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Facebook snags 'Heroes of the Dorm' as an eSports exclusive
In a surprise move, Blizzard announced that this year's Heroes of the Dorm eSport tournament will be shown exclusively through Facebook Live. Based around Blizzard's popular video game --Heroes of the Storm -- this unique tournament sees college teams across the US and Canada competing for a chance to win free tuition at their university. After two years of being broadcast on ESPN, every match of 2017's competition will instead be live streamed exclusively from the game's Facebook page. Blizzard state that the move to the social network will help to 'enhance' each match, allowing the company to create easily shareable clips and interact more closely with its fans.
ESPN will air 18 hours of eSports coverage on July 17th
ESPN is increasing its eSports coverage in a big way. The network will be airing 18 hours of eSports programming on ESPN2 and ESPNU on Sunday, July 17th. This will mark the first time ESPN will air an entire eSports block on its major networks, a far cry from the days when it relegated League of Legends matches to streams on the web.
Watch eSports on ESPN2 for the first time ever this weekend
The final round of the collegiate championship for Heroes of the Storm -- Blizzard's answer to hugely popular MOBA games League of Legends and Dota 2 -- will be broadcast live on ESPN2 on Sunday at 6:30PM PT. That's prime time, baby. This marks the first time that ESPN will air an eSports match on live TV; it hosted the League of Legends finals last year online only, and that stream brought in more viewers than the NBA Finals or the deciding game in the World Series. Also last year, ESPN2 aired a documentary about Dota 2 and ESPN3 hosted an online stream of that game's championships. Professional gaming is a booming business, with the top title, League of Legends, bringing in an estimated $1 billion in 2014 alone.
Rumor: Leak suggests the next WoW expansion is nearly feature-complete
So, ready to jump on the rumor mill? Because it's churning out big stuff about Blizzard today. An anonymous source from inside the company has apparently claimed that World of Warcraft's next expansion has quadrupled its art outsourcing and is nearly feature-complete. The source also claimed that Hearthstone is doing banner business, with its next expansion set to release in April with a heavier PvE focus. Darker news was revealed for the other franchises under the company's banner. The next part of StarCraft II is done but with no release date. Overwatch is in the midst of debates over business model and payment plans, with the studio pushing for a 2015 release but most likely going for 2016. Meanwhile, Heroes of the Storm has low expectations among the upper management and the Diablo III team has been "completely gutted." It's up to you you believe the rumors, of course, although come April, they might look rather plausible.
Blizzard has begun selling Heroes of the Storm Founder's Packs
If there's any company in the world that could launch a new MOBA title without needing to sell founder's packs, it would probably be Blizzard. But we'll never know beyond the dark realms of speculation, of course, because sales have already started on the founder's packs for Heroes of the Storm. And yes, that pack includes access to the current closed beta, if its $39.99 price tag didn't already create that implication in your mind. Aside from beta access, the pack includes three heroes: Tyrande, Diablo, and Raynor, each with an alternate skin. Diablo gets to look fishy, Tyrande gets to look like a Blood Elf, and Raynor takes all of that high-powered armor off (which seems like a bad idea on a battlefield, but I guess that's why I'm not a space marine). You also get a mechanical golden wolf mount to ride around on the battlefield and 2500 gold for the game, which is more than enough money to buy anything that costs less than 2500 gold. Check out the pack trailer just past the break. [Thanks to Siphaed, deathandtexas, and Vincynt for the tip!]
Heroes of the Storm is now in closed beta
If you've paid attention to the people in the early testing for Heroes of the Storm, you likely saw a lot of feedback that amounted to surprise that the game was just in alpha. Of course, a game that feels polished and fun in alpha testing is in a good spot, which is why it should come as no huge surprise that the title moved into closed beta yesterday. Players who wish to test and have not already opted in should be sure to do so, as beta invitations are being sent out regularly. The team behind the game also took a moment to explain a bit more going on behind the scenes with character design by looking at Thrall -- specifically, looking at top-down design for Thrall as he exists within Heroes of the Storm and bottom-up design using Thrall's Warcraft III abilities as a starting point. It's an interesting look at how the same basic character could wind up inspiring two different designs in the end and well worth a glance if you're crossing your fingers for that closed invitation. [Thanks, Dengar.]
Heroes of the Storm getting new characters, maps, beta in January
Blizzard's MOBA, Heroes of the Storm, continues to evolve and change. During the opening ceremony for BlizzCon 2014, company president and CEO Mike Morhaime introduced a new trailer for the game which revealed characters Jaina, Thrall and the Lost Vikings, as well as two new maps: Sky Temple and Tomb of the Spider Queen. If you want to just skip all these fancy letters and words, that trailer is waiting after the break. Warcraft series fans will recognize Jaina and Thrall, representatives of the Alliance and Horde factions, respectively. Both characters' appearances seem based on earlier versions of themselves rather than their current visage, as Thrall is once more clad in his Warcraft 3 armor, while Jaina lacks the distinct white hair she gained in the latest World of Warcraft expansion. The Lost Vikings, meanwhile, are from an old SNES game called ... well, The Lost Vikings. Thrall will act as a melee fighter, Jaina a glass-cannon mage, and the Vikings as a trio of individually-controlled characters. The game's new maps feature Egyptian-inspired themes, with one set above ground (Sky Temple) and one set in the catacombs below (Tomb of the Spider Queen). Sky Temple encourages players to capture control points which will in turn cause heavy damage to enemies and their base, while Tomb of the Spider Queen rewards players for stealing minion souls by summoning strong monster allies. If you're anxious to try these additions out for yourself but aren't part of the alpha currently underway, you may not have to wait much longer: Heroes of the Storm will move to closed beta starting January 13, 2015.
Heroes of the Storm's closed beta starts January 13
Heroes of the Storm's closed beta starts January 13th. So sayeth the Blizz at today's BlizzCon. "We've very much enjoyed sharing the Technical Alpha with you, and your feedback over the past eight months has helped us make Heroes even more epic," Mike Morhaime said during today's opening festivities. "Thank you, as always, to everyone who has shared their thoughts on the game with us thus far. We can't wait to hear more from all of you as we move toward Closed Beta testing in January." If you're looking for an invite, make sure you opt in to the HotS testing via your Battle.net account management beta profile settings page. BlizzCon returns to Anaheim during the weekend of November 7th and 8th, 2014! Whether you're anticipating World of Warcraft's Warlords of Draenor expansion or the latest news from Diablo III, Hearthstone, and Heroes of the Storm, we aim to have it covered!
BlizzCon kicks off on Friday, virtual tickets still available
If you've been waiting patiently for the next big convention focused entirely around Blizzard's game catalogue, your wait is almost over. BlizzCon 2014 kicks off on Friday, November 7th, with the opening ceremonies starting at 2:00 p.m. EST. There's no chance of attending in person if you don't already have a ticket, but you can still pick up a virtual ticket, and DirecTV customers can also grab a pay-per-view stream that includes a virtual ticket and the associated benefits. The convention will host a variety of tournaments, including the Hearthstone championships, the StarCraft II championships, and the World of Warcraft Arena championship. There will also be the usual assortment of lore panels, development previews, and reveals for the various games under the Blizzard banner, included the much-anticipated Warlords of Draenor expansion. If you've been on the fence about getting a stream, take a look at the list of festivities and get ready to see what's coming from the studio this weekend.
Azmodan Week in Heroes of the Storm
It's Azmodan Week in Heroes of the Storm. As usual when Heroes features a new character, they've posted Developer Insights this week, examining the design philosophy behind the character. Azmodan is a Specialist in Heroes, pulling from his role as a general of a vast demon army in Diablo III. Though he can be played as a brawler if you wish, he's more heavily based around long-distance siege damage and commanding many summoned minions and mercenaries. Head over to the Heroes of the Storm official site to keep up on this week of Azmodan.
Heroes of the Storm's Azmodan is more than just a pretty face
Azmodan, the Lord of Sin, is large and in charge in Heroes of the Storm. Literally, he's in charge; his whole schtick is summoning more demons and empowering minions, serving as a general to the many units under his team's command. But this support-type hero has more to him than just a pretty face and a skittery set of legs. A new article underpinning Azmodan week explores the character in depth, covering his backstory as well as his playstyle and looks. If you've played Diablo III, odds are good you're familiar with him to some extent already, but the article highlights trivia you may have missed and includes more of his backstory, like his tendency to give away his plans out of a certainty that no one can defeat them. (You can guess how that works out.) You can also check out a trailer for the tactical demon just past the break. It's an appropriately spooky hero to highlight as we move closer to the end of October, and you can catch all of the details on the official site.
Heroes of the Storm technical alpha returns
Heroes of the Storm has been offline for over a week of super extended maintenance -- and now it's back! There has been numerous upgrades to the backend, and everyone's purchases have been wiped. You'll find the money you spent back in your Battle.net account balance, and you'll be ready to re-purchase everything. For the next week, XP will be earned at double the rate, and everything will be played in matchmaking mode. MMR has been reset across the board, and all previous progress has been wiped. However, there are no other planned resets, so your progress now will stay put. Blizzard also notes that they're going to be inviting more people into the game, so you can expect the pool of players to grow nicely in the coming weeks.
Global Chat: Through a monitor, darkly
No matter who you are, and even if you are independently rich and can game all day, it's impossible to get around to playing all of the MMOs out there -- even all of the major ones. This is why I love MMO blogs, since they allow me to vicariously visit many of the games that I lack time to play. Even if they're silly observations or dutiful reporting on last night's activities, these posts are my window into a universe of virtual worlds. In today's edition of Global Chat, we'll hear from a gamer visiting an older MMO for the first time, a rant about Guild Wars 2's new player experience, a tribute to the late Rusty Hearts, and why "entitlement" is overused as an attack in our community.
BlizzCon 2014 in-game goodies sneak peek
Last week, we had our first glimpse at Grommloc, the BlizzCon 2014 in-game pet. Today, Blizzard has revealed the remaining in-game rewards. Hearthstone Blizzard Entertainment-themed card back. The design incorporates elements from the compass inlaid around the infamous orc statue. StarCraft II New portraits and a Heroes of the Storm-themed decal. One portrait depicts Hierarch Artanis. The other is yet to be unveiled. Diablo III Warlords of Draenor-themed weapon transmogrifications. Each class will receive its own weapon, but only the demon hunter, barbarian, and monk are displayed. Kargath's bladefist and Blackhand's hammer are easily recognizable in the image. Only available for Windows/Mac version of the game. Heroes of the Storm Nexus Mount and Nexus Brawler portrait The official BlizzCon site has a more detailed image of each than you see in the header above. It being BlizzCon and all, we can't help but wildly speculate a little: given the protoss theme of the StarCraft portrait, and the fact that one of the portraits is still veiled in mystery, could we finally see a Legacy of the Void announcement? Nearly three years passed between the launch of Wings of Liberty and Heart of the Swarm. Half of that time has passed since Heart of the Swarm's release, which would make this pretty good timing for an announcement -- though certainly not a release date.
Joystiq Weekly: Free upgrades for Destiny, Hatoful Boyfriend review, PAX Prime and more
Welcome to Joystiq Weekly, a "too long; didn't read" of each week's biggest stories, reviews and original content. Each category's top story is introduced with a reactionary gif, because moving pictures aren't just for The Daily Prophet. PAX Prime 2014 ended on Monday, but we're still recovering. Not from the marathon of appointments or swimming through an ocean of people – we've got those parts down pat. If you've ever heard of the PAX Pox though, just know that it's ... definitely a thing. It seemed every morning of this week brought news of another staff member falling to Prime's crowdsourced super virus. Laptops still work on death beds, of course, so we kept churning out content from Prime while we tried to remember what clear airways and normal body temperatures feel like. You can dig through our featured content after the break worry-free though – we slathered it in hand sanitizer, so you shouldn't catch anything from going near it. There's always the rest of this week's content that wasn't staged in a biological hazard, of course. We've got good news for Destiny fans planning on upgrading hardware at a later date, release dates for The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth and Mortal Kombat X, a review of pigeon-on-human dating simulator Hatoful Boyfriend and much more after the break!
BlizzCon offers up virtual tickets
If you really want to check out BlizzCon but can't quite manage a flight out to California, a solution is available. Virtual tickets are now available from Blizzard for $39.99, allowing you to watch the panels, the competitions, and the events live from the comfort of your own home. Sure, you won't get to actually be packed in the convention hall, but this way no one cares whether you're wearing pants or not, so you even come out ahead. Purchasing a virtual ticket will give you access to bonus in-game goods for World of Warcraft, Diablo III, StarCraft II, Heroes of the Storm, and Hearthstone, although the details are not yet available. All of the streams are also available in high definition and can be re-watched, so you needn't worry about missing something. If you've already purchased a physical ticket, you still have access to a virtual ticket as well, so you can still take advantage of the streaming. Everyone who wants to attend can at least get something like that experience.
Heroes of the Storm gave me a green thumb (and tentacles)
Heroes of the Storm (previously known as Blizzard All-Stars, previously known as Blizzard DOTA) makes small changes to the MOBA standard of 5v5, three-lane-style gameplay that add up to create something that feels wholly fresh. The development team at Blizzard has done away with the item shop, there's no gold to be farmed, characters ride mounts instead of purchasing boots, leveling up happens as a team rather than individually, neutral monsters help push a lane instead of dying when defeated, etc. However, out of all the changes Heroes brings to the genre, I found myself most drawn to the way the game handles having multiple maps. In-game, these maps are referred to as "Battle Grounds," and though that may sound like a minor distinction intended to sell the "we're different!" angle of the game, I'm okay with changing up the nomenclature.
PAX Prime 2014: Heroes of the Storm is friendly, zany fun
Heroes of the Storm's beginnings are rooted in a mod that Blizzard made in 2010 to encourage StarCraft II players to get into the modding scene. Not only was this unnecessary (the StarCraft II comunity took to modding like fish to water) but the mod gradually became so well-liked internally that proper development began in 2012 to make it a full-fledged MOBA. At PAX Prime, I asked the team what was going to make Heroes of the Storm stand out from the rest of the MOBA pack -- or whether it was merely content to ride the Blizzard name to big sales. The response was that this game is shaping up to be one of the most friendly and welcoming MOBAs on the market. Gone are mechanics like denying and last hits and in are new concepts like shared team levels. The devs said that the root of the toxic atmosphere seen in many MOBAs is game design that focuses more in individual selfishness and potential ways to hurt your own team. There also won't be any chatting with the opposing team in HotS to cut down on potential sass-mouth.
Heroes of the Storm launches interactive battleground page
Looking forward to exploring the maps in Heroes of the Storm? The good news is that you can do so right now, even if you aren't currently in the test pool. The game's interactive battleground maps are now available, showing off the fields of battle and allowing you to zoom in or out, highlight important points, and scroll around to see all of the neat stuff that's there to be seen. Each of the maps has numerous different mechanics as well as additional routes for players to take, including aboveground and underground routes or enemies that spawn during the night. The page outlines how all five maps will work and should help players start plotting strategies even without getting your hands on the game. If you feel like a bit of surveying, go check out the maps now.
World of Warcraft's Chinese partner sees increase in profit and revenue
Earlier this month, Blizzard claimed that a "disproportionate" amount of its 800,000 lost World of Warcraft subscribers were from the east. While that may be, China is doing quite well with the studio's games. Gamasutra reports that Blizzard's partner in the region, NetEase, posted a "modest rise" in both profit and revenue during the second quarter. The company reported revenue of $376.6M, a rise of 13% from last year. This financial summary includes NetEase's own titles along with World of Warcraft, StarCraft II, and Hearthstone. Hearthstone was singled out as a "strong earner" due to its recent launch in the region. Both Blizzard and NetEase are working to bring Diablo III and Heroes of the Storm to the country in the future.
