femalegamer

With Wrath of the Lich King coming out a month from today, I thought I’d give a little bit of an update on what I’ve experienced in Beta so far. I’ve leveled a Death Knight up to 65 and my Hunter is at 76-and-a -half and is making the push for 80 before they take the Beta servers down.

This truly has been an unbelievable expansion to the game, and is well beyond anything they have done yet. Many of the quests have a much more immersive feel. One of the threads, which takes place in Dragonblight is absolutely epic, featuring an awesome cut scene, a changing town and some trials you never imagined taking part in.

All the zones are quite well laid out and feature more flight paths than in the past, making travel a bit easier. They’ve all been quite breath-taking in their scope; some a vast wasteland of ice and snow, others a nordic playground, and Sholazar Basin - a much more attractive Un’Goro Crater. Now, I’m just looking forward to learning Cold-Weather Flying at 77 so I can get around a little quicker.

Profession-wise, I’ve only really explored Leatherworking, but they’ve added some extremely nice features and gear opportunities. Now, instead of just making patches, Leatherworkers have the ability to emboss some of their own gear. The embossing recipes give you the ability to add ridiculously strong buffs to your bracers (141 AP, etc.) - a very fine addition indeed!

All in all, it looks as though Blizzard has outdone themselves this time! Be sure to preorder your copy!

Nintendo has announced it will launch a new version of the popular DS handheld console. The new version, the DSi, will add a camera, SD card slot for music and downloads and a larger screen than the original DS.

The console will also feature a game download service, along the lines of the Wii and the Xbox 360. While this isn’t anything new these days… as noted by the Wii and the Xbox 360, analysts have noted that the download service could have an effect on video game sales by media sales giants Best Buy, Circuit City and GameStop.

Matthew J. Fassler of Goldman Sachs told investors in a research note that the DSI could be perceived as a “tangible early threat” to portable systems that rely upon cartridge reliant consoles. Although there are only 10 games currently available for download, Fassler noted that more will become available.

With portable games accounting for nearly one quarter of new game sales, this could be a significant dent in the retail store’s sales. On the news, Best Buy’s stock shares fell by $2.