Blizzard Presents Blizzcon 2008

This is one of the best times to be a fan of Blizzard games. At the upcoming Blizzcon, scheduled for October 10-11 in Anaheim, California, expect a deluge of new information about the three major Blizzard projects that fans are eagerly waiting: World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King, StarCraft II, and Diablo III.

Just recently, it was announced that Wrath of the Lich King, the second expansion for Blizzard's acclaimed MMORPG World of Warcraft, would be released on November 13. This means that as the game is finished up, many major details about the game are likely to be revealed at Blizzcon. Right now, fans know that they will be heading up to Northrend, hoping to stop the Lich King Arthas from extinguishing all life from Azeroth.

There is a new character class called the Death Knight, which will be familiar to all Warcraft veterans. Blizzard also announced a collector's edition of World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King. In addition to the game itself, the collector's edition will include an art book, an exclusive in-game pet, a behind-the-scenes DVD, a full-CD soundtrack, a Northrend mousepad, and two World of Warcraft trading card games, including two cards exclusive to the collector's edition.

StarCraft II was announced on May 19, 2007. Since then, there have been several announcements related to the game. At last year's Blizzcon, Blizzard treated fans to a single-player demonstration for the Terran campaign, featuring the game's protagonist Jim Raynor. This year, there are still two races whose single-player campaigns haven't been shown. The Zerg were released in a big event on March 11.

The various fansites keep track of new developments, which are usually posted on Battle.net forums by the Community Manager, Kevin 'Karune' Yu. At this year's Blizzcon, these are the things that fans don't yet know about StarCraft 2: new Battle.net features, details on the Zerg and Protoss single-player campaigns, detailed information about new game mechanics such as Vespene geysers, and more details about the storyline in general. Tentative system requirements for the game were released earlier this year, but perhaps a more up-to-date or finalized one will be announced.

If you've followed Blizzard, you also know that the eagerly-anticipated Diablo III was announced on June 28. For those who aren't familiar with the Diablo franchise, it is set in the world of Sanctuary, and there are Prime Evils and Archangels in constant conflict. In the past 2 games you played as a wanderer and an adventurer whose goal was to rid the world of Diablo, Mephisto, and Baal. The series features a frenetic point-and-click style role-playing experience. Diablo III is going to have 5 character classes, a revamped inventory and health system, and most interestingly, destructible environments that play a key role in advancing through the Diablo campaign.

Plus, the game is supposed to have a lot of randomly-generated environments to retain replayability. With that in mind, what can we expect at Blizzcon this year? Well, there are three character classes that Blizzard hasn't revealed yet; so far we only know about the Barbarian and the Witch Doctor. In addition, there are many campaign details, such as locations, bosses, and items, that aren't known. There's plenty of Diablo III information still under wraps that Blizzard can show at this year's Blizzcon.

No matter which franchise you prefer--or even if you love all three--Blizzard has plenty to share at Blizzcon 2008! Stay tuned for more Blizzard information and reactions after Blizzcon takes place.