. (Modern Farmer)
The Lufthansa heist immortalized in Goodfellas has been solved. Did no one watch the movie? (New York Post)
Inspired by the Globe and Mail’s caption writing person, we waste our time writing funny picture captions for some of the more interesting photos we come across when blogging. So here are some of the best pictures from the past week with a funny (-ish) caption. Continue reading
One of the terms that I’ve been hearing a lot lately is “experimental gameplay.” The other popular descriptor for games is to refer to some as art. They’re labels that seem to be haphazardly applied to anything that doesn’t conform completely to bog standard gameplay conventions. Gone Home was a game that the critics referred to as both experimental and art. While last week we found out that I disagree with those sentiments, I have found a game that both labels could apply to and certainly qualifies as experimental.
The Stanley Parable is an updated, full release of a 2011 Source engine mod. Like Gone Home, there’s no combat in The Stanley Parable. However, that’s where the similarities end. The Stanley Parable is so experimental, so unorthodox and so brilliant that it certainly earns its place as one of 2013’s best games.
The Canadian currency market is probably not something most gamers pay attention to but it might be something that will concern Canadian gamers if what EB Games is doing becomes an industry-wide trend.
The Canadian arm of GameStop has very quietly raised the prices of some much-anticipated upcoming games. Rather than being $60 as it was for new games in previous years, EB Games is charging up to $70 for new games that are available for pre-order.
The Lowdown Blog is back in business this morning. And because today is Wednesday, it’s time for us to do the middle of the week set of links. Some of these links are a little old but I think they’re still important reads for you.
Let’s start today’s links with blog favourite and Canadian model Kim Cloutier.
Ontario PC party leader Tim Hudak has unofficially kicked off his election campaign with a promise to create one million new jobs. However, history shows that it’s extremely unlikely to happen. (MacLean’s)
Is the Harper Government trying to destroy science in Canada? The government is engaged in the closing of scientific libraries and destruction of documents. (Daily Kos)
The Democratic Party might be leaning towards running Hilary in the 2016 Presidential election but they’re still not in great shape to hold onto The White House. (Washington Post)
The Lowdown 