If you're all about spending your holidays vacationing in Azeroth, battling the Zerg in StarCraft or slaughtering demons in Diablo, then you're in luck! Blizzard has announced today that they'll be bringing back the immensely popular BlizzCon this year, which will be held on Friday, August 21st and Saturday August 22nd at the Anaheim Convention Center. (That's Los Angeles, CA for those of you not sure of the locale – you know, where the other Disney is.)
“We’ve been amazed by the incredible response to each of our previous BlizzCon events,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and co-founder of Blizzard Entertainment. “We’re pleased to be bringing the convention back to Anaheim this year, and we look forward to this new opportunity to meet Blizzard gamers from around the world.”
While there is no currently announced price, tickets for BlizzCon in previous years ran approximately $100 each. Further, they generally tended to sell out nearly immediately – when Blizzard's store servers didn't burst into flames and crash due to the sheer amount of people trying to buy tickets. However, along with the announcement of dates comes the news that Blizzard will be expanding the space they use in the convention center from the previous three (enormous) halls to four for 2009. This should not only help crowding, but additionally allow more people to attend this year.
Gamers will be treated to hands-on gaming time with several upcoming Blizzard games, discussion panels featuring Blizzard developers, tournaments, community contests, commemorative merchandise, a silent auction, and much more. So if you're a devotee of Blizzard, start saving now! It should prove to be a hell of a party, just as the last few years have been.
This article appears in Feb 11-17, 2009.