blizzcon-2009
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Ozzy Osbourne performing at BlizzCon 2009
Though it was meant to be a super-secret surprise, DirecTV recently let the cat out of Blizzard's bag, revealing that Ozzy Osbourne will be performing at BlizzCon via the event's Pay-Per-View description. Rumors of the Prince of Darkness' appearance have been rumored for quite some time now -- which may help explain why tickets for the event sold out in 4.1 seconds flat.Ozzy's performing at BlizzCon seems like a natural fit -- after all, if this old Wrath of the Lich King commercial is to be believed, Ozzy's fond of rolling through Azeroth as an Undead Warlock. However, if the same advertisement is any indication, he's really bad at it.
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?
BlizzCon 2009 sold out in just eight minutes
Not only was BlizzCon sold out in under a half hour over the two days tickets were on sale, turns out it was all done in eight measly minutes -- like an Onyxia run at lvl 80. Big Download took note of the reveal during Activision Blizzard's conference call with investors, where the publisher with more gold than the old Titan vault in Uldaman revealed the 20,000 tickets were auctioned off at $125 a pop in less time than it takes to be escorted out of a job interview for admitting a World of Warcraft habit. We spoke with someone deep in the Azerothian trenches, WoW.com Senior Editor Mike Schramm, who tells us, "The official line might be eight minutes, but I was there: the queue filled up in about 20 seconds. It may have taken eight minutes for the queue to go through and sell the place out, but if you were past about 1800 in the queue, you were out of luck. And they hit that number about 20 seconds in." Sad Pandaren.
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.
StarCraft II delayed to 2010
In an official press release, Blizzard announced today that StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, the first installment of the Starcraft II trilogy, previously indicated to be released in the last quarter of this year, is delayed to the first half of 2010.The release cited the massive amount of work necessary to overhaul Blizzard's online matchmaking service, Battle.net, as the main culprit for the delay. Since the new BNet will be part of every new Blizzard game from here on in -- including World of Warcraft, as players with BNet accounts have seen -- it's vital that the service be working properly before the game's release.StarCraft II was never officially dated -- only an on-the-sly indication -- and multiple financial sites have reported the now-official release date as the first half of 2010 following this announcement and Activision-Blizzard's quarterly financial report. What does this mean for the WoW player? Well, it means that if you were expecting the focus of BlizzCon, or one of the focuses of BlizzCon, to be a StarCraft II release date, you'd be incorrect.Gives you pause when you consider what else they could be announcing instead, eh?
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.
Preparing for BlizzCon: Virtual attendance options
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.So you weren't able to get tickets either by purchasing or winning them (though there is still time to win). Do you still want to experience BlizzCon, but without the odor and sore feet? There are ways to view the event from the comfort of your own home, for a fee, of course: DIRECTV is offering pay per view coverage for $39.95. There is also a special (that ends today) for if you are not a DIRECTV customer, but join up through Blizzard that offers the coverage for free. There will also be internet streaming footage. The price is also $39.95 and you don't have to be a DIRECTV customer to sign up. The tournaments will be streamed for the low, low price of free. Of course, we'll be covering every drop of BlizzCon here on WoW.com, but if you want to watch any cataclysmic announcements with your very own eyes, these options will make you part of the virutal audience.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.
WoW Moviewatch: Snacky's Journal, Episode 4
One of the mainstays at BlizzCon is the machinima contest – talented artists submit their movie ahead of the convention in hopes of winning fame and prizes. This year's BlizzCon is no different, and we're sure to see some great videos during the largest gathering of WoW players outside of Azeroth. Over the next few days let's take a look back at some of the winners and runner ups of last year's movie competition.The Grand Prize winner for last year's Machinima contest, and also the winner in the Drama/Romance category was Snacky's Journal, Episode 4. I can definitely see why it won. It has a great story, voice acting, editing -- it's just an all around, well done piece of movie fun.You see, Snacky is coerced (bribed) to go on a blind double date with his friend, only to find out that things are far more complicated... and profitable. I love the settings in Gadgetzan and the Darkmoon Faire, which are particularly appropriate considering the date is crossfaction. There is also an explanation in there as to why Murlocs have cash on them (though where the money is kept is still a mystery).I hope you enjoy it as much as The Spawn and I did. She's insisting on a replay. AFK.
Blizzard streaming BlizzCon tournaments for free, in HD
Blizzard has announced that they're streaming most of the tournaments at BlizzCon this year yet again -- even if you don't sign up to the DirecTV feed, you can still watch most of the Arena, Starcraft, and Warcraft III matchups online on the BlizzCon site. And this year, for the first time, you'll be able to watch them in full HD quality (assuming that your connection can hold up). There will be one full stream dedicated to Arena matches, and one stream split between Warcraft III and Starcraft tournament coverage.And what you see should be some of the best players in the world -- all of the qualifiers from North America, Korea, Europe, and Taiwan will be in attendance to vy for the top spot and the $25,000 per-player prize. The stream will be running both days of BlizzCon, coming up in just a few weeks on August 21st and 22nd.[via Starcraft.org]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 barcodes being sent out
Those lucky enough to score tickets to BlizzCon this year should start to see their BlizzCon barcodes arrive in their email boxes today.The barcode system is a new one for Blizzard. You will need to print out the email you receive and bring the barcode with you when you pick up your badge at the convention hall. We highly recommend picking up your badge the day before (Thursday) so you can enjoy waiting in long lines to get into the place on Friday morning for the opening ceremony.You should receive a separate email and separate barcode for each person for whom you bought a ticket for. My tickets are going to a few WoW.com staff members, and the first of them came through this morning. Another email came this afternoon.Initially we were not going to run this story until we heard from Blizzard directly that these emails were real and legit, however a very large number of people are reporting receiving their barcodes. The barcode email comes from pnmi.com, which is not a blizzard.com address. Because of this we have contacted and are waiting for Blizzard to verify the email. We'll update this post when we hear back from them. I find it perplexing that Blizzard would drum into our heads for years telling us only to trust a blizzard.com source, and then have a massive email sent out that isn't from blizzard.com without telling us about its legitimacy before hand.Update: Blizzard has confirmed these emails are legit.So check your email and check your spam folders! My guess is that sending out all the badges will take a day or so.
WoW Moviewatch: Divided Soul
One of the mainstays at BlizzCon is the machinima contest – talented artists submit their movie ahead of the convention in hopes of winning fame and prizes. This year's BlizzCon is no different, and we're sure to see some great videos during the largest gathering of WoW players outside of Azeroth. Over the next few days let's take a look back at some of the winners and runner ups of last year's movie competition.Continuing from yesterday's Rumpus, today we'll look at the winner of last year's drama category - Divided Soul by Martin Falch. The movie definitely lives up to its title, and is a good choice from the winner in this category.The tale is of one of friendship across the life span of two Orcs. Their tale moves from being best friends to bitter enemies. Context of love and lust, and of the role of a child's upbringing also come into play. It's a good and short yarn.The animation is pretty good as well. The characters move in a fluid and lifelike fashion. There are very few jagged movements that look out of context – something that I appreciate. The voice acting done throughout the film is also pretty good. Whereas yesterday I criticized Rumpus for not having enough inflection and variation in some of their voice acting, here in Divided Soul I think they do it just right.Worth a watch!
Preparing for BlizzCon: Contest roundup
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.Time is running short on the contests to win tickets to BlizzCon. If you still want to go, but don't have tickets, here are the contests that you can still enter to win: Steelseries: Ends Friday, July 31. 2009. Razer: Ends Monday, August 3, 2009. Nvidia: Ends Saturday, August 1, 2009. Alienware: Ends Friday, July 31, 2009. Kingston: I can't find when this ends, but the entry form still works as of this writing. Even if you don't have tickets, we would still would love to see you at the Anabella on Thursday, August 20th. Good luck!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.
Speculating on a new resource system for Hunters
As we said on the podcast this weekend, one of the most interesting things to come out of the Hunter Q&A last week was that vague about "long-term plans" to "[remove] the need for hunters to rely on a different resource system then mana." That one kind of came out of nowhere, and the answer was even more vague: basically, they promised to talk about it at BlizzCon. Of course, that's what our attracted our attention: is Blizzard planning on getting Hunters off of their mana system completely?That would be quite a change -- since the beginning of the game, Hunters have relied on mana as their "resource" -- Warriors have Rage and Rogues have Energy, but Hunters somehow got looped in with the other DPSers as mana users. That doesn't make much sense -- not only does it depend on Intelligence (a stat which Hunters don't really have a reason to go after anyway), but it's lead to the problem of keeping Hunters powered up. Hunters are almost continually out of mana, and Blizzard has made some wacky mechanic tweaks (with both AotV and Replenishment) to try and keep them up and running.
Richard A. Knaak, other authors will be signing at BlizzCon
Part of the fun of BlizzCon is that beyond all of the dev panels and crazy mainstage stuff going on, there's also the big convention hall full of things to see and do. All of Blizzard's licensing partners usually show up, so Upper Deck usually has games going on, FigurePrints shows off their wares, and all of the computer companies usually have some fun rigs on display. And now we've learned that, as usual, Pocket Books and TokyoPop will have booths set up, along with their usual stable of authors and artists. Richard A. Knaak has confirmed on his website that he'll be there, so if you're going, be sure to bring along your copy of War of the Ancients, and maybe you can get it signed.Our staff is hoping for a Christie Golden appearance as well, and while she doesn't have anything about BlizzCon on the website yet (she is at ComiCon this week, though), we're presuming that she'll be there. Medievaldragon of Blizzplanet is apparently also presuming it: he's included her with Knaak in his headline about the show (see update). So hopefully she'll be around, and Ziebart and Whitcomb can take their treasured copies of Arthas over and do some fanboy groveling.Should be excellent. We'll be doing our best to get some interviews with these folks here on the site as well, so even if you're not with us in Anaheim, you'll still get a chance to hear from some of your favorite Warcraft authors. BlizzCon ahoy!Update: Medievaldragon has gotten back to us, and he says that he's heard from Golden herself that she'll be at BlizzCon. Get those books ready for some signin'!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 puts a few limits on the costume contest
This is interesting -- the costumes at BlizzCon have gotten more and more complicated every year, as people try to one-up each other by bringing the wackiest and biggest costumes to wear, both for the official contest and around the show floor (you can see some of last year's appearances below). The big winner last year was this turtle mount, complete with wheels and a moving head, and so we wonder: what'll happen this year?Not so fast, says Blizzard. When a player asks just how far costumers might go (a live mount?), Bashiok says that there are some tweaks to the rules this year: costumes can't go over 10' in any direction, include "liquids or messy substances," or be judged on items that can't be worn or held. That would seem to disqualify the turtle mount, from official judging anyway -- they want the contest to revolve around costumes, not vehicles.Which doesn't mean that we won't see some crazy costumes on the show floor (and obviously you'll see them here on the site, even if you're not in Anaheim). But the contest itself might be a little more low key than last year -- seems like the Sea Turtle/ATV was enough to make Blizzard dial it back a notch.%Gallery-34205%
BlizzCon is one month away!
BlizzCon 2009 opens exactly one month from today. We are so excited - it's all we're talking about in the virtual office. Not only will there be lots of WoW news, there will also be plenty of stuff for the StarCraft and Diablo fans. Personally, I'm dying to get my hands on some Diablo III. Here is a roundup of everything we know as well as a little speculation of what we think may happen at the Anaheim Convention Center next month. If you don't have tickets, but will still like to go, there are some contests still running: Steelseries. Ends July 31. 2009. Razer. Ends August 3, 2009. Nvidia. Ends August 1, 2009. We want to meet you! The night before the con opens, we are meeting at the Anabella Hotel. If you are local, come join us! BlizzCon tickets are not required to attend. Details for the WoW.com meetup are here.
Announcing the third annual WoW.com BlizzCon Meetup
It's here! For months now, we've told you that we'll be having our third BlizzCon meetup on August 20th, the night before the big event in Anaheim, but we haven't yet told you exactly where. But now, we've finally confirmed our location and we can tell you where to go: We'll be meeting at the Tangerine Patio in the Anabella Hotel at 1030 W. Katella Avenue in Anaheim, CA. That's right behind the Convention Center (between it and Disneyland), and within easy walking distance from anywhere in the area. We'll begin the festivities at 7:30pm Pacific (local Anaheim time) on August 20th, and the Anabella will have the kitchen open and a cash bar ready for all of the eating and drinking you'd want. We're asking that attendees be 18+ or accompanied by parent, but other than that, just be a reader of WoW.com -- many of our writers and editors will be in attendance for you to meet and greet, and we'll be giving away some swag and speculating at just what we'll see later that weekend at BlizzCon.And if you aren't able to make it to Anaheim, don't worry: we'll have audio and video up and streaming to our Ustream page, so you'll be able to attend virtually and chat with everyone else there. And we're planning on having some Ustream-specific giveaways as well, so you won't be left out of the loot, either. All of our reader meetups in the past have been tremendous, and this one is set up to be our biggest and best event yet. We'll see you there!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.
