Thrall: Twilight of the Aspects now on sale

The latest novel in the World of Warcraft universe, Thrall: Twilight of the Aspects by Christie Golden, is now available in stores! This novel covers former Warchief of the Horde, Thrall, as he deals with the aftermath of the Cataclysm. When Azeroth was young, the noble titans appointed the five great dragonflights to safeguard the budding world. Each of the flights’ leaders was imbued with a portion of the titans’ vast cosmic powers. Together, these majestic Dragon Aspects committed themselves to thwarting any force that threatened the safety of the World of Warcraft. Over ten thousand years ago, a betrayal by the maddened black Dragon Aspect, Deathwing, shattered the strength and unity of the dragonflights. His most recent assault on Azeroth—the Cataclysm—has left the world in turmoil. At the Maelstrom, the center of Azeroth’s instability, former Horde warchief Thrall and other accomplished shaman struggle to keep the world from tearing

Read more →

Blizzard’s Moonkin Hatchling raises $800,000 for Make-A-Wish Foundation

Blizzard’s sales of the Moonkin Hatchling pet for World of Warcraft resulted in an $800,000 donation to the Make-A-Wish Foundation, according to a press release from yesterday. That number is only 50 percent of the total sales for the pet during November and December last year, so I’ve gotta say it — that’s a lot of Moonkin. At least they’re adorable! Blizzard celebrated the donation on April 29, World Wish Day, by fulfilling the wishes of two fans and inviting them to Blizzard headquarters in Irvine, Calif. The two boys got an inside look at the development of World of Warcraft. “We’ve had a long relationship with the Make-A-Wish Foundation and are proud to help contribute to the great work they do for children,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and co-founder of Blizzard Entertainment. “We’re also proud of the spirit and generosity of our players – their enthusiasm for World of

Read more →

Final Thoughts on Blizzcon 2010

Well Blizzcon came and went and even though there were some good moments, there were also some underwhelming moments. The keynote could have been a bit more exciting, and I know that I would have loved to have heard even a tiny bit about the new MMO they’re working on, but all we got was World of Jersey Shorecraft. But there were some interesting tidbits that came out of some of the World of Warcraft Q&A panels, and as always the live raid was fun. Sadly not much news for Starcraft II fans, and Diablo III fans only got a new class to play. I know as a SC2 fan I’m anxiously awaiting news on when the next part, Heart of the Swarm, will be released. I do feel for Diablo fans as not hearing anything more besides the new class and the PvP. Hopefully we’ll hear of a release

Read more →

World of Warcraft: Cataclysm Collector’s Edition is Oh So Shiny

Nothing says “I <3 WoW” more than getting the Collector’s Edition of the latest and greatest for the Blizzard MMO. Thankfully, Blizzard has you covered with this oh so shiny sneak peek at what’s going to be included in the Collector’s Edition. Art of the Cataclysm art book, featuring 176 pages of never-before-seen images from the archives of the Blizzard Entertainment cinematics department and the World of Warcraft development team, as well as progressive visuals from multiple stages of development. Exclusive in-game pet: he may not be a breaker of worlds just yet, but Lil’ Deathwing will still proudly accompany heroes on their struggle to save Azeroth from his much, much larger counterpart. Behind-the-scenes DVD with  over an hour of developer interviews and commentaries, as well as a special Warcraft® retrospective examining the rich gaming history of the Warcraft universe. Soundtrack featuring 10 epic new tracks from Cataclysm, including exclusive

Read more →

Blizzcon 2010 tickets officially sell out, crying commences

If you were a part of the mad dash to get Blizzcon tickets this year, you’ll know that Blizzard set up two dates to sell their stock. That last day was today, and with ticket sales starting at 10AM PST, they were completely gone 27 minutes later, with about 27,500+ people still left in queue. Some eBay scalpers are already listing Buy-It-Now prices of $800 each and above for the originally $150 per person tickets. Blizzcon draws thousands of people to Anaheim, California every year, where players of games set in the Warcraft, Starcraft and Diablo universes converge and become some of the first to hear about news and changes about their favorite games. The convention is so popular that they now Pay-Per-View the event on DirectTV. This year the two-day event will be October 22 and 23 at the Anaheim Convention Center, and features the standard Developer Q&A, player/developer

Read more →

Blizzard Entertainment Nets Broadcasting Deal with Korean Online Television Network GomTV

If you’re a StarCraft fan, you know that the game has a giant following in Korea. Blizzard is cashing in on this popularity in that country in a way that translates to a lot more than just games sold. An agreement with online television network GomTV gives the channel the rights to broadcast shows based on Blizzard games. For three years, they will be able to broadcast tournaments featuring StarCraft, StarCraft II, Warcraft III and World of Warcraft. Because finding a broadcast partner was important (South Korea has at least three networks dedicated to airing tournaments), Blizzard decided to go ahead and set up an official deal with an e-Sports broadcaster. Mike Morhaime, president of Blizzard, issued a statement this afternoon about the contract. “With the release of Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty approaching, we decided we could not delay any further in finding a trustworthy partner who respected our

Read more →

Battle.net to be linked with Facebook

Blizzard announced today that they will be integrating Battle.net with Facebook. This functionality is planned to begin during the Starcraft II beta and will be available when Wings of Liberty ships in July, as well as once the Cataclysm beta arrives (hopefully). “We’re pleased to be working with Facebook to integrate their platform with Battle.net to enhance the social-entertainment experience for our players,” said Paul Sams, chief operating officer of Blizzard Entertainment. “This new functionality will make it easier than ever to connect with friends on Battle.net and play StarCraft II and future Blizzard Entertainment games together.” The link will be optional to all users, so those who may not want to link and share their exploits can choose not to. I do think the ability to be able to see who all on my Facebook friends is on Battle.net will be great for Starcraft II as well as WoW.

Read more →

StarCraft II Out July 27, Start Your Countdowns Now

Blizzard announced just now that the highly-anticipated StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, will be shipping to stores around most of the world starting July 27. After that point, it will also be possible to purchase the game directly from Blizzard. The sequel touts a new version of Battle.net, as well as a 29-mission campaign with challenge mode minigames and a player-tailored experience. For more information, visit the official website at www.starcraft2.com. To see what’s available in the special edition (that really, you should pre-order today if you want it), check out this article from last month.

Read more →

The State of Azeroth: Holy class changes Batman!

Well it’s been another busy month with the class changes that were announced for Cataclysm! Not to mention some new items added to the Blizzard store that has some in a tizzy. I’ll have this news plus some sillies and my thoughts on two of the class changes below! In the News The big news in the past few days has been the release of the Celestial Steed and Lil XT in the Blizzard online store. And it’s a bit of an understatement to say that both were a hit. From what I’ve seen though I think the mounts may have sold more, and that only means that Blizzard will be happy about their profits for this month. Not to mention I think that they are for sure going to stick with having these micro transactions for the game. And with a mount as detailed as the Celestial Steed it

Read more →

StarCraft II Gets a Lot More Collectable

A brand-new, completely epic Collector’s Edition of StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty for Mac and PC that will retail for $99.99 was announced today by Blizzard. The highly-anticipated title will also be available in a standard edition ($59.99), and online play will be free with both, but with everything available on the Collector’s Edition…well, let’s just say I know which choice I’d be making. Just look at what’s included! The Art of StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, a 176-page book featuring artwork from the game (pictured left) A 2GB USB flash drive replica of Jim Raynor’s dog tag, which comes preloaded with the original StarCraft and the StarCraft: Brood War expansion set A behind-the-scenes DVD containing over an hour of developer interviews, cinematics with director’s commentary, and more The official StarCraft II soundtrack CD, containing 14 tracks from the game along with several bonus tracks StarCraft comic book issue #0

Read more →