There’s a pretty crazy story on iPhone World claiming to have confirmation that the iPhone will run WoW. No, like, for realz. From the story:

…Imagine playing WOW on them using the touch screen interface. Think of the impact its going to have on the handheld game market and Apple’s revenue.”

I tried to get more on WOW but all I could get was “Steve goes big and WOW is as big as they come when it comes to on-line games.”

…

…was told that WOW on the iPhone worked with both WiFi and EDGE (without simultaneous phone use) and full multi-tasking with 3G in the future. New iPod will utilize WiFi.

I saw this story over on WoW Insider where they are a little skeptical. I’m a LOT skeptical, and in fact am calling BS on the whole thing. I know people with Mac laptops that can’t run WoW, no way this thing will be able to. As awesome as it would be, I just can’t see it happening. And the touch screen controls would SUCK for playing WoW. You’d need some kind of bluetooth keyboard, and if you have that why not just use a laptop? That said, what would be awesome would be if some elements were accessible, perhaps you couldn’t fight mobs or PvP, but checking mail, auction house, or working on trade skills seems a little more doable. I guess we’ll have to wait and see but my guess is no way.

My unique method of organization, which I call organized clutter, sometimes skews a little closer to the clutter part.

Case in point: my World of Warcraft install disks.

I lost them ages ago. I formatted my PC and did a clean install of Tiger, leaving both of my computers without my drug of choice. After a bit of searching, I somehow found myself holding two (2) copies of Disk 4, rather than a single copy of Disks 1-4. I still don’t quite know how that happened.

Luckily, Blizzard has anticipated such an eventuality.

You, too can lose your disks and download the 3.5 GB install package from their very own website (note: the Free Trial Client is also the full client). Because it’s the Windows installer and the Mac installer, I can use it on every computer I own! I burned it to a DVD for that specific purpose.

But what if you lost your Burning Crusade disks, too?

Don’t worry. They’ve got you covered. Now that Blizzard has begun a no-disk online upgrade option, you can download and activate a Burning Crusade upgrade if you haven’t done that yet (for shame!). If you already activated an upgrade (by purchasing it in the old fashioned way, via retail), then you can just download the expansion! Easy!

A while back the Iconfactory assembly line brought us a WoW freeware icon set for your Mac or PC Warcraft: Volume 1. The always talented Dave Brasgalla created this set back in January but somehow I missed it. Feel free to email him and demand more. ;) And after that, head on over to Dave’s personal site Pixelhuset to download some Warcraft inspired desktop pictures to help make your computer’s transformation complete. See now you have something to do while waiting for the Burning Crusade.

I ‘d like to be able to play WoW on my G5 and my Powerbook. No matter what files I’ve moved over and copied I just can’t seem to get my G5 to have the same settings and interface as my Powerbook. Any ideas of what I’n not copying so that this will work?

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Illuminated Keyboard, originally uploaded by kpanic.

I’ve blogged a little about playing World of Warcraft on a Mac, and how Blizzard plans to continue to make OSX native versions of WOW despite the introduction of Boot Camp, the beta application from Apple that allows the new Intel machines to boot Windows XP.

I’m quite happy they’re going to continue to support OSX, but in the short term it might be worth giving Boot Camp and WOW a spin if you do have one of the new Intel iMacs or Macbooks.

Gabe over at Penny Arcade tried it out and noticed a visible improvement in performance over running it in OSX [pa].

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Powerbook keyboard, originally uploaded by Jeffery Simpson.

A few days ago I posted a postive note about Blizzard’s complete and unfailing support for the Macintosh OS as a game platform [mba]. From my days trying to play Warcraft III against my friends on my Mac LC 475 with a low baud modem and a screen refresh rate of like once per every thirty seconds to the pure sexy smoothness of WOW today on my G4 Powerbook and my G5 iMac, Blizzard has been one of the few companies to step up and continue to launch games for both the PC and the Mac at the same time.

I wondered how Boot Camp, the new beta software that allows users of the new Intel Macs to run Windows XP, would affect the future of Blizzard development on the Mac. It’s possible that a lot of software companies might abandon the Mac platform altogether given that soon, once Boot Camp is more stable, Macs will run Windows as well as PC boxes. (This is an offshoot from the John C. Dvorak argument that Apple will adopt Windows full time soon [pcm]).

If you haven’t been following the comment thread to that post, much like I haven’t been following the Blizzard FAQs, Blizzard’s Mac Team dropped by to set me straight [mba].

From the comment thread…

Q: Apple’s OS X Boot Camp software lets me boot Windows XP on my Intel-based Mac. Can I run Blizzard games under Windows using Boot Camp on these systems?

A: Yes, you can if you wish to do so. However, please note that as OS X Boot Camp is in beta form, we can’t offer technical support for Blizzard games run under Windows using Boot Camp at this time.

Q: What is Blizzard’s plan for native Mac OS support, now that Boot Camp is available?

A: We have a recognized track record of native Mac OS support, and we have no plans to break with that tradition. We understand that our Mac player base prefers native software whenever possible, and our cross-platform development practice addresses that.

So while nothing is on stone tablets in this crazy world, but that sounds to me like even once Boot Camp gets stable there will still be a Mac version of future Blizzard games coming. Hopefully that’ll include any follow ups to World of Warcraft.

Which in my book calls for a huzzah. Huzzah!

Powerbook keyboard

Originally uploaded by Jeffery Simpson.

As someone whose had an Apple since the IIe I’ve gotten used to living in a world where the coolest games never would reach my computer. For awhile the Lucasarts game were availble, but as Apple’s market share slipped so did game selection.

Soon the only games I could find were the ones that were built to be dual platform, and the Blizzard games were always Mac friendly.

I’m not sure why more game developers can’t be Mac complient like Blizzard. It might be hard for smaller companies to afford, but that’s an excuse that Eletronic Arts (for example) can’t use.

The Mac compatibility from Day #1 meant that I started playing WOW early. The fact that unlike some games, EverQuest (cough cough), Mac users aren’t living in their own servers, means that I get to interact with everyone else as opposed to those also confined in the Mac Ghetto.

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