The 2008 Worldwide Invitational Is Ending!

Today was the last day of the Worldwide Invitational in Paris, France. The day began with a panel led by Blizzard artists Samwise Didier and Dave Berggren where they discussed the distinctive "Blizzard" style of art and graphics (in StarCraft). Also taking place this morning were the Diablo Lore and Art panel that helped players get a feel for the history that has occured since the end of Diablo II: Lord of Destruction and the World of Warcraft: Anatomy of Raids panel where players got an inside view of how the dungeons of Northrend will be constructed. The afternoon brought us to a panel discussion with World of Warcraft developers concerning the PvP system and another panel touching on the Denizens of Diablo.

Finally, the day comes to an end with the closing ceremony featuring a concert given by the Video Games Live orchestra. The crowd will be warmed up by an energetic performance from Blizzard's very own Level 80 Elite Tauren Chieftain.

We look forward to seeing everyone at our next event and would like to thank all our guests for attending and all our viewers for checking out the website during the event! Thanks and hope to see you again soon!

Check out our coverage page and the image gallery to learn more about the event!

Tournament Winners Announced

Over the last two days we have been treated to a spectacular display of skill and speed as world champion players of StarCraft, Warcraft III, and the World of Warcraft Arena, have gathered here to compete.

From beginning to end, these tournaments have provided excitement and surprises for players and spectators alike, and we are now proud to announce the winners of each category.

StarCraft winners

• Winner: ByungGu Song "Stork"
• Runner-up: BoSung Yum "Seashield"
• Third Place: JaeYoon Ma "sAviOr"

Warcraft winners

• Winner: JaeHo Jang "Moon"
• Runner-up: June Park "Lyn"
• Third Place: Manuel Schenkhuizen "Grubby"

World of Warcraft winners

• First Place: Council of Mages
• Second Place: Improved clicks
• Third Place: SK-US

Check out our brackets page for a more detailed tournament overview!

Worldwide Invitational Contest Winners

They dressed up, they strolled, they danced and they RwlRwlRwlRwled – the costume and dance contests on Saturday evening were a huge success and a load of fun for participants, judges, and the cheering crowd alike. An audience of thousands closely observed the Paladins, Orcs, Succubi and others in human form while they made their way across the main stage of the Exposition Center where the 2008 Worldwide Invitational is being held, and loudly cheered for their favorites. It was not easy for the jury -- composed of artists and developers -- to choose the winning costumes since all of them deserve to be honored for their enthusiasm, artistic talent – and courage.

The winners of the costume contest were:

• First place: Gaël Leblanc as a tauren druid
• Second place: Axel Eberlein as a murloc
• Third place: Pierre-Alexandre Gerraert as a tier 6 equipped warrior with mount

The winners of the dance contest were:

• First Place: Valentino Lercher as a male orc
• Second Place: Tunc Uysaler as a male human
• Third Place: Sylvain Trinel as a male dwarf

The contests held prior to the Worldwide Invitational – the machinima and fan art contests – were also a huge success, with many high quality submissions received. We congratulate the following winners, featuring a familiar face from one of our recent community spotlights: Olibith:

The machinima movie contest winners are:

• Best movie: Olibith
• Best Editing: Olibith
• Best Special Effects: Daniel Wasiluk
• Best Scenario: Raphael Daniel

The fan art contest winners were:

• First Place: Paul Mafayon
• Second Place: Quentin Chauvet
• Third Place: Ruben Perez Gonzalez

Our congratulations go out to the winners of the contests and we would like to thank again all of the visitors of the Worldwide Invitational who are the ones making this show such a huge success!

If you want to see some additional pictures of the event and the contests, check out our image gallery while you are waiting for more to come!

Panel: World of Warcraft – PvP Game Systems

With Tom Chilton and Cory Stockton

Tom and Cory gave us a look at how PvP will function in Wrath of the Lich King. Tantalising us with siege vehicle combat and destructible buildings and bridges, the expansion’s PvP will also offer non-instanced PvP in open areas.

PvP rewards will be obtainable through the “Spirit Shards” obtained in dungeons, and also through Honor and “Marks of Honor”.

The maps of Wintergrasp outlined the basis for combat in this outdoor PvP area, but what really caught our attention were the descriptions of the vehicles used for the combat. Allowing combat while mounted, and allowing more than one player per vehicle will put a new spin on group PvP and provide a lot of fun.

Two new Arenas will also be added to allow a greater variety of matches. One Arena will be located beneath the city of Dalaran in Northrend. The second will be in orcish stronghold of Orgimmar. Dynamic environments will provide an extra challenge to combatants, who will now be able to fight in front of a roaring crowd. For the true gladiators, victory will now taste that little bit sweeter.

Lastly, an entirely new battleground will be added in the new expansion as well. Set in Titan Island, this new battleground will feature an “attack and defend” style of PvP-combat. One team will be assigned to defend the fortification on the island while other team will debark in a pure D-Day fashion.

Panel: Diablo III – World Lore and Environment Art

With Leonard Boyarsky and Brian Morrisroe

This panel allowed us a peek into the background of Diablo and an insight into the world of Sanctuary, the setting for all three Diablo games.

In order to create a rich and immersive setting for Diablo III, consideration had to be given for the changes which would have taken place in the twenty years since Diablo II. Cultures have changed and developed in order to deal with the events of the previous two games.

Some tricky questions have been left unanswered after the events of Diablo II, and unfortunately our panel was not ready to enlighten us just yet. We’ll just have to wait and see.

Any world is more than just the sum of its history, and Brian was happy to expound on how the art style used stays true to the original feel of the Diablo world. Even better, we’re going to get to break stuff!

So... about those tricky questions?

Panel: World of Warcraft – Anatomy of Dungeons and Raids

With Tom Chilton, Lead Game Designer, World of Warcraft

In addition to giving us heroic dungeons, Wrath of the Lich King will also provide an expanded raid system by creating a 10- and 25-player experience for every raid dungeon. To keep us busy, there will be 8 levelling dungeons, 4 max-level dungeons and 3 first-tier raid instances. All dungeons will have a heroic mode. As a bonus, Naxxramas will be re-introduced as a Northrend raid instance.

To help with all that adventuring, itemization will get a work over, and dungeons will provide more items desirable to a wider range of classes, as well as PvP gear. There will be no faction requirements for heroic dungeons, but you will be able to earn reputation for the faction of your choice by wearing the tabard of that faction.

To whet our appetite, we got our first look at the design and concept art for The Culling of Stratholme and Halls of Stone, as well as The Occulus, a max-level dungeon which will allow, and utilise, flying combat!

Hang on to those gryphons and wyverns!

Panel: World of Warcraft Classes – Present and Future

With Tom Chilton, Lead Game Designer, World of Warcraft

Tom started out with a discussion on the current class ‘hot topic’ – the death knight. A historic view of the death knight throughout Warcraft lore reminded us of their powers in both Warcraft II and Warcraft III and touched on the story of Arthas’ own fall (or rise) into the role of death knight. With that as a basis, the next issues to address were the two roles designated for death knights in Wrath of the Lich King: tanking and DPS. Tom also let us know that overall dps for tanks is going to be increased.

Items will be changed to ensure that more classes can use each item, and that there are less drops which will be unusable unless a character of a very particular class and spec is present. Death knights will use the same kinds of items as warriors.

The death knight’s unique rune resource system gives them a distinctly different feel from other classes. Tom elaborated on the evolution of the rune system through iterations of UI design and cost/ability balance.

A discussion of death knight spells and talents rounded out the look at this newest and eagerly awaited character class, with a review of the tanking and dps presence mechanics. Most importantly, Tom confirmed that all races will be able to become death knights – that includes gnomes and taurens.

The existing classes have not been forgotten though, and there were some enticing glimpses of the talents being developed for Wrath of the Lich King. Exciting times lie ahead for classes current and new.

Panel: Diablo III – Design Fundamentals

With Jay Wilson, Lead Designer, Diablo III

Jay started out with a look at Diablo and Diablo II, outlining the strengths of the games and what made them unique. Staying true to the Diablo experience has been important for Diablo III - keeping the feel of the previous games while expanding on those core elements.

The heroes will play a large part in the feel of Diablo III, with strong and unique archetypes that will make them stand out. Each character has their own style of play and abilities in order to make their tactics and strategy different.

Ease of play in both single-player and cooperative mode will ensure that the mechanics of the game don’t get in the way of the visceral experience. Cooperative games can include up to eight players, and Battle.net will be improved to make it easier to join games and find people to play with.

Changes to gameplay mechanics with regard to health recovery should make the game more tactically challenging. And then there’s the monsters, who have been designed to provide some more challenges of their own.

Diablo III looks like it will put up a tough fight for even the most experienced players of its predecessors.

Panel: StarCraft II - Evolving Design

With Rob Pardo, Executive Vice President, Game Design

Rob met an enthusiastic group of fans at the StarCraft II panel who were very keen to hear how progress has been going with the highly-anticipated strategy title.

Firstly Rob addressed the main goals behind the StarCraft II vision. Building on the strengths of the original, StarCraft II re-imagines this universe, expanding and enhancing on the differences between the races and making them more distinct. In order to appeal to those who have played StarCraft I so extensively, new strategies and tactics have been created in order to give the game a new feel, despite the familiar faces.

Rob gave detailed explanations of the mechanics and tactics for several zerg units, showing each in action in the game to demonstrate how they worked. Examples of protoss psionics and terran vechicles in combat showed the current development directions for these races. The protoss forcefield was particularly popular with the audience.

Overall, the update was a good look into how StarCraft II will expand and deepen the StarCraft universe to give us a sequel that’s both refreshingly new, and delightfully familiar.

Live Raid

with Nihilum

In an epic, live raid against the final boss of The Burning Crusade, Nihilum took on Kil’jaeden before an audience of thousands. The Nihilum team on stage were Kungen (Thomas Bengtsson), Hath (Luke Brown) and Sniffy (Bryndis Sturludottir). Shoutcasting the match was Gustav Käll, who talked us through this extremely complex and difficult fight.

It was great to get a glimpse of the end-game raiding of World of Warcraft as Nihilum battled through each phase of the fight to rounds of applause. Unfortunately, while they were not in the end successful, they did give everyone present the chance to experience this amazing encounter, considered to be one of the most spectacular in World of Warcraft.

Worldwide Invitational 2008 Photo Gallery

We have just added a photo gallery recapping memorable moments from the Worldwide Invitational event in Paris! Take a moment to check it out.

Worldwide Invitational Tournament Brackets

You can follow the winners and losers of the Warcraft III and StarCraft tournaments at the Worldwide Invitational by checking out our Brackets page. This page is updated frequently so keep an eye on it to keep up to date!

Diablo III Unveiled!

Twenty years have passed since the cataclysmic events of Diablo II. Mephisto, Diablo, and Baal have been defeated, but the Worldstone, which once shielded the world of Sanctuary from the forces of both the High Heavens and the Burning Hells, has been destroyed, and evil once again stirs in Tristram....

Following the unveiling of Diablo III today at the Blizzard Entertainment Worldwide Invitational, we've launched the game's official website, with information about the places, characters, monsters, and adventures awaiting you upon your return to the world of Sanctuary. Some of the site's highlights include:

• The cinematic teaser trailer shown at the 2008 Worldwide Invitational
• A 20-minute gameplay demo video
• More than 60 screenshots and pieces of concept art
• Deckard Cain's journal, narrated by Deckard Cain himself -- stay a while and listen!
• And much, much more

Visit the new Diablo III website now to learn more about the game, and make sure to check out the official FAQ and the announcement press release.

Worldwide Invitational 2008 Opens

It has been exciting here in Paris at Porte de Versailles for the opening of the 2008 Blizzard Entertainment Worldwide Invitational. Expectant gamers queued up in anticipation of the event’s opening at 8am, and flooded into the convention hall to experience all of the amazing things on offer. With playable versions of StarCraft II and World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King, displays and activities, people were kept busy until the Opening Ceremony commenced.

Anthony Kavanagh and China opened the event and introduced Blizzard Europe’s Managing Director, Fred Menou, who welcomed everyone to the Invitational before passing the floor to Mike Morhaime, Blizzard’s CEO and cofounder. The rumours which have been flying for the last few weeks were finally put to rest when Mike announced Blizzard’s latest project, Diablo III, to a chorus of cheers. With a stunning trailer and a gameplay demo walkthrough by Lead Producer Jay Wilson, our appetite was truly whet for this latest installment of the Diablo universe. Thankfully we’ll have the next couple of days to attend panels about Diablo III in order to get a little more information about this exciting new development.

It looks like being an exciting two days, and we’ll be bringing you coverage of the panels and tournaments in order to keep you up to date with events at the Worldwide Invitational.