Posts with tag chris-metzen

Chris Metzen talks about The Art of Blizzard Entertainment

by Sarah Pine Mar 19th 2013 at 5:00PM

Over the last few years the question of art and video games has gone in and out of hot-button topic territory. Whatever someone's opinion of the status of games as art, though, it's impossible to ignore the vast amount of art that goes into them, and the cultural consciousness surrounding art and gaming is growing all the time. Earlier this year Blizzard published The Art of Blizzard Entertainment, a volume spanning over 20 years of concept art and development, complete with commentary by Nick Carpenter, Sam Didier, and Chris Metzen. Along with the book was an exhibit of the same name at the Gallery Nucleus in Alhambra, California, which ran from January 12th to February 3rd, 2013.

This is an old video by GamerHub.tv from the opening night of the exhibit back in January, but it's the first it has come to our attention at WoW Insider, and it's worth watching if you haven't already. Metzen talks about the origins and inspiration for Blizzard's art, Blizzard's feelings toward fan art, and some of his thoughts on the perception of art and games in general. Check out parts one and two on GamerHub's youtube channel.

Filed under: News items

Diablo 3 coming to the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4

by Adam Holisky Feb 20th 2013 at 7:55PM

"One couch to rule them all!" -Chris Metzen at the PlayStation 4 announcement

Chris Metzen, Senior VP of Story and Franchise Development at Blizzard, went on the stage at the Sony presser and announced Diablo III is coming to the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4. It will have not only the single player campaign, but also 4-player coop mode.

Blizzard originally started out very strong in the console market, but in modern times hasn't been active. They have, however, constantly been hiring console developers, so it shouldn't come as too much of a surprise that they finally have something to reveal. But the fact that Diablo 3 is coming to the PlayStation 4 in the grand fashion that it was revealed today says a lot about their commitment to the game.

Metzen makes it known what their intention is: "Blizzard and Sony have entered into a strategic partnership, through which we will take over the world." Metzen went on to say that more information will be forthcoming, and to look specifically at PAX East.

The PlayStation 4 will be coming out during 2013's holiday season. For more information on the PlayStation 4 reveal, checkout Joystiq's liveblog.

Filed under: Diablo 3

Art of Blizzard Entertainment gallery opening snapshot tour

by Robin Torres Jan 24th 2013 at 2:00PM

On Saturday, Jan. 12, I was fortunate enough to attend a party Blizzard threw for its book, The Art of Blizzard Entertainment, and the gallery showcasing it. While the book will not be released until Feb. 12, attendees were able to purchase it and have it signed by many Blizzard artists, including Chris Metzen (senior vice president of story and franchise development) and Nick Carpenter (vice president of art and cinematic development).

Gallery Nucleus, located in Alhambra, CA, hosted the party and will be showing the gallery of prints -- all from the book -- until Feb 3. The party included live demonstrations of artists, a raffle, a scavenger hunt, as well as the signings of the books and a selection of prints that could also be purchased. Libations were provided in the forms of a health potion (nonalcoholic fruit punch), a mana potion (vodka and some tasty blue stuff), as well as some beer and other drinks. Darkmoon Donuts -- small and chocolate covered -- were the food items available.

Filed under: Events, Blizzard

The Art of Blizzard Entertainment exhibition to open on January 12

by Anne Stickney Jan 3rd 2013 at 2:00PM

The Art of Blizzard Entertainment exhibition hits LA Jan 12

The Art of Blizzard Entertainment, a massive 376 page collection of artwork from Warcraft, StarCraft and Diablo, will be available for purchase later this month. But if you're in the Los Angeles area and you're wanting a sneak peek at what the book has to offer, you may want to clear your calendar at some point in the coming weeks. Gallery Nucleus, located in Alhambra California, will be hosting a special collection of over 50 pieces of artwork from your favorite Blizzard games, including an extensive collection of concept art.

The exhibition will be at Gallery Nucleus from January 12 through February 3, 2012. However, there will be an opening reception from 7-11pm on January 12. Guests attending will have plenty of games and activities to keep them occupied, as well as an opportunity to get exclusive posters and other commemorative items. There is a $5 entrance fee at the door for the reception, however those that show up in costume will get in for free.

In addition to the artwork and events, several of the Blizzard Entertainment artists featured in the book will be in attendance giving painting demos, signing books, and simply hanging out with attendees. For more information on what sounds like an incredibly fun time, you can check out Gallery Nucleus' official website.

Filed under: Events, Blizzard, News items

The Instance interviews Chris Metzen, Christie Golden

by Anne Stickney Aug 14th 2012 at 8:00PM

Looking forward to Tides of War, the next Warcraft novel slated to release later this month? The Instance, one of the longest-running Warcraft podcasts out there, has just released an interview with author Christie Golden as well as Chris Metzen himself. It's a spoiler-free interview, so those looking for a taste of what's to come in Tides of War can listen without fear of having the book utterly given away before it's even released.

More so than that, however, there is a lot of discussion on the nature of being female -- whether it's being a female writer in the sci-fi and fantasy industry, a female character in WoW, or a female character in the Blizzard universe, period. Given that Jaina sees so much character development in Tides of War, it's only natural that the conversation would turn that direction. And with Metzen in the fray as well as Golden, it's interesting to hear what both have to say about female characters and female character development in the Blizzard universe.

The interview runs about 45 minutes long. As always, The Instance is available to download on iTunes as well as Zune, so those of you looking for some interesting listening material on the drive to work can easily put it on your mobile media devices and listen on the go. All in all, it's a pretty fascinating peek into the minds behinds Tides of War, and while it's not the same as a book in your bag, it should help ease the waiting until Aug. 28 rolls around.

Filed under: Podcasting, News items, Mists of Pandaria

Blizzard's schedule for Comic-Con 2012

by Anne Stickney Jul 11th 2012 at 7:00PM

Blizzard releases schedule for ComicCon 2010

Are you headed to the magic, the wonder, the majesty of Comic-Con 2012? The San Diego Comic-Con has evolved into something far more than just comics -- it's now about all kinds of geek entertainment, including video games. While Blizzard won't have a booth at Comic-Con, they'll still have a presence and even a panel for attendees. If you're lucky enough to be headed to geek mecca this weekend, take some time to check out the following.

Blizzard Entertainment product showcase Thursday, July 12 Room 6BCF If you've never been to this panel, it's worth attending. While the panel doesn't discuss game development or release dates, it does talk about the other side of Blizzard's products -- the comics, books, action figures, toys and other material they release in conjunction with their games. There is a Q&A at the end of the panel, which will include Chris Metzen and be moderated by Kat Hunter. Add it to your schedule if you're wondering what's going on in the world of Blizzard merchandise!
Blizzard Entertainment autograph signings Insight Editions Booth #1035 Want to get your favorite Blizzard stuff autographed? Here's your chance. Friday morning from 10-11:30 a.m., you'll find Micky Neilson, Flint Dille and Matt Burns happily scrawling their signature for you, and from 4-5 p.m. on Friday, Chris Metzen and Samwise Didier will be signing. The Insight Editions booth will also have a sneak peek at the upcoming The Art of Blizzard book, so stopping by is advised!
Christie Golden autograph signings Christie Golden has written a ton for Blizzard, and if you've got one of her books, getting it signed is a great idea. Christie will be at the Cryptozoic Store on Thursday between 7-8 p.m. and at the Mysterious Galaxy booth, #1119, from 4-5 p.m. on Thursday. Please note that the Cryptozoic Store is not at the convention, but it's a just a few blocks away; the address is 411 Market Street, downtown.

Having gone to Comic-Con a few years, I can tell you that the best way to make sure you get into a panel or an autograph section is to get there early. I can't stress this enough. If you have something to sign, make sure it's not buried in a backpack -- and it's helpful to put a bookmark in the page you want signed, too, if you're bringing a book!

Blizzard also has a host of licensing partners showing off all kinds of products from sculptures to books to the WoW TCG. Check out the full post on the official website for more information.

Filed under: Blizzard, News items

Blizzard panel and Sam Didier at the San Diego Comic-Con 2012

by Olivia Grace Jul 8th 2012 at 6:00PM

Blizzard panel at the San Diego Comicon!

WoW Insider has received a tip that there will be a Blizzard panel at the San Diego Comic-Con!

From 2:15 to 3:15 on Thursday, July 12, Chris Metzen (Blizzard Entertainment SVP, story and franchise development) and special guests will be hosting a panel in room 6BCF. The panel is listed as a product showcase for WoW, StarCraft and Diablo, and the blurb says that they will "reveal never-before-seen licensed products and plans for 2012/2013. Talk to the designers, writers and artists themselves as we dig into Mega Bloks, novels, comics, statues and more."

This panel will, of course, include a Q&A alongside the reveals mentioned above, so if you're in the San Diego area and already have tickets to Comic-Con, this sounds like a fantastically exciting opportunity to hob-nob with the Blizzard team and quiz them about everything you need to know about their games.

But wait, there's more! Sam "Samwise" Didier, the art director at Blizzard Entertainment responsible for creating much of the artwork for the Warcraft, StarCraft, and the Diablo series and the senior art director on StarCraft II, will be in the Artists' Alley at table DD-09. The Artists' Alley gives Comic-Con attendees the chance to meet and greet some of their favorite artists, and you might even be able to buy original art, sketches, and exclusive, limited edition prints and sketchbooks.

I would have loved to put in a link to buy Comic-Con tickets, but it seems from the website that it is completely sold out. So close to the time, I'm guessing this isn't a great surprise -- but still, a shame. So if you're lucky enough to have tickets, head on over!

[Thanks for the tips, Serrotatauren!]

Filed under: Comics, Mists of Pandaria

The Art of Blizzard covers Blizzard's artistic history

by Matthew Rossi Jun 27th 2012 at 3:00PM

If you like the art that Blizzard creates for its games (and really, how can you not?), then you should get yourself a copy of The Art of Blizzard, a new hardcover that surveys the past 20 years of Blizzard's development in art. Covering the origin of the studio and its development with more than 800 illustrations and commentary from Nick Carpenter (vice president of art and cinematic development), Samwise Didier (senior art director) and Chris Metzen (senior vice president of story and franchise development -- and you seriously should probably know this guy already), it promises to have something for the dedicated fan or the fan of art and illustration. As Blizzard themselves put it:

This epic volume of art and behind-the-scenes insights celebrates the company's genesis, granting readers access to the inception and development of Blizzard's blockbusters and offering a never-before-seen look into some of Blizzard's unpublished projects.

I'm definitely looking forward to this one. I can't draw worth beans, but I love me some art.

World of Warcraft: Cataclysm has destroyed Azeroth as we know it; nothing is the same! In WoW Insider's Guide to Cataclysm, you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion, from leveling up a new goblin or worgen to breaking news and strategies on endgame play.

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Blizzard, News items

Mists of Pandaria: Press tour interviews from around the web

by Anne Stickney Mar 19th 2012 at 8:00PM

Not only is there a ton of information about the next expansion's features floating around, there are plenty of interviews with the minds behind the expansion as well. All of the fan sites got their own chance to ask developers questions about Mists, so each interview has different information. Check out these links to other developer interviews from around the web.

Wowhead interviewed Lead Content Designer Cory Stockton about professions in Pandaria, bind on account pets, titles and mounts, transmogrification, and more.
Wowhead also quizzed Lead Game Designer Tom Chilton about monks, questing, dailies, updating old world instances, and the player community.

Filed under: Mists of Pandaria

Chris Metzen talks about heroes

by Daniel Whitcomb Oct 25th 2011 at 10:30AM

Eurogamer.net recently sat down with Blizzard Senior Vice President of Creative Development Chris Metzen. They talked about the story for all three of Blizzard's big franchises and the ins and outs of creating stories and heroes for each one.

On Warcraft, Metzen waxed philosophical on creating a meaningful story for 11 million fans who are each carving out their own individual stories on their own characters, and on translating that story culturally as well linguistically between all the different cultures of the people who play WoW. As Metzen observed, a story that goes over well in North America may fall flat in China. He also talked about making lore decisions and balancing the needs and wants of the players and the writers. Sometimes the players want you to go right when you want to go left, and it is a challenge, he says, to decide which way to go.

Filed under: Lore, Interviews

BlizzCon 2011: Opening Ceremony Liveblog

by Adam Holisky Oct 21st 2011 at 1:25PM

We'll be live blogging the opening ceremony at BlizzCon 2011. The start times for this liveblog is as follows:

Pacific Time zone: 11:00 a.m.
Mountain Time zone: 12:00 p.m.
Central Time zone: 1:00 p.m.
Eastern Time zone: 2:00 p.m.

We're expecting a lot from this BlizzCon opening ceremony, including the Mists of Pandaria expansion, some StarCraft expansion announcement, and potentially an announcement concerning the Diablo 3 release date.

Stay tuned! We'll start liveblogging soon.

10:42 a.m. - Patch 5.0 will introduce a new talent system.

10:42 a.m. - Initial reports are that the expansion will be playable at BlizzCon today.

The rest of the liveblog after the break!

Filed under: BlizzCon

Metzen talks user-created content at GDC panel

by Mathew McCurley Oct 12th 2011 at 1:00PM

Blizzard's Chris Metzen was on hand at GDC Online to discuss user-created content for World of Warcraft and how the system just wouldn't fly in WoW's architecture. The logistics of player-created content in a game with millions upon millions of players would, most likely, be too overwhelming for a system and game that thrives on polish and quality control. Don't expect to see user-generated content in WoW any time soon.

While I am a fan of this type of content, I don't believe it really has a place in WoW. Azeroth is a much more story-driven, linear experience than most people want to discuss, and Blizzard likes to hold our hands through it all to make sure we're doing things according to plan. I don't think that's a bad thing, just one approach to an MMO's leveling and group content. In games like City of Heroes, the player-created content that was available made sense in terms of logistics and volume. For WoW, I can't even fathom how hard it would be to separate the wheat from the chaff.

Filed under: News items, Cataclysm

Chris Metzen discusses the role of the writer at GDC Online

by Anne Stickney Oct 10th 2011 at 9:00PM

So how does a writer fit into World of Warcraft? If you ask Chris Metzen, they are the cheerleaders, torchbearers and keepers of the flame, responsible for the keeping the heart in the game. In a presentation at GDC Online in Austin, Texas, Metzen talked a bit about the balance between writing and gameplay and the job of a writer at Blizzard.

Though lore has taken more of a front seat in Cataclysm, it's ultimately the gameplay that comes first with Blizzard, even before the story. According to Metzen, if you don't make it fun in the first 3 minutes of gameplay, you've failed. If the gameplay is a turn-off, it doesn't matter how wonderful the story is -- people still aren't going to want to play it. The presentation is an interesting look at some of the less-highlighted aspects of game development, and Gamasutra has coverage of the whole presentation. For those interested in what the job of a writer looks like at Blizzard Entertainment or wondering what goes on when creating a story as massive as Warcraft, it's a really interesting read.

But that's not all from GDC Online -- Blizzard writers also got together to discuss great gaming moments and the challenges of game design. The coverage of the event discusses more about the writing process, fan feedback, and creating memorable stories. Check out the full story over on Gamasutra as well.

Filed under: News items, Cataclysm

2011 Global Writing Contest deadline reminder

by Anne Stickney Oct 6th 2011 at 8:00PM

Attention, writers! Those of you who are working on entries for this year's Global Writing Contest may want to step up the pace. The deadline for the 2011 Global Writing Contest is Oct. 15 -- a little over a week away. Remember, stories must be between 2,500 to 7,500 words and set in the Warcraft, Diablo or StarCraft universes.

This year's prizes include a trip to Blizzard headquarters and a meeting with the Blizzard writing staff for the grand prize winner, as well as a ton of signed books from all three Blizzard universes and a replica of the Doomhammer. Good luck to all who enter, and don't forget to check out our interviews with last year's winners, too!

Filed under: News items, Contests, Lore

More details emerge on Void Storage -- 80 slots of space

by Adam Holisky Aug 17th 2011 at 11:40AM

More details are emerging from Blizzard's recent talk at Gamescom. Kotaku sat down with Blizzard's Chris Metzen and Tom Chilton to talk about it all, and one of the things they covered was the upcoming void storage, slated to be released in patch 4.3.

The details on the new void storage are as follows:

80 slots to store items
All items put in void storage will have the following removed from them:
- Enchants
- Gems
- Name of player who crafted the item

Kotaku's article doesn't list what exactly are the item restrictions in the void storage. It does say "extra items," which could lead one to believe there are no restrictions. However, in the past Blizzard has said it wants to do a gear-only storage for older gear sets, so it shouldn't be too much of a surprise if there are some item restrictions in place. We'll be finding out about that as patch 4.3 is released on the PTR (eventually).

The full bit from Kotaku's interview with Chris Metzen and Tom Chilton is as follows:

Another addition coming with the patch is "Void Storage", a new 100 to 150 [See Editor's Note] items slots. Like transmogrification, void storage comes from the Ethereals. Void storage is a pocket dimension created for a player that allows them to store extra items, but there is a downside.

Anything stored in the void is stripped of its enchantments and gems and the name of the person who crafted it, Chilton said. The stripping isn't tied to the lore of the game, either, but is the byproduct of a technical issue that makes this new storage system possible. (Read: Silly databases!)

Editor's Note: Blizzard has sent word that it's actually 80 slots in the Void Storage, not 100 to 150 as originally reported at Kotaku.

Brace yourselves for what could be some of most exciting updates to the game recently with patch 4.3. Look at what's ahead: new item storage options, cross-realm raiding, cosmetic armor skinning and your chance to battle the mighty Deathwing -- from astride his back!

Filed under: News items

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