I ran across some blue posts today as I perused the beta forums I thought I would share with you all. It seems part of the server crashing issue, as detailed below, was due to Unholy Blight Rank 2. And there are some new racial abilities being pushed in the next patch. Check it out:

Not to be forgotten, Warriors also have some changes coming. I discovered this little nugget shortly after finding the Rogue info. Read on for the upcoming additions and fixes to the plate wearing meatshields...

Found an update on the Rogue forums you all might be interested in. It seems that Gamnin, a "Blizzard Blue" recently (09/02/08) posted some of the newest changes to rogues. Check it out here:

Azuarc continues his exploration of the new expansion material by taking a break from Northrend zones to examine the achievement system. In part 5 of the journal, you'll find out more about the nature of achievements, the title rewards, and your character's recorded statistics.

Update: link is fixed.

It's official! Blizzard announced today on its website that the previously announced team-up with Activision is now in place. Here's hoping this means more of the great Blizzard gaming we've come to know and love!

We're excited to announce that our planned team-up with Activision, first made public back in December 2007, is now a reality. All regulatory and shareholder approvals have been granted, meaning Blizzard Entertainment -- along with the other companies that made up Vivendi Games -- is now part of a new organization called Activision Blizzard. While this transition doesn't impact our games, websites, personnel, day-to-day operations, or development philosophies, the combined resources of Activision Blizzard will make it easier than ever for us to deliver the best games possible to our players around the world. For more information, please check out our Activision Blizzard FAQ .

On why “Diablo III” isn’t an MMO:

Sams: When we’re deciding what type of game we’re going to make, we look at what the gameplay experience is going to be. We talked to the team a lot and say, “What is it you want to play? What is it that you want to make?” And we really felt like “Diablo” is a franchise that is very cooperative in the manner in which you play it. We felt like the gameplay experience that we had delivered historically with being in a non-persistent world was the right way to do it for this particular product. I think a lot of people expected us to say that this is going to be an MMO — maybe an obvious choice in a lot of people’s minds. But really, the bottom line is we thought the right game to make was “Diablo III” in the way that we’ve announced it.

That's not to say that it won't have multi-player via Battle.net, but that's not what makes an MMO, now is it?  Check out the awesome interview to find a glimpse into why Blizzard is one of the most impressive game makers out there!

We are delighted to announce the World of Warcraft Russian Technical Alpha, commencing next week.

All our Russian-speaking players are invited to participate in this first phase of testing which focuses only on the technical aspects of the game. We would especially appreciate your reports regarding any connection and latency issues you may experience.

The second phase, the Localization Beta, will begin with patch 2.4.3 and will focus on the localization of World of Warcraft.

To coincide with the release of the Russian Technical Alpha, the Russian forums will also be launched, giving our players a place to discuss the functionality of the game in Russian. A list of known issues will be featured here for the launch of the first phase of testing.

You can read this announcement in Russian here.

The forums will go live next week and we look forward to seeing you there!

This comes six months after the announcement that they were working on the project!  Congrats to all the new players who will be able to experience WoW!

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, who leveled up from 70 during the course of their epic performance.

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, the image gallery, and the final tournament bracket to learn more about the event!

Two decades have passed since the demonic denizens, Diablo, Mephisto, and Baal, wandered the world of Sanctuary in a vicious rampage to shackle humanity into unholy slavery. Yet for those who battled the Prime Evils directly, the memory fades slowly and the wounds of the soul still burn.