The second day of Blizzcon 2008 has come to a close, ending with fanfare a great convention of gamers. From beta announcements to star-studded tournaments to an incredible wealth of information, the event was an undoubtable success. Blizzard posted the following post to summarize the final day:
On the second day of BlizzCon 2008, attendees experienced epic Warcraft III, StarCraft, and World of Warcraft Arena tournaments; informative developer panels covering everything from the art of Diablo III to the lore of StarCraft II to raid dungeons in Wrath of the Lich King; and tons of other fun activities. Here’s a recap of the day’s events.
Pro Players Prove Their Prowess: Crowds gathered, cheered, and gasped at the intense competition in the final matches of the 2008 StarCraft Invitational, Warcraft III Global Finals, and World of Warcraft Arena Global Finals on two separate tournament stages. Check out the tournament brackets and video replays to see which teams from around the world took home the top honors.
For the Lore! Saturday turned out to be a treat for Blizzard Entertainment lore lovers, with Blizzard’s storytellers taking the stage for StarCraft II Lore and Diablo III Lore and Art panels. To find out more about what was discussed (and see what the day's other panels had to offer), check out Saturday's Developer Panel Roundup:
Developer Panel Roundup
Saturday's developer panels offered something for World of Warcraft players of all types, along with tons of lore and story details for Diablo III and StarCraft II enthusiasts. Here's a quick summary of some of the discussions that took place on the last day of BlizzCon.
World of Warcraft PVP
The developers showed off the new PvP options in Wrath of the Lich King, including the new attack-and-defend-style Strand of the Ancients Battleground and a pair of new PVP Arenas: the Dalaran Sewers (an underground "fight club" featuring a waterfall that turns on and off in the center) and Orgrimmar’s Ring of Valor (complete with dynamic walls of fire). They also discussed the design of Wrath of the Lich King’s open-world PvP zone -- Wintergrasp -- where hundreds of players can hop into siege vehicles, tear down walls, and try to capture the zone's main keep to gain access to unique daily quests and a raid instance.
DVD Production
In the first-ever Blizzard DVD/Video Production panel, attendees got to meet several members of the team responsible for the in-game cinematics, Collector's Edition DVDs, and other videos that help define Blizzard's game universes. The panelists discussed their role in several diverse projects, including the trailer for The Black Temple content patch; footage for the "What's Your Game?" television commercials featuring Mr. T, William Shatner, and Verne Troyer; the Emmy-winning "Make Love, Not Warcraft" episode of South Park; and many of the videos BlizzCon attendees saw on the show floor during the convention.
World of Warcraft Dungeons and Raids
PvE-minded Word of Warcraft players got a guided live tour through some of Wrath of the Lich King’s new dungeons and raid encounters, including the Titan-themed 5-person Halls of Lightning and Ahn’kahet: The Old Kingdom, where players will discover the ancient horrors that lie beneath Northrend’s icy surface. The designers also discussed the Chamber of the Aspects raid encounter, an “expandable” fight that lets players choose its difficulty (and reward level) by deciding when to engage certain enemies. The designers also addressed the how and why of the new dual 10-person and 25-person raiding structure for the audience.
StarCraft II Lore
Following yesterday’s revelation that the ambitious story of StarCraft II would span a trilogy of games (see Friday's Developer Panel Roundup for details), Blizzard’s lorekeepers set the stage for the terran campaign by discussing several characters who will figure prominently in Jim Raynor’s adventure, including newcomer Tosh, Matt Horner, Valerian Mengsk (son of Arcturus Mengsk from the original StarCraft), and Tychus Findlay, who players first met in the original StarCraft II cinematic.
World of Warcraft Open Q and A
World of Warcraft panels at BlizzCon always conclude with some audience Q and A time -- but it always seems like there's never enough. That's why at this year's convention, the developers took the stage for a panel devoted exclusively to answering audience inquiries. For a full hour, attendees in the packed main hall asked about Achievement rewards, new in-game storytelling techniques, class balance, randomized daily quests, druid form art assets, and much more.
Diablo III Lore and Art
Diablo III's world-builders discussed how they’re bringing the history and culture of Sanctuary’s different cities and citizens to the forefront for the sequel. The designers also demonstrated how each of the different classes’ personalities, from barbarian to wizard, will affect conversations with NPCs. After that, the art team took the stage to discuss the look of Diablo III and the process of reinventing Sanctuary in light of today’s 3D technology -- and showed off some of the over-the-top devastation that powerful players and monsters can wreak in the game’s destructible environments.
Blizzard Cinematics
In the final panel of the day, audience members got a chance to talk with the Blizzard Cinematics team and get a behind-the-scenes look at how Blizzard makes the pre-rendered movies and trailers for its games. The team walked through the process of making the recently released Wrath of the Lich King opening cinematic, from designing the great frost wyrm in the trailer to modeling and animating the roughly 15,000 undead soldiers in Arthas' army.
End of Developer Panel Roundup
Points of Interest: In between panels and tournament matches, BlizzCon attendees exploring the show floor discovered tons of activities and distractions. Folks who found themselves in Upper Deck’s Darkmoon Faire were able to play World of Warcraft-themed carnival games, participate in World of Warcraft Trading Card Game tournaments, get a sneak peek at the upcoming World of Warcraft Miniatures Game -- and even walk away with miniatures of their own. Showgoers were also able to soak up some Blizzard Entertainment history at the art gallery and retro arcade (featuring The Lost Vikings, Blackthorne, and other blasts from the past), don the helm of the Lich King and wield Frostmourne at a replica of the Frozen Throne, meet the cast and creators of the web-based comedy series The Guild, and more. To see some of the sights from the show floor for yourself, visit our BlizzCon 2008 photo galleries.
BlizzCon Contest Galleries: On Friday night, Jay Mohr returned to BlizzCon to host another epic evening of Costume, Dance, and /Silly contests. The main hall was completely packed with attendees who wanted to witness all the dancing ogres, Tyraels, turtle-mount-riding draenei, and detailed recreations of World of Warcraft raid and PVP armor sets. Today, we posted a list of winners along with tons of photos from the event.
BlizzCon 2008 coverage continues even after the curtain drops on the closing ceremony with Patton Oswalt, Level 80 Elite Tauren Chieftain, and Video Games Live. We'll be sharing more photos and highlights on this site in the days to come, so be sure to stop by BlizzCon.com again.
I hope that summarizes the day's events succinctly. Please check out our Blizzcon page, if you aren't already here, to see the most Blizzcon information on the web. Watch videos and read information or go to our Photos, Artwork, and Screenshots sections above for the latest visuals.
