WoW

Deadly exploit briefly massacres World of Warcraft

Imagine your virtual character relaxing in the confines of the massive World of Warcraft city Orgrimmar, when suddenly, zero health points. Upon spinning the mouse cursor around, everything around you also simultaneously perishes. Not long after the death, countless skeletons of fallen players stack up upon the city streets.

While this sounds like a bad dream that might strike someone who plays World of Warcraft too much, the deadly scenario played out yesterday across many WoW servers around the world. Entire Horde and Alliance megacities -- including Stormwind -- suddenly became graveyards for thousands afflicted by an in-game exploit carried out by malicious players. … Read more

World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria trailer released

World of Warcraft fans rejoice! Blizzard Entertainment released a trailer for Mists of Pandaria -- the highly anticipated expansion pack for the addictive online game -- yesterday at Gamescom 2012 in Cologne, Germany.

The trailer reveals the opening cinematic sequence to Mists of Pandaria. Described as a lost continent shrouded in fog, Pandaria is inhabited by a race called the Pandaren. The upcoming release is the fourth expansion pack of the uber-popular game.… Read more

Meet a retired World of Warcraft server

A game like World of Warcraft requires several thousand servers to operate the hundreds of online realms within its ecosystem. Earlier this year, Blizzard Entertainment auctioned off several of those server blades "used during World of Warcraft's early days."

A Reddit post brought up the subject again recently, and contains a few pictures of a server blade used for the European server Sunstrider from February 27, 2005 to August 24, 2010. There's little doubt that countless gamers spent thousands, if not millions, of hours playing during that time frame. A special clear enclosure reveals the innards of the server, which contains 6 gigabytes of RAM (DDR-400MHz). It did not come with the original hard drives. … Read more

The 404 908: Where we level up with Fitocracy (podcast)

Our guest on today's podcast episode is Dick Talens from Fitocracy.com, a social network that whips nerds into shape using role-playing mechanics and social-gaming achievements.

A self-described "ex-fat kid," Dick tells us about his high-school RPG career that developed an unhealthy lifestyle and dietary habits, and the light bulb moment when he realized he could combine his love for video games with the success of online social networks to get into shape.

Instead of typical workout routines you get from personal trainers and fitness magazines, Fitocracy takes cues from games like World of Warcraft and Chrono Trigger to present "quests" that must be completed to earn achievement points and "boosts."

After each workout, Fitocracy makes it easy to check in online, update your progress, and even send "props" to your fellow Fitocrats--the whole process is really motivating and takes the chest puffing out of your daily gym experience.

Check out today's episode to see Dick's incredible before and after photos, which should be enough to get you out of your computer chair for at least a few sit-ups. Also, the site is in private beta right now, but Dick is extending a generous invite to 404 listeners--just head to Fitocracy.com and enter in "The404" as a promo code and you'll be able to sign up ahead of everyone else.

Enjoy the service, and let us know what you think, and don't forget to send us your before and after photos!

The 404 Digest for Episode 908

Head over to Fitocracy and enter "The 404" into the promo code section to try it out! Fitocracy brings games and social to your workouts. Follow Fitocracy on Twitter. My workout partner is a role-playing game. Xkcd comic about Fitocracy. Most popular fitness tracking Web site: Fitocracy. Twitter break video of the day: HEYYEYAAEYAAAEYAEYAA (AND HE PRAYS)

Episode 908 Subscribe in iTunes (audio) | Subscribe in iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more

World of Warcraft now free for 20 levels

Rejoice, World of Warcraft n00bs. The massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) is now free to play for up to 20 levels. That means players can now take as long as they need to get familiar with the game before they have to pay a subscription fee.

The game's developer, Blizzard Entertainment, has eliminated the prior free 14-day trial period in favor of the new beginner system, which it's calling World of Warcraft Starter Edition.

The move is brilliant considering that WoW, which was first released in 2004, is known for immersing users in a deep game world. The limited trial seemed too short a time to get acclimated to the rich virtual landscape.

Although the trial subscription had its limits, WoW remains wildly successful, reaching 12 million subscribers in 2010. Will the new trial model help increase the MMORPG's user base? … Read more

The 404 836: Where it's big, round, and shaped like a spaceship (podcast)

We enjoyed yesterday's show with Joey Kaminski so much that we invited him back to sub for Jeff again today. He weighs in with us on Apple's new spaceship-shaped campus, Chinese prisoners allegedly mining MMO gold, Steve Jobs' freakiest Apple patents, and muffing the ball.

The 404 Digest for Episode 836

Steve Jobs proposes a new Apple campus--shaped like a spaceship. Steve Jobs' freakiest patents. China reportedly forces prisoners to mine MMO gold. Richard Dreyfuss reads the iTunes EULA on tomorrow's Reporters' Roundtable!

Episode 836 Subscribe in iTunes (audio) | Subscribe in iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more

Instant voice mail and online role-playing: iPhone apps of the week

Some interesting Apple news this week from AppleInsider revolves around Apple's acquisition of the iCloud domain name. Apparently, according to sources, Apple paid Sweden-based company Xcerion an estimated $4.5 million for the domain. It is rumored that the cloud service will be announced this summer at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference here in San Francisco.

There have already been plenty of rumors that Apple's cloud service would enable users to stream music to iOS devices, but according to the article, it may also offer a personalized "locker" where you can keep photos and videos as well. It will be exciting to see how this all pans out at WWDC, and whether people will be more inclined to sign up with iCloud than with MobileMe, which received a somewhat lukewarm response from users.

What kind of things would you like to see offered in an Apple-based cloud service? What would be a reasonable price for such a service? Let us know in the comments.

This week's apps are an instant voice mail messenger and a full-featured MMORPG that closely resembles one of the most popular games of all time.… Read more

Digital City 121: Hot laptops, Samsung 9 and Acer Iconia; plus, building a mini man cave

This week: We check out two of the hottest new laptops, the Samsung Series 9 and the Acer Iconia. Plus, Dan describes building his mini man cave, and we play some more tech trivia for chat room prizes

Bonus: You can download the show's theme song as a free MP3 here for a limited time!

Digital City 118: New MacBooks and iPads, and will Ustream save Charlie Sheen?

This week we're buried under a ton of Apple news. We have new test results for the MacBook Pro and 13-inch MacBook Air, plus there's the new iPad 2 to talk about. Later, Charlie Sheen goes rogue on Ustream, and we ask if celeb Web-casting is the ultimate end-run around the studio system?

Bonus: You can download the show's theme song as a free MP3 here for a limited time!

Digital City 116: AMD's V-day smackdown and Toy Fair highlights

This week: In celebration of Valentine's Day, we look at some of the timely press swag that has turned up in our office. Scott talks about his visit to Toy Fair, and we play some more tech trivia with the chat room.

Bonus: You can download the show's theme song as a free MP3 here for a limited time!