Blizzard introduces most powerful World of Warcraft weapon ever

Davey Winder
Sunday, 29 June 2008 23:06

Business IT - Networking

Now Blizzard Entertainment, the company behind World of Warcraft, has made perhaps its most powerful weapon ever available. The twist being that you cannot use it in the game, but rather it protects the player in real life. The Blizzard Authenticator is, you see, a hardware security token which protects the account name and password when signing in to the game.

Once associated with your World of Warcraft account, the Authenticator token has to then be used before you can actually login to the game. It works by generating a disposable six-digit pass code. This unique, valid once only, active for a limited time, code has to be entered before a login can be activated. It provides and additional layer of security to what is, after all, fast becoming a very valuable resource: your virtual life.

But just becuase it is a powerful weapon do not be fooled into thinking it must also be an expensive one,. Far from it, as the Blizzard Authenticator goes on sale for just 6 Euros (AUD $9.60) plus shipping.

"It's important to us that World of Warcraft offers a safe and enjoyable game environment," said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. "One aspect of that is helping players avoid account compromise, so we're pleased to make this additional layer of security available to them."

I would have called it the Code Breaking Gizmo of Blizzardo though...