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.

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.

New Firefall Trailer Shows the Future of Free-to-Play

A new trailer was released earlier today for the upcoming free-to-play game Firefall, which was first revealed during PAX 2010 back in September. Developed by Red 5 Studios (awesome name for a development house), the game is a combination MMO persistence with FPS features. Red 5 Studios was founded by Mark Kern, former World of Warcraft team lead back in 2005. While not much is known about gameplay, Red 5 has said that the game will feature, “large, open-world cooperative campaign that can be shared with hundreds of other players as well as a competitive multiplayer component that incorporates things like ladders, tournaments, clans and leagues.” The art style is similar to that of the hit game Borderlands, using a mixture of cell-shading and stylized art to create a feeling one might find in comic books. While the free-to-play in past has been overrun with second-rate games, the trend has shown that AAA titles can use the same business model, and Firefall is just another example of this.Firefall will be available for PC sometime during the fourth quarter of 2011.

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.

Heaven, Hell, and Everything in Between

Ah what a week it has been. This post will be a little less journalistic than my others and more of covering what I’ve been playing lately. This post was supposed to be up last week but one of the topics here will explain why it’s up today instead.

The Thing About Release Dates

The thing about release dates is that they can always change. Companies announce games way ahead of time to build not only hype, but community around that game. Community drives word of mouth, which builds onto the hype already created by the game and its company, without any external work. As release dates get closer and closer, hype about a game escalates. Sometimes this can work in the game’s favor, as with the evidence of the hype machine I Love Bees, the alternate reality game that helped market Halo 2. Other times hype can be so overwhelming that it is beyond capable, and the the audience is disappointed. I could name numerous MMO games where this scenario occurred. Through my own experience and being observant of those around me, I’ve learned not to get carried away regarding hype and release dates. For example, Bioshock Infinite was announced earlier this year, but isn’t slated for release until at least 2012. I am looking forward to seeing what Irrational Games' final produce will be, but my anticipating will certainly be quelled by the string of great games coming 2011.