WoW Insider

"if they can work it out in a form they find acceptable, it would undoubtedly be popular."

Undoubtedly? A successful mobile MMO will look nothing like a successful PC MMO, and simply streaming the same experience over will be a flop.

If Blizzard is going to be as careful as they need to be, my guess is this thing won't leave the drawing boards.

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While the thought of being able to play WoW on my iPhone sounds cool, I can't help but think that the user experience would be greatly diminished by putting it on a small screen with no keyboard. The only thing I could see it actually being good for is bank and auction house management or simple chatting.

When I think about handheld gaming, I remember the one time I decided to buy a Sony PSP and immediately regretted it because it caused eye strain and the controls were physically uncomfortable (for a kid, they're probably fine) for my hands. If I had to choose between playing WoW on my IPhone or doing something else while away from my PC, I would probably opt to do something else fairly quickly for the same reasons.

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"There are a lot of games under the Activision Blizzard banner nowadays, of course, but WoW is the biggest one of them, and it's definitely the MMO Vollee would want to be working on."
I don't know about WoW being the biggest of them, Guitar Hero 3 had sold 8 million copies by July, and I would imagine GH4 would beat that. WoW does have the subscription, but then the GH has the DLC going.

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Of course, a "mobile" experience might not find its way to a phone... but there are rumors of companies working on ultra mobile multitouch computers - something in the 9 inch range for screen size. the implications of such a multitouch interface for WoW would be amazing - who needs keyboard shortcuts when you can just hit the spell on your screen? Who needs the WASD keys to run when you can just flick your finger or grab and rotate your character?

I could even see an experience like this extending to a smaller screen like an iPhone - you would have a limited access to spells due to real estate issues, but it could definitely work for short durations...

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Phone

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http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=9336872880&sid=1

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Another clue? The poll they are running on the general forum asking what kind of phone users have.

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It might be a subset of WoW. Suppose that any of your characters logged off in a city with an AH you could access the AH? Or for every character logged off in a town with a mailbox you could access mail? No need for fancy 3D rendering, just access to time-sensitive game features.

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Hear me now, believe me later. I believe this will be one of the major announcements for Blizzcon 2008. Probably not a fully playable game version but an interface to your armory profile, mailbox and hopefully auction house from your Iphone is what I am expecting to see.

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Oh sure, Blizzard claims WoW won't work on a console, despite the hundreds of millions of console in circulation right now, but putting it on a limited set of TELEPHONES with a base of less than a million people is a SURE THING.

Here's a giant hint: They're not putting WOW on a phone. At most they're putting a WoW-themed CHAT CLIENT on a phone. You can check your auctions, chat with your guild, check your guild's event calendar, do some bank alt stuff, etc.

Full fledged WoW on a phone isn't going to happen.

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I don't think anyone believe that they'll be playing full-fledged WoW on a mobile phone. Chill out.

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A mobile WoW fishing mini-game that skilled up your characters fishing and dropped the fish you catch into your bags or mail. I think that would be a fun way to kill some time on the train.

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