Blizzard Entertainment Announces BlizzCon

Officials from Blizzard Entertainment have announced plans for the company’s first fan convention, named BlizzCon. The event is due to take place on October 28th and 29th in Orange County, California. Although few other details are yet available, the event will include question and answer panels with the developers of World of WarCraft and StarCraft: Ghost, as well as watching pro gamers compete at WarCraft III and StarCraft in the BlizzCon Invitational tournament. Blizzard's official announcement commented: "BlizzCon will be an ideal event for gamers from around the world to meet each other, participate in live Q&A's with Blizzard developers, and share their passion for their favorite Blizzard games." The event follows in the wake of other similar game or game developer-specific conventions organized by the game creator itself, such as id's annual QuakeCon LAN party, the twice-yearly EverQuest dominated Fan Faire from Sony Online Entertainment and the similarly biannual Roundtable Road Trip by Dark Age of Camelot publishers Mythic Entertainment. All these events are driven primarily by online followings for the games, with a majority of the titles concerned being massively multiplayer online role-playing games. In this sense, the conventions prove an effective way for developers to gauge core support for new products and additions, as well as maintaining general interest in the franchise.