If you're a fan of Blizzard's cinematics and trailers, but don't really want to download to watch them, you have an alternative. Blizzard today announced the opening of their official YouTube page. Check out the announcement below, or head to http://www.youtube.com/blizzard to begin watching!

Quote from: Bornakk (Source)

The new official Blizzard Entertainment channel on YouTube is now live! http://www.youtube.com/blizzard

Check out high-quality streaming versions of our cinematics, gameplay trailers, and in-game movies. Make sure to come back often, as we will be adding even more video content in the weeks ahead.

Link: http://www.youtube.com/blizzard

It looks like Icecrown Citadel isn't the only news of the day, as Blizzard has announced the release of their redesigned Blizzard.com. Check out the blue post on the topic below, or head over to http://www.blizzard.com to check out the website for yourself!

Quote from: Bornakk (Source)

Welcome to the newly redesigned Blizzard.com! Featuring a brand-new design, this website is the focal point for all official Blizzard Entertainment news, press releases, and much, much more.

Games section: The updated games section includes links to our current projects as well as detailed information for all of our previously released games, including trailers, screenshots, concept art, wallpapers, and more. http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/games/

Company section: This section is all about Blizzard Entertainment as a company – it features our company profile, core values, partners, career opportunities, event information, and updated press center. http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/company/

Community section: This is your first stop for all community-related Blizzard Entertainment content, including the Blizzard Insider email newsletter archive, past and current contests, our fan art gallery, and BlizzCast, our official podcast. http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/community/

Explore the new website now: http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/index.html

Diablofans.com has posted a pictorial re-cap of Blizzcon 2009 with lots of costumes, people, and events photographed for your viewing pleasure!
Take a look at some of the images:

There are still more photos to see, so be sure to check out the full online gallery located here:
http://www.diablofans.com/forums/album.php?albumid=47

BlizzCon has begun! We wanted to give everyone a friendly reminder about the best place to get your BlizzCon update fix! We have ten people at BlizzCon this year covering every area of the convention! The big news this year will be covered by our three largest Blizzard fansites

WorldofRaids.com - Get updates on everything related to World of Warcraft and BlizzCon happenings. This website will focus on any new details released about WoW and coverage of the event itself!

DiabloFans.com - Get updates on everything related to the Diablo series and Diablo 3. This website will focus on any new details released about the latest game to join the Diablo franchise, Diablo 3, and live coverage of panels at the convention!

ArenaJunkies.com - Get updates on everything related to World of Warcraft, Arena updates, and BlizzCon happenings. This website will focus on any new details released for Arena Goers, and the latest World of Warcraft updates!

We'll also be posting updates of the coverage throughout the event here on Curse.com to keep you updated!

BlizzCon starts tomorrow and the internet is abuzz about what will definitely be the biggest year for Blizzard to date! We received a request from the community team at Blizzard today asking us to highlight a new poll they're running to judge what people are looking forward to the most from this event. Right now the "World of Warcraft Preview Panel" is at about 60% of the votes...which is an insanely staggering margin, but it's not over!

Let your voice be heard: What panel are you looking forward to the most?

This is a shorter poll than usual, running only for two days so be sure and check it out!

With BlizzCon 2009 just around the corner everyone's wanting details on what'll happen at the big event this week. While we wait for all the news to unfold, here's a look at the official floor plan for this year's BlizzCon:

[click here to enlarge]

It's larger than ever before and should be chalk full of exciting events! Hall D looks like it could be the future home of a few major Blizzard announcements!

We'll be reporting on everything BlizzCon via our various fansites and of course here on Curse.com.

For game specific updates visit these sites during the event:

World of Raids
Arena Junkies
Diablo Fans

We're all ready for a long weekend! :)

Blizzard Entertainment, known for the most well-known and iconic PC games in existence (Warcraft, Starcraft, Diablo, and MMO World of Warcraft, to name a few), is now live on Twitter! These days, lots of folks have Twitter accounts (heck, I've got one), and Blizzard is making their splash into the microblogging/social networking service with some great contests. Here's the info we've been given below:

Follow Blizzard Entertainment on Twitter!

You can now follow all of your favorite Blizzard Entertainment news on Twitter. Just head over to @Warcraft, @StarCraft, or@Diablo for all of the news, events, contests, and more. We’re starting off with a bang, so you can enter contests for each of the franchises:

1. @Warcraft -- Let out your #BattleCry to show your allegiance to Horde or Alliance in preparation for BlizzCon! Win Horde and Alliance prize packages while showing off your pictures during the ongoing battle across Twitter!

2. @StarCraft -- Are you the biggest #SC2fan? If you are, you will have a chance at 500 StarCraft II beta keys we’re giving away in this challenge.

3. @Diablo -- Have you always wanted to have an item in a game that you've named? Enter the #d3unique contest with your best item name and you could win the grand prize of seeing your item wielded by Diablo III players worldwide.

As we head into BlizzCon, we’ll also have live coverage and provide a spot to talk about news as it happens in real time. Be sure to check it out for contests and more over the next week. Do you plan to watch the DIRECTV Pay Per View or Internet stream? We’ll be Twittering live at the event and looking for your tweets! Things won’t end there, and we’re looking for you to help us reach a twittercal mass on our new Warcraft, StarCraft, and Diablo Twitter communities.

Ozzy Osbourne, the only man to challenge the Lich King’s claim to the title "Prince of Darkness" and live, will be performing at the Anaheim Convention Center to rock the closing ceremonies of BlizzCon 2009!

If you weren't able to get a tick and go this year don't worry! You'll still be able to watch the 'BlizzCon Virtual Ticket' live Internet stream or via DIRECTV Pay Per View. The Virtual Ticket will feature 18 hours of BlizzCon coverage, including Ozzy’s live performance, as well as the BlizzCon 2009 exclusive in-game pet: Grunty the Murloc Marine.

Here's the official press release about Ozzy at BlizzCon 2009:

Ozzy Osbourne to Perform at BlizzCon 2009 -

The largest event of its kind, BlizzCon is a celebration of Blizzard Entertainment's Warcraft^®, Diablo^®, and StarCraft^® game universes and the global player communities surrounding them. At the closing ceremony on August 22, Ozzy will unleash a thunderous spectacle of rock to put the Lich King in his place and cement his own title as the one true Prince of Darkness.

One of the most influential rock musicians of all time, Ozzy Osbourne rose to prominence as the lead vocalist for Black Sabbath before embarking on a multi-platinum solo career. He is also known for putting on the Ozzfest music festival and for starring in his own reality TV show. Ozzy Osbourne’s career has spanned four decades and his music is as relevant today as ever. The Grammy Award-winning Rock and Roll Hall of Famer has sold over 100 million albums worldwide--50 with Black Sabbath and as many as a solo artist--and in 2003 was honored with a star on Hollywood Boulevard's "Walk of Fame." This is his second collaboration with Blizzard Entertainment, following a recent TV spot for World of Warcraft^®.

"Our goal with BlizzCon is to deliver an unforgettable weekend of entertainment, and we can’t think of a better way to close out this year’s show than having Ozzy rock the house," said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “Many of us at Blizzard are lifelong fans of Ozzy’s music, and we’re thrilled that he’ll be performing for all of our BlizzCon attendees as well as those joining us via DIRECTV and the live Internet stream.”

In addition to serving as a gathering place for the different Blizzard Entertainment gaming communities, BlizzCon will offer an array of activities, including discussion panels, hands-on playtime with upcoming games, contests, tournaments showcasing the skills of top eSports gamers from around the world, and more. While tickets to the convention are currently sold out, the live Pay Per View event can still be ordered for $39.95 USD, and is available via DIRECTV and Internet stream (pricing and availability may vary by region). Visit www.blizzcon.com for more details and ordering information.

BlizzCon has been sold out since the day tickets first went on sale and literally within minutes, but for those who still want to go there are options!

Blizzard has teamed-up with renowned computer hardware developer Razer to offer even more of these chances. However, there is a bit of a twist.

In order to win the chance to enter their Grand Prize contest (a complete trip for two to the 2009 BlizzCon, including board and travel), you must first complete a series of quests. However, even each of these still has its own prize, with quest one offering ten chances to win the Razer Deathadder? Gaming Mouse and quest two offering a mini-prize of a chance out of ten to win a RazerGear? Messenger Bag & Sleeve.

Entry in to the final contest requires that you have participated in each of these quests.

The Grand Prize includes the following: 2 (two) BlizzCon tickets, 2 (two) economy plane tickets, hotel reservations, and $300 dollars spending money!

See here for to sign up and/or see more details, and click here to see the official terms and conditions.

Blizzard Trademarks Cataclysm

This week gets more and more interesting every day. First it was the Faction-Change service announcement, then the latest PTR build sheding light on the Crusaders' Coliseum raid bosses, and now news of Blizzard Entertainment filing trademarks for "Cataclysm." World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, anyone?

We've already speculated a bit about a Maelstrom expansion, and it looks like Blizzard is readying their ammunition to head into BlizzCon with guns blazing. Companies usually only tip their hand on a game title when they're ready to announce it, so whatever Cataclysm is, we'll surely find out at BlizzCon. Sony Online Entertainment did this with their EQ and EQ2 expansions a few weeks before announcing them, and Blizzard will likely follow suit by sharing Cataclysm -- whatever it may be -- with the world in August.

So, again... how does World of Warcraft: Cataclysm sound? And would this be related to the Maelstrom? The Sargeras sound clip from yesterday suggests he's already gone from Azeroth (and was trying to get summoned back), so it likely won't involve him. Unless, of course, he's the cause of the cataclysmic events in this expansion. Another hint that this will be Maelstrom-related is this entry on WoWWiki:

Quote from: WoWWiki (Source)

The Great Sundering, also known as simply the Sundering or the Cataclysm,^{WRPG 185, 211} was a world event which reshaped Azeroth approximately 10,000 years ago at the end of the War of the Ancients. This event was triggered due to the Well of Eternity being destroyed.

Prior to the Sundering, there was only one continent on Azeroth, referred to as Kalimdor. In the catastrophic explosion, eighty percent of the land mass was destroyed,^{W3Man #?} leaving behind the major continents and scattered islands that are known today: Northrend, Kezan, the Eastern Kingdoms, and the remnant still referred to as Kalimdor.

The site of the Well of Eternity became a swirling vortex of power known as the Maelstrom.

At any rate, here are the three trademarks, which in some ways support this being World of Warcraft-related:

• Computer software
• Paper-based products
• Online entertainment services

WorldofWarcraft.com has posted an update about the Blizzard Live Concert on July 18th! Video Games Live! has been putting on concerts of game music for years, and you may have had a chance to see them perform at BlizzCon in the past. The upcoming show in Houston has been expanded into an all-day celebration called Gamer MusiCON 09 that will feature a seperate concert for Blizzard games to kick off the afternoon! The festival also includes an interactive panel and Q&A session with Blizzard Entertainment music composers and an on-stage costume contest. For more information on Gamer MusiCON 09, or to purchase tickets, please visit the event website.

Here's the schedule for MusiCON09 and more information on the event:

Gamer MusiCON 09 with Video Games Live! & Blizzard Live!

The Houston Symphony, in partnership with Tommy Tallarico, Jack Wall and Blizzard Entertainment®, has expanded the visionary Video Games LiveTM concert to an all-day celebration of the cutting-edge video game music industry. The world premiere of Gamer MusiCON 09 includes two high-energy concerts featuring Symphony performances of the industry’s greatest video game hits with exclusive game footage and synchronized lighting. The first features the sights and sounds of Blizzard games World of Warcraft®, Diablo® and StarCraft®   and never before performed music from World of Warcraft - Wrath of the Lich King. While the second brings back an all-new Video Games LiveTM with material from games like Chrono Trigger®, Halo 3: ODST ® and Mega Man. Throughout the day, a Game Crazy festival will offer playable game demos throughout all three levels of Jones Hall, plus a Guitar Hero® contest for the chance to appear on stage during Video Games LiveTM. The festival also includes an interactive panel and Q&A session with Blizzard Entertainment® game composers, and an on-stage costume contest for attendees dressed as their favorite video game character.

Gamer MusiCON 09 timeline:

2:00   Doors to Jones Hall open for lobby festival
3:00 – 4:30  Blizzard Live! concert
4:30 – 7:30  Lobby festival
7:30 – 10:00  Video Games Live! concert
10:00 – 11:00 Post concert autographs & merchandise sales

Event Highlights:

Game Crazy festival with playable game demos throughout all three levels of Jones Hall
Interactive panel and Q&A session with Blizzard Entertainment®game composers
On-stage costume contest
Merchandise Sales
Post concert autograph session
Guitar Hero contest in lobby - winner plays on-stage during concert

Stay tuned for more!

DiabloFans.com posted some news this morning about trying to purchase Blizzcon tickets yesterday - and a very cool flash game Blizzard made available to people waiting in the queue! The flash game is called Failoc-Alypse and let players mass slay failocs outside the Anaheim convention center! Pictures and details are also in the full story listed below!

Here's a look at the Diblofans BlizzCon Tickets Round 2 and Failoc-Alypse:

Well, what can I say. I hope all of you guys who were trying to purchase BlizzCon tickets this morning had better luck than we did. Our own staff members were trying to purchase additional tickets since we didn't have enough for everyone and wanted more to be able to attend the big event, but no such luck. From the very get-go today, things weren't looking to good.

[click to enlarge]

This is the screen I saw after being in the queue for a little over a minute. An odd error which read an "Undefined" position in the queue and "NaN minutes" left to wait. 15 seconds later, I was booted out of the queue and sent back to the Blizzard homepage. From there, I had to re-enter the queue. Even with the glitches, I made it down to #659 in the queue with only a few minutes left to go. Unfortunately, before my turn came up, tickets had completely sold out.

So again, I really hope you guys had much better luck than we did today. And hey, even if you didn't, there's still hope for three of you because we're currently holding a big Blizzcon 2009 Ticket Giveaway Contest. Be sure to read all about it and get your entries in before the June 8th deadline!

On a lighter note, while the ticket queue process was clearly more glitchy this time around, there was some fun to be had. Blizzard unveiled a retro-style flash game called FAILOC-ALPYSE which you could play while you waited in the ticket queue to help pass the time. It even kept you up to date about your position in the ticket queue in the bottom right corner while you continued to play.

[click to enlarge]

Naturally, I selected the Witch Doctor from Diablo 3 as my playable character of choice and killed Failocs galore in front of the ever-growing crowd outside of the Anaheim Convention Center for BlizzCon. Managed to make it up to level 42 before BlizzCon tickets were sold out. Launched a nuke and scored some majors points for doing many rad double-jumps too. I also enjoyed seeing some familiar faces popping up in the background as the game went on. Good times.

Of course, me being a web designer at heart, I always like to check into the details of a page. So when I checked out the background image that the game resided on top of, I got a good chuckle out of what the flash game had been hiding:

[click to enlarge]

Good ol' Blizzard.

Blizzcon Ticket Reminder

Blizzcon tickets will be up for grabs again tomorrow for users with Battle.net Accounts via the Blizzcon Ticket Page! For more details on the process involved in getting a ticket visit the Blizzcon Ticket FAQ and be ready when they go on sale for your chance at purchasing a ticket to this blockbuster event! If you're not able to purchase a ticket we are hosting a few events here at the Curse Network that will give you up to 12 chances to win your way there!

Here is a list of currently available contests from our network:

Curse.com - we're running an Author Blizzcon Ticket Contest!

WorldofRaids.com - Design a WoW License Plate Contest!

DiabloFans.com - Class Art, Lore, Skills Contests!

ArenaJunkies.com - Design an Arena Map Contest!

Good luck and I can't wait to see some of you there!

This notice was just posted to WorldofWarcraft.com about Blizzcon tickets going on sale tomorrow! If you don't score some tommorow we WILL be running a contest in the near future for some tickets that we have available for a contest!

Here's the official Blizzcon Tickets Notice:

Just in case Saturday, May 16 isn’t circled on your calendar, here’s a quick reminder that BlizzCon tickets will be going on sale tomorrow. After our gnomish engineers here in Southern California get to work and finish making the final preparations late Saturday morning, they’ll activate the ticket-purchase process and BlizzCon tickets will officially go on sale. If you are unable to purchase tickets tomorrow, a second batch of tickets will go on sale May 30. And for those unable to attend the show, in-depth coverage of BlizzCon will also be offered by DIRECTV as a Pay Per View event, available both via satellite and Internet stream.

BlizzCon 2009 will take place August 21 and 22 at the Anaheim Convention Center, and tickets cost $125 each. For further information about the convention, check out the official BlizzCon site, and keep an eye on the ticket sales page tomorrow for the chance to get yours.

Up to five (5) tickets per billing address can be purchased using the drop-down menu below. To learn more about BlizzCon 2009, please refer to the BlizzCon 2009 FAQ.

Blizzard Entertainment has managed to top the Develop 100 list of the World's Most Bankable Game Studios, beating out Nintendo, Capcom, Infinity Ward, Epic Games and many more cross-platform game studios -- proving above all else that quality game design wins, not the number of platforms you can publish your game on.

The list is based on several pieces of criteria, including sales data, critical success, and industry standing, according to the website.  What's more interesting is the presence of a Free to Play game studio in the top 20 -- Nexon, at #19 -- further cementing the company as a real success story in an emerging market; monetization through non-subscription means.

The magazine is also available on issuu in interactive form, allowing you to see a few key facts about each company in the list, as well as a brief writeup.  Did you know that 16 million quests are completed each day in World of Warcraft?  Well now you do!

To check out the list, head over to the Develop 100 page.

Blizzard Community Manager Ancilorn has seen it fit to send us some recent EU & US forum posts that are worthy of a second take! Ancilorn has also included some of the latest important Developer posts and recent news topics for all things Blizzard!

Here's the update:

BlizzCon 2009 Exclusive Pet - 13/05/09

Want to do your part to protect Azeroth from interstellar invasion? Everyone who attends BlizzCon 2009 or purchases the BlizzCon Pay Per View event via DIRECTV will be joined by a new World of Warcraft in-game companion, Grunty the murloc marine. This tiny terror is fully armored and comes equipped with a gauss rifle, which he’ll occasionally fire into the air to make sure no invisible spacecraft are swooping in to attack.

BlizzCon 2009 takes place on August 21-22 in the Anaheim Convention Center. Tickets go on sale on Saturday, May 16, with a second allotment to be released on May 30. For further details, check out the recent press release.

 Win A Trip To BlizzCon In Our Costume Contest! - 13/05/09

Warm up your sewing machines and start selecting the best fabrics you can; the Blizzard Costume Contest is coming soon! The best costume-maker will receive a grand prize package filled with great loot from our partners Panini, SteelSeries, and Upper Deck as well as an a trip for two to BlizzCon 2009! Check out our contest information page for details.

This contest will launch on May 20 so get your costumes ready!

 New Wallpaper From Wildstorm! - 12/05/09

We have just added a new wallpaper to our Official World of Warcraft Wallpaper Gallery depicting scenes from the World of Warcraft comic series!

This wallpaper features artwork from Wildstorm's monthly comic series. If you like what you see, you can visit Wildstorm on the web for more information or to subscribe to the series directly.

 Blizzard eSports Channel - 11/05/09

The Blizzard eSports Channel by ESL TV is a new streaming video service, available to World of Warcraft subscribers. This channel will showcase live eSports events using Blizzard Entertainment games, in addition to airing scheduled and on-demand programming. Active World of Warcraft subscribers can find the Blizzard eSports Channel underneath Free Services within Account Management.

EU Forums:

 Here are some of the most recent blue-posts made on the EU forums: 

·         13/05 - Recent In-Game Fixes

·         3.1.2 PTR Patch Notes

·         Win A Trip To BlizzCon!

·         BlizzCon 2009 Exclusive Pet

·         06/05 - Realms and Migration

·         06/05 - BlizzCon Tickets On Sale May 16

·         New Wallpaper From Wildstorm!

·         Blizzard eSports Channel

·         Lightning Overload buff hotfix

·         Wintergrasp Quest Changes

·         Stop the Nerf Madness

·         Wintergrasp latency & Instance latency issues

·         Ulduar HM loot info

 US Forums: 

·         It's in the Details

·         Races and their differences

·         Weapons and Tools of the Trade

·         Blizzard Shop Talk - BlizzCon 2009

·         Arena Rating & Requirement Changes

 Developer Posts: 

·         On arena brackets

·         On the interaction in the forums

·         On Feral DPS

·         On balance direction

·         On healing in Ulduar

·         On Moonkin DPS

·         On hunter DPS

·         Balance Question 

Update: According to WoWInsider, Canessa has been brought on as project director for the new Battle.net, which will first launch with StarCraft II, but will also support Diablo III and future Blizzard titles.

Greg Canessa -- VP of video game platforms at PopCap -- has left the company to take on a role at Blizzard Entertainment.  What he'll be doing at Blizzard is unclear as of right now, though a "trusted source" told Joystiq that he's going to be working on their latest unannounced project, purportedly alongside VP of game design, Rob Pardo.

Whatever this new project is, it's in the very early stages of development, so it may be a while before we hear anything about it.  Still, it's interesting to see Canessa, who was previously group manager of Xbox Live, join Blizzard after a short stint at PopCap -- makers of Bejeweled, Peggle, and many other popular casual games.  Could his experience in both areas tie into his new role at Blizzard, and this new title that is rumored to be yet another brand new IP for the company?

Blizzard has sent us a recent announcement about ticket sales for Blizzcon 2009! This should be an amazing year to go to the event, lots of new titles on the horizon, and World of Warcraft bigger than ever! We'll have representatives there - hope to see you!

Here's the official Blizzcon Announcement:

Blizzcon Tickets

Quote from: Blizzard (Source)

Tickets to this year's BlizzCon gaming convention, being held on August 21 and 22 in Anaheim, California, will go on sale worldwide on Saturday, May 16 for $125 each, with a second block of tickets going on sale Saturday, May 30. For those unable to attend, DIRECTV will once again be televising BlizzCon in high definition as a Pay Per View event, featuring coverage from the show floor, exclusive interviews, demos, and more. In addition, for the first time, players around the world will be able to watch the DIRECTV BlizzCon event as a Pay Per View Internet stream. Check out the press release for further details, and head over to www.blizzcon.com on May 16 or May 30 to buy your tickets.

For the BlizzCon forums please visit here: http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/board.html?forumId=9391140

Diablofans.com has, sadly!, found out that there will be no WWI this year from Blizzard. There is, however, some silver-lining to this cloud as perhaps even MORE resources will be poured into BlizzCon 2009 and we'll still get our fill of whatever exciting stuff Blizzard has planned.

Here's the WWI News from Diablofans.com:

As first reported here by one of our own users, there is not going to be a World Wide Invitational 2009. However, it seems that we will still have the privilege of a nice, big BlizzCon 2009, as per the following quote from http://davidluong.net/, a website owned by a Diablo III cinematic developer:

A special thanks goes out to minsc&boo for chancing upon this jewel and posting it on our forums!

So, how does everyone feel about this? Will anyone miss the WWI? Or will the grandeur of a bigger, better BlizzCon make up for it? What is everyone hoping will happen at this year's BlizzCon?

The staff at Diablofans.com have picked up the following post announcing the winners of the Blizzard Theme Park Contest! The designs are amazing; Kudos to the people who spent the time making these amazing designs!

Here's the original Blizzard Theme Park Contest Announcement from Diablofans.com:

The winners of Blizzard's first Theme Park Contest have just been announced for each of the categories. Christina Marie DeLong was the lucky grand-prize winner, but considering what she came up with, I'm not so sure one should call it luck since she clearly put a lot of time into coming up with "Blizzard World". Take a look:

(click to enlarge)

Nice, eh? Really like the coloring on it, and come on... you just can't go wrong with a "Demonic Petting Zoo" complete with "special feeds" so the children can give food to the tamed demons. Makes me wish the park was real. And speaking of demons, the other individual game category winners were announced as well, so naturally I gotta share with you the Diablo-themed winner:

(click to enlarge)

I was admittedly hoping for an entire theme park dedicated solely to Diablo, but at least this one covers the Sanctuary quite nicely. I particularly enjoyed the descriptions such as the ride which drops you "into the depths of Hell faster than gravity itself" and how Adria the Witch sells a variety of things including "bath supplies" in her gift shop.

All in all, it was a great light-hearted contest and I hope Blizzard decides to make it an annual tradition. Be sure to check out the other winning entries such as the Starcraft and Warcraft themed ones along with all of the Honorable Mentions. Some really good stuff in the mix!

So what was your favorite part out of all the theme park entries? Did any of your entries make the cut? If you didn't enter this time, will you in the future if Blizzard holds another theme park contest?

Blizzard has announced a global writing contest! The contest is open to all fans of the Blizzard Universe and all it's amazing titles like: Diablo, Starcraft, and World of Warcraft. The contest will be judged by the actual content and lore masters at Blizzard! To enter you must submit a 3000-10,000 word story in English about the Blizzard universe by April 12th. The first place winner will receive the Frostmourne Sword, and a trip to Blizzard HQ!

For an advantage in the contest make sure and visit our Blizzard fansites: Diablofans.com, Sc2Lead.com, and WorldofRaids.com!

Here's a picture of the contest sword and the original story about the Blizzard Writing Contest:

Award Categories:

WorldofWarcraft.com has posted a media update for the Blizzcon 2008 event. Several new photos have been posted in the Partner Booth, Gaming Stations, and Outside sections of the photo album.

Here's the original post:

Additional photos from BlizzCon have been sorted into our BlizzCon Gaming Stations, Outside, and Partner Booth Gallery. You can view other galleries by selecting the dropdown menu at the top right of the galleries page.

Here's a few sample images:

Diablofans.com has recently posted some new news from Blizzard and a Theme Park Contest they are running! If an idea like this ever came to be a real theme park...whew! Could you imagine? Checkout the post:

Now here's something completely different! Blizzard has just announced a new Theme Park Contest. They want you to design your own ideas of how a Blizzard theme park would look. In addition to some great prizes including a Wacom Cintiq and Starcraft 2 beta keys, some of the best entries will be put on display at BlizzCon 2009!

"Step right up, and take a ride on Onyxia's Revenge -- a wild, whelp-filled roller coaster through the depths of the nefarious dragon's lair! Head to Koprulu Food Court and grab yourself a Zerger Burger -- then don your Horadric Poncho, and prepare to get soaked in a rain of fire on Diablo's River of Flame!

What thrills would you seek in the Blizzard Entertainment theme park of your dreams? This is your chance to show us.

We're challenging you to design and illustrate your own Blizzard Entertainment Theme Park, including roller coasters, water rides, shows, shopping areas, food courts, game areas, patrons, and whatever fantastic attractions you desire.

Submit your original park design by March 30, 2009, and we'll choose our favorites based on the creativity of the design, artistic technique (including the medium and style), and how your park reflects the lore and spirit of Blizzard Entertainment's games.

You can submit illustrations that look like theme-park maps, compose your park to look like a screenshot from a game, or create whatever kind of park you wish -- the only limit is your imagination. Winning entries will be featured on Blizzard Entertainment websites around the world as well as at BlizzCon 2009, being held in Anaheim, California on August 21 and 22. The park designer who most creatively incorporates the StarCraft, Warcraft, and Diablo universes will receive a Wacom Cintiq 12WX Digitizing Tablet, a pair of StarCraft II beta keys, and more. See below for more prize details, or check out the official rules for more information."

So what do you think? This is a pretty random contest for them and I definitely can't wait to see the results, but it raises some questions. Is this their way of hinting that we'll maybe see Blizzard's own version of Disneyland some day? After all, BlizzCon is held in Anaheim right near Disneyland. Coincidence? Or perhaps this is for something more along the lines of a new game like RollerCoaster Tycoon? Oh how the mind loves to wonder about such things...

Click here to visit the official Blizzard Theme Park Contest page.

Click here to read the official rules.

This in from WorldofWarcraft.com about The Eminence Symphony Orchestra and their recent release of the Echoes of War album. With Echoes of War you'll be able to listen to your favorite Blizzard tunes at any time! The Echoes of War album is all of the music from Blizzard Entertainment’s franchises, including pieces from the unreleased StarCraft II and Diablo III games. Check out the original post and head over to the official Echoes of War website to hear samples:

 

The Eminence Symphony Orchestra has just released Echoes of War: The Music of Blizzard Entertainment, a comprehensive arrangement album of music from Blizzard Entertainment’s franchises, including pieces from the unreleased StarCraft II and Diablo III.

The album comes on two CDs, and is available in both a standard edition and a special Legendary Edition packed with bonus materials. Visit the official Echoes of War website to hear samples, learn more, and order your copy today.

Blizzard has recently released a set of professionaly taken photos from BlizzCon 2008. They include photos from the costume contest portion of BlizzCon and several other photos all uploaded to the offical Blizzard Photo Gallery.

Checkout the offical post from WorldofWarcraft.com:

We've updated our BlizzCon photo galleries with a new gallery featuring Professional Photos taken of the participants in the 2008 Costume Contest.

See you at BlizzCon '09!