BlizzCon 2009 Blog

Sunday 02:28. I keep my promises, and here they are; the best photos from the prize ceremony. Even though the sword is totally awesome, it was really in the way in the photo sessions.

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Sunday 01:46. I hate to be all yellow press here, but Grubby just proposed to his Cassandra right after the prize ceremony. It was really touching, and I'm happy for those two.



Got some photos from the prize ceremony coming up soon. The SC2 gameplay panel and Q&A is currently live. Sadly, they don't cover that interesting topics. Mostly map modding questions. Zznore.

Sunday 00:58. Okay guys, the RTS tournaments are over, now we're awaiting some StarCraft2 exhibition matches and a gameplay panel.

FINAL RESULTS
SC:

(Z) EffOrt - 25,000$, Frostmourne
(Z) ZerO - 10,000$
(Z) sAviOr - 5,000$

WC3:

(ORC) Lyn - 25,000$, Frostmourne
(ORC) Grubby - 10,000$
(NE) SocceR - 5,000$

Sunday 00:30. After a couple of minutes of downtime, we are back, and I have a lot of nice things for you guys.

EffOrt defeated ZerO in a really great set of Zerg versus Zerg. EffOrt took the first game, but ZerO came back to take second after some great strategical moves. He hid some zerglings to trick EffOrt into having enough defense in his base. He eventually ran over him with mutalisks. Third game was a very nice game which ended in the CJ Entus player's favour. 25,000 dollar for EffOrt, 10k to ZerO and 5k to sAviOr.

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Managed to catch the post-final interview:

Saturday 22:40. Here's a video right after Lyn defeated Grubby on stage.

Saturday 22:08. Lyn just defeated Grubby on Melting Valley in the grand final. Was hoping for a comeback for Grubby so we could see even more games, but this ending was cool too. Lyn's items were really decisive, his wand of the wind especially. Good Orc mirror, especially the second game on Echo Isle.

Photos from the grand final as well as a video from the post-game interview with Lyn coming up as soon as possible. Artosis thought the StarCraft final would start at 14:00 (23:00 CET), but keep glued on to the stream if you want to catch all the action.

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Saturday 20:52. Grubby defeated Soccer, and is now playing Lyn on the RTS stage. If you're at BlizzCon, make sure to go watch. If you don't like WarCraft 3, go anyway just so you can get a good seat for the StarCraft grand finals.

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I played another StarCraft 2 game. After all the Zerg action from the StarCraft tournament, I went with Zerg. Massed some zerglings and went to some mutalisks. I made my opponent look like sAviOr as if I was ZerO.

Saturday 19:57. Whoa, that was unsatisfying. ZerO really handing it to sAviOr. Well well, next up is the WarCraft 3 grand final. I'm unsure who Lyn will face, though.

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Saturday 19:41. I really hope you guys are watching the StarCraft stream right now, as we have sAviOr taking on ZerO again in the lower bracket final. ZerO is up 1-0 after a couple of mistakes by sAviOr. Tune in pressing this link.

Also, here's a sum-up of the WarCraft 3 tournament so far. Lyn is in a great position, as he has taken down both Grubby and SocceR before. On about one hour, we'll witness the grand final (should Grubby and SocceR have finished pounding each other in the loser bracket final).

Saturday 03:37. Wow. I was actually thinking of watching ret against sAviOr in the LB (was looking forward to ret's cool TvZ), but ended up watching the first game between EffOrt and NaDa instead. Such an awesome game. Took place on Destination, and was over 45 minutes long. Another must-see.

What was not a must-see was the on-stage game between ZerO and sAviOr. ZerO totally dominated the games, and sAviOr had nothing against the newly praised Zerg.

Lyn tore apart Grubby on the main stage a couple of hours ago. He's now playing Soccer for the spot in the grand finals. Would be cool if Moon Jr. could succeed here.

Saturday 02:02. Some more pictures uploaded to you guys before I go down and watch Tasteless and Artosis rock it again. Oh, also, ret defeated IdrA in loser bracket - which puts the Dutchman back on first place of the GosuGamers rankings.

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A living Protoss Zealot.


The RTS stage.


The crowd.


NaDa (far) playing ret.


Tasteless, Artosis and djwheat putting up a great show.

Saturday 00:20. This just in from the GosuGamers twitter:

Just confirmed that there will be NO beta this summer. This was from Dustin Browder.

Saturday 00:12. So... the first rounds in each tournament are over. The WarCraft 3 tournament proceeded as expected, perhaps LucifroN was predicted to take out Soccer, but it's a toss-up between the two.

Orc mirror between Lyn and Grubby is coming up really soon, I think it will be streamed on the RTS video stream. Shy already defeated Soccer in round two.

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ret took a game from NaDa, after being down 0-1. On Colosseum, his zerglings and ultralisks could take out NaDa after a looong game. Third game turned out to be a short one though, as NaDa's marine/medic force could push ret's sunken line.

And in a really awesome best of three series, we saw ZerO defeat skyHigh coming back after a 0-1 position. The first game held some really great moves, with queens playing a big role. Once the replays get out, that one is a must-see.

IdrA lost to his team mate EffOrt. This means we'll now have IdrA taking on ret in the loser bracket, while Beckham is up against SkyHigh.

Friday 22:21. I did a little walk-through of the BlizzCon area (the most interesting parts, at least). Pardon the crappy quality.

Friday 21:27. Mike Morhaime is interviewed on the BlizzCon channel, and he said he was confident the StarCraft 2 beta will come this year. He also chuckled before answering. Does that mean we will see the beta being released here at BlizzCon? In a way I wish it will not, just so I can get home in time to start playing.

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They've set up game stations in the press area, with World of WarCraft and StarCraft 2 single player mode. Going to get some piece of that later.

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So... I started a list of things to do, and it's going pretty well so far.

pwn a Terran newbie in StarCraft 2 with the mighty Protoss - CHECK
Meet Dan "Artosis" Stemkoski - CHECK
Meet Sean "Day" Plott - CHECK
Meet Nick "Tasteless" Plott
Play Diablo III
Play the StarCraft 2 Single Player campaign

Friday 20:12. Nice! Kim (bunny) is back, who will be commentating the WarCraft 3 tournament. I've always liked her, from back in the day when she did dual shoutcast with KidArctica. Gonna be nice. I also ran into the CJ Entus dudes in the restroom. :O

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Pictures en masse!


Kerrigan in the spotlight.


The StarCraft 2 hands-on area.


Razer having some WoW playing hangout.


Russian WarCraft 3 player Nicker.


StarCraft players; ret, EffOrt and IdrA.


WarCraft 3 poster boy Grubby.


IdrA again, focused.


The "pro-gamer area".


This will be packed with nerds later.


The gaming booths on stage.


Frostmourne!


Lyn, reigning BlizzCon WC3 champ.


Lyn again.


WarCraft 3 player area.


ret from behind.


Cool n00bz figures.

Friday 19:09. Yesterday's Blizzard HQ summit was not something I hadn't seen before. Except for for the statue they finally raised up there. I think it's Grom Hellscream from WarCraft 3, but I could be wrong. Maybe it's Thrall. But anyway, after snapping some photos of that and seeing all the Asian press guys doing funny poses with it (check pcgames.com.cn or something, I bet it's there) we were given a peak on Diablo 3, and I must say it has potential of becoming the third hack'n'slash game I've ever played (guess the other two).

We then had a tour of the offices. A lot of talent in that house, damn. GosuGamers, TeamLiquid, MMO-Champion, SCLegacy and all those. And then there's also the Blizzard guys, of course, haha.

We then had a live shoutcast of a StarCraft 2 replay. I would give you a total rundown of the game if I was allowed to, but I am not. Let's just say it was awesome.

We also sat down and had lunch with the lead artist of StarCraft 2, as well as David Kim. David Kim, who is quite known in the community for being in every so far released battle report, can proudly and honestly title himself the best StarCraft 2 player at this time.

We then had a look on Blizzard's Twitter stuff (Twit Diablo, WarCraft and StarCraft and you'll fin it). I think they're doing a great thing keeping in touch with their fans and are very open for suggestions. And Twitter makes the process of feedback so much faster.

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Heading to the venue now. What is it, like a one-minute walk? I hope the lines aren't that massive as mOnion and DJTyrant say.

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Random fact of the day: Zerg now have Mind Control, and not Protoss!

Friday 11:11. Aight, so the pictures of the event are up! I'm the sexy redhead btw, if you didn't already know :)

I'm sure many of you are curious as to what exactly is in the baddie bag...er...goodie bags. SO, first off, as I mentioned before, there is no Beta Key within. Here's what's inside:

-Raynor nOObz Vinyl Action Figure (totally awesome)
-Blizzard Authenticator thingy
-A bunch of ads for stuff
-A WoW Mini Magazine
-Official Blizzard Hand Sanitizer (rumored to be the sweat off Dustin Browder's glistening head)
-Map of the Show Floor
-And a Key for EPIC LOOT

The key for epic loot is an actual key, to be used at a Steelseries Booth. This probably means some awesome Steelseries Gear, but I'm still clinging to hope, and praying that for some reason, they're giving the Beta Keys away at the Booths...probably not..oh well.

STILL, I'm easily impressed, and the Goodie Bag which disappointed many of the other nerds has filled my soul with glee.

Friday 10:39. Ah, okay so the pictures are FAILUUUU. Gimme like 10 minutes to resize and re-upload them and we'll be good to go! It's 2:00 in the miz-orning over here in beautiful California, I'm tired but having the time of my life.

By the way, I tweeted this before, but there is a surprisingly balanced ratio of girls to boys here. :P

Friday 10:27. COOL, so here are some of the pictures from today's trip and such. I said I'd have em right up, but they were bigger than I expected so I'm having to make them just a wee bit smaller, so bear with me if they're too big at first.

Ohhhh look: AMAZING PHOTOS!

Thursday 11:36 Hello everyone, checking in from Anaheim. Tomorrow is the big day! And as everyone looks forward to the opening ceremonies tomorrow, I have a good feeling that we will be getting some solid information about the upcoming StarCraft 2, I will be using GosuGamers Twitter account to provide quick updates from the show floor, and especially the opening ceremonies.

The big events lined up for tomorrow are of course the tournaments and a few select StarCraft panels. There is a panel tomorrow which is lined up to discuss Battle.net and StarCraft 2. I am really hoping that this is our first look at the upgraded service and to see if this is truly what they want it to be. Expect us to cover that along with the tournament, and I'm sure all three of us will get our hands on the newest build of StarCraft 2 and let you know what we think of the game.

Thanks for choosing us as your destination for BlizzCon 2009! We look forward to sharing it with you!

Thursday 08:21 WELL HERRROOOOO GOSUGAMERS! This is your local American reporter, mOnion, coming at ya with all the best Blizzcon info. While I haven't been liveblogging all day like Mr. Raistlin down below, I have been taking pictures like mad.

I will be covering all the best stories, going to panel discussions and providing you with updates for SC2. Also I'll post tournament results, as well as amazing interviews with players. Update #1: no beta key in the goodie bag, which equals a sad, sad mOnion.

So enjoy the pictures below that I've provided. I will do my best to get a computer into Blizzcon, but if that does not happen for some reason, I will also be posting VERY frequent Twitter updates (as in up-to-the-minute fast) which you can check out by following this link.

ENJOY! GG RE!

Friday 01:55. A good day at the Blizzard Entertainment Headquarters. Sadly, we signed an NDA and were not allowed to take any photos. However, I'll be doing a wrap-up post of my impressions and thoughts on how the day was.

Meanwhile, you should take a look at the first batch of photos; from the outskirts of the Blizzard HQ, the Anaheim Convention Center plus the Marriott Hotel.

Thursday 18:15. After a quick breakfast (god I love those melons), we're just about to head over to the Blizzard HQ. Not sure whether there is internet connection or not available there. So if you don't hear from me in a while I guess I'll be doing what all of you guys want to do - play StarCraft 2 (if we can get a hands-on sitdown, which I hope). I saw a lot of guys in their I <3 SC t-shirts. How cute.

Thursday 12:38. Even the cool kids need sleep. Tomorrow at 9:30 AM I'm headed to the Blizzard headquarters for the fansite summit. We won't be allowed to record or snap any photos that much, but I'll hope to give you some juicy texts tomorrow. Anything special you think I should ask the devs?

Thursday 11:21 In order to get you guys more pumped for StarCraft 2, here's a high definition cinematic trailer starring two old rivals.

Thursday 08:59 Inside the goody bag this year, the StarCraft 2 "Raynor" figure awaits to be played with. He is a 6.25 inches tall marine with a spectacular suit. There are other "n00bz" figures to be viewed at BlizzCon. You can also pick up your own blank n00bz figure at the BlizzCon store. Maybe I'll paint one, and have it look like Genie.

The goody bag also includes the WoW in-game pet Grunty and a Blizzard Authenticator. And probably some collector edition stuff. I'll give you a lookthrough when BlizzCon opens.

Thursday 08:44. The first rounds for the two coolest tournaments at BlizzCon are:

WarCraft 3:

Lyn vs Nicker
Grubby vs SonKiE
LongWalk vs Shy
LucifroN vs. Soccer

and for SC:

Savior vs Beckham
Skyhigh vs Mensol
Nada vs ret
Effort vs IdrA

The champs from last year have both a seemingly good chance of takinga back-to-back title. Savior is lucky that neither Iris nor FlaSh will attend, and should together with EffOrt be the top favorite for the StarCraft tournament. It's a tough road for our foreigners ret and IdrA. ret has shown bad results lately against Terrans, and going up against the WeMade Fox star Nada is no easy task. Should both players miraculously advance to the next round, we will witness an ESL Major Series rematch between the two currently best ranked foreigners.

The WarCraft tournament is a more open story. I'm holding Lyn and Grubby as main gunners for the title due to their huge experience in tournaments like these, as well as their recent form. Holding LucifroN as possible candidate, and Soccer as a dark horse.

Thursday 07:58. After traveling for over 13 hours in air, I'm sitting in my hotel room. I had an okay (but long) taxi ride from LAX to Anaheim with an old man called Travis who consistently wanted to talk about Holland even though I said twice I was from Sweden. Now I'm opening the BlizzCon coverage for this year, where you'll be following us in this blog where we of course will give you snapshots from the events, the latest results and all the StarCraft 2 stuff you can take! Gogo gl hf!