This week at E3, BioWare announced a new expansion for its acclaimed MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic. This will be the fifth digital expansion for the game which was released in 2011 and will feature a raised level cap to 65, new storyline missions, and new companions to fight alongside with.

GCD News was able to get the reactions of gamers on the expo floor just after the news broke:

"When I heard SWOTR was releasing a big expansion, I was like 'Awesome! That game is still running. Good for them.'"

"I can't wait to get home and see if I still have it installed!"

"My husband and I were worried that all those devs were unemployed. We're relieved to say the least."

"Ah man, I used to play it so much in college, so hearing about it brings me back. I had a lazer light sword sabre and was all like 'zzzzrrooom, zzzzrrooom' and then I was like 'the dark side is your father, noooooooo! Die Darth Ewok!'...Oh man I smoked too much weed back then. Also, right now as well."

"Are you SURE they were talking about SWTOR? I was thinking during the annoucement they meant Battlefront but for whatever reason kept saying 'Old Republic'."

"Meh, call me when you can play as a Wookie."

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Knights of the Fallen Empire is due out sometime this fall.

We have all been there, hammering F5 trying to refresh our browser the exact moment E3 tickets come on sale. Inevitably, thousands of gamers, fans, and 'others' are left empty handed, forced to sit at home and wait for information to trickle out onto blogs. Good news, gamers, this may all be a thing of the past.

The Entertainment Software Association, the company that brings us E3, announced this week they launching a new initiative that will allow a record number of people to experience the expo the way it was meant to be.

Dubbed "Living the Stream", these new tickets pair up those who missed out on tickets to the event with a ticket-holding volunteer equipped with the latest in video streaming technology, giving the opportunity for thousands of fans to be there in spirit. "We wanted to take advantage of the ever-growing popularity of live streams. But, we know that one of the biggest draws of watching the stream is the personality of the streamer," explains the event's lead director. "Anyone who purchases a "Living the Stream" will be able to choose their own personal streamer based on their interests."

Sponsored by Twitch, this new program seeks to tap into the mind-bottlingly massive revenue potential of people who seem to enjoy choosing to give money to people who they are watching play computer games. Some features of the "Living the Stream" tickets include:

• Watch every keynote address through the eyes of an audience member who fell asleep in the hotel room but managed to catch the last 8 minutes
• Be riveted as your personal streamer spends nearly a half an our haggling the price of a WoW plushie from $20 to $18
• Experience the 45 minute wait to get that guy who played Dale in "The Walking Dead"'s autograph
• Catch all the updates from your favorite upcoming MMO as your personal streamer refuses to leave the developer's booth for nearly three hours, making awkward small talk and jumping in to answer questions from other patron's before the Devs have a chance to do so
• Appreciate the irony of the over abundance of "hipster version" cos-players
• Be "that guy" who picks up all the swag left behind or dropped by other expo-goers
• Love Chiplotle? Good, because there's one across the street from the venue and chances are your personal streamer will be eating there 2-5 times a day

To purchase "Living the Stream" tickets, please visit: 'www.e3.com/faketickets/livingthestream' and enter promo code: "GCDNEWS".

Every MMO goes through its own growing (or shrinking) pains, so it is no surprise to see that five months following its release, talk of server merges in Trion's MMO ArcheAge have dominated the forums. While many players feel that consolidating servers would breathe new life into the game, there are many questions that need to be answered due to the way the game goes about many of its core mechanics, namely player housing.

The biggest worry for most players is how server merges will affect the housing system since it currently operates under a  "first come, first served" policy. For those who are forced to move to a new server, all of the prime housing locations would already be claimed making it impossible for new arrivals to experience one of the game's biggest draws. Thus, Trion has recently announced an upcoming housing-focused expansion that will address these concerns.

Dubbed the "Social-IST (Social Intervention for Server Transfers) Expansion", Trion will be utilizing a portion of Patron Pass income to fund the creation of developer-subsidized housing in Erenor. These shelters will be free to all players who are homeless upon arriving on a new server in order to attempt to level the playing field with those who have been on the server since launch. "Since we can't provide equity of opportunity," stated one developer who worked on the expansion, "we felt it was our responsibility to try to provide equity in other ways. Creating developer-subsidized housing seemed like the ethical choice."

Not all players are pleased with the news. Karl McEwin took the the forums and wrote, "My older brother gave me my plot when he quit playing last month. He stayed up all night one night to make sure he was there when the servers first opened to get it. Many a Mtn Dews were drank and Hot Pockets consumed that night and I can only assume he took at least a few days off his life to lay claim to our gorgeous beachfront property. Why should I be punished despite all the hard work my brother put in? Anyone new to the server needs a lesson in hard work. If they just try harder, they will get what they want!"

Another controversial feature of the Social-IST expansion will be a new 10% tax on all transactions that include gold, including loot drops and quest rewards, that will be distributed to all players who have been on the server one month or less. "We know what's best for our players," said the Trion dev. "Sure, there are a few players who own premium housing locations and have made stacks on stacks of gold, but they've never lived a day in a server transfer's shoes." In order to be eligible to receive this benefit, all a player has to do it login and "/w ObamaDev: goldz pls".

The Social-IST Expansion is slated for late summer 2015.

Blizzard developers recently revealed that there are no future plans to allow flying on the new continent of Draenor because they feel that it makes the world a smaller place. There are very few in Azeroth who believe this weaksauce reason. Thus, GCD News went behind the scenes and did some dumpster diving outside the Blizzard offices to find the truth and you won’t believe what we discovered (other than the shockingly large quantity of gas station burritos consumed by Blizzard employees)!

The real reason why Blizzard does not want you flying on Draenor is...POOP!

Yes, you read that correctly.

The real reason why Blizzard won't let you fly over Draenor is due to the fact that cleaning the massive amount of digipoop created by flying mounts is a massive drain on company resources. Imagine thousands upon thousands of brown sky-nuggets falling to the ground from dragons, gryphons, wyverns, drakes, rays, cloud serpents, hippogryphs, druids in shape shift, mages on carpets and every other shit filled flying thing in the world that is Warcraft.

For us gamers, the world is always clean and the air is always fresh as we don't see what goes on behind the scenes during server downtimes. We've been able to locate an ex-developer who worked at Blizzard who has shed some light on this situation:

Ex-developer: "I worked as the VP of DPC (DigiPoop Collection) at Blizzard. My team and I were responsible for cleaning digital poop in World of Warcraft."

GCD Pants: "How come we have never heard of this problem before? Why is it such a big secret?"

Ex-developer: "The reason no one has heard of it is two-fold. When flying mounts were first programmed, the code created its own residual code whenever a flying mount was used. If the mount didn’t expel this extra code, it would crash the server. The demand for flying mounts was so great, Blizzard just decided to deal with the digipoop instead of having to start from scratch to fix it.

The second reason is because because of the money Blizzard spends on it. Do you know how many servers we needed for just maintaining this shit? There are entire server farms dedicated to storing the poop before it is ‘flushed’. More than half of the extended downtimes in World of Warcraft's history were due to someone on our team flushing the poop well before they were done causing a server tank refill delay."

GCD Pants: "So not allowing flight in Draenor will reduce the server load?"

Ex-developer: "Indeed! They have cut down the shit quantity in Draenor by 60%. No doubt some employees are going to take home a big fat check for cutting down the poop into smaller manageable chunks."

There you have it, straight from the poop cleaners mouth! Now the true reason for not allowing flying mounts in Draenor known, now it's up to the players if they want to keep putting up with Blizzard's shit.

No one will ever forget the year 1327 AE, when Scarlet Briar and her minions unleashed a massive and deadly attack on the fabled city of Lion's Arch. Although the battle only lasted several days, the effects of the conflict are still felt to this day as the wreckage of the villain's massive airship 'Breachmaker'  have forever changed the city's landscape. Nearly a year later, the Lionguard and its allies have all but completed their massive rebuilding project, hoping to bring their home back to its former glory.

However, not everyone in Tyria is looking forward to the 'new and improved' Lion's Arch. As citizens begin to return, some have questioned if these changes are for the better.

Artist depiction of the 'new' Lion's Arch

One refugee who has recently returned to her home found herself out of a job shortly thereafter. "Before the war, I used to gather tiny fangs and make Minor Runes of the Ranger to sell to heroes passing through the city. Now you can't take ten steps without tripping over a merchant selling piles upon piles of vicious fangs and superior runes. Sure, the crime rate is falling and maniacal Secondborn Sylvari attacks are down 100%, but it feels like the city is losing its 'diversity'... if you get what I am saying."

This sudden increase in the quality of crafting materials will surely cause rent across Lion's Arch to rise. In the long term, experts predict the capital to be home almost exclusively to level 80s. "As auction houses and markets are flooded with expensive gear and crafting materials, prices of those particular items will fall slightly. This, in turn, will attract more and more level 80 characters to the city. However, as the demand for top tier goods rises, so does the price. It is expected that anyone not pulling in the salary of a max level will be forced to find a home elsewhere."

Citizens of Lion's Arch have also seen the arrival of new businesses seeking to capitalize on the changing social climate of the city. In the past three months alone, Chipotle, Forever 21, Target, 11 yoga studios, sixteen Starbucks, and one of those bars where you drink wine and paint a picture have all opened for business.

"I, for one, love what this city has become," raves a level 80 decked out in legendary and ascended gear. "There are more people like me here, if you catch my drift. Those low level green-geared peasants can go RP in The Grove for all I care... good riddance. Wait, that's not what I meant. I mean, I am NOT a classist, if that's what you're thinking. Some of my best friends are level 50s!"

Regardless of how anyone feels about the changes, they are here to stay. The long term effects will yet to be seen, but one thing is for certain: this is no longer your grandparents' Lion's Arch.

Almost one week ago, Daybreak Game Company took a giant step in combating player cheating in their popular MMO H1Z1. While other game companies quickly fix exploits and attempt to block various hacking methods, the number of accounts that are banned rarely numbers more than a few hundred. Daybreak took a different approach, summarily banning nearly 25,000 accounts in one fell swoop.

Over the next few days, Daybreak was inundated with hundreds of email apologies from players hoping to get their accounts reinstated. The response to these emails from John Smedley, president of Daybreak Gaming Company, was swift and to the point:

Dear Cheaters who got banned. Many of you are emailing me, apologizing and admitting it. Thank you. However.. You’re doing it wrong. If you want us to even consider your apology a public YouTube apology is necessary. No personal information please. Email me the link. And I will tweet it...Not trying to do anything other than highlight a serious issue.

Several players have already taken up Mr. Smedley's offer and have made public apologies via YouTube and have subsequently had their accounts given back.

Apology card sent to Daybreak Game Company

With the YouTube apologies being such a resounding success, Daybreak Gaming Company has expanded the options for players to have their accounts unbanned and have recently shared some of them with GCD News:

1. Apology card containing adorable pun
2. Flowers (red roses only, 3 dozen min.)
3. Handmade coupon book that includes such perks as "one free backrub" or an "anytime hug."
4. Donate five cases of Mountain Dew to underprivileged gamers
5. Wait outside  in the parking lot Daybreak Gaming Company and run up to a Dev as they leave work, groveling on your knees, begging for your account back



Apology sent to Daybreak Game Company
that includes one free back rub

6. Cookie cake with "I'm sorry I need to cheat to win at a game that in the grand scheme of life means nothing." (Blue frosting only)

It is the hope of Daybreak Gaming Company to be able to reinstate nearly all of the 25,000+ accounts by the end of June, because, well, money is money.

A banned player waits patiently for his turn
to beg at the feet of an H1Z1 Dev in person