July 27 is “Starcraft II” day. And while that might not mean a lot to some people, for others it’s reason for celebration.
Twelve years after the original “Starcraft” hit PCs and became a cultural phenomenon, Blizzard Entertainment is trying to bottle lightning for a second time. And no one is betting against them.
Normally, the release of a PC game – even a highly anticipated one – wouldn’t be a particularly big deal for investors. But when that game is “Starcraft II,” all the usual rules are thrown out the window.
Analysts expect the game, which ships to retail on Tuesday, to sell up to 4.5 million copies by the end of August. To put that in perspective, that’s nearly twice as many copies as the year’s best selling console game to date.
Activision Blizzard, the gaming industry’s largest publisher, has 
hired a high profile advertising and marketing veteran as CEO of its Activision Publishing arm.
Eric Hirshberg, who had served as CEO and chief creative officer of advertising and marketing agency Deutsch/LA, will join the company effective Sept. 7. He assumes the position from Mike Griffith, who was promoted to vice chairman of Activision Blizzard earlier this year.
Trolls are pretty common in the online game “World of Warcraft.” Unfortunately, they’re pretty common on the game’s message boards as well.
Trolls, slang for people who haunt Internet forums and rip into other posters for seemingly innocuous statements, tend to ruin the fun for other players, who are sometimes seeking help or looking to start conversations.
Facing an onslaught of negative feedback from players, Blizzard Entertainment has reversed its decision to require users to use their real names in forum postings. Since announcing the new policy earlier this week, fans of Blizzard games have complained loudly, pointing out that they enjoy the company’s products because it represents an imaginary world in which they can escape reality.
The Internet is a fascinating thing. Under the cloak 
of anonymity, people often toss off societal niceties and gleefully rip into each other with abandon. No subject is taboo and the most innocent comment (i.e. “Boy, I’m really enjoying this game…”) can make you the subject of some brutal retorts.
Leave it to Blizzard Entertainment, arguably the biggest game developer in the industry, to try to tame the wild, wild west that is the online forum. The company has announced a new policy to its forums, informing users that starting July 27, all posts will be made using a person’s real-life first and last names.
If the video game world were following its normal 
cycle, console makers would be revealing details of their next generation systems in less than two weeks. This cycle is anything but normal, though – and so at this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), game makers will instead chart a new path.
Rather than introducing new systems, Microsoft and Sony will both introduce motion sensor controllers that are intended to both attract a new audience to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 – and extend the lifespan of those systems by at least another three years. Nintendo, which is still seeing great success with the Wii, will focus instead on once again innovating the portable world.
The hottest ticket in America has nothing to do with
a film or touring musical group. Blizzard Entertainment holds those honors each year with its annual Blizzcon show. Tickets, which will go on sale June 2 and June 5, vanish in seconds, leaving thousands of fans out in the cold.
This year, the company is looking to widen things a bit. Blizzard and DirecTV are once again teaming up to provide live coverage of the event. The $39.95 fee will net fans high definition coverage of the two-day show, including demos, interviews and other features.
The anticipation levels for “Starcraft II” are already sky high – but now Blizzard Entertainment has found a way that could make the game an even bigger time sucker.
Blizzard and Facebook have struck a deal, which will integrate the social network into Blizzard’s Battle.net service. That means players of “Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty” will be able to find Facebook friends who are also on Battle.net, making it easier to play a game with them.
Chris Morris: Journalist 