Origin Edition Extras BlizzCon 2015 NEW character screenshots

Origins Slipstream Tracer

BlizzCon 2015 Heroes of the Storm NEW screenshots

Overwatch BlizzCon 2015 Information and trailers - PC PS4 XO

The world needs heroes... and Overwatch is recruiting starting today! Blizzard Entertainment’s team-based first-person shooter is coming to PC, the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in spring 2016.

StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void BlizzCon 2015 Fact Sheet - PC

StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void is the third chapter in the epic sci-fi storyline spanning the StarCraft II trilogy. With Kerrigan and the zerg Swarm missing and Jim Raynor rebuilding the war-torn terran civilization, the galaxy's only hope rests with the protoss and their greatest living heroes: Artanis and Zeratul.

Players will fight to unite the protoss, take back their homeworld, and vanquish the ancient evil threatening all life in the universe. Featuring new units and introducing new cooperative multiplayer modes, Legacy of the Void is the ultimate strategy experience—and StarCraft at its finest.

SteelSeries to release StarCraft II range of video game peripherals

Alongside the July 27th launch of Blizzard Entertainment's StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, SteelSeries is pleased to announce the release of original co-branded gaming peripherals for gamers eager to jump back into the epic struggle between the protoss, zerg and terran races.

Thre way to get a Starcraft 2 video game beta key

Here's a post over on soft sailor that explains three ways to get your hands on a beta key for Blizzard's Starcraft video game...

StarCraft II Closed Beta Begins Blizzard's much awaited real-time strategy game goes in closed beta phase

World of Warcraft MMORPG video game publisher Blizzard's long awaited real-time strategy video game StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty closed beta test has gone live.

The closed beta for Starcraft II will be in full stride sometime within the month

This highly respected and successful series will help to push Activision and Blizzard to the top of the charts.

World of Warcraft developer Blizzard Entertainment conquers respected yearly list of planet's best studios

Today sees the publication of the fifth Develop 100, a respected annual listing of the world's most successful games developers.

The book is published, in association with technology firm Emergent, by the editorial team behind Develop magazine (www.developmag.com) – the leading international publication for games developers.

World of Warcraft developer Blizzard Entertainment takes the top spot, knocking last year's number one Nintendo down to second place.

Generating over a billion dollars in revenue every year from both online transactions and boxed product sales, Blizzard is responsible for one the most famed massively multiplayer online games ever with over 11 million players.

The Develop 100 is an invaluable guide that throws light on the real winners in the world’s fastest-growing creative industry. The list is put together by the magazine's editorial team, taking into account a variety of criteria including key sales charts made available by the likes of GfK-ChartTrack, NPD and Famitsu, success of online business models, Metacritic scores and industry standing.

31 studios from across Europe feature in the list - 26 of them in the UK. These include the likes of Rockstar North (third on the list and responsible for the Grand Theft Auto franchise), LEGO Star Wars developer Traveller's Tales (11th) and Media Molecule (18th), the developer of LittleBigPlanet - and the highest placed independent UK studio on the list.

"Our yearly Develop 100 has become an essential read for games industry executives the world over," said Develop editor-in-chief Michael French. "It is read by everyone in the sector, from the tiniest independents to business leaders at gaming giants like Electronic Arts HQ in America to Kojima Productions in Japan. With widened criteria which better reflect the fast-changing and various business models adopted by studios across the globe, this edition is no different."

The listing, from 1 to 100, plus a free digital edition, can be found at www.develop100.com. More analysis and data can be found at www.developmag.com

Develop 100 is sponsored exclusively by Emergent.

Are Blizzard working on a new Project?

Blizzard appears to be working on a fifth title according to two new job postings.

The fifth brand-new unannounced game surfaced last week following previous hints that Blizzard was interested in working on a completely new IP.

Currently Blizzard is working on Starcraft II, Diablo III, a new World of Warcraft expansion, a next-gen MMO, and a new unannounced game that may be a new IP. Blizzard hinted at developing a game based on a new IP back in 2006 when Blizzard COO Paul Sams commented: "I wouldn’t be surprised to see a new franchise from us at some time in the future; there’s certainly a desire to do so."

Blizzard is recruiting again and have been looking for programmers on programming job site forums where two new positions have been advertised by Blizzard's 'Slouken' who has been working on World of Warcraft, specifically with the UI and interface community.

The positions have been advertised stating:

"Blizzard Entertainment is seeking an experienced gameplay engineer to focus on game rules systems for an unannounced title. This is your chance to get in on the ground floor of a dynamic and focused team working on a brand new project. Blizzard Entertainment offers a fun, creative, and technically challenging environment with excellent compensation and a full range of benefits."

Based on these two new job postings for software engineers, we can assume that a new IP from Blizzard is in the works.

Source: IncGamers

World of Warcraft is 4 today Blizzard celebrate with a FREE baby bear companion...

Four years ago on November 23rd, Blizzard opened its doors to Azeroth and then quickly shut them, opening and closing them several times until they were sure they had enough servers to handle the massive rush of players eager to enter the World of Warcraft.

To celebrate 1,460 days of lost time, broken relationships, and weight gain, folks who log into the game today are gifted with the achievement "WoW's 4th Anniversary" and an adorable little baby polar bear to follow them around everywhere they go.

For those of you online right now, you actually have to log off, then log-in again to receive the award.

Consult your instruction manual for directions on how to actually log off.

Source: Kotaku

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Microsoft and Blizzard ban and suspend thousands of gamers

Video game cheats and pirates got a surprise this week, as Microsoft and Blizzard banned and suspended hundreds of thousands of gamers for infractions.

Microsoft got things started by banning from Xbox Live an unspecified number of gamers who had modified their consoles to play pirated – backup – copies of their games.

There were no official numbers, but the forums where such gamers cruise were full of bizarre outrage. "How dare they ban me for playing pirated games!" some said.

Blizzard, maker of World of Warcraft, was more forthright, stating that it had banned 350,000 online players from its older StarCraft and Diablo II titles for using software cheats and hacks during online games against other players.

What's annoying is that these video game companies are having to divert what seems a growing pool of resources to chasing and defeating these players.

That's time and money and manpower that doesn't go into making new games or improving existing titles.

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Will UK get World of Warcraft Lich King collector's Edition?

UK gamers are up in arms and venting spleen in forums over fears that the Collector's Edition release of World of Warcraft - Wrath of the Lich King will not be be released in Blighty.

According to a statement from publisher Blizzard Entertainment, the CE version will only be available in “select regions”.

We contacted the firm to find out which locations will be favoured, but so far the company hasn’t returned our calls.

More from The Register here...

Blizzard Shoots Down Fan Petition

Shortly after the screenshots of Diablo III hit the internet the inevitable complaints started. Many were upset about the lack of the light radius present in the other two games (although primarily in the original as it was a true ‘dungeon crawler’ in some respects while a vast majority of the sequel was outdoors) and the blue tinge to most everything. A petition was signed by around 50,000 fans and to their chagrin has been rejected by Blizzard. It seems that everyone working on the game likes the art style.

According to the developers they’ve gone this route for several reasons. First of all a level of ‘realism’ has been attempted by many games in the past years and some developers are beginning to avoid it, a perfect example being Team Fortress 2 which opts for a more deliberately cartoonish style. They wanted to make the game stand out from the all-bleak-grey titles like Gears of War. They have also said that since many of the monsters are dark in color themselves hordes of grey baddies running around grey backgrounds would make gameplay a little too stressful. They did say that the light radius effect might be popped in one or two places that it’s suitable though.

Source: Digital battle

Free - Blizzard Online Magazine launched!

The makers of the popular online gaming (MMO, MMORPG & Console) magazine, Thirteen1 have launched a special edition magazine exclusively covering Blizzard's World Wide Invitational event.

Packed with giveaways, Q&A’s, announcements and more the magazine is bursting at the seams with features on all of the main Blizzard titles. (World of Warcraft -Wrath of the Lich King, Diablo and Starcraft 2).

Make sure you read the magazine to find out how you could win an amazing bundle of Blizzard gifts including the Collectors edition of the Burning Crusade and a WoW Battle Chest.

What is Thirteen1?

Thirteen1 is a free to read online gaming e-magazine that requires no downloads to read. With features on games of all sizes from smaller MMORPG’s to MMO’s to console games Thirteen1 covers every corner of the gaming world.
Launching at 1PM on the 13th of every month it is quickly become world re-owned for being the best monthly fix a gamer can get.

Issue#4 of the magazine is still available to read online with titles reviewed and previewed such as Jumpgate Evolution, Battlefield Heroes, Habbo Hotel, Metal Gear Solid plus prize giveaways and more.

http://www.thirteen1.com/

Blizzard wins Warcraft bot battle

Blizzard has won the first round of a legal battle against the maker of software that automates game play in World of Warcraft. It brought the case against MDY Industries claiming its WowGlider program infringed its copyright.An Arizona district court has ruled MDY does infringe Blizzard's copyright but not in the way the game maker claimed.

read more | digg story

Diablo III announced by Blizzard - Diablo 3 RPG

Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. today revealed Diablo III, the newest entry in its critically acclaimed action role-playing-game franchise. The announcement was made during the 2008 Blizzard Entertainment Worldwide Invitational at the Porte de Versailles Convention Centre in Paris, France. A cinematic trailer and an extended gameplay demonstration with commentary from the development team introduced the game to the thousands of players in attendance.

“We’ve wanted to expand on the epic story and gameplay elements of the Diablo universe for some time now,” stated Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “We know that players have also been long awaiting a return to the series, so we’re very excited to be sharing this announcement with Blizzard gamers here in Paris and around the world today.”

Diablo III will pick up the story twenty years after the events of Diablo II. Mephisto, Diablo, and Baal have been defeated, but the Worldstone, which once shielded the inhabitants of the world of Sanctuary from the forces of both the High Heavens and the Burning Hells, has been destroyed, and evil once again stirs in Tristram. Playing as a hero from one of five distinct character classes, players will acquire powerful items, spells, and abilities as they explore new and familiar areas of Sanctuary and battle hordes of demons to safeguard the world from the horrors that have arisen. The first two characters classes -- the barbarian and the witch doctor -- were shown as part of the announcement at the event today in Paris.

Diablo III will feature a custom 3D-graphics engine to render lush indoor and outdoor areas of Sanctuary with a high level of detail and vivid special effects. The game’s physics-enhanced environments will be interactive and destructible, offering traps and obstacles that create added danger for players and monsters alike. These elements, along with a new quest system and random scripted events, will be integrated into the game’s random-level generator, giving Diablo III the ultimate combination of dynamic gameplay and replayability. Cooperative and competitive play will be available online through an upgraded version of Blizzard Entertainment’s renowned online gaming service, Battle.net.

Blizzard Entertainment is developing Diablo III for simultaneous release on the Windows and Macintosh PC platforms. Further information about the game, including details on the other character classes, major new features for the single-player and multiplayer components, system requirements, pricing, and availability, will be announced as development progresses. To learn more about Diablo III, please visit the official website at www.diablo3.com. With multiple games in development, Blizzard Entertainment has numerous positions currently available. Visit http://www.blizzard.com/jobs for more information and to learn how to apply.

About the Diablo Series

Launched at the end of 1996, the original Diablo helped popularize the action role-playing-game genre, earning widespread critical and commercial success. The game’s sequel, Diablo II, shipped in 2000 to similar acclaim, winning several Game of the Year awards and at the time becoming the fastest-selling computer game ever. Diablo II’s award-winning expansion set, Diablo II: Lord of Destruction, debuted in 2001, becoming Blizzard Entertainment’s sixth-consecutive No1-selling game. To date, the franchise has sold more than 18.5 million copies worldwide.* Diablo’s gothic horror theme has also inspired a number of licensed products, including novels and action figures.

Source: Earth Times

Blizzard authenticator offers enhanced security for World Of Warcraft accounts

Keychain token generates unique codes used to help prevent unauthorised account access

Optional extra layer of security offered for World of Warcraft, its award-winning massively multiplayer online role-playing game. Designed to attach to a keychain, the lightweight and waterproof Blizzard Authenticator is an electronic device that generates a six-digit security code at the press of a button. This code is unique, valid only once, and active for a limited time; it must be provided along with the account name and password when signing in to the World of Warcraft account linked to it.

This optional security measure will be available for a cost of €6.00 at the 2008 Blizzard Entertainment Worldwide Invitational, which takes place June 28-29 in Paris, France. In addition, the Blizzard Authenticator will be made available for purchase via Blizzard Entertainment’s European websites in the near future for a cost of €6.00 plus shipping.

“It’s important to us that World of Warcraft offers a safe and enjoyable game environment,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “One aspect of that is helping players avoid account compromise, so we’re pleased to make this additional layer of security available to them.”

To learn more about the Blizzard Authenticator, please visit http://eu.blizzard.com/security-token/.

Blizzard Paris announcement...

2008 Blizzard Worldwide Invitational takes place in Paris this weekend.

World of Warcraft creators - Blizzard meet their game fans and give them a chance to try their games.

World of Warcraft - Wrath of the Lich King and Starcraft II will be there.

With competitions and tournaments you could win great prizes or you could use the silent auction to bid for your favourite.

But what annoucement will they make? Shouldn't be too long before the world finds out.

This year’s event will take place at Hall 5 of the Porte de Versailles Exposition Centre in Paris - the first time the company has held the Blizzard Worldwide Invitational in Europe. Attendees will enjoy two days of gaming, contests, developer Q&A panels, tournaments, and more, and the show will conclude with performances by game-music concert group Video Games Live and Blizzard’s own Warcraft-themed rock band, Level 70 Elite Tauren Chieftain.

“We’re looking forward to meeting face-to-face with thousands of our players at the Exposition Centre this weekend,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “Our employees, partners, and sponsors have all contributed to making this a memorable experience for the attendees, and we hope everyone truly enjoys the show.”

For those unable to attend, coverage of the event will be featured at http://eu.blizzard.com/wwi08.