Responding to a forum post suggesting that there was no new online game coming from Blizzard because they hadn't begun advertising it yet, Blizzard poster Zarhym explains that the game is a new franchise being created entirely from the ground up.

We have nothing to advertise for the new MMO because it's a shell of a game thus far. We've already stated it'll be a brand new franchise, which means the lore, art, and game play are being developed entirely from scratch. It's an overwhelming process, but a process through which we excel. Our track record supports this.

He mentions that Blizzard had already stated this, but it's news to us. Consider it stated. Disappointing news for those hoping for a massively multiplayer StarCraft or Lost Vikings title, but it'll be nice to see what Blizzard does with its first new IP in eleven years.

Blizzard going the way of SOE? [WoWBlues via WorldofWar.net]

As we rumble ever forward toward May 19 and some sort of announcement from Blizzard in South Korea more and more details seem to be shaking loose.

We first reported two weeks ago that Blizzard was working on a next-gen massively multiplayer online game after one of our readers pointed out some interesting job listings. At the time I theorizes that perhaps a World of Starcraft game could be announced at blizzard's Worldwide invitational. Several sites were quick to jump on the bandwagon saying that they too thought that a World of Starcraft game could be coming down the pipeline.

Last night I was digging around Blizzard's job listings and came across a few other jobs that point to some major movement going on over at the company.

Most interesting are the three listings for a mobile producer, lead mobile software engineer and lead mobile UI designer. That's right Blizzard is going mobile. Looking over the listings, I suspect that the team of three will likely be working on bringing some sort of game (likely World of Warcraft) functionality to the mobile phone, as opposed to full games. (Thank god).

The company is also looking to hire an associate brand manager, a person whose job will be to amp up interest in "Blizzard products." I can't imagine this would be for World of Warcraft since it's becoming one of the most known PC games on the planet, so I suspect it might be for some new product.

So what we've got now is confirmation from Blizzard of a May 19 announcement, a recent spike in hiring for a next-gen MMO, a mobile functionality team and a marketing person. It's anyone's guess right now, but now I'm sort of leaning toward something World of Warcraft related, maybe the game is heading to the Xbox 360? That could even explain the mobile team, if they wanted to make use of the upcoming Live Anywhere functionality. Brian Crecente

Blizzard Job Listings

Blizzard previously confirmed that they are indeed announcing a new product in Korea this month and listed open positions for work on an "next-gen MMO."

With the announcement exactly two weeks away from today, we won't have long to wait to see if dreams of an RTS sequel to StarCraft have been dashed. The only thing keeping the fanboy tears from shooting out of my ducts with the force of a hydrant is the delusional hope that Blizzard will be announcing two products next month, one being an RTS. See, I'm not an MMO kind of guy. Michael McWhertor

StarCraft MMO blasts into orbit! [CVG]

A sharp-eyed reader points out that Blizzard added three new positions on their job openings page yesterday for a "next-gen MMO."

The company is looking for a lead engine programmer, lead tools programmer and lead technical artist. While the reader theorizes that this is for a console port of World of Warcraft, my money is on World of Starcraft or something like it.

Remember, yesterday was also when Blizzard told us that they intend to announce a new product at th Worldwide Invitational in Korea on May 19. They also said they do plan to revisit the StarCraft universe at some point in the future.

What do you think? A new World of Warcraft, a Starcraft MMO, oooh, maybe Lost Vikings the MMO? Brian Crecente

Job Postings [Blizzard, thanks Ryne]