blizzcon-09
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BlizzCon schedule posted
Blizzard has posted the schedule for this year's BlizzCon event, and there aren't too many surprises at all. We already expected to see most of the panels, so while there'll be the usual favorites like lore and art panels for each game, and two different World of Warcraft class panels (those are always fun, with devs confronted by players with class balance issues), there aren't any unexpected sessions popping up. They haven't revealed, say, a "new WoW expansion" panel, or a "next-gen MMO" panel.That doesn't mean those won't happen -- it probably does mean we won't see demos for anything announced at Friday's keynote, as the schedule is pretty full already, but in the past when Blizzard has announced an expansion, for example, they usually spend a lot of time in the "Dungeons and Raids" panel talking about what they're doing with the new material. We'll have to see.Finally, it appears, somewhat strangely, that the live DirecTV broadcast on Friday might actually cut off the end of the popular contests at the end of the day -- the broadcast ends at 8, and the contests end an hour later. Hopefully stream subscribers won't miss out on some of the fun. They won't have that problem on Saturday, as the broadcast runs all the way through Ozzy's concert. And of course, don't forget to add our meetup on your own schedule -- we're kicking things off on Thursday night. Sounds like fun!Update: Blizzard has since retracted the schedule.Update x2: Blizzard has posted a new schedule. 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.
Preparing for BlizzCon: Last minute travel tips
BlizzCon approaches! Preparing for BlizzCon is your regular source for tips on how best to prepare for Blizzard's gaming extravaganza. These helpful hints are particularly suited for convention rookies. But if you are a con veteran, we'd love to hear your advice and wisdom in the comments as well.BlizzCon is this week! Here are some last minute tips for making your trip incident-free.Air Travel Is your flight on time? Almost all airports these days have websites that give weather and flight status. Also, you can call your airline to verify everything is ok. Get there early. If you are checking luggage, this is particularly true. Check in at least an hour before your flight if you are carrying on all your things. 2 hours is best if you are checking luggage. Check in online. Most airlines will allow you to check in online and print your boarding pass 24 hours before your flight. Don't forget your I.D. You absolutely need your I.D. for getting on the plane and getting your BlizzCon badge. Keep it in a safe place on or severely close to your person. Pack properly. Overweight and oversized luggage costs extra. This is the link to what you cannot bring on the plane. Also, if you are carrying your toiletries on, don't forget 3-1-1.
Felicia Day unleashes geeky pop single
I'll confess that I never had a crush on Felicia Day, the Internet sensation behind The Guild. I mean, I always thought it was cool that she wore her geek cred with pride, but it was just that -- awesome, attractive geek chick. Alright, so maybe it helps a little (ok, fine, it helps a whole freaking lot) that she Tweets about her D&D campaign or delights over gaming dice. But if you're an idiot geek like me who never got into the whole Felicia Day thing, resistance, as they say, is futile. The multi-talented entertainer, who showed her vocal chops in Joss Whedon's Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, also seems geared to become a pop star with the release of (Would you like to date my) Avatar, a catchy song about MMOs. And man, if you don't crush on her after this, you need to turn over your geek badge (even you ladies).The song debuted at the recent San Diego Comic-con, with the cast of the Guild sending fans into a frenzy when they took to the stage in full costume. Felicia Day goes wild with MMO innuendo, crooning, "don't care what's in your character bank, how 'bout a little tank and spank?" and "I'm better than a real world quest -- you'll touch my +5 to Dexterity vest." The song, available on Amazon for $0.99, is pure geek pop win. But if you want the full experience, the video features the entire cast of The Guild and their antics -- Vork and Zaboo with a short rap segment, Clara doing some back-up vocals, Tink stepping up with her dance, and Bladezz, well, he looks seductively at the camera. Check out the embed below to see what the video holds for you. If you're a fan of The Guild and headed to BlizzCon, you'd be happy to know Felicia Day and her crew will be making an appearance. Get the song or the video, memorize the lyrics, and who knows, she just might grant you an autograph. If you'll be at home during BlizzCon, just "grab your mouse and stroke the keys" because at least, as Codex sings, "in Cyberspace there's no disease."The video after the break!
Breakfast Topic: Did you order the BlizzCon live stream?
BlizzCon 2009 is just a few days away now, and unlike previous years, web and fansite coverage of the event might be a little thin (except here, we'll have 13 people at BlizzCon in one way or another). DirecTV has a bit of an embargo on audio/video coverage inside of the convention center, so there'll certainly be less live coverage of the panels and events this year in via that medium -- that is, unless you've subscribed to the live stream that Blizzard's offering with DirecTV. The service promises wide coverage, which hopefully includes all of the panels and the like. Now, the draw for the stream for some people is, unsurprisingly, the fact that you get a non-combat pet for ordering it -- the same one you get in your goody bag at the actual event. A little piece of the big time, so to speak. Or maybe $40 is the right price for a non-combat pet (six to eight weeks later). So, have you bought the live stream? Are you boycotting it because of DTV's monopoly on live coverage? If you did buy it, are you in it for the pet or the coverage? Do you just not care about it?
Cast of The Guild making an appearance at BlizzCon '09
Fans and followers of the popular web series The Guild, loosely based on World of Warcraft, should be excited to know that the show's cast will be making an appearance at BlizzCon this year! Blizzard Community Manager Nethaera confirmed the news with an announcement on the official forums. Blizzard's forum post on the subject says that The Guild will have both its own booth and its own discussion panel at BlizzCon, where the cast (like geek goddess Felicia Day) will show off exclusive clips from the show's upcoming third season. This is a great move by Blizzard, given that the show is clearly based off of WoW and the communities for each share quite an overlap. If you've never seen The Guild before, now would be a good time to catch up on what you're missing from this award-winning show at http://www.watchtheguild.com. 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.
Preparing for BlizzCon: Costumes
BlizzCon approaches! Preparing for BlizzCon is your regular source for tips on how best to prepare for Blizzard's gaming extravaganza. These helpful hints are particularly suited for convention rookies. But if you are a con veteran, we'd love to hear your advice and wisdom in the comments as well.Many people will be wearing costumes to BlizzCon. If you are one of them, there are a few things you should know: If you want to enter the contest, you should enter online by August 17, 2009. Blizzard will accept entries at the con, but only if enough people didn't pre-register. They have changed the costume rules a bit. You need to be wearing or holding any props you have. If you are bringing your costume for the competition, but not wearing it all day, see an Information Kiosk. There will be no general storage options available. More costume tips are after the break.
BlizzCon 2009 Goody Bag is full of StarCraft goodness
Despite the earlier announcement that StarCraft II would be delayed, it looks like BlizzCon 2009 is going to be all StarCraft all the time. Blizzard recently revealed through the BlizzCon website and a humorous post by Nethaera that the official swag bag will contain an exclusive "Raynor" n00bz vinyl figure in addition to Grunty, the in-game murloc pet in a StarCraft II marine uniform and a StarCraft-themed Authenticator. Although Grunty is a World of Warcraft pet, all three items are StarCraft-centric.Although Blizzard reveals these items, it's likely that there will be more swag awaiting BlizzCon participants considering past Blizzard events have had a plethora of items from bottle openers to beach balls. These items, presumably, are the literal and figurative big guns of the set -- perhaps to be accompanied by (taking a wild guess here) Diablo hand sanitizers, Warcraft toenail clippers, and a host of other tiny things attendees are likely to lose right after they've picked up the goody bag. The "Raynor" n00bz figure is not for sale, but is among a line of cartoonish vinyl toy figure products that include Ragnaros, Ghoul, and Murloc designs that will go on sale on the show floor next week. Blank n00bz figures will also be available for Blizzard fans to have a hand at creating their own designs in the tradition of designer toys such as Dunny or Qee. While we're guessing at what else could be in the goody bags, check out last year's swag in the gallery below. %Gallery-34142% 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.
Breakfast Topic: What do you think about Onyxia's return?
Onyxia is one of the greatest NPCs of vanilla WoW, from a lore, quest chain and raid perspective. Hands up how many of you have done the quest line to completion? Who visited Blackrock Spire? Who unmasked Katrana Prestor as the giant black Broodmother she truly was? Who got the key and then headed into the depths of Dustwallow Marsh? Who survived? Given my dragon fixation/interest/obsession, I was always keen to kill her. I would have completed the quest chain but for a little bug on the final quest. Still, it was easy enough to nip in once the need for a key and attunement was dropped. Then Varian Wrynn finished her off.And now she's back. I don't understand it either but finding out is certainly going to be exciting. Plus there's finally a 310% dragon mount that I actually want. So, constant readers, what do you think about this revelation? How do you think she will be brought back into the picture? Is it just something to keep us entertained until patch 3.3 or could it be part of the bigger picture? After all, this announcement has come just over a week before BlizzCon. It's gotta mean something, right?
The Daily Quest: We're watching you!
We here at WoW.com are on a Daily Quest to bring you interesting, informative and entertaining WoW-related links from around the blogosphere. Tree of Life has a great post looking at Norse influences for Northrend. Highly recommend that folks take a moment and read it. In BlizzCon Blitz over at Mystic Chicanery lessons learned at BlizzCon are examined. Serennia at the World of Ming looks at The WoW "Stigma." Our sister site Massively is looking for more bloggers! WoW.com is also looking for a Warlock Columnist. NCsoft contends the new MMO Aion will be second only to WoW in the US. Click here to submit a link to TDQ
Preparing for BlizzCon: What to pack in your suitcase
BlizzCon approaches! Preparing for BlizzCon is your regular source for tips on how best to prepare for Blizzard's gaming extravaganza. These helpful hints are particularly suited for convention rookies. But if you are a con veteran, we'd love to hear your advice and wisdom in the comments as well.If you don't travel often, packing can be rather daunting -- particularly with all of the post-9/11 air travel precautions. Because you'll probably be bringing back more than you take, I recommend checking a bag rather than trying to carry everything on the plane. Yes, the baggage claim area adds extra time, but checking your luggage will allow you to bring a larger bag and you'll avoid having to worry about 3-1-1.Though I have been humbled (and educated) by reading the exploits of a truly expert packer, I used to travel a lot for business and have several tips for the infrequent traveler heading to BlizzCon.
Looking for interview subjects at BlizzCon for 15 Minutes of Fame
The WoW.com team will be at BlizzCon in force this year. Between liveblogging the big announcements and resisting the siren call of the Diablo 3 demo stations, we want to talk to you, the loyal readers, and we don't mean just at our 3rd Annual WoW.com BlizzCon Meet Up. We are planning a special BlizzCon edition of our weekly interview series 15 Minutes of Fame and are looking for some candidates for the column. We are especially interested in interviewing those WoW players who have a unique approach to the game. Are you the oldest player in the game who doesn't play with family? Are you the youngest and shouldn't be reading this site without adult supervision? The guild leader who does things differently? The guy who plays without the UI/Keyboard/Talents, etc.? Are you famous for something in or out of Azeroth? Should we interview your entire guild at once?If you think you bring something special to how you play the game and will be at BlizzCon next week, send us an e-mail at 15minutesoffame at wow dot com explaining what makes you a candidate for this special BlizzCon Edition of 15 Minutes of Fame. We'll pick the most interesting stories and contact you to make arrangements to meet during the convention for the interview. If we get enough interesting emails, we may even pick more than one.Please send your emails by Monday, August 17th to give us time to read through them all and coordinate the interviews. Don't leave your story and contact info in the comments of this post, send them to 15minutesoffame at wow dot com."I never thought of playing WoW like that!" - neither did we, until we talked with these players. From an Oscar-winning 3-D effects director to a custom action figure artist and even a bunch of guys who get together for dinner and group raiding in person every week, catch it on 15 Minutes of Fame.
Pocket Books releases signing schedule for BlizzCon
Our friends at Blizzplanet have posted the official Pocket Books signing schedule for BlizzCon -- both Richard Knaak and Christie Golden will be live in attendance and signing throughout the weekend, and you can find the full schedule after the break. Both Knaak and Golden have written popular Warcraft novels, so bring your copies and you might walk away with them signed.As far as I know, this is the first sign of a schedule we've seen for the convention. Blizzard usually does announce a schedule of panels and events a few days ahead of time (and of course, when you get your packet there at the door, there's a program with the full schedule inside), but they usually cut it pretty close. As of this writing, eight days until showtime, there is no official schedule yet posted on the site.But this will give you at least one thing to plan on seeing (and we can tell you for sure that Friday morning will be the official keynote, with Saturday evening being the Ozzy show, if the way they've done it in the past is any indication). And as long as you're making a schedule up, don't forget to stop by our meetup on Thursday night -- not only will we have WoW.com staffers live in attendance, but there will be door prizes galore. More info on that soon.Schedule after the jump.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 are some great looking costumes.
Blizzard officially announces Ozzy at BlizzCon 2009
The Prince of F!@$#ng Darkness, Ozzy Osbourne, has officially been announced as headlining the closing concert at BlizzCon this year. We've previously reported on this, both in the rumor mill and then from a DirecTV listing.The DirecTV listing has since been changed to remove any reference to Ozzy, however it appears they jumped the gun on the announcement initially.The press announcement of the closing concert, which was just released this morning, doesn't give many details of anything special that will happen. Other than "Ozzy will unleash a thunderous spectacle of rock to put the Lich King in his place and cement his own title as the one true Prince of Darkness." Morhaime goes on to say that "Many of us at Blizzard are lifelong fans of Ozzy's music, and we're thrilled that he'll be performing for all of our BlizzCon attendees..."So there you have it. Rumor confirmed! I wonder what else might be announced... WoW.com will let you know!Edit: Check out the Ozzy splash at the World of Warcraft Homepage.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.
Preparing for BlizzCon: What to pack in your backpack
BlizzCon approaches! Preparing for BlizzCon is your regular source for tips on how best to prepare for Blizzard's gaming extravaganza. These helpful hints are particularly suited for convention rookies. But if you are a con veteran, we'd love to hear your advice and wisdom in the comments as well.Backpack, messenger bag, extra large purse -- whatever you are toting into the Anaheim Convention Center should be filled with a few basic things in order to get the most from BlizzCon. The catch is that it cannot be any bigger than 10"x20" and it cannot contain any of the following: Desktop computers, laptops, electronic storage devices (unless you have a press pass) Glass bottles, cans, large containers (this limits some of your food options should you choose to carry-in) Alcohol (leave your cool flask or teeny airplane booze bottles in your hotel room) Weapons and fireworks (Captain Obvious is making giggle noises.) Join us after the break for what you can and should stuff in your BlizzCon-bag.
Ozzy at BlizzCon confirmed!
digg_url = 'http://digg.com/music/Ozzy_Osbourne_to_play_at_BlizzCon_2009'; It's not a rumor and it's no longer a surprise - Ozzy Osbourne is going to appear at BlizzCon 2009, according to the program details of DirecTV. Unless Blizzard's partner for the live stream content is just goofing around, "a special appearance" pretty much confirms that the Prince of Darkness is going to perform in Anaheim this August. The news first started as a rumor that sprung from Zakk Wylde's Twitter message about a month back, corroborated by another rumor that another guitarist would be performing with Ozzy at BlizzCon.Here's to hoping that Ozzy Osbourne's special appearance means he'll actually rock out on stage. As cool as Level 80 Elite Tauren Chieftain are, I'm sure Samwise and his crew will actually enjoy the show (and who says they won't join up for one big supergroup?). Azeroth has its own Prince of Darkness, but having the real deal perform should be a special treat, just as it's sure to be something all fans can look forward to. It seems like another incentive to get the DirecTV package in addition to that cute, gun-toting murloc. With BlizzCon stepping up in the show department, I wonder what other big things are in store for us this year.Ozzy UK Blizzard commercial after the jump!Thanks, Milkingit!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 are some great looking costumes.
Breakfast Topic: Looking forward to patch 3.3 and the next expansion
So patch 3.2, aka Call of the Crusade, aka the Last Biggie Before Icecrown, has finally dropped. Yay. Woo hoo. Check out the doves we just released. But wait, just take a moment to gawp at the new content. Go on, you deserve it. Hogger's waiting for you, we understand. Oh hi! Back already? So, let's look forward to the future shall we? BlizzCon is mere weeks away (excited yet?) and we know with that lovely fanboy/girl certainty -- normally reserved for predicting tomorrow's sunrise -- that the next expansion is going to be announced. So, to speak of the future. I'm convinced patch 3.3 will hit before Christmas (I'm guessing around November to coincide with the Warcraft: Death Knight manga). So where does that put us for the new expansion? I can't see Blizzard waiting a year for the next expansion, not without any new content. But, I digress. Patch 3.3 is now officially incoming, it doesn't have a name or an ETA but it's coming. Can you feel it in the air? So readers, what do you think patch 3.3 will herald, aside from Sindragosa and the showdown with Arthas?
More fuel for the "Ozzy at BlizzCon" fire
Here's another rumor that points at just who we might be seeing on stage BlizzCon -- over on Roadrunner Records' Blabbermouth.net news website, there's a rumor going around that guitarist Gus G., who's part of a band called Firewind, will be playing with Ozzy Osbourne at this year's BlizzCon. This isn't the first time we've heard Ozzy might be there -- Zakk Wylde, who is apparently on his way out of Ozzy's band, previously mentioned that he might be playing there, but Blabbermouth says Zakk is out and Gus is in.Now, before you go all nuts over the excitement of seeing the Prince of Darkness at BlizzCon (and we don't mean Arthas), keep in mind that this is only the second in a series of rumors, both from sources who may not exactly be familiar with BlizzCon anyway (they're only writing about this because they're interested in who's playing guitar with Ozzy, not what's going on at Blizzard's convention). So we definitely don't know for sure what's going on at BlizzCon yet -- don't pack your "Bark at the Moon" t-shirt until you've heard the official announcement from Blizzard.Still, that would be an incredible show. I like Video Games Live and all, but they've never performed "Crazy Train" for us.Thanks, Rob!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 are some great looking costumes.
BlizzCon online store now open
This year's BlizzCon 2009 is just a tad over two weeks away, running August 21st and 22nd. We're expecting lots of big announcements this year, and the WoW.com staff is preparing to cover the event from top to bottom. One nice thing about this year is that we won't be waiting in line for any of our merchandise, at least anything that has to do with the current games.Everything is available for the next 48 hours to be purchased through the Blizzard Store. If you have a ticket, the original ticket buyer with the Battle.net account must go into the store and order the items. If you don't have a ticket or are not the holder of the Battle.net account which purchased the ticket, you're probably going to have a hard time seeing them, so we've made a gallery of the item listing for your enjoyment.While there's a few things that are unique to BlizzCon in the store, there's nothing really amazing, in my opinion. What I really want is a poster or shirt of the next expansion, and I'm not surprised it isn't in there. So maybe there'll be a little line-standing time after all (assuming they announce it, of course).If the gallery images are too small, click the "High Res" button located in the upper right-hand corner of the image page and they'll appear at their normal size.Lovely Black Dress also has a nice listing of some of the items, including a collage. %Gallery-69469%
Friday Night Gin: Your weekly Blue roundup
Good evening fine ladies and good gentlemen, I want to invite you to head over to your liquor cabinet, grab some of that fine gin and do with it what you will. I like mine without anything added, right at room temperature. Ghostcrawler prefers his with coffee. Once you're settled, come back to your computer and read up on the best of the blues and the ghostly-crab-crawler.Welcome to a new weekly column here at WoW.com. Each week we'll take a look at what Ghostcrawler and his cohorts at Blizzard have said about the game, highlighting all the important announcements and discussions.What Ghostcrawler says in particular is of great importance these days to WoW. A lot of the stuff he's talking about is reflective of the direction of the entire design team at WoW, and if you follow what he's saying you'll have a better understanding of where the game is headed.So after the break we'll wrap up what Ghostcrawler and the other blues had to say this week. This week's topic include: Battleground Focus, 5 Second Rule, On Class Representation Versus Actual Power, Going to heckle at BlizzCon?, Water Dungeon, Affliction Changes, Console WoW, Truth In Developer "Promises" About Change & An Angry Community, Amount Of Leveling, Phasing Technology, and Flying In Old Azeroth.
BlizzCon pre-sale starts Wednesday
If you were lucky enough to go to last year's BlizzCon, you'll know that the lines for the shop were insanely long. People stood for hours in them waiting to get their merchandise. That meant a lot of time away from all the rest of the exhibits, and a lot of frustration if you just gave up waiting in line for three hours.This year things are being done a bit differently, in that you'll be able to preorder all the stuff you want and have it shipped right to your home. There are a lot of special BlizzCon only items, so it's worth taking a lookThe pre-order online sale will begin this Wednesday at 10:01 a.m. PDT / 1:01 p.m. EDT. It will last for 48 hours, which means it ends on Friday at 10:01 a.m. PDT / 1:01 p.m. EDT. If you know what you want to buy before you get to BlizzCon, take advantage of this and do it now. I know that I'm going to pickup a poster I wanted.Because I really need to make my office more nerdy. Seriously.The announcement email and additional details after the break.
