Orange County Register

It is now roughly 10 days until one of the greatest conventions of the year takes place. BlizzCon spells out a gold mine, a great heaven on earth for nerds, Blizzard enthusiasts, hardcore gamers, and your occasional bear trainer.

But as we eagerly await the cold steel doors of the Anaheim Convention Center to open, we wonder what we may find on the other side. This of course is if you were brave enough to face the fiasco to obtain your ticket — either by vigil (36 hours for me) or by lottery. Fear not, for if you have Direct TV, you can purchase a package for $39.95, they’ll also throw in the exclusive bear mount for free (how nice).

The most obvious here will be the latest expansion to the widely popular World of Warcraft, The Wrath of the Lich King, which is slated to hit stores on November 13, 2008. With so much information to be shared and learned about this expansion, we can expect to see many panels and art galleries dedicated to it. However, one of the more exciting opportunities is players will get a chance first hand to play it before its release. You can get your Death Knight on, and lay some Death and Decay around Northrend!

Second, Starcraft II will make a great showing, as the highly anticipated sequel to the 1998 smash hit. From what I’ve seen of this game, it shouldn’t disappoint. Hopefully players will get a hands on look at the current state of the game.

We can also expect Diablo III to make a public showing. I’m not entirely sure a playable demo will be available considering where they are currently at in development. They may want to apply more “Blizzard Polish” to it, before allowing players to explore the world of Sanctuary.

From what I know, there may be 1 other game announced there as well, more info on that is to come.

So, in addition to the games, there will be of course the craziness that is BlizzCon. Ranging from people dressed up as their character or favorite NPC, drunk attendees yelling gibberish at members of the other faction, contests, giveaways, jousting with your favorite community manager, and the overall feeling of comradery with your fellow gamers. No matter what, there will most certainly be memories to cherish forever.

-Ryan “Vissor” Gallagher

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.