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Cast your Vote: BlizzCon Talent Contest community choice
BlizzCon is fast approaching and Blizzard has decided to let the community help choose one of the finalists in the BlizzCon 2013 Talent Contest. The Blizzard judges have already picked three of the grand finalists, but need your help to pick the the fourth. The winner of this community poll will be competing at BlizzCon for a top prize of $4500! Head on over to the official BlizzCon site to watch the 5 videos and cast your vote. The poll closes on October 4.
Jukebox Heroes: Tracy W. Bush opens up about WoW, Dungeon Runners, and DCUO
Odds are that even if you don't know who Tracy W. Bush is, you've allowed him to pipe music from his mind directly into your ears at one point or another during your MMO gameplay. Bush has contributed to tons of MMO soundtracks over the past decade-plus, including World of Warcraft, Tabula Rasa, Dungeon Runners, Auto Assault, and DC Universe Online. It was actually this column's discussion of the Tabula Rasa soundtrack that prompted Bush to write in (fun fact: Blue Turns to Grey was the first track he wrote for the game, but the team held off putting it in until the very end), and I asked him if he'd be open to chatting about his collective work here. That didn't take much arm-twisting, no sirree. So with that, I'm going to turn the mike over to Tracy Bush and let him share with you what it's like to create soundscapes that echo so powerfully in your memories.
StarCraft Universe reaches its funding goal on Kickstarter
There are a lot of people who would very much like to see an MMO in the StarCraft universe. StarCraft Universe isn't quite the same thing, but it manages to turn StarCraft II into something very close to an MMO. And with just one day left to go on its Kickstarter project, it has hit its funding goal, ensuring that StarCraft II players can turn the real-time strategy game into a third-person MMO-style game at will. So how much does the mod actually contain? Eight classes, vehicle gameplay, customized models, a variety of boss encounters tuned for various difficulties, in-game strategy databases, a fully voiced plotline, and crafting mechanics. There are also single-player and multiplayer components for anyone who wants to experience the game solo, and the entire project can be experienced for free without a need to buy StarCraft II. If you're interested, there's still some time left to toss money into the Kickstarter and pick up a few extra rewards.
A fully realized Starcraft MMO is in the works, but it needs to be Kickstarted first
If you're a dedicated World of Warcraft player, you may have already spent a good deal of time wondering when developer Blizzard would give its StarCraft property the MMO treatment as well. StarCraft Universe is that MMO, but it's not being made by Blizzard; a group called Upheaval Arts is creating the game as a mod for StarCraft II, and if its Kickstarter campaign meets its goal, you'll be able to play it on your Mac (or Windows PC) early next year. StarCraft Universe takes the real-time strategy franchise and gives the player control of a single character, complete with class abilities, questing, leveling and all the other mechanics MMO players have come to expect. The campaign is roughly halfway to its US$80,000 goal amount, and has a further 20 days of fundraising left to go. If you're interested in the mod, but don't currently own StarCraft II, you'll be happy to hear that Universe can be played using the trial version of the game, which can be downloaded for free.
The Queue: BlizzCon, daily quests, gnome heads, and more
Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Alex Ziebart will be your host today. Let's go right to the questions! mikkelsdk asked: Considering Blizzard has a lot of things on the table currently (Heartstone, Blizzard All-Stars, Titan, Next WoW Expansion, Diablo 3 xpac and probably SC2 xpac) which of these aren't we going to hear about at Blizzcon? Titan is a given but have Blizzard talking about Heartstone, All-stars, WoW xpac, Diablo 3 xpac and SC2 xpac is kinda of a long shot.
StarCraft Universe appeals to Kickstarter audience for help
Remember StarCraft Universe, the fan-made mod that turned the RTS into an MMO? The project is still going strong after two years, but its development team is in dire need of funds to push it over the hill and into open beta testing. The solution? Kickstarter, of course. Upheaval Arts hopes to raise $80,000 or more to finish the first act of the game and get it into public testing. Currently there are two races in the game (Terran and Protoss), although with stretch goals the Zerg are a possibility. The team has some respectable names attached to the project, including Composer David Orr and voice actors Danielle McRae and Eric Dieter. StarCraft Universe will require Battle.net to play and will be completely free to all. If you're concerned about Blizzard finally lowering the boom on this mod, well, don't. The team says that it's gotten the studio's approval: "While Blizzard is not directly affiliated with this project's production, we do communicate with them to submit bug reports and make technical requests. They have given their blessing/permission for us to launch this Kickstarter, and they are supporting our efforts by featuring SCU as an arcade highlight."
Today's live gaming: Pokemon, Dota 2, Starcraft 2 and Zelda
A trio of eSports competitions are streaming for your viewing pleasure today, as is the kickoff of a week-long Zelda marathon for charity. Coverage of the Starcraft 2 World Championships' European league has already begun, but the American league will start reportin' for duty at 4 p.m. EST. Day 4 of The International's main event continues at 3 p.m. EST, which can be viewed here or live in Dota 2. The Pokémon World Championships for video game finalists start at 8 p.m. EST, with the trading card game finalists following at 10:30 p.m. EST. You can watch both here. If you're more into watching people raise money for charity rather than for themselves, the Triple Speed Runners are launching a week-long Zelda Marathon at 7 p.m. EST. The marathon will follow the timeline of the Zelda series rather than the order of each game's release, starting with The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. Prizes can be won by watching the stream, but 100% of donations will go to Child's Play Charity.
StarCraft World Championship Series app available for Apple devices
If you're a fan of eSports and StarCraft in particular, you may be interested in the Blizzard WCS app available in the iTunes store for iPhone, iPad, and iPod. The app allows for streaming of live matches, videos on demand of prior matches, and other video extras including highlights and player spotlights, as well as news and match schedules. There's even a "spoliers alert" option for the results feed, in case you want to find out the long way! You can also share videos that you're streaming, and of course the app can plug into your preferred social media outlet so you can share your favorite eSports articles. The app is currently free on the iTunes store, so if you've got an Apple device and are interested in the StarCraft World Championship Series, there's really no reason not to get it. As for us Android or other platform users, though, we are unfortunately out of luck!
Blizzard music now available on Pandora
If there's one thing that's been a constant over the years of Blizzard games, it's been the music - and there's some good news for those that love Blizzard's tunes. The Video Game Music station on streaming internet radio site Pandora is now cycling in Blizzard soundtracks from Warcraft, Diablo and StarCraft as well. For those that use Pandora for listening, it means you may get a bit of Blizzard mixed in with your usual fare -- for those that don't use Pandora, you might want to check it out. The site uses your personal tastes in music to fashion a playlist for you and suggest songs you might like based on what you listen to already. From the strains of Stormwind City to the heights of Grizzly Hills, the music in Warcraft has always been a high point of every expansion for me. While I don't leave the music running constantly when I'm playing the game, new patches and new content always has me turning up the in-game music to see what new tunes have been added. Be sure to check out Pandora for a taste of Blizzard's soundtracks -- you can listen to Pandora via online stream, or through one of their many mobile apps.
San Diego Comic Con 2013 Blizzard Licensing Panel now online
Wondering what was talked about at the SDCC 2013 Blizzard Licensing panel? The fine folks over at Blizzplanet have released a video recording of the entire panel from start to finish. Included in the discussion are new toys, statues, and upcoming books -- including the children's book Snowfight, written by Chris Metzen with illustrations by Wei Wang, that we mentioned last week. The panel also included a fairly lengthy Q&A session that covered both licensed products and game questions as well. Q&A topics ranged from the future of beloved raid instances like Karazhan to the balance between including major events both in novels and in the game itself, as well as balance between PvP and PvE, among many other topics. There are also some funny moments like the video above, in which Chris Metzen deftly avoids spoiling the debut of the Warcraft movie teaser that was shown later on in another panel at the convention. Be sure to check out Blizzplanet's post for the full set of panel videos.
Activision Blizzard makes up with the ESA
After taking its toys and going home in 2008, Activision Blizzard has kissed and made up with the Entertainment Software Association as announced in a press release this morning. The ESA is not only in charge of organizing E3 each year, but it's also seen as the political arm of the gaming industry. This, along with the joining of Tencent (owner of Riot Games, Epic Games, and the ZAM Network), brings the ESA's membership to 37 companies. Does this mean we'll see more of Blizzard's goodies at E3 while other large companies are skipping the industry expo? Could this be an act of desperation on the part of Activision Blizzard or the ESA? Let us know in the comments! [Source: ESA press release]
Blizzard releases event schedule for San Diego Comic Con 2013
If you're headed to the San Diego Comic Con this year, make sure to take time for Blizzard! The official blog has just posted the schedule of events for SDCC 2013. Blizzard will be located at booth #115 this year, and will have plenty of books for sale right along with the merchandise we saw previewed last week. Along with the Blizzard booth, the Funko Booth (#5343) will have the Shadow Illidan figure for sale, Sideshow (#1929) will have a fully painted Diablo statue on display as well as a first look at Deathwing, and Insight Editions (#1134) will be holding a daily random drawing to give away a copy of The Art of Blizzard, as well as showing off spreads from the upcoming Diablo: Book of Tyrael. Of course SDCC is all about the panels -- there will be a Blizzard Licensing Panel from 2:15-3:15 pm in Hall 6BCF on Thursday, July 18. At the panel, Chris Metzen and a variety of guests will be talking about upcoming licensed products and plans for 2013/2014. This is your chance to get a sneak peek at what's on the horizon for Blizzard entertainment -- and there will be a Q&A during the panel as well. If you're planning on attending the panel, one word of advice: Arrive early. It fills up fast! In addition, there will be book signings galore all throughout the convention itself, including Mike Stackpole, Micky Neilson, Sean Galloway, Chris Metzen, Mike Costa, Wei Wang, Glenn Rane and more! For the full schedule of events and signings, check the official website -- all events should be in the official schedule for the convention itself as well.
Exclusive Blizzard merchandise available at San Diego Comic Con
Blizzard is making a splash this year at the San Diego Comic Con, July 18-21 in San Diego, CA. Those attending the convention will have a chance to snap up some collectible goodies sold only for the four-day event, available in limited numbers. If you're going to be at the convention, I'd suggest grabbing what you want ASAP -- SDCC collectibles never last very long! On the list are a selection of unique and adorable items -- some Warcraft, some dedicated to other Blizzard games. If you've ever wanted a cuddly plush Zerg of your own, a transforming zerg/baneling plush will be available for purchase in limited quantities. The color scheme is specific to SDCC, and is limited to 2,000 pieces. In addition, a mini-Sylvanas action figure, a vinyl Shadow Illidan toy, the hardcover UDON World of Warcraft Tribute Art Book, and some adorable Blizzard-themed papercraft products are also available, all in limited quantities. Take a look at Blizzard's official announcement for more information on the products. Blizzard will be at booth #115 in Hall A at the convention center. For those familiar with SDCC, head into the first lobby entrance near the Marriott and take a right to find the video game pavilion. If you're headed to the convention, don't wait to pick up the goodies -- once they're gone, they're gone!
Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm launch schedule
Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm officially launches, as the image suggests, on March 12, but, with the game launching at midnight tonight, launch events have kicked off all over the world. The evening of March 11 is when celebrations began in Sydney, Australia, where, at the time of writing, the game has been available for purchase for a full eight hours. Events are currently taking place in Europe, with activities underway and being broadcast live on Blizzard's official twitch channel right now. The European events include a tournament featuring well-known players such as Stephano, LucifroN, Grubby and White-Ra, who are competing live on stage, mixed in with developer interviews, exclusive content and more! If you're too late to check out the European streams, which finish at 8pm EST, fear not, because the US events kick off at 9pm PST, with Day9 and Husky kicking off proceedings. There will be live show matches, displaying the new "take command" feature, and new custom games, and two attendees will have the opportunity to play with Suppy and ViBE in a 2v2 pro/am match. Mike Morhaime, Chris Metzen, Chris Sigaty and Sam Didier will be in attendance at the US event, taking part in developer presentations, custom games and much more. Again, if you weren't able to make it to Irvine to attend the event, this will all be broadcast live via the official Twitch channel. Do check out Blizzard's launch pages for further information on any of the events.
Blizzcon is back in action Nov. 8, 9 in Anaheim
Blizzcon is back with a vengeance this year, scheduled for Friday, November 8 and Saturday, November 9 at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California. The convention took a vacation last year, making Blizzcon 2013 a super-special occasion.This year's show will feature all the trappings of previous installments, including panels, tournaments, contests, rare merchandise, demos of the newest Blizzard games and the Global finals of Blizzard esports, all focused on the World of Warcraft, StarCraft and Diablo franchises.There's no word yet on when tickets to Blizzcon 2013 will go on sale, though hotel reservations are live through the Blizzcon portal. Keep in mind that in 2011, tickets to Blizzcon sold out within seconds.
Project Blackstone site goes live, password discovered
Back in November, Blizzard registered a few domain names, including the mysterious projectblackstone.com. As it remain untouched, we were left wondering if it could signal a new game on the horizon -- perhaps something to do with Titan. Well, today Project Blackstone is live and has been redirected to a battle.net site. It looks to be a viral advertising campaign for Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm, and it's an impressive follow-up to the game's recently revealed opening cinematic. You'll need to log in to the Project Blackstone page, and lucky for you we have the access code! Y7_$0>0k_3<$m Seems like a few clever folks on Reddit discovered the password in the source code of the Project Blackstone page, within an encrypted chunk of text. Head over to the site to read your messages from Dr. Helek Branamoor and the rest of the Blackstone Research staff. We're guessing that new ones will be posted every week, so keep a close eye on the site! It also appears that Dr. Branamoor is on Twitter, and he doesn't look like someone I'd want to work for. What do you think about Project Blackstone so far?
Touring the Art of Blizzard at Gallery Nucleus
Earlier this month, Blizzard celebrated the release of its newly published book The Art of Blizzard by opening the doors to a new art exhibition in Alhambra, California. The exhibit, hosted by the local Gallery Nucleus, kicked off with a well-attended Saturday night reception that drew in visitors more accustomed to Fel Reavers than fine art. Attendees covered the full range of demographics, wearing anything from Horde hoodies to shiny stilettos (since people in costume were let in for free, it's important to note that we're referring to the shoes, not the daggers). Massively and our sister site WoW Insider were on hand to take in the spectacle. So what did we see?%Gallery-176765%
Why Ghostcrawler appears in the credits to StarCraft I
Kudos to @PennyRush for noticing WoW's lead system designer's name (Dr. Gregory T. Street) in the credits to the original StarCraft. These credits came out in 1998 when the original StarCraft was released, a whole 10 years before Ghostcrawler joined the WoW team. The reason? @pennyrush True story. I offered a lot of feedback on the mission editor. - Greg Street (@Ghostcrawler) January 20, 2013 Getting a job with Blizzard through great (and professional) interaction isn't something new, either. A lot of the early WoW guys were hired on, in part, because of their knowledge and skill with the original EverQuest. Well, perhaps I shouldn't call Tigole's interaction's totally professional at that time, his forum and website rants were pretty legendary (yet also 100% correct). It also helped to have Rob Pardo as the guild leader. Nonetheless, let this be a lesson to all the future game designers out there... keep it cool, keep it smart, and you'll make the necessary inroads.
The Art of Blizzard prepares for debut
Blizzard has never been short on absolutely amazing artists, which is why we're quite keen on getting a glimpse of the new Art of Blizzard book coming out this month. The Art of Blizzard is a huge 350-page coffee table book full of hundreds of pieces of concept art and behind-the-scenes looks from the studio's entire library. To celebrate the book's launch, Blizzard invites fans to travel to southern California for a reception and exhibition at Gallery Nucleus. The reception is on January 12th with the exhibition running until February 3rd, and players may be able to snag one of the early copies of the book there as long as supplies last. The studio is sending several of its artists to the gallery to meet fans and provide autographs.
The Art of Blizzard Entertainment exhibition to open on January 12
The Art of Blizzard Entertainment, a massive 376 page collection of artwork from Warcraft, StarCraft and Diablo, will be available for purchase later this month. But if you're in the Los Angeles area and you're wanting a sneak peek at what the book has to offer, you may want to clear your calendar at some point in the coming weeks. Gallery Nucleus, located in Alhambra California, will be hosting a special collection of over 50 pieces of artwork from your favorite Blizzard games, including an extensive collection of concept art. The exhibition will be at Gallery Nucleus from January 12 through February 3, 2012. However, there will be an opening reception from 7-11pm on January 12. Guests attending will have plenty of games and activities to keep them occupied, as well as an opportunity to get exclusive posters and other commemorative items. There is a $5 entrance fee at the door for the reception, however those that show up in costume will get in for free. In addition to the artwork and events, several of the Blizzard Entertainment artists featured in the book will be in attendance giving painting demos, signing books, and simply hanging out with attendees. For more information on what sounds like an incredibly fun time, you can check out Gallery Nucleus' official website.