Tag Archives: paris

Fanboy madness. Blizzard’s announced that the World of Warcraft pet scratchcard in the Worldwide Invitational goodie bag last weekend is none other than Diablo II’s Archangel Tyrael.

Brilliantly, we couldn’t queue up for our bag because we had to rush for a flight. Curse you, Blizzard.

In this video interview from the Blizzard Worldwide Invitational last weekend, company boss Rob Pardo confirms that the firm has one more unannounced game in development.

“There is still one unknown project,” he said. “We have another development team.”

The game is thought to be another MMO, and Blizzard has confirmed it’s not related to Diablo III or a WoW expansion. StarCraft? Likely.

Thanks, Shacknews.

Blizzard’s COO Paul Sams, speaking to GI at the company’s Worldwide Invitational in Paris last weekend, said that the reason Blizzard games don’t appear on consoles is because Blizzard games aren’t appropriate for consoles. The man has a point.

“It’s really an issue of the games that we’re making,” he said. “I think a lot of companies and a lot of management teams sit down and look at the Wii as being popular, or that the Xbox 360 is doing well, and try to figure out what their product plans will be for that platform.

“We don’t care. Our attitude is, what game will we make? This is the game we want to make, so what is the appropriate platform for that game? And if the answer is PC only, then we’ve proven that we’re comfortable with that.”

Lots more through the link.

It was, in a word, awesome. The Diablo III reveal in Paris on Saturday was the stuff of dreams. Dream product, dream venue, dream organization. We got there and reported from it with ease. Why? Because everything we ever wanted from a press conference was included. For all the publishers and developers in the audience, everything you’re doing wrong when showing your games to the press for the first time is listed after the break. Please take note.

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For the fans. We bumped into IGN’s Jessica Chobot on the stairs of the Diablo III reveal in Paris this weekend, and she very kindly agreed to have her picture taken, just for you. We’ve put the full res version – all 4368×2912 of it – after the break. Wallpaper has a new home.

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Yesterday’s Diablo III announcement caused nerdworld to explode into hysterics and inhaler usage, but those hoping for a console version can basically forget it.

Joystiq had a chat with the game’s lead designer, Jay Wilson, and the very first question asked was, “Do you have any plans for Diablo on consoles?” And the answer? “We don’t have any plans.”

Fin.

By Gareth Chadwick

Long video after the break of the Diablo III: World Lore and Environment Art panel at the Blizzard Worldwide Invitational today. There’s a lot of art talk there. It’s about Diablo III, so you have to watch it, right?

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The official Blizzard site is now updated to reveal a rather evil looking demon with the words, “and the heavens, shall tremble” above and below the image.

We’ve been live blogging all day and will continue to keep you updated throughout the event.

By Mike Bowden

The lead designer on Diablo III has just said that the game’s main focus will be on co-operative play.

“”Diablo III is first and foremost a co-operative game,” he said.

We’re coming to you live from the Blizzard Entertainment Worldwide Invitational at the Porte de Versailles Exposition Centre in Paris where Diablo III has just been announced, by the way.

By Mike Bowden

We’re coming to you live from the Blizzard Entertainment Worldwide Invitational at the Porte de Versailles Exposition Centre in Paris and at the moment they’re demo’ing Diablo III.

There are new character’s wielding axes fighting snakes. Then we see some dungeon fighting: everything looking amazing.

Skeletons have ranged attacked and we see them getting battered by Barbarians with ground attacks. The amount of enemy zombies in the game is amazing.

All your equipment is custom designed and will adapt to each class’ unique look and we are promised more quests than ever before.

Stay tuned for more Diablo III info.

By Mike Bowden

As expected Blizzard has just announced Diablo III at its Worldwide Invitational at the Porte de Versailles Expo Centre in Paris.

Thousands of ardent fans turned out this morning to see the game’s unveiling at the event, the first Invitational to be held in Europe.

The event’s ongoing, and we’ll be bringing you more details soon.

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.

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We’re sitting in the third row at the main presentation hall of the Porte de Versailles Exposition Centre, waiting for the show to start. At 11.45pm CET (45 mins) we’ll be bringing you all the action as it happens. There are a mother-trucking shitload of people both in hall 5 and downstairs getting ready to watch the presentation on the smaller screens.

Hit the link for images and keep watching. We’ll launch the live blog in about 25 minutes.

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Blizzard’s will offer streaming video of tomorrow’s Worldwide Invitational in Paris. You’ll be able to watch everything here.

Both the main stage and tournament stage will be filmed, and both hi-res and low-res options are offered.

As we said earlier, we’ll be there covering it as it happens, so for all the stories from the morning conference and the afternoon press conference, read them here. Also, remember there’s always a lag on video broadcast in this way: you may well see that game announcement here before you see the video.

We hope.

Tomorrow’s a big day. If what happens is what we think is going to happen, Blizzard will announce Diablo III tomorrow morning in Paris. There’s been a lot of talk today that the confirmed game reveal will be a StarCraft MMO, but the truth is that no one outside Blizzard knows, we’re assured. The confirmation won’t come until the announcement’s made.

So. We’re going to get up at 3am tomorrow morning, fly to France and, God willing, we’ll live blog the conference. That’s 11.45am CET, so it’s 10.45am UK time. By hook or by crook we’ll have all the news from the event, so keep a close eye on VG247 tomorrow morning. It could be the game you’ve been dreaming of for the past 10 years.

From here:

We’re pleased to announce that tickets for the 2008 Blizzard Entertainment Worldwide Invitational will be available next week on the Worldwide Invitational website.

This year’s Worldwide Invitational will be held here in Europe, at the Porte de Versailles Exposition Centre in Paris, France, on the 28th and 29th of June. Both days of the event will feature a variety of activities including hands-on play with the latest versions of World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King and StarCraft II! You’ll also have the chance to meet Blizzard executives and developers in discussion panels and signing sessions, participate in community tournaments, dance, costume and machinima contests, watch top eSports competitors from around the world play in exciting invitational tournaments and much more! Tickets are priced at 70 € / £55 for the two-day event and can be purchased by credit or debit card.

Please note that you must be 16 years or above to attend the Worldwide Invitational, unless accompanied by a consenting parent, guardian or responsible adult of 18 years or above.

Get buying. And don’t forget to dress up like an elvish wizard, or whatever it is people do at these things.

Vivendi just announced that the next Blizzard Entertainment Worldwide Invitational will take place at the Porte de Versailles Exposition Centre in Paris on June 28-29, the first event of its kind to be held in Europe, and will include access to a playable version of StarCraft II.

Tickets are limited and will cost £55 when they go on sale in the next “few weeks”. You can get more sales info at the event’s official site.

“We look forward to bringing the Blizzard Worldwide Invitational to Europe for the first time and sharing our latest news with players there,” said Blizzard chief Mike Morhaime. “In addition to the great tournament gaming that will be taking place at the event, we’re planning an entertaining show for all attendees.”

Attendees can expect the following:

• Discussion panels with Blizzard Entertainment developers
• Artist and developer signings
• Hands-on play with World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King and StarCraft II
• Merchandise and other products based on the Blizzard Entertainment game universes
• A silent auction
• Musical performances
• And more exciting activities to be announced

We don’t know what a “silent auction” is, but it sounds awesome. More on this soon.

CMP has confirmed that Paris GDC, moved from Lyon for its 2008 event, will take place on June 23-24.

“We were delighted with the success of the first French GDC held in 2007 and are confident that Paris GDC will bring together even more talented developers from around the world, now in a more central location and the home of the biggest development studios in the country,” said executive director Pierre Carde.

The event is a European extension of the San Francisco GDC, to be held this year on February 18-22.