Blizzard All-Stars is now Heroes of the Storm

The Blizzard themed MOBA, which first debuted as Blizzard DOTA then renamed to Blizzard All-Stars following Valve’s development of Dota 2, has a new name again: Heroes of the Storm.

“Yep, we’ve changed it again,” reads the description of the video above debuting the new name.

Heroes of the Storm first appeared a few weeks ago when Blizzard filed for a trademark for the name, leading to speculation that it might be the name of the next World of Warcraft expansion.

The video description also says to, “Set aside whatever you think you knew about Blizzard All-Stars,” as more information will be released at Blizzard’s upcoming BlizzCon on Nov. 8 and 9 in Anaheim, Calif., where it assumingly will be playable.

I played Blizzard DOTA at BlizzCon 2011 when it was still called Blizzard DOTA. It was the first time I’d ever played a MOBA. You can read my impressions here.

Taking my time with Diablo III

As many as 300,000 people played Diablo III simultaneously this weekend during the open beta event Blizzard held. For many of those players, it was the first opportunity they’ve had with the game. I’ve played it in small chunks at past BlizzCons, but sitting down and playing a genre that I had no familiarity with for a short amount of time hardly feels like a hands-on experience. Despite that, I too felt like I was sitting down to play it for the first time this past weekend.

No BlizzCon for 2012

Blizzard announced today that its annual convention for all things Blizzard will not occur this year at the Anaheim Convention Center like it normally does, nor anywhere else. In a post on their BlizzCon site, Blizzard noted that due to its numerous current development, including Diablo III, StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm, and World of WarCraft: Mists of Panderia, BlizzCon would be held off until next year in 2013.

BlizzCon has been an annual event since 2007, with each year announcing a new product or feature. It could be with all of their current projects, they have nothing new to announce. It could also be a financial decision, with Blizzard stating several times that BlizzCon is a loss for them in terms of profit, and held purely as a gesture of goodwill for the fans.

It’s interesting to note that 2012 was the year that Blizzard co-founder Mike Morhaime mentioned would be the first news of their upcoming next-gen MMO project, Titan. With BlizzCon 2012 off the plate, it’s doubtful that we’ll hear anything about this project until next year.

In the same post, Blizzard announced the 2012 Battle.net World Championship, bringing in the world’s best StarCraft II and World of WarCraft arena teams to compete in Asia at the end of this year.

Blizzard DOTA according to a DOTA virgin

I’ve never played WarCraft III DOTA. I’ve never played Heroes of Newerth. I’ve never played League of Legends. I’ve had friends tell me how fun and exciting the genre is, but as someone who’s never been enticed by the RTS genre, I didn’t feel compelled to jump in. So when I sat down to play Blizzard DOTA at BlizzCon 2011, it was my first foray into the Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) genre.

Keep in mind I’ve not played League of Legends or other similar games, so if I note something here present in other games, this is why

BlizzCon 2011

As of the posting of this, I will be on my way to Anaheim for BlizzCon 2011. This will be my fourth year attending and I still highly recommend it for anyone who plays a Blizzard game or enjoys the social aspect of their games.

This year’s event will mainly revolve around Diablo III, scheduled to release sometime early 2012. Will we see the announcement of an official release date? Maybe, but this year’s BlizzCon won’t solely be about Diablo III. Blizzard will also release more information about the first expansion for StarCraft II, Heart of the Swarm, as Blizzard has already teased a new unit.

It’s also expected that Blizzard will reveal their next expansion for World of Warcraft. Based on previous announcements, Blizzard tends to announce a new expansion for World of Warcraft every two years, with this year falling in line. Rumors have already begun swirling about Mists of Panderia, a trademark Blizzard filed earlier this year, as the name of the expansion.

The entire BlizzCon schedule is available on blizzcon.com and available as an app for your smartphone.

If you’re in the area, let me know and we can meet up and chat. Be sure to follow my Twitter feed for news and impressions straight from the event floor.

Diablo III to include player-run auction house, but you shouldn't worry

Gabe Newell once said that games should be more of a service than a product, but it’s Blizzard Entertainment who is taking that mantra to heart. Blizzard released a flurry of details about their upcoming action-RPG game Diablo III. Among them was a required internet connection to play the game, similar to StarCraft II which released last year. The need for an internet connection is integrated into the game for Blizzard’s Battle.net service, which can share data and friends lists between StarCraft II, World of Warcraft, and other Blizzard games. Another new addition to Diablo III is the restriction of player-made mods. The restriction is a change in stance from Diablo II, which allowed for free reign of customizability when rearranging the UI and other systems.

Diablo III Beta Coming This Year

During today’s Activision Blizzard Q1 financial conference call, Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime revealed some details about the upcoming Diablo III Beta.

Morhaime said during the call that the Diablo III beta will begin in Q3 of this year, meaning sometime before September 30. "We began internal, company-wide testing this week," he said, "The game looks great, and we're currently targeting a Q3 launch for external beta testing. The development team is working hard to try and launch Diablo III this year." He concluded by reinforcing Blizzard's mantra of not committing to release dates, "We will not compromise the quality of the game in order to hit a window."

Blizzard confirmed later in a post that Q3 refers to calendar year, not fiscal. "The 3rd quarter reference in the earning’s call today was a calendar quarter, meaning that we’re aiming to launch the Diablo III beta between July 1st and September 30th.

Diablo III is in active development and no release date has been announced yet. Speculation currently places it for a Q4 of 2011 or Q1 of 2012 release."

BlizzCon 2010: Recap and Impressions

After my week from hell, I was so happy to get away for a weekend and head down to Anaheim for this year’s Blizzcon. In case you live with earmuffs and blinders on, Blizzcon is an annual convention held by Blizzard Entertainment to celebrate their games and fans. Some of the biggest names in gaming are created by Blizzard, specifically their main three franchises, Warcraft, Starcraft, and Diablo.

My Busiest Week Ever

This is going to be a small update since I still have to pack and get things in order. My midterms were this week and I swear I’ve never been more stressed in at least the last five years. However, that’s all done and now I have the weekend to look forward to. Yes, I’ll be heading to BlizzCon in Anaheim, CA. BlizzCon is an annual convention for fans of games created by Blizzard Entertainment. This includes World of Warcraft, Starcraft, and Diablo. I will be posting daily updates on what’s happening on both my Twitter and Facebook, so be sure to keep those bookmarked. If you have any questions you want me to ask, feel free to send those along too. This is a great way to end a really heinous week.