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By Tayo Stalnaker J.
‘Burning Crusade ’
pwns PC gaming,
sales records
On Jan. 16,2007, millions
of people across the globe
spent $39.99 to save the weald
... of Warcraft.
The first expansion pack
for World of Warcraft, The
Burning Crusade, was released
th is month, and 1 have reached
a new level of nerdiness. That’s
right, 1 bought it
It really didn’t surprise me
that the expansion sold 2.4 mil
lion copies, destroyed day-one
sales records, and officially
made World of Warcraft the
most popular PC game of all
time.
So now, I’m proposing a
question: Why does World of
Warcraft play host to over 8
m illion players worldwide and
continue to increase in popu
larity? Well, here’s my answer:
Blizzard, the game’s develop
er. Here’s how I came to this
conclusion:
I witnessed the expan
sion’s launch first-hand, at
the Clackamas Game Stop's
midnight release. A hundred
or so people showed up that
night and even more arrived
in the morning to pick up The
Burning Crusade.
I was really impressed by
how Game Stop, and other
stores, handled the Burning
Crusade release.
Unlike the Wii and PS3
launches, nobody had to stand
around for hours, there was
plenty of supply and no one
was shot or killed.
Essentially, we were in and
out of the store within a matter
of minutes because Blizzard
actually shipped enough cop
ies, and didn’t have any “ship
ping errors.”
For those that don't know,
here’s a little background on
Blizzard:
Blizzard has been devel
oping games since 1991 and
gained a lot of firns for their
real-time strategy games
Uhrtru/i and Starcrqft. They
also garnered an immense fol
lowing for its hack-and-slash
Diablo series.
In 2004, Blizzard took the
PC gaming world by storm
(heh... get it?) with the release
of World of Warcraft, and
became one of the foremost
PC game developers.
When it cones to custom
er support and actually tak
ing gamers' advice, Blizzard
is second-to-none. World of
Warcraft is constantly being
updated with new content
and bug fixes to meet players’
needs.
Examples include a com
plete overhaul of die player
versus player system, various
changes to class abilities to
level the playing field and, the
most recent, a change to the
newest Paladin annor that was ,
booed by playas.
World of Warcraft has
ltad its share of criticism in
the gaming world. In fact,
Sorensen and 1 will be argu
ing about the game in a future
issue. He claims to despise
World of Warcraft, but I know
he secretly plays it
thedpad@gmail.com
Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2007
Clackamas Prin
Shins break ... into spotligh
Liz Travers
The songs are reminiscent
of “New Slang” and “Caring
is Creepy” from the Garden
State soundtrack.
The Shins’ new album,
Their-most recent radio
Wincing the Night Away, can tune, “Phantom Limb,” is just
be summed up in two words:
a tasty sample of the album.
soooooooo good.
Using a mix of upbeat mor
This being their third full bidity, the whole album is
album, one would think that it pure genius. The first track,
wouldn’t be as good as its pre “Sleeping Lessons,” starts
decessors: Oh Inverted World with a 60s-esque tune, with
and Chutes Too NarrowCThis a banjo breaking in halfway
theory is quite the contrary.
through. The song then gradu
On their newest release, ates to a full rock sound.
The Shins stay true to their
My favorite song on the
winning indie-rock formula- whole album is number five,
“Sea Legs.” The
lilting flute in the
background per
fectly compliments
the sweet lyrics.
Towards the end
of the song, vio
lins make a brief
appearance and the
music becomes a
little funkier.
Number
nine,
“Split Needles,”
has a beginning
that is almost grun
ge, and melds into
an orchestra, and
then continues to a
more indie end.
The flexibility
Internet Photo
I 77ie Clackamas Print
Internet 1
Portland indie-rock quartet, The Shins, bring themselves tt
rock stardom with their third album, Wincing the Night Avj
of this album may be its fin
est feature. Each song repre
sents a multitude of different
genres.
“Girl Sailor,” number 10,
comes out sounding like a
country song and evolves into
something indefinable as any
thing other than' awesome.
The
Shins
began
in
Albuquerque, New Mexico,
but now live in Portland.
J I
They are coming to cone
the Crystal Ballroom on
21. For more information
the band, visit www.thesj
com.
If anyone gets the J
to go out and buy a I
money could not be ba
spent. There isn’t a gua]
tee, but there may as li
be — Wincing the Night 4
cannot disappoint.
‘Blood and Chocolate’ melts in failure, bad taste
Ben Caldwell
The Clackamas Print
If you had to choose between
family and the one you love, who
would you choose?
Now, add the fact that you are a
werewolf and you’ve got the gen
eral plot of Blood and Chocolate.
It is a chick flick from the
word go. Not to say that is bad,
but it takes away from the whole
werewolf aspect of the film. It is
the same story told in every girly
movie: boy meets girl, boy falls
for girl, then girl’s family tries to
eat boy.
If my ticket had not been free, I
would nave demanded my money
back
Blood and Chocolate is a movie
that you would take your girlfriend
to see if you were going to break up
with her, and if you did not intend
for that to happen, it would short
ly there after. Do not waste your
money on seeing this movie in
theaters; just wait for it to be aired
on television, because it would be
a better investment to start using
heroin.
Okay, I know heroin is a bit
much, but you get my point. If you
enjoy this movie, you are probably
a masochist and enjoy self-mutila
tion - which, at the time, sounded
far better to me than sitting all the
way through the film.
The movie runs slow, but with
Concert Calendar
Roseland Theater
2/2
Quandry
ColdRush
7p.m. all ages
2J6
Jack’s Mannequin
Head Automatica
The Audition
Get Back Loretta
6:30 p.m. all ages
2JI
Scarub
Biccasso
Deep Fried Funk
Brothers
Z-Man
Akruse and G wizski
Mic Crenshaw
9:30p.m. all ages
2/2
Producer SNAFU
Amphetamine Virus
LittlW Terror
TheH8rs
Penpointred
9:30 pm. all ages
2J3
Nicky Click
Katastrophe
Show Me the Pink
DJ Beyonda
9:30p.m. ullages
Crystal Bailroom
2/2
2/5
Everclear
Jonny Lives
God or Julie
Neon Culpa
8 pm. all ages
The Roots
7 p.m. all ages
X
2/5
Berbati’sPan
1/31
Santotzin
Trash Head
Ozone
JKronic
9:30p.m. all ages
Little Brazil
Lillydale
9:30p.m. all ages
Rosegarden
2/3
Blue Man Group
8p.m. all ages
Internet I
Agnes Bruckner and Hugh Dancy star in the latest teenage
horror-drama, Blood and Chocolate, released last Friday. I
a relatively short run time. It could
be made better with less of the girly
element, and more blood. It has
every opportunity to do something
exciting, and it just fizzles out into
its PG-13 rating.
n- MFtAiWW'
a ä is
HW
In all, I see this movie becond
a cult classic among emo kids wt
don’t know any better. Someha
crap always finds a following
Please do not perpetuate s
ity and watch this movie.
_B lood &
C hocolak