I do think it’s worth mentioning that this was an English language broadcast in Long Beach, whereas the Grand Masters was a Chinese language event streaming in China with Blitzchung skyping in from Hong Kong, and the ruling came from Blizzard Taiwan. It’s not a exactly a 1:1 situation. Though, either way, this is obvio…

I mean what in WoW wouldn’t classify as chores or busywork if you’re just talking about repeatable tasks? It’s the core gameplay loop that matters, and if you’re enjoying it I don’t think it matters much if you’re just logging in to do a few daily quests, running mythic keystones, doing PVP, raiding, whatever.

and I’d rather not see their products covered without a sort of disclaimer

I don’t think there’s much need, either. There are fundamentally two versions of WoW, pre-Cataclysm and post-Cataclysm.

I’m honestly really curious to see how things play out at Blizzcon.

And it was announced five years ago. Time flies.

I mean far be it for me to call into question Kotaku’s impeccable journalistic integrity, but they profit from controversy and outrage just like every other ad revenue-based platform. They also cover Apple, EA, Ubisoft, Riot Games, Epic Games, and plenty of other companies with questionable business dealings,…

I do want to point out that the ruling probably came from Blizzard Taiwan and Blizzard’s partners at NetEase. We don’t really know where Blizzard’s core leadership falls on the issue yet (we will know when they issue a statement / take action / do nothing). They have a lot of employees and team leads who are…

This was most likely a decision made by management at Blizzard Taiwan, which was hosting the stream and tournament, perhaps at the behest of NetEase, their publishing partner in Mainland China. Blizzard Taiwan issued the ruling on Sina Weibo and the NetEase Hearthstone account almost immediately replied with a pretty…

One thing, the streamers actually egged him on to say the protest slogan before ducking out of camera by encouraging him to “say the eight words.” So they were definitely partially responsible, regardless of whether you believe it warrants termination. The situation is also made more complex by the fact that the…

Mainland China has always represented a lion’s share of their audience, actually. Historically, about 40% of WoW’s worldwide subscribers arein China. I’m not sure how the numbers shake out for Hearthstone but China makes up a huge portion of the pro scene I’m sure.

Exactly. Don’t be so naive as to think that any other major games publisher wouldn’t have done the same thing in their shoes. Even one as outwardly wholesome as Nintendo. People need to stop ascribing morality to companies.

Whether or not the movie is actually a masterpiece I think it’s obvious just from the trailers that it has a lot of merit. Joaquin Phoenix’s performance and the cinematography alone are obviously praiseworthy, and I’ve heard the score is excellent.

Correction: Someone Was Making A Game Based On the Super Mario Bros Super Show

There’s Marie. Since she’s one of the few alive who seemingly knew Jesse’s involvement (as he confessed in her home and was trying to help Hank catch Walt) I have to imagine she’ll be involved to some degree.

Mike is definitely dead, meaning it’s probably a flashback. May have been a place that Mike and Jesse had gone to previously, maybe a place where they did dead drops, or where Mike taught him how to shoot or something. Since it was part of Mike’s getaway plan, it’s probably a place he felt safe at.

Nine bodies, that’s the six Walt’s machine gun rig nailed, Jack, Todd, and Walt himself.

Let’s not pretend that “hundreds of fans” are in any way representative of his audience, considering he has over 100m subscribers.

Dude, these aren’t merely “similar” archetypal designs. It’s not an “ork with an axe.” It’s literally Grom Hellscream, completely identical character design, down to the smallest details. Same for the rest of them. Key art is Tyrande riding Anzu, Grom riding an Amani Warbear, and Varian riding a Sea Turtle. Even the…

This isn’t merely derivative. This is blatant, shameless, direct copying. Every single character, creature, and item in those pictures is a chibified 1:1 copy from WoW.