The year two thousand and ten is upon us and it's time to start talking about Blizzcon rumors. I assure you that Blizzcon 2010 will happen this year, it's become a yearly event that while Blizzard loses money on - in actuality it's the best PR they get all year. What company would love having a yearly event that draws tens of thousands of people and gets the attention of all the gaming media for the full weekend? It's like having your very own E3 where no other company except you is invited to star on the stage.
So first of all, let's delve into the date and location. Last year it was leaked that Blizzcon 2010 would be held in Las Vegas at the convention center at the end of July due to a listing the convention center had on their website. All the fanboys ran off to start buying hotel rooms and booking reservations - immediately after Blizzard came out and officially said to not book or plan your trips there. They were very adamant about this, so much so that I was lead to believe that Blizzcon 2010 will NOT be held in Las Vegas and possibly never will be now. Soon after the convention center apologized and said it was a marketing mistake on their part, Blizzard had talked to them about having the convention there but it was never confirmed. The convention center had it penciled in for that date and then someone accidentally published it thinking it was set in stone. This tells me that Blizzcon will probably not be held in Las Vegas at all and possibly never will be. That is a mistake of epic proportions and I doubt Blizzard will trust them again.
So let's go with MY prediction. Keep in mind, this is just a prediction (don't go reserving your trip!), but I have been right in the last 2 years on predicting the date of Blizzcon 2008 and 2009 and I have a method to my madness that is actually quite easy for anyone to find. First, I direct you to the Anaheim Convention Center calendar of events. I start looking at events in the fall and usually notice an opening weekend that nothing is happening. Convention centers ALWAYS have something booked for every weekend so to not have something happen would mean they are keeping something secret. Well, Blizzcon has been the ONLY event at Anaheim that I can think of that would want things to be secret until it is officially announced and you will notice there is such a weekend open toward the end of August. With that said, I am predicting that Blizzcon 2010 will happen Friday August 20 and Saturday August 21 at the Anaheim Convention Center.
Now that I said that I bet in the future we'll see those dates get filled up with fake events in 2011.
When can we expect an official announcement though? Last year Blizzcon 2009 was announced well ahead of time on Feb. 18, 2009 - so I am guessing we will hear an announcement sometime within the next month.
What can we expect at Blizzcon 2010? Well, much of the same really. Queue system for buying tickets, improved lines, DirectTV and internet streaming so non-attendees can enjoy the free gift, goodie bags will probably have some more fun stuff since a lot of people moaned about them last year, streamlining the Blizzard store, and hopefully they will fix the bottle-necking problems with the crowds after the main stage shows - those were awful!
What about announcements? Starcraft 2 *should* be out by Blizzcon 2010, Cataclysm should be preparing for a release and might be in closed beta at that point, Diablo 3 will get around to announcing the final class. I doubt we hear about a new WoW expansion, so what will be exciting at Blizzcon 2010? I think this is THE year Blizzard announces their new MMO. What better way to go into the end of your fiscal year knocking the wind out of the sails of Bioware and Star Wars: The Old Republic then to announce the MMO that people are going to more than likely flock to in 2-3 years when it finally gets released? I admit that SW:TOR looks amazing and I will be certainly checking it out and I know a lot of WoW players will as well, but we all know deep down that the next big MMO won't be set in the Star Wars universe, but will be a brand new Blizzard universe.
So first of all, let's delve into the date and location. Last year it was leaked that Blizzcon 2010 would be held in Las Vegas at the convention center at the end of July due to a listing the convention center had on their website. All the fanboys ran off to start buying hotel rooms and booking reservations - immediately after Blizzard came out and officially said to not book or plan your trips there. They were very adamant about this, so much so that I was lead to believe that Blizzcon 2010 will NOT be held in Las Vegas and possibly never will be now. Soon after the convention center apologized and said it was a marketing mistake on their part, Blizzard had talked to them about having the convention there but it was never confirmed. The convention center had it penciled in for that date and then someone accidentally published it thinking it was set in stone. This tells me that Blizzcon will probably not be held in Las Vegas at all and possibly never will be. That is a mistake of epic proportions and I doubt Blizzard will trust them again.
So let's go with MY prediction. Keep in mind, this is just a prediction (don't go reserving your trip!), but I have been right in the last 2 years on predicting the date of Blizzcon 2008 and 2009 and I have a method to my madness that is actually quite easy for anyone to find. First, I direct you to the Anaheim Convention Center calendar of events. I start looking at events in the fall and usually notice an opening weekend that nothing is happening. Convention centers ALWAYS have something booked for every weekend so to not have something happen would mean they are keeping something secret. Well, Blizzcon has been the ONLY event at Anaheim that I can think of that would want things to be secret until it is officially announced and you will notice there is such a weekend open toward the end of August. With that said, I am predicting that Blizzcon 2010 will happen Friday August 20 and Saturday August 21 at the Anaheim Convention Center.
Now that I said that I bet in the future we'll see those dates get filled up with fake events in 2011.
When can we expect an official announcement though? Last year Blizzcon 2009 was announced well ahead of time on Feb. 18, 2009 - so I am guessing we will hear an announcement sometime within the next month.
What can we expect at Blizzcon 2010? Well, much of the same really. Queue system for buying tickets, improved lines, DirectTV and internet streaming so non-attendees can enjoy the free gift, goodie bags will probably have some more fun stuff since a lot of people moaned about them last year, streamlining the Blizzard store, and hopefully they will fix the bottle-necking problems with the crowds after the main stage shows - those were awful!
What about announcements? Starcraft 2 *should* be out by Blizzcon 2010, Cataclysm should be preparing for a release and might be in closed beta at that point, Diablo 3 will get around to announcing the final class. I doubt we hear about a new WoW expansion, so what will be exciting at Blizzcon 2010? I think this is THE year Blizzard announces their new MMO. What better way to go into the end of your fiscal year knocking the wind out of the sails of Bioware and Star Wars: The Old Republic then to announce the MMO that people are going to more than likely flock to in 2-3 years when it finally gets released? I admit that SW:TOR looks amazing and I will be certainly checking it out and I know a lot of WoW players will as well, but we all know deep down that the next big MMO won't be set in the Star Wars universe, but will be a brand new Blizzard universe.
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10/08
