The migratory patterns of MMO gamers
Darnassus is a little quieter these days, as are Silverwood and Galtrev. The virtual watering holes are changing once again.
The latest and greatest massively multiplayer online role-playing game (abbreviated as MMORPG or MMO) on the block is "Star Wars: The Old Republic." And according to unscientific numbers based on crowdsourcing from gamers, even since the beta of this much anticipated game was released, some of the other major MMOs - including "World of Warcraft," ("WoW") "Rift" and "Lord of the Rings Online" ("LOTRO") - have seen a steady decline in player activity.
In December, people from my guild in "LOTRO" excitedly discussed what kinds of "Star Wars" characters they’d like to play as the "Star Wars: The Old Republic" launch date loomed. Soon after, several of them left "LOTRO" to play the new game full-time, even some of the officers and the guild founder.
I watched my “logged in friends” panel get smaller and smaller and wondered if they would come back or if they had moved on for good.
Players switching games isn’t uncommon - as trends come and go, so do the crowds of adoring fans. But any record of their movement from game to game is still something of a secret. FULL POST
'Game of Thrones' season 2 trailer
After whetting fans appetites with a few teasers for the second season of "Game of Thrones," HBO's ready to unleash the real thing.
The network unveiled a more complete trailer for "Game of Thrones" over the weekend, one that includes glimpses of Daenerys, King Joffrey, and Peter Dinklage's Tyrion, who declares before the clip ends, "I understand the way this game is played."
Even though it's just a minute long, no doubt many of you agree with Cinema Blend that the second season is "poised to be even grander than last year."
Fans re-create a classic with 'Star Wars: Uncut'
Countless fans around the world know the original "Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope" by heart. And thanks to the efforts of Casey Pugh, they have been able to prove it, in some of the most creative ways possible.
Pugh crowd-sourced the movie, asking fans to take different small portions of the movie and re-create it. Years after he launched the project, "Star Wars: Uncut" is finally available to view online in its entirety.
CNN Geek Out spoke with Pugh about the project:
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Fandom week in review (January 27, 2012)
Here are a few things that superfans in the geek community are buzzing about this week:
Have nerds conquered TV? "The Big Bang Theory" beat "American Idol" in the all-important 18-49 demographic this week for the half-hour the two shows went head to head on Thursday. [New York Times]
There's more where that came from: CBS has ordered the Conan O'Brien-produced "Super Fun Time," a comedy revolving around nerdy women. [Twitter/@RebelWilson]
Joss Whedon tweeting! For 30 minutes anyway. It was announced that the writer/director will be joined by old Twitter pros Tom Hiddleston and Clark Gregg on Tuesday at 2 p.m. ET @Avengers.
Do you think "The Amazing Spider-Man" movie is a reboot? According to the synopsis, it is an "untold story that tells a different side of the Peter Parker story." So it may depend on your definition of the term. [Marvel.com]
It's not looking too good for a new "Ghostbusters." [MTV]
Yes, Virginia, there was almost a 1970s TV series about Daredevil and Black Widow. [Comicbookmovie.com]
Brian Michael Bendis told fans to stay hopeful about the FX TV adaptation of "Powers." (Titus Welliver told CNN about his character, Triphammer: "He's very powerful and he uses his power for good but he sort of has a proclivity towards kink and weirdness which makes him a flawed, fallible and realistic character rather than ... you know, he's not Clark Kent!") [@BRIANMBENDIS/Twitter]
Just in time for the 30th anniversary of "Macross" comes a Blu-Ray boxed set (to Japan, at least). [TheBluRayBlog.com]
Speaking of home video fun, the first season of the 1980s "Pac-Man" animated series is coming to DVD. Really! [TVShowsonDVD.com]
Stan Lee will appear at the London Super Comic Convention. Excelsior! [Whosay]
Another look at "The Secret World of Arrietty." [Anime News Network]
Sci-fi/fantasy genre movies to for Oscar gold: 11 nominations for "Hugo," four for "Midnight in Paris," three for "Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows Part 2" and "Transformers: Dark of the Moon," and one each for "The Adventures of Tintin," "The Muppets," "Real Steel," "Rise of the Planet of the Apes," (sorry, not Andy Serkis) "Rio" and "Time Freak," as well as the animated features and shorts categories. [Oscars.org]
Finally, iReporters remember five seasons of "Chuck!" [CNN iReport]
Conventions this weekend:
Wizard World New Orleans Comic-Con
Saying goodbye to 'Chuck'
"It was the [first time] I felt that being geek wasn't bad, and I should feel proud about that."
Catia Felix from Lisbon, Portugal tweeted that earlier this week, about the TV series "Chuck." She is one of many fans who have strong feelings about the NBC show, which makes its final bow on Friday night after five seasons.
Those five seasons – about a "Nerd Herder" who becomes a spy, and gets the girl – would not be possible if not for its legion of devoted fans (quite a few of them we spoke to worried that they might get too emotional talking about the show, and they're not alone).
When it looked as though NBC would not renew the show in 2009, Wendy Farrington of Pennsburg, Pennsylvania had an idea for what she could do to save it. She thought like the network instead of a fan.
"This crazy little idea came into my head to visit Subway [a major sponsor] on the day of the second season finale," she said. "It popped into my head and I scribbled the words 'finale' and 'Footlong.'"
She got the word out to entertainment bloggers. "Nothing happened at first, and about a week before the finale, it was everywhere," including Twitter and CNN iReport.
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