BlizzCon

Infobox Convention
name = BlizzCon


caption = The official BlizzCon logo
status = Active
genre = Video gaming
venue = Anaheim Convention Center
location = Anaheim, California
country = United States
first = 2005
last =
organizer = Blizzard Entertainment
filing = Corporate
attendance =
website = http://www.blizzcon.com/

BlizzCon is a semi-regular convention held by Blizzard Entertainment to celebrate their major franchises: "Warcraft", "StarCraft" and "Diablo".

General Information

BlizzCon first started in October of 2005, held at the Anaheim Convention Center where it has been held since. Some features included the announcements of release of new content for their franchises, previews of content for upcoming games, and Blizzard developer Q&A sessions.

Throughout the days are hands-on experience of new and existing games, various panels related to the multiple franchises, and judging of the contests being held - including costume and songwriting. The closing night has held a concert, previously The Offspring and Blizzard's in-house band (whose members are employees) Level 70 Elite Tauren Chieftancite web | title = Blizzcon 2006 - Final report | publisher = WorldofWar.net |url = http://www.worldofwar.net/articles/blizzcon2005/page2.php | pages = page 2 of 2 | accessdate = 2007-02-06 ] .

Everyone attending gets a "Goodie Bag", which consists of various items related to the Blizzard Franchises. For example, at the 2005 BlizzCon, there was a code that could be exchanged for an in-game pet from World of Warcraft, which was a baby Murloc named 'Murky'. As well, there have been passes to get in to the closed beta test of an upcoming Blizzard game - ' from 2005, and ' for 2007.

Ticket prices for all years have been US$100 each, which include admission to both days of activities. All of the extras in the gift bag, concerts, panels, and contests are included in the price.

BlizzCon 2005

Approximately formatnum:8000 people attended the first BlizzCon, held on on October 28 and October 29 2005.cite web | last = Perry | first = Kat | title = BlizzCon 2005 - Part 1 | publisher = techFEAR | url = http://www.techfear.com/articles/2006/11/blizzcon_p2.shtml | pages = page 2 of 4 | date = 2006-11-09 | accessdate = 2007-02-06] For the first time, the general public were able to try the new races for upcoming expansion, "". Playable demos of the single and multiplayer modes of the currently halted Starcraft: Ghost were available. A songwriting competition was judged by Jonathan Davis of Korn. Level 60 Elite Tauren Chieftain, comedian Christian Finnegan; and punk rock band The Offspring performed at the closing concert.cite web| title = BlizzCon Has Left the Building | publisher = Blizzard Entertainment | url = http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/news/wow-news-10-2006.html| date = 2006-10-31 |accessdate = 2007-02-06] . Among other gifts, attendees received a card with two special codes. One code allowed the attendee to sign up for the "The Burning Crusade" closed beta test.cite web | url=http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=28548032&sid=1 | title = Closed Beta news- 09/27/06 | publisher = Blizzard Entertainment | date = 2006-09-27 | accessdate = 2007-02-06] The other allowed players to obtain Murky, the pet murloc, in-game.

BlizzCon Invitational

Eight players of "" and "StarCraft" were invited to compete and seeded into a double-elimination, best of three match tournament.

"" seedings:cite web | title = StarCraft Bracket | publisher = Blizzard Entertainment | url = http://www.blizzcon.com/brackets-starcraft.shtml | accessdate = 2007-02-06]
#Lee Yun Yeol aka NaDa (Korea, Terran) (finished 3rd)
#Park Jung Suk aka Reach (Korea, Protoss) (finished 2nd)
#Hong Jin Ho aka Yellow (Korea, Zerg) (finished 1st)
#Kang Min aka Nal_rA (Korea, Protoss) (finished 4th)
#Christoph Semke aka Mondragon (Germany, Zerg)
#Brian Fransioli aka Assem (USA, Terran)
#Nick Perentesis aka Testie (Canada, random)
#Peter Neate aka Legionnaire (Australia, Protoss)

"" seedings:cite web | title = Warcraft Bracket | publisher = Blizzard Entertainment | url = http://www.blizzcon.com/brackets-warcraft.shtml | accessdate = 2007-02-06]
#Manuel Schenkhuizen aka Grubby (Netherlands, Orc) (finished 1st)
#Tae Min Hwang aka Zacard (Korea, Orc) (finished 2nd)
#Yoan Merlo aka ToD (France, Human) (finished 3rd)
#Sebastian Pesic aka Fury (Sweden, Undead)
#Zdravko Georgiev aka Insomnia (Bulgaria, Human)*
#Fredrik Johansson aka MadFrog (Sweden, Undead)
#Dennis Chan aka Shortround (USA, Night Elf) (finished 4th)
#Matthew Anderson aka Wizard (USA, Night Elf)

*While traveling to the airport, Georgiev's taxi was hit by a drunk driver. Due to his injuries, he was hospitalized.cite web | title = Insomnia In Car Accident | publisher = SK-Gaming | date = 2006-10-27 | url = http://www.sk-gaming.com/news/5807/ | accessdate = 2007-02-06] Matt Carrier, aka "Etched", replaced him. Carrier represented the USA and played the Human race. cite web | title = Day 1 - Set up | work = BlizzCon Coverage | publisher = WCReplays.com| date = 2005-10-27 | url = http://www.wcreplays.com/articles.php?get=354 | accessdate = 2007-02-06]

BlizzCon 2007

On April 12 2007, Blizzard announced their second BlizzCon, taking place again at the Anaheim Convention Center on August 3 and August 4, 2007. "StarCraft II" was allowed for public play, as single player or 2v2 as Terran or Protoss.cite web | title = Protoss vs. Terran: Match-up Analysis | publisher = GameReplays | date = 2007-08-05 | url = http://www.gamereplays.org/starcraft2/portals.php?&show=page&name=protoss_vs_terran_match_analysis_blizzcon | accessdate = 2007-12-25] cite web | title = Terran vs. Protoss: Match-up Analysis | publisher = GameReplays | date = 2007-08-05 | url = http://www.gamereplays.org/starcraft2/portals.php?&show=page&name=terran_vs_protoss_match_analysis_blizzcon | accessdate = 2007-12-25] Much of the game was revealed and explained as well as Q&A with attendees. The Zerg race was, however, not unveiled at that time.cite press release | title = BLIZZCON 2007 ANNOUNCED | publisher = Blizzard Entertainment | url = http://www.blizzard.com/press/070412.shtml | date = | accessdate = 2007-08-03] The second expansion to "World of Warcraft", titled "", was officially announced.cite press release | title = WORLD OF WARCRAFT: WRATH OF THE LICH KING UNVEILED | publisher = Blizzard Entertainment | url = http://www.blizzard.com/press/070803-2.shtml | date = 2007-08-03 | accessdate = 2007-08-03] All attendees received a "swag bag" upon registration which included various items, including an access key to a beta test of an upcoming title ("Wrath of the Lich King"), a Murloc suit for use in "World Of Warcraft", and starter packs for the "World of Warcraft Trading Card Game". Level 70 Elite Tauren Chieftain (who changed their name to reflect the new level cap in "The Burning Crusade") and comedian Jay Mohr performed at the closing concertcite press release|title = BlizzCon 2007 Gaming Festival to Feature Comedian Jay Mohr |publisher = Blizzard Entertainment | url = http://www.blizzard.com/press/070727.shtml | date = | accessdate = 2007-08-03] alongside Video Games Live.

Blizzcon 2007 Tournament Winners

"StarCraft:"
1st) Ma Jae-Yoon aka “sAviOr [gm] ”
2nd) Kang Min aka “Nal_rA”
3rd) Byeon Hyeong-Tae aka "IriS [gm] "

"WarCraft 3:"
1st) Olav Undheim aka "4K^Creolophus"
2nd) Kim Sung Sik aka "SK.ReMinD"
3rd) Manuel "4K^Grubby" Schenkhuizen

"WoW" 2v2 USA:
1st) Anujit "Anujit" Shastri and Christopher "Schmity" Schmidt

"WoW" 2v2 Europe:
1st) Matthew "Zalmah" Rider and Per "Lykke" Nielsen

"WoW" 5v5:
1st) MoB Gaming (US)
2nd) Nashwan (EU)
3rd) Team EG (US)

BlizzCon 2008

On May 12, 2008 Blizzard announced the third BlizzCon. Like previous years, it would take place in the Anaheim Convention Center. This time on October 10 and 11, 2008.

Ticket Frustrations

Tickets went on sale August 11, 2008, but sales were brisk as few managed to make a purchase. After sales opened, the site quickly suffered from heavy traffic which soon overloaded the servers. Blizzard promptly shut down the site for maintenance as they hoped to come up with a solution for the problem. Some tickets were sold that night, before the site was brought down for the night to try and fix the problems incurred that day.

On August 12, 2008, shortly after the site reopened, patrons only saw a "sold out" message. There were no messages posted explaining why it said this so shortly after the on-sale time, and people posting on the BlizzCon forums were confused. No explanation was immediately given as to this message on either the online store, company homepage, or forums. It soon seemed that the tickets were be coming in batches.

That afternoon, Blizzard once again halted online store functions and updated their official website; stating that most of their tickets were sold and that their last batch would go on sale later that evening. [ [http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=8765785084&sid=1] ] When the site reopened a third and final time at 8:05 pm, the rest of the tickets sold out in two minutes. [ [http://kotaku.com/5036557/blizzcon-completely-sold-out-+--all-hope-is-lost] ]

The first update of information in the midst of the confusion came many hours later, and did not address any problems or complaints but only notified that tickets were officially sold out. Telephone support at the time had no information on the matter and redirected callers back to the online forum.

On August 13, Blizzard President Mike Morhaime released an official apology: [ [http://www.blizzard.com Blizzard Entertainment] ]

"On behalf of everyone at Blizzard, I want to apologize for the challenges and frustrations you experienced while trying to purchase BlizzCon tickets on Monday and Tuesday.

I, and everyone else at Blizzard, share the frustration and disappointment that many of you have expressed as a result of this process. We'll do what it takes to avoid this type of situation in the future."

He further went on to say that there would be more tickets available for purchase, but this time with a lottery system:

"Due to these circumstances, we've reevaluated our convention hall space and come up with some solutions that will allow us to offer 3,000 more tickets for sale. We know this will not be enough to satisfy the very high level of demand for tickets this year, but we want to ensure that BlizzCon remains a great experience for those of you who are able to attend. To avoid the issues many of you faced this week, we'll be selling these 3,000 via a lottery. We'll post further details once our plans are finalized. Please note that the lottery will only be open to those with an active Blizzard Account as of 9:00 PM PDT on August 12, the time that the “Sold Out” notice was posted."

Television event

BlizzCon 2008 will be broadcast live on both days as a PPV event, for eight hours per day in high definition. [http://www.blizzard.com/blizzcon/dtv/?rhtml=y] The broadcast will allow gamers who were unable to get tickets to get a real time view of the events at BlizzCon.

BlizzCon will be broadcast live on DirecTV in the United States and live on Mainevent in Australia available through Foxtel and Austar.

Audio coverage

Official Blizzard fansite WoW Radio will be broadcasting live audio via shoutcast. [ [http://www.wcradio.com/archives.php?selectArchive=1236&autoplay=1 Warcraft Radio] ] They claim that they will be covering all announcements, panels and scheduled events via multiple audio streams and downloadable podcast content after the fact. WoW Radio was the original broadcaster for the first Blizzcon in 2005. [ [http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/23136 Ten Ton Hammer] ]

References

External links

* [http://www.blizzard.com/blizzcon07/ Official BlizzCon 2007 site]
* [http://www.blizzard.com/blizzcon Official BlizzCon 2008 site]