Two Days of BlizzCon Highlights

Blizzard’s official website has been updated with highlights from the first two days of their BlizzCon event. A snip from Day One:

Blizzard president Mike Morhaime kicked off the show with a welcoming speech about Blizzard’s history and growth as a game studio over the years. He also touched on a few of the features in StarCraft: Ghost that attendees would be able to see for the first time at BlizzCon-namely the addition of Zerg as a playable multiplayer race and the fact that multiplayer games can now feature up to 16 players. The welcoming speech was followed by lead producer Shane Dabiri’s official announcement of the World of Warcraft expansion. As part of Shane’s announcement, BlizzCon attendees watched a trailer showcasing the new playable Blood Elf race that will make its appearance in World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade.

And a snip from Day Two:

In the Art Design panel, members of World of Warcraft’s creative development team and StarCraft: Ghost artists presented concept and 3D art to the panel attendees, taking time to explain how the pieces were created and fine-tuned to fit the themes of the Warcraft and StarCraft universes. The World of Warcraft Character Class panel was especially packed, as many of the visitors to BlizzCon have been extremely passionate about the issues related to the classes they play in the game. Blizzard developers Tom Chilton and Rob Pardo explained how each class came to be, describing the natural progression from Warcraft III to World of Warcraft. In their forty-five minute presentation, the two also expounded on the intended purpose of each class and the future of the classes as planned for future patches and for the Burning Crusade expansion set.