Day 1 BlizzCon 2008 coverage from WoW Insider

Yesterday was the first day of BlizzCon 2008, a cornucopia of awesome for every World of Warcraft, StarCraft, and Diablo player on the planet. Though there wasn't the usual megaton announcement we've come to expect, there was a solid round of panels, interviews, and presentations for fans of Blizzard's numerous games. WoW Insider, Massively's big sister site, was onhand to get all the info you want to hear about. So ... here it is: BlizzCon Day 1.

	BlizzCon 2008 swag bag Fresh from the check-in lines at BlizzCon is our gallery of the all the contents of the goodies bag Blizzard gave us. Some real great things in there: special goo, a free authenticator, the special mount card, a beer bottle cooler, and either an inflatable frostmourne or inflatable bubble hearth beach ball.
	WoW Insider interviews J. Allen Brack Here at BlizzCon, we just got to sit down with the head honcho of our favorite game, J. Allen Brack, lead producer of World of Warcraft. And the biggest surprise of the interview wasn't a nice tidbit about the future of WoW (and its battlegrounds) or how class changes are made, though we did talk about both of those things.
	Class panel liveblog WoW Insider is doing a lot of coverage today here at BlizzCon in Anaheim, C.A. We've already live-blogged the opening ceremony, the U.I. panel and discussion, and up next will be the live blog of the class panel at 4:30 EDT / 1:30 PDT.
	BlizzCon 2008: The costumes The best part of coming to a convention like BlizzCon? Sure, the news is great, and it's fun to meet the devs and fellow WoW players, but let's be serious: everyone comes to see the costumes.

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	BlizzCon press conference with Mike Morhaime Mike Morhaime held a press conference earlier this afternoon, which WoW Insider was able to attend. I arrived a little late since it started before I finished up the UI panel liveblog, but I managed to catch a majority of the Q&A. Unlike the various panels, most of these questions were aimed at the philosophy and business model at Blizzard. How they've operated in the past, and how they'll operate in the future.
	WoW Arena Tournament down to top three teams After three straight heartbreaking losses against American team Selective Queuers, Worldwide Invitational champions Council of Mages bowed out from the tournament today leaving only three teams to battle it out for the prestigious — and kingly — prize of $75,000.
	BlizzCon 2008: WoW Insider's second annual BlizzCon Reader Meetup We had our second annual Reader Meetup last night here in Anaheim at The Lost Bar, and it was a blast. Tons of people showed up (maybe 200?), and every single reader we met was completely awesome.
	Notes from the BlizzCon 2008 Art panel Greetings from sunny Anaheim, California! One of this years WoW-related BlizzCon panels focused on the process and inspiration for the creation of the art for various aspects of Warcraft. There were a total of 7 people on this panel, lead by Chris "The Intern" Robinson, the Art Director for WoW. Also on the panel were other representatives from the various art teams, enough that there was some confusion as to where they were all sitting at first.
	New annual Oswald awards to premiere at BlizzCon '08 In a sign that machinima is becoming increasingly well-known and respected, Blizzard has decided to give out special Oswald award statues at BlizzCon this year for the best machinima videos.
	BlizzCon 2008 UI panel liveblog 12:00 PM: The gang just showed up on stage. Hellos answered with... silence. 12:02 PM: Tom Thompson and Derek Sakamoto introducing themselves, lots of applause.
	The first day of mayhem The crowds have been let in to the main convention center floor, and it is an absolute mad house of Blizzard fun here. BlizzCon 2008 has started in earnest, with a full day of panels and gaming ahead. Knowing Blizzard, it should be truly epic.
	Opening ceremonies liveblog 10:55am: Waiting anxiously for the show to begin. The crowd is excited and ready for a big announcement. WoW movie announcement? Mobile game announcement? Your guess is as good as mine.
	A sneak peek at the BlizzCon floor Our good friends at the Orange County Register were lucky enough to be let into BlizzCon yesterday (we'll be on the floor in just a few hours here), and they've got a preview gallery of what it's like in there up on their site right now.
	BlizzCon mount not usable until after BlizzCon Another quick note here, which I'm posting because the team at BlizzCon is at the Lost Bar right now (I make absolutely no promises as to the sobriety of anyone involved); we've found out that the polar bear mount plus attached flag-bearing murloc given to all BlizzCon attendees and DirecTV subscribers isn't actually going to be usable until after the convention ends.