Animesou.com

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Official Website

http://www.blizzard.com/blizzcon/

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Floor Plan

http://www.blizzard.com/blizzcon/maps/floorplan.xml

Hands-On Gaming Red = Diablo 3

Hands-On Gaming Blue = World of Warcraft: Wrath of Lich King

Hands-On Gaming Blue-Green (right most side) = Starcraft 2

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Overall it felt like a continuation from last year’s BlizzCon. Strangest cosplay I saw was Indiana Jones. There was someone wearing a shirt which read: ‘Guns don’t kill people. Magic Missiles do.’

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I noticed that people at the Gamefaqs forums were taking whatever brief bits of information from http://kotaku.com/ quite literally leading to misunderstandings. Hopefully the information I’ve gathered will clarify some points.

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Left at 7:30 in the morning from Fullerton. Took the 57 Freeway south and got off at Katella.

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This year we had free employee parking so long as you presented the pink pass. Otherwise it would have cost you $10/day.

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BlizzCon Goodie Bag

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There were two types - an Alliance bag (blue) and a Horde bag (red). I got an Alliance. It featured a ‘16 inch inflatable divine shield ball, complete with a paladin inside in the midst of hearthing away’ ($10). It took me a good 30 minutes to inflate the thing. The Horde get: ‘Frostmourne. The very name of Arthas’s runeblade strikes terror into hearts across Azeroth. Now it comes to you in a more convenient package, and you don’t even have to travel to Icecrown Glacier to get it. As you go about your daily activities, whether they be raising legions of the undead or just brooding on your throne, carrying this 48 inch inflatable Frostmourne will grant you an extra touch of sinister majesty’.

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Also inside the bag are fun and unique Blizzard-themed trinkets: Diablo health or mana stress ball ($5), pandaren brewmaster bottle opener, zerg creep goop, hand sanitizer, Frostmourne keychain ($5), Warcraft the Trading Card Game starter deck, pen light, tissues, cinnamon mints, notepad. Finally, there’s a card code granting you an exclusive polar bear mount, waving a BlizzCon flag. ‘It’s the perfect way to cruise Northrend in style.’ All the stuff in the Goodie Bag almost made up for the $100 admission alone.

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Why are they waiting outside???

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You could find media cameras all around the premises conducting interviews.

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So with hours to spare until the doors to the hall opened I just chilled inside. This year they had security guards to check your bags before you could enter.

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Got to play Starcraft 2 right off the bat. My biggest issue was vespene gas. They made the assimilator/refinery overheat if you had too many units gathering from it. At that time it would turn red and be temporarily inoperable. Major drag. 20 minutes is not enough time to play. Oh well. Matches were 1-on-1 instead of last year’s 2-on-2. You were able to play all three races: Terran, Protoss, and Zerg. Certain choke points were blocked by garbage that you had to destroy in order to get through.

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11:00 AM Opening ceremony with Mike Morhaime, CEO.

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During the first Blizzcon, tickets sold out within 3 weeks. This year was completely different. There were website problems. Within 15 minutes, 15,000 tickets were sold. People from 27 countries were in attendance. Mike said that if Warcraft was its own country, it would be the 75^th most populated country in the world. For those who couldn’t attend, they could still watch BlizzCon footage on pay per view (for $39.95) from Direct TV (www.directv.com/blizzcon).

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BlizzCon this year combined all three universes of Warcraft, Starcraft, and Diablo. They showed a recording from Blizzard’s World Wide Invitational in Paris (http://eu.blizzard.com/wwi08/video.htm?vid=best_of_wwi08_6min&dir=/wwi08/_videos&img=best_of_wwi08_6min&rating=wow).

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Blizzard has had over 100 tournaments this year with more than $200,000 given in prize money. There’s even going to be a Starcraft 2 tournament later in the day.

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Next month on November 13^th, World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King will be on sale with stores opening at midnight. The developers will be available to sign boxes in Anaheim and other select cities around the country.

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For all attendees they will receive a Starcraft 2 beta key.

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Diablo 3 wizard trailer

http://www.blizzard.com/diablo3/media/movies/wizard.xml

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Lunch time. I ate an $8 pepperoni pizza. Brought my own bottled water. Otherwise that would have been $2.50 extra.

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1:30 PM Blizzard Sound & Music panel upstairs in Room 204

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Led by Russel Brower, Director of Audio and Video. He does the Protoss music for SC2. Jerry Goldsmith does SC2 Terran music, and Derek Duke does SC2 Zerg music. Glenn Stafford was the founder of the department and worked on full time composing since Warcraft 1.

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Blizzard sound is best heard. It’s harder to describe in words. Sound is much like finding the right marble for a sculptor. The opening chords of Diablo were 12 string. For Diablo 3 they wanted it to start with an ancient feel that builds bigger and bigger until there’s finally a ‘tada!’ moment (refer to the cinematic trailer http://www.blizzard.com/diablo3/media/#movies). They wished to keep to the heritage that Matt Uelmen began in Diablo 2, a kestrel atmosphere. Uelmen has left Blizzard.

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Where do they get their inspiration? Early exposure from a young age. Classical music. Holst: The Planets. Russian influences like Tchaikovsky and the Russian national anthem. Keep your mind open. An idea can come to you anywhere and anytime, even in the worst of times. Keep a voice recorder. You can hum melodies in the car. For Derek it was a looming deadline. Also from the lore and art in the game. The purpose of sound is to serve the needs of the game.

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Wrath of the Lich King will add 7 hours of sound, totaling over 20 hours for World of Warcraft.

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Q/A

What are the qualities in a voice actor? Internal auditions didn’t end up well, although Chris Metzen still retains his role as Thrall. Basically it’s like listening to the radio. You can hear someone who is dripping with character with just a few lines.

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About character specific music such as Illidan and Arthas. It’s like Star Wars character themes. It may have not been intended. They tie in the music to the boss, mobs, and architecture in that area. Arthas was sung by a 10 year old boy alto; 10 minutes was all they needed. An aside joke: Kerrigan versus Arthas, the love story. LOL.

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Did they run out of time when they did the ‘Fight with murmur’? The music was about the space and not necessarily the fight. They wanted to change it up. It’s too easy to do big, scary dude music.

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How does one work for Blizzard starting from the lowest end of the totem pole? One must have passion and imagination. Each of us is a concept artist. Be able to tell a story. Make a demo reel. Russel: ‘We write music all the time.’

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How do they develop the strong melodic themes for World of Warcraft? It’s definitely a choice, done on purpose. They base it off the visual architecture. World of Warcraft is a persistent world. You hear it over and over. They don’t want it to be recognizable at first, rather more atmospheric leaving you with breathing room. It comes back and fades. Don’t want you to get bored with it. Of course there’s big city and important event music. Again, the sound is to serve the game. Not big top 40’s music list.

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Will there be an ambient CD as was brought up last year? Russel made his own ambient CD for himself. It’s still a good idea…

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How do you balance each section (like brass and strings) without the presence of a live orchestra before you all the time? It comes from education and experience. Trial and error. Can also look it up in the literature. The games are evolving to incorporate more live music. Of course they use a synthesizer as a mock up, for kestrel themes they can’t create. Or as a second layer. Even with an orchestrated version, they modify it after they receive it.

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When in the game development cycle does the sound team get involved? From the very beginning. They are on staff everyday.

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How do they like the rockband element such as Level 80 Elite Tauren? It’s in character. It fits the context and it adds humor. In the ending of Warcraft 3 we saw Arthas rocking it out. Jerry: ‘Terrans rock!’

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Just like last year, there was a special arrangement of Lady Sylvanus song, ‘Lament of the Highborne,’by Vangie Gunn. Youtube it.

Elven: Anar’alah. Anar’alah Belore. Sin’dorei. Shindu Fallah Na. Sindorei. Anar’alah. Shindu Sin’dorei. Shindu fallah na. Anar’alah Belore. Shindu sin’dorei. Shindu fallah na. Sin’dorei. Anar’alah belore. Belore..

Human: By the light. By the light of the sun. Children of the blood. Our enemies are breaking through. Children of the blood. By the light. Failing Children of the blood. They are breakin thorugh. O children of the blood. By the light of the sun. Failing children of the blood. They are breaking through. O children of the blood. By the light of the sun. Sun..

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3:00 PM Starcraft 2 Gameplay, Main Stage Hall C

Discussion by Dustin Browder, Lead Designer

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He was wearing a Diablo 3 My Little Pony and rainbows T-shirt.

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How about incorporating rainbows in Starcraft? j/k

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So the powerpoint presentation was all about the single player Terran campaign. You are Jim Raynor, the freedom fighter. You direct his actions. You start in Mar Sara, the same place where Starcraft 1 began. Jim meets Tychus Findlay, the marine in the Starcraft 2 cinematic trailer. Findlay knew Raynor back in the day. They both belonged to the group called the Heaven’s Devils.

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Findlay enters the bar.

Findlay: You’re the most wanted man in this sector.

Raynor reaches for his pistol.

Findlay: They call you the people’s hero. Hello Jimmy.

Raynor relaxes.

Raynor: So you’re the model citizen now?

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You can navigate around the bar. You are able to click on the jukebox, TV screen, the bulletin board, and on Tychus Findlay.

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Findlay offers Raynor a business proposition. The client (the Mobbius Foundation, a research group) will pay top dollar if they liberate alien artifacts from the dominion, Arcturus Mensk’s hands.

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Findlay: I’ll split it with you, 60/40.

Raynor: 70/30, my way.

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After the mission, Mensk declares marshal law. Suddenly, the Zerg arrive on Mar Sara.

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There will be a unique gimmick to each mission. Mission 3 ‘The Dust Bowl’ is a defense type where you have to hold out from the Zerg for 20 minutes as their creep expands. At the end of the mission, Matt Horner arrives to rescue you. Once on board the Hyperion, Raynor sends his battlecruiser into warp speed.

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You can walk around on the ship and visit the Cantina or the Armory. In the Cantina is Gabriel Taush. He knows about Kerrigan’s past. They went to the same academy. You learn that the Zerg have attacked numerous research facilities. The queen has returned.

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Raynor: ‘She’s come to finish the job.’

Taush: ‘It’s her or us.’

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In the armory you’ll meet Swan, the chief engineer.

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You spend mission credits to customize your force. You’re able to buy technology (for example, 3 mil for Stimpacks or an upgrade that will increase the number of marines in a bunker).

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They’ve taken a new approach to the traditional linear progression. During the middle of the game, the player can choose which missions to take which will effect character interaction. In the campaign the focus is on the universe as a whole. On board the bridge you can access a Star Map. Horner receives a distress call from the fringe planet Haven, a small farming community which Mensk has abandoned. At the same time Findlay says he knows of another location where they can find more alien artifacts.

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So, as you can tell this game is going to be much longer than Starcraft 1. In fact, major BlizzCon announcement:

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Starcraft 2 will be a trilogy.  ï¿½

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That’s right. The first game will be the Terran campaign titled Wings of Liberty. Second game Zerg campaign called Heart of the Swarm. Third Protoss campaign Legacy of the Void following Zeratul. The three game epics will be staggered. Think of them as expansion packs with the following game being sold some months after the other. Each game will have 26-30 missions and take place chronologically, one after the other with the overall threat being the Xel Naga. There will be some easter egg missions. For instance, in the Terrain campaign there’s a mini-mission where you can play Zeratul, just to give you a taste of the other races. The introduction and ending are fixed, but in the middle is where the story branches leading to alternate missions. The endings will be great. No cliffhangers leading to the next game.

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The Terran campaign is sort of like a Choose Your Own Adventure. The Zerg is like an RPG where you strengthen Kerrigan. Think of it like Warcraft 3’s Orc Campaign. The Protoss will be more of a diplomacy game.

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They showed a storyboard of Kerrigan when she was abandoned by Mensk on New Gettysburg. There will be flashbacks in the form of Kerrigan’s dream where you learn more of her childhood and origins.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkmhxQ0SRXw

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Finally a sneak peek of Zeratul stuff. 1 minute movie teaser of 4 minutes.

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/41396.html

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Q/A

Multiplayer campaign will be complete in the first Terran game with a fully represented army for all three races. However, it is still to be determined down the line if you will need the Zerg and Protoss games for multiplayer. It was stated that some units from the campaign won’t show up in multiplayer.  ï¿½

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4:30 - 5:30 PM Starcraft 2 Art panel, Room 204

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Good ol’ Samwise Didier. There were technical difficulties starting up the presentation so the panel started with Q/A.

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Pre-rendered cinematics will be specific to the storyline. There will be more of them in game. You’ll have an introduction, ending, and a middle. The exact number they are not allowed to say but as many as possible.

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Dark Templar forum art contest? There will be announcements to be made. Notice though that there are a couple designs in game. Bladed either single or double, and with a scythe.

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Comment about the atmosphere being too light in Starcraft 2. There are shimmering desert worlds. Starcraft is still darker. They didn’t want it to be pixelie, but beautiful.

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What was the inspiration for the Protoss color scheme? Protoss were first derived from the gray alien stereotype. Had them wear gold metal to stand out from the purple Zerg. Also makes them look big, the kings of the universe in a sense. Lighting is crucial. It can make the Protoss look like bananas or white gold. They don’t ‘want it to look like ass.’ Inspiration for Terran? Astronauts and Starship Troopers. The Zerg have their own spin. They are ruled by a girl. (Hina: Like the queen bee in a hive.)

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One more tidbit about lighting. There could be a night vision mission. In multiplayer, there is one best lighting for the map. In single player, it won’t just be in a single corner.

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As an art student, what skill set is Blizzard looking for? Modeling and texturing. Strong drawing skills. Animation is too focused of a field.

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How do the artists balance between the styles of Warcraft, Diablo, and Starcraft? Each game has its own unique style. They have to put the brakes on and be careful not to merge the styles so that they don’t corrupt the other. Although a Blood Elf Protoss…haha.

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Regarding Zerglings. At first they wanted to have multiple types but that didn’t work out.

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Xel Naga watch tower. It’s where the Protoss architecture originated from. Also contains some Zerg influences. The Xel Naga is the mother archetype. They have to reverse backwards from the designs. Not simply Protoss plus Zerg. Still more unique.

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You’d figure that the Zerg Infestor unit would be the least likely to burrow. They have yet to polish the Zerg. Some units will be phased out and changed. Still many more passes to go.

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In Starcraft 2, why are many of the Zerg units more like insects instead of animals? In Starcraft 1 the Zergling was only 8 pixels. They couldn’t figure out what it was. So they envisioned it. The Hydralisk is serpentine with a snake tail and slug body. The Ultralisk is like an elephant or rhino. Zerglings get a wing upgrade which will make them attack faster. Marines will get a riot shield to boost their HP. They hope to include more visual identifiers so you’ll know why you are getting your butt kicked in game.

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How do you define Warcraft, Diablo, and Starcraft? Warcraft takes superhero elements. Giant weapons, and more comical humor (clicking on units many times to hear what they’ll say). Starcraft is not as comical. Darker, not shiny and glowing. Diablo is even more dark and more realistic. So Warcraft and Diablo are on opposite ends of the spectrum with Starcraft in the middle.

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Any bloopers? Tauren Marine April Fool’s joke (http://www.starcraft2.com/features/terran/taurenmarine.xml).

What they always wanted to do was combine all the Terran buildings into a massive giant robot like Voltron. But there would be too many balance issues with that. There’s so many cool ideas, but it would no longer be Starcraft at that point.

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The different teams work together - art and level designers are in the same building. They bounce ideas back and forth between each other. The artists would come up with something cool, but then the level designers would say you broke the level and it’s no longer balanced.

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What’s their favorite Warcraft race? The Orcs, the epitome of the Horde. From the Alliance side, Dwarfs. They were always a fan of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and Dungeon & Dragons.

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Samwise started out on pencil and paper. How did he make the transition from traditional to digital? Drawing with a mouse was a pain in the butt. Once they made tablets it was better. Went on to using Adobe Photoshop after Starcraft Broodwar. Love the undo button. Because it’s digital it saves time having to redu watercolor. Even now drawing a line from one corner diagonally down is hard. Yes, there’s a line tool.

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Overall inspiration for what they do? For the environments, natural forestry. But Blizzard puts their own spin on it. For Samewise, comic books that he paid for with his own money off spin racks. 1977 animated Hobbit movie. Dungeon & Dragons fantasy world. He would draw pictures of group shots of all his buddies’ characters.

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What software do they recommend? 3D Studio Max

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In the Warcraft manual you see the Chris Metzen style in the black and white artwork. Sam said he won an arm wrestling contest with him which is why he’s in command now. >.> Metzen was originally an artist when he first started and later moved to becoming a storyteller. Soon that took up most of his time. His style defined Starcraft. Sam said it was important to keep the original style.

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Chinese artist named Wang Wei did the BlizzCon logo.

He’s super talented as you can tell. They send him reference materials, and he nails it. He doesn’t know much English, and he still lives in Shang Hai. They hope to bring him over to America one day.

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Why does the Lurker look like a crab? Still the first pass. They will re-evaluate the design and make appearance changes.

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Finally the presentation worked…sort of. The video didn’t load until the very end. The panel ran over time. It was the almost the same powerpoint from last year. Strong silhouettes, exaggerated proportions, and bold primary colors.

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Non-Blizzard art piece

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Starcraft Marine (Red = Win)

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The Firebat concept is now a grenader unit called the Marauder. He has a nuclear core, LOL.

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I mentioned last year of a zerg unit with crazy tentacle action. This was actually the original Ultralisk design (or what they wanted to call Omegalisk). It had 4-5 tentacles which it would launch at targets then eat the remains to restore its life.

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The Zergling is like a cross between a pit bull and a raptor.

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Samwise referring to forum posts: ‘Every time you say it has too many wings, I’ll add 2 more!’

Baneling Nest, animated building with green toxic gas. Makes you go ‘Arg what’s in my town. Oh, it’s not a unit.’

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Roach Warren building

Roaches are like armored Zerglings.

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Infestor Pit - looks like a bloated sac, has segmented armor plates

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Next they showed a funny marine test video (Admittedly, it’s stuff like this that is the reason why Starcraft 2 isn’t done, LOL). Loyal marines would walk up and test their armor against fire, sniper shots, buzz saw, machinegun rounds, logs (curse you Ewoks!), and a nuke. You basically saw the many ways a marine can die.

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There are over 20 unique environments. They showed the tile set for Haven and some four-wheel off-roader vehicle. New Folsom is a prison planet with lava. Albion is war torn between the Terran and Protoss.

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Fin. ï¿½

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And that’s the end of BlizzCon for me that day. For dinner I went to Thai Bazil in Fullerton (http://www.thaibasilfullerton.com/). I highly recommend it! Service was a little slow because they were busy. But the food was more than delicious. We ordered Poh Taak soup (Fish, squid, mussel, scallop, shrimp and mushroom in hot and sour soup with a touch of lemon grass) and pineapple curry with roasted duck.

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Day 2 Saturday Oct 11

Diablo 3 day. But first, trying to find F@#)%’*^(& parking!!! I missed the Starcraft 2 Lore panel. Whose bright idea was it to schedule it at noon, right in the middle of lunch? Both neighboring parking lots were closed off saying that they were full. Not true at all! There was plenty of parking on the top level. The exact same spot we parked in yesterday was empty. WTF! We finally parked across the way on Harbor Blvd. The clerk almost didn’t honor the free staff pass until I yelled at the guy. Not a good start to the day.  ï¿½ ï¿½ ï¿½

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1:30 PM World of Warcraft Q/A, Hall C

BlizzCon Announcement: Mounts will be able to swim in water.

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Something about Pandas so as not to upset the Chinese.

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They want to revamp the dispel system so that you can keep the beneficial buffs using dispel to remove the negative ones. ï¿½

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World of Warcraft movie by Legendary Pictures - Go! Chris Metzen: ‘We’re working hard on it. It has a cool story. If I say anymore I’ll get shot. Have patience. Good things are coming.’

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I didn’t understand any of the rest of it. I played Warcraft 3 but never World of Warcraft.

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3:00 PM Diablo 3 Lore, Hall C ï¿½

Diablo 3 is a unique world of horrific darkness. The designers hope to provide a backstory to every civilization. This may be done through character dialogue. Also using the environment as a tool to tell the story. You are free to explore as much or as little as you want in this action RPG.  ï¿½

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Diablo 3 takes place 20 years after the events of Diablo 2. To the inhabitants, a whole generation has passed. Those with direct experience with past events are dead. Except for Deckard Cain, the last of the Horadrim, who is still alive somehow due to some sort of special clan arts. Cain feels guilty because he believes that he could have ended Diablo earlier. He’s exploring the world to find clues that would help when the day comes that the legions of hell would return. ï¿½

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Caldeum is a trade city build on materialism and the free flow of ideas.  ï¿½

http://www.blizzard.com/diablo3/world/environments/caldeum.xml

As a contrast to Caldeum, Skovos is based off legend and mythology, equivalent to ancient Greece. You won’t be able to travel there but will hear about the place.

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Diablo 1 and 2 were set in a gray backdrop. In Diablo 3, they respect the past artwork and still emphasize horror. But they will be updating the classic with a new visual look using big, bold shapes, strong silhouettes to avoid symmetry, and select color palettes of green, blue, and purple. It won’t look cartoony. The camera is fixed so they can hand craft each scene. Background movement (ground shaking) adds believability. There will be destructible objects such as chandeliers that you can drop on enemies.  ï¿½

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Q/A

Is there going to be a secret cow level? Well, that would no longer be a secret would it…

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Everyone is assuming Diablo is coming back. The story continues from the previous games. There won’t be any stuff thrown from left field. There will be a main storyline plus some random quests. Also class specific quests. The developers definitely want to bring closure to the story. ï¿½ ï¿½

You’ll notice that there is class specific dialogue. The first mission NPC acts disrespectful towards Witch Doctors.

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You can’t play as a necromancer. They were perfected in Diablo 2. Although you will meet necromancers in the world of Diablo 3. ï¿½

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At BlizzCon you could play one of the first dungeons, Sanctuary with three levels of catacombs. 4 player cooperative. Got to choose from a male or female Barbarian or Witch Doctor and female only Wizard. Since it was limited, I played the Wizard, but so did everyone else on the team. It ended up being 3 Wizards and 1 Witch Doctor. I went Battle Wizard like my Battle Sorceress in Diablo 2. Wizards have this slash attack that consumes mana. Wizard class couldn’t equip swords or lances. She could equip axe, mace, and knife. Inventory: Belt, Helm, Shield, Weapon, Boots, Armor, Shoulder, 2 Accessories, and Pants. Inventory equips change your appearance. As we progressed through the game, my clothes changed from red to blue. You couldn’t add to stats. But you choose your skills. In addition, the game engine seemed to keep track of your kill count possibly a bonus. ï¿½  ï¿½

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The boss was the Skeleton King. Within the level you find his crown and use that to initiate the boss sequence. I died against him and respawned at a checkpoint one floor above. You kept all your items. Didn’t have to go back naked and find your dead body as in Diablo 2.

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I miss my Lightning Fury Amazon. They have to bring back some sort of ranged archer unit. ï¿½  ï¿½

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Diablo 3 Witch Doctor

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6:00 PM Comedian Patton Oswalt ï¿½

Not for kids. He cusses. He passes in my book. He made fun of the people sitting in the front row. One person was French. Said that the French make great porn and wines.

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He talked about his first jokes he ever came up with, geek material. What if instead of Spiderman, he got bit by a Dung Beetle. You’d figure that if an industrial accident made you into a god, everyone in Russia would be hanging around the nuclear facilities.

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Getting tired of all the people telling you that you’ve been wasting away your life playing World of Warcraft? Well, there are people who waste away their lives in reality. At least in Warcraft, you can pretend that you were a level 70 Warlock exploring the outskirts of Lordaeron. Who knows how many future Hitlers of the world have been prevented because of simply playing Warcraft in their basements.

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Political jokes. Always a safe subject when you insult President Bush. Not as fun anymore because people have stopped defending Bush. Bush keeps saying that future generations will judge his presidency. It’s like the movie Blade Runner or Battlefield Earth. People will still say that is sucked. Bush also brags about getting 10 hours of sleep everyday and being at the peek of his physical and mental condition. Take a look at his speeches. That really is the best that he can do. ï¿½

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McCain’s Vietnam story is like the origin of every supervillain. ï¿½  ï¿½ ï¿½

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He makes a good point that when he was growing up he played Monopoly. But he never dressed up as Mr. Moneybags or as a green house or the shoe. In the same way, people dress up as Warcraft Night Elves.  ï¿½

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Last joke about Yoshinoya beef bowls. Once you had one there is no seconds. The beef is like shoe laces dipped in air conditioning fluid. Then there’s this image of a face within the beef kinda like when people see the image of Jesus in a potato chip. The face tries to warn you last minute not to eat it.

I played Starcraft 2 single player just because the line was shorter at the time. It wasn’t a campaign mission but head to head against the computer. You choose the opponent’s race and difficulty level. I was Protoss versus Zerg on hard. Cannons saved me. I noticed the computer seemed confused; the first rush of Zerglings were hitting and running away from the cannons as they kept entering and exiting my base. Rushes soon grew more powerful with roaches and hydras. I ended up running out of minerals. I went for Dark Templars. They were ok until Overloads flew by revealing them. Had it gone on for more than 20 minutes I know I would have lost.  ï¿½

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I’ll end with COSPLAY!!

Harpy

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The angel Tyrael from Diablo. 3^rd place winner of the Costume contest.

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Anime Expo 2008 website
http://www.anime-expo.org/

Los Angeles Convention Center
http://www.lacclink.com/

Feelings, nothing more than feelings… not enthusiastic this year. Maybe I’m AX’ed out and need to take the next year off. With the announcement that it would be held in Los Angeles instead of Long Beach or Anaheim, there were many who swore that they were not going to attend. Still seemed packed.

Can’t forget the movie references of 300 and Pirates of Caribbean. This year’s hits were Iron Man, Speed Racer, and Indiana Jones. Of course you’ll still find Star Wars. Last year had a spectacular Transformers showing. This year I guess the closest thing was a Batman: Gotham Knight premiere in Video Room 1 but you needed a ticket to enter. http://www.warnervideo.com/batmangothamknight/ Limited engagement Saturday 4:00-5:15 PM followed by an hour of Q/A. But the website says DVDs are available 07/08/08. Not to be confused with The Dark Knight movie July 18 which I did.

Speed Racer done right

Didn’t know who any of the Guests of Honor were. I looked at the schedule of events a week before and didn’t see anything that picked my interest. I did The Art of Glowsticking last year and wasn’t all that wow’ed by the Montecito art school. Origami? I was happy that Gravity was having a booth. Heavy advertising with every attendee receiving a paper fan and an Official Program Guide with the backpage featuring Gravity’s latest free to play game Requiem (www.playrequiem.com).

Cosplay.com AX forum
http://www.cosplay.com/forumdisplay.php?f=11

Cosplay.com Gathering List. Be there or be square. Eyeshield 21 didn’t get enough of a following this year :(

Oh yes. Beware of the Caramel Dance parade.
http://lostcontemplations.com/Auax/Caramel/Caramel.html

Thursday July 3rd
11:00 AM Prince of Tennis (LACC Stairs Site #2)
12:00 PM Lucky Star (West Hall Lobby - Downstairs)
1:00 PM Inu Yasha (Outside West Hall Flag Area)
2:30 PM The World Ends With You (West Hall Lobby - Downstairs)
4:00 PM D.Gray-man (LACC Stairs Site #3)
4:00 PM Disgaea/Nippon Ichi (NIS booth #311 South Hall)
4:30 PM Resident Evil (LACC Site Stairs #1)
4:45 PM Higurashi (LACC Stairs Site #2)
5:00 PM Indiana Jones/Star Wars (Outside West Hall)
6:00 PM .hack// (LACC Stairs Site #2)

Friday July 4th
9:00 AM Fruits Basket (LACC Stairs Site #1)
10:00 AM Rurouni Kenshin (LACC Stairs Site #3)
11:00 AM Cosplay Chess (West Hall Lobby - Downstairs)
11:30 AM Metal Gear Solid (Outside West Hall B)
12:00 PM Kingdom Hearts (LACC Stairs Site #3)
1:00 PM CLAMP (LACC Stairs Site #2)
1:00 PM Code Geass (Outside West Hall)
2:00 PM Fire Emblem (LACC Stairs Site #2)
2:00 PM Gundam (LACC Stairs Site #2)
2:00 PM Tales of Gathering (LACC Stairs Site #3)
3:00 PM Air Gear (LACC Stairs Site #2)
3:00 PM The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (Outside West Hall)
4:00 PM Magical Girls and Boys (LACC Stairs Site #2)
4:30 PM Ouran Host High School Club (LACC Stairs Site #3)
5:00 PM Capcom vs. SNK (LACC Stairs Site #3)
5:00 PM JRock (Lindsey Plaza)
5:30 PM Hellsing (Outside South Hall)
6:00 PM Katekyo Hitman REBORN! (Outside West Hall Flag Area)
6:00 PM Super Smash Bros Brawl (Outside West Hall)
6:00 PM Vampire Knight (West Hall)
6:30 PM Fate/Stay Night & Type-Moon (LACC Stairs Site #2)
7:00 PM Evangelion (Outside West Hall)

Saturday July 5th
10:00 AM Guilty Gear (Concourse Hall by Rm.411)
10:00 AM Pokemon (Outside West Hall)
10:00 AM Pokemon Gijinka (Outside West Hall)
10:30 AM Dead or Alive (LACC Stairs Site #1)
10:30 AM Final Fantasy Tactics (LACC Stairs Site #2)
11:00 AM Hollow/Arrancar (LACC Stairs Site #2)
12:00 PM Bleach (LACC Stairs Site #2)
12:00 PM Touhou Project (Outside West Hall)
12:30 PM Trinity Blood (LACC Lobby)
1:00 PM Final Fantasy VIII (LACC Stairs Site #2)
1:00 PM Yugioh Generations (LACC Stairs Site #2)
1:30 PM Phoenix Wright (LACC Stairs Site #3)
2:00 PM Naruto (LACC Stairs Site #3)**
2:00 PM Persona 3 (LACC Stairs Site #2)
2:30 PM Vocaloid (LACC Site Stairs #3)
3:00 PM Full Metal Alchemist (Outside West Hall)
3:00 PM Legend of Zelda (LACC Stairs Site #1)
3:30 PM One Piece (LACC Stairs Site #2)
4:00 PM Ragnarok Online (LACC Stairs Site #2)
4:00 PM Soul Eater (LACC Stairs Site #3)

Sunday July 6th
10:00 AM Sailormoon (Outside West Hall)
11:00 AM Dragonball Z & GT (LACC Stairs Site #2)
12:00 PM Crossplay (Inside West Hall)
12:00 PM Final Fantasy (LACC Stairs Site #3)
12:00 PM Lolita Tea Party (Concourse Hall F Stairs)
12:30 PM GINTAMA (Outside West Hall Entrance)
1:00 PM Avatar (LACC Stairs Site #2)
3:00 PM Beyblade (West Hall)
3:00 PM Death Note (Outside West Hall)

Oddest cosplay
* Free sample man. Guy going throughout the Exhibition Hall pasting stickers and what not on himself and cardboard boxes.
* Krispy Kreme Doughnuts employee?
* Man Princess Peach
* Someone in an HP Printer box
* Captain Planet
* Tetris L Block (winner of GameFAQs character battle). Was actually cool to see all the multicolored Tetris blocks together.

* Jesus in front of the Yaoi booth. Also a Pimp Jesus carrying a cross.
* Transformers Hot Rod who proceeded to the girl’s restroom. WTF!

Survival Checklist
* Bag/Backpack
* Bottled Water
* $$$
* Digital Camera/Disposable Camera
* PSP/DS with AC adaptor, deck of cards, or a book to read for those moments when you are waiting in line or sitting down not doing anything in particular.
* Pens to write with
* Pre-registration e-mail confirmation with bar code

Day 1 Thursday July 3

Woke up at 5:00 AM and left the house at 6:00 AM. Took the carpool lane of 110 Freeway North. Got off at Adams then went down Figueroa. Parking fee: $12

Registration was fast once it started moving. Glare outside was bad. Couldn’t play PSP well.

Guilty Gear. Running joke of Dr. Doom.

8:00 inside air conditioned hall. Picked up my badge at 8:30. At Con registration opened at 9:00.

Headed upstairs to the console gaming room. They had Super Smash Bros Brawl, Rock Band (please if you’re going to perform, get into the groove!), Guitar Hero, Naruto, and Arc System Work’s BlazBlue (http://blazblue.jp/us/).

For lunch I had a smoked ham and swiss sandwich on ciabatta bread for $7.50. It tasted so dry. Wasn’t even worth it. I wish I had waited until they served hamburgers.

Exhibition Hall opened at noon. Following days it opens at 10:00 AM. I think some asian guy tried to pick pocket my bag. Watch your stuff at all times.

Bandai and Namco. Bandai had Haruhi and Lucky Star dance-offs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXO0Baqzme4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQUhCUWTrr8

Could try out the Naruto games and Soul Calibur IV.

Capcom Booth with artists Omar Dogan and Alvin Lee (below).

Gravity Booth (http://www.gravity.co.kr/eng/index.asp) where you can sign up for their cosplay contest to be held Saturday at 1:00. They gave out a free game DVD and raffle tickets for their drawing at 4:00. Each hour they did Spin the Wheel for prizes.

Community manager Hastur, because he’s cool and Heimdallr’s mean

Next door to Exhibition Hall is Artist Alley. What are the secrets to selling your artwork? Location? Signs? Popular series? There were tons of Bleach, Naruto, and Final Fantasy. Girl showing booty? Right price? Colored works seem to be better than sketches. Unfortunate that the artists were not able to use the power outlets.

After that I went home. Forgot about AMVs.

Day 2 Friday July 4
8:00 left house. Arrived at 8:15 with no traffic.

First place of interest, the Arcade. Open 24/7. Games: Metal Slug 6, Puzzle Fighter ($0.50 per game), Pile Up, Fancy Lifter, Dance Dance Revolution, Para Para 2^nd Mix, Street Fighter 3rd Strike, Melty Blood, Tekken, Strikers 1945, Mushihime Sama, Time Crisis 4, Marvel versus Capcom 2, Initial D 4, Wangan Midnight 3, Derby Owner’s Club horse racing, Capcom versus SnK 2, and air hockey.

Next an interview with a person working behind the scenes that makes Anime Expo run smoothly - Mr. Cardenas who has been doing Electrical maintenance for 20+ years. It’s a good job, 6 figure income easily. And they won’t outsource you. He didn’t quite get Anime Expo. Equated it to collecting rookie baseball cards. Back in the day when 50 cents got you popcorn, soda pop, and a movie. At E3 last year he said that the power went out. Department of Water and Power (DWP) brought in mobile transformers. Doors unfortunately closed on the thick cabling and blew a hole in it. Had to reset the circuit breaker. The ground rumbled. Bad sign. 200 pound manhole cover even flew out of the streets.

Lunch exiting the Exhibition Hall was a Taco stand. $7 for three soft tacos, your choice of beef, pork, or chicken. A++!!!

Back in Exhibition Hall went to NIS booth and bought some pencil boards for Takehito Harada chief character designer for Disgaea to sign.Ms. Taniel character designer for A Witch’s Tale was also autographing.

More Cosplay.

All hail Cobra Commander.

Kanti from FLCL

Captain Commando

I spied on Gaia Online Panel in Hall B at 5:30. I don’t even play Gaia. Pictures and videotaping allowed.
http://www.gaiaonline.com/

On stage, in the black coat Chris, the ever so popular Lancer, Quickster the developer, and artist Charles Park. First a thank you for coming and causing chaos. Then a Stride spoof (http://www.stridegum.com/). Do NOT fire at the screens! …or we’ll find you… and do bad things…

as if we’d be allowed to bring in nerf guns to AX.

Whenever a pink gift box appeared during the presentation, Chris would sprint around the seats and toss free plushies, T-shirts, etc.

Started with sketches of radiant prism: disco ball, prism crystal, prism tattoo. MCs (Monthly Collectibles) used to be called donation items. Before they got sponsors, they were one of the methods to keep the site running. Every month the artist team of 20+ people would get together. Concepts reflected how big of a fan they were to that particular idea such as Metal Gear Solid 4. ICBM Nukes R Bad. Seemed to love drawing cardboard boxes. <- this is very important.

Webpage updates. New landing pages for art arena, avatar arena, housing arena (which was broken), writing arena for fanfics, and contest arena. More merchandise like omnomnom and WTF hat. More games - Electric Love Factory: help Buildo the robot NPC build robot friends. It’s a puzzle game where you align blocks according to color. There are power ups within the game to achieve bonuses.

Gaia mischief makers. Placing Gaia stickers around Chuck Norris Hollywood Star, yearbook cover with Gaia mentioned, and someone with a Gaia poster caught on WWE ECW.

Showed Gaia MMO game. On Bill’s Ranch is his daughter Rubella. Zen Gardens Katsumi. House on a Hill, continuing from Dead Man’s Pass. Null Chamber to release your life force after you die. New store Nicolae’s Backalley Bargaining. Jacques’s dog still needs a name. On to the monsters. The fluffs, OMG’s mama, garlic. Undine, lawn ornament creatures: gnome (For the Empire!), flamingos. A Sand Castle Golem which in the end looks like a knight with a sand bucket on his head. Minimap with Fog of War feature. Able to customize the screen layout, drag/drop windows. More recipes. Make a surf board, ninja outfit, atomi armor, guard armor, alien armor.

Q/A
Mentioned that the color of the website is blinding. They are experimenting with different designs.

Gaia is looking into letting other vendors sell their merchandise like Yesanime.com because they can’t attend every single convention.

Can you fight NPCs in MMO? In the beginning just monsters. Later PvP.

A manga compilation in paper format? Not at this time. Seriously considering it.

More flash games like Tetris.

MMO will allow you to customize controls, mouse click and WASD.

I just lost the game.
http://losethegame.com/default4.htm

Can you date Lancer? He had the exact same thought. It’s a floating idea. It’s another way to make fun of themselves.

Christmas Mistle Toe this year? Sure why not.

Is there a save your hairstyle option (referring to Halloween event)? Virtual bobby pins are hard to come by.

A real banking system with interest? Set and forget it. Well safe deposit box is a possibility.

Merchandise for children? They will definitely pass that idea on.

6:30 went home and saw the fireworks.

Day 3 Saturday July 5
Arcade again.

Lunch inside the Exhibition Hall. $8 BBQ ribs, steamed rice, and lettuce.

RO Cosplay Contest. Got pushed back to 2:00 PM.

Winners:
Runner-up #1 Leaf Cat (Prisilla) - was nervous to participate at first, Meow! Meow! Meow! Received an RO2 keychain collection.
Runner-up #2 Minstrel (Andy)
Grand Prize: Orc Hero (cupcake) - was there ever a doubt. Received an RO2 box, artwork, and full DVD set of Ragnarok the Animation courtesy of Funimation.

GM picks - winners received a certificate and 2 headgears
Hastur: Lord Knight (Pelori), loved the sword
Heimdallr: Monk
iroHeadGM: Gypsie (Neko)

4:00 PM. Mega64 Panel of Doom. Seriously. Shown on Public Access and soon on TV in the United Kingdom on Sky Network.
http://www.mega64.com/

Rocco Botte, Derrick Acosta, Shawn Chatfield, Josh Jones, and Garrett A. Hunter also in cosplay - Assassin’s Greed, Beowulf in 3D, Time Child, Future Brad Pitt, and Biggest Boss from Metal Slug.

Street Fighter 2 destroying the car bonus stage
http://www.mega64.com/car.htm

Assassin’s Creed video, at a swamp meet. He’s very touchy.
http://www.mega64.com/assassinscreed.htm

Rainbow 6 Vegas
http://www.mega64.com/rsv01.htm

Other videos - Wizard, Cosplayerz Strike a Poze (where the crew invaded a Naruto gathering), Wizard sighting, The Bookstore, rejected Nintendo DS commercial for the game Jam Session because Nintendo wanted it aimed at homeowners not homeless guy. They called it ‘unsavory.’ They did a recut version with larger than life fonts.

Q/A
For the hard of hearing, can they add subtitles. Now that they know how, yea. Half the time they don’t understand what Marcus is saying.

Will they be doing this forever? No girl will get in between them. Don’t grow up. Be stupid. Annoy people.

Open call for casting? There was for Wizard video. Could be another one.

While shooting a video do they ever recognize who they are? Once as mega64. Lots of Hey that’s Assassin’s Creed. Popular game.

Episode 4 is going to be Mega64! a musical.

Next stop for them is Comic Con in San Diego and East Coast Fan Expo in Toronto, Canada. They plan on giving away Con Exclusive DVDs featuring scratch and sniff technology. Umm…Cinnamon Rolls.
http://www.hobbystar.com/fanexpo2008/index.html

Snuck out at 6:00. Hosts of mega64 made fun of anyone leaving their panel. Masquerade $20 for ticket outside Registration. Otherwise have to wait outside in the sun in standby for 4+ hours. Just didn’t want to wait. Went home.

Day 4 Sunday July 6
Slept in. Decided not to go.

Short report this time. If I will be attending next year, I’m sure as hell going to make an outstanding cosplay. And I do mean that. On the same scale as that Optimus Prime costume.

It’s That Time of the Year Again

This year, Fanimecon takes place at the McEnergy Convention Center in downtown San Jose where (more…)

This August I had the privilege to attend the second exclusive BlizzCon gaming festival at the Anaheim Convention Center (ACC) in Anaheim, California. The first BlizzCon was back in October 2005. This year’s BlizzCon highlighted Blizzard Entertainment’s latest works - Starcraft 2 and World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King. It also featured discussion panels, tournaments, and merchandising.

Links
Official BlizzCon 2007 Website
http://www.blizzard.com/blizzcon07/

Schedule of Events
http://www.blizzard.com/blizzcon07/schedule.shtml

Starcraft 2 Official Website
http://www.starcraft2.com/

World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King Official Website
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/wrath/

Day 1 - Friday August 3rd

I drove to Anaheim and arrived there at 7:30 am. Parking was $10/day (up from $8 at AX 2005). Already, there were people inside the convention center leisurely walking about. Half of the people were wearing their Blizzard T-shirts. One person had a shirt with “PvP Enabled” on the back.

They were chatting about their characters from World of Warcraft (WoW), reading, snapping pictures, playing with their Nintendo DS, and challenging each other in the Warcraft Trading Card Game. http://entertainment.upperdeck.com/wow/en/

The majority of attendees were male, aged 21 and over who grew up on the Warcraft franchise. There were some families, mothers bringing their energetic sons, and lucky guys who managed to convince their girlfriends to come along.

On the left most side of the convention center was the registration lines. The lines were arranged alphabetically by last name. You were able to pick up badges on Thursday from 4:00 pm to 11:00 pm. They were pretty light Friday and Saturday.

Midway was VIP/Press badge pick up.

Exhibits only passes were blue. All access attendee including the concert was yellow. Blizzard Staff workers had green. Along with your badge was a plastic grab bag filled with noteworthy souvenir items.
http://www.blizzard.com/blizzcon07/goodiebag.shtml

In terms of cosplay, some sported minor accessories over their street clothes like toy swords, helmets, capes, and tails. It wasn’t like Anime Expo where you felt left out if you weren’t in cosplay. That’s not to say that there weren’t any cosplay at BlizzCon at all. No, no, no.

We started to crowd outside Hall A. It was sectioned off by those red movie theater dividers. People began chanting: ‘Open!’ and ‘For the Horde!’ They roared every time the doors would open as employees were shuffling in and out. Once again there were the yellow shirted Staff Pro that plagued Anime Expo. Also within our midst were camera crew from G4 and Wired. There was some asian girl from Yahoo! Games (Chi-Lan Lieu) saying, ‘Give me a cheer for BlizzCon over here!’

At 9:00, the gates of hell were unleashed. People stormed in lines for BlizzShop (http://www.blizzard.com/blizzcon07/merchandise.shtml) and J!nx Clothing for Gamers & Geeks (http://www.jinx.com/). Alienware, Intel, and Dell teamed up for the Extreme Gaming Tour (http://www.alienware.com/sub_pages/events.aspx), an 18-wheeler truck presenting inside the ultimate gaming PC. Also in attendance: Paypal, Killer Gaming Network Card (http://www.killernic.com/), and Logitech’s G-series G9 laser mouse (http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/mice_pointers/mice/devices/3053&cl=us,en). Finally the ‘Blizzard is Hiring’ booth, the World of Warcraft Board Game, and figurines for preorder.

Near the entrance of Hall A was a Bull Rider and towards the middle left of the Main Stage was American Gladiators Joust. Directly in the middle of Hall A, you can have an airbrushed tattoo. All great activated for the kids.

However, I was surprised to find beer, both Heineken and Bacardi.

In the left corner was the World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King test server where you can transfer your character over and give the upcoming expansion a shot. Mid left was Starcraft 2 and a section for Trading Card duels. Far left was a stage for the Blizzard International Tournament Finals for Warcraft 3, Starcraft 1, and World of Warcraft team PvP.

Along the inner walls were food venues. They sold hot dogs for $3.50.

First thing I did was try out Starcraft 2. There were two lines. One for single player campaign. The other 2 versus 2, team multiplayer match. Terran and Protoss only. No Zerg.

I choose Protoss. I noticed right away that there was a hotkey change for probe, ‘E’ instead of ‘P’. Here’s the building requirement chart for the Protoss.

I was playing using all the old strategies from Starcraft 1. You only got 20 minutes to play. So I rushed in the beginning with Zealots and blocked the outside of the opponent’s base with cannons. My ally massed Marines. Then I built a Dark Obelisk and massed Dark Templars. I was able to kill Terran’s giant Thor mecha with ease. Somehow the Terran player I rushed earlier rebuilt with a bunch of air units. Had he come to my base I would have been dead. It ended up being a tie game.

You can tell the veteran players from the newer ones by how they harvested minerals once the game began. Did they individually click on each unit, or did they select them all at once? In other games I witnessed, the Terran had this nasty Viking drop replacing tank drop by your minerals killing off your workers. I also saw another Protoss player teleport cannons under a Phase Prism on the outskirts of the opponent’s base. Of course others just went straight for Carriers. Indeed they’re back. Interceptors and all.

11:00 Opening Ceremony
Main Stage of Hall A, right side. There were 3 pairs of TV panels lined up overhanging from the sides so you could see what was going on. Mike Morhaime President of Blizzard Entertainment kicked it off with World of Warcraft class shout outs. Next he presented some statistics. Since 2005, the population of Azeroth has doubled to 9 million people worldwide. That’s more than the total population of some countries. The World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade expansion sold 2.4 million copies within the first 24 hours which is more than most PC games make in a month. BlizzCon tickets sold out in three days. So only the most dedicated people are here today. Mike acknowledged the people who came all the way from Europe, Australia, and Asia. The winner of the game tournaments will go on to sign contracts with Pro Gamer amounting to $100,000/year.

South Korea was the first to see Starcraft 2. But, in Anaheim we will be the first to play Starcraft 2. He showed a video of the third Blizzard Worldwide Invitational held at the Olympic Gymnastic and Fencing Stadiums in Seoul, Korea. 60,000 people were in attendance. He then reshowed the Starcraft 2 trailer. ‘Hell it’s about time.’

Next, Mike passed it on to the Blizzard Cofounder and Vice President of Product Development Frank Pearce. He explained that they plan to have an integrated voice chat in World of Warcraft: Wraith of the Lich King. Sadly you’ll find out that your hot night elf friend is actually a dude. There will be guild banks with public storage, 10 to 25 man raids, new Death Knight Hero class, level cap increased to 80, new siege weapons and destructible buildings, and the new Inscription profession to enhance spells. They showed the Wraith of the Lich King trailer: ‘But be warned. The land itself will rise up against you.’ Funny how he ditched his female companion. The Opening Ceremony ended at 11:30 with the words ‘Go have fun!’

I ate lunch at Pizza Hut at the Marriot. Ordered a Supreme personal pan pizza for $6.00. There was some other international event going on with people from Africa. Hispanics were waving the American flag.

I took the escalator up to the second floor of the Anaheim Convention Center. Water stations were located conveniently outside the rooms. Opposite of Room 204 were World of Warcraft Guild meeting tables. In the glass casings were displays of Blizzard’s product line, books and strategy guides, as well as unique tid bits.

1:00 Expanded Universe
Panel was led by Chris Metzen, Vice President of Creative Development. To his left Christy Golden (http://www.christiegolden.com/) author of Warcraft: Lord of the Clans in 2001 and World of Warcraft: Rise of the Horde last December. She’s also writing the Starcraft trilogy series The Dark Templar. The first book, First Born, just came out May 2007. Shadowhunters is scheduled for November. Currently working on third.

To the right is Richard Knaak (http://www.sff.net/people/knaak/Welcome.html) author of the Dragonlance and Dragonrealm series, Warcraft: Day of the Dragon, Warcraft: War of the Ancients Saga, and Diablo: Legacy of Blood, Diablo: The Kingdom of Shadow, and Diablo: Moon of the Spider. Warcraft: Night of the Dragon is scheduled for release November 2008.

The game setting is like a growing, living entity. It is constantly being updated in real time like our own modern history. Christy, who also worked for Star Trek, noted that Blizzard has been most helpful in supporting her. It took her six weeks to write Warcraft: Lord of the Clans. There’s two way communication from top to bottom between Christy and Chris. They work adjunct, complimenting one another’s ideas. The sum truly is greater than the individual parts. Many of the ideas and characters from the novels are added to the game as quests, such as Taretha’s necklace. The Warcraft novels were described as Shakespeare with Orcs.

Q/A - What about Nova from Starcraft Ghost? (Chris: Yeah…yeah…) The fans have this fascination with Nova even though nothing about her story has been released to the public. She’s like Batman, a superhero wrestling against super villains.

Why not write from the Zerg perspective? It would be like the Hebrew Old Testament.

Monosyllabic. It would difficult to make them still alien yet not sound just like the Protoss. That was their reason for having Duran in Brood War. The Zerg mindset is more directed, lacking jealousy or honor. Kerrigan is the focal point.

In World of Warcraft, say you kill a boss monster in a quest. Are they really dead? Why are they still around in the story? I looted your corpse. Chris: Well…they might come back, only crippled.

Will we see new heroes? Blizzard basically exhausted the Warcraft 3 line of characters. Warcraft 2 is too old. They hadn’t realized they need more characters when they first made WoW.

Garona Halforcen? She’s definitely half Orc, half Draenei (not human). They want to make her significant for the Horde.

What about the Gnomes? Chris: Yea…we don’t talk about them much… They are more for comedy relief and a sense of scale like when you line up all the races in a silhouette. Samwise Didier hated Gnomes. Chris: The trick is to have him draw it himself to get it out of his system. Fairydragons? What are those? Once he draws it, he’ll begin to think the idea is pretty cool. Might have the Gnomes retake Gnomeregan.

What’s next for Diablo? Chris: *sigh* wait and see…we can not confirm or deny…
First conflict that set the whole thing in motion.

The first set of Starcraft books played it safe. They are just now getting deeper into the storyline. Shifted, more edgy
now.

2:30 Blizzard Sound/Music

Russell Brower, Director of Audio. He quoted George Lucas, ‘Sound is 50% of the moviegoing experience.’ It is the way to set the environmental mood and create the illusion of a fantasy world. When you’re playing the game for two hours, hopefully the music will draw you in instead of getting repetitive, making you turn it off. With the ambience you can’t tell the difference between the background soundscape and the music. The original World of Warcraft had 2 hours of music. Burning Crusade 6 hours.

Demos revealing Brian David Farr’s thought process. Eversong. Tuned to the wind. Tritone (the devil’s interval). Be on edge. Stands for the Blood elves, beautiful yet melancholy.

Exodar. Electric tones. Rubbing the top of wine glasses rub to simulate the crystals.

Neverstorm. Rumbling. Thunder/lightning, felt but not heard. Ambience is several layers deep. Subtle.

Q/A - Will you release an ambient soundtrack? Great idea. The soundtrack for the Burning Crusade had a seamless transition between the songs.

What are your influences? Darkness on Xbox 360, Everquest, Halo, Star Wars, and Indiana Jones Raiders of the Lost Arc. Even while walking by a construction site you can stop and listen to the sound of the drill.

What kind of training do you need to be a sound artist? They are all active gamers. We create games that we want to play. But they are all also active listeners. You tell stories though sound. Have passion in what you’re doing. They were the ones who acted out comic books to a tape recorder, adding their own sound effects. As you grow you will find your own voice.

There was a live orchestra: harp, violin, drums, guitar, accordion, flute. Preview of tomorrow’s concert. David Arkenstone and his band looked like they came out of the Renaissance Fair. In Rise of the Lich King there will be 1 hour of new tavern music.

They did four songs: keltic, tribal, medieval, and an upbeat traveling song/dance that you’d want to kick your heels to.

But wait, there’s one more. In the Lady’s Necklace quest for the Blood Elves, the reward is not an item but a song. Special arrangement of Lady Sylvanus song, chanting in Elven. The woman had a great tan.

Elven: Anar’alah. Anar’alah Belore. Sin’dorei. Shindu Fallah Na. Sindorei. Anar’alah. Shindu Sin’dorei. Shindu fallah na. Anar’alah Belore. Shindu sin’dorei. Shindu fallah na. Sin’dorei. Anar’alah belore. Belore..

Human: By the light. By the light of the sun. Children of the blood. Our enemies are breaking through. Children of the blood. By the light. Failing Children of the blood. They are breakin thorugh. O children of the blood. By the light of the sun. Failing children of the blood. They are breaking through. O children of the blood. By the light of the sun. Sun..

Left BlizzCon at 4:00. Ate dinner at Pho Vietnamese Resturant in Fullerton (http://www.pho2000.com/). Unfortunately, I didn’t go to the afterdark cocktails and see the dance/costume contest.

Day 2 - Saturday August 4^th
Today was panel after panel after panel. Unlike Anime Expo, there was more than enough seating to accommodate everyone. No one was turned away.

10:30 Cinematics - How we make movies
Matt Samia, Senior Director of Cinematics with a powerpoint presentation
10 years ago they only had 6 people. It steadily grew to 25-30. The Burning Crusade trailer took 6 months with a team of 30-50 people. Last year 90 people.

Cinematics are done from the beginning of the game production, not at the end as a left over. The core of cinematic production is asset creation (modeling, rigging, animating). You start with a storyboard, quick sketches. Then you ok it with the design team. From the concept art you determine will it work or not. Then perform some color studies.

They showed some Burning Crusade storyboard samples. You could still see the sketch lines.

In Layout, you determine the frame count, FX timing, and construct low poly blocks.

Modeling. Proxy models, motion studies, master mesh. You take baby steps and check each step of the way.

Rigging, the machinery wires, body skeleton, facial muscles.

FX, cloth sim, particle effects, glow, gun fire, water rippling.

Finishing. Shot production, lighting, rendering composite.

In game cinematic *spoilers*
Raynor is walking down a corridor drinking from his canteen. All of a sudden the lights turn off. A voice calls out to him.
‘Jim Raynor!’
‘Zeratul?’
Zeratul knells. ‘I bring tidings. The Xel Naga have returned.’ Something about the artifacts. ‘It is the key.’
Raynor: ‘Key?’
Zeratul: ‘The key to the end of all things.’

Q/A - What makes the Blizzard cinematics so awesome? What’s the secret ingredient? Talent. Their team is dedicated to making the best thing possible before it gets out the door.

Starcraft 1 featured many cinematic scenes. Will Starcraft 2 have as many? No. They are thinking along the lines of the amount Warcraft 3 had. Starcraft 2’s cinematics will cover more of the story. They spent the same amount of time on the cinematics for Starcraft 2’s than on Starcraft 1. Just that it’s the new technology that makes it look better

What programs do you use? Mudbox, Macintosh, Maya for finishing, Renderman, Zbrush, Adobe After Effects. More than anything it’s talent. Programs are only tools. A person who has never used a program before should be able to pick it up.

In World of Warcraft, there’s no clear spot to have an in game cinematic. Only have trailers at the moment. After defeating a boss perhaps?

Are cigars standard issue? It’s a carry over from Starcraft 1, Warpig.

Will there be a movie combining three franchises? Like an Alien versus Predator. No plans.

Redoing the cinematics in HD is on table.

12:00 Legendary Pictures Warcraft Film
At first I presumed it would be 100% CG. Not true. It will be completely live action. They have been pitching the idea to Hollywood for the past 5-6 years. Hollywood kept telling Blizzard that it wouldn’t work. Then Lord of the Rings came out (That’s it!). The management from Legendary Pictures (http://www.legendarypictures.com/) went out of their way to visit Blizzard HQ in Irvine. From that moment, they knew their partnership would be right.

Press releases
http://www.blizzard.com/press/060509.shtml
http://www.legendarypictures.com/newsmain.php?news_id=13

Now the Warcraft movie is not going to be a crappy video game movie (Super Mario and Street Fighter). They want it to be epic like Braveheart and Gladiator. They want it to be in your top 5 movie picks of all time. They know the fans are saying, ‘Please don’t screw this one up.’ They get that. They want to build something that will hold up while still being worthy of the Warcraft name. Legendary has committed over $100 million to the Warcraft movie. At this time they have a script. No trailer yet. They are still deciding upon a high caliber director. Once the director is set, then they’ll start casting for the roles. There is by far no shortage of actors waiting to work on the movie. They are not going to rely upon big name Hollywood actors.

The film takes place one year prior to World of Warcraft. Fundamental to the storyline is the conflict between the Alliance and the Horde. The movie will be told from the window of Alliance perspective (crowd: ‘BOOOOO!!!’). It’s a cycle of warfare that will never end. Thrall will be in the movie as well as a new badass hero. It won’t be about Arthas but will reference the fall of Lordaeron. Of course there will be kick ass battles. The humor that we love from the Warcraft games will definitely add its charm in subsequent script passes. Estimated length 2 hours 30 minutes. Note that the movie is not a role playing adventure journey by a band of heroes similar to the Lord of the Rings. It’s more about domination. It’s absolutely going to be a war movie with huge powers getting out of control. They sincerely want to nail this movie before even considering sequels.

PG or R? Lord of the Rings was PG. 300 R. Depends on the level of intensity. The story will dictate that.

At the end they showed one storyboard art picture. Finished at 12:45.

1:00 Starcraft 2 Art
Samwise Didier, Senior Art Director

Art 101
* Strong silhouettes
* Exaggerated proportions
* Use bold and saturated colors. Their favorite color is red.
* Dynamic poses. Never just walking. Strut or charge.
* It is never done until the game ships.

Non-Blizzard art piece

Compared to the Starcraft marine in space

Viking = Goliath + Valkyire. Transforms
Concept art. Had to thicken the design in game.

The Colossus will feature spotlight shadows. Night effect.

Thor has wider shoulders in game. Originally it was supposed to always use its shoulder guns. But that would be too powerful. Instead, they made it an upgrade. The Thor would repositions itself, hunkering down with one leg back. You see shell casings fly out when it fires. Originally the Thor was going to transform into a tank. But as we all know giant mechs > giant tanks. Also, Terrans already had the Siege Tank unit. So the Thor’s tank mode concept became the new Siege Tank concept.

Another example of It’s never done until the day the game ships. Last week the Tempest was blue and had drone that fired ninja stars. Because somebody complained, this week they reverted them back to Carriers with interceptors. Next week ??? Strongbad beefy arms. http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbemail58.html

Spoiler Zerg unit. I broke the news at GameFaqs message boards with this information. Crazy tentacle action? This is not the same as a Nydus Canal. It was a rather incomplete 3D monster. All it had was one giant tentacle in the middle and two smaller tentacles, one above and one below. 3 tentacles total. The tentacles were emerging from the unit sort of like a mouth. The unit itself wasn’t shown. All we had were the tentacles. The other artists were like, ‘How’d that get in there?’

The tools they use are Adobe Photoshop, 3D studio max, and Startools - a program specifically written for them. Starcraft 2 will utilize a new graphics engine with integrated havoc physics. They plan on having facial animation where you could insert a .wav file and it’ll say it.

The Blizzard mantra is to make games that everyone can play. No matter what age. No matter the PC. Warcraft 3 was able to handle 60 guys on screen. Characters were more vibrant. Starcraft 2 will handle 300+ units.

SC2 environments
Protoss planet of ‘Bel ‘Shir’. Spiritual retreat for the Protoss. Jungle, temples but all in ruins due to the Zerg. The lush is overgrown. The trees and such they call ‘doodads’.

Terran space platform ‘Braxis Alpha’. Terran mining facility on an asteroid. The artists had the most fun with this. Fetures biodomes.

Dark Templar home world of ‘Shakuras’ from Starcraft 1. Used a photographic reference of the cracks within the sidewalk while in Korea. Also Korean temple floors, hexagons. Composed it into the terrain.

Q/A - Will there be a Firebat? Still working on it but they will be back in even though you couldn’t play them at BlizzCon.

Kerrgian’s evolution. Incorporated more Zerg bits but still kept the same things about her that made her cool.

Raynor currently on the bridge of a Battlecruiser. Would like top have him ride his Vulture space Harley again.

Will there be an art book? Not set, hopefully.

Will there be multiple tile sets? Users can create their own maps using the map editor which will be more powerful than Warcraft 3’s. May put extra units not used in the campaign into the editor. They would like for there to be something similar to a DotA community in Starcraft 2.

2:30 Starcraft Lore
Once again Chris Metzen to the scene. Starcraft 2 takes place four years after the end of Brood War. There’s been no word of anything from the Zerg at this time. Sort of like a Cold War feeling. People are expecting an ultimate attack from the Zerg at any time.

Arcturus Mensk has rebuilt his empire relying heavily on his media propaganda machine. His story has already been told in Starcraft 1. So they want to focus on his son, Valerian Mensk who will take over his father. Will he learn from his father’s mistakes and show beneficence, or will he be just as ruthless?

On the Protoss side, there are the survivors on Shakuras. The Protoss have reverted back to the tribal days psychologically as some High Templar still haven’t gotten over their rivalries with the Dark Templar. Others are impatiently waiting to take back Aiur. Artanus is trying to lead a renaissance to get the two races to amend. Artanus has been promoted to Hierarch. By his side is a new female executor named Selendis(?).

Contact has been lost with Zeratul. He has been going from planet to planet looking for clues confirming what Duran said about the hybrids…

(Chris: That’s my boy!) Jim Raynor, the only honest man in the universe. He lost the war against Mensk. Mensk’s propaganda made Raynor out to be the villain. Raynor is out of money and is losing heart, not to mention girlfriend problems (Kerrigan). He drinks heavily. He hasn’t fired up in awhile. He seems lost, but definitely won’t stay that way for too long…
Raynor will once again be the hero, in search of himself and his mission. There’s also Matt Horner, the captain of the Hyperium from the book The Queen of Blades. He is Jim’s conscience.

All that they say about the Zerg campaign is that there will be shocks. As far as we know, after having killed the remaining Cerebrates, Kerrigan is the undisputed ruler of all the Zerg. They may be a possible Cerebrate not under Kerrigan’s control…

There is no Celebrate/Executor/Magistrate from Starcraft 1. That person died. You know who else is dead. Fenix. (Chris: Get over it!).

There might be a possible cameo of Nova, but they would have to make it fit in the storyline. They want to novelize her series. Maybe even a comic book or TV show. (Chris: That would be sweet!) Certainly they wish to keep the idea alive. The Starcraft Ghost cinematic might appear as a hidden track on one of the DVDs.

Mensk has been developing the dark assasins, like a Ghost++…

What happened to the UED? Didn’t Earth have way more advanced technology and why didn’t they bring it? What happened to the expedition reports? Probably finish it up in novels also.

Why is Kerrigan called the Queen of Blades? (Chris: What the hell did we come up with!?) It is an honorific given to her by the Cerebrate. The Zerg are like a buzz saw. They rip things apart. That is the greatest title for her and it personifies her. She was built to be the Queen of Blades by the Cerebrate.

About the N64 mission. More novels. The Zerg were experimenting with and infesting the other leaders such as Alexei Stukov to unlock their true potential of themselves. It’s a window of the future. (Chris to Andy Chambers: You almost completely pulled that out of your ass!)

There is a larger theme happening. Warning…but it was too late.

Starcraft 2 will answer all of the big questions. But there will probably be 50 more once it is all said and done.

Will you keep the original voice actors from the first Starcraft? Well the VA for Zeratul/Duke is dead in real life. It’s been over ten years for the VA for Kerrigan. They had her in studio and are seeing if she can still do it. They casted another guy for Raynor, who sounds 10x closer to the original Raynor that they envisioned.

Will there be a World of Starcraft? (Chris: Isn’t one enough?) No plans at all.

How did Tassadar met Zeratul? Tassadar was the twilight Messiah of the Protoss. What didn’t get covered in the game will be explored in novels.

Terrans breaking the resocialization process? Wacked identity. Discussed in the opening chapters of the Starcraft: First Born novel.

Left at 4:00. With my Exhibit Only pass, I wasn’t able to see the concert in the arena.

Free swag

Closing Statements -

Chris Metzen is one busy, busy guy. World of Warcraft, Starcraft 2, the novels, and the Warcraft movie. Simply amazing. How does he keep his sanity?

Anime Expo 2007 website
http://www.anime-expo.org/

Long Beach Convention Center, June 28-July 2

Photography MJ-Battle

I was unable to attend last year, opting to spent two weeks in Japan. This year’s Anime Expo was moved from the city of Anaheim to Long Beach, which is closer to the LAX airport. The Anaheim Convention Center had a ‘Home, Garden & Active Adult Senior Expo’ instead. Unfortunately, I didn’t pre-register for AX months in advance. It was sort of a last minute ‘I’ll go if you go’ thing. So at the door, a 4-day badge costs $60.

It was going to be a completely different experience from my first anime convention back in 2005 because I wasn’t volunteering this time. I saw this expo 100% from the spectator standpoint and will report it as such. I was anticipating waiting in the registration lines. I did hear that they mailed out badges beforehand to those who registered early enough. So I figured the lines should be shorter this time around, right? (Boy was I wrong on that one.)

Some pre-expo anxieties:
* How’s the morning traffic and how early should I leave? I did a trial run on Tuesday June 26. It took me 15 minutes from the 405 to the 710. You could imagine thousands upon thousands of anime lovers driving to the same place clogging up the freeway.
* Where will I park? Turned out to be $8 a day.
* Food and restaurants? There’s an Outback Steakhouse, P. F. Chang’s, and a Chili’s on Shoreline Drive.
* How long do I plan on staying each day?
* Will I cosplay? Well, I did buy some sandals over the weekend at the mall.

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