star_wars_battlefront_headerIssue 124: The next big convention is nearly upon us, Gamescom 2015 in Cologne, Germany starts August 5th. Perhaps Pepe is hiding out in Germany and will be found at Gamescom! Or maybe Pepe has been hiding out in Windows 10 and those of us upgrading this week will finally see him! If you have no clue what I’m talking about, then clearly you either don’t play World of Warcraft or you haven’t been following along at home! Either way … PePepe!pe will be mine because he’s the coolest pet since Pengu!!

Anyway, in all seriousness we do have some pretty interesting headlines in this issue, mostly centered around Gamescom rumor mills. Blizzard, in their typical way, is teasing us all with a “mystery conference” [which isn’t much of a mystery anymore], Square Enix may have some exciting news for FF fans, and more but we probably have to wait until next week to find out. It looks like Gamescom is going to be quite the popular event in the coming week. In non-Gamescom news Microsoft and Valve are pursuing some interesting technology for gamers and I hope Tom Brady doesn’t play Champions Online.  KCGO

Gamescom: Mysterious Press Conference

Posted 7.28.15 – Blizzard routinely attends Gamescom and ordinarily they don’t have something extraordinary to talk about. This year might be a little different as they have announced that they are holding a “mysterious” press conference. Nobody, other than Blizzard, knows anything specifically about it but some rumors suggest it pertains to World of Warcraft. Since Gamescom is about a week away, I’m not convinced as we haven’t seen any recent trademarks which have often preceded expansion announcements. So “mysterious” would be the best way to describe it. [Update: Scroll down!]
Massively Overpowered post

FFXV News Coming Soon?

Posted 7.28.15 – So here is some exciting news for the Final Fantasy fans out there, August 5th Square Enix has an announcment planned for Final Fantasy XV. If you remember back Square Enix passed on E3 so they could be at Gamescom. It’s often a peculiar move when a game company does that, it almost assuredly means a big announcement is on the horizon. It looks like they have said their announcement is FFXV news so I’m sure fans will be giddy with anticipation for August 5th.
GameSpot post

WTF??? CO Subs Get Inflatable Giraffe

Posted 7.28.15 – Sometimes you come across posts that make you just scratch your head mumbling “WTF???”, this is one of those posts. If you admit to playing Champions Online (which I guess is a big joke according to the author) then you will be receiving … an inflatable giraffe costume reward. I don’t know what is more disturbing, the fact that this will draw folks to subscribing to the game or the fact that I wish I had one in WoW!
Massively Overpowered post

Streaming PC Games to TV

Posted 7.29.15 – While this isn’t specifically related to MMOs I still found it to be pretty interesting news. Microsoft is working on a way that you could stream your PC games to your TV using X-Box One (hmm, a function that further entices me to consider getting an X-Box One). Valve is also working on similar technology that is scheduled for release in November. I have a big-screen TV that would just be awesome to play WoW or SWTOR on!
Kotaku post

Gamescom: New WoW Expansion Announcement!!!

Posted 7.29.15 – In an unexpected move Blizzard has come right out and said (via twitter) that they will be announcing the next WoW expansion at Gamescom 2015 on August 6th!!! I’m am really surprised that they picked this forum to make the announcement, but since WoW is essentially an international phenomenon it makes sense that they would pick an international convention to make the announcement. I’m sure the folks that put on Gamescom are thrilled because now they will have increased ticket sales and probably more viewership then ever before! The contents of Blizzcon are now an even greater mystery. Now we are just waiting for a new trademark to suddenly appear (“Council of Glades” maybe?) …
Blizzard Watch post

10 MMOs Coming This Year???

Posted 7.29.15 – MMOSites has put out a list of 10 MMOs that will likely be released the second half of this year. Its crazy that there are going to be 10 more MMOs out there in an already saturated market. You will probably recognize one or two of these (*cough* Overwatch *cough*) but there might be a couple of surprises. I think most of these won’t stick around, if they even make it to production.
MMOSites post

The MMO Times is a post I put together periodically of different MMO news articles that I think are interesting, fun and/or exciting. If you are interested in receiving these posts in an e-mail please click here to subscribe.