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Something Need Doing?
Sci-Fi novelist Keith R.A. DeCandido (Star Trek, Andromeda) is bringing a little
more than upgrades to Warcraft players. He is writing a series of novels devoted
to the World of Warcraft series. The first book will be called "World of
Warcraft: Cycle of Hatred." A very fitting title given the books contents:

The Burning Legion has been defeated, and eastern regions of Kalimdor
are now shared by two nations: the orcs of Durotar, led by their noble Warchief,
Thrall; and the humans of Theramore, led by one of the most powerful mages alive
-- Lady Jaina Proudmoore. But the tentative peace between orcs and humans is
suddenly crumbling. Random attacks against Durotar's holdings suggest that the
humans have renewed their aggression toward the orcs. Now Jaina and Thrall must
avert disaster before old hatreds are rekindled -- and Kalimdor is plunged into
another devastating war. Jaina's search to uncover the truth behind the attacks
leads her to a shocking revelation. Her encounter with a legendary, long-lost
wizard will challenge everything that she believes and illuminate the secret
history of the world of...

• Check it Out at Blizzplanet.com
• Don't Forget to Visit wow.tentonhammer.com
  for Your WoW Fix!

NPR has more than opinions about politics.
Shacknews's Chris Remo
gives his thoughts on National Public Radio's All Things Considered segment
"Paying Real Money to Win Online Games," by Robert Siegel. Remo makes
an interesting point about the title:

National Public Radio did an All Things Considered segment yesterday called
"Paying Real Money to Win Online Games." The title is slightly misleading,
as it's actually about paying real money to buy virtual currency in MMOs (which,
of course, are rather difficult to actually win).

Check Out the Full Story from NPR
Another
story about MMOs by NPR

GamerGod lets devs fight it out!
Dev after dev is lining up to write for GamerGod's newest series on "instancing" - the in-game creation of certain areas for a limited number of players so that players aren't competing for the same content. Sigil's Brad McQuaid started the rant by poo-pooing the unworldy-ness of the idea, now Mythic's Scott Jennings and SOE's Raph Koster are out to set the record straight. These are great reads, opinions aside, if you're looking to learn more about basic game design.Here's a quick snippet from the Jennings Op/Ed:

[Brad McQuaid quote: "Instancing is an excuse for not having enough content."] I’m not really sure where he’s going here. Players know when they’re going through the same instance for a thousandth time, so I’m not really aware of any game that can claim this as a wedge against the Content Demon. DAOC’s task dungeons in Catacombs are an example here - very much an anti-immersive, repetitive “go into this cave and kill yonder foozle”. But they werent’ designed as content, but as tools - if you don’t have time for anything else, you can go into GenericRandomCave and kill RandomMonster32. It’s literally the equivalent of killing time by rolling random encounters for yourself while waiting for a DM to show up. Meanwhile there’s plenty of story-based instances, designed to be played through only once, in the same expansion. Again, it’s just tech. How you use the tech drives the results.

Check out the three op/eds posted so far at GamerGod:

• Brad McQuaid on Instancing

• Scott Jennings on Instancing
• Raph Koster on Instancing

More space for your "pitchfork +1."
The Final Fantasy XI Development Team announced that some changes will come
to players. There will be more Storable Equipment, Beastmaster Broths and, yes,
new Cooking Key Items.

In the upcoming version update, the storage feature for special equipment
will be expanded to allow for new event items. Additional key items will also
be available for cooking enthusiasts.

• PlayOnline has the Details
• All the News that TTH Found "Fit
  to Print"
• FFXI Junkie? Just
  for You