Blizzcon 08 is about to open its doors to the world, and that has many of us discussing our favorite MMO moments, both in game and out. A hands-down personal favorite of mine is the World of Warcraft South Park episode from 2006.

In the event you’ve been strapped to a pipe in a strange basement for the past two years, broke free, stumbled onto a Blizzcon 08 ticket, and decided to go, you may have missed the following South Park episode. Everyone else has no excuse, but you’re free to watch it anyway.

Hit the jump for the classic South Park World of Warcraft episode, and witness Cartman stack sunder armor as only he can. Read more…

Activision Blizzard has received $6 million in damages, courtesy of MDY industries; the company behind MMOglider used in the popular World of Warcraft game.

Blizzard began the case against the company on the premise that the software violated copyright, reports BBC news. It was ruled that the use of the software broke the rules of the license agreement which players accept when creating an account. Read more…

To the many übergeeks out there that couldn’t snatch up tickets to BlizzCon fast enough, in DIRECTV lies your savior.  For a mere $40, you can order the event via pay-per-view and watch the whole two-day shindig in hi-def.  Getting the pay-per-view is so close to actually going to BlizzCon that you will even score exclusive in-game items for your World of WarCraft character. Read more…

Any World of WarCraft player worth his carbon knows that their game of choice is filled to the brim with pop culture references that stretch from Paris Hilton to Big Trouble in Little China. It would seem as though Blizzard is continuing that trend with this recent discovery from the Wrath of the Lich King beta.

Everyone’s favorite orphaned anthropomorphic deer, Bambi, makes an appearance in the game, along with his buddies Flower, Thumper, and his mom (who is still alive at this point). Of course, the names were changed to protect the innocent, that being Blizzard’s wallet, but it’s obvious what the inspiration was.

So what happens if you decide to be a tad bit evil and recreate that murder scene of Bambi’s mom? Apparently, Bambi does not like that very much and instead of just taking it lying down like he does in the movie, he decides to totally destroy you. Read more…

Who needs an epic mount when you can get off your ass and experience the steep hills of Azeroth on foot courtesy of a real life treadmill? I’ll tell you who, gamers who haven’t so much as walked around the block in six months, that’s who.

The video below showcases a one mile race taking place in the World of Warcraft by two neon wig wearing gamers on dueling PC connected treadmills.

The sad thing here is that I actually thought of something like this a few weeks ago (my mind wanders when I am searching for news), not so much as a race, but as a means of mixing exercise with lengthy WoW playing sessions. Seeing it in action however — not such a good idea. Read more…

This well done cinematic is a prime example of what sets Blizzard apart from all others in the highly lucrative MMO space.

Yes, the three minute plus clip features stunning CGI visuals, but the most impactful aspect of the presentation is the narrative. The voice you hear throughout the piece is that of the former King Terenas Menethil II, slain by his own son Arthas — better known now as The Lich King.

The father speaks as if he is reciting a loving letter written to his son prior to his death, and you get the feeling that his words have been ringing over and over in his son’s head as he sat frozen on his throne.

“My son, I watched with pride as you grew into a weapon - of righteousness.”

The camera pans in close to his face, and his eyes light up as if to say “enough”, as he awakens from his frozen slumber. As the trailer unfolds, The Lich King contradicts each positive said about him by his father leading to a very clever ending.

Have at the trailer below, and feel free to share your thoughts. Read more…

Anyone who has played a Blizzard game knows that one of their most signature features are their masterful cinematics. Blizzard will be revealing their opening cinematic for Wrath of the Lich King at this years GC with a Q&A session to follow. We will report details from the event to you as soon as they happen.

In the mean time, several of us here are exploring the Lich King beta with every intention of sharing our feedback with you in the form of a podcast as soon as we get the green light to do so. I will say that Northrend is gigantic and the two five mans we had the chance to run looked very nice. Stay tuned.

Blizzard fans have zerg-rushed the Blizzard website into submission over tickets to BlizzCon 08, so Blizzard has come up with a solution to sell the tickets in waves.

Did you ever play “Red light / Green light” as a kid, where you can only run forward when the “it” person says go? Seems that’s the game Blizzard is playing with its BlizzCon 08 registration. Read more…

Many BlizzFans mounted up and rode towards the portal that is Blizzard’s BlizzCon 08 ticket purchase page yesterday only to be turned away. After what one can only assume were several attempts to resolve the issue, Blizzard eventually pulled the site offline and issued the following statement: Read more…

Blizzard Entertainment is having a devil of a time with Diablo III.

As Diablo die-hards festoon the fan sites with their own Photoshopped versions of the yet to be released dungeon crawler, art director Brian Morrisroe is hitting the bricks.

In response to a query by Kotaku regarding the position opening, Blizzard responded with the following e-mail:

“Regarding Brian, he recently resigned to form a startup company ‘outside the game industry’, which is why we posted about the open position. That change won’t impact the game…we’re really pleased with the look and feel that Brian helped create for Diablo III, and the new person we bring aboard will work with other artists on the team to maintain the art style moving forward.”

Many Diablo fans have been up in arms over the new look of the game, saying that the brighter and considerably more colorful sequel is a betrayal of the traditionally darker tones of the games aesthetic.

And now, a first look at the new art direction for Blizzard’s Diablo III. Read more…

No, this has nothing to do with the game or the movie, but who cares!

An article over at The Cut Scene hints that Sony Pictures, the IP owners of a certain Ghostbustin’ franchise, are still very much planning on releasing the Ghostbusters game, but… pretty much didn’t say anything but that.

The Cut Scene got into contact with a Sony representative of some kind (who could be their janitorial union leader for all I know) who stated that they are working “to evaluate various options surrounding the release of the ‘Ghostbusters’ video game.”

Yeah, good times. Read more…

Get’cher Zhevra Mount!

Blizzard, the developers behind the world conquering MMO World of Warcraft, have added a new incentive to play WoW in the form of the Recruit-A-Friend system. Read all about it after the break. Read more…

Activision Blizzard CEO, Bobby Kotick, discusses the companys split with the ESA in an upcoming interview with Variety. The full interview has yet to be published, however a few short quotes pertaining to Activision’s involvement with the ESA were transformed into a write up.

When asked specifically about their break up, Kotick attempted to clarify stating:

“… don’t view it as anything but time off …”

The logic, explained by Kotick below, revolves around the merger, controlling expendatures, and interum decision making.

“With the combined companies, the dues went up enough that I said for it to make sense [to spend that money], we have to make a strategic plan … We don’t have that because nobody owns it for us right now.”

I will attempt to predict the collective reaction by ESA upon hearing this news. “So you’re telling me there’s a chance.” - Lloyd, Dumb & Dumber. If no one owns strategic planning and company expendature, why is Activision going to be present at Comic-Con? Maybe the “time off” would better be described as “time off to see other people”.

Source: Variety

Like it or not, with a reported shareholders vote of 92%, the merger first announced back in December 2007, is finally complete. All last minute hopes of a creative name for the new company are officially squashed, as the new name, “Activsion Blizzard”, proves that compromise is often boring as hell.

In exchange for 295.3 new shares of Activision stock, Vivendi, and all associated properties, become subsidiaries of Activision. However, an additional purchase of 62.9 shares at the tune of $1.7 billion put Vivendi in the drivers seat with nearly 52% ownership in the new entity.

Full details after the jump. Take a deep breath, you’re going to need it. Read more…

So much for a slow transition via the ice hole. Blizzard.com now features a fancy-shmancy flash animation announcing Diablo 3 — ice nowhere to be found. Who knows, maybe they had a good reason for all that frosty goodness.

Perhaps you will be able to ice your enemies with Sub-Zero like swiftness, or perhaps it was nothing more than a marketing attempt which, in the end, appears to have no logical connection to the fire filled reveal that was Diablo 3.

However, while we here at Ripten are a little miffed over the lack of connection between the two, we realize that things could have been worse. The reveal could have given birth to the monstrosity below. Enjoy a glimpse at what could have been after the jump. Read more…

As my fellow writers and I discussed back and forth the possibilities for Blizzard’s upcoming announcement, we decided to hit up the Blizzard site again, and noticed that the image had been updated since our last post.

A few sites are reporting on a confirmation of sorts, from an unnamed source, stating that the mystery game is in fact Diablo 3. However, we have spent a few hours discussing and browsing reference images, all the while making comparisons to the slow reveal image on Blizzard’s site. While Blizzard very well may be announcing Diablo 3, we do not believe that the image on their site is necessarily directly related to that release. Read more…

It’s official! Okay, no, it’s not. Blizzard has been teasing the gaming world with its evolving homepage ice picture, and after this latest update, the planets certainly appear to be aligning for the announcement of World of StarCraft, or whatever they decide to call the new Massively Multiplayer Online game set in the StarCraft universe. Read more…

Ever since a mysterious splash image showed up at Blizzard.com, rumors have run rampant over the possibility of another Diablo game. While some seem to think it’s nothing more than World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King, the crew over at Diablofans.com have put together a damn good case for Diablo 3. Hit the jump. Read more…

Among the many changes the upcoming World of WarCraft patch 2.4.3 will bring, the most significant is probably the ability to get a mount at level 30. Paladins and Warlocks will get their first summon at this level, while other classes can purchase Apprentice level riding for a mere 35 gold. This will make leveling up an alt slightly more bearable, and hopefully you all read this prior to dinging 40 and plunking down too much cash for your soon-to-be-overpriced level 40 mount.

Read on for the full Test Realm patch notes, including ridable dragonhawks and a huge nerf to twinks. Read more…

Instead of just expanding your current World of Warcraft game with the upcoming Wrath of the Lich King, Blizzard announced an entirely new sequel that will “take you to the next step in interactive gaming”. Check out the video to see the surprising new (yet strangely familiar) direction Blizzard is taking the franchise. Read more…