How many DVDs does it take to screw in a light bulb? ... Are we talkin' a Mega Texture light bulb that casts penumbra shadowing?

In an update to id Software's data dilemma, John Carmack tells Tom's Games, "We're pretty much resigned to the fact that we're going to make [Rage] fit onto two DVDs on the 360." In other words, Microsoft isn't about to write off the steep royalties that allegedly add up with each additional game disc. The good news is you'll only have to whine for mom to swap your Xbox 360 discs once. The bad news, as headlined last week, is that Rage for Xbox 360 will supposedly look worse than the PlayStation 3's Blu-ray version due to data compression. But how much worse?

"All of the key scenes, the things anyone is going to take a screenshot of are going to look exactly the same on both platforms," Carmack explains. "They'll get the high quality compression. But if you go into some areas in the wasteland, like behind a fence where nobody will typically go and explore, this is where the 360 version may look a little blurry compared to the PS3." We hear id's been sweeping some artifacts under the rug too. And watch out for those jaggies hiding beneath the bed!

When Diablo 3's Witch Doctor class was revealed, many of you -- at least one-fourth, by our estimates -- decried the perceived loss of the D2 Necromancer. Keep hope alive, True Believers, because D3 lead designer Jay Wilson tells MTV Multiplayer that it's still possible he'll rise from the dead.

Wilson admits that the dev team was divided on the topic of bringing back classes. "But after we've established Diablo 3 as its own game with its own type of gameplay and experiences," he said, "I wouldn't be opposed to looking at old classes ... We're looking out ahead of time at what our expansions are going to be, so we've got to keep room open for some of those other classes down the road." Wilson also said they designed the Witch Doctor so there would be room for the Necromancer. Now that we've got that settled, you can go back to complaining over the art style.

When we try to convince people to play World of Warcraft, it's usually because we despise them and want their real world lives to crumble around them as they try to convince themselves that their new sword is so much better than their last one. But be careful: Thanks to Blizzard's new recruiting push, others' motives for trying to rope you in may not be so pure.

Those who invite friends to the game and persuade them to pay for two months up front will get a free Zhevra mount, the ability to summon their referred friends and triple experience when they're questing together, up to level 60. It's tempting, but we hear that if you recruit a friend to Fury, you get the whole game. You know, just something to think about.

[Via WoW Insider]

After the beta announcement, we knew the hour of bewilderment was almost upon us. Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime announced in a conference call (via Shacknews) that the latest World of Warcraft expansion Wrath of the Lich King is coming this year between October or December. Morhaime actually said it was coming out this year, but "it's not coming out in the July to September quarter," which after hours of calculations left us certain of the Q4 2008 window. Brush up on your WotLK news care of WoW Insider.

[Via WoW Insider]

A marriage of MMO powerhouse World of Warcraft and mobile phones may seem technically unsound, but it's not exactly a pipe dream either. First there was the guy who sort of, kind of but not really was able to get WoW up and running on his iPhone, then there was Blizzard's own admission that it was trying to find a way to utilize cell phones for some sort of WoW application.

Now, it seems the team's been beaten to the punch by a couple of new iPhone apps. The first, Warcraft Characters, allows you to enter character and realm name and check out a few character stats (no gear, though). The second, WarcraftStat allows you to check your realm's status even when you're out and about, the implications of which are almost too depressing to consider.

OK, so they're not exactly fully-featured, but hopefully they'll pacify until Blizzard gets busy.

[Via WoW Insider]

Source -- Warcraft Characters
Source -- WarcraftStat

The world of Warcraft (and subsequently World of Warcraft) owes a lot to Lord of the Rings ... but this is outright thievery! We jest, of course, but The Eye of Acherus does bear a striking resemblance, palette swap notwithstanding, of a certain bling-seeking, fiery ocular orb. The folks at WoW Insider have more on how the orb is used in questing.

In other WotLK news, check out what WI is dubbing the quintessential Death Knight armor set.

This week's GameTap update un-Disney-fies fairy tales with the addition of American McGee's Grimm. Play as the crude title character in the first set of eight episodes over the coming weeks (schedule posted after the break). The game buffet also adds one other title for subscribers this week. Remember, the first episode of Grimm is free to play for all and all future episodes are free for the first 24 hours after release.

• Grimm (Windows) - One angry dwarf is bringing everything back to basics.
  
• Alien Stars (Windows) - A top-down shmup. So, pew, pew-pew, pew, pew-pew-pew, away.
  

Grimm is this week's addition to the GameTap gratis lineup. The full list of free ad-supported titles on the service can be found after the break.

Blizzard announced today that tickets for BlizzCon 2008 will go on sale Monday, August 11. Tickets will be priced at $100 a pop (as if Blizzard and co. weren't already deep enough in our pockets) and be available directly from blizzcon.com. The third semi-regular gathering of elves, trolls and spacemen will be held at the Anaheim Convention Center in -- where else? -- Anaheim, California on October 10 and 11. For those unwilling to venture forth, DirecTV will be broadcasting a pay per view version right to your dome in "crystal-clear HD" (scientifically proven to be better than real life). As a bonus, new DirecTV subscribers will get the televised BlizzCon access for free.

While no one knows for sure just what blessings Blizzard will bestow upon its faithful at BlizzCon, you can bet on seeing more of the Wrath expansion for World of Warcraft, along with some new details about Starcraft II and Diablo 3. If you plan to make the pilgrimage out to Anaheim, buy your tickets early -- there's not exactly room for everyone.

[Via WOW Insider]

Hoping to make a comeback with that 365-point quixotry play in Scrabulous? US and Canadian Facebook users were likely dismayed to find out this week that Scrabulous has been disabled. The region-specific lock likely has to do with Hasbro's license for all Scrabble video games, which is for US and Canada only (Mattel owns the rights for the rest of the world). In the interim, you can always play the official Scrabble Facebook app care of Electronic Arts, although it lacks the panache of the seemingly now-defunct Scrabulous.

[Thanks, Andrew B]

E3 may be over (and it may have not been the greatest installment of the event) but Big Download has some more game impressions from the show plus some other original features to check out. Here are the highlights from the past week:

Original Features

• E3 Impressions: Check out our impressions of games from E3 like Dark Void, Damnation, Operation Flashpoint 2, and Tomb Raider Underworld
• Here There Be Heroes: Exploring the Champions universe: Take a look at the history of this super hero pen-and-paper RPG and forward to the upcoming Champions Online MMO.
• Indiedaze:TIGSource Procedural Generation Competition: Take a look at the indie games who were the winners of a recent game development contest.
• Interview: Microsoft's Kevin Unangst: We chat with the Games for Windows general manager about their decision to make Games for Windows Live free and offer the first screenshot of the revamped UI for the service.

Downloads

• Far Cry 2 E3 trailer: Check out the shoot-em-up action in this trailer promoting the Ubisoft FPS
• Project Origin E3 trailer: It's both exciting and scary at the same time. It's footage from the Monoloth shooter sequel
• Dragon Age: Origins Trailer: Check out the first gameplay footage from Bioware's long-in-development RPG
• Dawn of War II Gameplay Trailer: Check out footage from this upcoming sci-fi RTS from Relic and THQ
• DC Universe Online E3 trailer: It's the first footage from Sony Online's upcoming super hero MMO

Will Wright gave the opening keynote today at the nerd-packed Comic-Con 2008, an event so chock full of fellow geeks we're hard-pressed to find a free patch of San Diego Convention Center floor to stand on. For the first half hour or so Will rattled off profound observations and inspirational quips at approximately the speed of light, leaving the second half of the presentation to an extensive demo of the civilization and space stages of Spore.

The touted reveal of the MashON Spore Comic Book Creator wasn't much more than a few minutes' discussion of the tool that will live at http://mashon.com/spore/, enabling players to take the creatures and other assets they make in the game and import them into an interactive comic book creation engine. A booklet passed out to attendees while waiting for the keynote tells us you'll be able to drag and drop screenshots taken in Spore right into the tool, add audio and video clips and other assets, create and lay out the entire story environment and share it with friends via email or Flash embed code. Users can rate and save other players' stories on the Mashon.com site and play them back as digital flip books as well as print them out. Wright talked about how the Comic Book Creator fits within the overall ethos of the game, which is about putting players more in the role of George Lucas than Luke Skywalker, allowing them to actually create the worlds themselves beyond just playing in them.

All you need to know about this week's GameTap update is encapsulated in one word: Fallout. There, we've said our bit. No word yet when Fallout 2 will make it onto the smorgasbord.

• Fallout (Windows) - "A post nuclear role playing game."
  
• Aveyond 2 (Windows) - A relatively new RPG that looks like an old-school Squaresoft game.
• Battle Chess (Windows) - Play chess, but watch the pieces on the board beat the pixels out of each other. Oh, how we long for an HD remake of this game.

Knights of the Round gets added to GameTap's selection of gratis games this week. The full list of free ad-supported titles from the service can be found after the break.

Gaming buffet GameTap just announced that THQ- and ValuSoft-published titles will begin finding their way onto the service starting this summer. Notable titles include:

• Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War and expansions
• Company of Heroes
• Red Faction
• Supreme Commander
• Saints Row 2
• Puzzle Quest
• S.T.A.L.K.E.R.

It's nice to see relatively new titles like Supreme Commander make the list. We're also curious to find out if Saints Row 2 releases on the service the same day as retail, similar to GameTap's deal with Codemasters. The THQ agreement is apparently a "long-term partnership" and some titles will also be made available on GameTap's free ad-supported service. This THQ announcement comes only a few months after Interplay returned and Take-Two committed to the service.

During our time at E3 last week, we were able to spend about an hour with a very patient Maxis Producer Thomas Vu, who guided us through a near-final build of Spore (the whole thing) and answered a barrage of questions. Here's what we gleaned from our play session, broken down into each phase:

• Part 1: Cell / Tribe Phase (after the break)
  
• Part 2: Civilization / Space Phase
• Part 3: General Information