Blizzard Announces 2012 Battle.net World Championship Event

by Blizzard Entertainment 25 Jan 2012 13:46 UTC

Blizzard Entertainment is proud to announce the 2012 Battle.net World Championship, a major global eSports event featuring some of the best pro-gaming competition in the world. Slated to take place in Asia toward the end of 2012, the Battle.net World Championship will host this year’s StarCraft II and World of Warcraft Arena World Championship tournaments. Blizzard gamers and eSports fans from around the world will be invited to attend and witness some of the most skilled pro players on the planet battle it out for cash and glory.

We’re excited to be showcasing Blizzard eSports on a truly global stage this year. We're also heavily focused on getting Diablo III, Mists of Pandaria, and Heart of the Swarm into players’ hands as soon as possible. In light of our jam-packed schedule, we’ve decided to hold the next BlizzCon in 2013.

More details about the 2012 Battle.net World Championship and BlizzCon 2013, including specific dates and locations, will b

BlizzCon Costumes — Deathwing

by Blizzard Entertainment 11 Jan 2012 17:00 UTC

BlizzCon presents an incentive for real-life tailors and engineers to take up their needle and thread and their cardboard and spray paint, in order to fashion amazingly realistic recreations of their favorite Blizzard characters and creatures. After this year’s costume contest, we invited the winners to write articles on the art of costume-craft for us to share with the community. Here’s the third entry in the series, written by Justin, who won third place for his take on Deathwing.

Pain!...

Agony!...

My name is Justin Floyd, and I am Deathwing. Rather, I was Deathwing. This costume started at the insistence of my wife, who decided I would fit the character of the deranged former Earth Warder quite well, which I’m not sure is a compliment. Without her help, this costume would not have been possible (mainly because my artistic ability is confined to stick figures and shadow puppets).

Let me start off by saying that I have a deep fondness for the Blizzard community. I met my wife at BlizzCon 2005 and many guildies at other BlizzCons along the way, some of whom I consider close friends. I’ve played Blizzard games since Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness was released, and it is the community and storytelling that always brings me back. Getting to be a Warcraft character for a day was awesome and the support from fellow BlizzCon attendees was amazing.

We started planning and working on the costume in April and literally finished it an hour before I had to be backstage. Of course this means I missed a lot of the cosplay meet-ups, but considering some of the mishaps we had, we’re lucky we got it finished!

The costume was constructed from a variety of materials including green Styrofoam, papier mâché, paper clay, leather, Wonderflex (a thermoplastic — just heat and bend!), fabric, and foam rubber mats (interlocking squares usually used for the garage or kids’ playrooms).

Styrofoam was carved and covered in paper clay for the shoulders and various spikes. Foam rubber mats were used for the bracers, boots, and chest. Leather was used in a variety of areas, including the chest and loincloth. The legplates and belt were created with Wonderflex, which is truly wonderful!

Question: How did I keep everything on?

Answer: Lots of Velcro.

Walking around in costume is harder than it looks. To start, I didn’t realize I needed a spotter until I walked straight into a fire hydrant and dented one of my boot spikes. This wasn’t a big deal, since we packed some extra black paint. While waiting for my wife to get the paint from our room, I was striking a few poses for several nice people who wanted a picture. Apparently, range of motion is very limited when you’re wearing two feet of badassery on your shoulders, and to my horror, I felt my pauldrons slipping off! I went to grab for one but it was too late and the other shoulder crashed to the sidewalk. A few of the foam/paper spikes broke off. We had to trek all the way back to the hotel room, glue everything back together, and march… well, waddle back to the Anaheim Convention Center.

After my initial walk across the stage during the costume contest, I was ready to exit the area and try my hand as a fuzzy, lovable Pandaren. Needless to say, I was completely dumbfounded when I was pulled aside and asked to “wait right here.” It was a little nerve-wracking going on stage a second time, but it made for a good YouTube video to show the family. All in all, I learned more about costume construction than I bargained for, but I also learned how fun it can be. I’ll never forget the experience — and how could I, when I now have a huge mace that lights up hanging on my wall?

In case you were wondering, I did go to Disneyland.

Okay, maybe I didn’t go dressed as Deathwing, but I was able to treat my guild to an unforgettable day at the park after winning third place. Two of my guildies had never been to California, let alone Disneyland, so it was nice to be able to do something special for them after BlizzCon.

P.S. FOR THE ALLIANCE!e coming in the months ahead.

Diablo® Turns 15

by Blizzard Entertainment 05 Jan 2012 10:34 UTC

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It’s a rare occasion when we’re able to mark the 15-year anniversary of not only a game, but an entire universe. In 1996, the original Diablo® introduced gamers to the cursed town of Tristram… and the twisted, ancient evil that dwelled beneath it. Diablo II and its expansion, Lord of Destruction®, transformed a claustrophobic dungeon-crawler into a sprawling adventure that drew players into the wider world of Sanctuary. Today, with Diablo III on the horizon, we’d like to celebrate all of the memorable moments that have marked the last decade and a half of Diablo history.

Please join us in celebrating Diablo’s 15-year anniversary -- and we invite you to share your own Diablo memories with us by using the Twitter hashtag #Diablo15.

Costume Voting Contest Results

by Blizzard Entertainment 20 Dec 2011 20:00 UTC

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The costumes featured at the BlizzCon 2011 Costume Contest were absolutely spectacular, and it was incredibly difficult for our judges to narrow down all the stunning entries to just three winners. So, we gave 20 contestants who we weren’t able to recognize at BlizzCon a second chance at sartorial glory by offering the community a chance to vote on their favorites.

The voting was close, but the contest is now over. The winners were selected by tallying the votes we received as of November 18 from both NA and EU, and we’re ready to announce the results!

Please join us in congratulating our 10 winners, listed in order of placement:

1. Mary Booth, “Maiev Shadowsong” — 2426 votes
2. Kathleen Elliott, “Sister Benedron” (Priest in Avatar set) — 2311 votes
3. Lyz Brickley, “Mylune” — 2292 votes
4. Jojo Chen, “Tyrael's Secret” — 1828 votes
5. Tony Malcolm, “StarCraft II Marine” — 1244 votes
6. Rebecca Hamilton, “Malis Vitterfolk, Shaman in Volcanic set” — 824 votes
7. Christina Estrada, “Paladin in Regalia of Immolation” — 727 votes
8. Joseph Grasso, “Paladin in Judgment set” — 671 votes
9. Asher Augenstine, “Death Knight” — 500 votes
10. Martha Robertson, “Gnome Spy in-a-mailbox” — 382 votes

The top three costumes have earned their creators cash prizes of $1,000 USD, $750 USD, and $500 USD. Fourth, fifth, and sixth place will each receive a SteelSeries prize package that includes 5H V2 Headphones, a 7G Keyboard, and an Ikari Optical Mouse. Runners-up beginning with seventh place will each earn a World of Warcraft virtual pet package that includes Lil' Ragnaros, Moonkin Hatchling, Lil' K.T., Pandaren Monk, and Lil' XT.

Congratulations again to all of our BlizzCon costume contestants. You all did fantastic work, and we thank you for sharing your creations with the community!

BlizzCon Costumes: The Adjutant

by Blizzard Entertainment 16 Dec 2011 17:30 UTC

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BlizzCon presents an incentive for real-life tailors and engineers to take up their needle and thread and their cardboard and spray paint, in order to fashion amazingly realistic recreations of their favorite Blizzard characters and creatures. After this year’s costume contest, we invited the winners to write articles on the art of costume-craft for us to share with the community. Here’s the second entry in the series, written by Avery, who won first place for her unique and creative take on the StarCraft II adjutant.

My name is Avery Faeth and I’m the creator of the StarCraft II Confederate adjutant costume from BlizzCon 2011. I’m glad to have had the opportunity to share my creative experience with other gamers and cosplayers. Compared to most in this community, I’m a relative newcomer. I’ve always had an interest in fashion and design, forsaking store-bought styles and Halloween costumes for something I had to make myself.

When I went to BlizzCon 2009, fueled by my enthusiasm for my recently level-capped troll shaman, I decided to undertake my first official cosplay and go as her. The next year, I raised the bar for my personal achievement and donned a Lady Deathwhisper costume.

I knew I could challenge myself more; and fresh off a sixteen-hour StarCraft II marathon, the idea for the adjutant was born. Anyone who’s played any iteration of a StarCraft terran campaign is familiar with the adjutant and its casual way of warning you of your impending doom, but it also lacks the notoriety and coverage that girls like Kerrigan and Nova have earned — the perfect mix of obscurity and nostalgia for my tastes. Through the development of these costumes, I’ve established three cardinal rules for my cosplay –

• Trial and error. Have a back-up plan for every effect you want to incorporate into your costume. I’ve learned most of my costuming skills from messing up what I thought would be a fairly simple procedure. Think beyond the prescribed way of doing things. Allow room, time, and materials for your mistakes, so you don’t waste precious resources. And try not to let your setbacks get you down!
• Balance creativity and costume loyalty. There is room in every costume for thinking outside the box and adding your own personal touch; but bear in mind that the more liberties a costume takes, the more open it is to misinterpretation. I like my costumes to look like the character stepped from animation or fantasy into the real world — more like a magic mirror than a screenshot. You also want to choose a character you know will be recognized, but not blend into the crowd.
• Plan and prepare. Research, recruit, and reach out! Most of the new techniques I learned and materials distributors I found were from simple searches or recommendations. Do a test run of your costume to allow for all contingencies. If at all possible, get a friend to help at the convention with emergency supplies, necessities, and general “handling.”

I spent a good amount of time simply brainstorming, sketching, and rehashing ideas on how to pull off the right look for the adjutant. Since the robotic effect is dependent on the illusion of an incomplete body, I decided to base all the individual pieces in black and attach the robotics to them, defining the body parts with an armor-like chassis and festooning the exposed areas with wires and circuitry to disguise my real limbs. The top is a spandex/lycra dance unitard and hood, decorated with a variety of materials including actual wires and cables from deconstructed computers and televisions, Rexlace (flat plastic tubing), and tubular crinoline (woven expandable tubing). The bottom is a modified hoop skirt with a flat front panel, made from theatrical backdrop fabric. The skirt is covered in what essentially amounts to junk — phone faceplates, television monitors, telephone wires, and copious amounts of tubular crinoline and foam caulk saver.

For the adjutant’s “body,” I created my very first set of cosplay armor. I still have a lot to learn in this field, but I was able to roll with the mistakes I made on this set and work it into my design. The chest piece, shoulder pieces, abdomen piece, and hip- and rib-covers were made from a foam form and covered in Wonderflex, then gel-painted, gessoed, sanded, painted, and finally detailed. The plug on my back, labeled the “power pack,” is the leftover casing from a television/radio I scrapped for decorating the skirt. It is all secured with backpack strapping and buckles. To hide my arms, I created long, close-ended sleeves and covered them in similar wires-and-tubes designs. For the headpiece, I gutted a cheap pair of headphones, repainted them, and attached the wires and tubes to them.

The adjutant’s face presented one of the biggest challenges, since its anatomy is not strictly human. I knew that the mobile parts of the face would be easy enough, as the adjutant is basically a “girl in grey.” I created the effect of the extended, plate-like forehead by cutting and shaping a plastic mask and painting it to match the armor. I ran color tests on the makeup beforehand to ensure a match, and secured the mask with prosthetic glue to both my face and the headpiece. All of the lights in the costume were individually powered, a choice I knew would be inefficient and time-consuming but ultimately gave the look I wanted. I used fiber optic hair clips, individual magnetic LEDs, battery-powered EL wire, and re-appropriated hazard lights.

The original seed of an idea for this costume was planted on July 27, 2010, and the final touches were placed on October 20, 2011. Of course I managed to squeeze about 175 of the 200 hours I cumulated working on this costume into the last month before BlizzCon — most costume success stories contain at least a touch of procrastination! My costumes have grown considerably from year to year; but every time I show up at BlizzCon and see all the other amazing costumes out there, I push myself to do bigger and better next time.

This costume took me from Google image searches to the cosplay community for counsel, from Home Depot (where I bought out weekly shipments of foam tubing) to a specialty fabric wholesaler (where I opened my first business account in the name of costuming). There’s nothing to compare to the feeling of seeing all the little pieces come together off your studio table, or living room floor, or dressform into a manifestation of something near and dear to you. Well, nothing like being in it.

I want to say thank you to fantastic community that Blizzard games have introduced me to. The gamers and con attendees who are just as enthusiastic about the stories and characters as I am make me feel confident and at home, even in a crazy costume and looking nothing like myself. I couldn't have completed this costume without the help of all the friendly and thoughtful people in the cosplay community, or without the support and encouragement of my friends and family. I hope to see all of you — and the costumes you dream up — at next year's BlizzCon!

Community News

by Community 20 Jan 2012 16:59 UTC

Welcome to the Community News! There is always some interesting news, fan fiction, comic, artwork, guide or machinima that is worth sharing. In this blog we will provide you with a recap of this week's latest news and community highlights!

This week's news from Azeroth

Guild Helps Blind Player Through the Game
Have you already discovered the story of Ben Shaw, a sightless player who is guided through the game by his guild mate Davidian, acting as Ben's in-game 'guide dog'?

Dave Kosak Interview on Videogamer.com
Last week, Videogamer.com spoke to our lead quest designer Dave Kosak about Patch 4.3, Mists of Pandaria and much more.Read all about it here.

Rare Cosmetic Pets
Interested in some of those rarer non-combat pets, such as the Ethereal Soul Trader? TenTonHammer takes a look at a range of pets, giving a concise description of each featured creature. You gotta catch a new companion for the upcoming Pet Battle System!

Teh Gladiators Comic
Facing astronomical odds, find out how 'Teh Gladiators' fared against Deathwing himself. Could this the be the end of our unlucky band of combatants?

Found something cool or want to share your own creation? Check out our Facebook and Twitter pages as well as our official fansites throughout the week, if you want to stay on top of community updates as they become available.