I am a shell of my former self. I am weak. I have started playing World of Warcraft again.

And notes.

Conventions apparently are really expensive. First you have to pay someone to do the planning, then pay for a location, and then get and pay staff to manage it. The cost and time it takes to make a good convention can add up pretty quickly and even the money printing press that is Blizzard has a budget.  Taking this into account, Blizzard has done something that they are very good at with their games; they've delayed the next BlizzCon.  They've delayed it in order to devote more time to and resources to Diablo III, Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm, and World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria. Blizzard has decided to hold the next BlizzCon in 2013.

Personally I cannot fault them for this. They have a lot of games on their plate and I have never really given thought to going to BlizzCon anyway. What this convention delay means for me is that I will get Diablo III sooner as they can use the resources from the convention to finish it and their other upcoming games.

I can already hear some people that are disappointed about the lack of Blizzard related tournaments due to this delay. Well there is good news for you. Blizzard is going to host a 2012 Battle.net World Championship in Asia later this year. Ok, so it's not too good for American gamers since it is not held within the country and it will be much more expensive to go compete in Asia then L.A., but at least it is something.

All three of us return in the epic adventure of podcasting. So join us on this adventure and earn some experience to add to your levels in gaming.

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Note may be found beyond this vail.

Wow, to think that 6 years ago a 10 day trial of a 60 day MMO was all it took to get people's opinions.  But now in a world of free-to-play MMOs a company that expects your money every month has to work harder to get your loyalty.  To do this World of Warcraft has extended the old 10 or 14 day free trial to an unlimited trial that allows you to get to level 20 without dropping a dime in their pockets. This means that you can get a mount while not paying for the game as well as experience a dungeon.  Heck if you are persistent you can even explore the WHOLE WORLD (minus Northrend)!

In addition to this people that have been with WoW for a long time (they defined it as Veteran Players) have been given a free copy of Vanilla WoW to give out. Will this be enough to stay the slow disintegration of their player base, or are they still screwed after 7+ years of gaming?  Only time will tell, unless the Bronze Dragonflight speaks up.

I have successfully completed another episode of The Gameslave Podcast. I talk of OnLive giving stuff away, Blizzard donations and Angry Birds. And apparently I started making up words during part of the podcast and had some very poor grammar skills, please forgive (or not). Also there is no PSN talk in this podcast, I am tired of it by now.

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Hit this link for the show notes.

Morning Gamers.  I don't have long before I have to head out for work, but wanted to remind everyone to visit the WoW Community Site for this years slew of April Fools Jokes.  These guys have WAY too much time on their hands sometimes, but it is entertaining.

The three of us are together again in one place, so that means this show hits double digits in length! Now sit down and enjoy our geeky ramblings.

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Show Notes Link