Economy Down; Gaming Still Strong
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[ While the economy ricochets off walls of uncertainty and hope, gamers still remain vigilant through the rough times. One company in particular, Activision Blizzard, is still aiming to make a massive profit in the international market, whether or not things take a turn for the worst.
In about one month, Blizzard will release the new expansion, Wrath of the Lich King, for the online game World of Warcraft. The expansion is the second installment of additional content to the game. Releasing on November 13, it would appear that the game comes at a bad time, when economic and employment stability is largely in question, but few players have shown much worry about being able to afford the game when it comes out, not to mention the time or money to continue playing at all. At over six million characters in the game, WoW has not waned under the economic stress.
Wrath of the Lich King, based strongly on events that took place in a previous game in the series, Warcraft 3, offers players a large range of extra material to play with. Players will be able to advance ten levels higher, raising the cap to 80, and be able to raise their chosen professions, such as blacksmithing or tailoring, to 450. Fans of the Warcraft series will enjoy being able to do battle with well known characters in the Warcraft world such as the lich king, Prince Arthas. But what the expansion offers most to the players is the ability to explore an entire new area: Northrend. Building on the continents of Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms, as well as the realm of Outland, the continent of Northrend will be the fourth zone where players may travel to battle with enemies and players of the opposing faction.
Blizzard has not shown any worry either with the release of content for two of their big up and coming games: Starcraft 2 and Diablo 3. While neither game has a release date at the moment, Blizzard has shown enough of each game that they are well into development.
With three big releases on the way, and possibly more, what effect does the stumbling market have on online gamers and new purchases? There are, without a doubt, a number of gamers that have had to cut their gaming due to lack of ability to pay, but WoW has not shown any noticeable in its population. Some others may have had to cut back playing time to make time for a second job (or those who got more playing time from becoming unemployed).
And as for the new releases, Blizzard is banking their sales on the hype they are stirring for the new games. Each game has a strong predecessor to back it up. Starcraft was named the best selling computer game of 1998 and one of the best games of all time by Gamespot and IGN. Diablo 2 made it to the Guinness Book of World Records in 2000 for being the fastest selling computer game, selling over one million copies in the first two weeks. To date, Diablo 2 has sold well over four million copies.
With a strong history, massive fan base, and what appears to be a competent development team, none of Blizzard's releases have anything to fear. As long as a gamer has electricity, internet and good game, hunger, thirst and worry can all wait... as long as the gameplay is good enough.