Oki, it doesn't really say that, but Diablofans has completed the hidden picture from the CSS (cascading style sheet) inside Blizzard's spash screen, and it truly is an evil looking penguin!

Today's splash screen brings us no closer to truly knowing what Blizzard is trying to tell us. Not surprising, otherwise they'd have just told us to wait until the announcement this weekend at the WWI.

Is it a protoss, is it Arthas, or do we have a killer penguin about to invade Norrath?! Diablofans has their opinion, and honestly, who can argue with Medievaldragon!?

Tundra: 04
Harbinger: 08
Cavern: 15
Cold: 16
Icy: 23
EvilPenguin: 42
[D, H, O, P, W, ?]

That leaves us with 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42.
Look familiar? They are the LOST numbers.
You can only wonder why Blizzard chose these numbers.

We have 5 days of crazy clues that no one can decipher for sure, so we'll just have to wait, and wonder, and I'm going to go remove that image from my desktop because it's giving me nightmares! Folks are arriving in Paris by the plane load, and our own team of folks are there as well, so as soon as the announcement is made we'll have the info for you!

Blizzard has changed their splash screen once again today! Saturday launches this year's Blizzard's Worldwide Invitational, giving us one more day of changes. Unless of course someone at Blizzard got left home to mind the store, in which case, we never know what could happen! As always, Diablofans has possible answers!

As for the runes on the icy image the previous were: the World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King's Frostmourne rune, followed by the Hel Rune from Diablo II, and the protoss Alkilae tribe symbol from Starcraft II. Today's rune seems like a solar system. This is not a symbol you see often in a Blizzard game. The only thing that it resembles is an Arcane Sanctum from Warcraft III.

Otherwise it can be interpreted as three franchises and a new franchise at the center (4 orbs). Or Starcraft Galaxy? Those staring eyes in the splash page look a lot like a Dark Archon -- and if you have been reading Starcraft: The Dark Templar pocket book you will know that Ulrezaj the Dark Archon has returned to Aiur.

They go on to talk about the The Valenzetti Equation, in a very weird version of NotPron!

In more WWI news *insert another World War One joke here* Blizzard will be streaming the opening and closing ceremonies as well as some of the tourneys and concerts, so don't miss out!

As the Paris Games Developer Conference (GDC) wraps up today, everyone is excited to move towards the Blizzard Worldwide Invitational.  So when Gamasutra had a chance to sit down with the Blizzard VP of Design, Rob Pardo, it was intereting to hear what he had to say about the future of MMO design.

But how about the movement into multiple franchises at Blizzard, from Warcraft to Starcraft? Pardo explained: “With Blizzard, we found the ability to put an IP on hold. We wanted to do another RTS, but we were tired of green-skinned orcs, so we moved into that Starcraft world.”

Indeed, pausing successful franchises for some time is a tactic that not many other companies take, but Pardo says it comes with some benefits:

“What was interesting is that when we were away from [Warcraft] for a while, when we came back to it four or so years later, we had all these ideas for it. There was Warcraft III, and then halfway through that the idea for World of Warcraft came up.”

He has a great look at why MMOs aren't going to consoles just yet, and what community in MMOs are made out of!

The Blizzard splash screen has been updated once again, and the possibility of it being a direct hint (which Blizzard isn't famous for) for Diablo 3 is growing faint.

Diablofans had this to say:

The new hidden image shown in the CSS file is now looking like a penguin. I merged the three images. The mystery image today was titled 23.jpg -- in the alphabet that corresponds to the letter "W". Now we were trailed off completely. The previous sequences were interpreted as a D, an I and an O from Diablo. A letter W wouldn't make sense with only three days left. Unless it meant World of Diablo Online, but two letters or three remain to be released probably. Could the numbers instead refer to Diablo runes? There is a mysterious rune combination in Diablo II patch 1.11 that has not been discovered.

Blizzard Vice President of Design, Rob Pardo, told Games Industry Biz this:

"So you want me to announce the game before our announcement?" he said. "No offense, but I think there's like 300 people here, and I'll be ripped apart by 8000 people there [at the Invitational] if I pre-announce it - but it's going to be really exciting. I think everybody here will be really excited about the announcement."

Little industry birds are running around chirping "It's not what everyone thinks it is", but to be honest, Blizzard could go anywhere with this and we'd all love it, because it's Blizzard! And even as we doubt the Diablo 3 announcement, VideoGaming24/7 has this:

Speaking under conditions of anonymity, a senior UK development source has claimed today that the Blizzard Worldwide Invitational game announcement Rob Pardo alluded to in Paris this morning is definitely Diablo III.

A second, highly-placed European source has also just told us that they are “sure” that Diablo III will be revealed on Saturday afternoon at the event.

If true, the internet will snap. Blizzard’s been teasing all week on the game and speculation, to say the least, is running hot.

Only 2 days to go until the WWI and the end of specualtion with the official announcement!!

Following yesterday's story regarding the Blizzard splash screen comes a change in the cracks of ice! Today's splash screen shows cracks in the ice that show circular symbols, and the passionate folks at Diablo Fans have some idea as to why!

Another interesting fact is the URL: [URL="http://us.media.blizzard.com/232309/_images/ice1.jpg"]http://us.media.blizzard.com/232309/_images/ice1.jpg[/URL]

Why 232309? If we assume that the numbers correspond to the letters in the alphabet we get 232309=WWI ... ring a bell? :-) World Wide Invitational
23 = W
23 = W
09 = I
Anyway the "hidden" picture is called 04.jpg. ([URL="http://us.media.blizzard.com/232309/_images/04.jpg"]http://us.media.blizzard.com/232309/_images/04.jpg[/URL])
My guess is that tomorrow we'll see a picture called 09.jpg, then on wednesday 01.jpg ....

There's more to this theory, so read on to find out the whole story, and info on how X-Fire leaked info!

Have you seen the new, almost something splash screen over at Blizzard.com? If you're familiar at all with the history of Blizzard you'll know that this type of feature is how new projects or announcements  are normally made.

Keep an eye out for what shows up there soon! It could be anything at all from the talented and incredible people over there! If it turns out to be just a new redesign though, I'll be very disappointed!

Most of us have assumed that Blizzard's hiring frenzy has been in response to Starcraft II and some believed it was for WotLK developers.  But recently even more rumors are spreading about Diablo 3 as we move towards Blizzcon.

For so long their top secret project was unknown, and while today's rumors aren't new - they may certainly explain some things!

So today's rumor mill info can be found in the following places:
Diablo Fans
Blues News
Blizzplanet

While there's nothing to really report, very few expect an announcement before Blizzard's Worldwide Invitational June 29th.  We know that anything Blizzard does with Diablo will certainly include online play, so we're waiting to hear just as eagerly as you are!

Additional tickets go on sale tomorrow! Grab them while you can! This event should really be a lot of fun.

We have big news for everyone looking forward to the 2008 Blizzard Entertainment Worldwide Invitational in June. Additional tickets are going on sale, attendees will be able to enjoy two live concerts during the closing ceremony and a renowned comic book artist will be on hand to sign his work. Read on:

• Additional ticket sales for the Blizzard Worldwide Invitational will begin tomorrow, Thursday, May 29th, at 6:00 AM Pacific Time. If you haven’t yet purchased tickets for the event, follow the “Ticket Sales” link on the official Worldwide Invitational website. There will only be a limited number of additional tickets available, so don’t delay in buying yours if you plan to attend.
• The renowned video game music orchestra, Video Games Live, and Blizzard Entertainment’s own in-house band, Level 70 Elite Tauren Chieftain, have announced that they’ll be performing live on stage during the closing ceremony on Sunday, June 29th. Read our full press release for more information.
• For those following the World of Warcraft comic series, designer and artist Ludovic Lullabi will be present for signings at the booth of the French World of Warcraft comic publisher, Soleil.

That's right folks, it's time to celebrate WoW and Blizzard once again!

Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. today announced plans for its third BlizzCon™ gaming convention, to be held at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California on October 10 and 11. BlizzCon is a celebration of the global player communities surrounding Blizzard Entertainment®'s Warcraft®, StarCraft®, and Diablo® franchises. In response to the demand to accommodate more attendees, this year's event has expanded from two convention halls to three.

"Whenever we've been able to meet and interact with Blizzard gamers from around the world, it's been a great experience for us," stated Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. "We're looking forward to seeing even more of our players at this year's BlizzCon and delivering another entertaining and informative event for them."

BlizzCon will offer a wide variety of activities to help all attendees get the most out of the two-day event. In addition to serving as a gathering place for the different Blizzard Entertainment gaming communities, attendees will be able to enjoy:

• Hands-on play time with upcoming Blizzard Entertainment releases
• Discussion panels with Blizzard Entertainment developers
• Competitive and casual tournaments for players to showcase their talents
• Areas and activities devoted to licensed products such as the World of Warcraft® Trading Card Game
• Costume, machinima, and character sound-alike contests with great prizes
• Commemorative merchandise based on the Blizzard Entertainment franchises
• A silent auction
• More exciting activities to be announced

Tickets for BlizzCon will go on sale in the next few weeks at a price of $100 USD per person. As the event draws closer, further details will be announced on the official BlizzCon website: www.blizzcon.com.

If you thought shopping for Blizzard merch was fun before, you'd better hold on to your hats!

We are proud to announce the release of the brand-new Blizzard Store! Completely redesigned from the ground up, the Blizzard Store allows you to purchase Blizzard Entertainment games and other merchandise directly from the source. Here are some of the features of the new Blizzard Store:

• User-friendly interface makes your shopping fast and convenient.
• Search and browse products by major franchise categories as well as product type.
• Convenient online shopping tools such as saving payment methods and shipping addresses for future reference.
• Digital downloads: now you can purchase select Blizzard Entertainment titles as direct downloads, with immediate access upon payment.
• Purchase World of Warcraft game time for yourself or for a friend.

We hope you enjoy the new Blizzard Store!