[08.14.14] Robin Williams to be immortalized in 'World of Warcraft'

Following the heart-wrenching news of Robin Williams passing a few days ago, a small glimmer of happiness shines through with William’s getting one last opportunity to leave a lasting impact on the world. After a petition on Change.org to memorialize Williams in "World of Warcraft" garnered thousands of signatures, Blizzard responded on Aug 12 and granted the wish of fans.

Williams was an outspoken member of "World of Warcraft" and an avid gamer. He even named his daughter after one of gaming’s most iconic princesses, Zelda. Many members of the gaming community wanted to see a tribute to him because of his support for gaming in the form of a non-playable character within the World of Warcraft universe. "Because of his presence within our community, we the players of 'World of Warcraft' are asking Blizzard to kindly create an NPC within the game that memorializes the actor/comedian," the petition reads. The idea is to have the likeness of Williams perform some of his most iconic jokes “so that he may continue making us smile long after his passing.”

Cue the official @Warcraft Twitter handle crying victory for the thousands of supporters.

.@robinwilliams Thank you. You gave us so much joy in our lives, and we hope you enjoyed your time in our world. We’ll see you in-game.

Blizzard assured that William’s character “will be handled with great care” however didn’t release any more details on when or where his character will be making his debut performance.

[10.08.12] Ohio State Marching Band pays tribute to video games

If you were in attendance for the Ohio State vs. Nebraska football game on Saturday, you were in for quite a treat. The Ohio State Marching Band, otherwise known as TBDBITL or ‘The Best Damn Band in the Land’, earned their title when they put on a half time show that was an amazing spectacle, to say the least. With a theme of simply ‘video games’, they paid tribute to some of the most influential and groundbreaking titles over the last few decades. You don’t necessarily have to be a fan of video games to enjoy it either. The video has gone viral on Facebook with a range of users. The formations they create are incredible and impressive on their own right, and some of the images are universal symbols that most anyone could recognize, such as Mario, the mascot of Nintendo.

The show kicks off with a portion of the band marching in representing the space ship from “Space Invaders”, firing off shots into the aliens above. As the aliens explode, the mass suddenly transforms into two Pokéballs, and then the face of Pikachu, arguably the most famous Pokémon of all. Next, the band transforms into their first moving formation, Tetris pieces falling into place as the “Tetris” theme plays on. The “Mario” theme begins to play and sounds of coins and power-ups blast through the stadium speakers. This continues on for just over 9 minutes, touching on other hits, including “Halo” and “Zelda”, before finally reprising with the Mario theme, and finishing it off with the arcade hit “Pac-Man.”

If you weren’t one of the lucky ones to see it live, you can check out a fan’s video on YouTube, who was kind enough to capture the entire thing for your viewing pleasure.

Anthony Ortale writes news and reviews on behalf of Examiner.com. He does so much gaming in his spare time, it’s practically a full time job! If you like what you read here, please subscribe to his articles! You can also follow Tony on Twitter, or become a fan on Facebook! If you ever have any questions, comments, or concerns, feel free to email Tony any time at ortale.anthony@gmail.com, he’d love to hear from you