A gaming convention is a gathering centered on role-playing games , collectible card games , miniatures wargames , board games , video games , or other types of games. These conventions are typically two or three business days long, and often held at either a university or in a convention center hotel.
46-1212: BlizzCon is an annual gaming convention held by Blizzard Entertainment to promote its major franchises including Warcraft , StarCraft , Diablo , Hearthstone , Heroes of the Storm , and Overwatch . The first BlizzCon was held in October 2005, and since then, all of the conventions have been held at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California , in the same metropolitan area as Blizzard's headquarters in Irvine . The convention features game-related announcements, previews of upcoming Blizzard Entertainment games and content, Q&A sessions and panels, costume contests, and playable versions of various Blizzard games. The Closing Ceremony has featured concerts by The Offspring , Tenacious D , Foo Fighters , Ozzy Osbourne , Blink-182 , Metallica , Linkin Park , "Weird Al" Yankovic , and Muse . Blizzard also hosted
92-477: A PPV event ($ 39.95 for both days) for eight hours per day in both standard and high definition. All BlizzCon 2009 Pay Per View event purchasers received an exclusive "Grunty the Murloc Marine" World of Warcraft in-game pet. and had access to the online stream for no additional cost. New in 2009, BlizzCon was broadcast live via an internet stream, calling it a "Virtual Ticket". The site covered both days of
138-461: A Virtual Ticket for live online streaming of all of the events held at BlizzCon. The convention's online broadcast was watched by over 10 million people. Hearthstone' s third adventure, League of Explorers , was announced on November 6, 2015, which was later released on November 12. Overwatch was announced to have a Q2 2016 release date, later confirmed for May 24. The expansion World of Warcraft: Legion released its cinematic trailer and announced
184-496: A gaming convention as well. Costume balls, art auctions, and screenings of movies may all take place. Lectures, workshops, or panel discussions on gaming might be part of the programming, or for some cons, even the focus. Christian Finnegan Fletcher Christian Finnegan (born April 1, 1973), better known as Christian Finnegan , is an American stand-up comedian , writer and actor based in New York City . Finnegan
230-536: A new class-based multi-player shooter , was announced on November 7, 2014. The third part of Starcraft II , Legacy of the Void was announced. The first expansion pack for Hearthstone , Goblins vs. Gnomes , was also announced on the same day. The first Hearthstone World Championship was hosted at the event. The 2014 StarCraft II World Championship Series Global Finals was won by Lee "Life" Seung Hyun beating Mun "MMA" Seong Won. The World of Warcraft championship
276-517: A new expansion for World of Warcraft . Diablo III , StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm , and World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria were playable. DirecTV once again offered both days of BlizzCon 2011 as a PPV event. The GOMTV Global Starcraft II League October final match took place in Anaheim alongside BlizzCon. Moon "MMA" Sung Won beat Jeong "Mvp" Jong Hyeon, 4–1. The closing concert featured
322-489: A performance from Blizzard's own in-house band, The Artist Formerly Known as Level 80 Elite Tauren Chieftains (TAFKL80ETC), who changed their name mid-concert to Level 90 Elite Tauren Chieftains (L90ETC). The Foo Fighters performed for the closing concert. Blizzcon 2013 was announced to be held on November 8 and 9 in Anaheim. The tickets were sold in two batches, on April 24 and 27, 2013, and both batches quickly sold out. Blizzard also sold special tickets that include access to
368-485: A pre-Blizzcon Benefit Dinner. Blizzard once again sold a Virtual Ticket for live online streaming of all of the events in BlizzCon 2013. The Heroes of the Storm "Cinematic Trailer" was presented with an alpha version of the game available for playing. Hearthstone was announced to begin beta testing and that the game would be released on iOS and Android. The fifth expansion to World of Warcraft , Warlords of Draenor ,
414-494: A release date on or before September 21, 2016 and was playable. The Warcraft (film) released its first official trailer and revealed its release date of June 10, 2016. StarCraft II was announced to have upcoming single player mission packs, Nova Covert Ops , which each consist of three missions. The 2015 Heroes of the Storm World Championship and the second Hearthstone World Championship were hosted at
460-499: A similar event outside the U.S. from 2004 to 2008, the Blizzard Worldwide Invitational . General admission tickets are considered to be the baseline experience for BlizzCon. It grants access to all of the panels on both days, ability to playtest new games, patches, expansions, etc. and ability to view as well as order exclusive Blizzard merchandise online before the convention. Since its inception in 2005,
506-492: A sneak peek at the BlizzCon 2016 in-game item rewards and offered for the first time the "goody bag", normally only for physical attendees, was offered for sale to virtual ticket holders. The gaming announcements included the fourth expansion for Hearthstone , Mean Streets of Gadgetzan , expected to be released in December 2016. Overwatch had two big announcements: it confirmed the hero Sombra after teasing her via an ARG and
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#1732772285687552-673: Is a trade fair held in Essen, Germany that focuses on German-style board games and RPGs. A similarly large event is Festival Ludique International de Parthenay (FLIP), a games festival held over twelve days in France. The annual Gamescom in Cologne is the world's leading expo for video games . While games are often a large part of science fiction conventions and other hobby conventions, gaming conventions are distinguished by focusing on games and game-industry guests. The Penny Arcade Expo
598-402: Is an example of a large convention with a focus on popular culture and comics that includes a large gaming contingent and 35,000-40,000 attendees, but isn't dedicated solely as a gaming convention. A smaller genre of gaming conventions are those devoted to the hobby of historical miniature wargaming . World Boardgaming Championships , PrezCon and Euro Quest are game conventions representing
644-512: Is not generally discouraged by the convention management; in fact, pick-up games are a large part of the appeal of gaming conventions. There is almost always a dealers' room where various game manufacturers and related companies sell their products. Many game companies choose game cons to reveal new products. Creating consumer excitement is greatly facilitated at gaming cons, but word can spread fast, and games may equally well become instant failures at conventions. Often there are other activities at
690-486: Is the largest gaming convention in the US, with over 70,000 attendees at both its East (Boston) and Prime (Seattle) events. Gen Con has an emphasis on RPGs and features events for RPGs, CCGs, miniatures and boardgames with 60,000+ unique attendees over four days in 2017. Origins focuses on miniatures wargames and boardgames with 12,902 unique attendees in 2014, but also has a large component of RPG and CCG players. DragonCon
736-860: The World of Warcraft arena championship, the Hearthstone third world championship, the Heroes of the Storm fall championship, and the Overwatch World Cup . Kristian Nairn , who played Hodor on the HBO series Game of Thrones , was the DJ during Blizzard's 25th anniversary party. The closing ceremony concert was performed by "Weird Al" Yankovic . On March 14, Blizzard Entertainment announced that BlizzCon 2017 would be held on November 3 and 4, with tickets being available to purchase on April 5 and 8 using
782-690: The 2017 StarCraft II World Championship Series Global Finals won by Lee "Rogue" Byung Ryul, the World of Warcraft arena championship won by ABC, the Hearthstone Inn-vitational won by the Grimestreet Grifters, the Heroes of the Storm HGC Finals won by MVP Black, the Overwatch World Cup won by South Korea for the second time, and StarCraft: Remastered Ultimate Title Fight won by Bisu. Gaming convention The largest gaming convention, Spiel ,
828-649: The Anaheim Convention Center. The gaming announcements included that the next expansion to World of Warcraft would be Battle for Azeroth , there would be official World of Warcraft Classic servers, a new hero for Overwatch named Moira was added as well as a new map called "Blizzard World", StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty ' s first campaign, multiplayer and other modes of the game are now free, and Hearthstone ' s next expansion Kobolds and Catacombs and it would be released in December 2017. The esports events at BlizzCon 2017 included
874-733: The Blizzard games, and a performance including the Wrath of the Lich King music. In an attempt to reduce frustrations linked to lack of ticket availability for previous BlizzCons, there were four halls (increased from three) of space available. Blizzard implemented a new system designed to make buying tickets easier. The new system implemented an online queue, effectively creating an organized online "line" for anyone who wants to purchase tickets, an improvement on 2008's chaotic sale of tickets. As in 2008, DirecTV carried both days of BlizzCon 2009 as
920-505: The Lich King , was officially announced and it was available to play. Comedian Jay Mohr entertained at the closing ceremony followed by Level 70 Elite Tauren Chieftain (who changed their name to reflect the new level cap in The Burning Crusade ) alongside Video Games Live performing at the closing concert. In the opening ceremonies, Blizzard president Michael Morhaime revealed the third playable class for Diablo III :
966-702: The Portal Pass was added as an additional ticket option; effectively replacing the Benefit Dinner option with BlizzCon 2023. It is considered an upgrade over the General Admission ticket as it added several additional benefits. It cost $ 550 for BlizzCon 2019. This price was increased by $ 229 to $ 799 with BlizzCon 2023. It granted additional access to: BlizzCon is typically held every year. However, it has been cancelled five times in 2006, 2012, 2020, 2022 and 2024. Attendees were able to try one of
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#17327722856871012-768: The Storm , cosmetic wings & pets for Diablo III , skins for Overwatch , and portraits, unit skins & console skins for Starcraft: Remastered & Starcraft II . Starting with BlizzCon 2009, the BlizzCon Benefit Dinner, sometimes called the VIPs Dinner, was introduced as an additional ticket option. The dinner benefits the Children's Hospital Orange County (CHOC) Children's Foundation with all net proceeds going to them. Guests can meet and chat with game developers, artists, executives and other folks from Blizzard Entertainment. The tickets included
1058-549: The Wizard, as well as the major announcement that Starcraft II would be separated into three games. Playable versions of Diablo III , StarCraft II , and World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King were available to test during the convention. As well, there were tournaments and competitions for the World of Warcraft Trading Card Game, World of Warcraft miniatures game, StarCraft , StarCraft II , Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne , and World of Warcraft arena. The Zerg race
1104-512: The closing concert with Dave Grohl . Recordings of the event were released for free as part of the Live Music Archive . The opening ceremony showcased a new Diablo III cinematic trailer titled "The Black Soulstone", a StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm reveal trailer showcasing new units and abilities, a " Blizzard DOTA " trailer for a new game made from StarCraft II and the reveal of World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria ,
1150-411: The closing concert. A pre-release version of StarCraft II was available for play (the game would be released as StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty only in 2010), as single player or 2v2 as Terran or Protoss. Much of the game was revealed and explained as well as Q&A with attendees. The Zerg race was, however, not unveiled at that time. The second expansion to World of Warcraft , titled Wrath of
1196-597: The closing concert. The fifth playable Diablo III class was revealed to be the Demon Hunter and the StarCraft II modification called "Blizzard DotA" was presented, which later evolved into Heroes of the Storm . Diablo III , StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty and World of Warcraft: Cataclysm were playable. Similar to 2009, BlizzCon 2010 was available live via an online broadcast on the "BlizzCon Virtual Ticket". The Virtual Ticket provided four live feeds from
1242-434: The convention featuring exclusive interviews and commentary, main stage presentations including the opening ceremony and tournament coverage with team highlights. All purchasers received an exclusive "Grunty the Murloc Marine" World of Warcraft in-game pet. The third expansion, World of Warcraft: Cataclysm was announced. Diablo III , StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty were available to play. Ozzy Osbourne performed for
1288-528: The convention floor, offering 50+ hours of HD BlizzCon programming. DirecTV again offered both days of BlizzCon 2010 as a PPV event (US$ 39.95 for both days) for ten hours per day in both standard and high definition. Korean pro-gamer MVP_Genius won the StarCraft II BlizzCon Invitational The vinyl record Revolution Overdrive: Songs of Liberty was released for the event. Tenacious D ( Jack Black / Kyle Gass ) played for
1334-500: The creation of an official esports league for Overwatch . Diablo III also had two big announcements: it would be getting a remake of Diablo called The Darkening of Tristram which would reoccur every January and the necromancer class would be added in a DLC pack called Rise of the Necromancer. The gaming events at BlizzCon 2016 included the 2016 StarCraft II World Championship Series Global Finals won by Byun "ByuN" Hyun Woo,
1380-507: The dinner, a signed print of Blizzard artwork and a BlizzCon ticket. In later BlizzCons, reserved seating for the Opening Ceremony and Community Night on the first day of the show were added as additional benefits. These tickets usually had their own sale date separate from the main ticket. The price for these tickets were: The Benefit Dinner was neither offered nor returned as part of BlizzCon 2023. Beginning with BlizzCon 2019,
1426-447: The end of the century, cosplay would become a staple at a number of events, including gaming conventions. Gaming conventions typically have games scheduled for various time slots. Most gaming cons use some system of pre-registration to ensure that games are neither over-full nor under-full. Competitive games, such as Magic: The Gathering , typically have tournaments set out where players meet in matches. Prizes can be quite large for
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1472-399: The event. Hearthstone was won by Sebastian "Ostkaka" Engwall and Heroes of the Storm was won by team Cloud 9 again. The 2015 StarCraft II World Championship Series Global Finals was won by Kim "sOs" Yoo-jin beating last year's winner Lee "Life" Seung Hyun and becoming the first two-time StarCraft II World Championship Series world champion. The World of Warcraft arena team championship
1518-480: The hobby of Tournament Board Gaming Open Gaming, Demos, Jr. Events and more dedicated to the face to face board game hobby. The World Boardgaming Championships and PrezCon are considered two of the largest events dedicated solely to board games. WBC runs the first week in August each year and PrezCon runs the last week of February each year. A Cincinnati, Ohio duo debuts the first known modern cosplay in 1908. Near
1564-451: The prices have changed drastically as its scope and number attendees have grown with it. Each general admission ticket includes a goody bag that has contained items such as beta keys for upcoming Blizzard games, exclusive Blizzard paraphernalia and in-game prizes. The in-game prizes have ranged from pets, transmog & mounts in World of Warcraft & Heroes of the Storm , exclusive card backs for Hearthstone , heroes for Heroes of
1610-399: The supporting role of "Carl" in the film Eden Court , a ticket agent in " Knight and Day " and several guest roles including a talk show host on " The Good Wife ". In October 2006, Finnegan's debut stand-up comedy CD titled Two For Flinching was released by Comedy Central Records , “Au Contraire!” was released by Warner Bros. Records in 2009. His third special "The Fun Part" was filmed at
1656-470: The ticketing service Universe. A third round of tickets were sold on July 5 due to the convention center adding a new hall. On September 13, 2017, Virtual Tickets began being sold; this ticket included a faction-specific flying mount in World of Warcraft, and other special items in the various Blizzard games. Blizzcon 2017 had a record number of more than 35,000 attendees due to a recently completed expansion of
1702-550: The two new playable races, the Blood Elves, for upcoming expansion based in Outland which was released as World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade in 2007. Playable demos of the single and multiplayer modes of the since canceled Starcraft: Ghost were available. A songwriting competition was judged by Jonathan Davis of Korn . Level 60 Elite Tauren Chieftain, comedian Christian Finnegan , and The Offspring performed at
1748-499: The winners. There are also competitive role-playing games , where the best roleplayers, most successful parties, etc. get rewarded. The RPGA runs competitive Dungeons & Dragons and other RPGs at many conventions. Most scheduled RPGs, however, are not competitive. The types of games often include many of the following: Open gaming goes on throughout any such convention, and it is common that all seating in common areas will be taken by people playing pick-up games. Pick-up gaming
1794-518: Was a co-star in the TBS series Are We There Yet? . Finnegan has appeared on Comedy Central, having starred in his own half-hour special Premium Blend , one hour stand up special “Au Contraire”, as well as Comedy Central Presents : Christian Finnegan and countless network interstitials. He served as a writer for Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn on which he also appeared as a guest. Finnegan's stand up
1840-546: Was also featured in Comedy Central's animated series Shorties Watchin' Shorties . Additional television appearances as himself or performing stand up have included “Conan”, “The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson”, "Would You Rather...with Graham Norton", “Good Afternoon America” and multiple times on The Today Show and Countdown with Keith Olbermann , and on History 's I Love the 1880s . He hosted TV Land's game show "Game Time". As an actor, Finnegan portrayed
1886-574: Was born in Albany, New York . He grew up in Acton, Massachusetts , and attended The Walnut Hill School , a boarding/day high school focused on programs in the performing, visual, and creative arts and located in Natick, Massachusetts . Finnegan was a panelist on VH1 's Best Week Ever and as Chad, the only white roommate in the “Mad Real World” sketch on Comedy Central 's Chappelle's Show . Finnegan
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1932-445: Was now playable in the StarCraft II demos. BlizzCon 2008 was broadcast live on both days as a PPV event on DirecTV for US viewers only, for eight hours per day in high definition. Official Blizzard fansite WoW Radio broadcast live audio via SHOUTcast . For the closing ceremonies on Saturday, comedians Kyle Kinane and Patton Oswalt performed. The closing concert was performed by Video Games Live, playing arrangements from all of
1978-537: Was officially announced and a trailer was shown. The Warcraft film concept art was shown. Diablo III: Reaper of Souls was announced to be released on PC, Xbox One and PS4 . The gaming events included the finals of the 2013 StarCraft II World Championship Series as well as the Hearthstone Innkeeper's Invitational, a Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft tournament featuring a handful of prominent Twitch streamers. The StarCraft II competition
2024-488: Was won by Kim "sOs" Yoo-jin , World of Warcraft arena was won by team Skill-Capped and Hearthstone was won by Dan "Artosis" Stemkoski . The closing concert was performed by Blink-182 . The tickets went on sale May 7 and 10, 2014. For 2014, tickets were sold via Eventbrite instead of the Blizzard Store. Blizzard once again sold a Virtual Ticket for live online streaming of all of the events. Overwatch ,
2070-498: Was won by SK Gaming. The closing concert was performed by Linkin Park . BlizzCon 2016, also known as BlizzCon X, was the tenth BlizzCon event. Its tickets were sold on April 20 and 23 using the ticketing service Universe. Blizzard offered a Virtual Ticket for live online streaming of all of the esports events and major panels, remaining at the $ 39.99 price. Other panels and interviews in smaller rooms were not included for streaming. In September 2016, Blizzard Entertainment released
2116-483: Was won by team Bleached Bones. Hearthstone was won by James "Firebat" Kostesich and first official tournament in Heroes of the Storm was held at the event that was won by team Cloud 9. The closing ceremony concert was opened by Level 90 Elite Tauren Chieftains (changed their name during the show to Elite Tauren Chieftains) and closed by Metallica . The tickets went on sale on April 15 and 18 using Eventbrite, and were sold out nearly instantly. Blizzard once again sold
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