• Desktop Wallpapers

Go a piece of art, be it a render or a sketch, we'd love to see it! Be sure to submit it. For a complext archive of eye candy, check out our Fan Art Gallery.

Comment

• 1. Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos
• 2. Neverwinter Nights
• 3. The Sims Vacation
• 4. The Sims
• 5. Backyard Baseball
• 6. Grand Theft Auto III
• 7. Medal of Honor: Allied Assault
• 8. The Sims Hot Date
• 9. The Sims Livin' Large
• 10. Warcraft III Collector's Edition

There it is.  Now we can all bask in Warcraft III's greatness.

A handy log allows users to submit more meaningful bug reports.  An even more handy combo box remembers the last 20 unique addresses entered.

A screenshot of it in action is available here. It should be a must for Mac Users, and you can find it in our Files Archive.

Vote this week to decide which of Blizzard's two mega RTS titles is the best game of its time.

Do you plan buy Blizzard's new project, Starcraft Ghost, when it's released?
Definately!	508	34%
Only if it's on PC	795	54%
No Way	152	10%
SC: Ghost?	28	2%
TOTAL	1483	100 %

A good number of votes this week, which signify strong opinions. It looks like out of those who votes, the vast majority of past Blizzard fans will not buy Starcraft Ghost. What's more, over of half of you like the game, but are not getting it because it's going to be going on console only.

Is this a bad business decision on Blizzard's part? Perhaps, but one must keep in mind that they'll also get a huge number of new customers from the console. Still, it does make those die hard PC Fans feel left out...

Want to discuss anything about Starcraft Ghost? Visit the Forum.

He also has his account for sale.  Only $1000 :) I still don't get why people would buy Warcraft 3 accounts...

• Comments

Your job is it to protect the king in the middle of the map from being killed. Every level (25 total) a certain type of enemies will attack from north, east, south and west. Train Clone Soldiers, Elven Archer, Cyborgs, etc. and three unique heroes in your Clone Facility and Officers Training School to fight back the attackers

Interested? Download it here.

Got a map? Upload it instantly into our archive. For other great scenarios, check here.

After the recent success of Warcraft III, it's hardly surprising that Vivendi is looking to stay in the games business, and Cron affirmed that Vivendi Universal Games is "an integral part of the future" for the French company. Nevertheless, the troubled conglomerate has over $18.5 billion worth of debt to deal with, so there may indeed be more news on this in the future.

That is reassuring, we won't need to worry about Warcraft 3 buying the whole lot.

Currently, there's two interesting mods. One that allows campaign makers to place Night Elf Villagers, and the other that changed Death and Decay to what it looked like in the beta.  Check it out:

Warcraft 3 Mod Index

Creating Your Own Skins and Modifying Models

Submit Mod

Custom Skins

Remember, we want your mods. If you've customized Warcraft 3 in any way, be sure to send over your work.

Stuck with an ally that used Necromancers as archer's and doesn't know how to raise dead, I'd say I didn't do too badly. Check it out here.

Got a Replay? Be sure to send it to our Replay Archive. With over 200 replays, it's a great place to check out what other people are doing.

Another point he touched base on was the death of CC.  This is NOT true.  In fact it, and I quote, "Is far from it".  A new domain has been purchased and they are now getting CC to use it with Recon Networks.  You can find the new CC at http://www.campaigncreations.org/.  However, the site is still not up so please be patient as the CC staff gets everything squared away.

The reason for this post was to clear up any misconceptions that any of our viewers may have had at the request of Hercanic.

• Wallpaper's Archive

Abn avid digital artist? We'd love to see and publish your work, be it a sketch, render or whatever else. So if you're feeling creative, make a submission.

Apparently Campaign Creations made copyright infringements by publishing one of his campaigns that he specifically told CC's former leader RSX no to, this along with arguments, has caused Desler to make the decision of redirecting the domain elsewhere. Consequently Campaign Creations exists no more. If you're interested in good campaigns, try The WorldCrafters.

• Ghoul Forestwalk
• Strategy Index
• Submit Yours
• Comments

In addition, Gamespy has also staged a two page interview with Bill Roper. Now this is more interesting. Especially Roper's reply to PC Gamer's concerns that Blizzard is abandoning them:

The work on StarCraft: Ghost doesn’t impact the World of Warcraft team. It doesn’t impact what the Warcraft III team is doing next. It doesn’t preclude us from doing anything else in the StarCraft universe. We certainly don’t see StarCraft: Ghost as being something that replaced StarCraft II. It’s just as likely that StarCraft II will be released at the same time as Ghost. We had two Warcraft teams working at the same time. I think it’s a difficult thing to look at. We even see big assumptions based on our web site. We’ll pull something off and people will go, "Oh my God, they pulled material from the web site. Now the game is being delayed!"

We highlight the point that he says 'It is likely that Starcraft II will be released at the same time at Starcraft: Ghost', Starcraft II? Is that an unofficial confirmation that Blizzard is working on it? Read the rest here. Kudos to Isaac for the news.

A remake of the classic super Nintendo game of the same name, the RPG is designed for Battle.net and quite excellent all around. It's hours of fun, and is arguably one of the coolest RPGs on Battle.net

Download it here.

For other great scenerios, check out our Map Archive. Publish your own automatically via our submission form.

Blizzard has reactivated ladder play for the CD keys of players found to have used map hacks in Warcraft III ladder games. Because of their use of hacks to gain unfair advantage in ladder games, these players were temporarily banned from ladder play two weeks ago, and their ladder records were removed. These players can now play ladder games again, but accounts used to run the hacks have been deleted.

I hope the hacker's have been taught a lesson, and won't recommit their heinous crimes. The next time Blizzard deals punishment, the bans may well be longer.

We have adjusted the amount of experience points lost/gained when playing in a ladder game against opponents of lower level. Ladder players will now lose less experience points when losing to players of a lower level, and they will now gain more experience points when winning against players of a lower level. The experience points awarded/lost by lower-level players when playing higher-level players remains unchanged. (The maximum difference between players matched via the Anonymous Matchmaking system is still set at six levels.)

The following example illustrates the adjustment: If a Level 7 players defeats a Level 6 player, the Level 7 player will now gain 95 experience points (as opposed to 60), and the Level 6 player will lose 60 experience points (as was the case prior to the change). If the opposite occurs, with the Level 6 player defeating the Level 7 player, then the Level 7 player only loses 105 experience points (as opposed to 140), and the Level 6 player gains 140 experience points (again, as was the case previously).

We made this balance change because it was becoming exceedingly difficult for players to advance past the current high level (17). It is now slightly easier for higher-level players to continue advancing. For a breakdown of experience gained/lost per ladder game based on the levels of the players, please visit our Warcraft III Ladder Rules page

These balances change are quite welcome and should add a new sense to the game.

This time though, it's not because the game needed payment per month to play.... in fact the game itself was quite well received... however, Blizzard fans have always being PC Gamers, and the fact that the new game is console only made errm, just a few people angry.

In this week's poll, we ask you, do you plan to buy Starcraft: Ghost unconditionally, or only if it had a PC Release? Be sure to vote.

Discuss the topic in our Starcraft: Ghost forum.

On September 20th, Blizzard will announce one of the projects they've secretly been working on. What do you want it to be?
Diablo 3	90	6%
Starcraft 2	578	41%
War3 Expansion	316	23%
A Totally New Game	416	30%
TOTAL	1400	100

It seems that all in all, Blizzard had made the most popular decision in terms of what type of game their project is. Out of all the choices, Starcraft 2 was the most popular while a totally new game was second. It seems Starcraft: Ghost has the best of both, it's the sequel to Starcraft, and yet it's of a genre Blizzard never tried before...

Yet people are not happy, quite angry in fact. Why? It seems the fact that the game is released only on consoles has left many Blizzard fans feeling betrayed, this we will address in a future editorial, as well the new poll.

• The exact platforms that Starcraft Ghost supports are not yet decided, but it definitely won't be developed for PC or Mac.
• Starcraft: Ghost is a third person shooter, and will form an integral part of the Starcraft Storyline.
• You play as a Ghost named Nova.
• You will gain control of all the abilities a Ghost has in Starcraft, as well as plenty of new ones.
• Nova will be able to read minds of enemies, see through walls, scale fences, and have superior reflexes. There will be something similar to Bullet Time in Max Payne.
• There will be Vehicles to drive, so far, Blizzard confirms that the Vulture and the Wraith are in.
• Nearly all the units in Starcraft will make a return, and feature their abilities, such as burrowing Lurkers and whatever else.
• Unlike Thief, players will feel like they're in a massive battle, and will be able to call down Yomato and Nuclear strikes, as well as reinforcements.
• Blizzard has not yet decided whether Starcraft: Ghost will support online gaming.
• The Game is planned for a late 2003 launch.

Read the rest of the preview here. Screenshots can be found over at Gamespot, and War3.com. Want to discuss it? Check out our Starcaft Ghost: Forum.

Today at the Tokyo Game Show Blizzard Entertainment announced its newest product under development, StarCraft: Ghost. In this 3D tactical-action console game set in the legendary StarCraft universe, players will take the role of Nova, a lethal Ghost operative trained in the arts of espionage and tactical combat.

As a Terran Ghost, Nova will employ an amazing array of physical and psionic abilities. Nova will also have access to a host of hi-tech weapons and vehicles, some of which will be familiar to players of StarCraft and Brood War.

Check out the official announcement in our latest press release. You can also see more of Nova, her adversaries, and some of the interactive 3D environments that she'll be infiltrating at our new StarCraft: Ghost Web site.

Be sure to visit Blizzard's sites to get all the news on their latest game.  We'll be covering this around the clock.

Starcraftghost.com Registration

What does this mean? It’s almost definite we're going to see a Starcraft Game, with a ghost, unless Blizzard has registered the domain just to fool us! News brought to you by NightRaven, from out Project X forums of course!

• IM HERE SOMEBODY CALL
• FOR AN EXTERMINATOR
• CALL THE SHOT 
• IM ALL OVER IT 
• NEVER KNOW WHAT HIT EM    
• IM ABOUT TO OVERLOAD MY AGGRESSION INHIBITORS   
• BLIZZARD ENTERTAINMENT IS PROUD TO ANNOUNCE    
• ROCK AND ROLL RACING II   
• JUST KIDDING 
• NOT MUCH LONGER NOW
• YOU CALLED DOWN THE THUNDER NOW REAP THE WHIRLWIND

Well, Blizzard is certainly getting a laugh out of this. For the latest, check out the forums... There's 144 users online, and any updates will be posted there by somebody within 5 minutes. This is getting really fun :).

For those that do not know, Metal Gear Solid is a third person shooter that is based on stealth and tactics, which would much a Ghost quite well. However in opinion, this rumor is no more than an educated guess.

Blizzard knows that it gained its popularity and fun base from its PC Market, and hence would be rather foolish to make a Console Only Game. They could however, quite possibly, develop a game that supports both PC and Console.

Discuss in the Project X Forums.

• The Background Picture Changes every hour, and becomes clearer as you go alone.
• The countdown timer flashes green at certain seconds...

So what could this mean? Well first of all, we present you with three pictures of how the background image has evolved over time:

• http://www.blizzard.com/bg57100054-03.gif
• http://www.blizzard.com/bg41699821-04.gif
• http://www.blizzard.com/bg90904106-05.gif

So what does it look like? It seems to be a reflection of a portrait of someone over the pond.. my theories have been suggested. A Ghost? A Protoss Warrior? Zeratul? Of these I'll bet on the former, why? Let us take a look at the green flashes.. We quote directly from Mazrim, a visitor of our Project X Forums:

The timer flashes blue at certain seconds. (Only seconds 1-26). This is a code for letters. We took all the flashes recorded and it spelled: somebodycallforanexterminator backwards.

Ah... so what has this intriguing code spelt so far?

• Somebody call for an exterminator
• Call the shot
• I'm here

Exact quotes a ghost in Starcraft... could this mean that we have a Ghost FPS? A Squad based Elite Forces game set in the Starcraft World? Such a game would not be called Starcraft 2... and hence is not ruled out by Blizzard's statement below. For Blizzard did deny making Warcraft 3 a while ago, just before they announced Warcraft Adventures...

Ahh, Go more quotes? Send them over. And of course, check the Project X Forums, where Infoceptor staff get the latest news from about Project X :).

Finally, we got an update from DeathViper about the Java Sourcecode used to update the timer. We won't list the enter code, WarBucket was kind enaugh to do it. But we'll list the java source code of the area of interest that displays these hidden Starcraft Messages:

private int[] iBlueDigitsLocations = { 3, 1, 12, 12, 20, 8, 5, 19, 8, 15, 20 };

If you have no knowledge of Java, it'll be hard to understand. But I'll try to explain, on the first line, there's an array, that tells the program which seconds to flash, with a = 1, b =2 etc... For instance, in this version, we have Call the Shot. Blizzard changes this array by the hour.

Essential Links

• Project X Forums
• The Countdown Timer Discussion
• Counter Down Timer Sourcecode Discussion

This isn't just any timer, but one that flashes green for certain numbers... also the picture in the background is becoming clearer over time... find it here.

What could it mean, and what can it signify? Well, go take a look and discuss in our forums.

Beyond WoW, what is the future for Blizz strategy titles?

"To be honest, we're not really working on any new strategy titles right now. I think that after Warcraft 3 is done, we'll look at the next thing we want to do. Is that going to be a strategy game? I don't know. I would say that whatever it is we're not going to be content just to redo something as before. Every time we do a new game, we try to have a combination of elements. We want to introduce something very new. We haven’t ever sat down and decided on a specific direction for our strategy games" - Bill Roper

Just another fact to put into consideration... Got a hint or a lead? Be sure to discuss it in the Project X Forum.

What strength and weaknesses do these new races have and how best do you defeat them, especially when your supply of gold is so limited? What are the weaknesses of the Hellcasters and Doom Guards? Find out:

• Mission 6: A Destiny of Flame and Sorrow
• Walkthrough Index

That leaves only one mission left!

Got a strategy? We'd love to publish it. Be sure to send it over via our guidelines.

Among the names most recently suggested as potential targets are the game businesses of struggling Franco-American media giant Vivendi Universal, which is rumored to be on the block for as much as $2 billion and Japanese publisher Sega.

Microsoft is currently on a mission to buy game developers to boost the sales of their console, the X-Box, we certainly hope Blizzard isn't a target. The full report is available here. Kudos to Swifty for the news.

Comment

Download it here.

Remember that we're always on the lookout for cool maps to highlight here, so if you've got one, be sure to upload it. Check the wide array of cool scenarios in the Map Archive.

So when is Starcraft II coming out?
(Laughs) We're not working on Starcraft II. So,who knows when its going to come out? We do love Starcraft and want to go back to [it] and I'm sure we'll do another one some day. Everyone asks this question and it's hard to say no. But the answer is we're just not working on it right now.

While Blizzard has known to mislead viewers in previous occasions when it came to keeping their projects secret, they've never been known to deny something outright. This should come as no surprise though, as the project that'll be announced will either be the one developed by Blizzard North or the one by those who made Warcraft 3. The former never made Starcraft, and the latter is mostly likely working on the expansion pack.

The news with blatantly ripped from our Project X forums. Be sure to visit it if you wish to discuss this secret project.

Interested? Find out the tools you need, and how you'd go about doing it in our latest tutorial:

• Warcraft 3 Map Maker Tutorial

In addition, Infoceptor is currently compiling a custom/mod archive for Warcraft 3, much as we did for Starcraft. If you're a talented modder, and would like to share what you've down with sounds of people, be sure to make a submission. Doing do will ensure that you're work in there for every to see the day when the section is launched.

The Project X Forum goes live as of today, so you that can post all the speculation you want. Check it often, as chances are, any news about the project will be on the forums before it gets posted here:

• Project X Forum

Check it out...

In this week's poll, we're not going to bother with what you think it'll be, but rather more to heart, what do you want this project to be? Would you rather see the storyline of Warcraft 3 continued, a new installment of Starcraft, more demons in Diablo 3 or something totally new? Vote today.

Comment

On Battle.net, which race do you play as primarily?
Human	138	18%
Orc	141	19%
Night Elf	150	20%
Undead	114	15%
Random	207	28%
TOTAL	750	100 %	..

While it looks like races are of fairly even popularity, it seems that distinctly fewer people choose to be Undead. This is surprising, are the race was rated as the race that people most wanted to play prior to the release of Warcraft 3.... Well the race certainly isn't week, so is it just because abominations are too unappealing?

Greek Law Number 3037, enacted at the end of July, explicitly forbids electronic games with "electronic mechanisms and software" from public and private places, and people have already been fined tens of thousands of dollars for playing or owning games. The law applies equally to visitors from abroad: "If you know these things are banned, you should not bring them in," said a commercial attaché at the Greek Embassy in London, who declined to give her name.

Internet cafes will be allowed to continue to operate, providing no games-playing takes place. If a customer is found to be running any sort of game, including online chess, the cafe owner will be fined and the place closed.

Eeeek.... The law also applies to tourists. So if you or you're family and thinking of going to Greece for a Holiday...think again. Those caught playing computer games (shock horror!) can be fined thousands of Euros and put in jail for up to a year. You can read more here.

• Armor Analysis
• Strategy Index
• Submit Your Strategies
• Comments

1) Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos (Vivendi)
2) The Sims (Electronic Arts)
3) The Sims: Vacation (Electronic Arts)
4) Medieval: Total War (Activision)
5) Medal of Honor (Electronic Arts)
6) Icewind Dale II (Vivendi)
7) The Sims: Hot Date (Electronic Arts)
8) Neverwinter Nights (Infogrames)
9) Backyard Baseball 2003 (Infogrames)
10) Madden NFL 2003 (Electronic Arts)

Hmm Vivendi really shouldn't sell Blizzard...

Crazy Jim, who was also a Warcraft III beta tester, became the first person to win 1,500 matches and obtain the coveted Death Wing icon. Congrats to Crazy Jim for his hard work. Crazy Jim has also managed to place in the top 10 in the 1 vs. 1 ladder and has held the number 1 position in the 2 vs. 2, 3 vs. 3, and 4 vs. 4 ladders.

This guys is errm... dedicated. For him to have achieved what he did, he would have to have played an average of over 24 games per day. Assuming the average game takes 25 minutes, that would be 10 hours of Warcraft III each day... ouch.

Comment

In Sheep Ball, you and up to 5 team mates take on six other players as your hurl a fiery ball around the screen. Like soccer, the goal in simple, hurl the flaming ball into your opponent’s goal to win!

Unlike Starcraft and other similar maps, Sheep Ball features a real ball that can be picked up (by sheep), dribbled, and thrown about. It bounces off walls, and does lots of other crazy stuff. You can even tackled the enemy... well a great game for a Lan Party.

Download it here.

Interested in other cool scenarios? Check out our Map Archive. What your map featured here for thousands to see? Upload it instantly!

• Orc 'Start'egy
• Strategy Index
• Submit Yours
• Comments

Dozens of high quality Warcraft 3 maps are available in our archive. If you've created a cool scenery, be sure to upload it, instantly.

On a final note, the staff here at Infoceptor extends it's deepest sympathies to those who lost family members and loved ones on September 11th, 2001.

Secondly we have also added another application for campaign creators and mod makers out there. YobGul's file converter allows you to extract Warcraft 3 Graphics and separate them to models and skins. Find it here.

If you've created a program that is not listed, be sure to contact me. We'd like make this place a great resource for all the useful files that enhance your experience.

Blizzard Entertainment will be making their next product announcement at the Tokyo Game Show. The press conference will be held at the Hotel New Otani Makuhari on Friday, September 20th, at 9:00 AM.  A second press conference will be held immediately following at 10:15 AM.

There'll be a lot of rumors floating around. As far as we see it, there's really only two possibilities. The first is that this announcement is that of the secret project Blizzard North has been working on since Lord of Destruction. They say that they're tired of the Diablo world for now, and hence we're likely to see a game based on a completely new universe. Though there's a chance it could be Diablo III.

This second is that it's the expansion for Warcraft III that Blizzard almost certainly be producing... As for which will be announcement, we can only hope, and wait.

- Small footprint - single exe, no additional library is required
- Supports 255 clients
- Can be used for other games
- Compatible with most firewalls

Note that this program only works with Windows XP/2000. You can find it in our Warcraft 3 Files Archive.

Kudos to Dlplayer and Jeff Wright for the news.

However like all dungeon crawls, there's rewards to be gained, some of the best items in the game, such as the Necklace of Spell Immunity lie here. In addition, this one question has half a dozen mission secrets that'll make your life a lot easier later on!

So where's the Giant Level 10 Panda? How do you best use the Goblin Land Mines? And how can you get the Furbolg Ursa Warrior? Find out!

• Night Elf Mission 5 Walkthrough
• Walkthrough Index

We'll have more installments for you soon.

Remember, if you have a strategy to contribute, be sure to submit it. We're always looking for new ones to post.

A new week, time for a new poll. Without delay, here's are the results to the previous one:

In your Opinion, which tier 1 Missile unit is the best in Warcraft 3? [Comment] Archer    284    27%  Rifleman    315    30%  Crypt Fiend    235    22%  Head Hunter    133    13%  Hate them all.    88    8%  TOTAL 1055 100 %

Are you a good chess player? Well this is the moment for you. Gone are the days where you're stuck looking at a 2 dimensional board at Yahoo Chess, now you take on the classic board game in the glory of the Warcraft 3 Engine!

This Chess game has everything you could want, four races to choose from depending on your taste, placed where dead pieces wander around, highlighted squares of the locations where you can move... It beats the chess map for Starcraft by miles! A screenshot of it is available here.

Download Warchess Now. (58 kb)

Intersted in other cool scenerios? Check out our Map Archive. What your map featured here for thousands to see? Upload it intsantly!

• Warcraft 3 Files

With all these programs, you might be wonder how to make use of them all. Never fear, we'll have a tutorial up soon that tells you exactly how to import new skins and models to make your maps even better.

In keeping with our aggressive stance against hacks and cheats, we have closed 20,000 accounts that were found to be using Warcraft III map hacks, and removed their ladder records. In addition, the CD keys of those offenders have been banned from ladder play for two weeks. We will continue to monitor the Warcraft III realms for malicious players. Please note: repeat offenders can suffer permanent removal from Battle.net if they continue to use hacks.

We regret having to employ these extreme measures; however, certain unscrupulous players have impaired the game play of the Warcraft III community as a whole, and severe action continues to be warranted and required.

We appreciate your understanding and cooperation in this matter. If you would like to report additional instances of hacking or cheating, please contact us at hacks@blizzard.com. Thank you again for your continued support.

-- Blizzard Entertainment

It's welcome seeing Blizzard having such an aggressive stance against these hacks to preserve fairness.

• Firestarter
• Warcraft III Strategy Index
• Submit your strategies
• Comments

Included in an updated version of the MPQ Viewer with a Warcraft List File, the popular MPQ 2000 that gives you ability to make custom patches, and DJBnJack's tool that allows you extract skins directly from Warcraft 3. In addition, we have an exlsuive program by Darky of Zeldacraft that'll convert .mdx files to .obj files for Warcraft 3 Model editting. Check them out:

• Warcraft 3 Programs

Do you have a nifty utility that you want to see distributed? Be sure to send it in.

Our next strategy features the Undead and the use of Banshees to posses the ever-popular Huntresses.  LordGeezer includes an easy to read summary and detailed instructions on how to execute this.  It's a good read (I promise) and I suggest you go take a look.

• Screaming Banshees - Stolen Huntresses
• Strategy Index
• Submit Your Strategies
• Comments

The interesting thing this time is that CmBaseBall is selling his account, with a current offer at $635. Whoever buys that account might fight it at 0 wins the next day... so errm, don't buy that account. Kudos to XxGeckoxX for the news.

Comment

Is there are way to get stable resources other than harvesting gold? What is an effective way in getting through the human blockade and why weaknesses to these Satyrs have? Find out:

• Mission 4: The Druids Arise
• Walkthrough Index

• ZeldaCraft Forum
• ZeldaCraft Homepage

So how in the world do destroy that persistent enemy? There has to be some sort of trick... and there is. Without it, anybody without exceptional micro skills and a totally timed build order specific to the level won't stand a chance. Find out:

• Mission 3: The Awakening of Stormrage
• Walkthrough Index

We'll have more installments for you soon.

Rememebr, if you have a strategy to contribute, be sure to submit it. We're always looking for new ones to post.