Since we originally unveiled Heart of the Swarm back in May, we’ve continued working in secret, laboring in the dark recesses of Blizzard’s sheetrock-lined offices on the dank and gloomy coast of Southern California. Today, at BlizzCon 2011, we showcased the future of StarCraft II with a new teaser cinematic. Check it out!

With Deathwing’s shadow looming over Azeroth and the mortal realms of Sanctuary steeling for war against the forces of Diablo, the World of Warcraft Annual Pass has arrived to offer WoW subscribers a chance to participate in both apocalyptic conflicts… without breaking the bank.

For a limited time only, players who make a 12-month subscription commitment to World of Warcraft through the WoW Annual Pass will receive the following epic rewards:

• Diablo III FREE – Download the digital version via Battle.net for free when the game launches early next year. This is the full game, not a trial edition.
• Tyrael’s Charger WoW Flying Mount – Ride for the Archangel of Justice on all current and future characters on a single World of Warcraft account. Tyrael’s Charger will arrive via in-game mail with the upcoming launch of patch 4.3.
• Access to the Next WoW Expansion Beta Test – Get a guaranteed spot in the beta test for the next World of Warcraft expansion (at a time to be announced in the future).

You can pay for the WoW Annual Pass on a monthly basis at €12.99 EUR (£8.99 GBP) per month or according to the billing plan of your choice. To participate, you must be 18 or older, have a valid credit card, and have registered a full version of World of Warcraft on or before October 18, 2011.

Sign up for the World of Warcraft Annual Pass here, and then keep an eye on the World of Warcraft community site or the Diablo III community site for future announcements regarding the launch dates of these bonuses.

For more information on this offer, including eligibility requirements and details on how the World of Warcraft Annual Pass applies to players who plan to purchase the Diablo III: Collector’s Edition, please read the full FAQ.

Are you ready for BlizzCon 2011? Blizzard Entertainment's two-day gaming festival begins this Friday, October 21, at the Anaheim Convention Center. The sold-out show features developer discussion panels, top-tier tournament competition, the popular costume and dance contests hosted by Jay Mohr, an epic closing concert featuring Foo Fighters, and much more.

You can still join us from home by purchasing a BlizzCon Virtual Ticket, featuring more than 50 hours of live HD coverage streaming online as well as the exclusive BlizzCon 2011 World of Warcraft pet, Murkablo, and yet-to-be-revealed StarCraft II in-game gift. DIRECTV customers in the U.S. can also order BlizzCon as a Pay Per View event and get a Virtual Ticket for free. For more information, read our recent press release or visit BlizzCon.com.

IgroMir, the premier gaming event in Russia, concluded this weekend after an exciting four days in Moscow.

Come rain or shine, enthusiastic visitors began queuing early at the Crocus Exhibition Centre to get their hands on World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, and, for the first time in Russia, Diablo III and StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm. It was great to meet everyone who came to our booth, and we hope everyone enjoyed their time playing our games.

We’ll be sharing photos from the event soon, so stay tuned!

Several times a year, Blizzard employees around the world gather to celebrate the five-, ten-, and fifteen-year milestones of their friends and colleagues with a ceremony where each recipient is honored with their service award. We now present a gallery with examples of awards that have been handed out over the years in recognition of the hard work, great resolve, and unwavering dedication that has helped make Blizzard the company you know today.

Check out the gallery now!

It’s almost here! Visitors to IgroMir have just one more day to wait until they can play their favorite Blizzard Entertainment games!

From tomorrow, in our booth at the Crocus Exhibition Centre (find us at A2, Hall #13, Pavillion#3) you can get your hands on World of Warcraft: Cataclysm and – for the first time in Russia – Diablo III and StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm. We look forward to meeting you!

For more details about IgroMir please refer to the official website*.

*available only in Russian

BlizzCon 2011 just got even better with today’s announcement that the closing concert for this year’s show will be headlined by none other than Foo Fighters. The multi-platinum rockers will take the stage to close out the convention with a set drawn from the many iconic anthems of their 16-year career. We also announced today that The Artist Formerly Known as Level 80 Elite Tauren Chieftain, Blizzard’s in-house metal band, will be returning to BlizzCon this year and will open for Foo Fighters. Tickets to the convention are currently sold out, but the BlizzCon Virtual Ticket, which offers multi-channel Internet streaming worldwide, is still available. Check out the official announcement for more information.

Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. announced that the Brazilian Portuguese version of its critically acclaimed massively multiplayer online role-playing game, World of Warcraft^®, will be made available in Europe. Brazilian Portuguese will be the tenth officially supported language for World of Warcraft worldwide, and the sixth supported language in Europe, complementing the existing English, French, German, Spanish and Russian versions.

We commonly use the term “soon” when referring to Blizzard releases, because we know that no matter how hard we’re working to reach a target, we’re not going to compromise and launch a game before it’s ready. For Diablo III, we were aiming to launch by the end of 2011. As we’re announcing globally today, our new target for the game is early 2012.

We’re pleased to announce that Blizzard Entertainment will be attending IgroMir 2011, the premier gaming event in Russia, in Moscow this October 6 – 9.
We are delighted to invite you to visit us on booth A2 in pavilion 3, hall 13 of Moscow’s Crocus Exhibition Centre to play our line-up of exciting games. We’ll have almost 100 PCs in total, ready for you to try World of Warcraft: Cataclysm and, for the first time in Russia, Diablo III and StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm! We look forward to seeing you there.
For more information, visit the official site.