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World of Warcraft 10 Year Anniversary gift arrives
The 10 year anniversary of World of Warcraft decided to wrap up in style with a special gift mailed to players that have been with the game since the very beginning. Players who created an account within 60 days of World of Warcraft's original launch and have maintained their subscription for all ten years have been mailed a very special physical gift -- a miniature recreation of the orc statue that graces the courtyard of Blizzard Entertainment's home in Irvine, CA. If you are eligible for the gift, you should receive an email indicating your gift is on the way at your registered Battle.net email address. This is probably one of the nicer statues I've gotten from Blizzard. It looks very much like cast bronze, but I believe it's the same resin material used for their deluxe line of action figures. And although I say it's a miniature recreation, it's not that small -- the statue measures roughly 9" from base to tip of the taller axe. The base includes a message on the bottom that reads "The orc statue is a constant presence in our life at Blizzard Entertainment. It's where we meet to talk, to eat, to celebrate. As we celebrate ten years of World of Warcraft, we present this token of appreciation to you, stalwart adventurer. Thank you for being a constant presence in our lives as we adventure together." Head to Battle.net for more information regarding eligibility for the gift, and be sure to check out our gallery for shots of both statue and box.
Bringing holiday cheer, Blizzard-style
We know that Blizzard celebrates the holiday season in-game with plenty of decorations and tacky sweaters, and as it turns out their real-world celebrations aren't that different. For this holiday season, the famed orc statue in front of Blizzard HQ has gotten its own special holiday makeover -- and, yes, it now sports its very own tacky sweater. On the plus side, the orc and his wolf mount both look like they're better suited to brave the cold months of (California) winter... and they've managed to be festive while still supporting their faction with horde-logo holiday gear. Of course, this begs the question: what can we do to get our own tasteful winter gear? (And does it involve learning to crochet?)
Man forced to choose between his wife and his orc
The Scottish Sun reports that a Scottish man made the news for having to choose between his wife and his orc. 42-year old Robert Cushnie was the proud owner of a life-sized World of Warcraft Thrall statue, one of several that Vivendi commissioned from Studio Oxmox to promote Warcraft III (along with a Night Elf female statue). The telecommunications manager scored the 185cm. tall statue when a toy store in nearby Falkirk closed down six years ago. Much to the dismay of geeks everywhere, Cushnie's wife Dee wasn't comfortable sharing her home with a green-skinned orc and threatened to move back to her Canadian homeland if her husband didn't ditch the Horde Warchief. His wife reportedly said that there was "no room for (the orc) in our life," and Cushnie prudently chose Dee, whom he married in February 2009, over the huge statue. "I just don't like it," Dee said, "I'm only 5ft 3in, so it towers over me, which is quite creepy." The statue was adopted by a couple in Aberdeen, Michael Thomson, 61, and his wife, Patricia, 55, who report that their 16-year old granddaughter is thrilled with the acquisition. "We wanted him because he's so unusual," said Patricia. Robert and Dee will move to Canada later this month sans the orc. "I'll miss him," Cushnie said, "but I'm glad he's gone to a good home." As this little episode proves, not even the most badass orc can mess with marital bliss!
Blizzard maps out BlizzCon
There she is, the BlizzCon map for 2009. As you can see, there's an extra hall than last year (and two more halls than a few years ago) -- Blizzard has rented out the flnal hall of the convention center, so there are four whole halls filled with Blizzard activity. This also means that they don't have to go into the conference rooms on the second floor -- the panels will be held either on the mainstage or in the new panel discussion stage area. We're not sure where Ozzy will be held; in the past, concerts have been over in the arena attached to the convention center, but with one big room dedicated to a main stage, Blizzard may just set things up in there this year.Everything else is pretty expected -- there'll be a Retro Arcade and an Art Gallery again, and statues of Kerrigan, Illidan, and the Orc and Wolf model to check out. One interesting note is that there are playable areas for both Diablo III and Starcraft II (we'll probably see the singleplayer mode of that game playable for the first time) as well as World of Warcraft, so if a new expansion is announced, we might get to see some of it playable already. And of course, all of Blizzard's partners will be in attendance as well. Excited yet? BlizzCon 2009 is coming up on August 21st and 22nd! We've got all the latest news and information. At BlizzCon you can play the latest games, meet your guildmates, and ask the developers your questions. Plus, there's some great looking costumes.
Sons of the Storm to appear at BlizzCon, unveil another member
The Sons of the Storm is a kind of artists' collective connected with Blizzard -- they're responsible for the majority of the concept and game art coming out of Blizzard, from the Warcraft, Starcraft, and Diablo series. They count Samwise Didier and Chris Metzen in their ranks, along with many of Blizzard's most popular artists. And apparently their ranks are growing -- on their latest website update, they have posted a new group picture, along with a mysterious "eighth son" that they say they will introduce sometime later, possibly months after BlizzCon. From left on the picture above, you can see Samwise Dider, Chris Metzen, René Koiter, Travis Thammer, Glenn Rane, Peter Lee, Mark Gibbons, and the Eighth Son, who a commenter over at Blizzplanet speculates may be Wei Wang.Speaking of BlizzCon, the Sons site also says that all of the seven current sons will be signing at the convention, so be sure to bring your TCG cards, Warcraft novels, art books and anything else these guys may have worked on. We're sure there'll be a line, but if you're willing to brave the wait, you might get to meet some of the most creative minds behind Blizzard's beloved universes.
The Blizzard Orc Statue and compass points of wisdom
Hey there WoW.com readers! You're probably wondering who the hell this guy is. And by this guy, I mean me. I'm a writer over at Joystiq, where we sometimes jealously watch all the fun stuff our sword and spell-wielding counterparts over here get to do. Luckily, and only by means of geographical location and the fact that they were showing off Starcraft 2, I got a chance to tour the Blzzard campus and take a lot of snaps if you know that I mean. Wink wink, nudge nudge.These will be featured in a story over on Joystiq at some point today, but in the meantime here's a sneak preview just for WoW.com readers. You may already know about Blizzard's massive courtyard Orc statue that's in the process of being installed in the front of the main building, but you might not know about the tenets engraved on each of the eight compass points that tout Blizzard's mottos. There's a peek at all of 'em in the gallery below, and they're also listed just beyond the break. Read on for more, check out the statue and points gallery below, and stay tuned today for the drool-worth tour photos.%Gallery-67016%
Bronze Orc statue footage via GametrailersTV
We've already seen pictures of Blizzard's bronze Orc statue finally arriving on their campus courtesy of the OCRegister, but Gametrailers TV has done one better: Video.The clip, while brief, has really been making the rounds through the community. I can see why! Even though it's only a short glimpse, it gives a much better sense of scale than pictures did. It's some fairly heavy duty equipment swinging the pieces of the statue around! It's really a shame that Blizzard (or someone doing it on their behalf) didn't film the whole thing for us to watch, I really would have loved to have seen it. This statue has been hyped up quite a bit for awhile now, it's sort of a shame that the 'ceremony' wasn't very easy for most of us to see.My favorite line about this particular statue came from Mike Morhaime at BlizzCon 08, long before it actually appeared on their campus. I don't remember the exact quote anymore, but he said something to the effect of, 'The statue is going to be cast from solid bronze. Long after all of us are dead, that statue will still be floating around somewhere. Thousands of years from now, an archeologist will dig it up and think to themselves, 'Wow, humans were ugly back then.' Many thanks to everyone that's sent this link in over the last day or so!
