Blizzard Entertainment has paid tribute again to one of their artists who passed away on March 18, 2004. After completing the mission titled "Belly of the Beast" a cinematic shows Jim Raynor returning to the surface of Char where he finds General Waterfield's team decimated by the Zerg.

Jim Raynor approaches a dead Marine, and kneels before him to grab his dog tag. Those with sharp eyes may have caught the name: M. Koiter on the dog tag. It stands for Michel Koiter (Twincruiser) a former Son of the Storm.

Raynor: That thing may be the key to stopping the Queen of Blades - but it's our sweat and blood that'll make it happen. ... because some things are just worth fighting for.

Back in 2004, when World of Warcraft was launched, Blizzard Entertainment paid tribute to Michel Koiter by adding the Shrine of the Fallen Warrior located in a hill to the west of Crossroads (The Barrens). The runes form the letters MK (Michel Koiter). The Spirit Guide before the fallen warrior is named Koiter.

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Blizzard has announced the 2010 European Warcraft Invitational taking place in Cologne, Germany through August 7-8; and the North American Warcraft Invitational to be held in Texas, USA through August 21-22.

The Qualifier Brackets are partially provided revealing some of the players expected to clash. The winners from both continents will brawl to the death tooth and nail at Blizzcon this upcoming October.

	Blizzard Quote:
	EUROPE On August 7 and 8 the 2010 European Warcraft Invitational will take place in Cologne, Germany. The top European Warcraft III and World of Warcraft arena players will be fighting for honour and glory on stage, and we hope to see you there. To get a taste of what’s waiting for you, just head over to our 2010 European Warcraft Invitational site. There you will be able to uncover the identity of the participants, watch video coverage from last year’s Regional Finals, find information about the venue and learn more about our dedicated gaming area activities. Can’t make it to the event? Fret not, for you will still be able to follow the games through our free live stream. So what are you waiting for? Head on over and check it out! 2010 European Warcraft Invitational Website: http://www.wow-europe.com/rf10/ NORTH AMERICA We’ve seen thousands of matches played on both the Warcraft III Ladder and the World of Warcraft Tournament Realm, and we’re excited to watch some of the best players battle from sunrise to sunset live on the weekend of August 21-22 at the Hyatt Regency in Austin, Texas. The top two teams/players from each game in this event will win a cash prize and be invited to compete at BlizzCon in Anaheim, California. Not only will we be having epic Warcraft III and World of Warcraft Arena matches on a huge screen for everyone to watch, but we will also have several computers set up for attendees to play StarCraft II and to try out demos of our latest World of Warcraft expansion, Cataclysm. We’ll also have an extra special treat available -- a playable demo of Diablo III! Did we mention that admission is completely free? We realize that some of you are too far away to attend. Hopefully, we’ll soon have an event in your area. In the meantime, however, we will be providing a free video stream of the tournament matches on this website. Hope to see you there!

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The Western Plaguelands have changed drastically from what you remember. It's no longer that dreadful place surrounded by Scourge and Cauldron lords, and plagued animals chasing you every corner of the map as you walked or rode through.

To everyone's shock four of the five farms throughout Western Plaguelands is now inhabited by humans, and the land is basically restored to its former self. Take a look at 65 screenshots of the Western Plaguelands after the Cataclysm.

The local farmers are growing pumpkins at Dalson's Farm, corn at the Writhing Hunt Farm, and other stuff to feed. The buildings restored.



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I recently attended the Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty midnight launch in New York City held by Best Buy (Union Square). No Blizzard developer was scheduled to come, but at least around 70 people showed up to join the line. Others who pre-ordered only needed to pick up at the lower level of the store, and everyone who didn't pre-order had to start the line at a stair and the row would go all around to the front desk at the second floor.

After picking up a copy of the Collector's Edition, I took 59 photos of its content (there might be some spoilers in the Art book photos).

As a Blizzard fan myself I have spent the last couple days playing Starcraft II, and taking notes as I go. I finished the Wings of Liberty single player campaign in casual-mode, and I can say that was worth the wait. Great gameplay, and storyline in a nutshell.

I recently posted at our sister site a preview of the Research console feature from the Lab Room for those interested in learning the defensive and offensive bonus upgrades obtained from researching protoss and zerg specimens in each mission. Over the next weeks, I will be adding new previews for each room of the Hyperion, and other features.

Those who don't mind HEAVY SPOILERS, can take a look [at your own risk] to some of my impressions which include screenshots with dialogue text of the protoss mini-campaign and the final missions here.

In the meantime, I gotta get back to World of Warcraft: Cataclysm coverage. Continue Reading & Comment >>

Chinese gamers will soon be enjoying Wrath of the Lich King following news that the game has now been approved for the Chinese audience by the General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP). The game was approved today and the game could be released in China as early as this August, however it still has to be approved by China's Ministry of Culture. The delay for approval has been down to a dispute between the Ministry of Culture and GAPP on who had the right to approve the expansion for the Chinese market. Continue Reading & Comment >>

Some people say better late than never. Blizzard Entertainment will enforce the use of authenticators to log into the forums. If you don't have an authenticator, don't panic. This is only for those who attached an authenticator to their World of Warcraft or Starcraft II game.

Actually, you should panic if you don't have a Blizzard Authenticator or a Mobile Authenticator, because if your account is hacked, you might lose your in-game character, bank and bags items and gold.

The authenticator is used to log into the World of Warcraft and Starcraft II account, and to access the Battle.net Account Page. The forums, however, didn't have this layer of security. This affected some of the players who got their account breached by keyloggers or trojans. Potentially the hijacker could use the forums to spam gold advertisements and get your forum account banned.

With the intro of this feature into the forums, the layer of security offered by the authenticator allows you to protect and keep your forum posting privileges with no worry.

	Blizzard Quote:
	As a part of our ongoing dedication to account security, players who utilize authenticators on their account will now be asked to enter it upon their first time logging into the forums, and then periodically thereafter. By ensuring that, even if their account is compromised, without the attached authenticator their login credentials can’t be used. This additional security layer helps to better protect players in all services accessed by logging in with their account and password. We’d like to urge all players who don’t already use one to please consider attaching an authenticator to help protect themselves and their accounts. Information on how to obtain an authenticator as well as additional account security information can be found at: http://www.battle.net/security/

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Yahoo Movies posted a few screenshots of Costume-dressed fans who attended the San Diego Comic Con 2010. Considering this is a major comic book and sci-fi (i.e. Star Wars, Star Trek, etc.) event, it is great to see at least one World of Warcraft fan had the boldness to dress up as a Tauren Warrior.

Did you take photos or know where to find them of other fellow players dressing like a World of Warcraft, Starcraft II or Diablo III character at the San Diego Comic Con? Post a link to let us know.

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The Dustwallow Marsh is absolutely the less interesting of the regions in terms of changes caused by the Cataclysm. Actually, the only two changes in Dustwallow Marsh are not even due to the Cataclysm itself.

The first notable thing in Dustwallow Marsh is the new bridge that connects Theramore across the Dustwallow Bay to the area of the fallen Zeppelin, and into the path to the Direhorn Post.

The path the Alliance built goes all the way horizontally across Dustwallow Marsh into the entrance of the Southern Barrens.

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Not going to BlizzCon this year? The DirectTV pay per view coverage is now on sale priced £24.95 if you're in the UK and $39.95 if you're in the US. For this you get the show and also a WoW in-game item.

Last year the coverage was criticised for missing some key panels which they hope to address this year. Also, last year I subscribed myself and was badly stung when they took the cash off the credit card and failed to give me access. There was no support at all to call or email.The conduct was pretty shoddy to say the least I ended up having to pay again much to my annoyance. Be warned!. Continue Reading & Comment >>

It's less than 24 hours until StarCraft 2 launches for me and I have my trusty copy all ready to go for the midnight launch. My copy arrived last week, but as most of you know, it is unplayable until Blizzard flick the switch at midnight. Many of you will be gearing up to play the game when it launches so make sure you keep a close eye on StarCraft: IncGamers where it is being covered in-depth before and after launch. Continue Reading & Comment >>

There's a nice column up on Courier-journal.com which tells the story of 53 year old Beth Cox who has become absorbed by the WoW. Cox who suffers from social anxiety has found WoW to be a great release where she feels coomfortable in a "controlled, nonthreatening gathering place". Cos now shares her WoW passion with other members of the family. Continue Reading & Comment >>

The guys at Kotaku have taken a closer look at some of DC's the very cool WoW and StarCraft 2 figures that were on show at this week's ComicCon. There are some cracking shots that show the amazing details on the figures so if you're thinking about snagging one of these figures check out the article. Continue Reading & Comment >>

Feralas is one of the regions deeply affected by Deathwing's emergence into Azeroth bringing in his path a wave of destruction. The Cataclysm literally sunk the Isle of Dread to the bottom of the ocean floor.

When you swim where this isle existed, you can see it underwater, almost unchanged. Only problem is all those wild Chimeras are no more, and that means the Anh'Qiraj Gates questline got severed because that's where you had to kill the Huge Chicken for the crazy gnome off the coast of Tanaris. The Gnome is missing in Cataclysm Beta too.

Let's guide you through the different new changes made to each zone of Feralas with a brief description and screenshots. Check them out below.

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This July 24^th and 25^th, come join the hunt for the greatest game of them all. Cryptozoic Entertainment, home of the World of Warcraft Trading Card Game, will release a streak of Spectral Tigers into the wild. If you want to bag and tag one of these elusive mounts, join the party with fellow World of Warcraft TCG fans at a Spectral Safari near you.

A tournament friendly to players of all experience levels, the Spectral Safari participants will receive -- at random -- one of the 18 Class Starter Decks and compete in a tournament with that deck. The first 25 players to register for the event will pocket a Landro’s Pet Box code. Players who do well will earn Wrath Gate booster packs, and the winner picks up a Blazing Hippogryph Loot card. The Spectral Tiger will be randomly won as a door prize at the end of the event, so every entrant has an equal opportunity to ride home in style!

If you’re ready to play big game hunter, visit the Cryptozoic forums to find a local hobby store near you and join the event page on Facebook. Continue Reading & Comment >>

We have been hammering Logitech for discount deals for all IncGamers readers recently and we have a couple of new corkers starting from today som of you can take advantage of.

The Logitech G Series Bundle which includes the G19 Keyboard for Gaming, G9x Laser Mouse and G13 Advanced Gameboard. Using our super special discount code you can get an additional 30% of the price!

Discount code: GAMERS30

We are also offering the Logitech Gaming Keyboard G110 & MX 518 Optical Mouse Bundle with an additional 20% discount by using the following code:

Discount code: GAMERS30

The offer is open to UK, Germany, Sweden, France and the Netherlands readers so do take advantage of it now while you can. These are massive savings!
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A rumor just took off circulating the web that NetEase might announce the launch date of World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King in China in August at ChinaJoy, the China Digital Entertainment Expo & Conference.

This event is taking place at the Shangai Convention Center through July 28 to August 1st. It's a matter of a few days to find out how much this rumor glues together with reality and truthfulness. Continue Reading & Comment >>

As many of you know if you’re a regular reader , we have been following the progress of the World of Warcraft movie quite closely but the project appears to have just about completely stalled. Speaking at ComicCon today, Chris Metzen commented thay the WoW movie project was still in the “treatment stage”, they’re “still feeling it out” and they’re “getting ducks in a row”. Reading between the lines it looks like not a lot is happening with the project so the WoW movie looks to be a long way off.

Thanks CinemaBlend.

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As my 8-ball predicted, Blizzard Senior VP of Creative Development Chris Metzen and Blizzard Publishing Lead Micky Neilson were at the San Diego Comic Con 2010 to reveal details of the upcoming World of Warcraft Mini-Series and Graphic Novels.

According to Newsarama, World of Warcraft comic editor Hank Kanalz talked about the first World of Warcraft mini-series titled World of Warcraft: The Curse of the Worgen by Micky Neilson and James Wong. This mini-series will flesh out the background of the Gilnean werewolf humans cursed with the Worgen state.

On the other hand, the first new World of Warcraft graphic novel by Mike Costa will focus on the Alliance, with some of the mysterious origins of the Worgen.

The second World of Warcraft graphic novel by Doug Wagner will deal with the Horde. Among the concept art revealed at the San Diego Comic Con were orcs, tauren and there seems to be a mockup about a pandaren character. It's not clear if it is a stand alone mini-series based on the Pandaren. I will see what I can find out.

My 8-ball also hit home with the prediction that Cryptozoic Entertainment would be at the San Diego Comic Con represented by Cory Jones to lay the plans for their upcoming Scourge War TCG expansion in September.

Chris Metzen also talked about the World of Warcraft film.

"Especially in the past month, we've been back and forth on a treatment [Sam Raimi]'s been working on…Hopefully, we'll be moving very very quickly, very soon." -- said Chris Metzen at the San Diego Comic Con 2010.

The man behind the Warcraft lore is giving us a good sign that the 40-pages treatment mentioned recently by Sam Raimi at the Saturn Awards [in an interview with the Collider] might be getting fleshed out into a more stable script fast enough to get the ball rolling next year on 2011.

Of course, it might just be my fanboy mentality at work here, but at least that "soon" doesn't have the old-school-Blizzard [tm] attached to it.

The San Diego Comic Con 2010 isn't over yet as it will run through June 22-25, so I will inform any updates I find online as announcements are made at the show floor.

Are you one of our visitors who have the luck of going to the San Diego Comic Con? Whether you have or not a video camera or able to take photos, send me a private message, post in our forum, or email me to post your coverage on the front page.

• Source: Gamespot

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There will be some considerable changes in the next beta build concerning level 80 mobs stats and some zones and dungeons minimum level requirements.

For example, to enter and quest in Mount Hyjal and Ruins of Vashj'ir now players must be level 80 (previously 78), and to compensate all mobs in those areas have been increased in level too.

Additionally, the hit point values of level 80+ Cataclysm creatures have been increased a 100%..

Level 80 (OLD)
16400

Level 80 (NEW)
31000

Players will also now need to be level 80 in order to use the Dungeon Finder System for Throne of Tides and Blackrock Caverns. Continue Reading & Comment >>

Blizzard Entertainment is bringing the World of Warcraft: Cataclysm and Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty exhibition and hands-on gameplay to Gamescom 2010. You may find them at booth Halle 6, B21 & B31 through August 19-22 in Cologne, Germany

Come to the the biggest trade fair for interactive games and entertainment, enter the computer area to play the games, and talk to the Blizzard representatives who will answer your questions about your favorite games.

Find out more about the show and how to get there here Continue Reading & Comment >>