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BlizzCon in the rearview
BlizzCon 2009 is behind us, and over on the forums, Irhabi has reached the conclusion that he won't be going next year. He says that with everything streaming out onto DirecTV and the Internet, and with no beta access included, and (what he thought was) a less than stellar performance by Ozzy Osbourne, he might as well stayed at home. I don't particularly share his opinion -- there are lots of great reasons to go to BlizzCon, from getting to try out the latest builds of Blizzard's upcoming games, to meeting vendors and other fans on the floor, to getting the chance to ask your own questions of the devs (and maybe even meet some of them at the various parties around Anaheim). If you're just bummed that BlizzCon was lame because you didn't get a beta key this year, maybe you should have wandered the show floor a little bit.On the other side of it, the folks who bought the DirecTV stream at home are a little more split on the subject -- we twittered to get some responses, and they run the gamut from "yes, it was worth it with the pet," to "no, they should have covered WoW more" (not only did the feed cut off halfway through the contest on Friday night -- we later heard from DirecTV employees that they could only broadcast a certain number of hours over the weekend, and that's where they made the cut -- but they also skipped a few big WoW panels for Starcraft coverage on the main stage instead). And don't even get us started on Jo Garcia, lovely and well-meaning though she may be (though Jay Mohr doesn't deserve the crap he's getting -- he did a respectable job this year). Fortunately, there were lots of other outlets to get your WoW news from, and odds are that Grunty will soothe your pains from the $40 you might feel you've wasted.
BlizzCon 2009: Tokyopop creates stories about the little guys
While wandering about the floor at BlizzCon, I stopped over at the TokyoPop Manga booth and spoke a bit with editor Troy Lewter, who we've talked to before.. Currently, the big series they write for the world of Azeroth is the Warcraft Legends series, which is on its 4th volume with a 5th due out next month.Talking with Troy and other members of the Tokyopop team at the booth, what I was most struck with was the passion for the work and the universes of Blizzard's games that they display, and, perhaps more importantly, to the art and stories they tell.Troy laid out three important concepts that they follow in creating the mangas: Telling a solid story, focusing on a few characters, and cross-pollinating with other forms of media.In telling a solid story, the aim is to create the story such that you don't need to rely on the Warcraft world and characters, per se. In short, even if the story wasn't about Thrall or Varian or the Scarlet Crusade or anything else, you could still connect with the characters themselves.
BlizzCon 2009: Laguna Art Museum VIP dinner (Attn: Lore nerds)
When I found out that my friend Joe Gilbert AKA Kyliaar from the U.S. realm Destromath was attending the Laguna Art Museum VIP dinner on the eve of BlizzCon, I said "Get pictures and ask questions!" Happily, he did both. For those of you who don't know, Blizzard held a benefit dinner for the Laguna Art Museum, which is also currently hosting a WoW art exhibit. Attendees got to choose a Blizzard personality to speak with at their table, bid on Blizzard art and hang out with the biggest Blizzard names. Following is an excerpt from my chat with Joe about the event (I've tried to edit out most of the fangirl swooning), as well as a gallery of his photographs.%Gallery-71059%
BlizzCon 2009: Bingo fail
So close... and yet so far. As you can see, our BlizzCon bingo didn't quite win this year -- even if you count Chris Metzen's regular glasses as non-sunglasses, and even if you just plain assume that the "coffee" in Ghostcrawler's cup on Saturday morning was actually gin (I saw him drinking whiskey, but not gin, unfortunately -- not sure why I didn't just buy the guy a drink), our BlizzCon card didn't score again ths year. There was no actor announced for the WoW movie (though if Tricia Helfer does get a part, we might call that one even), Diablo III trilogy plans weren't announced, and we didn't hear anything at all about another iPhone app or the new MMO. Sad trumpet indeed.But there's always next year. Thanks for playing. If you did actually get a bingo this year, let us know exactly how (I don't remember any devs ever saying "soon, TM," but I was away from the panels a lot this year). Maybe next year we won't make the bingo card quite so heroic, but then again, who doesn't love a good challenge? We won't nerf something we're just doing for fun.%Gallery-5359%
BlizzCon 2009: 15 Minutes on the Street
There are all kinds of people at BlizzCon, and the vast majority of them aren't developers or exhibitors -- they're players and Blizzard fans just like you who come out to see what Blizzard's got to show them. We spent a large amount of time this weekend talking to devs and exhibitors and gathering information, but we definitely also wanted to speak with players as well -- see what they thought of the show and how their experience went.Of course we talked with more players than we could ever fit here -- we ended up having over 1200 people stop by our meetup on Thursday night (and I did my best to shake hands with as many of them as I could), and all weekend long, players came up to us and said hi, telling us their classes and spec and what they liked and didn't like about the show and our site. Here's four small interviews that we had with players at the show, done by Robin Torres and I. It's just one tiny look at a few people walking around the 'Con, but it should give you a little insight into what the mood was like last weekend.
BlizzCon 2009: The Guild's Michele Boyd and Jeff Lewis Worgen hands-on
Sitting in a convention booth all weekend at BlizzCon can actually be a pretty boring prospect. Sure, it's probably a lot of fun meeting people, and sure, unlike a certain team of bloggers, you're probably not run off your feet trying to gather up tons of pictures and information and experiences to write about. But think about it: you're in a booth, signing pictures and DVDs, stuck in the same 20 square feet all weekend long, with all of the promise of BlizzCon around you but just out of reach.Such, we imagined, was the plight of the cast of The Guild last weekend at BlizzCon, so when we heard that Michele Boyd (who plays "stupid tall hot girl" Riley in the show) and Jeff Lewis (who plays the singular Vork) both had 80s in the current game, we decided that instead of doing a normal boring interview with them, we'd give them a break: we'd take them over to the World of Warcraft: Cataclysm playable demo and let them have a go at the brand new Worgen starting area. It was the least we could do, given that they hadn't had any time to play yet.And in return, they gave us their impressions of the new starting area, had some fun finding kids in a cornfield, and talked about how and why they play the game. Read on for more.
Encrypted Text: Patch 3.2.2 updates and BlizzCon news
Every Wednesday, Chase Christian of Encrypted Text invites you to enter the world of shadows, as we explore the secrets and mechanics of the Rogue class. This week, we talk about the Rogue news from Blizzcon and the latest PTR build.Due to a bit of luck on BlizzCon ticket day, I was able to score a pair of tickets for one of this year's most desired events. I had a great time at the WoW.com reader meetup, and getting the opportunity to play as both a Goblin and Worgen Rogue really highlighted the weekend for me. I'm also excited at how Diablo III and Starcraft II are coming along; I am eagerly awaiting their releases.However, it wasn't all fun and games. I had serious business to attend to, I had to use this opportunity to spend time with the WoW developers and ask some of the more important questions facing Rogues today. During the 2nd Class Discussion Panel, I got the opportunity to ask Ghostcrawler one question in front of the crowd. What'd I ask? About Vanish, of course! As expected, there's no timeline for a possible fix, but they don't want us to have to wait until Cataclysm for our most unique defense cooldown to provide more reliable protection.
BlizzCon 2009: Costumes, pt II
Elizabeth gave you heads up during the BlizzCon 2009 weekend that your intrepid WoW.com staff was keeping an eye on the amazing costumes on your behalf. We were even able to give you a huge gallery of the costume contest taking place, with great pictures as the cosplayers strutted their stuff on stage. Then, we were able to bring you the 2009 costume contest video to make sure you had a good idea of how the costumes looked in live action.We've now updated our costume gallery with tons of extra pictures, with many of them focused on making sure you get to see the amazing detailing these cosplayers put into their outfits. From gloves to weapons, the cosplayers really raised the bar on how to do a "real life" interpretation of in-game gear. Check out the gallery and see it all for yourself.%Gallery-70668%%Gallery-70720%
WoW Moviewatch: A Day In the Life
We've featured X-Cross more than once on Moviewatch, and he's often proven to be a fan favorite. With that in mind, we offer him our most heartfelt congratulations on winning the BlizzCon 2009 machinima contest. His entry is titled A Day in the Life. The movie was inspired by this comic by Keydar. Basically, a kobold goes through his daily routine. He wakes up, gets ready for work, and kisses the wife goodbye. He goes into the Elwynn Forest, and with a primal yawp, delcares that "You no take candle!" I won't spoil what happens from there. I found the scene of the kobold lighting the candle on his head adorable.This movie was absolutely amazing. X-Cross brought the visual to life in a beautiful, compelling way. The voice acting was perfect. I truly believe this movie will stand the test of time, and will be something new WoW players will be laughing at years from now. Congratulations, X-Cross!You can see more of X-Cross movies on Moviewatch by clicking here. Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an e-mail at machinima AT wow DOT com.
BlizzCon 2009: The treasure-fishing quest
Just in case there weren't enough to do at BlizzCon this year, our goody bags included a quest:Marcia Chase seeks your help. She has left instructions with a local merchant -- Brady Mercantile. She needs heroes to collect a set of 5 mysterious treasure-fishing lures. Brady Mercantile can be found in the Merchant's Quarter.Brady Games provided a "Lure Bag" and a map of the locations of the lures, which were other vendors located in all of the halls. Obtaining the lures involved standing in line with your map and bag at the various vendor booths and then being handed a slimy lure. The sliminess did lend an authenticity to the procedure, while being mildly unpleasant.
BlizzCon 2009: An interview with Vasco
Vasco, the digital security company that makes authenticators for Blizzard, has actually been at BlizzCon for a few years now (last year, they gave away yo-yos, and this year, they were responsible for all of those blue glowsticks floating around). But this is the first year we decided to stop by their booth and chat with them, and it's a good thing we did: Will LaSala, Director of Services, gave us a lot of good insight into how Vasco's relationship with Blizzard came about, just what the system behind the Authenticator looks like, and how the mobile authenticator app fits into all of this.He was kind enough to give us a short interview, and you can read it right after the break.
BlizzCon 2009: Noobz on display
Noobz are a series of blank figures created in the form of armored Terrans from Starcraft. For the festivities at BlizzCon 2009, Blizzard put on display a special treat regarding these little Noobz. Two hundred and fifty Noobz figures had been passed out to Blizzard employees several months ago. The employees were encouraged to paint and decorate the Noobz for themselves. At BlizzCon, the best of the painted figures were put on display.I hope to get my hands on one of the blank Noobz soon. I didn't pick one up at BlizzCon, since my bags were already packed from taking so much other swag home. I think the idea of decorating one of these is awfully fun, and I totally salute Blizzard for promoting the idea.I especially think it's awesome that they featured the artwork of their general employees in this way. It really helps build a sense of community, and they should be commended for that. Besides, the employees who created the figures in our gallery below showed off a lot of talent, and I thought the Noobz were a lot of fun to see. Check it out yourself!%Gallery-70857%
BlizzCon 2009: Ed Fries of Figureprints
FigurePrints was at BlizzCon again this year, and we stopped by their booth to say hi to our friend Ed Fries -- his company has been making virtual World of Warcraft characters into real-life 3D figurines for a couple of years now. Since the last time we'd spoken, FigurePrints had not only raised their prices, but we'd unveiled their new FigurePets series right here on WoW.com. Fries gave us a few more things to unveil in this exclusive interview, including the fact that FigurePets will have another series get released next month, and that they're planning to offer some new options to players who want to print characters out but don't have the time to go find their favorite armor. Additionally, we asked him about the price raise, and what the company planned to do about people who really wanted to immortalize their figures but didn't really want to spend all that money.Additionally, we've got a short video after the break showing one of their employees manually removing some of the powder from a newly printed figurine in the booth at BlizzCon. It doesn't have much explanation of what he's doing (for more on the process, you can see last year's BlizzCon interview), but you can see inside the printer and what it's like to create these figures.
BlizzCon 2009: Hands-on with Creative's World of Warcraft headset
When they stopped by the WoW.com meetup last Thursday before BlizzCon, Creative not only brought along a prototype of their upcoming World of Warcraft headset to show some readers in attendance, but they invited us by their booth at the show to hold it in our hands and see just what those lighted glyphs on the earcups were like. We happily obliged, and as a result, we're also happy to bring you the first look (along with some exclusive prototype photos) at what Creative's new headset will be.Keep in mind that they're still in the prototype stage right now: Creative's Ryan Schlieper told me that the way it works is that they make a mold and a prototype first (which is what we held -- not a fully working version, but a 1:1 model with the exact weight and size of the final version), and then make 1000 of those in a fully working version to test. If those 1000 work and are right, then they go on to production, and if not, then they go back to the mold and start over again. Schlieper says they're in the prototype stage right now, and once testing is done (including Blizzard's approval), then they'll roll out the final headsets. So how did this prototype look and feel? Hit the galleries below to see pictures both on the floor and of Creative's 3D designs, and check after the break for our very first impressions.%Gallery-70712%%Gallery-70866%
BlizzCon 2009: Hands-on with Razer's Naga MMO mouse
We posted last week that Razer had released an MMO mouse fittingly called the Naga (technically after the Sanskrit word for "snake," but c'mon, who plays WoW and doesn't know what Naga really means, right?), and when we did that, we mentioned it would be usable on the floor at BlizzCon. Sure enough, when we ran into the hall (hey, had to get to the store before those plush murlocs sold out) in Anaheim, there it was. We sat down with Travis Wannlund, community manager for the mouse and accessory company, for a quick demo and hands-on.In that demo, we learned that Razer has actually developed their own WoW addon for the mouse's use, allowing you to map your abilities right into on-screen slots that correspond to the 3x4 touchpad of buttons on the thumb side. He also let us in on some of the design reasoning for the mouse itself, and what they've got in store for the device's future. Read on to learn more.%Gallery-70864%
BlizzCon 2009: A look at the BlizzCon store
When the online BlizzCon store first became available, Adam Holisky pointed out that while there was a lot of unique swag being sold at BlizzCon, none of it seemed really amazing. At the time, I had agreed with him. I mean, plush murlocs are always awesome, but nothing I saw in the gallery really blew me away.And then I saw the stuff in person. Isn't that always the way? Something about standing there, with those beautiful items lit up in their glittering case, called to me like the dork that I am. But, it's something that's hard to explain -- you have to see it yourself.Check out the gallery below to see the items on sale at BlizzCon 2009. If I were pressed to pick my favorite, I'd probably go with the "Time is money, friend!" T-Shirt. It seemed like a neighborly way of welcoming the Horde's new friends: the Goblins.%Gallery-70863%
BlizzCon 2009: TSG wins WoW Arena Tournament World Championship
This year's World of Warcraft Arena Tournament Finals had an extremely good attendance despite some hiccups on the tournament stage, leaving the hosts cracking space-filling jokes until the teams were finally ready. Actually, this happened between every match, which was one of the few dampers in an otherwise decent tournament. The strong attendance at the Finals might also have something to do with the presence of a US/Canadian team, TSG, consisting of David Kovacs, Bennett Lynch, and Fabian Siffredi, otherwise known as Valrath, Veex, and Zilea, who ran a strong Death Knight, Warrior, Holy Paladin cleave comp all the way to a $75,000 purse. The last team to stand in their way was Shipit from Korea, consisting of Soonjae "Coilmaster" Cha, Jaemin "Tsukiyomi" Lee, and Janghwan "Kamiu" Bae with a Warrior, Hunter, Holy Paladin comp that never really posed a challenge for the new World Champions.All throughout the Finals, TSG played extremely aggressively, bringing Shipit's Hunter, Tsukiyomi, to dangerously low health within the opening moments of every match. The Koreans faced an uphill battle coming from the consolation bracket, needing to defeat TSG twice in a best of five, but it was clear that the North American team's aggressive style and double melee comp were too much to handle.The Korean contingent walked away with a respectable $30,000 and third place team x6tence from Europe took home $15,000. The awards were handed out by Blizzard's Tom Chilton, who described this year's Arena Tournament as "the best ever". We also saw the defeat of RMP -- as even Mage hero Orangemarmalade couldn't advance within the consolation bracket. It reaffirmed the power of Holy Paladin heals and Death Knights, however, in an environment that saw zero Shamans. It'll be exciting to see what 2010 holds as Cataclysm is likely to change the entire face of World of Warcraft PvP.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.
Grunty vs. Zergling battle video
When Eldacar wrote in to the tip line that Grunty and the Zergling pets fought when brought near each other, I immediately forced The Spousal Unit to help me test it. We made the above video, with The Spawn cheering us on. Grunty is the Murloc Marine pet that came with attending or streaming BlizzCon 2009. The Zergling was part of the original collector's edition of World of Warcraft.
BlizzCon 2009: WoW.com interviews Sandeep Parikh
Sandeep Parikh has alternately charmed and creeped out fans of The Guild as Zaboo, the hapless love interest of Felicia Day's Codex. Ever since the very beginning of the series, he's made for some of the web show's most awkward, and not coincidentally, most funny moments. And while the guy behind the character is definitely funny, he's also clued-in in a way that Zaboo isn't -- coming from an improv background, he knows how to put a scene together, and he's got a good amount of web video experience himself from producing, writing, and directing the popular (and very NSFW) Legend of Neil series.We sat down at BlizzCon with Sandeep to talk about his work on both web series, including Felicia Day's secret blue streak, what you can do with alcohol and an old Nintendo system, and what's in store for his character in The Guild's upcoming season 3. Read on below.
BlizzCon 2009: Entering a brave new world
Chris Metzen, speaking during the World of Warcraft preview panel, revealed that Cataclysm will introduce seven new zones, on top of revamping the old world. This revamp changes both the game mechanics (adding the ability to fly anywhere) and the lore, as old zones are forever changed, both geographically and territorially. These new zones are: Gilneas Twilight Highlands Deepholm The Lost Isles Sunken City of Vashj'ir Mount Hyjal Uldum
