If you've been playing around with JoyToKey for your secret "controller fix" on PC games that otherwise didn't have such support, you might want to try Blue Orb's Switchblade. The free software is loads heavier than the little joystick to keyboard utility but is more inclined for use with the Xbox 360 controller. Plus, it just got more download mirrors.

Want a free one-year subscription to Blizzard's World of Warcraft? If you do, then you might as well join Blue Orb's SwitchBlade promotion, where gamers only need to download and register a copy of SwitchBlade, the software that lets gamers use Xbox 360 controllers in playing WoW. Details in the full article.

If you open your day planner and adventure log and see all the events you've mapped out for the entire year, you'd notice that the World of Warcraft's monthly Darkmoone Faire carnival is now on it's way to the forests of Elwynn.

Because of the fact that you've been chasing that Faire around for a chance to finally grab that purple necklace, you'd want to make sure that this time around, come the first Monday of April, you'll have this planned out right.

But before you hop right on over to Daryl Lau's World of Warcraft guide blog, we'd like to remind you that attempting to earn the Orb or Amulet of the Darkmoon will take a lot of time. It will take a lot of time, that in fact, you could consider it a non-Raider's form of grabbing Epic gear, without having to farm so much consumables. So if you're part of a Raid-inclined guild, you might want to tell them you're trying something new.

It's not really nice not to show up when the guild's expecting you at the Raid instance, come late evening, and you're regions away back into Azeroth. And no, cheesy Guild quit messages aren't your easy ticket out either. Make sure that you are at least level 60 for this quest, and try to be there as the carnival is being set up (first Friday of the month).

Check out Daryl Lau's detailed (and farmer's) guide to getting your own purple "blingage" via the "Read" link below.

Patch 2.0.10 finally goes live. It came together with the World of Warcraft's scheduled maintenance and is now available for download (if you didn't get the forced update.)

Anyway, we've come to anticipate continuation of the great wailing and gnashing of teeth before the patch. It looks like the Druids and the Mages are the hardest hit, or at least the noisiest. Druids got a hotfix earlier today though that might alleviate the pain a bit.

Here's the list of the changes:

General

• Some logic was fixed in the "Natural Remedies" quest so that Pathaleon the Calculator's Image will always spawn during the ritual.
• Goliathon and his shardlings can no longer be pulled to nearby areas that have guards.
• More fixes implemented in the "It's a Fel Reaver, But With Heart" quest to keep the Scrapped Fel Reaver from breaking.
• The Orb of the Blackwhelp and Hallowed Wands can no longer be used in combat, and the transformation will be canceled if the player receives damage.
• The Scrap Reaver in Netherstorm repairs reduced from 10,000 health to 8,500 health over 10 seconds.
• Battle of the Crimson Watch
• Illidari Mind Breaker has been weakened.
• Illidari Highlords can now be CC'ed but not Charmed.

For the full list of changes, click on Full Article.

Download: World of Warcraft patch 2.0.10

Do we mean battlegrounds with no enemies? Not in that sense, no. The idea originating from Paladinsucks (quite a catchy name isn't it?) actually suggests that the two sides in World of Warcraft's Battlegrounds could no longer be faction-specific.

He reasons out that because both factions have class equivalents in the other side, members of the Horde and Alliance could join up with each other in either side of the battle. Now before your faction loyalists start serving his head on a silver platter, let's get his side out here first.

The main reasons he suggested the dropping of faction discriminate joining are:

• Because more often than not, WoW players are "goody-goodies," joining the side of the Alliance rather than balancing out the battle by going "for the Horde!"
• Queue times for entering an active battleground session would shorten considerably.
• After-Battleground sessions wouldn't be global chat ranting over how band the battleground map was laid out, or some other little excuse for just being plain beaten.

Now he's ideas are very general. A character of a faction can join any side to balance the game, but upon entering the character would be "deceptively adapted" to look like the side it joined. Humans become Undead or Dwarves turn into Trolls (wait, from short-stocky to tall and skinny?) - you know, like the power of the Orb of Deception.

While there's a good purpose for it, the idea itself is already gaining a lot of heat. Aside from the loyalists, some people aren't exactly sure if they want to be instantly transformed into something other than what they already look like.

But there have been a few people who agree to the idea, albeit with certain ideas of their own. To those people, let's try not to get carried away: Blizzard takes a long time to fix bugs and are still at work on some Arena material. Battleground issues will probably be attended to some other time.

Click on the "Read" link below view his and other people's ideas for WoW Battlegrounds.

Given that there are eight million players in World of Warcraft, we were kinda waiting for this to pop up: WoW rap. Sure, there will probably be another rap song or two out there about our favorite MMO, but what makes particular number special is the premise.

Shaunconnery of Advent on the Tichondrius server made this number, titled Rapwing Lair and it will be dealing with his crew's escapade into BlackWing Lair. And like many a bard's tale of heroes, shaunconnery has the beat just right - we find ourselves digging the lyrics too.

Forget ballads or sad, sobering tunes - when you talk about your latest dungeon dive, maybe songs with a more in-'yo-face theme adds flavor to the narration. The lyrics below is just the first verse - the whole (and lengthy) narration should be at the read link. Enjoy the music, and play to the tune of your next Burning Crusade adventure.

Rapwing Lair
Razorgore (Underground Hardcore)
Blackwing Lair, zoned in as we phased through
40-man crew, with 8 classes in the raid group
So we know whats in store, MT controllin the orb
Breaking the eggs to bring him out to phase 2
Lets get it happenin, Hunters kitin dragonkin
Running up and jumping down ramps for the fake route
With the last egg down, Razorgore gonna break through
The MC, MT settin the pace to
DPS him down, Line of sight the fireballs
Stay behind in spite before it bakes you
So Off-Tank, stand at your 90-degree angle
So when he breaths, it doesnt conflagrate you
Slow and steady, Razorgore givin his paid dues
Tier 2 bracers from his grave loot
Then we line up, 40-man raid group
To move to Vaels room, BWL Take 2