Awesome news about the Warcraft movie and games

According to Kotaku, director Duncan Jones revealed at BlizzCon that the Warcraft movie won't be an adaption of World of Warcraft. Instead, the movie will be set during early wars between humans and Orcs, so closer to Warcraft and Warcraft II, I'm assuming. One big difference between the movie and the games is that the Horde will be led by Durotan, the father of Thrall. Durotan didn't take part in the two wars, as he and his clan were exiled shortly after arriving in Azeroth. It's a bit odd that they're not using Blackhand or Ogrimm Doomhammer, the warchiefs during the First and Second Wars, respectively..

Not a big deal, I'm just glad that they're starting from the beginning. I was worried that the Warcraft movie was going to be based on WoW. I'm actually intrigued by the idea that the movie will show both Durotan's and Anduin Lothar's (the leader of Azeroth's armies during the First War and leader of Alliance forces during the Second) point of view, so that the Horde isn't depicted as the stereotypical evil monsters. That fits with the franchise - in Warcraft 3, the Horde was revealed to have been tainted by demonic blood and had once been an honorable, shamanistic warrior society.

Speaking of games of my youth, Blizzard announced that they're going to release new versions of Warcraft, Warcraft II, and Warcraft II's expansion, Beyond the Dark Portal that will work on modern PCs. I'm assuming that they're talking about computers that run Windows 7 and 8, because Warcraft II runs on Vista pretty well. I'm hoping that this will maybe lead to Blizzard making another Warcraft RTS. One can dream.

h/t The Wertzone.

Paladins and morale

WoWiki.

Back when I got Warcraft III, one of the first things I did was reading the manual. I'm a big fan of game lore and Warcraft has one of the best, IMO. One of the things that caught my attention was this passage about the Death Knights, a hero unit in WCIII (emphasis's mine):

Death Knights were once virtuous defenders of Humanity. However, once the Paladin ranks were disbanded by the failing Alliance, many of these holy warriors traveled to the quarantined lands to ease the suffering of those left within the plague-ridden colonies. Though the Paladins were immune to disease of any kind, they were persecuted by the general populace who believed that they had been infected by the foul plague. A small band of Paladins, embittered by society's cruelty, traveled north to find the plague's source. These renegade Paladins succumbed to bitter hatred over the course of their grueling quest. When they finally reached Ner'zhul's icy fortress in Northrend they had become dark and brooding. The Lich King offered them untold power in exchange for their services and loyalty. The weary, vengeful warriors accepted his dark pact, and although they retained their humanity, their twisted souls were bound to his evil will for all time. Bestowed with black, vampiric Runeblades and shadowy steeds, Death Knights serve as the Scourge's mightiest generals.

Cinematic trailer for World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria

Just to be clear, the Pandarans were around before Kung Fu Panda. Interestingly, Pandarans were originally an April Fools joke for Warcraft III that Blizzard staged years ago. Since then, Pandarans have become a running joke with fans and I guess Blizzard decided to finally put them in a game. I don't play WoW, but the video is spectacular.

Ahoy there! Navies in Warcraft II

Elven Destroyer.

One of my favorite things about Warcraft II - the ships! One of the things that disappointed me about Warcraft III - the lack of ships! It was fun as hell to build up a small squadron of ships and send them out on the prowl for defenseless transports or oils tankers, or taking an enemy squadron by surprise. In the game, ships also had the ability to fire on air units, as well as shore bombardment. I always imagined how fun it would be to wage a battle while destroyers and battleships provide artillery support. Then there were the subs: Gnomish submarine for the Alliance and Giant Turtle for the Horde. Nothing quite like sneaking up on an enemy ship and let the torpedoes rip!

Horde Juggernaut.

Warcraft III did have ships, but they unfortunately, you couldn't use them like in WC2, so it was pretty disappointing, especially since the graphics were 3D.

I wouldn't mind seeing a Warcraft naval wargame or really, a Warcraft wargame period. Hint, hint, Blizzard. HINT HINT.

Warcraft II peasants were beyond downtrodden

They would have to climb up a rung or two just to qualify as downtrodden. Whenever you issued peasants or peons (the Horde's worker unit) an order, they would reply "Okay" in an utterly dejected way, as if they had already resigned themselves to some horrible fate. Peons, I could understand, before they're clearly treated like total crap by the rest of the Horde, but there's never been any indication that peasants are being actively oppressed in the human kingdoms. Maybe it's the fact that they're conscripted to build sprawling base after sprawling base, chop down tons of wood and work in mines that's worn their spirits down to nubs. It certainly can't help that they're also under constant threat of raids by the Horde and since they play an unappreciated, but vital role in the Alliance warmachine, they're naturally targeted. I mean, are these guys even being paid for their contributions?

I'm surprised there weren't peasant uprisings during the Second War. Maybe there were and they were brutally suppressed?

I want this foam replica of Doomhammer from World of Warcraft

Zak S can hit things with his axe all he wants, I prefer just bashing heads in with this sucker. Doomhammer has a long history in the Warcraft Universe, extending back before the popular MMO.

According to WoWWiki, the hammer belonged to the father of Ogrim Doomhammer, the warchief of the Horde during the events of Warcraft II. While the weapon itself is not indicative of leadership of the Orc Clans, it has been wielded by Warchiefs like Ogrim and Thrall. In fact, Ogrim himself gave Thrall both the hammer and leadership before dying from wounds received while aiding in the liberation of his fellow Orcs from internment camps.

I'd love to have this thing, not just because it looks badass, but it would also go great with the Thrall action figure I bought several years ago. Anyway, if you want a Doomhammer of your own, head on over to ThinkGeek.

(h/t Nerd Approved)

"I said diamonds, f*cker"

Enjoy.

Knights of the Silver Hand

WoWWiki

The Knights of the Silver Hand is one of the coolest aspects of Warcraft. A paladin order, they debuted in Warcraft II, was destroyed in Warcraft III, and recently had a resurgence in World of Warcraft. What's interesting about the Knights though is how they came to be in-universe. In the first Warcraft, you had Clerics of Northshire, priests with powers to heal, become invisible, see far away, and one offensive spell called holy lance.

WoWWiki

In Warcraft II, clerics were replaced with paladins, an upgrade for knights that gave them the ability to cast spells similar to what the clerics had. Now, in the manual for the second game, it was explained that the clerics had suffered heavy losses during the First War (the first game), due to their lack of martial training and that two figures - Uther Lightbringer and Archbishop Alonsus Faol - came up with the idea to create an order that would meld the dual roles of warrior and cleric into one, thus the Knights of the Silver Hand was born. I like how Blizzard actually took the time to give an explanation for the clerics replacement in Warcraft II, it really does give the games more depth.

Edit: Did some picture swapping.

The book and the two games that set me off on the fantasy path

Out of all the things I've experienced, read, watched, and played during my nerd life, there are three things that got me interested in fantasy.

Book: Saint George and The Dragon. I remember reading this when I was a little kid and then, rereading it several times before it eventually got packed away. I uncovered it every few years while cleaning or moving boxes and always took the time to read through it. It's a retelling of Saint George and The Dragon, part of a larger poem called The Faerie Queene. The artwork is beautiful and has that fantasy feel. Sadly, both Margaret Hodges and Trina Stuart Hyman are dead, but their work lives on.

WoWWiki

Games: Warcraft: Orcs and Humans, Warcraft II: Battle.net Edition. They were not the first computer games I had ever played, I had traveled the Oregon Trail and got dysentery. My parents had picked up an older than hell computer at a yardsale, one of those rigs that predated GUI and could only do text based adventures and so I had dabbled in Kings Quest, but only once. Then in 1999, my world changed. We had just gotten a second hand computer that was just powerful enough to handle some older games o the time. Sometime later, my mom came home from Walmart and handed me a copy of Warcraft: Orcs and Humans. A week later, Warcraft II followed. Out of the two, I liked latter more, as it had an easier control scheme and interface. I, like many kids back then, cheated like a demon, using all the cheat codes I could find. I still play it sometimes.

What I liked about the games was the plot and the background story. I probably read the fluff in the manuals so many times, that I could recite any part of it from memory back then. One of the things I especially like is how Blizzard has added dimension and depth to the Orcs in Warcraft III, showing that they were once a noble race that had been corrupted and twisted by a race of demons called the Burning Legion. They didn't become heroic, but shifted towards anti-heroes instead.

These three things didn't turn me into a fantasy nerd, but they helped set me on the well beaten path towards that fandom and I will always appreciate them for it.