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Archive for the 'Blizzard' Category

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BlizzCon 2010 set for Anaheim this fall

March 25th, 2010, 11:14 am by

Another blog interruptus: The all-things-Blizzard-Entertainment game fest BlizzCon returns this fall to the Anaheim Convention Center.

BlizzCon, which will be the Irvine game company’s fifth fan convention, is set for Friday and Saturday, Oct. 22 and 23, 2010.

The convention usually sells out within minutes because it’s one of the rare chances for fans of the company’s games — World of Warcraft, Diablo and StarCraft — to get sneak peeks at coming games, meet the developers and snag some rare merchandise. Worldwide, some 11 million gamers play just World of Warcraft. The Blizzard franchise has been around since the early 1990s so it has a large and loyal fan base.

More details will be posted at blizzcon.com.

Here are stories from last year’s BlizzCon:

Posted in: Blizzard • BlizzCon • • • • | 4 Comments »

Ex-World of Warcraft crew at Red 5 Studios gets $20 million

March 22nd, 2010, 2:54 pm by

Blog interruptus (at least for regular TV readers): Irvine game developer Red 5 Studios, which has been struggling to put out a game at the same level of the founders’ former employer Blizzard Entertainment, has received $20 million from a new investor, The9 Limited in China.

According to a company statement, The9′s $20 million gives the Chinese company a majority interest in the local game studio.

UPDATE: Mark Kern, Red 5′s CEO who previously was lead developer for World of Warcraft, responded to a request for comment about the new investor:

“I’d like to say that this investment has been a great validation of the work we’ve been doing here. It’s also an interesting comment on the rise of Asian game development and increasing desire to expand into western markets. We’ve spoken to many publishers in the region, and all seem more eager and more able to tackle online gaming in the West than most US companies.” (added March 23, 2010)

It’s an interesting mix, considering Red 5′s founders hail from the almighty Blizzard Entertainment, the Irvine company behind the massively popular World of Warcraft. Last year, Blizzard cut ties with The9, which had been handling Blizzard’s China operation. Gamers in China lost access to WoW until Blizzard hired NetEase to handle the game’s operation there.

Red 5 launched in Aliso Viejo in late 2006 with a $18.5 million investment from Benchmark Capital and Sierra Adventures. The company was founded by Mark Kern, who led the development of World of Warcraft; Bill Petras, art director for the game; and Taewon Yun, who co-founded Blizzard’s Korea office and was responsible for launching the game in Asia. But beyond the founders’ heritage, Red 5 appeared to have no game plan or deadline. Their goal was to build another massively multiplayer venture.

The company has been pretty quiet ever since. But earlier this year, reports from the game industry said Red 5 was down to a skeleton crew after substantial layoffs. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in: Blizzard • • • • • • • • | 8 Comments »

WoW players raise $1.1 million for Make-A-Wish

February 17th, 2010, 12:02 am by

When Blizzard Entertainment asked gamers inside the World of Warcraft to help the Make-A-Wish Foundation, players responded.

By the thousands.

On Tuesday, Blizzard president Mike Morhaime handed a $1.11 million check to the charity that grants wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions.

“We’re very happy with the amount,” said Mike Morhaime, president of the Irvine game developer.

Was he surprised?

“We stopped making predictions about WoW a long time ago.”

The proceeds came from the sale of a Pandaren Monk, a virtual pet for the game. The creature sold for $10 between Nov. 4 and Dec. 31. Half the price was donated to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. That means 222,000 players bought the pet.

“I was shocked. That’s a lot of virtual pets,” said Frank Pearce, the game’s executive director.

Morhaime believes players wanted to help out the charity and not just score another virtual pet.

“If you read a lot of the comments in the forums, they indicated that people were really excited about Make-a-Wish and having the proceeds benefit the foundation,” Morhaime said.

In fact, Blizzard released two other virtual pets at the same time that weren’t as big sellers.

“People were definitely drawn to the Pandaren,” Pearce said.

The company has granted eight or nine wishes, including that of Ezra Chatterton, whose tale I documented starting with his May 2007 visit to Blizzard’s headquarters. Chatterton had brain cancer and played WoW with his father as an escape. His story inspired hundreds of readers and WoW players to write in and wish him the best. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in: Blizzard • Blizzard/Warcraft/Star Craft • • • • • • • | 11 Comments »

Today’s ‘World of Warcraft’ isn’t the game it was in 2004

November 23rd, 2009, 7:47 am by

Joe Simmons, Orange County RegisterJoe Simmons, a World of Warcraft player and editor here at The Orange County Register, reflects on the massively multi-player game from Irvine’s Blizzard Entertainment from a player’s perspective. Simmons previously wrote on the Register’s Blizzard Blog.

“World of Warcraft” turns 5 today. On Nov. 23, 2004, game-maker Blizzard’s servers were turned on and players began romping through the lands of Azeroth. In those five years, we’ve seen the scope of the game expand to include another continent, another world and a host of fan-favorite characters.

World of Warcraft turns 5 on Nov. 23, 2009.
Exclusive: Birthday stories, see photos: ocregister.com/blizzard

But in one sense, the age of “World of Warcraft” is entirely meaningless. Its designers have truly embraced the Internet age’s mantra of constant change; the Warcraft we play today isn’t the same one introduced in 2004.

We could just as easily be talking about the first birthday of the “Wrath of the Lich King” expansion, released about this time last year. There’s more innovation, updates and streamlining in this game’s add-on content than many other franchises see between sequels.

When the game was first released, reviews breathlessly trumpeted the seamless transition from area to area (previous massively multiplayer games, such as “EverQuest,” had lengthy loading screens); the clean, intuitive user interface; the simple, flexible power of the game’s character customization options. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in: Blizzard • Blizzard/Warcraft/Star Craft • WoW • • | 6 Comments »

WoW memories from a designer and a co-founder

November 22nd, 2009, 9:25 am by
View WoW slide shows
Blizzard Entertainment celebrate WoW's 5th anniversary a few days early on Nov. 19, 2009. Exclusive: Employees celebrate 5 years of WoW

World of Warcraft through the years: A slide show archive

WoW through the years

This is part of a series of stories about the World of Warcraft, a massively multiplayer game built by Irvine’s Blizzard Entertainment. The game celebrates its five-year anniversary on Nov. 23, 2009. Catch the earlier stories at ocregister.com/blizzard.

The Designer

As Blizzard’s executive vice president of game design, Rob Pardo oversees 800 or so developers with cofounder Frank Pearce. He sees everything coming and going. But what touches him most is watching how people interact with the game.

Like his 10-year-old daughter. She started playing at age 4 when the beta test period began.

“When she started, she didn’t want to be in zones where you get attacked by monsters. She really liked to attack critters, like rabbits. What she really liked was jumping off the building. It baffled me why she liked doing that over and over and over,” he said.

“As she got older, she still didn’t like player-to-player combat. Then one day, I noticed that she was waking up on her own and playing on the battleground. She’s now 10,” he said. Read the rest of this entry »

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Blizzard’s lead producer remembers the eve of WoW

November 22nd, 2009, 8:23 am by

This is part of a series of stories about the World of Warcraft, a massively multiplayer game built by Irvine’s Blizzard Entertainment. The game celebrates its five-year anniversary on Nov. 23, 2009. Catch the earlier stories at ocregister.com/blizzard.
Shane Dabiri, Blizzard's lead producer for World of Warcraft.

The Producer

Shane Dabiri, lead producer who joined Blizzard 15 years ago next month, remembers the eve before WoW went on sale.

Members of the development team were going to Fry’s Electronics in Fountain Valley to sign copies at midnight. Even with the success of past Blizzard games, Dabiri had his doubts.

“We were so worried that no one was going to be there and it was just going to be us 16 developers,” he said

As it turned out, fans began lining up just after noon. By midnight, the line looped around the building and parking lot twice before spilling out into the street. Read the rest of this entry »

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Samwise reflects on WoW, the Panda race, more

November 22nd, 2009, 7:26 am by
View WoW slide shows
Blizzard Entertainment celebrate WoW's 5th anniversary a few days early on Nov. 19, 2009. Exclusive: Employees celebrate 5 years of WoW

World of Warcraft through the years: A slide show archive

WoW through the years

This is part of a series of stories about the World of Warcraft, a massively multiplayer game built by Irvine’s Blizzard Entertainment. The game celebrates its five-year anniversary on Nov. 23, 2009. Catch the earlier stories at ocregister.com/blizzard.

Even if you’ve never played the game, you’ve probably heard about WoW or the original Warcraft series, which itself celebrates 15 years this year.

There are hundreds of fan sites that track every little Blizzard burp. There are professional game competitions for Warcraft. There are college courses and art shows inspired by WoW. A Hollywood movie is in the works.

But it’s the people who built the game that we don’t hear about much.

Like Sam “Samwise” Didier, one of the more recognized names.

The Artist

Didier saw an ad in The Orange County Register and joined the startup six months after it launched in 1991. His previous job? An usher at a local movie theater. Read the rest of this entry »

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Memories of Warcraft from the people who built it

November 22nd, 2009, 5:49 am by

This is part of a series of stories about the World of Warcraft, a massively multiplayer game built by Irvine’s Blizzard Entertainment. The game celebrates its five-year anniversary on Nov. 23, 2009. See ocregister.com/blizzard for the complete series.

View slide shows

Blizzard Entertainment celebrate WoW's 5th anniversary a few days early on Nov. 19, 2009.

Exclusive: Employees celebrate 5 years of WoW

World of Warcraft through the years: A slide show archive

WoW through the years

If you were on the second floor of the Anaheim Convention Center staring down at thousands of fans of a computer game you worked on, what would you do?

“I yelled, ‘For the Horde!’” recalls Sam “Samwise” Didier, senior art director with Irvine’s Blizzard Entertainment, makers of the World of Warcraft. Yes, that game.

That game, nicknamed WoW, celebrates its fifth anniversary Monday.

In five years, this multiplayer online fantasy game has attracted millions of players around the world, added two major upgrades with a third in the works, and touched millions of lives — uniting couples, separating others and even distracting a kid named Ezra Chatterton, who played the game with his dad before brain cancer took his young life.

Accomplishment was what Didier felt on that October 2005 day, when Blizzard said thanks to fans with its first BlizzCon convention.

“They shouted back, ‘For the Horde!’ And if you know the game, the other faction is the Alliance; so in the background you heard people saying ‘For the Alliance,’” Didier said in a squeaky little voice. “And all you could hear was ‘Boos.’ And then ‘For the Horde,” and ‘For the Alliance,” and more boos. … That’s when I knew we had made it kind of big.”

On Thursday, the company held a beer and BBQ fest on its Irvine campus to commemorate the occasion. Plenty of WoW birthday cake to go around. The company employs more than 1,200 employees in the U.S. and 3,000 worldwide. In the year before WoW, Blizzard employed 220.

“One of our goals was to stay small. That’s one of the goals we failed at,” said Mike Morhaime, Blizzard’s president and co-founder. “All these games we made in the last 15 years wouldn’t be what they are without the people who created them.”

More to come so keep checking back today and this week. Stories in the series will be/are linked below.

>> Visit the Blizzard Blog for the complete list of stories and photos, at ocregister.com/blizzard.

Posted in: Blizzard • Blizzard/Warcraft/Star Craft • WoW • • • • • • • | Comments Off

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