Posts tagged Wwi at WOW Insider

Posts with tag wwi

Activision Blizzard ditches E3 and the ESA

Posted May 2nd 2008 3:00PM by Mike Schramm
Filed under: WoW Social Conventions, Blizzard, News items

Just in case you missed it when the news came out a few days ago, Activision Blizzard has apparently announced that they're not showing up at E3 this year. And hot on the heels of that information came the news that both Activision and Vivendi have pulled out of the ESA, an organization that acts as the main trade association for the videogame industry.

What does this mean for us as Blizzard fans? Not much -- not only is Blizzard already running their own E3-like conventions (Blizzcon and WWI), but Activision Blizzard is apparently planning to hold a press conference on the first night of the show anyway. Blizzard's properties have enough gusto on their own to get press with or without inclusion in a big event like E3, and it's Activision's other properties that might have to worry about exposure.

As for the ESA news, who knows -- Activision Blizzard's pullout might mean a big shakeup in the way the videogame industry as a whole is represented, or (if no other companies choose to leave the ESA) it may not mean much at all. Time will tell.

Diablo3.com acquired by Blizzard

Posted May 1st 2008 11:30AM by Mike Schramm
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Blizzard, News items, Rumors

A few weeks ago, we posted about a countdown on the site that was going towards May 1st, and if you check your calendars, you can see that the day has come, and Diablo3.com is now redirecting to Diablofans.com. There is a post on the site saying that Blizzard contacted the site a few months ago to pick up the domain name, and while the owner (who also runs I-Mockery) wanted it to stay a fan site, he couldn't help but sell to Blizzard. We had speculated that it would mean an official takeover, and while it hasn't actually happened yet (right now the redirect is in place, and we're not sure how long that'll be the case), it looks like we were right.

The obvious conclusion here, of course, is that Blizzard is ramping up for a Diablo 3 announcement -- no doubt sweet, sweet candy to the ears of Blizzard fans everywhere. And that's not a huge assumption -- it's been rumored for a while, and what other reason would Blizzard have to start marking their territory? Of course, as the owners of the Diablo trademarks, Blizzard could probably have claimed the domain any time, though from the post on the new site, it sounds like they actually paid money for it -- how much, we're not sure. (they didn't -- see update)

At any rate, if you're going to be optimistic about there being a Diablo 3, the new date to mark on your calendars is Saturday, June 28th -- that's the date that the Blizzard Worldwide Invitational starts in Paris. Last year, they used the event to announce Starcraft 2, so who knows -- maybe this year we'll see Deckard Cain in a cinematic saying, "It's about time."

Update: Actually, the I-Mockery guys said they gave it to Blizzard for free, just because they were Blizzard fans, which is kind of cool. Also, the redirect will apparently last until June 1st, at which point, Blizzard will take over Diablo3.com. Our guess is that then it'll redirect to Blizzard.com (see diablo.com), at least until an announcement is made.

WWI 2008 announced: no Wrath before July?

Posted Feb 11th 2008 1:30PM by Eliah Hecht
Filed under: Events, Blizzard, News items, Wrath of the Lich King

Blizzard today announced their fourth annual Worldwide Invitational tournament, featuring competition in all their current major games: Warcraft III, Starcraft, and of course WoW. It'll be held in Paris on June 28th and 29th. This is the first European engagement for the ongoing series. There will also be the usual excitement for a Blizz even, including developer panels, music, and "hands-on play" of both Starcraft II and Wrath of the Lich King.

Wait, what? Hands-on of Wrath? I may be reading too much into this, but that really makes it look like the expansion won't be released until after the tournament. Why would they have a hands-on demo of something that had already come out? So it looks like we're going to be waiting until July at least to get our Wrath on. Edit: Yes, I know we didn't really expect it before Q3 or Q4. But I like to hope. Suddenly releasing another raid doesn't seem like such a bad idea. More information on the WWI is available at Blizzard Europe.

Moviewatch Extra: Starcraft 2 trailer

Posted May 19th 2007 2:58AM by Eliah Hecht
Filed under: Events, Blizzard, Features, WoW Moviewatch

This is the Starcraft 2 trailer from the WWI announcement less than an hour ago. Do I really need to say more? Starcraft 2! Despite the fact that this is all CGI, with no actual gameplay showcased, it's still got me even more excited for what is sure to be an amazing game.

IGN liveblogging Starcraft 2 announcement

Posted May 19th 2007 2:26AM by Mike Schramm
Filed under: Blizzard, News items

Charles Onyett of IGN is in Korea right now liveblogging the Starcraft 2 announcement. Here's what I've pulled out of his hurried updates so far.

Game is playable (pray for a demo at Blizzcon), but nothing is final.
Protoss Zealots have their psi blades and shield, along with a new charge ability. There's a new Protoss unit called an Immortal, with a shield that activates when damaged-- looks like they're already implementing Paladins then.
A new Protoss unit called a Stalker can blink around-- Blizzard wants Protoss to quickly put an army anywhere on the map.
Three more new Protoss units: Colossus has long legs and can move quickly, Warprey is a flying unit that does more damage the more it focuses a ray on a target, and a Pheonix can overcharge weapons, but have a cooldown afterwards.
Zerglings can now become suicide bombs in a kind of rolling form.
There's a physics system in the game-- destroyed units can roll down ramps.
System can handle at least 100 units at a time, and looks "similar to SC1 - both in unit and map designs." It must be 3D, though. Right?

Still more to come, including hopefully video of the event. An opening cinematic was shown as well-- shouldn't be too long before we see that online.

Blizzpagewatch: Day 6

Posted May 18th 2007 11:00AM by Eliah Hecht
Filed under: Events, Blizzard

As Blizzard's game parade draws to an end, we return to your favorite game and mine, World of Warcraft. I must say this is a pretty boring image for them to have picked, although it does capture what the game world felt like around launch time for me. I didn't know talents from skills, epics from rares, or Ragnaros from my class trainer in Ironforge. But I did know dwarves and night elves, since my first character was a dwarf (hunter) and even back then, night elves were ubiquitous. One more day...

Blizzpagewatch: Day 5

Posted May 17th 2007 9:38AM by Eliah Hecht
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Events, Blizzard

In what is sure to be today's least surprising news, Blizzard.com has been updated again, this time to feature Warcraft III. One more day to go (WoW), and then all this furious pondering can rest for a bit. War3 maintains the dubious distinction of being my least favorite of the major Blizz games. I don't think that's a popular stance, but in my opinion, it took the formula that made War2 so fun and pleasant, and destroyed it through massive overcomplication. I can never manage to get more than halfway into the second campaign before I quit playing, and I've tried several times. This is sad, since I'd really like to finish the game so I'd have more of a lore background, although Know Your Lore is filling in a lot of gaps for me. What do you folks think of Blizzard's most recent RTS?

BlizzCon will get back to the classics

Posted May 15th 2007 2:11PM by Amanda Rivera
Filed under: Events, Blizzard, BlizzCon

Blizzard fans can expect to get an earful at their visits to the World Wide Invitational and BlizzCon this year. The classical orchestra Video Games Live will be performing at both live events in and Anaheim, at no additional cost to attendees. I guess we can call that more bang for your $100 bucks of BlizzCon admission.

As nifty a backdrop as this will be, particularly for the WWI and for what I am betting will be a great new Starcraft announcement, I can't help but feel disappointed. I was hoping to be able to hair metal out with my friends to another rendition of "I am Murloc." Level 60 Elite Tauren Chieftan, I miss you. I guess I will have to watch my TBC behind the scenes DVD and be satisfied with that.

[via Joystiq]

Story	More like this
All things Wrath	Wrath of the Lich King
Leaked: Wrath to be released in second half of '08	Wrath of the Lich King
The Guild season finale: Boss Fight	The Guild
An illustrated guide to Kil'jaeden's hats	Sunwell Plateau
Biggest sale on the Auctuion House	Breakfast Topics
It Came From the Blog: Revenge of the Orc-moms	ICFtB
The WoW Insider Library
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Event	Date
WoW Insider Arena Tournament	FRI nights
WSG weekend	5/16 - 5/19
Stranglethorn Fishing Extravaganza	SUN 2p - 4p
Midsummer Fire Festival	6/21 - 7/5
Worldwide Invitational in Paris	6/28 - 6/29
BlizzCon 2008 in Anaheim, CA	10/11 - 10/12

#	Blogger	Posts	Cmts
1	Mike Schramm	103	9
2	Adam Holisky	59	42
3	Daniel Whitcomb	52	48
4	Amanda Dean	39	0
5	Moo Money	32	27
6	Eliah Hecht	31	20
7	Elizabeth Wachowski	30	3
8	Zach Yonzon	29	0
9	Robin Torres	22	21
10	Alex Ziebart	22	2
11	Matthew Rossi	17	85
12	Sean Forsgren	13	0
13	Lisa Poisso	11	4
14	Amanda Miller	9	0
15	David Bowers	7	12
16	Jennie Lees	7	8
17	Shelbi Roach	5	1
18	Scott Andrews	4	0
19	Krystalle Voecks	4	3
20	Christian Belt	4	0

SCE Worldwide Studios gets new president Prince of Persia hitting shelves before year's end, ideally Beyond Good and Evil 2 in preproduction, awaiting approval	Breaking News: Death and Taxes guild disbands The Guild, season finale: Boss Fight It came from the Blog: Revenge of the Orc-Moms
Wait, did Cliffy confirm GoW2 four player co-op? [update] XBLA in Brief: Assault Heroes 2 X3F Week in Review: May 9, 2008 - May 15, 2008	Hand substitutions X-Play gets their hands on Order Up! Virtually Overlooked: Skate or Die
Disney's DGamer service launches today Tomy passes over Naruto RPG 2 localization in favor of Naruto RPG 3 Rock Revolution bringing the whole band to DS	SCE Worldwide Studios gets new president April NPD: hardware sales rising, no bestselling software Details on Phantasy Star Portable, import PSU characters

Activision Blizzard ditches E3 and the ESA

Diablo3.com acquired by Blizzard

WWI 2008 announced: no Wrath before July?

Moviewatch Extra: Starcraft 2 trailer

IGN liveblogging Starcraft 2 announcement

Blizzpagewatch: Day 6

Blizzpagewatch: Day 5

BlizzCon will get back to the classics

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