Filed under: On the web, Meta (about Joystiq), MMO

Time once again to bring you the hottest stories from Azeroth, where Joystiq sister site WoW Insider is covering all the news out of the biggest MMO ever, World of Warcraft. From Arthas to Zul’Gurub, we’ve got it covered.

News

• Inscription hidden in patch 2.4
  Blizzard is laying the groundwork for Inscription, one of the biggest features of Wrath of the Lich King.
• Risen is mad as hell, and they aren’t going to take it anymore
  One of the game’s biggest guilds decides to call it quits until the expansion, claiming the game has gotten too casual.
• Kalgan offers a possible WotLK sneak peek for Warlocks
  A dev gives a little insight as to where one of the most popular classes in the game might be headed.
• Ideal Arena Hunter in the world now banned?
  Did a well-known PvPer get banned for posting arguments against Blizzard on the forums?
• The great Panda debate
  Fact and fiction about why Blizzard hasn’t added the Pandaren race to the game yet.

Features

• Know Your Lore: Grim Batol
  Find out the lore behind the scary dwarven castle on the hill.
• Insider Trader: Rounding up 2.4 profession changes, part 2
  More updates for crafters in the upcoming patch.
• Totem Talk: Use the totems wisely
  How to make the most of the defining feature of the Shaman class.
• Reader UI of the Week: Adoru
  One of our readers runs down what they put in their addon folder.
• Talents you hate
  Let’s do a little ranting about useless talents, shall we?

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Earlier, we reported on Midway’s NBA Ballers: Chosen One and how the game’s cover athlete, Dwight Howard, happened to win the All-Star Weekend Slam Dunk Contest. That story said that the game’s official Web site (http://www.nbaballers.com) launched on Valentine’s Day, but apparently, Midway has just added a bunch of content to it.

The updated site now features all kinds of videos, such as trailers and behind-the-scenes footage, in addition to full player ratings for the 81 NBA stars, past and present, who will be playable in the game. The roster encompasses modern-day superstars such as LeBron James and Kobe Bryant, as well as NBA greats like Larry Bird and Walt “Clyde” Frazier.

Finally, you can enter the “Search for the Next Chosen One” contest. I know that there are numerous Dtoiders with serious art skills, and if any of you are basketball fans as well, why not create an entry? The contest asks “inspiring graphic designers/artists” (I love when press releases make English usage mistakes) to submit a screenshot of a player for a chance at some cool prizes.

Check out the full press release after the jump, and the new screens below. NBA Ballers: Chosen One will be out on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on April 21st.

Via Destructoid

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When we first showed you screenshots of Disgaea 3, some Destructoid readers attacked them hard enough to rack up the six-digit plus damage numbers the series is known for. While everyone is looking forward to a next-gen Disgaea, some are not pleased with the last-gen graphics shown in these screenshots.

NIS America comes to the game’s defense, saying that the PS2 lacks the processing power and memory run Disgaea 3.

“PS2 could not load the same amount of data on to memory and process it like the PS3; therefore, we decided to develop it for the next-gen platform,” says Jack Niida of NIS.

If you look at the screenshots, the backgrounds are of a higher resolution. Those and the character pictures and menus are fine. Series fans are more concerned with the character sprites themselves; they look about the same as they did on the PS2. Nida explains: “The character sprites for Disgaea 3 take 3 to 4 times the amount of labor to create compared to Disgaea 2.”

Are they too busy for Disgaea 3?

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It’s a well-established fact that Sony is large in Europe, and part of that is due to gestures like this. CVG has just confirmed the European release date for Gran Turismo 5 Prologue. The

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Title states it all. The song in the video was “Sector Sweep” in the Orange Box soundtrack.

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Its me again

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Filed under: News

Commenting to MTV’s Multiplayer blog, the Bioware doctors spoke briefly about the side-quests in Mass Effect (which we have the ability to all agree were repetitive and far too similar). There are a few comments made about the “reasoning” behind the Mass Effect sidequest choices, but a clever reader can tell it really know it came down to time. Which is mentioned as being spent mostly on tech and engineering in the first game, and the team’s subsequent freedom to spend that time on “making things a little bit richer.” Hopefully it’ll be more than just a little bit, but as the recent DLC revealed it seems that Bioware has shifted their internal bar for sidequest quality. As long as the doctors make good on their mentioned plans to make the difference in quality between Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2 similar to the difference between Baldur’s Gate and Baldur’s Gate 2, then we don’t have anything to worry about with this trilogy.

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Via Xbox360fanboy

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Filed under: Nintendo Wii, On the internet, Puzzle, Casual

A system just isn’t a system until it has a version of Tetris (and no, hacks don’t count), so it’s a good thing Nintendo that Hudson has announced a multi-player Wii Ware version of the game (PDF link).

A translation of the announcement by our good friends over at Engadget Japan reveals support for up to six Wi-Fi players, planned downloadable content and gameplay-altering items activated with Wii remote shaking. Hudson says they anticipate at least one million downloads for the title after it’s simultaneous worldwide release this summer (for an undetermined price). If you just can’t wait and/or pay, might we suggest the free and/or currently-available Tetrinet.

Read - Japanese PDF announcement

[Via SiliconEra]

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Last week’s Super Smash Bros. Melee level debate was a great way to get everyone pumped for Super Smash Bros. Brawl’s current release. While I’m tempted to make this week’s debate Brawl based, I think it would be ideal to give it a month or so for everyone to get used to all the levels before making their favorite level decisions. As for the winners and losers of last week’s debate, here are the top results from each voting category:

For this week we move on to one of the most successful first person shooter games of all time: Counter-Strike.

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Filed under: Blu-ray, Deals and Bargains

Wrapping up our triple threat of deals this day, a well-balanced consumer diet, is a Blu-ray sale to compliment that DualShock 3 and the new Eye of Judgment pack you bought. Many great titles are on sale, up to 53% off.

If you’ve been looking for an excuse to purchase something like Massive Fish but never had the money to warrant it, now’s the time. Just a head’s up, though: to get the free shipping option, your order needs to total over $25. Which means you probably have to get two movies to save a few bucks. Or don’t. It’s all in what you perceive as “saving” money, we guess.

[Thanks, Juan Pablo!]

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