BlizzCon 2008 Kicks Off Friday!

If you really cared you're already well-aware, but Blizzard still wanted to drop off a press release letting everyone know that BlizzCon 2008 begins this Friday, and then abruptly ends this Saturday. It's sure to be a truly epic event, with swag, costumes, giveaways, special events hosted by Jay Mohr, and a closing concert featuring comedian Patton Oswalt, in-house Blizzard metal band Level 80 Elite Tauren Chieftan, and a special performance by Video Games Live of orchestral arraignments of the music from Blizzard's franchises.

“With more hall space, more attendees, and more attractions, this BlizzCon will be our biggest yet,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “We’re working hard with our partners to make this an unforgettable experience, and we’re looking forward to meeting players at the show.”

Best of all, Kotaku will be there! Well, I will be there. Most of Kotaku will be in Japan. I suppose I could have gone to Japan too, but then I'd miss out on that sweet polar bear mount. Either way, coverage begins Friday, so stay tuned for more from the BlizzCon floor.

Dangling the Carrot: the 'Loot Theory'

Blizzard Starts Pushing Ringtones And Wallpapers

Do you really need to have the gurgling murloc sound as your telephone ringtone? Do you not hear the World of Warcraft opening theme enough on your PC? Perhaps you can't figure out how to create your own cellphone wallpapers and would rather spend a couple bucks on letting the extremely nosy know that you're into Diablo or StarCraft? Well you're in luck, as Blizzard has just opened up a ringtone and wallpaper store at Mobile.Blizzard.Com. In partnership with Echovox, Inc., the store carries a wide selection of wallpapers from Blizzard's three biggest money makers, along with choice sounds from World of Warcraft that could very well lead to an awkward conversation with a total stranger that reinforces the fact that with 20 million servers and two factions, chance of you knowing them are slim to none.

Currently the service mainly services Europe, South America, and a few bits of Asia, so those of us in the U.S. will have to make due with obsessively humming the theme song to WoW until allowances are made.

Blizzard Mobile Store [Official Site via WorldofWar.net]

BlizzCon Tickets Sell Out In Minutes, But All Hope Is Not Lost

Ticket sales for this year's BlizzCon went up, then down, earlier today as the bulk of those made available by Blizzard sold out within minutes of going live. It's been a bit of a rocky road, as the Blizzard Store processing ticket orders barfed from gorging itself on the horde of potential BlizzCon attendees.

That's the bad news. The good news is that Blizzard has "a small reserve of tickets left" which will be going up for grabs tonight, August 12 at 8:00 PM PDT. Even with the larger crowd accommodation and the $100 ticket prices, expect whatever's left to sell out at lightning speed.

And expect even more grumbling and griping in the official Blizzard forums when they do.

BlizzCon 2008 Will Be Televised, Tickets Go On Sale August 11th

Blizzard just kicked out a press release announcing that tickets for October's BlizzCon 2008 will be going on sale on Monday, August 11th. Tickets will run you $100 a pop, which gets you access to all the panels, concerts, freebies, and girls of various shapes and sizes in blue and purple body paint. If you can't make it, however, don't fret. Blizzard has you covered.

“Meeting and interacting with our players at BlizzCon is always a great experience for us,” stated Mike Morhaime, CEO and co-founder of Blizzard Entertainment. “We’re also pleased to be working with DIRECTV this year to bring the show, for the first time, to those players who are unable to attend.”

Yes, Blizzard and DirecTV are joining forces to broadcast highlights of the show via pay per view. Don't have DirecTV? New subscribers in August will get the BlizzCon pay per view for free with their order. I cannot think of a more ridiculous reason to change your cable television provider.

As I am writing this I am watching the clock slowly tick down on the Diablo Battlechest for $27.99, wondering whether or not I should just go ahead and make the purchase or spend hours sorting through my collection of over a thousand PC CDs and DVDs, searching for the copies I already own. Today Amazon.com is all about Blizzard's big games, which makes sense considering Blizzard isn't exactly known for their small ones. The Deal of the Day is the World Of Warcraft Battlechest for $26.99, which is nice considering the expansion alone still goes for $30 in most stores.

As of this posting we just missed the Diablo Battlechest, but who wanted to play crappy old Diablo anyway? Everybody? Oh. Whoops. Well now we have The Burning Crusade expansion for WoW for , followed by what? The Frozen Throne expansion to Warcraft III by itself and then the Warcraft III Battlechest? Left up to me it would have been The Lost Vikings all day long, with an ever-rising price to punish latecomers for their lack of urgency.

Amazon's Gold Box Deals [Amazon.com - Thanks Travis!]

by Lesley Smith

Blizzard Entertainment President Mike Morhaime formally announced Diablo III during the WWI’s opening ceremony this morning, not that this will come as a surprise to anyone with the Diablo III forums already active on the official Blizzard site and rumours running rampant for nearly a fortnight.

After recapping on the success of the previous Invitational held in Korea, Morhaime premiered a trailer and then demoed a level playing as a Barbarian and a Witch Doctor, showcasing some of the improvements over the original game as well as giving attendees a hint at what they can expect from the final product. This includes a new UI in place of the potion belt and the ability to play the game just by using a mouse. Similarly the health system has been augmented by God of War and Devil May Cry style red globes which replenish not just the health of the character but also those near by.

After the Fire Dancers had left the main stage and the crowds has dispersed, many jubilant, I headed for the jam-packed press conference where journalists got to give Blizzard’s Jay Wilson (Lead Designer on Diablo III) and co-founder Frank Pearce a grilling about Diablo III.

by Lesley Smith

As is expected with Blizzard events, company employees were handing out the much-prized (and instantly eBayable) Goody Bags. The swish mini backpack emblazoned with the WWI logo includes a host of loot, including an in-game pet (which we’ve not yet been able to redeem in Booty Bay), the Beta key, a programme, a figure from the Upper Deck miniature game, a notebook and a mousemat sporting the event’s banner featuring Arthas as well as characters from Diablo and Starcraft II.

We’ll let you know what the pet is as soon as Landro Longshot makes nice and starts talking about the WWI.

Nope, No Diablo 3 Announcement Coming, Sorry

The last few days have been good sport for anyone who enjoys watching the internet conjure rumours out of sheer fantasy. Take the one concerning Diablo 3, for example. The teaser for next month's PC Gamer contained the line "so huge we had to go to [CENSORED] to get it," and from that nondescript sliver, we somehow got a ton of people convinced Diablo 3 is coming. And hey, it might be, sometime in the future, but not now, with PC Gamer telling Shacknews "we're officially squelching the Diablo rumor. We've got two big announcements coming in our August issue, but neither is from Blizzard". Case closed. Return to your Diablo fan forums and remain there until further notice.

PC Gamer Squelches Diablo 3 Rumor [Shacknews]