As you may recall, Rob Pardo was the keynote speaker at this week's GDC in Paris, only days before the Worldwide Invitational in the same city. He delivered a speech laden with a lot of insight into his and Blizzard's inner workings and philosophy, but not much in the way of new information about WoTLK, as Natalie reported yesterday.
However, Gamesindustry.biz is reporting that Pardo did let a rather major piece of information slip in the final Q&A session that wrapped up on the conference. It looks like there may be a new game announcement at the Invitational later this week after all. Someone asked Pardo to comment on the Diablo 3 rumors that have been whizzing around the net lately.
"So you want me to announce the game before our announcement?" he said. "No offense, but I think there's like 300 people here, and I'll be ripped apart by 8000 people there [at the Invitational] if I pre-announce it - but it's going to be really exciting. I think everybody here will be really excited about the announcement."
Luckily, among those 8000 people at the Worldwide Invitational will be three of our own, so you can expect WoW Insider will be on top of this announcement when it drops. In the meantime, be sure to check our in-depth analysis of the latest changes to Blizzard's splash screen, which is almost certainly a teaser for this announcement.
[Thanks for the forward, Centipede!]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
6-25-2008 @ 2:08PM
Bourgeoisie said...
An announcement about an announcement!
Only Blizzard can make this much hype.
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6-25-2008 @ 2:17PM
rick gregory said...
Hmm... he doesn't actually say that they'll be announcing a new game. Reread it - he merely says they'll have an announcement. Which, frankly, would be expected. That announcement could be D3.... it could be that SC2 and WotLK are beta... it could be something totally different.
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6-25-2008 @ 2:26PM
beaubot said...
"So you want me to announce the game before our announcement?"
Good thinking, it's best we ignore the words "the game' from that sentence.
6-25-2008 @ 2:40PM
rick gregory said...
Yeah I saw that. I think you're placing a lot of emphasis on the word 'the'. If he'd said 'a game'...
And, frankly, I think that they will announce a new game. I'm just in a picky mood and on my 3rd cup of coffee.. :)
6-25-2008 @ 2:50PM
Smurk said...
rick is right that the statement acknowledges an announcement, but not specifically an announcement of a game (any game).
He would have to be a pretty big moron to clue anyone in to the nature of the announcement several days before it takes place -- this is what he was saying.
Some people are already convinced that it's gonna be D3 and are looking for "proof" like this. And it may turn out that they do announce D3 this weekend -- but the above quote sure as frozen hell doesn't make it more or less likely.
6-25-2008 @ 8:08PM
PimpyMicPimp said...
I'm sure they will announce Diablo 3, the timing is so right, but it will be like Starcraft 2; just an announcment and no beta or anything really in sight.
6-25-2008 @ 2:34PM
peaglemancer said...
I'm just guessing here, but I think they crafted the shirt he's pictured in out of my grandma's bedsheets.
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6-25-2008 @ 2:49PM
onyx.ceilican said...
What level is Grandma's tailoring at anyway?
6-25-2008 @ 2:49PM
William said...
Your grandma is missing HER bedsheets too? so weird....
6-25-2008 @ 3:42PM
Hilus said...
LOL at 6, 7 and 8!
6-25-2008 @ 2:41PM
Haderic said...
somebody is going to catch a sh*tstorm back at blizzard headquarters for using "the game" wording
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6-25-2008 @ 2:46PM
Theadrick said...
Diablo III
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6-25-2008 @ 3:26PM
GoldMonkey said...
Uh..wow. Does anyone ACTUALLY think this announcement is anything besides the same old boring WOTLK stuff?
I mean the frikking splash page everyone is hyped about is clearly deathknight/northrend/rune system related....same old junk!
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6-25-2008 @ 7:16PM
Nick said...
One Rune was WoW, One Diablo, One SC... research first please...
6-25-2008 @ 4:36PM
Aubrey said...
Yes.. I totally think it's a "game" announcement and not a date announcement. If it's Diablo III or something new is not known, but I've never seen Blizzard do a front page like that (since 1996) and not follow it up with a new game annoucement.
6-25-2008 @ 4:30PM
Retron said...
Yeah, and there's no chance that all the WotLK imagery is there to throw everyone off about the big announcement. Blizzard can be accused of many things, but severely disappointing fans is not one of them. After Pardo's phrasing and all the hype around this weekend, simply announcing a release date for WotLK itself would be a crushing blow to fans' expectations.
Read the quote again, and imagine he's only talking about Wrath (which people have seen in a leaked alpha for god's sake)...talk about 8000 people ripping him apart!
6-25-2008 @ 6:03PM
Seajay said...
'simply announcing a release date for WotLK itself would be a crushing blow to fans' expectations.'
erm... what?
6-25-2008 @ 7:05PM
Retron said...
Uh maybe I phrased that badly. I meant, if they _only_ gave a Wrath release date as the 'big announcement'.
6-25-2008 @ 4:47PM
Chris said...
transformers MMO
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6-25-2008 @ 5:06PM
bashfullson said...
Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed
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