BlizzCon 2023 is almost here! For those tuning in from home, we'll be streaming all BlizzCon Arena content for free. Whether you plan to join in person or virtually, we wanted to share a first look at all the events in store. Visit Blizzard's YouTube channels or Twitch on November 3-4 to catch all the panels and programming below. BlizzCon is for the community, so feel free to share it with yours by co-streaming.

BlizzCon Collection - On Sale Now
Virtual attendees can also pick up the BlizzCon Collection, a new set of digital goodies and in-game items, in the Battle.net Shop now. These bundles are a must-have for any player journeying through World of Warcraft, Diablo IV, Overwatch 2, Hearthstone, and Warcraft Rumble. Whether you're a seasoned hero or just starting your adventure, don't miss out. Visit the Battle.net Shop to purchase.

After four years of gathering online-adventuring through Azeroth, teaming up in Overwatch, traversing the fields of Sanctuary, or warming yourself by the fire in the Tavern - it's finally time to gather in person once more. We are happy to announce that BlizzCon will be returning to the Anaheim Convention Center on November 3-4!

Our players are at the heart of what makes BlizzCon great-a place where games are the common ground for connection and friendship. Whether you're coming to hang out with friends you only ever get to see online, celebrating epic moments in the games we love, exploring what's on offer in the convention center halls, or eager to learn what's next for our universes, BlizzCon is being created for you. It's the community that has always made this event so special, and we can't wait to see you all again.

Millions of viewers around the world today watched the world premiere cinematic trailer for Frost Giant Studios' eagerly-anticipated real-time strategy game, Stormgate. Southern California-based Frost Giant Studios was founded in 2020 by Tim Morten and Tim Campbell, veteran game development leaders who helped create some of the most acclaimed and best-selling PC games of all time-as well as some of the most-watched esports-including Blizzard Entertainment's WarCraft III and StarCraft II.

"We are building Stormgate for the real-time strategy community--past, present, and future," said Tim Morten, CEO and production director at Frost Giant Studios. "Our vision is to create a social experience that breaks down the barriers that have kept people away, to welcome back players who have been waiting for the next great RTS, and to prove that the RTS genre can thrive once again."

StarCraft officially turns 20 on March 31, 2018, and all throughout the month, we'll be celebrating this epic milestone alongside our epic community of players. Revisit the saga that introduced the world to iconic characters like Jim Raynor, Sarah Kerrigan, and Zeratul, and helped set the stage for esports as we know them today.

The interstellar battle between the terran, zerg, and protoss is about to consume even more of the galaxy, as Blizzard Entertainment today announced that the ultimate real-time strategy game will soon be free to play.

Beginning November 14, players around the world will get free access to the full award-winning Wings of Liberty campaign and the elite multiplayer competition of StarCraft II's ranked ladder, including all the latest units and balance updates through the latest release in the series, Legacy of the Void. Players will also enjoy expanded access to StarCraft II's highly popular co-op mode, with all Co-op Commanders playable for free.

After announcing their Starcraft remaster to fans (for free, I might add), which will count with remastered graphics, dialogue and audio, whilst keeping the original Starcraft play and feel, it seems that Blizzard is now looking towards remastering two of their other successful franchises. Diablo 2 stands as one of PC gaming's most recognized entries, helping pave the way for mainstream gaming and dice rolls. And Warcraft 3, while a tad less successful than the company's subsequent World of Warcraft phenomenon, still stands as a well-aged RTS entry (I remember seeing the CG cutscenes for the game at my local FNAC store at the time of its release and I was absolutely mesmerized.)

The clues pointing towards the Diablo 2, Warcraft 3 remasters come courtesy of Blizzard themselves, though not in a bells and whistles-covered announcement that one might expect. Instead, these come as job posts on Blizzard's Careers page. namely, Blizzard says "Compelling stories. Intense multiplayer. Endless replayability. Qualities that made StarCraft, Warcraft III, and Diablo II the titans of their day. (...) We're restoring them to glory, and we need your engineering talents, your passion, and your ability to get tough jobs done." And: "Classic Games is looking for a renaissance designer to harmonize that which was, with that which will be. Warcraft, StarCraft, and Diablo await your machinations." It is unclear as of now whether these remasters will be free or not at time of release. Starcraft was, but while history tends to repeat itself, it really sometimes doesn't. So there you have it. What do you think of this renaissance/remastering?

It's never fun to be contacted by a legal department and be told that something you bought online is not rightfully yours. Still, this occasionally does happen in the case of intellectual property that has been misplaced and is not supposed to be resold. Example: The case of Reddit user Khemist49, who found himself in possession of a CD-ROM claiming to be the original source code for the game "StarCraft." Where did he get said disc? A box of "old Blizzard-related stuff" he bought on Ebay in April. Thinking he had something special, he posted on Reddit asking what to do with it.

In 1998, I wasn't a StarCraft guy. My Packard Bell 486DX 8MB wonder that my parents refused to upgrade couldn't run it. That thing wouldn't do a merciful "fall-on-its-sword" act like all the other Packard Bells in the neighborhood either. The thing insisted on surviving until almost 2004 when my parents finally took it to the dump. I personally, got out of that hell in 2001 when I built my own system with an Athlon Thunderbird 1Ghz chip and a lofty 512MBs of ram, but StarCraft was never really my thing.

Now, the jokes on you, suckers, cause I can download it for free!

NVIDIA released its second "Game Ready" GeForce drivers in a span of a week, with version 358.91 WHQL. These drivers are "game-ready" for Fallout 4, Star Wars: Battlefront, and StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void. This means game optimizations, SLI profiles, and GeForce Experience optimal settings for the three games. This closely follows last week's GeForce 358.87 WHQL release, which was game-ready for Call of Duty: Black Ops III.DOWNLOAD: NVIDIA GeForce 358.91 Game Ready Drivers Windows 10 64-bit | Windows 8.1/7/Vista 64-bit

MSI MGA (Masters Gaming Arena), a globally renowned eSports tournament formerly known as MSI Beat IT and hosted by the leading gaming brand, MSI, has partnered with ESL and will be ready to launch its 6th culmination as the months approach. Eric Kuo, MSI Vice President of Global Sales & Marketing, talks about renaming the annual gaming tournament from Beat IT to Masters Gaming Arena, "The rename marks our determination to evolve and do even better as one of the world's leading gaming brands. Years of MSI Beat IT gaming legacy will be carried on in the name of Masters Gaming Arena. MSI's gaming spirit and unflinching devotion to eSports live on. MSI MGA will continue to bring global players together and hand in hand we'll write thrilling chapters in the gaming history!"

MSI MGA will kick off with regional qualifiers for the United States, Europe and Asia. The first qualifier will start in June for Asia, with subsequent weeks covering the rest of the regions across the globe. The 4-day Grand Finals will be held in late August in the United States, where the best gamers from all around the world will compete over more than $200,000 USD in cash prizes and travel support.

NVIDIA posted GeForce 314.22 driver-suite, just in time for Bioshock: Infinite. The WHQL-signed drivers offer performance increments as high as 41 percent in Bioshock: Infinite; and up to 60 percent in Tomb Raider (2013), up to 23 percent in Sniper Elite V2, and up to 13 percent in Sleeping Dogs. These results were produced using a GeForce GTX 680, and NVIDIA claims the gains "will be seen on other GPUs also, though to varying degrees." The results are in comparison to the previous GeForce 314.07 WHQL drivers.

GeForce 314.22 WHQL is also claimed to improve SLI performance (tested using GTX 680), for Sniper Elite V2 by up to 21 percent, up to 14 percent in Sleeping Dogs, up to 10 percent in StarCraft II, and up to 15 percent in Civilization V. SLI support is added/improved for Sniper Elite: Nazi Zombie Army, Dungeons and Dragons: Neverwinter, and BioShock Infinite.

DOWNLOAD: NVIDIA GeForce 314.22 WHQL for Windows 8/7/Vista 64-bit, Windows 8/7/Vista 32-bit, Windows XP, and Windows XP 64-bit

Razer, the world leader in high-performance gaming hardware, software and systems, announced the re-release of its peripheral lineup for Blizzard Entertainment's StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm expansion, the highly anticipated next installment of the acclaimed StarCraft franchise. The entire suite of StarCraft II peripherals, designed specifically for the prestigious real-time strategy (RTS) game, is once again available in all its glory. The line includes the Razer Spectre StarCraft II Gaming Mouse, the Razer Marauder StarCraft II Gaming Keyboard and the Razer Banshee StarCraft II Gaming Headset.

"The initial response we received on the announcement of the original StarCraft II peripherals was simply amazing and, as a way of giving back to our diehard fans and the StarCraft community, we want to make these products available once more," said Min-Liang Tan - co-founder, CEO and creative director of Razer. "These peripherals speak to the quality of Razer products as a whole and give StarCraft players the edge they crave on the battlefield."

Kingston announced that it will enter Vegas next year all guns blazing, at the 2013 CES, held in January. The company plans to showcase new lines of SSDNow- and HyperX-branded SSDs, and PC memory, in addition to new "wireless storage expansion gadgets." In all likelihood, these are additions to Wi-Drive line of wireless SSDs. At its booth, Kingston will also be exhibiting StarCraft II finals, running live product demos, and let visitors meet its design team. CES 2012 starts in the week of 6th January.

Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. today announced that StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm, the first expansion to Blizzard's award-winning real-time strategy game StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, will be available in stores and online beginning March 12, 2013. Heart of the Swarm features a new campaign continuing the epic story of Sarah Kerrigan, Queen of Blades, as she gathers the remnants of the zerg Swarm and plots her revenge against the treacherous dictator of the Koprulu sector, Arcturus Mengsk. It also introduces several new multiplayer units and features that enhance the acclaimed StarCraft II online experience.

StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm will be available on DVD-ROM for Windows XP/Windows Vista/Windows 7/Windows 8 and Macintosh at a suggested retail price of $39.99 USD. The expansion will also be available digitally directly from Blizzard's StarCraft II website (www.StarCraft2.com) at an expected price of $39.99 USD.

Kingston Technology Company, Inc., the independent world leader in memory products, today announced it will host a free online StarCraft II tournament in honor of the 10-year anniversary of the HyperX product line. Since 2002, Kingston HyperX products have been the memory of choice for gamers, computer enthusiasts, overclockers and system builders. The tournament is a chance for Kingston to say thank you and host an event that gives back to its customers and fans.

Gamers from around the world will compete online with the goal of qualifying for the live finals in Las Vegas, NV. during International CES 2013 in January. In addition, eight invited pro gamers will be seeded into the top sixteen, and will battle it out to win one of four cash prizes totaling $15,000 and become the first-ever HyperX Champion.

As Blizzard winds up to launch StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm later this year, it's also preparing to finally roll out some features fans have been asking for since before SC2: Wings of Liberty launched back in 2010. These include resuming multiplayer matches from replays, playing in other global regions, and watching replays together with other folks. These features and more should be patched in "at or around the launch of Heart of the Swarm," production director Chris Sigaty wrote in a blog post. Resuming from replays will help tournaments go smoother, as SC2's lack of a LAN mode means that problems with a Internet or Battle.net connections can spoil a match.

Rather than starting over from scratch or having judges rule on whether to award the win to one player, they'll be able to pick up where they left off. Global play will let you, as you can probably guess, play on other regional servers around the world, rather than being limited to your home region. Multiplayer replay viewing is a feature from the original StarCraft but cut from the sequel, for when you fancy watching a replay with some chums and discuss the game together. Multilanguage support, a clan/group system, and unranked matchmaking are also in the works.

An Expreview community member ran benchmarks comparing the performance of the Intel HD 4000 graphics embedded into its upcoming 22 nm "Ivy Bridge" Core i5-3570K, comparing it to the integrated graphics of Core i5-2500K, and discrete graphics NVIDIA GeForce GT 240. These tests are endorsed by the site. The suite of benchmarks included games that aren't quite known to be very taxing on graphics hardware by today's standards, yet are extremely popular; games such as StarCraft II, Left4Dead 2, DiRT 3, Street Fighter IV. Some of the slightly more graphics-intensive benchmarks included Far Cry 2 and 3DMark Vantage. All benchmarks were run at 1280 x 720 resolution.

The Intel HD 4000 graphics core beats the HD 3000 hands down, with performance leads as high as 122% in a particular test. The chip produces more than playable frame-rates with Left4Dead 2 and Street Fighter IV, both well above 50 FPS, even DiRT 3 and Far Cry 2 run strictly OK, over 30 FPS. StarCraft II is where it produced under 30 FPS, so the chip might get bogged down in intense battles. A mainstream discrete GeForce or Radeon is a must. On average, the graphics core embedded into the Core i5-3570K was found to be 67.25% faster than the one on the Core i5-2500K.

Razer, the world's leading high-end precision gaming brand, once again sets the bar for the absolute best in gaming technology with the introduction of their all-new 4G Dual Sensor System. Taking advantage of both an optical and a laser sensor for enhanced tracking accuracy, this sensor system was built to deliver the next level competitive edge in Razer's line-up of highly popular professional gaming mice, starting with the newest incarnations of the Razer Mamba and Razer Imperator.

Back in 1998, Razer pioneered the world's first true gaming mouse and since then has been at the forefront of developing the most cutting-edge sensors, always staying ahead of the competition. Whilst all other mice in the industry performed at under 500dpi, Razer mice were firing at four times that, at 2000dpi and up. The tracking precision on any Razer mouse was and still is unrivalled.

There are plenty of current and upcoming games set in a post-apocalyptic scenario, the limited few who are deep into the survival-horror and adventure settings will find this new case from Huntkey interesting, even otherwise the rustic industrial looks should get some. Called the X7, the case comes from one of the more popular case and PSU manufacturers selling in the eastern markets. The Huntkey X7 is an ATX full-tower case that features an industrial, almost post-apocalyptic design scheme. The side panel uses not just two-dimensional painted structures, but also three-dimensional metal shards sewn together by a network of screws.

It's not just the random shapes these shards are made of, but also the physical texture, that add originality to this design. The case looks like it's supported by a central SECC-made frame with shards all over it. The front panel looks like a set of random drive bay and fan bay covers, one even has a worn-out StarCraft logo. The surface carries splashes of rusty colors, worn out silvery surface, and patches of red, denoting that the "pre-apocalyptic" X7 may have been a metal-overall case with red paint. Inside, the case has components located in places where some of the first ATX tower cases had them: PSU on the top, a top drive-cage with four 5.25" bays, and one 120 mm rear exhaust apart from two 120 mm front intakes. There are top-exhausts, too, but they're made to appear like they've been drilled out later. The case is sure to make heads turn at LAN parties. Make sure you complement it: go dressed in a worn-out anti-radiation overcoat.

There is no one-size fits all for computer gaming peripherals. All gamers are different and we recognize that each and every one of you has different needs and preferences. Therefore it was only a matter of time until we would put our efforts into developing a mouse for competitive RTS gaming. The ZOWIE MiCO is developed for those of you who won't settle for second best - you want the best from your equipment and seek stability in a high quality mouse that you can trust to always perform flawlessly.

Developed together with the Korean powerhouse StarTale, ZOWIE MiCO is a reflection of the experience and expertise of some of the best and most recognized StarCraft 2 players in the world. During the development of the ZOWIE MiCO, we faced three major challenges we had to overcome.

Thermaltake, leading DIY thermal solutions brand, launch their newest and up to date most powerful CPU cooler, the Frio OCK. Continuing the legacy of the award winning original Frio cooler, the Frio OCK is yet once again setting new standards in the industry. With a whooping heat dissipation capacity of 240W this powerful cooler is clearly leading the pack. Targeting particularly power users and ambitioned overlcockers, the Frio OCK comes with six 6 mm high-efficiency heatpipes that effectively transport heat from the base into two separate cooling towers. By adopting this dual-tower design the gap between both towers increases airflow and ventilation created by the dual fans.

Frio OCK's design approach captures and embodies currently prevailing computer game elements, in particular the shape and color scheme is resembling a firm and powerful bunker as inspired by the popular PC game StarCraft II. In doing so, Thermaltake is trying to bring virtual game visuals into every-day life, resembling a manifestation of the fictional within the real.

PNY Technologies, a global leader in flash memory cards, USB flash drives, solid state drives, high speed HDMI cables, computer memory upgrade modules, consumer graphics cards, and professional workstation graphics cards, today announced the XLR8 GeForce GTX 570 1280MB GDDR5 graphics card.

PNY's XLR8 GeForce GTX 570 Enthusiast Edition offers incredible performance and stunning gaming effects. With cutting-edge Microsoft DirectX 11 technology and full support for all the premium GTX gaming technologies, such as NVIDIA Surround, 3D Vision, PhysX, and SLI, the GTX 570 screams performance. PNY's latest graphics card also features the new innovative thermal design for a quiet gaming experience. The GTX 570 delivers a fully immersive stereoscopic 3D experience, for the ultimate in PC gaming.

NVIDIA today announced the latest consumer GPU based on the NVIDIA Fermi architecture, the GeForce GTX 580, which has been reengineered from the transistor-level up to deliver increased power efficiency and performance over previous generation products.

The GeForce GTX 580 GPU delivers the world's fastest performance for DirectX 11 (DX11) games, and support for NVIDIA 3D Vision, Surround, PhysX, SLI and CUDA technologies, further entrenching GeForce-based PCs as the most robust gaming platforms in the world. The combination of an innovative vapor chamber thermal solution and new architectural enhancements make the GTX 580 the fastest and quietest GPU in its class, delivering an increase of up to 35 percent in performance per watti, and performance that is up to 30 percent faster than the original GeForce GTX 480.

PNY Technologies, Inc. ("PNY"), a global leader in flash memory cards, USB flash drives, solid state drives, high speed HDMI cables, computer memory upgrade modules, consumer graphics cards, and professional workstation graphics cards, debuts the latest graphics card from NVIDIA: the Verto GeForce GT 430 1024MB DDR3.

PNY's new GeForce GT 430 gives PCs the ultimate performance upgrade. Now users can power up their digital media PCs with the GT 430 to enjoy games, videos, and photos. The GT 430 delivers PhysX and CUDA technology for an even more dynamic and realistic experience with incredible performance improvements. Experience high definition with the native HDMI port, for unsurpassed HD visuals and sound. Consumers can accelerate HD video and photo editing, take mainstream gaming to the next level on the latest DirectX 11 game titles, and upgrade home theater PCs for the ultimate in viewing theater quality Blu-ray and 3D movies.

AMD kept up with its monthly driver update cycle, and released the ATI Catalyst 10.8 software suite. The software installs the latest WHQL-signed drivers for ATI Radeon GPUs, AMD Chipsets, and other ATI Multimedia products. The new version packs a set of game-specific performance improvements, and a few feature updates. To begin with, Far Cry 2, Left 4 Dead 2, and Stormrise, each got GPU configuration specific, mostly single-digit performance increments.

New features include full-support for the OpenGL ES 2.0 API, greater control over video quality by means of a checkbox control from Catalyst Control Center. This is particularly of importance, as AMD seems to have taken notes from the press coverage, such as our Video Enhancement Quality Tests. There are image-quality improvements for StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, that includes anti-aliasing support. An update also claims to greatly improve overall performance of Eyefinity setups that use 4-way/Quad CrossFireX (or CrossFire involving four GPUs).

DOWNLOAD: ATI Catalyst 10.8 WHQL for Windows 7/Vista 64-bit, Windows 7/Vista 32-bit, Windows XP 32-bit, Windows XP 64-bit

A detailed list of important updates follows.