Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.’s two-day gaming convention, BlizzCon^™, begins this Friday, the company announced. BlizzCon is a celebration of the Warcraft^®, StarCraft^®, and Diablo^® game universes and the player communities that have formed around them. This year’s event will take place at the Anaheim Convention Center on August 3 and 4 and will feature two days of gaming, contests, developer Q&A panels, and tournaments, as well as the first-ever public opportunity to play the company’s long-awaited sequel, StarCraft II. The show will conclude with performances by comedian Jay Mohr, game-music concert group Video Games Live, and Warcraft-themed rock band Level 70 Elite Tauren Chieftain.

“We received an overwhelming response to our first BlizzCon in 2005, and we’ve looked forward to being able to come back and spend another weekend with our players ever since,” said Mike Morhaime, president and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment^®. “Our employees and our partners have worked hard to make this a memorable experience for the attendees, and we’re hoping everyone truly enjoys the show.”

For those unable to attend, Blizzard will be featuring up-to-date coverage of the BlizzCon activities and tournament competitions at www.BlizzCon.com. BlizzCon would not be possible without the enthusiasm of Blizzard gamers around the world and the generous support of Intel^®, NVIDIA^®, AT&T^®, and other sponsors.