• Mario's next World Warp - USB ports
• Mario hat cushions for sale
  

This is the gold mine right here. Literally. The WoW Gold Pig blog is running a contest for 500,000 WoW Gold. We ve gotten wind of it, thanks to tips (and tweets) from the community, and so went further to fish out more info about it.

Apparently, the contest goes like this: you register, you enter a name for their WoW Gold Pig Twitter mascot and, if your entry is chosen, you win 500,000 in-game gold for World of Warcraft. Easy as pie, yes?

We got in touch with their representative Nick Gardner, and here's the lowdown on this contest.

Nick:

•  WoW Patch 3.1.2 now live, equipment manager finally added

• WoW Patch 3.1.2 now live, equipment manager finally added
  

• WoW on the iPhone? Really or not really?
• RUMOR: World of Warcraft could run on iPhone and video iPod
  

• In order to address issues with the dual talent specialization system, all players will have their talents points refunded. Players who have purchased dual talent specializations will have both specializations reset. Glyphs will not be affected by this reset.

• Characters who are not of the same race or class are once again able to view each others' professions linked in chat.
• Fixed an issue in which player and pet nameplates were appearing larger than normal.
• Thrall ;s throne has been adjusted back to its proper size and the base replaced. He will no longer need to defy gravity.
• Fixed an issue with a display error on druid leather helms.
• Corrected an issue for GeForce2/ATI 7 series card users that would result in critical errors for select actions in game. As a result certain projected textures, like spell effects and targeting circles, will no longer render on some terrain objects.

• Corrected an issue preventing players from earning the achievement, Storming Stormwind. Players who were not properly awarded this achievement for completing the objective should retroactively be granted completion.

• Fel Synergy (Rank 1): Corrected the tooltip to now display the proper healing amount.

• Fixed an issue with the outside map not appearing correctly.
• Fixed an issue where an incorrect skin was being applied to certain classes/races when the Human Illusion buff is cast upon them.

• The mob packs in the XT-002 Deconstructor encounter can now be engaged separately and are no longer linked.

• QJ Giveaway: Get yer Free Realms beta keys here!

On March 20, we released the new add-on development policy to the public as an ongoing effort to help ensure add-on integrity, safety, and quality for the community. Since that time we have been in touch with many UI development communities on what the policy means to them and the continuing development of these add-ons.

We would like to announce further that we are providing a sixty-day grace period beginning at the time of the initial release of the policy for UI developers to comply with the new policy. After May 19th, Blizzard Entertainment will begin to enforce the Add-on Development policy, and developers found to be in violation of this policy will be contacted directly.

• World of Warcraft patch 3.1 coming "promptly"

If you look at a lot of games that have done flight simulation, there is a lot of care that goes into giving you that sensation of flying by having the world tilt and stuff like that so it feels a little less mechanical, feels a little bit more alive or more natural.

So one of the things that we have kind of tasked ourselves with doing is figuring out how to polish that, how to improve on our vehicle physics, there s still a lot of vehicle physics tech that we want to get in that didn t make it into the first pass of Lich King.

I love the WoW icons. And y know what we re trying to do is see, OK, what works about the WoW icons? They re illustrative; is there a way to try to maybe bridge the gap? You know what worked about the more symbolic DII icons, and what works with the WoW icons, and trying to find a way to put the two together.

You'll get bags and they will expand, you know kind of like in WoW, except you're not going to open up separate windows. You'll start off your inventory with say you know, eight slots, right, and then you'll get a new bag and that has ten, so two more slots will open up within that tab, but you'll never have multiple tabs. Like you won't have two or three 'large' tabs.

• Blizzcon: Diablo 3 might get ported to consoles
• Battle.net rumors speak of pay-to-play, Diablo 3 is WoW-based

• Talent Calculator: updated to the latest build
• Achievement Changes
• Raids and Dungeons
• Glory for the Raider no longer rewards the Plagued Proto Drake
• Heroic: Glory of the Raider no longer rewards the Black Proto Drake
• Raids and Dungeons - Ulduar
• Never Stand Near the Faceless Dude has been removed from the game
• Heroic: Never Stand Near the Faceless Dude has been removed from the game
• Observed now rewards a new title: Starcaller
• Herald of the Titans (new) - Defeat Algalon the Observer on Normal Difficulty without anyone in the raid wearing any equipment with an item level higher than 226. Title Reward: Herald of the Titans.
• Heroic: Observed now rewards a new title: The Astral Walker
• Cooking - Obtain a Chef's Hat
• Feats of Strength - Achieved Deadly Gladiator

• Wrath of the Lich King faces wrath of the Chinese government
• Blizzard announces fiction writing contest, win a Frostmourne replica
  

General

• Bonus Armor: The mechanics for items with bonus armor on them has changed (any cloth, leather, mail, or plate items with extra armor, or any other items with any armor). Bonus armor beyond the base armor of an item will no longer be multiplied by any talents or by the bonuses of Bear Form, Dire Bear Form, or Frost Presence.
• Racial restrictions on mounts have now been lifted. Night Elves on mechanostriders? Tauren on raptors? You re not seeing things.
• Racial Resistances: These can now be mitigated against by gaining additional chance to hit.
• Tapping: All player spells which cause a creature to become aggressive to you will now also immediately cause the creature to be tapped.
• All Silence spells now have diminishing returns. This includes: Arcane Torrent, Garrote silence effect, Improved Counterspell effect, Improved Kick effect, Silence, Gag Order, Silencing Shot, Spell Lock, and Strangulate.
• Dispel Resist talents have changed to protect only beneficial spells and damage over time effects.
• Shield Wall, Barkskin, Guardian Spirit, and Divine Protection are now off the Global Cooldown.
• A new mailbox is now available at the Crows Tavern in the Dalaran Sewers.
• We have added over 60 new graveyards to Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms.
• The run speed in spirit form has been increased by 50 . Night Elves in Wisp form will now move at a bonus 75 speed.
• Reputation rewarded for killing mobs will no longer automatically deprecate. This means trivial mobs will continue to give out their full amounts of reputation on kill for the majority of cases in the game (level 70 creatures in Stratholme, for example, will continue to award the full amount of rep to level 80 players seeking to boost their Argent Dawn faction).
• World of Warcraft now supports 3-D imaging.

• Nielsen 2008 report: PS2 still king of consoles, WoW still wowing
• World of Warcraft wows with 11.5million subscriber base
  

• God of War II: "This game has a sex mini-game. During the "game," you press one of the four main PS2 buttons when indicated, which causes the women to moan louder, helping them reach climax." Now that's a detailed review!
• Saints Row 2: "Homosexual Encounters: ...Characters like Randy the Tranny were used in marketing the game."
• BioShock: "Strong Language: Strong profanity including the f-word , as well as numerous others we prefer to not include in this report." Wow, that's some hardcore swearing! Not to self: Get BioShock.
• Manhunt 2: "Strong Language: Strong Language: The game's first two words are "Holy F k."
• Blitz: The League II: "Suggestive Themes: Females appear in miniskirts with thong underwear only to be spanked by players during touchdown celebrations."
• Bully: Scholarship Edition: "Homosexual Encounters: Gay achievements such as over the rainbow can be reached on the Xbox 360 when you kiss 20 boys."
• Army of Two: Homosexual Encounters: (not mentioned): Somewhat homo-erotic undertones between the two main characters are present.

• Porn game company to bypass ESRB, Sony, Ninty, MS; to create own adult game industry
• Parental advisory: 5 Best Kid Friendly Games '08
• Parental Advisory Group: MK vs. DC is family-friendly
  

We re currently planning to end the fourth Arena season on October 14, 2008, and as always -- this date could easily change.

This Arena Season is only ending in respect to the ladder, meaning we'll be taking a snapshot of the season's ladder and then go through our normal process to determine who is eligible for the end-of-season rewards. This process should take approximately one week.

It's very important for players who feel that they may be eligible for the arena-specific title and/or Armored Nether Drake to refrain from transferring their character to another realm between the date outlined above, and when the end-of-season rewards are physically awarded.

• World of Warcraft, Arena's Season 4: you'll see it coming
• World of Warcraft forums: Arena Season 4 arrives in two weeks

• Blizzard releases new beer steins, comes in Horde or Alliance flavors
• Grab a cold one in WoW's Brewfest commercial video

As we do every year, the ESA solicits feedback and direction from exhibitors and attendees on how best to adapt and evolve the E3 Media & Business Summit to ensure it meets their needs. Each element of the Summit is opened for discussion, and that process is ongoing to execute a productive and efficient experience. Regarding today's published reports, the ESA does not comment on rumors and speculation, and will make an announcement about the details and logistics of the 2009 E3 Media & Business Summit at the appropriate time.

• E3 2008: Bungie does a no show for this year's gaming event
• Activision not attending this year's E3
  

• World of Warcraft patch 2.4.3 goes live today
• Blizzard releases 2.4.3 PTR patch notes

It's really not that we have anything against consoles," Chilton said. "I mean we love console games also. And I'm sure there will be a successful MMO sometime on a console. So it has nothing to do with that. It's just more like a square peg round hole thing for our game. It just wasn't designed with that in mind.

• Blizzard's take on MMOs for consoles; no WoW for consoles
• Kojima: stop asking for an MGS4 Xbox 360 port already
• Square Enix stock shares rise after FF13 Xbox 360 reveal
  
• Leipzig: new PS3 Wireless Keypad announced
• Xbox 360 Messenger Kit now going for only US 19.99

I was really, really big into EVE Online. I love EVE Online, and actually for me personally I actually think it s a better game. I know it s a lot harder core, but the depth of it s unparalleled and I love it. But I have to stop, force myself to stop playing those games because it takes so much time.

• Video: Denis Dyack talks about Too Human, the value of game storylines
• EA Mythic GM says Warhammer won't be a WoW Killer