Blizzcon: Day -1

So, Blizzcon 2008 starts in beautiful downtown Anaheim on Friday morning. And, for the first time, there’s no hint as to what new game or expansion Blizzard may announce or even if they’re going to make such an announcement.

By this time in 2005, people had already found the domain name registrations that tipped them off that the World of Warcraft expansion would be called The Burning Crusade.

By this time last year, people had likewise sussed out Wrath of the Lich King.

This year — at least so far — nothing.

Now, there will be a third expansion at some point. (My money is on it centering on the Maelstrom, the homeland of the trolls, the homeland of the goblins, the kingdom of the naga, the tomb of Sargeras, and so on.) But there is nary a hint that this is going to be announced at Blizzcon. Indeed, the number of Warcraft panels is down from previous years, to make room for Diablo III goodness (and who can blame them, especially given that WoW was the 800-pound gorilla at the first two conventions). But it may not be announced this week.

Now, Wrath of the Lich King won’t be out until November, and maybe there’s a worry that an announcement about a third expansion would distract attention from it, but Blizzard has repeatedly said that their goal is to move to a one expansion per year schedule. (Stop snickering.) So an announcement at Blizzcon would seem logical.

In any case, we’ll know Friday morning, even before the keynote address is given, since the Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King banners in the convention center gave it away last time.

Assuming AT&T can penetrate the Anaheim Convention Center, and assuming my iPhone’s battery holds up, I will liveblog Blizzcon 2008 at http://twitter.com/blizzconnews.

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