subject: Blizzcon 2008 Opening Keynote Highlights [print this page] Even with Disneyland literally across the street, the key stage in the Anaheim Convention Center was the happiest location on earth for a large number of Blizzard fans at 11 a.m. PST, as CEO Mike Morhaime kicked off the official opening ceremonies for this year's BlizzCon.
With eight,000 people crowding the main stage, Morhaime opened by speaking about demand for this year's show. For the very first BlizzCon in 2005, it took 3 weeks for the tickets to sell out. This year, with greater than double the tickets from the earlier show, this year's run of 15,000 tickets sold out in only 15 minutes. For the lucky fans, Morhaime explained, there was a whole lot to look forward to more than the following two days with all three of Blizzard's most important franchises on display: the recently-announced Diablo III, the upcoming StarCraft II, as well as the Wrath in the Lich King expansion pack for World of Warcraft.
To start out, the crowd was shown a highlight video from this July's Blizzard Worldwide Invitational in Paris. It may too have already been a BlizzCon preview video: lots of people in costume, huge tournaments, game presentations, and performances by the Video Games Reside orchestra and Blizzard's in-house band, Level 70 Elite Tauren Chieftain Level 80 Elite Tauren Deathknight. (Each is going to be performing again at Saturday night's closing ceremonies, also as comedian Patton Oswalt.)
Morhaime then turned to Blizzard's upcoming games, with the first getting the Lich King expansion, getting released November 13th. "Northrend will probably be open, and Arthas will likely be waiting," said Morhaime. For the release, a large number of stores are going to be having midnight openings, and Blizzard employees will probably be attending a select few in the events.
The biggest news of your keynote came when Morhaime turned his attention to Diablo III. From the game's five classes, only two had been announced so far: the Barbarian along with the Witch Doctor. But for BlizzCon, Morhaime revealed the game's third class, the Wizard, to an ovation from the crowd. (Although to be fair, there were probably very few classes that the crowd wouldn't have whooped it up for.) Additionally, an early multiplayer demo of Diablo III with all 3 classes is playable at the show.
There was surprising little news on the StarCraft II front. We'd wondered going into the show how far along the game may well be. As Morhaime explained, the game hasn't quite reached beta, but all BlizzCon attendees were given a key code in their goodie bag inviting them to participate when the time comes.
Morhaime touched on a number of other subjects during his keynote, including the company's dedication to e-sports as well as the numerous tournaments taking place at BlizzCon, with $200,000 in prize money on the line. A Warcraft III Defense with the Ancients tourney would be taking place, too as the world's first StarCraft II tourney, and a special invitational for some on the world's best StarCraft players. Additionally, there will probably be numerous panels offering inside looks into Blizzard's upcoming games, as well as the usual assortment of weirdness (the "/silly" contest promises to be each entertaining and painful to watch). We're only getting started here at BlizzCon, so check back regularly for all the latest happenings here at the show.
