Blizzard is one of the most influential game studios on the market with titles like World of Warcraft and StarCraft never failing to impress in terms of sales numbers and gameplay. For Blizzard diehards, one of the most important events of the year is BlizzCon where Blizzard showcases their latest developments alongside a whole slew of fun including costume contests and game competitions.

In fact, Blizzard has just come forth today to announce that BlizzCon 11 will take place from October 21st – 22nd and will be held at the Anaheim Convention Center in California. Below Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime comments:

“We look forward to holding another exciting BlizzCon this year, filled with some great entertainment and competition, as well as the latest news about Blizzard games… BlizzCon is built from the ground up with our community in mind — we’re pleased to be able to host an event where players can come together to have fun and celebrate their passion for gaming.”

There’s no word on when exactly ticket sales will begin but if you’re looking to get down on BlizzCon 11 you better keep an eye out for an announcement as tickets have been known to sell out quite fast.

Check out more information regarding BlizzCon 11 in the press release after the break.

via blizzard

Blizzard has been around for quite some time and just about every single one of their titles has seen critical acclaim. Not only do they have the immensely popular StarCraft and Diablo franchises but then they have World of Warcraft. Currently, World of Warcraft is the biggest MMORPG in the world with the most recent expansion, Cataclysm, only adding more wood to the fire.

However,its long been rumored that Blizzard is working on a next generation MMORPG commonly known as Titan but we’ve  received no official confirmation from the studio regarding this rumor. Luckily, Rank Pearce, World of Warcraft producer, came forth recently to give the following statement:

“The media is not supposed to know anything about [Titan]. It’s our next-gen MMO, and we’ve only started talking about it in a limited fashion because we wanna leverage the fact that we’re working on something like that for the purpose of recruiting, getting some of the best talent in the industry on that project.”

So, what exactly is this new projector going to be? Will they utilize the steam behind Warcraft and create World of Warcraft 2 or perhaps they will utilize another franchise like the above mentioned StarCraft or Diablo. Only time will tell.

via destructoid

Are you cheating in any of Blizzard’s games? If so, you better watch out as it has come to light that Blizzard is banning a whole slew of users. In fact, it was recently announced that Blizzard will be banning a whole 320,000 Warcraft III and Diablo II players.

If you’re a legimate player, you have nothing to worry about. All of these bannings will be dished out only to those who have been confirmed to be cheaters. Remember folks, cheaters never prosper.

via tvgb

Out of all of the video game movies that have been rumored to come out, one of the one that seems the most likely to actually make it to the big screen is the one based on World of Warcraft.

When the movie was first conceived it was listed as just Warcraft however, a recent update to the title’s IMDB listing let us know that it will officially be called Warcraft: The Rise of the Lich King. This leads us to believe that either they scrapped the original idea and went for a more Lich King approach or just had this story from the beginning.

Either or, you’re sure to be hearing more about this movie as its release date grows closer, whenever that may be.

via thatvideogameblog

The same guy behind the Spider-Man trilogy has been announced to be the director for the Warcraft movie. Sam Raimi is also responsible for such works as “The Evil Dead” and “Drag Me To Hell.”

Blizzard Entertainment and Legendary Pictures will be working together for the film. So, maybe it won’t be so bad if Blizzard has most of the creative control.

“Sam’s passion for ‘Warcraft’ is undeniable and we know that he will create an incredible film worthy of Blizzard’s phenomenal franchise,” said Legendary Pictures CEO Thomas Tull.

“From our first conversation with Sam, we could tell he was the perfect choice,”” added Paul Sams, chief operating officer of Blizzard Entertainment. “Sam knows how to simultaneously satisfy the enthusiasts and the mainstream audience that might be experiencing that content for the first time.”

There’s a lot of Warcraft lore out there, beginning from the debut of the scourge up to the return of the Lich King. And who can forget all of the novels that spawned along the way? Details are scarce right now, as the movie is still in production. Hopefully more information will pop up in this year’s Comic-Con.

Read (Toronto Sun)

Now don’t get your hopes up too high because unfortunately we weren’t able to secure any Blizzcon tickets to give away to you guys, the readers. Fortunately, there is a slew of websites that were more fortunate than us and were able to get their hands on some Bilzzcon tickets to give away.

Below is a compiled list of all known fan sites holding Blizzcon ticket giveways, courtesy of Starcraft Wire:

StarcraftWire.net – Giveaway 1 – Giveaway 2

BlizzPlanet

Diii.net – (coming soon)

Diablo-Source

StarCraft-Source

inStarCraft

StarCraft II Australia

StarCraft 2 Source

TankSpot

World of Raids

WoW Interface

So, you won’t be getting a Blizzcon ticket from us but at least you still have the opportunity to get your hands on one while Blizzard prepares to put some more up for sale.

You can read more about Blizzard’s annual convention, Blizzcon, here.

It was recently announced that CEO of Vivendi, Jean-Bernard Levy, will replace Rene Penisson as Chairman of Activision Blizzard.

According to Joystiq, Vivendi is the majority owner of Activision Blizzard, just to give you a whiff of the company’s scale.

Let’s see, Activision Blizzard has Warcraft, Starcraft, Guitar Hero, Diablo, and Call of Duty; all colossal franchises. Vivendi, hower, has Activision Blizzard and Universal Studios. Yeah, big companies.

The BlizzCon event saw Blizzard talking about the film adaptation of the WarCraft franchise. The company noted that the film isn’t likely to arrive next year, as was once announced, though a draft of the script has been done.

"I don’t know about the 2009 date, but it is still something we are very excited about," said Blizzard president Mike Morhaime.

Morhaime added that they have a non-final draft of the script, which he thinks “still needs a lot of work.”