Ok WoW fanatics.  Get ready to get your panties wet… again. Warcraft Con, a.k.a Blizzcon, is rumored to be moving up to July 30th to the 31st next year. Also, I guess they have out grown the small Anaheim convention center and are moving to the Las Vegas Convention Center.  Why didn’t they opt for a closer yet a bit bigger venue like the San Diego Convention Center?

Oh well. In any case, start saving up that money because I expect ticket prices to go up again by another $25 and end up being $150 per person. Why? Because it’s the Las Vegas Convention Center and it’s Blizzard. Both can do whatever the heck they want to do or charge.

[via LVCC]

Updated: The official Warcraft twitter account had this to say.

For you people who are already making travel plans, really?! Is it THAT big of a deal to you?

This video was what most people at WoWcon– erm.. Blizzcon were waiting for.  The confirmation of all the rampant rumors about the word “Cataclysm.”  At Blizzcon, everyone was treated to the debut trailer by Blizzard’s cinematics team.

If you’re a WoW fan and not drooling over this, well. Then you’re not really a WoW fan. Enjoy the video. And clean yourself up when you’re done watching it.

Tonight’s LIVE recording of the Pixelated Podcast will be at 7:15pm. You can watch/listen to the setup, recording, and other shinanegans at PixelatedLIVE.com.

Our special guest co-host tonight will be Medros from All Things Azeroth and maybe Joe the Peacock.  We’ll obviously be talking about Blizzcon, their games (WoW, Starcraft, and Diablo) as well as other topics that we come up with.

So join us, wont you?

• No more spell power
• Spell power is included into INT
• no more attack power, it’s in Agility
• Hunters now use focus. No more mana. No more INT.
• Armor Penetration is Gone too
• All new class combination are confirmed
• Goblin racials! Rocket Jump – Activate your rocket belt to jump 20 yards, every 2 min
• Pack Hobgoblin: Calls in your personal servant, allowing you to bank access every 30 min
• Better Living Through Chemistry – Alchemy +15, your own potions give you more health/mana
• Worgen Racials: Darkflight is a sprint. Aberration: Reduced duration against curses and diseases. Flayer: Skinning bonus, no need for a skinning knife.
• Worgen form: Cosmetic only, no bonuses. Out of combat, you choose human or worgen. In combat you’re always a worgen.
• Goblins can be DKs, rogues… Ghostcrawler flipped that way too fast. No Paladins or Druids.
• Worgen: No Paladins or Shaman, but can do everything else.
• WARLOCKS! Soul shards: Dont take up bag space!
• Soul shards will show up on your UI. Looks like you can have up to three.

All the things that were leaked in the past, were all confirmed.  With one thing extra that we didn’t hear about before Blizzcon.  The new professional, Archeology.

Things that were confirmed:

• Level cap raised to 85
• Goblins join the Horde
• Worgens join the Alliance.
• Worgens can change from Human to Worgen and back.
• Both old continents, Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms, have been completely changed.
• You can fly around in the old continents
• New profession: Archeology
• More raids, quests and weapons, of course.
• 7 new zones.
• Maelstrom in the center of the world is now a sunken city

After getting some great tasting burgers at Tony Romos, Dan and I headed out to check out the WoWinsider meetup/blizzcon pre-party.  Here is what we saw when we got there “fashionably” late.  But I think we were out of “style” getting there at 9:50pm which seemed super late.  But the people that were there seemed very fun.  We also got to rub elbows with the whole cast of The Guild! Including the actress that plays the “tall hot bitch”, Riley.

Thanks WoWinsider for a great party… and the free booze.

so my first post is going to be short…with the gang about to hit up free continental breakfast (only the finest here at PG) then hit the lines for coverage!  Expect some comments on anything *not* WoW as the day progresses.

Take out the artfully concealed hot girl, and this is how people camp for Blizzcon.

I’ll be liveblogging the opening ceremony.  So get on this page if you’re not buying the live stream or DirectTV pay-per-view. Oh, and tell a friend.

Blizzcon 2009 Opening Ceremony Liveblog

Also, don’t forget to follow my whole Blizzcon adventure on the weekend long liveblog.

PixelatedGeek’s Blizzcon 2009 Adventure Liveblog

UPDATE: The video didn’t render all the way. A fix will be uploaded tonight. Why not go to bed and comeback tomorrow.

UPDATE 2: Video fixed. Enjoy

Just got our passes and swag bag.  Here is what was in store for all attendees.  Yes, be jealous you DirectTV and Internet Stream watchers.

I remember when this intro was the greatest and most realistic graphics I have ever seen on a computer.  It sucked though that my 25Mhz computer (with TURBO button on!) couldn’t handle this intro.  So, I had to watch it at my neighbors house.  Boy was I jealous.

When I finally got a computer that could run Warcraft 2, I immediately started playing and fell in love with my first RTS game.  I also remember my first days of Battle.net.  They consisted of a 28.8Kbps modem over the Prodigy ISP, my dads cell phone, and my friend from middle school.  We played 2v2 matches until our bedtimes. Boy did my dad get mad and ground me off the computer when he noticed his cell phone bill the month after.

See, my friend from middle school had it good.  He already had 2 phone lines.  One for his computer, the other for regular phone calls.  I didn’t.  So, I used my dads cell phone as my walkie-talkie or VoIP as we would call it today. I would be yelling out:

“He’s spotted me!”
“Do you need help?”
“GO GO GO!”

At that time, my dad didn’t know what I was yelling about. But I was a good boy and wasn’t doing drugs. So, he let me play my computer games.  this is the game that got me into the Blizzard franchise.  It was like my gateway Blizzpill.  Cause right after that was Starcraft, Starcraft: Brood Wars, Diablo, Diablo 2, Warcraft 3, Warcraft 3: The Frozen Throne, then finally, the World of Warcraft.

Thank you Blizzard for making such great games.  I can’t wait to cover Blizzcon Friday.