Our good friends and gaming couple, Manny Martinez and Mary Carlson, ventured off to Anaheim for their first Blizzcon. Both Manny and Mary are big fans of WoW and the MMORPG genre and were featured in our November 2010 2 Player Spotlight.
Blizzcon 2011 – October 21-22, 2011
Anaheim Convention Center
Opening Announcements:
There were some big announcements at this year’s Blizzcon! Diablo 3 is still on track for a Q3 2012 release with Beta testing wrapping up final details of the game. During a Q&A session, JAy Wilson, Diablo 3 Game Director, announced that a new wave of Beta keys will be made available after the next patch.
In addition, a surprise announcement was made for all you World of Warcraft (WoW) fans: if you sign up for an annual WoW account, Blizzard will give you Diablo 3 for free, in addition to a new in-game mount. So come midnight of the Diablo 3 release, you will have access to download the game for FREE! You must keep that account active for a year but WoW fans shouldn’t have a problem with that.
Also, a new expansion is being released for Starcraft 2 called Heart of the Swarm. The expansion features new and changed units with some new abilities as well as retiring ones.
The first expansion for WoW Cataclysm, Mists of Panderia, was announced and features a new class – Monk – and a level cap increase to 90. The expansion also features a new playable race called the Pandaren and a new continent called Pandaria. It will also feature challenge mode dungeons, new PVE scenarios, pet battle system, and a new talent system.
Convention Floor:
The layout of the convention was really well done. There was one hall was dedicated to Diablo 3, another hall dedicated to Starcraft 2, and another to World of Warcraft. Playable demos of all three games were available in each hall.
There were several vendors representing their products as well. LG had a great display setup showing off some amazing 3D monitors. Steelseries had a display with some cool gaming mice including the new Diablo 3 mouse. Big screens were draped all over the place so no matter where you were there was a screen to watch interviews or matches in WoW and Starcraft 2. The costume contest and dance contest were great! People got down this year and came up with some ornate costumes!
The Diablo 3 demo was awesome! The graphics were amazing with great lighting effects. The controls were easy to get accustomed to – right and left click. The sound effects were great! The old school feel of Diablo 1 and 2 is still there with the red life blood bowl on one side and the blue mana bowl on the other. I played the Demon Hunter and really liked the strong beefy sound of the crossbow. My girlfriend had a blast with the barbarian!
Amidst all the announcements and the excitement of Blizzcon, my girlfriend and I are really excited for what’s coming up in the next year or so.
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