Rejoice! It’s Friday and man, it’s been a week full of great ideas from our community on how to properly implement Microsoft’s Natal into gaming. Ya know how I know??? I find myself oddly optimistic about the potential (and I stress POTENTIAL) of Natal now that I’ve spent the last week reading and posting our community’s awesome ideas and even getting feedback in this week’s edition of Gaming Matters.

Well, ending on a high note, let’s take a look at today’s Member BattleCry which comes from EBA Member Gaurro and deals with facial recognition and Natal’s potential to enhance our gaming avatar’s like never before. Check it out after the jump and then chime in with your thoughts below.
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With 2009 coming to a close and 10 years of awesome gaming behind us, we thought it was an excellent time to look back on what made the past decade a special one in gaming. Of course, new hardware, industry growth, and and overall shift to acceptance of gaming as a viable platform have helped define the decade that was, but for us gamers, it’s THE GAMES that we’ll look back on and remember the most. On the next episode of EpicBattleCry, we’ll be discussing a rather interesting topic…What was the most influential game/franchise of the past decade?

We wanna hear from you boys and girls to round up some input. I started a thread inside the EBA forums to discuss the matter and will soon give you some of my personal thoughts on which title might be good for the discussion. Now remember…we’re not asking for “Best” game of the decade…We wanna know which title/franchise INFLUENCED gaming the most. This could mean that the game/franchise helped redefine a genre, move gaming towards the mainstream, or otherwise had the most impact on the industry. In other words, gaming might be TOTALLY DIFFERENT if this title/franchise didn’t exist.

Also, feel free to cast your vote in the poll on the EpicBattleAxe.com home page. We’ll keep it live for a few days to gather some good input and let you all see what other people think as well.

Of course, you’ll hear what we conclude on the next episode of EpicBattleCry, which is scheduled to go live this coming Monday, January 4, 2010.

Alright gang, thanks in advance for you input…Now let us know what you think…ttys!

Today, Blizzard launched their new service allowing players to switch factions for their existing World of Warcraft characters. The service breaks down roughly like this:

• players can switch an existing character (level 10 or higher) from Horde to Alliance or Alliance to Horde
• players can re-customize their character, select a new race, and change names
• non-faction-specific equipment and mounts will be retained, others will be replaced with a cross-faction equivalent

Blizzard has put together and in-depth FAQ that should answer all your questions. The new Faction Change service costs $30 per character, per faction change.

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The lands of Azeroth are forever changing thanks to the recently announced Cataclysm expansion for World of Warcraft. Folks who have traversed the storied online universe will notice quite a few changes when the content is released and the gang at Kotaku has put together a vid that delivers a virtual tour of the new diggs. So, hit the jump to check out some of the many land changes expected to go permanent when the new expansion comes out.
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While they lay trapped in the valley, sound the charge and bring down the mountain; its time for another edition of EpicBattleCry! In this week’s skirmish we check out the latest news from the Fable franchise, state the obvious with The Beatles: Rock Band DLC announcement, subscribe to World of Warcraft’s first official magazine, and ponder the wisdom of Dark Void’s new release date.

Straight from Gamescom we have official word on the long awaited PS3 price drop and introduction of the Slim PS3. How does Sony’s new system stack up? Next up we run down just a few of the most impressive titles we saw at Gamescom: Final Fantasy XIV, Dante’s Inferno, Gran Turismo 5, and more.

The Battle Cry of the Week goes to Diablo III and the new Monk class, Earthworm Jim getting a truly new release, Brutal Legend for not making us buy it to try it, and calls for more kick-ass comic tie-ins like we saw with Dead Space.

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Azeroth will never be the same again.  Blizzard kicked their BlizzCon 09 keynote off with a bang by announcing their third expansion for the most popular MMO in history.  World of Warcraft: Cataclysm will not simply add a new continent but instead will drastically change the landscape of the existing continents Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms.  Lava has spilled across the two continents, thus destroying some zones, changing others and revealing new areas for players to explore.

Also, as we reported before the Goblins and the Worgen will join the Horde and Alliance respectfully and on top of all that new race/class combos have been added such as Human Hunter and Tauren Paladin.

All in all new content is never a bad thing for this gaming juggernaut so we expect it to be as epic as always.  We’ll definitely be keeping our eyes on this for the 11 million users out there.  Also in true Blizzard fashion there is no release date for this expansion so expect it to be soon.

Hit the jump for a full list of goodies.

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Future, the special-interest media group and games media publisher, has announced an international partnership with Blizzard to publish World of Warcraft: The Magazine, the official magazine of the record-breaking MMORPG.

Debuting this weekend at the BlizzCon 2009 event in Anaheim, Calif., World of Warcraft: The Magazine is a new quarterly publication that covers all aspects of the industry-leading MMORPG, from game content to the players themselves. Launching simultaneously in English, French, German, and Spanish editions, the new magazine will be available via subscription only, sold through World of Warcraft Account Management or direct from www.worldofwarcraftthemagazine.com (which launches at 9.00PST/17.00GMT on Friday, 21st August) The magazine is available as a one or two-year subscription, pricing for one year is $39.95 in the US and 34.95 EUR or 29.95 GBP in Europe – two year subscription packages cost $69.95 in the US, 61.25 EUR or 52.50 GBP.
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With BlizzCon just around the corner, it was inevitable that rumors would begin flying around about what is in store for the world dominating World of Warcraft, and today the usually reliable WoW.com has apparently confirmed a juicy rumor relating to new races in the game.

Wow.com has “learned through multiple sources close to the situation” that World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, the speculated title of the new expansion, will include the Worgens (Warcraft’s werewolves) and the usually neutral Goblins as the new playable races for the Alliance and Horde respectfully.

Rumours of the Goblins and Worgens joining the cast of playable characters began after in game Halloween masks (usually reserved for playable races only) were revealed on a test server. Also, to add fuel to the fire, last month Blizzard trademarked the named “Cataclysm”, thus beginning speculation of that being the title for the expansion in which these races will be featured.

These rumors do sound feasible as lead designer Tom Chilton has previously stated that any new playable races would have to be already in the game…unlike the Draenei in Burning Crusade, which literally dropped out of the sky.

The Worgens are enemies in the earlier levels in Warcraft and also featured in the newest expansion Wrath of the Lich King while Goblins are all over Azeroth as enemies, allies and merchants. Of course, today’s “news” isn’t official, so Warcraft junkies will have to anxiously await news from BlizzCon (August 21 and 22) to find out the real details behind what’s next for the world of Azeroth.

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Backs to the pillars and swords to the gates, its time for another edition of EpicBattleCry! This week, we discuss the new Grand Theft Auto 4 DLC pack, The Ballad of Gay Tony, face front on the news that Stan Lee will be a playable character in Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2, take a look at the Wii/DS exclusive Need for Speed: Nitro, and raise a glass to Double Fine for showing us all how to wield the axe as they counter-sue Activision over the attempt to cancel the release of Brutal Legend.

Battlefield 1943 has already sold over 600,000 copies on XBL and PSN. We take a look at the emerging download-only games market and ponder if these cas-core titles will rival on-disc releases in the not-too-distant future. Next up, we run down the movie/game crossover announcements coming out of the San Diego Comic Con including the Warcraft film and the Halo Legends anime.

The Battle Cry of the Week goes to Daigo Umehara, the reigning EVO 2009 Street Fighter IV champion, the Chicago Transit Authority for having its head shoved someplace dark, Warner Bros. for packaging coupons for the special-special edition of Watchmen with the plain old special edition, and Game devs and publishers who complain about Gamestop’s aftermarket profits but still send people into their stores with exclusive DLC.

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It’s official, Blizzard has posted a press release regarding the onscreen adaptation of the Warcraft Universe. Warcraft, as the movie is now being referred to as in the press release, now has a director to bring the popular fantasy universe to life on the big screen….none other than Spider-Man and Evil Dead Director, Mr. Sam Raimi. Blizzard Entertainment and Legendary Pictures have publicly announced that Raimi has taken the position and is “proud and honored” to be able to direct the film.

“At its core, Warcraft is a fantastic, action-packed story,” said Raimi. “I am thrilled to work with such a dynamite production team to bring this project to the big screen.”

Producing the movie will be the producer of “The Dark Knight”, Charles Roven, along with his partners and producers from Legendary Pictures. Raimi’s partner, Robert Tapert, will be an Executive Producer while Blizzard Entertainment’s Senior Vice President of Creative Development, Chris Metzen, will take on the role of Co-Producer. Chris Metzen is of course the genius assigned to creating and maintaining the lore behind Warcraft.

Thomas Tull, Legendary Pictures CEO and producer for the movie had this to say about Raimi,

“Sam’s passion for ‘Warcraft’ is undeniable and we know that he will create an incredible film worthy of Blizzard’s phenomenal franchise. We look forward to collaborating with our partners at Warner Bros. and continuing our successful relationship with Chuck in bringing this rich new world to the screen.”

“The film will fall under Legendary Pictures’ co-production and co-financing deal with Warner Bros.” No official dates have been announced for the start of filming. The movie itself has been in development since it’s announcement in May, 2006.  No cast members for the film have been signed on or announced as of yet. There’s a good chance we will be hearing more about the movie during the Blizzcon event happening towards the end of August. It’s likely that Blizzard will set up a panel to present Raimi to the public as the director and give us some feedback about the movie but no official word has been said.

We will keep you posted on more news about this film as it becomes available. To read the full press release from Blizzard, click here.