Blizzcon 2009 Announced

[Boubouille]

Blizzcon 2009 Announced
[blizzquote="Blizzard;http://eu.blizzard.com/en/press/090217.html] Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. today announced plans for its fourth BlizzCon® gaming convention, to be held at the [b][color=white]Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California on Friday, August 21 and Saturday, August 22[/color][/b"]. BlizzCon is a celebration of the global player communities surrounding Blizzard Entertainment®'s Warcraft®, StarCraft®, and Diablo® universes. In response to the festival's increasing popularity, this year's event has been expanded from three convention halls to four.

"We've been amazed by the incredible response to each of our previous BlizzCon events," said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. "We're pleased to be bringing the convention back to Anaheim this year, and we look forward to this new opportunity to meet Blizzard gamers from around the world."

BlizzCon will offer a wide variety of activities throughout the two-day event. In addition to serving as a gathering place for Blizzard Entertainment gaming communities, attendees will be able to enjoy:

• Hands-on play time with upcoming Blizzard Entertainment games
• Discussion panels with Blizzard Entertainment developers
• Competitive and casual tournaments for players to showcase their talents
• Community contests with great prizes
• Commemorative merchandise based on Blizzard Entertainment's game universes
• A silent auction
• More exciting activities and attractions to be announced

Further details, including ticket availability and pricing, will be announced on the official BlizzCon website, www.blizzcon.com, as the event draws closer.

To keep pace with the continued growth of World of Warcraft as well as development on other Blizzard Entertainment games, the company is currently hiring for numerous open positions. More information on available career opportunities can be found at http://eu.blizzard.com/en/jobs/.

[MrExcelion]

Likely this is their platform for announcing the next MMO

[Sinj]

ye, was thinking the same, even tho they must only have conceptual art/ideas atm?

[Dahrken]

You know I was thinking the same thing, the timing seems about right too.

[xomis]

What about expansion III?

[skojten]

think its to early for a new mmorpg, think they will show alot of there new games beside.

[zephiK]

What about expansion III?

I highly doubt that will happen because Wrath of the Lich King is still not completed as far as the "Lich King" lore.. and I believe that Blizzard had originally planned expansions every two years. No reason to introduce another expansion when the current expansion hasn't even been completed.

[Mistrblank]

I highly doubt that will happen because Wrath of the Lich King is still not completed as far as the "Lich King" lore.. and I believe that Blizzard had originally planned expansions every two years. No reason to introduce another expansion when the current expansion hasn't even been completed.

By Blizzcon, we'll be almost a year into Lich King. They're going to announce the new expansion then giving a full year and a half lead time on it in traditional Blizz style. Pity I won't play it, WoW is too much of a time sink that I'd rather get back. There won't be an mmo announcement because they need to get Starcraft 2 and Diablo3 out of the door running. A year after they're released we'll see the earliest announcements.

[darkthunder]

and I believe that Blizzard had originally planned expansions every two years.

Close. They actually said that they would like to release an expansion once every year. Burning Crusade was released on January 16th 2007, and Wrath of the Lich King on November 13th 2008.

Granted, the release dates are almost 2 years apart, they still are released "once a year". If they are to hold onto that idea, they would have to release the next expansion, latest December 2009, or if going by the nearly 2 year time between Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King, more likely around August-September 2010.

Either way, the next expansion would have to be announced well before that.

IN ADDITION: Blizzard has said they are considering revamping the graphics further, with the next major expansion. This if done, is likely not an easy task and will take quite some time to complete.

[adamb10]

I fully expect the new WoW expansion to be announced here. Granted Wrath wont be out for even a year when this happens it makes sense(Wrath was announced much earlier in TBC's life). Also I expect we'll get a release date for starcraft 2 here too.

[Beefpotpie]

fat chance on the sc2 release date, 5 months after last blizzcon and they still havent gotten the betas up and running

[aikouka]

Not sure whether or not I want to go again, but after going once, you really understand the do's and don't's of Blizzcon. So maybe I'll go again and this time, I'll know what to do and have an overall better time.

[Baever]

I highly doubt that will happen because Wrath of the Lich King is still not completed as far as the "Lich King" lore.. and I believe that Blizzard had originally planned expansions every two years. No reason to introduce another expansion when the current expansion hasn't even been completed.

Blizzard announced WoTLK at the 2007 BlizzCon, with the beta being playable by 2008's.

If they legitimately plan to continue the series, the next in line will be announced this year.

[alt]

I wonder why they're moving it to August. October is generally nice here in Southern California but August is hot as hell. Not to mention that October is already cold in other parts of the country so the out of state people who visit Blizzcon generally get to come here when the weather's better than in their home state.

[LavaDuck]

Happy trip to those going there in August

[Columhcille]

:
wellll...I just wanna hear about the WoW live action movie they had planned. Been a couple years or more since they announced anything on it. Last we all heard they were picking a cast for the characters and getting screenplay written and figuring out who would produce the movie.
did they just drop the idea of a huge theatrical production like this after the announcements?
/want to know. be demanding.

;D

[Insanara]

I agree on the theory of the new mmo being announced, however I am more interested in the date they have set.
Previously the Bcons have been set for October. So either they don't like the month, or they want to launch it before the release of SC2 (similar to the fact that they had Blizzcon before Wotlk release).
It is just thoughts, bring yours!

[ArmageddonX]

Hopefully Blizzard doesnt F**k up ticket sales like last year. >

[scbandit4]

They've rotated between October and August...

05: October
07: August
08: October
09: August

[Wardley]

I wonder why they're moving it to August. October is generally nice here in Southern California but August is hot as hell. Not to mention that October is already cold in other parts of the country so the out of state people who visit Blizzcon generally get to come here when the weather's better than in their home state.

There's no Worldwide Invitational this year is there? Last year, that was in early Summer with Blizzcon in the autumn, so this year, with no WWI and only 1 major event for them, it makes a bit more sense to have it roughly in the middle of it.

I thought by then the first part of Starcraft 2 should be almost out of the door (if it's not already - I'd heard the first part was due Easter, 2nd in Autumn and 3rd next year). Diablo 3 news though? Maybe the beta would be starting around then? And the timing would be right for any next expansion announcement for WoW as well (WotLK announced the summer after TBC was launched wasn't it?). Although, I also think it took them a bit longer (about 6 months extra) to get WoTLK finished than they originally thought it would so they could wait a bit longer before announcing any new expansion.