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In an effort to shift population from crowded realms to servers with lower numbers, Blizzard Entertainment has announced another round of character transfers for World of Warcraft. On a voluntary basis players of certain large population realms will be allowed to transfer their characters to other low population realms free of charge.

Here's a list of the realms affected by the offer:

Source Group A
Burning Blade
Kel'Thuzad
Laughing Skull
Arthas
Destination Realm A
Jaedenar

Source Group B
Spinebreaker
Mug'thol
Mal'Ganis
Tichondrius
Destination Realm B
Nazjatar

Source Group C
Sargeras
Dragonmaw
Bonechewer
Illidan
Destination Realm C
Maiev

Head over to the link below for more information.

Character Transfer Page

Blizzard Entertainment

World of Warcraft

Buy World of Warcraft

Inside Mac Games has posted the 32nd part in an ongoing conversation between old friends Glenda Adams, Mac gaming goddess and Director of PC and Mac development at Aspyr Media, and Tuncer Deniz, publisher and editor-in-chief of Inside Mac Games.

Topics covered this time around include Aspyr's upcoming releases including Guitar Hero III, Neverwinter Nights 2, Quake Wars: Enemy Territory, and more.

Inside Mac Games: One on One With Glenda Adams

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Macworld's Peter Cohen has posted a new article examining the game titles expected to arrive in the new year. Some of the titles mentioned include Unreal Tournament 3, Neverwinter Nights 2, and Neon Tango.

Aspyr Media’s Neverwinter Nights 2 remains was dangerously close to release; its imminent arrival will give fans of the role-playing game something to cheer about. Other Aspyr titles have already hit the market—Guitar Hero III is arriving in time for Christmas. Look for it to hit retail shelves next week in the form of a hybrid version that includes the PC and Mac together on one disc, bundled with a guitar controller.

Plenty of smaller Mac game publishers have promised to continue plying us with fun time-wasting diversions. Freeverse is sharpening its skills with the Geometry Wars-style abstract shooter Neon Tango, and has other tricks up its sleeve for the year.

PlayFirst, the evil genius behind the popular Diner Dash series, is promising to continue its line of fun casual games. And Ambrosia Software has fun lined up for Mac gamers, too—as the inclusion of SketchFighter 4000 Alpha in the Game Hall of Fame indicates, Ambrosia’s about more than just utilities.

Macworld's Game Room: Mac Games in 2008, What To Look For

Freeverse

Neon Tango

Aspyr Media

Neverwinter Nights 2

Epic Games

Unreal Tournament 3

Buy Neverwinter Nights 2

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Music 4 Games is now offering a new interview with Unreal Tournament 3 audio director Mike Larson and composers Rom Di Prisco, Jesper Kyd, and Kevin Riepl. The lengthy Q&A covers a variety of topics related to the music in the next installment of Epic's popular first person shooter franchise.

M4G: What was the music brief for the game’s score? Are there any musical references to the previous Unreal games?
Mike Larson: Epic has released several Unreal titles over the years, and our feedback indicates an overwhelming majority of users preferred the music from the original UT (1999) over any other Unreal franchise title since. From that we decided first and foremost we wanted UT3 to be a return to electronica and a step away from orchestra hybrid tracks. Instead of rehashing the theme all over the place we instead focused on stylistic variety trough alternate genres and references. This works in UT3 because it isn’t a linear single-player dramatic experience; instead UT3’s focus is multiplayer with standalone maps. On top of that I was looking for a clear distinction between the Gears of War and Unreal franchise soundtracks: Gears of War = orchestral. Unreal = electronic

M4G: What do you think is the most unique aspect of the score for Unreal Tournament 3?
Mike Larson: An interesting note is that the music heard on the UT3 Soundtrack CD isn’t actually the same as what’s heard in-game. For CTF and ONS, we used a dynamic music system which required the tracks to be authored in the following manner: after a full length music track was approved, the composers reconstructed it into six emotionally based two- minute segments for Action, Ambient, Suspense, Tension, Victory, and Pre-Victory, often involving additional production per segment to create a better defined, identifiable emotional context. So in-game you’re actually hearing those segments crossfading in and out of each other based on game state changes; on the Soundtrack CD you’re hearing the unedited full length versions. Also, the in-game music was unmastered with a slightly flatter frequency response leaving more headroom/bandwidth for game sounds. The Soundtrack CD music has been mastered and the extreme lows + highs have been pushed giving it more of a full frequency, higher fidelity all-encompassing sound..

Music 4 Games: UT 3 Q&A

Epic Games

Unreal Tournament 3

GameTap is offering a new article, this one examining Richard Garriott's RPG classic, Ultima IV. The fourth in the popular series, which inspires fond memories for many long time RPG players, Ultima IV introduced a deeper, more complex storyline beyond the usual hack n slash.

Designer Richard "Lord British" Garriott had already made a name for himself with the first three Ultima titles. These turn-based role-playing games borrowed rules and mythology from Dungeons & Dragons, infusing them with innovative plots involving space and time travel. They were definitely significant works, and by converting the traditional tabletop experience of D&D to home computers, they paved the way for the PC and console RPGs we know today. But aside from the technological feat of computerizing complex RPG rules, they were hardly revolutionary.

Ultima IV, on the other hand, most definitely was. Not through its technological advances, since it looked hardly better than Ultima III. And not through its fundamental gameplay, since it played like only a slightly evolved version of what Ultima had been doing all along.

No, Ultima IV was a revolution simply because of its theme. Your goal here was not to save the world from an evil magician or a diabolical computer; your goal was to save the world from itself. Lord British, the benevolent ruler of Britannia, notices that his people are lacking in direction and focus in their lives, and puts out a call for a leader to step forth and serve as an example of virtue to the populace. If you wish to become this leader--this avatar of virtue--your job is to learn, study, and implement the Eight Virtues: honesty, compassion, valor, justice, sacrifice, honor, spirituality, and humility.

GameTap: Ultima IV Retrospective

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