Starcraft II Is Free-To-Play Now

A few weeks ago at Blizzcon, Blizzard announced that Starcraft II's Terran campaign, Wings of Liberty, is going free-to-play. This goes into effect today. You can access the game through Battle.net to download, which gives you full access to the campaign, the full multiplayer ladder, and all the heroes up until level 5. If you already own Wings of Liberty, Blizzard is tossing you the second campaign, Heart of the Swarm, for free.

StarCraft II Going Free To Play

During the Blizzcon 2017 opening ceremony, Blizzard President and co-founder Mike Morahaime announced that Starcraft II is going free-to-play starting November 14. Players will have access to the full Wings of Liberty campaign and if you already have that campaign, you will receive the first expansion, Heart of the Swarm, for free. You’ll also receive the game's full ranked multiplayer ladder, and access to each of the game's commanders in the co-op mode until that character hits level 5.

Blizzard Is Building Its Own Arena For eSports

Blizzard Entertainment has been a big player in esports for years. But after so many years of simply delving into the esports arena, the company will now build its own. The Blizzard Arena Los Angeles, located in Burbank Studios, will be one of the first arenas in the United States to built specifically with esports events in mind. It will open on October 7, with the start of the Overwatch Contenders Season One playoffs. It will then host the Hearthstone Championship Tour's Summer Championship, the Heroes of the Storm Global Championship, and more tournaments involving Blizzard's own games.

Blizzard Announcing A Bunch Of Things At Gamescom 2017

Blizzard will be at Gamescom next week, and will be announced a bunch a new content for there games at the event. One f those will be a  new Overwatch map and animated short. Thea map will be revealed on Monday, August 21, while the new short will arrive 2 days later during a livestreamed Blizzard Reveal Ceremony on Wednesday, August 23. Here's a full rundown, for everything else Blizzard is bringing to Gamescom:

Hearthstone

• New Fireside Gathering features, including a playable group raid against the Lich King.
• Heathstone's Global Games Finals take place on August 25 and 26.

World of Warcraft

• New details on the upcoming 7.3 patch on Wednesday, August 23.
• WoW European Championship Finals take place throughout the event.

Heroes of the Storm

• A new hero will be announced on Monday, August 21.
• Heroes of the Storm: Showdown will be a live show including fights between community personalities and pros.

StarCraft 2

• New co-op commander will be revealed on Monday, August 21.

Blizzard Launcher Is Back To Battle.Net

Back in March, Blizzard renamed the Battle.net name for its game launcher. The name was switched in favor of the simpler Blizzard launcher, a program that launches Blizzard's games like World of Warcraft and Overwatch. Now Blizzard has changed there mind and it's back to Battle.Net. Blizzard explained in a blog post that they're going to bring the name back because branding is important. The subtext seems to be that no one was actually calling it Blizzard Launcher, including Bungie when they announced that Destiny 2 would use Battle.Net at the game's reveal. Blizzard is trying to bring both names together by renaming the launcher Blizzard Battle.Net with a relaunch in September, just in time for the launch of Destiny 2. Thoughts ? Glad to see Battle.Net back, playing Blizzard games isn’t the same without it. 

Blizzard No Longer Supporting Windows XP Or Vista For Their Games

If you’re a blizzard fan and are still running Windows XP or Vista, then it may be time to upgrade. Blizzard has announced that they will no longer support those operating systems come October, World of Warcraft, StarCraft II, Diablo III, Hearthstone and Heroes of the Storm are the games that will be effected.

"Microsoft ceased mainstream support for these versions of Windows in 2009 and 2012, respectively, but since a decent portion of our audience was still using them at the time, we continued supporting them," the announcement reads. "However, there have been three major Windows releases since Vista, and at this point, the vast majority of our audience has upgraded to one of the newer versions."

More Tickets For BlizzCon To Go On Sale Soon

Blizzard has announced that the Anaheim Convention Center brand-new hall is ready to accept visitors, so the BlizzCon will be expanding and with it the tickets available. So, if you didn't manage to get your hands on any tickets the first 2 days they went on sale, get ready to once more try your luck. On July 5th at 7 PM PT, you can try and grab one of the $199 tickets to attend the 2 day convention on November 3rd and 4th.

Twitch And Blizzard Announce Partnership For Esports

Twitch and Blizzard Entertainment announced a 2 year worldwide partnership. The deal includes third-party live streaming rights to select Blizzard esports content and special game content for Twitch Prime subscribers. Twitch is acquiring the third-party streaming-platform rights to an assortment of Hearthstone, Heroes of the Storm, World of Warcraft, StarCraft II, and Overwatch esports content. The deal, running through 2018, supports the competitive sphere of Blizzard's esports properties including the following programs:

• Heroes of the Storm Global Championship (HGC)
• StarCraft II World Championship Series (WCS Circuit)
• Hearthstone Championship Tour (HCT)
• Hearthstone Global Games (HGG)
• World of Warcraft Arena Championship
• Overwatch APEX League
• Overwatch Premier Series

Blizzard is providing special in-game loot and deals to Twitch Prime members for Overwatch, Hearthstone, and Heroes of the Storm. Beginning June 20 through August 10, current and new Twitch Prime members will receive a Golden Loot Box for Overwatch, containing one guaranteed legendary item along with 3 other additional in-game emotes, voice lines, or character skins. Players can learn more here. Similar promotions for Heroes of the Storm and Hearthstone players begin later in the year.

Blizzard No Longer Supporting PC’s Running Windows XP And Vista

Blizzard has announced that they are ending support for both Windows XP and Windows Vista across Diablo III, Hearthstone, Heroes of the Storm, StarCraft II and World of Warcraft. This will be a "staggered process," but it's a hard cutoff once a given title loses support -- it won't run until you upgrade. While there is "decent" number of people running XP and Vista when Microsoft ended support for those OS’, that's no longer the case. The "vast majority" of players have moved on to newer Windows releases, Blizzard says. As Ars Technica points out, the move may well be linked to the internet connection requirement for these titles. Thoughts ?

Blizzard Celebrating Diablo’s 20th Anniversary Across All Of There Games

Blizzard's Diablo series celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. To mark the occasion, Blizzard is holding in-game events across all of there games. Here is a full rundown of what's happening in Blizzard's games "soon" to celebrate Diablo's 20th anniversary, with descriptions written by Blizzard:

Diablo III

• Recapture the feeling of your first play through of the original Diablo with The Darkening of Tristram tribute event. Venture through a reimagined version of the original cathedral in Diablo III and keep an eye out for some familiar items.

Heroes of the Storm

• The battle for the High Heavens continues, and a new Diablo-themed portrait is up for grabs! Can you emerge victorious on this hectic new brawl map?

Hearthstone

• In this Tavern Brawl, a hooded stranger awaits, holding a grim deck in his hands. Will you unravel the secrets surrounding this dark wanderer?

Overwatch

• Bring the battle for Sanctuary into the fight for the future with in-game sprays representing your favorite Diablo III classes--along with a new player icon modeled after the Lord of Terror!

StarCraft II

• Put the Lord of Terror to work for you with a Diablo-themed worker portrait.

World of Warcraft

• Strange things are afoot in the world of Azeroth as denizens of Sanctuary cross over into an unfamiliar world.

Third StarCraft Nova: Cover Ops Mission Pack Releasing Later This Month

During the opening ceremonies for Blizzcon 2016, Blizzard president Mike Morhaime announced that the third mission pack for the StarCraft II Nova campaign will launch on November 22.

Blizzard Launches Blizzard Voice, Its Own Cross-Game Voice Chat

Blizzard revealed has rolled out Blizzard Voice, a chat service that works across all its multiplayer titles. The system lets you talk to friends or friends of friends inside or outside of games, as long as you have the Blizzard Launcher open. The company promises "high quality voice audio and superior stability," full customization, and the ability to "individually mute and change player volume." Thoughts ? Better late then never I guess. 

Blizzard Voice has arrived! Be sure to update your Blizzard Launcher before trying to give it a go 🗣 pic.twitter.com/P3T2lEMVWM

— Blizzard Ent (@Blizzard_Ent) October 20, 2016

Overwatch's D.Va To Be A Caster In StarCraft II

If you're attending BlizzCon or hold a virtual ticket for the event, you'll be able to use Overwatches D.Va has an announcer in StarCraft II. This will  be available in StarCraft II Patch 3.7, which will also include new multiplayer announcer packs for Abathur, Raynor, Artanis, Kerrigan, Swann, and Alarak as in-game rewards. The D.Va announcer will be available for purchase at a later date, but will be exclusive to BlizzCon attendees and Virtual Ticket holders for now. BlizzCon will be held November 4 and 5.

Overwatch’s Zarya Joins Heroes Of The Storm In The Machines Of War Update

Blizzard has revealed the Machines of War event for Heroes of the Storm, which adds 2 new heroes and new StartCraft-related maps and skins. The new heroes include Zarya from Overwatch and Alarak from StarCraft II's Legacy of the Void expansion. Besides the new heroes, the Machines of War event will introduce the Braxis Holdout and Warhead Junction maps, long with several new skins, including a "Queen of Ghosts" skin for Kerrigan. You can watch the trailer for the Machines of War event below.

Blizzcon Virtual Tickets Are Now Available To Purchase

Blizzard has announced it’s offerings for BlizzCons virtual ticket. For those who don’t know, the virtual ticket is for those who aren’t able to attend the convention in person. BlizzCon will take place November 6-7 at the Anaheim Convention Center. According to a press release, the BlizzCon virtual ticket will give distant guests access to several events:  

• Developer Panels for World of Warcraft, StarCraft II, Diablo III, Hearthstone, Heroes of the Storm, and Overwatch
• Costume and talent contests on Friday night emceed by geek-culture personality Wil Wheaton
• In-depth Interviews with Blizzard’s development teams
• The Saturday night closing celebration
• On-demand replays of main-stage and panel-stage events (available for two weeks)
• This year’s commemorative BlizzCon in-game goodies
• Advance access to new BlizzCon merchandise

Virtual ticket buyers will also be able to purchase a BlizzCon goodie bag (for $34.99) filled with commemorative loot. It’s the same goodie bag in-person attendees receive. It’s limited to one per virtual ticket. If you aren’t interested in going to BlizzCon in person or virtually, you can still watch streams of the important tournaments.

Blizzard Adding Facebook Sign-In To All Of Their Titles

Blizzard has announced that it is implementing Facebook sign-in for all of their games. This comes the integration of Facebook’s Live API, meaning you’ll be able to connect directly with your Facebook timeline from Blizzard games. You’ll be able to stream live to your Facebook profile, and friends will be able to subscribe to be notified when you go live. This functionality should go available in July.

Nova Covert Ops Starcraft II Expansion Is Coming In March

The single player campaign DLC for StarCraft II, Nova Covert Ops, is coming earlier than we expected. The first mission pack will release March 29 in the US, and March 30 in Europe. Those who pre-order the Nova Covert Ops: Mission Bundle will pay $15 for the 9 new missions that span the 3 separate packs. Pre-ordering before launch also guarantees a Covert Ops skin for in-game Ghost units in StarCraft II. The next 2 mission packs are expected to release by December. You’ll need the StarCraft II Starter Edition to play the new DLC. 

UPDATE 8/3/16 - Nova Covert Ops Mission Pack II is now available  and costs $7.49. You can buy all 3 packs together  for $14.99.  You can decide and pick what you want here on Blizzard's official website.

Game Releases For The Week Of November 9

Here are the games that will be released this week. What games are you looking forward to playing this week ?

November 10

Alekhine's Gun (PS4, Xbox One, PC)

Fallout 4 (PS4, Xbox One, PC)

Rise of the Tomb Raider (Xbox One, Xbox 360)

Starcraft II: Legacy of the Void (PC, Mac)

Rodea The Sky Soldier (Wii U, 3DS)

Superbeat: Xonic (PS Vita)

November 13

Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival (Wii U)

Blizzard Announces StarCraft II: Nova Covert Ops

Today at Blizzcon 2015, Blizzard revealed StarCraft II: Nova Covert Ops, which is a story expansion and the first 3 missions will be available on or before June 19, 2016. Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime explained StarCraft II will receive mission packs following the launch of StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void. In an interview with Polygon, story director James Waugh said, "This game is really about choice, which really speaks to the theme of who Nova is, and I think by the time we get through this game, we’re going to put Nova in a more empowered position than where we’ve seen her in the past." What do you think of Blizzard doing this kind of expansion for StarCraft II ?