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Story by Patrick Garratt

Mon, Jun 30, 2008 | 07:56 BST

Live blogging the Blizzard Worldwide Invitational in Paris!

We’re coming to you live from the Blizzard Entertainment Worldwide Invitational at the Porte de Versailles Exposition Centre in Paris. We’re expecting sparks today, with a Diablo III announcement heavily tipped. Provided our connection holds up, we’ll be updating live after the break with words and images from now until the end of the event’s opening conference at 1pm CET.

The newest posts are at the top.

• And that’s that. Thanks for reading!
• They’re still going.
• Still fire dancing.
• Fire dancing on stage.
• They’re wrapping up now. A guy called Russell’s coming out. We’re shaking like fuck.
• 
• 
• It’s over. Amazing. The two guys are back on stage. We’ll do more photos now.
• 
• Massive boss battle with huge lizard thing
• .
• Wall of zombies. Now dead zombies. Cheering.
• The witch doctor has pets. Showing horrify skill.
• 
• “Diablo III is first and foremost a co-operative game”.
• Going out into the wilderness with the witch doctor.
• Huge djinn thing. Massive maces.
• Showing skeletons with ranged attack. The barbarian’s stunning the skeletons with a ground attack.
• Spin attacks. More quests and stories than in previous games.
• Barbarian jumping over bridge. “So many zombies in the world.” He’s thrown loads of them into a wall.
• All gear is custom designed for each class’s unique look.
• Showing combat in dungeon. Looks amazing.
• They’re demoing the game. Showing character with new axes. Running across bridge, fighting snakes.
• Lead designer’s come out on stage.
• Diablo III
• Burning candle.
• Playing movie.
• Playing Diablo music.
• They’re talking about show tournaments. Come on…
• They’re showing a movie of last year’s Invitational. They’re about to announce the new game.
• On Acti Bliz: “If I do my job right, you shouldn’t notice any difference… Our focus will remain the same. To continue making great games.”
• WoW at 10 million “and counting”.
• He said that four years ago people said WoW wasn’t possible and thanks everyone for proving them wrong.
• He’s talking about online communities. “You are part of one of the fastest online gaming communities on the planet.”
• He’s thanking everyone. First year outside Korea.
• Mike CEO man on stage. Roof lifts off.
• Apparently some video’s fucked up of pro play action. Booing. Now cheering.
• And they’re gone. No more pro players.
• They’re off. The Asian WoW players are on. Much cheering. Blizzard fans for the absolute win.
• More WoW players, this time from Europe. The last lot were from the US. The crowd goes wild.
• All the WoW players on stage now. If the crowd doesn’t stop clapping soon hands are going to fall off.
• 
• Players from all over the world. Each getting a massive round of applause.
• They’re bringing the WarCraft III pro players out now.
• They’re going off now. The crowd’s stopped cheering for the first time in about two minutes.
• Korean guys, Ukrainian chap, German chap. They’re all taking a bow.
• StarCraft pro gamers on stage. Big, big reception for them.
• 
• Mike boss man announced. Frank Pierce announced. More devs being cheered.
• He just declared the Invitational open.This crowd’s mental.
• Enjoy it all, he says. Have fun! Mad cheering.
• Two million WoW players in Europe, he says.
• He’s welcoming everyone to the Invitational, and thanking people for making the show possible in Europe.
• Blizzard MD coming out. Fred something. Mental shouting.
• The lady’s microphone’s borked. But she’s rescued it. True pro. They’re talking about stuff that’s going to be playable at the show over the weekend.
• Two guys on stage. Crowd’s going mental.
• Lich King art. Drums, Cheering. Screaming!
• Diablo art, StarCraft art…
• Movie of WoW stuff. Epic music.
• Starting.
• The developers just came in to a big cheer. They’re sitting in the front row. They’re pumped too.
• It’s about the start.
• We’ve got 15 minutes to go, says the lady.
• We’re fucking pumped. The announcer’s just said there’s 30 minutes to go. We’re sitting in the front row for journos, behind the Blizzard staff. There are thousands of people here. Properly insane.

33 Posted in: Action, Activision Blizzard, MMO, PC, Strategy
Tags: Blizzard Entertainment Worldwide Invitational, paris, Porte de Versailles Exposition Centre