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Ezra update: Still recovering, playing World of Warcraft

February 29th, 2008, 10:15 am by

**See Latest UPDATES below in links area **

**UPDATE: June 15, 2008: Warcraft fan’s cancer spreads but family remains upbeat **

Eleven-year-old Ezra Chatterton (or to WoW players, ePhoenix) became famous last spring after the Make A Wish Foundation offered to grant his wish to design characters for his favorite game, the World of Warcraft.

The Riverside fifth-grader was diagnosed with a metastatic brain cancer and his father, Micah, wrote to update us on his condition which is improving but still plagued by cancer.

The good news is that Ezra’s most recent MRI results surprised his doctors and Micah with 98 percent shrinkage of the primary brain tumor and similar reduction in the other smaller metastases in his brain and spine. Also, Micah says that Ezra has glasses, his first pair, that offset the damage to his optic nerve. That, Micah says, means that Ezra has been able to “get back to reading and playing WOW (rather than ordering me to go there, kill that, farm those, etc.),” along with watching Lakers games.

Ezra’s Old Rancher character for World of Warcraft

Still, Ezra is back in the hospital. Micah says it’s for an infection that he hopes is something mild. Also, Ezra is still undergoing chemotherapy — treatment that every day has a new effect, whether its chronic nosebleeds, nausea, seizure activity in his brain, or just plain exhaustion.

Micah says that, “During the darker days of a chemotherapy round, it’s difficult to see how far his recovery has actually come. The treatment has also left him open to various infections I’d never heard of, like pancreatitis, which are a nightmare.”

The treatment, Micah says, is a long, slow battle and Micah is still a long way away from going back to school. Still, Micah took the time to thank others for support during Ezra’s journey:

“I’d like to take this opportunity again to thank everyone who has responded to Ezra’s story, both in the World of Warcraft community and out of it, as well as those who have kept us in their thoughts and prayers. Your good will has been a miraculous comfort to us. I believe in my heart that all of you have had a hand in Ezra’s recovery, miraculous as it is to this point. Thank you so much for all the love you’ve shown us. It would have been so much more difficult for Ezra to get through this disease without you.”

The Ezra Chatterton archive:
**Update** Ezra Chatterton passed away on Oct. 20, 2008. Read his father’s tribute HERE.

* Aug. 21, 2008: Ezra Update: WoW fan with cancer suffers stroke
* June 15, 2008:  WoW fan’s cancer spreads but family remains upbeat
*Feb. 29, 2008: Ezra update: Still recovering, playing World of Warcraft
* Sept. 28, 2007: Ezra Update: Warcraft fan has ups and downs
* July 18, 2007: Ezra update: Warcraft fan with cancer turns 11
* June 13, 2007: UPDATE: Condition of Warcraft fan with cancer improves
* May 31, 2007, Big screen for Ezra?
* May 25, 2007: Fund for Warcraft fan with cancer set up
* May 23, 2007: Gamers show their support for Ezra
* May 22, 2007: Images of Ezra’s WoW creations, thanks to Blizzard developers
* May 22, 2007: The original story and slideshow:Blizzard makes WoW wish virtual

Posted in: Blizzard • Blizzard/Warcraft/Star Craft • WoW • • • • • | 10 Comments »

World of Warcraft $75,000 contest starts in April

February 15th, 2008, 12:31 pm by

Many World of Warcraft players would dream of being able to just sit around and play the game for a whole year. A life free of strifearenatourney from a job with only worries of how to finish quests and level up.

That’s a possibility if a player is good enough at WoW, with a new tournament announced today. The grand prize is $75,000 – which just also happens to be just over the $73,895 average Orange County household income.

The Irvine company, Blizzard Entertainment, unveiled today plans for a new type of tournament competition using the in-game Arena System. Tournaments will take place in special realms that allow competitors to instantly create level-70 characters with epic equipment, placing the focus on tactics and execution rather than normal adventuring. “We’re pleased to expand World of Warcraft’s tournament options for players who want to focus mainly on the competitive aspect of the game,”said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment.

According to Blizzard:

  • The tournaments are scheduled to start in April with two rounds of online qualifiers in Europe, South Korea, North America, and the regions of Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau.
  • Each qualifier round will have a per-competitor entry fee — €15/£12 in Europe; 20,000 won in South Korea; $20 in North America; and NT$450 in the regions of Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau — and will run for six weeks. During this time, teams will play 3-vs.-3 matches on the tournament realm in their region, with the top four teams from each round advancing to the regional finals to compete for more than $27,000 in cash prizes.
  • Winners from each region will then be invited to a global championship event to compete for $120,000 in cash prizes, including a $75,000 grand prize.

The site is not yet set up so you can’t register yet. But, you can watch this Blizzard page for more details as made available.

Posted in: Blizzard • Blizzard/Warcraft/Star Craft • WoW • • • • • • | 2 Comments »

Blizzard’s fourth invitational set for Paris

February 11th, 2008, 5:09 pm by

blizzardinvitational

Irvine’s Blizzard Entertainment announced today that its fourth Worldwide Invitational will be held June 28-29 in Paris, the company’s first in Europe.

The two-day event brings together the company and gamers for discussions and includes artist and developer signings, a silent auction, a musical performance and competitions between some of the world’s top gamers on StarCraft and Warcraft III.

To attend, tickets must be bought in advance on the invitational Web site. Tickets are limited and will go on sale in the next few weeks on a first-come, first-serve basis until sold out. There is a five-ticket limit per household. The ticket cost has not yet been disclosed.

“We look forward to bringing the Blizzard Worldwide Invitational to Europe for the first time and sharing our latest news with players there,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “In addition to the great tournament gaming that will be taking place at the event, we’re planning an entertaining show for all attendees.”

The invitational will be held in Hall 5 of the Porte de Versailles Exposition Center in Paris. Gamers 16 years or older are eligible to go, but younger gamers can go if accompanied by a parent, guardian or responsible adult.

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Revenues for Irvine’s Blizzard grew 58 percent year-over-year

January 31st, 2008, 5:17 pm by

burningcrusadeWorld of Warcraft added two million subscribers in 2007, helping the game reach the milestone of 10 million subscribers and also contributing to an 8 percent year-over-year revenue growth for parent company Vivendi.

This is interesting for two reasons. First, World of Warcraft was released Nov. 23, 2004, meaning 20 percent of its users joined in the game’s third year (during which the Burning Crusade expansion pack, at left, was released). Second, Blizzard was the only driving force in the revenue increase for Vivendi’s gaming division in 2007.

According to 2007 revenue information released by Vivendi this afternoon, the company’s 2007 revenues totaled $32 billion, with net income of $4.1 billion.

The Vivendi Games division that includes World of Warcraft developer Blizzard Entertainment reported $1.5 billion in revenues last year and Blizzard’s share of that gaming revenue was $1.2 billion.

The Vivendi earnings report says Blizzard’s revenues grew 58 percent year over year, while the revenues for the rest of the Vivendi gaming division (Sierra Entertainment, Sierra Online and Vivendi Games Mobile) decreased by 29 percent.

In early December gaming giant Activision announced a merger with Blizzard’s parent company Vivendi to be called Activision-Blizzard. According to Activision, its 2007 earnings will be announced Feb. 7.

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World of Warcraft hits 10 million subscribers milestone

January 22nd, 2008, 3:03 pm by

Ten million people are now paying to play in the Alliance versus Horde war constructed by Blizzard Entertainment, the Irvine company announced today.

“It’s very gratifying to see gamers around the world continuing to show such enthusiasm and support for World of Warcraft,” said Mike Morhaime, Blizzard’s CEO and cofounder.

The game that debuted Nov. 23, 2004, now has more than 2 million subscribers in Europe, more than 2.5 million in North America and about 5.5 million in Asia. Subscribers only include players who are paying a subscription fee, who have an active prepaid card, who are within the first free month of access to the game or who access the game in Internet gaming rooms.

The Nielsen Company named it the No. 1 PC game title in the U.S. between April and November of 2007. According to the report, WoW players spent an average of just over 17 hours per week — roughly 2.5 hours per night — playing the game. That would mean that WoW gamers spend an average 10% of their time in the mythical land of Azeroth. Some people are obviously spending well over three hours nightly.

World of Warcraft was also the bestselling PC game in 2005 and 2006 worldwide, but finished behind only the game’s “The Burning Crusade” expansion pack for 2007, according to Blizzard and based on industry sales and reports from distribution partners.

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Blizzard’s Starcraft put on Nintendo DS

January 4th, 2008, 1:45 pm by

starliteStarCraft, a game first released by Irvine’s Blizzard in 1998, has been put on the handheld Nintendo DS by two French developers, according to the DS FanBoy blog.

Dubbed “StarLite,” a demo version can downloaded here to be played by a DS emulator. The FanBoy blog writes that so far “players can select and direct units via touchscreen, build simple structures, and produce additional units. There are even a few enemy troops to attack.”

StarCraft takes place in the distant future with a small group of human exiles who have been “doomed to fight for survival on the edge of the galaxy.” Players work in the game to gather resources, and train and expand tr0ops striving for victory.

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Ron Paul WoW marchers document experience

January 2nd, 2008, 2:25 pm by

wowrallyElves, druids, orcs and more gathered and marched from inside the World of Warcraft for a Ron Paul New Year’s Day rally and then documented the event in blogs, forums and videos.

The political event in Azeroth was organized by Ron Paul supporters on a discussion forum and revolution.ist Web site. Paul devotees staged the rally on the Whisperwind server and led about 300 characters on a mostly single-file line march from Ironforge to StormWind to Westfall through Booty Bay to Rachet then to the Barrens and finally the Cross roads for a dance — despite some spamming, spit and snowballs from anti-Ron Paul protesters present.

Read our stories leading up to the march.

Please enable Javascript and Flash to view this Flash video.

Posted in: Blizzard • Blizzard/Warcraft/Star Craft • WoW • • • • • | 6 Comments »

Activision’s CEO named #2 gaming person of year

December 18th, 2007, 5:00 am by

Activision CEO Bobby Kotick (who is now head of Activision-Blizzard) has been named the #2 gaming Person of the Year by Game Daily. But, the No. 1 spot was handed to a Wii man, Nintendo’s President Reggie Fils-Aime.PersonofYear

The site notes that Bobby Kotick has led the company to develop popular games such as Guitar Hero, became the first independent publisher to overtake the leading third-party Electronic Arts in sales, reach the highest net revenues in the company’s history, acquire racing game developer Bizarre Creations and made the Activision-Blizzard deal, a “strategic move … that the industry will still be talking about for years to come.”

The site says the “mega merger” propelled Activision from a small presence to “a legitimate #1″ gaming company with the help of Irvine’s Blizzard.

And for more 2007 gaming wrap-up news, click here to learn how to submit nominations for the people’s choice for #1 Person of the Year in gaming.

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