Time Warner Cable's (TWC) Road Runner Internet service in New York City may have taken a turn for the worse as complaints of one of its cable Internet service rose to a peak today. Blizzard received distressing feedback on Time Warner's Road Runner service, which reportedly ended in random pockets of lag in World of Warcraft.

 

All in all, the issues severely degraded the gameplay experience for a fraction of the U.S. realms' players. People were led to believe that the issues experienced could have something to do with TWC's shift to "packet shaping," although they were quickly denied by representatives of the company.

"We don't have a network management policy called packet shaping," spokespersion Alex Dudley told Shacknews. He remained firm in the belief that the company would not implement any changes that would affect gameplay in Blizzard Entertainment's World of Warcraft.

In contrast, however, investigative Internet surfers identified a portion of a press release gathered from connection technology site Broadband Reports. The text definitely stated the term "packet shaping" and implicated the name of Time Warner and the announcement of the technology's release around the U.S.

According to posters in the forum where the partial press release was discovered, the text information was e-mailed to them by customer service representatives in light of the recent increase of service complaints. But in a final note, Dudley has assured that Time Warner Cable is looking into the issue and promises that the problems will be resolved as soon as possible.

For those avid World of Warcraft role players or just role players in general, the Renaissance Faire might be a good place to visit.

Renaissance Entertainment Corporation hosts a variety of events in different locations in North America. As the name suggests, the Renaissance Faire is a medieval-themed event that features a market, sword wielding displays, performing troupes, and maybe a joust or two. They are currently also offering a 20% discount for tickets on the first one - Renaissance Pleasure Faire to be held in SoCal - for World of Warcraft players.

Interested? Hop over to the Renaissance Faire site by clicking the via link below. Grab the chain mail, sword, and a damsel in distress, and you're good to go. It may be a nice primer for World of Warcraft players waiting for Blizzcon.

PC gamer sales are currently having a resurgence in the U.S., and one of the reasons behind it is the steadily growing popularity of MMORPGS. In particular, Blizzard's World of Warcraft.

New York Times reports that according to an analyst from the NPD Group, U.S. retailers sold US$ 203 million worth of PC games in the first two months of 2007. NPD's Anita Frazier said that sales in the same period last year peaked at US$ 136.8 million.

According to Frazier, sales of RPG titles were 43 percent higher than in the first two months of 2006, and the release of The Burning Crusade in January is likely to have accounted for a great deal of these sales. "The robust performance we're seeing in PC game sales can be tied to several key titles across several genres," said Frazier. "But we'd be remiss not to address the continued success of World of Warcraft."

Remember how we previously mentioned that gaming, in a way, has created a culture of its own? In that article, we noted that online gaming has paved the way for virtual communities, which in turn developed its language (gaming slang - headshot, p'wned), personalities, music, and movies. Well add this one to the list -  a book for Blizzard's World of Warcraft.

Aaron Rosenberg's World of Warcraft: Tides of Darkness will revolve around the events of Warcraft 2. It's got an August 2007 release date and the author will be attending the upcoming New York Comic Con to promote it. Wanna know more about the book's premise? Here's a teaser:

...the Horde invaded Azeroth once more. Warchief Orgrim Doomhammer, sent some forces to Zul'Dare isle to study the defenses of the Alliance. From Zul'Dare, spies reported to Orgrim of prisoners kept well guarded in Hillsbrad. This gave the opportunity to the Horde to gain allies ... as the prisoners were Zul'jin and some of his Amani trolls. With the help of troll enforcements, the Blackrock Clan was able to build a shipyard and foundry operation near Southshore with the trollish defense. This allowed the Horde to destroy Hillsbrad and access to transports to sail across the ocean to hit several human settlements...

If that didn't get you licking your chops, perhaps the mean-looking red dragon on the left will? Thought so. So if you're looking into branching out your WoW interest beyond pure gaming, better get a copy of this one. That's lore for you, my friend, and that's one of the foundations of any existing society, be it virtual or not.

DC Unlimited, a new branch of DC Comics designed to deliver pop culture characters and stories, has announced their plans to license and distribute collectibles based on the World of Warcraft universe, including World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade. The line of action figures is not yet announced, although the assortment of collectibles available for the line will be unveiled at the American International Toy Fair.

The fair will take place in New York, where the collectibles to be unveiled will include a Blood Elf Rogue, Orc Shaman, Undead Warlock, and Dwarf Warrior. For deluxe figures, the line will also have a Draenei Paladin and Illidan Stormrage (the druid). The figures will be available in retail stores in the fall of 2007. And no, these aren't exactly for playing on tabletop.

"Blizzard has created an impressive and interactive universe for World of Warcraft, " Cheryl Rubin stated. She is senior Vice President of Brand Management at DC Comics. " We are proud to be able to deliver DC Direct's expertise in creating and distributing authentic collectibles to World of Warcraft under our new DC Unlimited brand."

DC will have to contend with Toycom, who is also producing action figures (as seen in above pic) based on Warcraft.