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Commenter Kinecticdamage tries to shock massively multiplayer online game developers out of their World of Warcraft-fueled haze and on track to create something truly unique and beautiful in today's Speak Up on Kotaku. More »
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Publisher Blizzard is partnering with Hasbro's USAopoly to release World of Warcraft Monopoly and StarCraft Risk, it said today. So now you can take breaks from your World of Warcraft and StarCraft sessions to play World of Warcraft and StarCraft. More »
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Blizzard once made a game called WarCraft III. Then someone made an awesome mod for it called DOTA. Then Valve decided to make a game called DOTA 2. Then Blizzard decided to make something called Blizzard DOTA. More »
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Not much, apparently, at least not in December. Blizzard CEO and co-founder Mike Morhaime was only able to give a vague answer to the question presented during the Q&A portion of today's Activision Blizzard financial results call, but that vagueness speaks volumes. More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5883861&view=rss&microfeed=true Activision-Blizzard expects to release the highly-anticipated action-RPG by the end of Q2 this year, the publisher said in a conference call with investors today. We could be hunting loot and hacking up demons just in time for summer. More »
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North American subscribers to Battle.net, check your inboxes—and your spam box, in case its settings are too strict. Blizzard sent out another 100,000 invitations to the Diablo III beta overnight. More »
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Last month Blizzard announced that it's annual fan convention would be skipping a year, returning in 2012 so the developer can focus on things like developing games. Some fans took this well. The Elysiam World of Warcraft guild on the U.S. Shadowmoon server took to song. More »
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More than 350 retired server blades—the physical manifestations of World of Warcraft's virtual realms—are being auctioned off by Blizzard, which will donate the proceeds to the renowned St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital. More »
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BlizzCon, the annual fan celebration of all things Blizzard-related gets a little less annual this year. The company has decided to hold the next convention in 2013 to focus on finishing Diablo III, StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm, and World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria and the 2012 Battle.net World Championship. More »
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Is Diablo III coming to consoles? That's not a question Blizzard's going to answer until they finish the PC version, and judging by today's letter from game director Jay Wilson, they've still got quite a ways to go. While we eagerly await the release, developers are still figuring out the game's core systems. More »
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As with the predecessor to this post, trigger warnings apply for homophobia and various attempts at internet bullying. More »
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There was concern that South Korea's rating board was throwing a monkey wrench in Diablo III's certification. If the game went unrated, then Blizzard's planned worldwide release would go right out the window. More »
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Ben Shaw has had one hell of a last few years. Serving overseas, the former British Army soldier was wounded by a roadside explosive in Iraq, and as a result had to have both of his eyes removed. More »
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Laurel D. Austin does some great work. Employed for years at Splash Damage, the team behind Brink, she's recently joined Blizzard, where she's working as a concept artist. Living the dream. More »
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Thanks, everyone, for pointing out that Diablo III has been confirmed to be in development for consoles via a Twtter post by Blizzard community manager Bashiok, even though we already knew that. More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5874835&view=rss&microfeed=true Micah Whipple, the Diablo III community manager, says that rumors the game will suddenly release on Feb. 1 are false. "Diablo III does not have a release date, Whipple said via Twitter about an hour ago. "Any store or person claiming otherwise is guessing." More »
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According to an elaborate display that popped up at a Best Buy in Rochester, Minnesota, Blizzard's eagerly-anticipated third entry in the Diablo series is hitting stores in a little over three weeks. Yikes. More »
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In South Korea, the games of American developer Blizzard are huge. StarCraft is a national pastime, and the upcoming Diablo III is eagerly awaited. More »
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Artist Toby Lewin, who took third place in 2011's Blizzard fan art contest, wondered if we'd like to share some of his other work. Sure Toby. We'd love to. More »
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After spending hours on end dealing with angry, distraught, frustrated, and downright abusive customers, it's easy to imagine this lovely unicorn drawing was enough to get World of Warcraft customer service representatives to reverse a permanent ban. More »
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Stanley Lau is one talented artist. Kotaku previously featured him on Fine Art for his wonderful Street Fighter work. Today, it's time to look at some stunning DOTA 2 art. More »
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The Book of Cain is the ultimate guide to Diablo lore. It covers every aspect of the world of Sanctuary and its trials, beginning with the creation of the universe and leading right up to the doorstep of Diablo III, one of the most eagerly anticipated video games of 2012. More »
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He is Arthas Menethil. The Lich King. Scourge of Azeroth and star of his own World of Warcraft expansion. More »
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The opening cinematic for Diablo III debuted tonight at the Spike VGA awards, featuring the falling of more than one star and the passing of a torch from uncle to niece. More »
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Researchers looking at cognitive science have long studied chess. But a story on Scientific American shows that chess' days could soon be numbered, because a superior model is emerging: Blizzard's StarCraft II. More »
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This was bound to happen eventually. More »
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Unless it's Halloween, cosplay is restricted to indoors and nerd events. Crafty-type Joshua Smith seems to have forgotten this when he took his truly amazing Diablo III out and about. More »
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Hello my friends! Stay awhile and listen...err, watch as I explore Diablo III: Book of Cain, 147 pages of illustrations, excerpts, and firsthand accounts of the history of the world of Sanctuary, coming soon to a bookseller near you. More »
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Coming this spring from Cryptozoic Entertainment, World of Warcraft: Clash of Champions is 423 cards worth of tabletop raiding fun for two to four players in one sexy $45 box. More »
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Confessed mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik was legally insane when he killed nearly 80 people, many children, during a bombing and shooting rampage in Norway in July, according to a psychiatric evaluation ordered by the court, the Associated Press reports. More »
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Maybe it's the ghoulish face. Maybe it's the creepy trailer. Or maybe it's Joshua's pasty-white arms. I cannot decide. More »
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Remember how when Diablo III was first shown off, there was an uproar over how bright and cheery the game looked in comparison to its dark and brooding predecessors? Years later, some people just can't let that go. More »
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In this video Sargonas turns a table-filling pile of Mega Blocks into StarCraft Battlecruiser in one minute and 40 seconds. More »
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In an industry where games barely even a month old are slashed in price then swiftly forgotten, World of Warcraft is an exceptional, well, exception. More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5862434&view=rss&microfeed=true A recent survey has found an estimated 50% of World of Warcraft's playerbase has grown tired of the game. It also reckons between 900,000 and 1.6 million WoW subscribers will jump ship to Old Republic once it launches. [Develop] More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5862136&view=rss&microfeed=true Blizzard gets in on the Black Friday mania this year with a special $29.99 sale price on StarCraft II:Wings of Liberty at the Blizzard online store. Prices are only good til Monday, so act fast! More »
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As of mid-2009, the creators of World of Warcraft were retaining the IP histories of its users indefinitely and was drawing the lines about what information about its players that it would—or could—reveal to law enforcement personnel, according to a document released on Friday. More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5861541&view=rss&microfeed=true World of Warcraft celebrates its seventh birthday on Nov. 23, and in observance, anyone logging in between Sunday and Saturday, Dec. 3 will get a free celebration item that temporarily grants an XP boost. More »
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During G-Star, Blizzard showed off impressive fan art at its booth's community zone. The Grand Theft Auto inspired World of Warcraft Cataclysm art is cool and all, but check out those mini-figures. Wow! More »
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World of Warcraft may never truly die. People still play the first Everquest, after all. But it will inevitably lose its place as the biggest MMO on Earth, and that day is now a little closer following the release of the game's latest set of subscription numbers. More »
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