chris-metzen
Latest
Thrall's return to the Horde and more lore from San Diego Comic-Con
Blizzard's Chris Metzen was at the San Diego Comic-Con showing off new WoW, StarCraft, and Diablo merchandise with a panel of Blizzard writers and merchandise partners. After the discussion about merchandise, the future of Blizzard licensed products, and the new comics, the floor was opened up to questions and answers about anything, lore included. Fans took this time to ask Metzen all about the new direction Blizzard is taking Thrall, including whether the Horde will remain the same after Cataclysm. Metzen might have spilled the beans on what we can expect from BlizzCon this year, including some big revelations about the Horde and Thrall's place in it. Around the 51-minute mark of the panel, Metzen muses about how awesome it has been, growing the Warcraft story from its simple beginnings as an RTS and getting to flesh out the world. At one point, Metzen says, "One day, come on, your Warchief is coming back. Right? There's more with Thrall," and emphatically mentions BlizzCon, indicating Blizzard has much to announce on the subject.
Blizzard debuts new products at San Diego Comic-Con
Blizzard's Chris Metzen graced the floors of the San Diego Comic-Con today to talk Blizzard licensing partners and show off some awesome new merchandise coming this year featuring Warcraft, StarCraft and Diablo wares. Diablo merchandies looks to include knee-high Diablo socks, a Diablo face belt, new shirts, and two hoodies modeled after Diablo's demon hunter class and the angel Tyrael. StarCraft's line is expanding with new shirts, a first look at the MegaBloks Viking, a leather wallet, and StarCraft: Ghost: Spectres, which has been confirmed by Metzen to be a novelization of StarCraft: Ghost, the game that was and then never was. Warcraft's wares continue along a familiar path with a slew of new T-shirts as well as what appears to be a beverage called the Forsaken Elixir of Undead ... I really have no idea, since it's most likely a joke slide. Metzen also previewed the covers for the forthcoming original graphic novels Horde and Alliance, coming out later this year. [Thanks, Kotaku, for the tip and images.]
Blizzard to talk licensing at San Diego Comic-Con
Blizzard tends to keep to its own convention for most of the year, rather than taking part in other major conventions like E3, but it's breaking form with product reveals and licensing discussion next week at San Diego Comic-Con. Blizzard's Chris Metzen, The Shattering author Christie Golden, Cryptozoic Entertainment President Cory Jones, and others will be present for a panel on Thursday, July 21 -- that is, if you're already lucky enough to be going to Comic-Con (say hi to Christie for me)! Here's the full panel description, which is also available on the Comic-Con website. 1:00-2:00 World of Warcraft, Diablo, and StarCraft Swag Show -- Blizzard Entertainment creative and licensed partners unveil and discuss World of Warcraft, Diablo, and StarCraft-inspired products. In attendance: Chris Metzen (Blizzard Entertainment SVP of creative development), Nick Carpenter (Blizzard Entertainment executive art director), Christie Golden (New York Times bestselling author), Hank Kanalz (SVP Digital, DC Comics and World of Warcraft comics editor), Sean Gailey(creative overlord, J!nx Clothing), and Cory Jones (Cryptozoic Entertainment president and chief creative officer). Moderated by Kat Hunter ( host of BlizzCon coverage on DIRECTV). Room 6BCF
Thrall: Twilight of the Aspects to be Christie Golden's next novel
News of a new novel from Christie Golden trickled into our tip line this evening. The novel World of Warcraft: Thrall: Twilight of the Aspects appeared on Amazon.com a few days ago. This novel, which continues a longstanding tradition of too many colons in one book title, is very likely a direct followup to the recently released The Shattering. We're likely to see deeper exploration of Thrall's intentions and motivations in Cataclysm, some of which was alluded to by Chris Metzen at BlizzCon 2010's lore panel. Could Go'el, son of Durotan, be Azeroth's next Aspect of Earth? Probably, yes! [Thanks, Xeon!]
Breakfast Topic: What makes a WoW geek?
This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the Aol guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider's pages. During the BlizzCon 2010 opening ceremonies, Chris Metzen spoke about the power of words, particularly focusing on one: "geek." He then followed up with a montage of what the word meant to him. Chris's dialogue was about what brings us together as geeks, celebrating common factors we all share as a community. This of course got me thinking, what does "geek" mean to me? More pointedly, what does it mean to me in the World of Warcraft? What great accomplishments have brought me closer to my community? Raid achievements come to mind, such as obtaining the Hand of A'dal title as a guild an expansion ago (or two). But there are some things I consider elite -- and therefore geekier -- that set my fellow community members on top of what I consider the geek pedestal: The Loremaster title -- definitely my chart-topper for geekdom. Kudos to you! Anyone who has completed the Scepter of the Shifting Sands quest chain. The Black Qiraji Battle Tank mount and Scarab Lord title. This was a whole server-wide event that brought the players together as a community toward one common goal: opening the gates of Ahn'Qiraj. I think this epitomizes the celebratory meaning of geek. Obtaining a legendary item -- this also involves a group working toward a common goal, strengthening our sense of community. What does "geek" mean to you? Is it that elusive title? A rare pet or mount? Perhaps something that isn't even obtainable anymore, or something that was added in Cataclysm. What do you think brings us closer as a community or find celebratory of geekdom in WoW?
Scarlet Blouse Gentleman receives NPC for fact checking efforts
Unless you've been living in a cave since BlizzCon 2010, it's highly likely you've heard of the unnamed gentleman in the scarlet blouse who managed to catch Alex Afrasiabi and Chris Metzen in an error during the Quests and Lore panel at the convention. The man and his question have since gone viral, the video of his question and the answer receiving over 2 million views on YouTube. He's since posted a video in response to the internet's reaction, and the original video even appeared on The Soup as the clip of the week. According to a post on Reddit, the popularity of his question and answer have not gone unnoticed by Blizzard staff, as Falstad has made his return to his rightful seat on the Council of Three Hammers, accompanied by ... a gentleman in a scarlet blouse. This NPC, named Wildhammer Fact Checker, is an obvious tribute to the man who was clever enough to catch the error and confront Blizzard on it. While the NPC does not appear to be on the beta servers as of yet, blue poster Valnoth confirmed the existence of the NPC on the official forums. Hopefully, Falstad's loyal Fact Checker will continue to keep the record straight as far as who should be where and who definitely isn't deceased, in the future. [Thanks to reader Otown for the tip!] BlizzCon 2010 is over! WoW Insider has all the latest news and information. You'll find our liveblogs of the WoW panels, interviews with WoW celebrities and attendees and of course, lots of pictures of people in costumes. It's all here at WoW Insider!
BlizzCon 2010: Quests and lore panel highlights
The Quests and Lore panel at BlizzCon 2010 answered some old questions, raised a few new ones and featured some information with heavy implications as to what we may see in future Cataclysm content. The panel, hosted by Alex Afrasiabi and Chris Metzen, was a flat-out Q&A geekfest in which the hosts answered as many questions from the audience as possible in the hour they were given to do so. Check out our liveblog for the full coverage of questions asked and answered, and read on for some of the most surprising moments from the panel. Please note: The rest of this article contains heavy Cataclysm spoilers. If you wish to avoid any content reveals, veer away now!
BlizzCon 2010: Outland and Northrend revamps eventually planned
One of the problems with changing the world in Cataclysm to bring all of the classic storylines up to date is that you suddenly go to Outland for an event that happened in the past. You also follow this up with going to Northrend and fighting back the undead which were already shown to have fallen back in the content before you ever went to Outland. Chris Metzen discussed the fact that this really doesn't mesh well and the internal Blizzard lore folks aren't really happy with it. They plan to eventually go back and make Outland and Northrend fit with the revised storyline. The problem they ran into is purely a lack of time. As an example, Wrath of the Lich King had around 1000 quests in Northrend. Cataclysm has 3500 quests without touching either Outland or Northrend. So, these changes to make the lore line up are planned, but there is absolutely no schedule as to when they will be implemented. BlizzCon 2010 is upon us! WoW Insider has all the latest news and information. We're bringing you liveblogging of the WoW panels, interviews with WoW celebrities and attendees and of course, lots of pictures of people in costumes. It's all here at WoW Insider!
Blizzard announces 2010 Global Writing Contest winners
The long wait is over for those waiting somewhat impatiently for the results of the 2010 Global Writing Contest! The winners' names were announced by Zarhym this evening. The full winning story, as well as excerpts from each of the finalists, will be posted at a later date. Congratulations to all the winners! Zarhym Though the loss of life and limb was great, the ocular fortitude of our judges allowed them to see the job through: the winners of the 2010 Global Writing Contest have been chosen. Many judges were felled by the 18 million words that made up this year's competition, but whilst their souls are now forfeit to the contest's patron deity, C'Thun, their sacrifices were not in vain. Behold, the victors! Winner: "Silver Hand, Ebon Blade" by Raphael Ahad source Take a look after the break for the rest of the finalists, honorable mentions and the prizes!
2010 Global Writing Contest winners to be announced Oct. 18
Were you one of the many, many people that put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) for the 2010 Global Writing Contest? Good news -- the winners will be announced Oct. 18, according to a blue post by Nethaera. Prizes for the contest include a chance to go have lunch with the Blizzard writing staff, a Frostmourne for your very own, or your very own Blizzard library complete with novels signed by Chris Metzen, the cover artists and Blizzard's writing staff. Nethaera 2010 Global Writing Contest - Announcement of Announcement! During today's daily feeding/washing ritual, the handlers for the 2010 Global Writing Contest judges were able to coax them into revealing - between the constant wailing and gnashing of eyelids - that the list of winners for the 2010 Global Writing Contest will be finished on Monday, October 18th. Until then, you are allowed to slow down your hammering the Refresh button to once every other second. source The official site has more information about the contest and the prizes involved, and while you're at it, you can take a look at last year's winners as well. Good luck to all who entered!
Blizzard: World of Warcraft movie has slowed, but still happening
Blizzard Entertainment took the stage here at Comic-Con in San Diego to talk about World of Warcraft-inspired merchandise, and when the topic of the WoW movie came up during the Q&A, Vice President of Creative Development Chris Metzen confirmed that though the process has slowed recently, the movie is still happening. Director Sam Raimi is still "very, very passionate" about getting the movie made, but Metzen said that a treatment is still being hammered out. If that gets approved, he said, then "hopefully it'll start moving very quickly, very soon." Metzen and the rest of the panelists also talked about the next lore-based novel to be released -- it's called The Shattering, and will set up a lot of the events leading up to the Cataclysm expansion. Metzen cautioned the game's fans that there are "dark times ahead" for Azeroth with the return of Deathwing and quakes destroying large parts of the game world. "It's going to get rough out there for a while," he admitted. "But there's a plan. The great heroes always rise to the top."
Guest Post: The epic journey that is BlizzCon
digg_url = 'http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/06/12/guest-post-the-epic-journey-that-is-blizzcon/'; This article has been brought to you by Seed, the Aol guest writer program that brings your words to WoW.com. BlizzCon: The final frontier ... No wait, that's not right. BlizzCon is an epic journey, though -- at least it was for me last year, and I am sincerely hoping to make the pilgrimage to Anaheim again this October. "But that's a lot of work just to go for two days!" I hear all the time. You're right. It is. It's also quite costly if you're not from California. I can also say that by the end of Day Two, you'll be drop-dead tired, cranky and your feet will hurt. Paradise, right? My husband and I trekked out to California from Florida for BlizzCon 2009. We were a little leery about it, but I can honestly say that it was one of the best vacations of my life. We have been raiding with the same guild since right after we were married in April of 2008, and there's a very solid core of people who have always been there. Turned out, some of them were going to BlizzCon. We figured it would be a great way to tie that voice over Ventrilo to a face. We were able to hang out for two straight days with people we raid with several nights a week -- experiencing Cataclysm's launch together, doing the fishing daily and many other fun things.
Warcraft movie update: Metzen says "still getting it together"
It's been months since we've heard a peep on the Hollywood news lines about the Warcraft film or director Sam Raimi. When Spider-man 4 was canceled in January, there was speculation that Raimi might be headed to the Warcraft film next. A month later, we reported a rumor that Raimi's next project might not be Warcraft, but a film adaptation of The Shadow. Seeing as Sony let the rights to the film lapse in March, it doesn't sound like The Shadow is in any state of serious development; but it does raise the question of what exactly is Raimi up to right now? While we still have no exact answer to that, Chris Metzen gave us a small update on the film in an interview over at vg247 published yesterday. When asked if a considerable amount of time was being spent on the movie, Metzen replied, "I wouldn't say "considerable" at all just yet. We've been through a number of story meetings, and we're still kind of getting it together with Raimi and his team and jamming on themes that we want to chase." Sadly, the interview didn't reveal many specifics, but Metzen responded favorably when asked if he was concerned about dissappointing Warcraft fans: "Nobody wants to screw it up: we all want to hit it hard and have it be something that is as resonant and canonical as it can be. But given what Warcraft is, with all these moving parts, we're going to have to take some liberties here and there. I'm under no illusions about that fact ... " It's hard to draw any new or concrete conclusions from the interview, but it's good to see that the movie is still being talked about. WoW.com will keep you updated as we learn more.
Interview: Chris Metzen talks StarCraft 2
click to enlarge Chris Metzen, Blizzard's VP of Creative Development, has a lot of things to keep in his head as the loremaster / worldbuilder / storymaster at Blizzard, and he's been busy utilizing all of those titles on the Terran-heavy StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty and its two planned expansion packs that will focus on the Zerg and Protoss races. Ensconced in an office that overlooks the bustling Blizzard campus, Metzen's office is packed with enough action heroes, statues, and toys to open his own store, which is (for some unknown reason) a requirement in the gaming industry. We talked with Chris about how Blizzard is spreading this story out, what the expansions packs hold in store, how he feels about offending South Korea, and more. If you're done searing your retinas with the newly released game footage, then jump on by and read the full interview just after the break.%Gallery-91324%
The Queue: Decisions, decisions
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW.com's daily Q&A column where the WoW.com team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Alex Ziebart will be your host today. Readers, I'm having trouble making a very tough decision today. I'm in the mood for two very specific things but can't make up my mind between them. I definitely can't have both. So before you read the rest of The Queue and pick apart its World of Warcrafty deliciousness, please, help me choose what I'm eating for dinner today. %Poll-44314% Boz asked... "Any word on whether School of Hard Knocks will be removed from the meta-holiday achievement, or if it will hammer Battlegrounds for another week this year?"
StarCraft II Collector's Edition to include WoW vanity pet
Blizzard has just recently announced StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty's collector's edition. Normally this isn't something we would talk about here on WoW.com, but the contents make it worth mentioning. Specifically, WoW players will receive a Thor mini-pet, seen to the right. For those of you who don't follow StarCraft at all, the Thor is a new ubermech unit for the Terran faction. It's not only voice acted by Chris Metzen, but the pilot of the unit is based directly off him. One of his old aliases is Thundergod, after all. The Thor is big and it's bad-ass, and that's about all that you need to know. I wonder if it will interact with Grunty and the Zergling? BigDownload has the full scoop on the contents of the collector's edition. There's great value there, even for people who don't play WoW. The collector's edition also includes a 2GB flash drive made to resemble Jimmy Raynor's dog tags, a 172-page art book, a behind the scenes DVD and more.
The Queue: Earthquake bonanza
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW.com's daily Q&A column where the WoW.com team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Alex Ziebart will be your host today. Today we're going to skip the wacky shenanigans that usually plague the intros to the Queue. Instead, I'm going to blow your minds with the news that Chile's recent earthquake was large enough that it has potentially moved the Earth's axis and an Earth day is now shorter because of it. dav103id asked... "When running Shadowfang Keep during Love is in the Air, did anyone else notice Arugal on the other side of the courthouse gate when you first enter the instance? Has he always been there at that location or was he added for the Love is in the Air boss event?"
What we know about the Warcraft movie
Last week, we reported that the Warcraft movie may be on its way. Previously there had been speculation that the film's development would be pushed back, since director Sam Raimi was tied up by problems with Spider-Man 4. Raimi then unexpectedly walked away from Spider-Man 4, citing creative reasons, and it suddenly looked hopeful that he might soon be turning his attention to the Warcraft film. So now, in preparation for more news on the film, we will be bringing you up to date on what we currently know about the Warcraft movie.
New anniversary interviews in Blizzcast 12 and on the minisite
Blizzard continues to update their minisite -- the latest newness is the posting of a new Blizzcast, in two parts. In part one, Karune of the Starcraft community team interviews Chris Metzen, Rob Pardo, and Samwise Didier about the history of Warcraft as a whole (it's celebrating the 15th anniversary as well this year), and part two has our friend Nethaera talking to J. Allen Brack, Tom Chilton, and Jeff Kaplan about the game itself. As is usual with the official podcast, there's not much new information here (especially if you've already read through some retrospective press), but both interviews are worth a listen (and/or a read through the transcript) if only to hear these guys all in a room together, joking around about old times. Elsewhere on the site, they've started posting written interviews as well. The first one is with Shane Dabiri, former lead producer on the game, and there are faded-out spots for J. Allen Brack, Tom Chilton, and Jeff Kaplan as well. The other spots aren't revealed yet, but they're supposed to be interviews from the "community," so it'll be interesting to see who those turn out to be. Blizzard, anytime you want to chat with me about the history of World of Warcraft, just drop an email!
Blizzard celebrates the WoW anniversary
The good folks at the Orange County Register got invited to Blizzard's official WoW anniversary party that took place last Thursday on their Irvine campus, and their report is now posted. It sounds like quite the event -- lots of free food and beer, head honchos regaling employees with their tales of the early days, and Rob Pardo suggesting that just like geek culture helped define this game, this game might help define geek culture going forward. The picture gallery included with the piece is a good browse, too -- you can see all of the Blizzard heavyweights hanging out together, and the great spread set up on the campus. The Register's also been asking Blizzard about their memories of the game -- they've got more memories from Samwise, launch day stories from Shane Dabiri, and some thoughts from Pardo and Frank Pearce (who, strangely enough, at first didn't believe that Blizzard belonged in a hardcore niche market like MMO gaming -- he didn't want to make "a game that never ended," he says). All good stuff. Congrats once again to Blizzard on five years, good to see they celebrated in style.
