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!]

It's Official - Achievements Coming To World Of Warcraft

While most companies were driving themselves crazy at E3 this week, Blizzard quietly confirmed rumors from early last month, officially announcing achievements for World of Warcraft, coming with the next expansion, Wrath of the Lich King. Achievements are broken up into several categories - PVP, Dungeon and Raid, Quests, Professions, Events, World Exploration, Reputations, and the more whimsical General category, which includes an achievement for getting a shave and a haircut using WotLK's new barbershop feature.

Some achievements will carry rewards such as tabards, pets, and other prizes, and Blizzard promises more with each new content update. Players will be able to compare their achievements with others both in-game and via the Armory.

My girlfriend just got her first character to 70 this week, and asked me what she could do now. If she can be patient it looks like Blizzard has an answer forthcoming.

Wrath of the Lich King Achievements [World of Warcraft]

Yep! Next KOTOR Is MMO

As EA confirmed today, the next Knights of the Old Republic is going to be a MMO. From Portfolio.com:

"We've got two of the most compelling MMOs in the industry in development," said Riccitiello. The first title, based on the Warhammer property, will launch soon. "And the one that people are dying for us to talk to them about — in partnership with Lucas, coming out of BioWare, which is, I think, quite possibly the most anticipated game, full stop, for the industry at the point when we get closer to telling you about it."

Does Riccitiello mean the oft rumored Knights of the Old Republic Online? "Yes," he said.

Watch out World of Warcraft, you just might have some serious competition here.

EA to Play in Knights of the Old Republic [Portfolio]

Wrath Of The Lich King Beta Sign-Ups Open

Now's your chance, World of Warcraft players! The Wrath of the Lich King beta opt-in button under account management on the World of Warcraft web page is now eagerly awaiting your forceful mouse button click. Yes, just one click is all it takes to throw your name into the very large hat Blizzard will pick from to determine beta participants. No word on when the beta itself will start, but I doubt they'd make the opt-in button live and get everyone excited if it wasn't happening anytime soon.

What are you waiting for? Head over there and signup! Considering the number of WoW players located in the United States and Europe, you might want to stop by the gas station for some lottery tickets while your at it, just to experience more favorable odds.

Wrath of the Lich King Beta Opt-In Now Open [World of Warcraft via WorldofWar.net]

WoW Tyrael Pet In The Polygonial Flesh

Like me, many of you folks drooled over the mere idea of the Blizzard Worldwide Invitational exclusive Archangel Tyrael pet for World of Warcraft. Now we get to see the little guy who'll have players /telling the lucky recipients with "Were'd u get tht?" from now until the end of time. Blizzard just updated the WoW build on the public test realms, and the nice folks at MMO Champion rooted around in there until they came up with these images of the in-game model for the Diablo II (and presumably III) star.

I want one. Strike that, I need one. My soul cries out for it, but not so badly that I am willing to spend more than of $600 to snag one off of eBay. I'll just use the old model-swapping technique. Sure, no one else will see him and he'll make panda noises, but the screenshots will be fantastic.

Tyrael Mini Pet, Blizz Auth, Blue posts [MMO Champion - Thanks Jim!]

Judge Delivers World Of Warcraft-Inspired Decision

If I had to have a favorite judge, chief judge of the Delaware Court of Chancery William B. Chandler III would be the man. Chandler is famous for his deep understanding of the cases he rules on, from referencing 50 Cent to channeling Ray Charles for an opinion on a Coca-Cola case (baby-uh huh). Issuing a decision on the case of the Wayne County Employees' Retirement System seeking an injunction against the Activision-Blizzard merger, Chandler got all kinds of World of Warcraft philosophical.

In some ways, perhaps, the world of Mergers and Acquisitions is a massively multiplayer role playing game as well. Like in World of Warcraft and other games, the participants in the M&A field take on certain roles, interact in their own community, hone specialized skills, and even develop a unique, somewhat curious vernacular. One particular quest in the world of M&A is disclosure litigation. In the instance of disclosure litigation presently pending before this Court, the world of M&A meets the World of Warcraft.

All I can see is a man in a business suit with a yellow exclamation point over his head. Hit the jump for Judge Chandler's stunning conclusion.

Blizzard WWI WoW Pet Revealed

Well that cinches it...I am going to have to call out a hit on Leslie Smith, for in her Blizzard Worldwide Invitational swag package she received a key redeemable for a new World of Warcraft pet. While not something I am normally too worried about, Blizzard poster Barnakk in the WoW forums just revealed what exactly the mystery pet is.

The pet itself will be a miniature version of the Archangel Tyrael of Diablo 2 fame who will travel with you on all your grand adventures in Azeroth! Pictures of this amazing new pet will be available on the official website soon for everybody to check out.

That's right, Archangel Tyrael from Diablo II, who now graces the main page of the Diablo III website. I need him, if only to counteract the evil forces of my Collector's Edition mini-Diablo. Sorry Leslie, nothing personal!

Worldwide Invitational In-Game Pet Redemption [WoW Forums via WorldofWar.net]

Guy Uses Astronomy To Determine Size, Density Of Azeroth

Azeroth probably seems big when you're trotting across it, but have you ever wondered just how big? James Wallis did. James Wallis is also a huge nerd, and has used science (specifically, things like astronomy) to not only determine the actual size of the planet, but also its density and gravity as well. For the record, its gravity is almost the same as ours, so loot drops no faster or slower on Azeroth than it does on Earth.

n00b World Reorder, part 1 [Cope, via Boing-Boing]

Sams: No Free WoW

It's currently popular to theorize that nearly all gaming will end up free or nearly free at some point, distributed via browser and monetized through ad support, microtransactions or scalable subscription models. Faith in this business model's been instated by the early success of many free-to-play web-based MMOs (many of them for kids, mind).

But what about the arguable king of all MMOs, World of Warcraft? Will it ever get on the trendwagon and go free, or offer a free option, at least? Not so much, says Blizzard COO Paul Sams, as part of an in-depth Gamasutra interview:

The Man Behind Diablo III Talks Plot, Lore and Battle.Net

By: Lesley Smith
Diablo III is so in right now. After the unsurprising announcement about Blizzard Entertainment’s latest game, we pinned down man of the moment, lead designer Jay Wilson, down for a chat about the latest installment in the Diablo franchise.

Kotaku: So, Jay, what can you tell us about the storyline of Diablo III?

Jay Wilson: In the previous two games, Diablo and his two brothers, Mephisto and Baal, were the three Prime Evils of a world called Sanctuary. Where we start off in Diablo III, it’s twenty years later (after Diablo II: Lord of Destruction) and the brothers are gone, they’ve been vanquished. Essentially everyone was kind of geared for Hell to actually invade. At the end of Lord of Destruction, the Worldstone was destroyed, it left a giant crater and everyone was expecting the hordes to come pouring out of it and nothing happened. So, Deckard Cain is one of our main characters from the first two games, he’s spent the last two decades trying to find out where the last two Evils are, what they’re doing and why the invasion didn’t happen. A lot of the rest of the story focuses on Tyrael, the Angel of Justice, and what’s happened to him since that event as he was actually the angel who destroyed the world.

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.

Looks like that image you folks were pouring into our tips email all day was indeed a fan-made fake! This is the latest Blizzard splash page, ice5andahalf.jpg, indicating that ice6.jpg is on its way, more than likely to coincide with this morning's opening ceremonies of the Blizzard Worldwide Invitational in Paris. The runes are all aglow now in their pentagram-like configuration, and the eyes more intense than ever before.

What else has changed? The increased details around the eye area seem to rule out the Death Knight...the shape of the nose piece is wrong and there are no etched runes there. In fact, the whole thing feels more biological than anything, despite the straight line to the right where the cheek would be. Leaning towards Protoss now more than ever, though I wouldn't put it past Blizzard making a new Diablo image that coincided with the traits of the other two, just to throw us off.

We'll know for sure in a few hours! Until then we can only ponder the secrets the new winking smiley-face rune holds within. It's almost over folks!

Blizzard Worldwide Invitational: Counting Down

By Lesley Smith

While the rest of Kotaku are puzzling over that ever changing Blizzard splash screen and the recently revealed purple penguin, I’m sitting in a hotel overlooking the Eiffel Tower and stroking my press pass into this weekend’s Worldwide Invitational. Upon arriving this afternoon, a perky Blizzard employee thrust the nice folder you see above into my hands along with said press pass.

While I’d love to report the folder contains the secrets of the universe, all it happened to hold was shuttle information to the event and – of all things – a walking guide to Paris and a map.

Okay ….

However the event itinerary has been released on the official WWI site; it all kicks off tomorrow morning with the opening ceremony and there’s a press conference right after. Hmmm what could that mean? Whether it’s Diablo 3, a release date for Wrath of the Lich King and Starcraft II, a new IP or all of the above, we’ll be bringing you the news as it happens.

Age Of Conan Director McRibs WoW

Funcom's Gaute Godager is pretty ballsy for a guy sitting on top of an unfinished MMO. The Age of Conan director cheap shotted his Blizzard rivals in an interview over at Eurogamer, where he compares World of Warcraft to fast food.

"But you know... I'm going to be a bit cheeky now, but if you've been to McDonald's for four or five years, and had your burger and your Coke, sometimes it's great to just have a great steak and a glass of good wine.

"I think that's what we're trying to do. It's more expensive, it's not for everyone and perhaps it's not as easily accessible as WOW is. But it could be more meaty," Godager finished.

At least when I order from McDonald's 9 times out of 10 they put everything I ordered in the bag, Gaute. Hit up the link the see Godager explain why "playing it safe" caused his steak to be served raw without the wine. Gordon Ramsay would have completely lost his shit.

Funcom's Gaute Godager [Eurogamer]

Secure Your WoW Account With The Blizzard Authenticator

Speaking from experience, nothing sucks quite as much as logging into your World of Warcraft account to find your carefully cultivated level 70 character naked as the day he was born. Blizzard feels our pain, and has applied the magic of technology to the security issue to create the Blizzard Authenticator, a keychain device that generates a six-digit passcode that you can link to your account via serial number. Once the device is linked you'll have to enter the code from the Authenticator every time you log into the game or access your account settings on the WoW web page. It's so secure that once you've added it to your account you can't remove it without calling Blizzard support directly and verifying your security information.

The Blizzard Authenticator will be available at the 2008 Blizzard Worldwide Invitational in Paris this weekend, showing up for purchase at Blizzard's online store for $6.50 in the near future.

Doing Science In WoW

Here's something fun: a bunch of scientists decided to get together and do some field research, and assembled a conference. In Azeroth. They published their findings in the American Association for the Advancement of Science's magazine, and it's an entertaining read:

Thus began the first scientific conference held in Azeroth, the online universe inhabited by millions of people playing World of Warcraft. Anyone who has been part of a conference's organizing committee knows that some glitches and mishaps are just unavoidable. And as usual, the problems that actually did occur were unforeseen. It was a success nonetheless. By the end of the third day, a real scientific exchange took place, I married one of the conference participants, and within an hour of the wedding, we were all dead.

There are a lot of feel-good stories circulating about how scientists are using online games to study behavior, but this one is a lot of fun.

Slaying Monsters For Science [Science, thanks Gumblackwood!]

So I seem to be the only person who thinks that calling a game Call of Duty: World At War, a clear mash-up of two major brand names, is an Activision-Blizzard merger joke.

Well how about today's news? It's no joke: Starting June 26, PS3 and Xbox 360 Guitar Hero III owners can download — for free — "I am Murloc," a thrash metal song created by WoW developer Blizzard's very own in-house band, Level 70 Elite Tauren Chieftain.

Remember when people were worried that the crossovers between Activision and Blizzard were going the other way? I bet this will go down more smoothly.

The only question is if this was one of Blizzard president/ Level 70 bassist Mike Morhaime's conditions for the merger.

World of Warcraft joins Portal, Halo and God of War as games that have had songs into today's major rhythm games.

Full release after the jump. [PIC]

Blizzard: Our Fans Get Angry, Yo

Yeah, all fanbases have their eccentricities. Halo fans can be...boisterous. Metal Gear fans can have...interesting ideas on what merits good story-telling. Smash Bros fans can be...well, again, boisterous. But as passionate as those groups are, they haven't got shit on Blizzard fans. Those guys are crazy. And Blizzard knows it. Rob Pardo:

I love our Blizzard fans, they’re the best in the world. But they can get pretty angry...I’ve gotten sixteen-page diatribes.

Completely understandable. We can totally see how the same kind of energy they display scouring the source code of a splash marketing page can be misdirected as pure, white-hot nerd rage.

Blizzard: "Our Fans Can Get Pretty Angry" [Next-Gen]