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‘World of Warcraft’ artists forum at UC Irvine

September 21st, 2009, 2:58 pm by RICHARD CHANG, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

gryphn-rider-laguna_edit

“Gryphn Rider,” a 2004 print by Bill Petras. On view at Laguna Art Museum through Oct. 4. © Blizzard Entertainment.

Attention gamers and art fans: The Laguna Art Museum is hosting an artists’ forum at UC Irvine from 4-6 p.m. Oct. 1. The forum will take place at UCI’s Winifred Smith Hall.

The forum will include artists featured in the museum’s current exhibition, “WoW: Emergent Media Phenomenon,” as well as Blizzard Entertainment’s cinematics project lead, Jeff Chamberlain. The forum will be moderated by the associate director of UC Irvine’s Beall Center for Art and Technology, David Familian.

The artists participating will be Antoinette LaFarge, Robert Nideffer and Eddo Stern.

LaFarge is an associate professor of digital media at UC Irvine. She’s a faculty member for the arts computation engineering graduate program in the studio art department, and is the director of academic computing at the Claire Trevor School of the Arts. Her digital print “World of World: The Adventures of Malbec and Player” is on view at the Laguna Art Museum.

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Posted in: Blizzard • Blizzard Art • Latest game news • World of Warcraft | 4 Comments »

NEW: Blizzard Entertainment in pictures and video

September 1st, 2009, 9:43 am by Tamara Chuang, a.k.a. The Gadgetress

Blizzard Blog photo archiveWe’re still recovering from BlizzCon 2009 and have just selected winners for our goody-bag giveaway. Readers are being notified right now.

If you missed any of our coverage, check out our new photo gallery archive, at gaming.freedomblogging.com/photos, where we have put together links to all previous photo slide shows and video taken by us and the professional photographers here at the OCRegister.

So far, there’s three years of BlizzCon footage and we’re trying to track down photos from year one. Plus, we’ve added a lot of other goodies from times past.

We’ll be adding to the collection from here on and when we find time, will continue to add older coverage. Are we missing something? Ping us!

Enjoy!

Posted in: Blizzard • Blizzard Art • • | Post a Comment »

Blizzard MMOG revenues flat, delays StarCraft II game

August 5th, 2009, 1:50 pm by Tamara Chuang, a.k.a. The Gadgetress

Blizzardvision, the companyBlizzardvision (that’s Irvine-based Blizzard Entertainment’s parent company, Activision Blizzard Inc.) said today that it did better than it thought it would during its latest quarter.

The company cited World of Warcraft as one of a small handful of games credited for the second quarter’s “overperformance,” even as the company financials showed Blizzard’s successful World of Warcraft revenues were roughly flat though still a big chunk of Blizzardvision’s revenues.

“During a challenging economic climate, Activision Blizzard grew its quarterly North American and European market share,” Robert Kotick, CEO of Activision Blizzard, said in a statement.

But the big news is that Blizzard delayed the launch of StarCraft II to 2010. Kotick said that this is to coincicde with launch of new Battle.net online gaming service, which is expected to launch early next year. StarCraft, for non-Blizzard fans, is not a massively multiplayer game. But gamers will be able to play a handful of other players online via Battlenet, a service that first launched in 1996.

Mike Morhaime, Blizzard’s CEO, elaborated further during Wednesday’s conference call with the game developer’s usual mantra: “We must get the games right before we release them,” he said, offering no apologies.

As many know, Blizzard has delayed games in the past, including the original Diablo in 1996. Diablo missed the Christmas shopping season and came out on the last day of that year. It’s gone on to sell millions and the company is now working on Diablo 3.    

Blizzard itself issued a press release on the StarCraft II delay about 30 minutes after the corporate earnings release came out:

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Posted in: Activision Blizzard • Latest game news • Star Craft • • • • • • | 2 Comments »

Blizzard delays StarCraft II launch to 2010

August 5th, 2009, 12:24 pm by Tamara Chuang, a.k.a. The Gadgetress

Activision + Blizzard = BlizzardvisionBlizzardvision (aka Activision Blizzard Inc.) made it through another quarter. Its financial results are forthcoming as I go through this.

But spotted immediately in the press release: “As we prepare for next year, we have moved the expected release dates for two games, Activision Publishing’s Singularity and Blizzard Entertainment’s StarCraft II, into 2010,” said Robert Kotick, CEO of Activision Blizzard.

So much for a nice Christmas …

More on Blizzardvision’s earnings coming this afternoon …

Posted in: Activision Blizzard • Star Craft • • • | 2 Comments »

Blizzard pulls out of upcoming job fair but others still hope to hire

July 8th, 2009, 11:26 am by Tamara Chuang, a.k.a. The Gadgetress

Blizzard jobs

Our intern, Sandy Lee, will be bummed after she hears Blizzard Entertainment pulled out of this weekend’s video-game job fair. Not that she was hoping for a job with Irvine’s largest game company, but it was going to part of her first published story, titled “Blizzard, others looking to hire at video-game job fair.”  Alas, Blizzard is out, so we’ve had to update the story for her.

Blizzard Entertainment won’t be attending this weekend’s job fair in Anaheim as we previously thought. But the good news is that Westwood College’s “Gathering of Video Game Legends” will continue even without the legendary company.

Several local game developers will be there with job openings. The public is invited to apply. Beyond the mostly entry-level jobs and internship opportunities, the event will include tips from the pros plus lots of games to play.

Westwood College in Anaheim has hosted such guests before. The Anaheim campus, established in January 1999, has over 1,000 students with around 150 enrolled in its Game Art or Game Software Development programs. 

Several Orange County game companies will be there, including SayWeAll Games of Aliso Viejo, Irvine’s Armor Games and Irvine’s Obsidian Entertainment. Other companies with jobs include GrowIt and Room Candy Games.  

Blizzard has participated before but just couldn’t make it this year, said Shon Damron, a Blizzard media relations guy.

“Blizzard Entertainment was invited to participate but due to prior commitments, we are unable to attend,” Damron said.

 It would have been a nice opportunity to meet Blizzard folks face to face. The company is constantly hiring and lists dozens of job openings on its job site plus this minimum requirement:

You must have a passion for new technology and keep up to date with industry tools and trends. We’re looking for someone who always strives for elegance and simplicity, loves games, and wishes to help Blizzard Entertainment retain its position at the forefront of game development and customer service.

Besides the job fair, the day will include plenty of input for professionals. Scheduled speakers are:

  • 11:15 – 11: 40   Chris Woodum, Woodum Studios “What you should include in a good portfolio”
  • 11:45 – 12:10   Justin Lloyd, Infinite Monkey Factory   “What it takes to be successful in the game development business”   
  • 12:15 – 12:40   Daniel McNeely,  Armor Games   “The Proverbs of Game Development”  
  • 12:45 – 1:10   John Say, Say Design   “Fusion Innovation”

Speakers will also be judges for some student game awards. A public judging session is already under way and you can add your own vote at this LINK.

::Details::

What: Westwood College job fair and 2D Game Development Competition on July 11th
Where: Westwood College  Anaheim, 1551 S. Douglass Road, Anaheim, California. Here’s a MAP.
When: Saturday, July 11, 2009

  • 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. — Job Fair and published game viewing
  • 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. — Game play
  • 12 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. — Lecture sessions by industry leaders
  • 1:30 p.m. — Development Competition Awards Ceremony

Admission: Free
More info: 714-704-2720, landing.westwood.edu/gaming-public

This post included research from Sandy Lee, our summer intern.

Earlier on the Blizzard Blog:

Posted in: Events • Jobs • • • • • • • • • • | 1 Comment »

Interviews with StarCraft II lead developer, producer

July 2nd, 2009, 8:39 am by Tamara Chuang, a.k.a. The Gadgetress

Photos from Blizzard's Rob Pardo and Chris Sigaty interviews.Ya, ya, we all know StarCraft II is coming out this year, or is expected to unless Blizzard feels the need to delay it. But for the Register’s mainstream readers, we offer an update on Blizzard, the upcoming game and what at least one fan site thinks about it.

This was part of our recent visit to Blizzard’s Irvine headquarters, where the company opened its doors to press and select fan sites. We go to play the game, watch three battles between pro gamers David Lee and Matt Cooper, talk to the lead developer and producer and eat all the Blizzard sandwiches we wanted (actually, just ordinary meat and cheese … but there was plenty of veggie sammies).

StarCraft II sneaks

So, check out today’s story in the Register with the no-duh headline, “After 11 years, ‘StarCraft’ sequel to emerge.” Here’s a sneak peek:

Back in March 1998, Blizzard Entertainmentreleased a completely new game, “StarCraft.”With its previous games selling more than a million copies in a year, the Irvine game developer had high hopes for its first science-fiction strategy game: It had 1 million games ready to sell on day one. “StarCraft” has since sold 11 million copies and remains one of the best-selling PC games today.

Now, multiply that by the massive resources Blizzard has today, from billions of dollars in game revenue to its 3,000 employees, which is 30 times what it had in 1998. Add in a decade of industry anticipation and fan excitement. Plus there’s the pressure to top every game Blizzard has released, including the latest update to “World of Warcraft,” which sold 2.8 million copies – in the first 24 hours.

“StarCraft II,” the long awaited sequel to 1998’s top PC game, is slated to launch by the end of the year. But it’s not just record sales the company envisions. Blizzard wants another classic.

Read up and continue watching this space for more tidbits gleaned from our visit to Blizzard. Meanwhile, here’s a video of our interviews with Rob Pardo, executive vice president of game design, and Chris Sigaty, lead producer of StarCraft II:

Please enable Javascript and Flash to view this Brightcove video.

 Earlier:

Posted in: Blizzard • Latest game news • Star Craft • • • • | 4 Comments »

WoW stuck at 11.5 million subscribers; Blizz focused on StarCraft, Diablo

May 7th, 2009, 2:50 pm by Tamara Chuang, a.k.a. The Gadgetress

Activision + Blizzard = BlizzardvisionSo, some players have apparently moved on from WoW’s “Wrath of the Lich King.”

In Blizzardvision’s quarterly earnings call today, Blizzard’s CEO Mike Morhaime said that “11.5 million continued to play Warcraft, which is a significant increase from the same time last year.” 

But 11.5 million is the same number of people who were playing the game in December, a month after the “Lich King” update launched.

Still, the game is adding new players all the time. “Lich King” was the top-selling PC game in the U.S. in the first three months of 2009, according to market researcher The NPD Group. Then again, it is Blizzard Entertainment. NPD also reported that six of the top 10 games in March were made by the Irvine game developer.

Rank Top-selling PC Games in March 2009 (U.S.)
2 World Of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King Expansion Pack
5 World Of Warcraft: Battle Chest
6 World Of Warcraft
9 World Of Warcraft: Burning Crusade Expansion Pack
12 Starcraft: Battle Chest
20 Diablo Battle Chest
  Source: The NPD Group

What Blizzard is really concentrating on now is StarCraft 2 and Diablo 3, two games building on original titles from eight and 11 years ago. Both games were still in the top 20 PC games sold in March (see chart on right), Morhaime said.

“We had a strong March quarter despite the weak economy. This highlights the strong longevity of the games.

StarCraft 2 will begin an external beta test this summer, which “will signal the final stretch of development,” Morhaime said.

Also, a revamped Battle.net will be tested, offering new tools to make it easier for players to communicate with one another between games and manage all their Blizzard games with one login. 

Blizzard’s contribution to Blizzardvision’s revenues (actually ActivisionBlizzard, but we know who’s more important) were mostly in the MMORPG category, which brought in $314 million during the quarter. Comparable results weren’t available since Activision and Blizzard didn’t merge until July 2008.

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Posted in: Activision Blizzard • The Business • • • • • • • | 4 Comments »

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