Blizzcon tickets go on sale tomorrow, Wednesday April 24 at 7pm PDT, then again Saturday April 27 at 10am PDT

There are also tickets available at 7pm PDT on Wednesday May 1 for an exclusive pre-BlizzCon dinner to benefit Children’s Hospital of Orange County, which will include Blizzcon tickets within the sale price. So what do you need to know to get your Blizzcon tickets? There’s a large number of things you need to have in place to do it before the actual time, and Gamebreaker has some top tips of our own.

• Get a Battle.net account. You probably have one of these, but if you don’t that would be step 1!
• Add a payment method to your account. You’ll need to do this before the day, and having a backup method or two in place is no bad thing. Also, if you’ve had your battle.net account all set up for a while, check that your payment methods are up to date.
• Blizzard also recommends that you contact your bank and let them know you’ll be buying Blizzcon tickets, so that they don’t assume the $175 payment to someone you usually give $14.99 a month is fraudulent and block it.
• Set up your cookies! If your browser is not set up to allow and automatically refresh cookies, you will be unable to move forward in the queue for tickets and may even lose your place within it. Also make sure that Javascript is enabled, and shut off any adblockers.
• While you’re actually buying tickets, keep your browser window open so you don’t lose your place in the queue. 
• If you’re buying tickets for family or friends, have their names handy (to be printed on each badge), as well as each attendee’s Battle.net account name (email address) so they can participate in this year’s pre-BlizzCon online merchandise pre-sale. You’ll have until May 14 to enter or change this information.
• Keep an eye on your email! A confirmation will be sent there, if it doesn’t show up you’ll need to go back to the store to confirm it.

And, on top of all that, there are several things you can do to make sure you’re in the best possible position to get your hands on some tickets…

• Ensure you have commandeered every single available computer in your house that can be connected to the internet. Ask neighbours, friends or co-workers, too. If you’re in an office during the sales window, kudos, make the most of it.
• Get people. People have fingers, fingers can push F5 repeatedly. Doing that is the key to getting Blizzcon tickets. They sell out ridiculously quickly.
• Hand exercises are a vital step to avoiding crippling F5 related injury. 
• If you can’t get people, try cats. Place laser pointers above your keyboard, pointing at the F5 key. 
• If you can’t get cats, try a drinking bird toy. Dogs are probably not patient enough. 
• If your neighbours have internet too, ask to borrow it. The tickets will be sold out in moments anyhow, so it won’t be for long. 
• Make sure you don’t need to leave your desk for anything at that time. Not even a pizza. Not even the arrival of your first-born child. These are Blizzcon tickets, people! 
• Ensure your electricity supply is stable. Maybe consider a backup generator. Or see if your PC can run off your car battery like something from Pimp My RIde.
• Go on Pimp My RIde. Get a computer with internet and an automatic F5 pressing system.

And good luck! We’ll see you there. 

The post Blizzcon Tickets: Are You Prepared? appeared first on Gamebreaker.tv.

StarCraft 2 Will Include a Training Tool to Push Players from Single Player to Multiplayer

I’ve played Real Time Strategy (RTS) games for years. I continue to play to this day. ,StarCraft 2 is something I boot up at least once a week if not more…but not for multiplayer. I always thought I was in the minority on this topic. I love watching StarCraft 2 streams, tournament matches, and YouTube videos. I listen to Lore recap some epic matches and I have a basic idea of some of what he’s talking about but I simply don’t play online. Ok, maybe a match here and there with a friend or my wife but never, and I mean NEVER, a matchmaking match. I can live with that though. I enjoy my single player experience enough to make the purchase still worthwhile.

As it turns out, I may not be in as small a group as I thought I was for all these years.  In a recent interview with PCGamesN, CEO of Blizzard Mike Morhaime released some details regarding a training tool that will be included in the release of StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm this coming March.

Morhaime summed up the new training tool by saying, “There’s a really nice feature we’re adding in Heart of the Swarm which is a training area where you can basically play against the computer and the computer gives you tips on what you should be doing. It gradually gets harder. When you have completed the training program, you get unranked matched against the AI.”

The basic philosophy here is that through a series of progressively harder AI battles, single player gamers can be trained through tips and tricks to feel more comfortable in a matchmaking environment. While I doubt the system is about to turn me into a top ranked StarCraft 2 player any time soon, I do hope it can help improve my game to the point where I don’t hesitate for 10 minutes deciding if I really want to join matchmaking or not. As it is right now one of two things tend to happen when I do actually queue up: 1) I get trounced quickly or 2) I start commentating to myself as if I were just watching a match where someone else gets demolished. Maybe this tool could help a little…or maybe I’m just terrible.

What do you think?

The post StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm Trains Players appeared first on Gamebreaker.tv.

It’s official.  StarCraft II‘s expansion Heart of the Swarm is to be released on March 12th, 2013.

An annoucement from Blizzard as of this morning has stated that the expansion will be available in both digital and non-digital form for $39.99 USD.  They are also offering a Collector’s edition — in stores — for $79.99 USD and a Digital Deluxe Edition for $59.99 USD.  Those who do not purchase the DDE will have the chance to change their minds later at a cost of $20.

For those planning on dropping money on the Digital Deluxe edition, you can look forward to:

• Three StarCraft II-themed Battle.net portriats
• StarCraft II Zerg Ultralisk “Torrasque” skin
• World of Warcraft Baneling Battle Pet
• Diablo III “Blade Wings” item – Queen of Blades-styled wings for Diablo III heroes
• Diablo III Zerg banner sigil

Those willing to drop a bit more and get the Collectors Edition will receive the following in addition to the contents of the Digital Deluxe Edition:

• Behind-the-Scenes DVD and Blu-ray
• Collector’s Edition Soundtrack CD
• Heart of the Swarm Hardcover Art Book
• Zerg Rush Mousepad

You can read the official announcement here.

The post Heart Of The Swarm Release Date Announced appeared first on Gamebreaker.tv.

In the most recent update on StarCraft2: Heart of the Swarm, Blizzard has detailed plans for clan support, which will be added to the beta in patch 2.0.1.

With the new update testers will be given the ability to create and join clans of up to 50 players.  Anyone will be able to create and join a clan, and gain access to their clan’s menu window.  The window will include a private clan chat, news for the clan an info tab and members roster.

Blizzard does warn that the feature is still and work in progress so be prepared for changes.  They also clarify that clans are geared toward competitive teams — which is one of the reasons for the size limit — and that they are working on ways to support more casual, larger groups.

The post also lists the following notes about clan functionality within the beta:

• Clan names must be 3-24 characters long, and will be case sensitive, allowing spaces, numbers, periods, apostrophes, and commas.
• Clan Tags must be 2-4 characters long, and are also case sensitive, allowing spaces, numbers, periods, apostrophes, and commas.
• Clan names and Tags must adhere to standard name policies.
• The Clan Tag is automatically pre-pended to a player’s name.
• There is a limit of 50 members per Clan.

The post For The Clan appeared first on Gamebreaker.tv.

SlayerS Drama Placed on CranK’s Shoulders

By now, you’ve probably heard about the famed StarCraft II team SlayerS breaking up. If not, well, spoiler alert and all that.

SlayerS announced last week that it will be disbanding in November of this year. The announcement came in the wake of player disputes and confrontations that shook the team to its core. There’s plenty of drama to go around, such as the supposed heated clashes between SlayerS’ co-founder Lim “Boxer” Yo Hwan and Mun “MMA” Seong Won, but much of this drama is unfolding around the unsuspecting Choi Jae Won, also known as “CranK.”

You’ve probably heard of CranK. Yes, he’s the skilled SC2 player that joined the newly formed Axiom Gaming, a North America eSports team headed up by Genna Bain and her husband, John “Totalbiscuit” Bain. CranK made headlines earlier this month when Axiom had to pull him out of the MLG MvP tournament due to issues regarding his neck. Now, the progamer is steeped in controversy, and his alliance with Axiom may have something to do with it.

You may have heard about a phone call that CranK had with the owners of SlayerS and his screaming match with Ka-Yeon “Jessica” Kim. If not, here is a translated transcript of the call, published by Esfiworld. The transcript is full of back-and-forth between CranK and Jessica. After some time and angst, Boxer steps into the call, at which point CranK breaks into literal tears of frustration.

For those of you that don’t know, CranK is relatively new to the eSports scene, having finished up his service in the South Korean military over a year ago. He is 24 years of age and, according to the transcript, is highly concerned with the accomplishments he has made thus far. Part of the reason he joined Axiom was to pursue a new opportunity that would get him out of his parent’s home and help him make ends meet, this is also why he began streaming regularly. He is now being accused of lying to SlayerS and being a large part of the reason why the team is breaking up.

Axiom Gaming

CranK’s spat with Jessica aside, his conversation with Boxer provides some personal insight on the matter. The transcript suggests that Boxer and the other team members of SlayerS were often at odds, with Boxer going so far as to call players MMA, Alicia, and Ryung “thugs.” According to the transcript, CranK often claims that he had approached both Boxer and Cella regarding his unhappiness in the team, but both Boxer and Jessica cast blame on the player, largely because they had no one else to blame. Throughout the transcript, it is suggested that CranK left SlayerS due to his neck pain, but Jessica and Boxer say that he used a fake excuse to grab a more lucrative position with Axiom.

Axiom has released a statement regarding the matter, which includes the translated perspective from CranK himself.

To his credit, Boxer shows eagerness to meet with CranK and end the issue on good terms throughout the transcript. Regardless, SlayerS is still steeped in controversy and has more bad blood to deal with from slighted players like MMA and Alicia. The drama is only just beginning to unfold, so grab popcorn or whatever and prepare for a bumpy ride.

The End is Nigh for SC2 Casting, Maybe

In other news, the SC2 community seems to be convinced that the sky is falling, especially now that Nick “Tasteless” Plott is beginning to cast League of Legends games. South Korea’s GOMTV made an announcement last week concerning the upcoming IGN ProLeague Season 5 (It’s in Korean, FYI), showing that the broadcaster will be establishing its presence in the League of Legends scene. Much to the chagrin of SC2 fanatics, Tasteless was seen casting LoL games on GOMTV just a few days ago, showing off his impeccable fashion sense while he was at it.

Needless to say, the SC2 community is mourning the loss of one of their most favored casters ever, despite the fact Tasteless has not said anything about giving up on SC2. Also, if you didn’t know, DJWheat has been casting League of Legends games too.

Bye, Voyboy

Voyboy has been benched by CLG, being replaced by Yoonsup “Locodoco” Choi. “Benched” may be a loose term, as Voyboy’s Twitter suggests he is actually looking for a new team to play with for LoL’s Season 3. Voyboy took the time to organize an AMA on Reddit to provide some insight regarding his expulsion from the team:

“Long story short: Chauster’s jungling, Jiji’s staying mid, Hotshots relearning top and Locodoco is gonna play support for Doublelift.

The root cause of the roster swaps were basically the fact that the team felt Hotshot was under performing in the jungle and he had to be moved and to fix that problem I was selected as the person to get benched. I don’t agree at all with the decision that was reached. There are so many things that can be fixed and improved on this team as most people can tell, however this is the solution that they chose. The best possible solution in my opinion would have been to have Hotshot be our manager/coach.”

The post SlayerS Drama Threatens to Devour eSports appeared first on Gamebreaker.tv.

We tend to talk about free to play gaming quite a bit here and part of the reason that we do is because developers keep bringing it up.  Whether or not players agree, developers and publishers are seeing it as a viable form of monetization — as long as they can figure out how to make it fit the game.

The topic came up once again when StarCraft 2 lead designer Dustin Browder admitted that Blizzard is “looking at free to play as an option for the multiplayer,” during a panel at the Valencia eSports Congress.

However, the team just isn’t sure how to go about making money from it.  According to Browder:

We don’t know how we would monetise it. While it might be good fun for me to play against someone with only half the units available to them, that’s not going to be an enjoyable experience for them.

I have to admit, this does seem like a bit of an issue.   StarCraft 2 is vastly different from other competitive free to play offerings like League of Legends and SMITE where the a steady stream of new champions (or gods) will allow the companies to easily monetize the game and still keep things fairly even.

However, there is the option of the cosmetic route.  The question is: Would skins and other cosmetics bring in enough cash from SC2 players?

The post Free To Swarm appeared first on Gamebreaker.tv.

If you are a lover of the artistic style behind our favourite Blizzard games, then we have some awesome news for you.

Blizzard has announced a new book containing 20 years of concept art, paintings, and sketches.  The book will contain over 800 images squished into a 352 page tome with commentary from Chris Metzen, Sam Didier and Nick Carpenter

No matter what franchise you’re a fan of, they have got you covered!  From Warcraft classic and Diablo through to SC2, D3, and WoW it is all there.

Blizzard has been producing amazing games for 20 years, from their early days as a tiny little three-man team making console games to the giant successful company it is today.

Some of their games might not be the prettiest any more, but the art behind those games is undeniably magnificent.

The book is available for pre-order with a discount at Amazon.com and  at the San Diego Comi-Con July 12th-15th, with a release date scheduled for October.

The post The Art of Blizzard appeared first on Gamebreaker.tv.

Blizzard held a press preview showing off the the new units and features in Starcraft 2‘s multiplayer, available in the Heart of the Swarm expansion during the opening hours of the MLG Spring championship in Anaheim, California.

Included in the material Blizzard presented were units and strategies for all three races such as the Protoss’ Tempest ships, which have the largest range in the game, as well as a new Terran strategy called Widow Mines.  These mines are embedded into the ground and will latch onto anything passing over them, destroying the units and causing extra damage directly after.

Unfortunately, Blizzard elected not to show off one of the Zerg elements they had teased before: The new Creep.  The element was pulled from the presentation last minute with mechanic director Dustin Browder stating: “The art was terrible, It was so bad.”

In spite of this, Heart of the Swarm is still looking pretty good.

The post Swarmed appeared first on Gamebreaker.tv.

The new patch 1.5.0 Beta for StarCraft II has launched and brought with it a new Battle.net feature known as “the Arcade”.  The Arcade will allow players to find custom games using a category based search option.

It also features an Open Games list that will display games that players are waiting for as well as a list of games already created by the community.

In addition to the Arcade, the Patch 1.5.0 will introduce a streaming launcher similar to those used in WoW and Diablo III.

SC2 players should be pretty excited to get their hands on The Arcade and try all of the community content.  I know I’ve seen some pretty interesting maps in the past.

The post Welcome To The Arcade appeared first on Gamebreaker.tv.

There’s a new team in the Star Craft 2 world, but they’re not what you think.

These guys aren’t playing for prizes or sponsorships.  Instead, they are dedicating their time to making e-sports accessible to the hearing impaired.

SignCraft is a non-profit organization designed to assist deaf fans in following the game.  The primary project for the group revolves around translating videos of famous casters such as Husky into sign language.  But they also intend to have other features available on their website, such as a directory of signs relevant to Terran, Protoss and Zerg terminology.

It appears the site will contain more material such as blogs and tutorials. However, their website it still in the works so it will be a little while before we see everything they plan to do.

I’d like to say, I really hope this project takes off and players do what they can to help get the word out about it.  This is the kind of project that should give gamers that warm, fuzzy feeling for being part of the community.

The post SignCraft appeared first on Gamebreaker.tv.