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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsMore signs of cold on official sites
by Michael Gray 
Jun 23rd 2008 at 9:10AM
It's Monday morning and new hints of cold have appeared around Blizzard's official web sites. If you visit the Blizzard corporate site, or the front page of the community sites, you got a crystallized image of ... something. It's pretty hard to tell what you're looking at, except that it's icy and maybe cavernous.
While this is pretty obviously a teaser graphic of some kind, there is no text or other graphics detailing what Blizzard's hinting at. It's a safe bet that the graphic is related to Wrath of the Lich King. Some speculation posits that we might be about to see the actual release date. Of course, it could be related to Ahune and the Midsummer festivities -- but I don't think so. I also don't think this is a mistake that's going to be reverted -- since it's on the corporate site and the official sites, it seems purposeful. We'll let you know more as it happens.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Blizzard, News items, Expansions, Wrath of the Lich King
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 4)
Mera_LaCroisadeEcarlate Jun 23rd 2008 10:04AM
someone pointed out something interesting on the forum, look closely at the pic link:
http://us.media.blizzard.com/232309/_images/ice1.jpg
Alphabetically
23 = W
23 = W
09 = i
WWi = WorldWide Invitational
peaglemancer Jun 23rd 2008 1:23PM
Clearly 232309 is referencing Bible verses:
We find 232 referenced in Kings 20:15 (232 men), Kings being an overt Wrath of the Lich King clue. Then 30 is the number of donkeys (in thousands) from Numbers 31:39 (30,500 donkeys). This only leaves us with 9, which we can therefore obviously surmise is the number of Donkey mounts in WOLK.
Do I have to do all the detective work here, jeez.
my2cents Jun 23rd 2008 2:42PM
LOL. Ok that was really funny. I suggest a wow-related davince code-esque book and movie that unravels the mytery.
Mike Jun 23rd 2008 10:12AM
Well.... if we look a little deeper into the css, we see the image name is "ctbg.gif". What could that stand for? Additionally, we see a commented out entry for a background image "04.jpg" that leads us to: http://us.media.blizzard.com/232309/_images/04.jpg
mpee Jun 23rd 2008 10:20AM
much more interessting iss the name of the class: Tundra ...
Ben Darlow Jun 23rd 2008 10:26AM
My money's on Diablo 3. WotLK has already been announced; why put a teaser up for something as anticlimatic as a release date for a game that's already well and truly in the public's consciousness?
Jay Jun 23rd 2008 11:19AM
Publicity.
Ben Darlow Jun 23rd 2008 11:23AM
Right. That's fair enough, but it doesn't explain why it should be a teaser. A teaser suggests something previously unannounced (otherwise everyone's going to be pretty disappointed when the teaser turns out to be something you already knew about).
I could be wrong; it might not be Diablo 3. But I am willing to put money down that it's not WotLK, and is in fact something entirely new. WWI is the perfect venue for such an announcement (remember how they unveiled Starcraft II?) and hints elsewhere suggest a new product announcement (Xfire's website briefly contained a message saying they'd be there with the new announcement, before it was pulled).
Ikarus Jun 23rd 2008 6:42PM
I think we're all agreed that its ice of some sort. Ice is iconic of wrath, why use the same concept for diablo or any other game. that just lacks creativity, and we all no how creative blizz is
Ikarus Jun 23rd 2008 6:44PM
even "know"
Lanthadyme Jun 23rd 2008 10:33AM
Bah, could be anything. I vote red herring.
Though take a look to the top left of the circular symbol to the left of the center. Look like "Diablo" to me, though I might just be seeing things.
Lenny Jun 23rd 2008 10:44AM
Yes, it is common when you see blue shard looking objects to assume it is ice. But there are many jewels and crystals that shine blue. Also, sun shining through many clear crystals may look blue due to the nature of wavelengths of light. (You see the sky right? Or I could just be BSing here)
Remember the Worldstone from Diablo II? It was red at the end, but it was being corrupted by Baal. What if it wasn't red before it was corrupted, maybe it was blue. I believe Mephesto's and Baal's stones were yellow too.
I just love the speculation game, don't you?
Naix Jun 23rd 2008 10:46AM
Could be the announcement of the "Next Gen MMO" the have job placements for. If the release a Diablio MMO I would crap my pants and quit my job.
Unagieater Jun 23rd 2008 11:05AM
The image is titled: "Ice1"
Vager Jun 23rd 2008 10:58AM
There alot of red in the image.
Heres a version with red amplified:
http://vager.net/ice1.jpg
Looks like D3 to me.
Unagieater Jun 23rd 2008 10:59AM
just wanted to point out that there's an odd symbol here
http://i32.tinypic.com/rcmyl3.png
that looks like a flame. I thought it was a curse watermark at first. lol
astromoose Jun 23rd 2008 11:07AM
Looks reminiscent of the DiabloII Worldstone to me.
Arras Jun 23rd 2008 11:11AM
this Diablo speculation is killing me! It all sounds reasonable - job postings for next gen MMO (/glee!), Wrath is building up its own steam and doesn't really need this kind of teasing, unless it's coming out next month or something. Teasing up to the beta doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but I wouldn't put it past blizzard to do that either, unless it were an open beta or something.
But, then again...if they're gearing up for Wrath, why steal Wrath's thunder by announcing a new game? If it were up to me, I'd release Wrath and let it bake for a little bit and then announce World of Diablo.
So I dunno, but I do know they need to hurry up and announce whatever it is they're going to announce
Dilana Jun 23rd 2008 11:13AM
As for the signs of cold - the first one was the fact that the World of Warcraft symbol is half green (TBC) and half blue (WotLK). I think this is Diablo as well but you never know with Blizzard. They -love- to make everyone squirm.
Camaris Jun 23rd 2008 11:18AM
It would be a cute gimmick to start Diablo 3's announcement by (melting away?) some ice. Just enough to keep people confused.
The only alternative I can think of is WotlK beta, but does that really need a big bad teaser?