Blizzard’s Battle.Net balance is live
The Battle.net balance will let players convert cash into Blizzard bucks, which can be used to buy Blizzardy bits like World of Warcraft game time, realm transfers and name changes, or even digital downloads of StarCraft 2 and Diablo 2. A post on the Battle.Net site says that the Battle.Net Balance is now up and running for everyone with a Battle.Net account.
It’s also a very important piece of infrastructure that’ll prop up Diablo 3′s in-game auction house. The system will let you put the profits you’ve made selling off useless loot towards other Blizzard game services. We can expect to see Battle.Net balance syncing up with the Blizzard Arcade in future. That could let players charge for mods they’ve made using StarCraft 2′s editing tools. That’s set to arrive alongside StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm.
StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm voice recording underway
The voice actor who plays Kerrigan, Tricia Helfer, has been teasing StarCraft 2 fans on Twitter confiring that voice recording is underway for StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm.
“Voicing some #Starcraft today. Kerrigan/Queen is so fun. Bet some of you wish I’d take a pic of the script : )” she tweeted, before posting a picture of the script, facing away from the camera. Darn.
Heart of the Swarm was playable at last year’s Blizzcon, and a finished script suggests that it’s pretty far into development. It’s set to be released alongside the Blizzard Arcade and some updated StarCraft 2 mod tools. Find out more about the new units and characters that will be added by the expansion in our Blizzcon 2011 coverage.
Meanwhile, here’s that picture of the Kerrigan recording sessions, straight from the StarCraft 2 studios. Thanks to Scott for the heads up.
Have your say: What do you think of World of Warcraft’s new expansion?
At Blizzcon this year we caught a glimpse of the future of World of Warcraft, and it’s full of kung-fu Panda monks. This time round there won’t be a world-ending monster threatening to destroy Azeroth, only Pandas, and their lovely homelands of Pandaria. And a new Monk class. And new PVE scenarios. And a new poke-tastic pet battle system. Oh, and the talent system is being scrapped and rebuilt from the ground up.
One way or another, Mists of Pandaria is going to be quite something, but what do you think of it? Did the very mention of a race of pandas send you running for the ‘cancel subscription’ button, or do you dig the cuddly new race? If you’re a lapsed subscriber, will Pandaria tempt you back into Azeroth? And what about all the other announcements at Blizzcon this year? Are you tempted by the WoW Annual Pass, and what do you think of Blizzard DOTA? And what about those new StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm units? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Watch the sensational Blizzcon 2011 StarCraft 2 Grand Final
It wasn’t only the GSL finals that took place at Blizzcon 2011 this weekend. Blizzard threw a separate tournament with a $50,000 prize pot to take advantage of the wealth of top StarCraft 2 talent in California. It was a dramatic and close fought contest that resulted in one of the most spectacular StarCraft 2 finals ever. VG247 have spotted a video of that final game online. You’ll find it embedded below. If you don’t want to know who the finalists are, then read no further. If you want to see an incredible StarCraft 2 game played in front of thousands of rapt fans then you’re in for a treat.
StarCraft 2 mod tool updates to let players create custom models, UI and cutscenes
StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm won’t just mean a massive shake-up for the StarCraft 2 esports scene, we’ll be getting the Blizzard Arcade as well, a hub designed to show off the very best creations from the StarCraft 2 modding community. Blizzard plan to give modders more power with a suite of updates to the mod tools supplied with StarCraft 2.
Blizzard will release the full suite of art tools which will let designers export custom 3D models from popular 3D modelling software, 3DS Max. This will give modders the scope to create new buildings, units and tilesets, opening the doors to total conversions, and giving modders far more scope to create entirely new games within the StarCraft 2 engine.
StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm trailer begins Kerrigan’s quest for revenge
Kerrigan’s lost the extra appendages and, apart from some weird hair, looks relatively human now. According to the Heart of the Swarm lore panel at Blizzcon 2011, she doesn’t remember her time as leader of the Zerg swarm well, but has a good idea of the destruction that the swarm caused during her reign. Her thirst for consuming worlds has been replaced by a less megolamanic lust for revenge. She’ll be at the centre of the StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm single player campaign. See her in action on the Blizzcon StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm preview trailer above.
Blizzard Arcade to arrive with StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm
The Blizzard Arcade will arrive alongside the release of the StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm, Blizzard have just announced at a Blizzcon panel. The Arcade will act as a hub for user-made mods and games created using StarCraft 2′s extensive mod tools. The Arcade will be available to everyone who owns StarCraft 2, not just Heart of the Swarm players.
Games available in the Blizzard Arcade will be free to begin with, but Blizzard plan to let mod makers charge for their games in future. The Arcade will be available from the front page, and take players to a central screen showing the most popular mods of the moment. A five star rating system and user reviews will help the best games rise to the top, and “what’s hot” sections will give players quick access to the most popular games on the service. The mods will use StarCraft 2′s matchmaking system to put players together.
The editor will also be improved, with debugging improvements, a cutscene editor, and custom UI editing tools.
Blizzcon 2011: day one round-up
Pandas Oh My God! World of Warcraft’s fourth expansion has been announced. It will let us play as Panda warrior monks on the back of a giant sea turtle. It will open up the new real of Pandaria to the Alliance and the Horde. It will introduce a pet battling system in which you must catch wild monsters, level them up and make them fight for your own amusement. It’s just one announcement of many in a brilliantly, stupidly hectic first day at Blizzcon 2011.
It’s not all been about World of Warcraft, either. New units have been revealed for StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm, new trailers have appeared for Blizzard DOTA and Diablo 3, and we’ve learned something new about each one of Blizzard’s upcoming titles. Below you’ll find our guide to day one of Blizzcon. Get all the latest at a glance.
StarCraft 2 tournaments will move over to Heart of the Swarm “when the community decides”.
Just when you think you’ve finally got your head around defending a 1/1/1 push and locked down your warp prism/immortal micro, Blizzard are adding a set of new units to StarCraft II’s multiplayer armies. But what happens to SC2 tournaments like MLG and the GSL who’ve built their empires around Wings of Liberty’s multiplayer? Will they be forced to move over to Heart of the Swarm half way through their season?
StarCraft 2: new Zerg, Terran and Protoss units spotted at Blizzcon
The show hasn’t even started yet, but someone on Reddit has been busy taking snaps of the cardboard cut-outs at Blizzcon 2011. They reveal two new units for StarCraft 2. The first is a new flyer, The Viper. It’s described as a “flying unit with support abilities. It can grant detection to units, create a cloud to hinder ranged attacks and abilities, and quickly pull units to safety (friendly) or their doom (enemy).”
The second Zerg unit is called the Swarm Host. “This Zerg host can gradually spawn endless waves of attackers while burrowed to overwhelm your enemy.” Eek.
Another two images show three new Protoss units, including the Protoss Replicator, which can copy enemy units and their abilities. The Tempest is a devastating new capital ship and the Oracle can see what enemy buildings are constructing, and distrupt the enemy mineral line.
Three new Terran units are also shown. The Warhound is “a versatile factory unit.” The Battle Hellion is, as many guessed, a Hellion that can transform into a more durable walking bot. Finally, there’s the Shredder that can “deploy a whirlwind of death around it.” See the images and descriptions of all these units below. Exciting news for StarCraft fans, but which of the new units is more OP?
StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm Zerg unit teased
As promised, Blizzard have released another silhouette for a new StarCraft 2 unit to be added with Heart of the Swarm. The last one was some sort of OP Terran shape. This time it’s a Zerg unit, but WHAT IS IT?
Facebook commenters are torn. “infested stalker,” says one. “It’s obviously a flyer,” says another. “Its kind a like extra-armored evolved roach. Whatever that is,” says another. We turned to resident StarCraft 2 nerd, Rich for DEFINITIVE ANSWERS.
“A weird Ultralisk or a Lurker,” he said. See the full image below and decide for yourself.
Blizzard three year schedule reveals plans for two World of Warcraft expansions
Gamespot bring us some news from the Citi Technology conference, where Activision Blizzard COO Thomas Tippl has said that Blizzard will be producing six “proven property” games/expansions over the next three years.
The announcement reveals plans for two more World of Warcraft expansions over the three years. Could one of these be the Mists of Pandaren expansion we’ve previously heard rumours of? In addition, the first expansion to Diablo 3 will be expected by the end of 2014. The two planned Starcaft 2 expansions, Heart of the Swarm and Legacy of the Void, are expected in the same period.
By choosing to refer only to ‘proven properties’ Blizzard have left the door open for a new ‘unproven property’ to be released in that same period, such as the long rumoured Project Titan.
Blizzard DOTA “flattened,” rebuilt to be “more user friendly”
Blizzard senior game designer Jonny Ebbert has been talking to Eurogamer about the current state of Blizzard’s version of DOTA. It’s being developed as a StarCraft 2 mod, but has been changed drastically since its showing at last year’s Blizzcon. “We’ve completely flattened it since then,” said Ebbert, “and completely rebooted it because we just thought, there’s more we can question on this.”
Diablo 3 and StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm playable at Gamescom 2011
A post on Battle.net Poland, spotted by CVG, has outlined Blizzard’s line-up for their Gamescom showing in Cologne next month. StarCraft 2′s first expansion, Heart of the Swarm, will be available for attendees to play on the show floor for the first time in Europe, and fans will get their hands on Diablo 3 as well.
StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm trailer has first in-game footage
Blizzard have released a follow up to yesterday’s Heart of the Swarm teaser trailer, showing the first few clips of actual in-game footage. We get to see some of the upgrade screens for the Zerg units, and more Banelings than I’ve ever seen in one place. Get the latest on the first StarCraft 2 expansion in our Heart of the Swarm preview.
