Some news the Obama administration may want to contend with when considering any plans to boost American economic productivity right around now: Amid the slew of high-profile new games coming out of late (
Fable 2,
Fallout 3,
Gears of War 2,
Call of Duty: World at War), Blizzard’s much-awaited
2nd WoW expansion, Wrath of the Lich KIng, drops tonight at midnight. In other words, that serious drag on the Internets tomorrow, as well as the frantic clicking sound you’ll be hearing in offices and cubicles around the world, is
eleven million people frantically
trying to be the first to level from 70 to 80. (
I myself plan to take a slightly more leisurely pace with
WotLK, meaning I’ll probably stop playing through the coming weekend for such relative luxuries as food, sleep, the monthly library book sale, and the new Bond flick.)
Update: [Note: If you’re not among the WoW-inclined, just skip over this paragraph.] Ding 80, as of Sunday evening during the Obama 60 Minutes. So far, I’ve been extremely impressed with the art direction of Northrend, as well as the imagination put into some of the quests. (Lots of fun nods throughout too — See, for example, the Lost hatch in Sholazar Basin, the Time Bandits quest in Zul’Drak, or the time-travel paradox from Infocom’s old Sorcerer game in Dragonblight.) That being said, I am slightly afraid they’ve made the game too easy to allow more (re: bad) players to access end-game content. I guess we’ll soon find out…
