Blizzard have recently registered for a “computer game software” trademark in Benelux under the title of ‘Eye of Azshara’. Since Azshara is a name from their WoW universe the chances are we’re looking at the title for a new expansion in a game from that universe – but which one?

Azshara is both the name of an ancient elven queen and a region in World of Warcraft that hasn’t been touched since the Cataclysm expansion years ago. The queen is responsible for using the Well of Eternity to summon the Burning Legion to Azeroth, before the Night Elves destroyed the well, splitting the continent into two and sinking the old Elven Capital. A large storm raged afterwards and it’s possible that a game could be set within it, if Azshara refers to the character rather than the region. The region by the way is located North Eastern Kalimdor, at the site of the old Elven capital – just above Orgrimmar on WoW’s map – and was redesigned for Cataclysm with speculation being that the ‘Eye’ refers to a large island in Bilgewater Bay that resembles an eye from above.

Chances are if not the next expansion to WoW after Draenor that it is to be the title of the next Hearthstone expansion which Blizzard say will add 100 new cards to the game. After all, there’s recently been a new card back added to the game and robot blueprints mailed out to Hearthstone community members, and the island in Bilgewater is help by goblins who often experiment with mechanical things.

Blizzcon 2014 will be soon though, so hopefully details will emerge there on just what Eye of Azshara is to be.

Blizzard’s legendary MMORPG World of Warcraft will have a 20th anniversary, according to lead developer Ion Hazzikostas. Speaking with CNET, Hazzikostas said he had no doubt that there will be a 20th anniversary for WoW. He also mentioned Blizzard is hard at work planning for future expansions.

“I definitely can’t tell you what our 20th anniversary is going to be. I can tell you there is definitely going to be one. I have no doubt saying that,” he said. “We’re definitely planning into the future, talking about what the next expansion is going to be, and what the one after that is going to be, just in terms of big picture storylines, how can we start setting things up now, where do we want the game to go.”

The game has changed significantly over time. Hazzikostas said the World of Warcraft today isn’t the same game that launched in 2004. He mentioned different graphics, different combat mechanics, and the game’s overall engine is far different.

“It’s clearly not the same game it was 10 years ago, right? The engine is different, all the graphical assets are different, a lot of core combat mechanics have changed,” he said. “It’s hard to pinpoint one turning point when it changed, but we definitely have taken an incremental approach to the pressing problems the game has that we feel we need to solve and what we can add to it that will make it better and deliver the most value to our players.”

World of Warcraft began Nov. 23, 2004. It has gone on to become a cultural phenomenon through board games, books, action figures and plenty more.  According to the latest subscriber count, there are 7.4 million paying subscribers for the game at the moment. That count is expected to grow to over 8 million with the release of expansion Warlords of Draenor.

Warlords of Draenor will release for PC and Mac Nov. 13. Temporary world events are currently going on in-game to lead up to the release of the new expansion.

Blizzard announced the cancellation of Project Titan, an MMORPG project that was in development since 2007, back in September. Titan was supposed to be Blizzard’s next big MMORPG to stand beside – or even surpass – World of Warcraft, but the project suffered creative problems.

“We didn’t find the fun,”

Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime said.

“We didn’t find the passion. We talked about how we put it through a reevaluation period, and actually, what we reevaluated is whether that’s the game we really wanted to be making. The answer is no.”

BlizzCon 2014, a convention for all things Blizzard, will be held in Anaheim, Calif. on Nov. 7-8 at the Anaheim Convention Center. The event is expected to reveal additional details concerning Heroes of the Storm, the upcoming Warcraft movie and additional details for Warlords of Draenor.

So what do you think of WoW being around for another ten years?

A new browser game is being released soon that will bridge the game between the two games of Dragon Age 2 and the new Dragon Age Inquisition. It’s called The Last Court.

Made by Fallen London/Sunless Sea developers Failbetter Games, The Last Court takes place in an unseen region of Orlais telling a new story in which some familiar faces from other DA games will pop up. It’ll be added to Dragon Age Keep in just over a week’s time and some videos have already been put out showing off play footage. Here’s the blurb from Failbetter themselves:

“In Dragon Age: The Last Court, you are the ruler of Serault: an eccentric fiefdom at the farthest ends of Orlais. As the Huntress or the Scholar you’ll guide your realm through the most crucial period in its history. Will its ancient Shame be forgiven? Or will Serault fall into obscurity?

 

“This is a game of lordship. You’ll manage the affairs of your court. You’ll choose a counsellor, a bodyguard, an accomplice and a lover. You’ll balance the concerns of your subjects. Will Serault be renowned for its dignity or its freedom? What is the greatest threat: outlaws, revolutionaries, or the the nameless ancient things that slither in its deep woods? There are stories to explore and secrets to unravel. What lies in the Sealed Chantry? Who is the Horned Knight? Who is behind Serault’s recent troubles? You’ll meet a host of new characters, like the Purveyor of Teas and the Acerbic Dowager. And maybe you’ll run into a few familiar faces from other Dragon Age titles…”

 

Whether or not you’re tired of Call of Duty as a franchise, you can’t deny that it has a bunch of people excited for its latest game to release. Some of this is probably down to the involvement of Kevin Spacey no doubt.

Well, if you’re a UK resident wait no more. The game went live on Steam at midnight here, and will be going live at 12am in every timezone after that so for once Britain is getting a game before the Americans and that doesn’t happen too often.

As mentioned above this Call of Duty comes with Kevin Spacey in a voice role and also power-armour to augment what will probably be the same FPS game that COD games generally are. If you enjoy FPS games though, you’re going to love it and I hope that it ticks all your boxes.

Now I’m going to go play the last bits of the Evolve Alpha before it closes. 😛

The World Championship Tournaments for a whole bunch of Blizzard’s games are taking place over this weekend, with tournaments for World of Warcraft and Starcraft 2 having already been played and Hearthstone still to come.

The winners of these events will determine who will move on towards the finals at Blizzcon later. Each tournament begins at 10am Pacific Time (5pm GMT) and ends 12 hours later at 10pm Pacific (5am GMT). The World of Warcraft tournament took place on Friday and the Starcraft one is currently still in progress here if you’re interested.

The Hearthstone tournament will take place at the same times Sunday and Monday, and is being streamed from the ‘playhearthstone’ Twitch channel.