Dr. Tanya Byron has raided airwaves again with her latest endeavor with video games. After her six-month review of game violence, she was able to write and front a BBC TV show wherein she linked playing video games to heroin addiction. More details can be found in the full article.

 

Recently, Blizzard Entertainment sponsored a World of Warcraft Robin Hood screenshot contest to coincide with the BBC series' DVD release in the U.S. The screenshots were sent in and now the fifteen winners were announced.

The winners range from the humorous to the generous. Asden for example, gave two gold instead of just one while trading. Hunter Wakkenhood named his pet boar "FryerTusk" while Robin Troll goes around stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. Nikkien gives alms to a beggar, saying, "Dude, open trade."

Anyway, the rest of the fifteen winners are posted on the official World of Warcraft website. They won a Robin Hood Genuine Pewter Tankard (we're sure Vaneras from the WoW Europe Forums is jealous) and the Robin Hood: Season One DVD. Congratulations to the winners!

   

 

Steal from the rich, give to the poor.

You probably know whose motto that is. It belongs to Robin Hood, the outlaw with a heart of gold. Blizzard Entertainment is sponsoring a contest in connection to the BBC series "Robin Hood". Interested players will have to commit acts of kindness. No, they aren't just going to take your word for it. The unwritten World of Warcraft rule applies: screenshot or it didn't happen. What's in it for you? Well, winners get a copy of the "Robin Hood: Season One" DVD and a Robin Hood Genuine Pewter Tankard (worth about US$ 120).

The contest ends on June 8, upon which time, 15 winners will be chosen. The contest is open to U.S. residents (except for those in Florida and Rhode Island), ages 13 and up.

Better bust out your kind giving hearts the next time you play WoW (does beggars in Ironforge ring a bell?). For the rest of the rules and where to submit them screenshots, you can click the Read link below. Good luck!

World of Warcraft (WoW) is definitely the strongest and most successful MMO video game out there today. This is not say though that there is no competition. Truth be told, there was a general feeling around the industry during the start of WoW's dominance that developers should stay away from the genre in the mean time.

But it looks like things are changing now. As BBC reported, there are other games out there other than WoW that belong to the same genre. And we can't help but agree. Even Funcom game director Gaute Godoger agrees. Currently, Funcom is in the last stages of development for Age of Conan and it's planning to give Blizzard a run for its money. Godoger commented,

We need other strong games that can make people understand that there's more to it than WoW. It's for adults. We did not want to be a teen-rated game, we wanted to have the possibility of making a game that takes the licence seriously. Players want to be more active in combat and know that their skill as a player matters.

Aside from Funcom, Codemasters is in a very good position now to take some slice off WoW's user base with the release of The Lord of the Rings: Shadows of Angmar a couple of weeks ago. Just like Conan, Codemasters is hoping that the lore's installed fan base will be drawn to the game. According to VP and GM David Solari,

Having that brand or licence is very valuable for getting a ready-made audience. The very least you have to do is make a great game. For the first time we have allowed players to shape Tolkien's Middle-Earth. Players want something they can feel they can own themselves.

Lastly, LucasArts is looking to make a comeback in the MMO genre as several changes and revamps are being planned to Star Wars Galaxies. It was released back in 2003 and is also relying heavily on the license's strength. Galaxies Producer Jake Neri commented that while they are happy with WoW's success, they are pretty sure that their game will remain a strong competitor,

The player base for MMO games has exploded. We see new people trying the game all the time. Galaxies was one of the first MMOs.There was no handbook on how to do these things. They make the place come alive, just by their playing style.

It's not the first, and it certainly won't be the last word on gold buying in Blizzard's World of Warcraft, but you do have to admire the source of this news report we found: the BBC.

The BBC took some time to do a rather newb-friendly approach to the issues of buying gold in WoW. From tackling the problems with wanting to play a game you love and consolidating it with the life you lead, to explaining the basics of how the business of gold selling gets lucrative, it certainly is an eye opener for those folks who've probably never stepped into the Azeroth and points beyond.

For gamers who already play the game, it also begs the question of whether or not you'd pay even more to have easy access to money in-game. Sure, doing so is easy, but it's also a question of ethics that's rarely brought up by many people. What would drive you to go buy gold, and would you ever consider doing it?