How can you fairly rate a game that’s been in development for 12-years, but wasn’t forgotten once by its legions of hardcore fans? How can one be expected to cram over a decade’s worth of hype, hoopla and expecations into a single review?

Like this: Diablo III was well worth the wait.

That may seem like a bit of a rushed statement, but Blizzard’s long awaited sequel delivers in ways that not only satisfy its most hardcore fans but also manages to be remarkably accessible jumping on point for newcomers. It’s not perfect, and it’s bound to have its fair share of doubters — but Blizzard has created one of the most intense cooperative experiences that’s going to be tough to put down for quite some time — let’s just hope it’s not another twelve years.

Okay, let’s get it out of the way right off the bat — Diablo III requires a constant internet connection (yes, even during single player gaming) that all but crippled the game during its initial launch. It was immeasurably disappointing for a lot of gamers (and thus the reason this review is so late) to wait over a decade for the game to finally have it in their hands, only to be constantly stopped at the proverbial front door by the dreaded Error 37 message.

In the last week since the game’s release, Blizzard has been hard at work trying to fine tune the servers and while they’re not at 100% yet, they are notably better than what we initially saw. It’s not something that you should let stand in the way of playing Diablo III, but it is something you’re going to want to take note of before jumping in.

If you played Diablo II at all, the next chapter in the series is sure to be a familiar journey for you, as Blizzard has taken a definite “if it’s not broke — don’t fix it” stance with their long awaited title, choosing only to fine-tune select aspects of the game. For most, this is good news, as Diablo III plays, looks and sounds like a cleaned up version of what’s come before. Diablo III is a click happy dungeon crawler where you’ll spend hours on end looting, leveling and smashing stuff –and yes, it’s insanely addicting.

Still though, the improvements made by Blizzard fit in very well here. One of the biggest changes is just how streamlined the combat mechanics have become. Your primary and secondary attacks are mapped to the left and right mouse buttons respectively, and your 1-4 buttons are used for additional skills. It may seem like a small change, but it’s an increidbly accessible system, that is easy for those new to the game to jump in to. In truth, the entire Diablo III experience is streamlined to allow newer users a much easier jumping in point.

Don’t let that fool you though, Diablo III is still a very deep game. Of the five character classes (the Barbarain, the Monk. the demon hunter, the wizard and the Witch Doctor) all play uniquely and there’s a distinct learning curve to some of them — even if they often seem like rehashes of characters from previous games. Diablo III is as deep as you want it to be, as you can play through the game with little customization or dive deep in and fine tuning your character, which adds an incredible amount of depth and challenge to an already deep experience.

The main draw of Diablo III though, is just how much fun it is to log in with friends, or even complete strangers and hack and slash your way through the game. You can set your game to be public, allowing anyone to jump in or private in order to just play alone or with friends, but I was very surprised with just how much group chat was used. In almost every play session I was able to strategize and plan with fantastic players, each with different ideas on how we should be going about our quest. It was almost refreshing in a way, and gave the game a brand new feeling.

The Blast Factor: Diablo III is bound to have its doubters, and that’s to be expected after twelve years in development. Boiling the game down to its core mechanics and most basic principles though, there’s no way to deny it – -Diablo III is one hell of a good time. Not everything works, but the majority of it does — and splendidly so if you’ve got friends joining you in the process. But hey, you didn’t need any free time did you?

Last week, Brookline-based software company Worlds Inc. filed a lawsuit against Blizzard and Activision for violating their patent for creating and controlling 3D avatars in online interactive environments.

World of Warcraft and the Call of Duty games supposedly violate their patent received betwen 2007 and December of last year. One of its patent claims is as follows:

A method for operating a server to enable a plurality of users to interact in a virtual space, wherein each user has a computer associated therewith, wherein each computer has a client process associated therewith, wherein each client process has an avatar associated therewith, wherein the server has a process associated therewith, and wherein each client process is in communication with the server process, comprising: (a) receiving, from each client process by the server process, data indicating a position of the avatar associated with the client process; and (b) synchronously disseminating less than all of the positions of the avatars not associated with a particular client process to each of the other client processes so that the particular client process can determine from the positions a set of avatars that are to be displayed.

Worlds Inc. launched in 1994 and “ leverages its patented proprietary technology…to offer members multi-user environments that have interactive Avatars, rich media graphics, text chat, voice-to-voice chat, video and e-commerce.”

Such claims are not only vague, but could apply to countless other games currently on the market. Regardless, Worlds Inc. is suing the two game companies for damages and fees.

Via: Universal Hub, Complete complaint, 2011 patent, 2007 patent

Always feel like you’re out of the loop when it comes to MMOs, or just don’t care for it? Well, the Weekly MMO Blast is here to change all that. Each week we deliver the screen-shaking headlines that will keep you up to speed on – and maybe even caring for – what happens in this alt-happy gaming niche.

Definitely the highlights of the week were the two simultaneous beta tests for ArenaNet’s Guild Wars 2 and Blizzard’s World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria expansion.

Guild Wars 2 took on a protective stance of their sequel MMO release, warning unauthorized beta players that breaking the NDA might lead to a publisher-wide ban. Reports are coming in that beta screens are peppered with the e-mail address of the one playing it, allowing for easy tracing on who smuggled out the screenshots and videos. Talk about high security. But it makes sense given that they’re now testing the Guild Wars 2 microtransactions store, whose future revenues can seriously tank under negative early flack.

Meanwhile, World of Warcraft players got a looser leash when it comes to beta testing the new Mists of Pandaria expansion. So don’t be surprised to see a sudden flood of WoW news to flood the interwebs over the weekend, including countless mug shots of newbie pandaren performing kung-fu monk tricks (pandas are the latest to join the existing menagerie of animal-inspired races).

Just for fun, which of the two games are you most excited for? Sound off at the comments below!

Plus here are other notable tidbits you’d want to chew on:

• New video footage of Aion 3.0 also known as the expansion that Aion went Truly Free™ anchored by its head producer Adam Christensen. [LINK]
• Final Fantasy XIV hosts an adorable meta contest: Why is the most interesting Moogle in Vana’diel the most interesting? Confusion and cuteness ensue: [LINK]
• More details on the much-awaited Legacy System in Star Wars the Old Republic, which binds toons under one united surname. Virtual Kardashians anyone? [LINK]

Activision Blizzard has released a statement confirming that the World of Warcraft developer has laid of 600 jobs, but assures that game development will not be effected. Then lay offs come after what the company calls a review of its business based on current organizational needs.

“Constant evaluation of teams and processes is necessary for the long-term health of any business. Over the last several years, we’ve grown our organization tremendously and made large investments in our infrastructure in order to better serve our global community. However, as Blizzard and the industry have evolved we’ve also had to make some difficult decisions in order to address the changing needs of our company,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “Knowing that, it still does not make letting go of some of our team members any easier. We’re grateful to have had the opportunity to work with the people impacted by today’s announcement, we’re proud of the contributions they made here at Blizzard, and we wish them well as they move forward.”

The release also says that the studio will release specific release plans for Diablo III soon. So there’s that. Here’s hoping those 600 people land on their feet.

The above photo is of an apparent promotional sign spotted at a Best Buy in Rochester, MN touting the highly anticipated release of Blizzard’s Diablo III on February 1 of this year. A matter of weeks.

Several readers have pointed out that the sign features misspellings (the game apparently comes out in Febuary and not February) and the font seems off, point to an apparent photoshop. However, Joystiq, the site which originally ran the photo has called the store in questioned and verified that yes — the display is up.

Best Buy’s website also lists the game as being available on February 1, though Blizzard has not commented or set a date for the game. We’ll update this page when we hear more.

It looks like The Blizzard of 2010 will be followed immediately by the Blizzard of 2011

The National Weather Service in Taunton has issued a Blizzard Waning for the entire East Coast of Massachusetts, including Cape Cod, Boston, and up to Gloucester.

The warning goes from 2 a.m. all the way to 8 p.m. on Wednesday.

Up to 16 inches of snow will come down, blowing at times, with gusts up to 45 miles per hour.

As New England emerges from the Blizzard of 2010, fire officials would like to remind residents that every moment counts in a fire. So, while you’re digging out your car, your mailbox, your stoop, and sidewalk, don’t forget to free your nearest fire hydrant.

“As you dig your way out of this storm, please adopt your nearest fire hydrant,” said Massachusetts State Fire Marshal Stephen D. Coan. “In a fire seconds count, so please help your local firefighters by removing snow from around the hydrant nearest to your home. It could by your house or your neighbor’s that you help them save.”

Fires often accompany winter storms because of the combination of windblown power lines and overused fireplaces. Basement flooding is also a fire danger, because flood waters can short a building’s electrical system, sparking an electrical fire. A house was destroyed and another badly damaged after flood waters sparked an electrical fire on Monday morning.

The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency has issued guidelines for resident safety during the projected blizzard set to hit the area on Sunday and Monday.

“MEMA recommends all travel be completed in the morning hours before the roads get treacherous as well as postpone any unnecessary travel if possible,” said Peter Judge, an agency spokesman. “Once the heavy snow begins, please stay off of the roads during the overnight hours to allow road crews to safely complete their tasks.”

MEMA will activate the state’s emergency bunker, the Emergency Operations Center, in Framingham at 4 p.m. Sunday as well as three regional centers in Bridgewater, Tewksbury and Agawam to help coordinate state efforts to deal with up to 20 inches of snow.

Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino has an emergency meeting scheduled at 10 a.m. Sunday.

(National Weather Service)

The National Weather Service has upgraded the Winter Storm Warnings issued around Massachusetts to more serious blizzard warnings.

Blizzard Warnings were issued for the following areas/counties: Central Middlesex, Eastern Essex, Eastern Norfolk, Eastern Plymouth, Northern Bristol, Southeast Middlesex, Southern Bristol, Southern Plymouth, Southern Worcester, Suffolk, Western Essex, Western Norfolk and Western Plymouth.

The Blizzard Warning all of Eastern Massachusetts Cape Cod and the Islands and all of Rhode Island except for Block Island. Coastal Connecticut is also under a Blizzard Warning.

The warnings include Boston and all of Suffolk County.

The warning in Suffolk County starts Sunday at noon and does not expire until 5 p.m. on Monday.

The Weather Service expects 15-20 inches of snow to call in those areas with significant drifts, high winds, white out conditions, and the potential for power loss.

Light snow will start in the early afternoon and become heavy by the evening. Very heavy snow will fall Sunday night with 2-4 inches per hour likely. Snow will continue heavy until it tapers off Monday afternoon.

Wind gusts of 50-60 miles per hour are expected.

Earlier this month, a supposed leaked Blizzard release schedule threw the internet into a fevered tizzy with promises of unannounced World of Warcraft expansions and new projects.  One of those projects was the mysterious Project Titan, which the company is now starting to shed a bit of light on…sort of.

“The media is not supposed to know anything about that. It’s our next-gen MMO project,” said Blizzard’s senior VP Frank Pearce said in a recent interview with Destructoid.

“We’ve only started talking about it in a limited fashion because we want to leverage the fact that we’re working on something like that for the purpose of recruiting – getting some of the best talent in the industry on that project,” Pearce added.

Project Titan is expected to release in 2013.

Dirty Korean Starcraft players who have taken bribes and thrown matches are sweating bullets these days as the hammer has dropped on a widespread scandal that implicates many of the nation’s top pro players. With the assistance of sAviOr, who is one of the best known Starcraft players in South Korea, gambling brokers allegedly bribed at least 11 players to throw matches for around 2,000 to 6,000 dollars a piece and ran a ‘training institute’  to foster new cheat talent.

eSports are bigger and more respected in South Korea than they are anywhere else in the world. They even have a cable channel there wholly dedicated to airing footage from Starcraft matches, so this scandal is devastating to loyal fans of the respected Korean circuit and the Korean public at large.

Starcraft is really a kind of new South Korean national pastime and top players are regularly treated like celebrities by the country’s youth. As a result of this overwhelming popularity for eSports, and predominately Starcraft, a culture of gambling has grown up around the circuit that is equally huge. There is big money motivation for unscrupulous brokers to fix matches. Two of three indicted brokers in the scandal reportedly made around $140,000 doing it. This indictment, however, is the first time the practice has ever been reliably detected and investigated.

The fallout from the scandal is likely far from over, so we will keep you up to date on how it develops. Let’s hope this serves as a lesson to competitive gaming circuits the world around.

via: Kotaku/Softpedia

And now, a topical funny:

Blizzard today branched out from selling Pets in its World of Warcraft Store to the more useful Mounts with the “Celestial Steed.”

The "Celestial Steed"

Admittedly, it’s a pretty creature. It has celestial bodies for bones, armor adorning its body and it’ll run you a healthy $25. It offers no advantage over other mounts as its performance is tied to the skill you have in the game.

Want one? You’re going to have to wait.

North American queues have exceeded 80,000, meaning the Mount is already monumentally successful, as that’s a cool $2 million Blizzard will make today off the creature.

Still want one? Hop in line right here.

With the insane monetary success of Blizzard PC and Mac MMO gem “World of Warcraft”, you’d think it’d one day show up, in one form or another, on consoles, but that’s unlikely to happen, says Blizzard.

In an interview with G4, WoW Lead Producer J. Allen Brack spoke about the prospects of a console MMO and why it’d be no simple task.

“I think there’s a lot of reasons,” said Brack. “There’s not one thing. One is, it takes a long time to develop an MMO. The lifecycle of consoles being what they are, you have to really time when your console’s going to come out, what its projected lifecycle is going to be with when your game is going to be, which is challenging.”

But what about World of Warcraft specifically?

“In the case of WoW, we talk about it all the time,” he said. “How would we bring WoW to the console?”

He also expressed the various technical barriers keeping WoW from consoles, namely the massive hard drive space such a game, with its patches and all, would require.

“There’s those technical challenges,” he explained, “there’s patching challenges, there’s the quality controls that we have vs. the quality controls that say, a Microsoft or Sony or Nintendo has. All those things sort of raise the bar in terms of the challenges and then specifically in the case of WoW, WoW was designed to be a keyboard game and its control scheme and its camera controls and the number of abilities that you have and the spells and how things work are very keyboard-centric. The idea of translating that to a gamepad is a very, very challenging proposition.”

“I think it’s unlikely that WoW comes to the consoles,” he said. “It is something that we talk about on a pretty regular basis, but someone is going to figure out how to make an MMO on a console and they’re going to be wildly successful. I have no doubt about that.”

Blizzard Entertainment, makers of the monumentally huge MMO World of Warcraft, recently donated $1.1 million to the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

A press release from the Foundation, which aims to bring joy to the lives of children with threatening medical issues, expressed its gratitude for the lofty donation.

Blizzard didn’t donate the money out of its own pocket though. Blizzard promised that gamers who purchased the Pandaren Monk in-game pet (imaged below) for $10 would see half of the fee go to the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

The Pandaren Monk

The effort ran through the months of November and December and resulted in the $1.1 million total.

"This donation also reflects the spirit and generosity of our players," said Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime. "Their enthusiasm for World of Warcraft and for supporting a good cause made this possible."

Did any of you participate? I missed out and feel bad. Ouch.

Source: GameLife

Soon arriving in the Blizzard Online Store, a marketplace for all things Warcraft and then some, will be World of Warcraft pets, in cute and cuddly plush form.

Expected to arrive “in the weeks ahead” are the soft and lovable creatures, first available in Wind Rider Cub and Gryphon Hatchling models and later extending to a full line of pets.

Best of all, when you buy the plush creature, you’ll also earn a code to download a digital version of the critter in-game as an account-bound, non-combat creature to show off to all your buddies.

Keep an eye on the Online Blizzard Store for more information. We’ll update when the plushies go on sale, because, well, I’ll be buying one.

A mere five years ago, or 1,825 days, Blizzard released The World of Warcraft, now the most widely known MMORPG in the world.

Could the team behind the project have foreseen such gargantuan success? Who knows, but a select few who did believe in the project are now richer than you, and one is part-owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The game has sold above and beyond 8.6 million in the US in its life and 11.5 million of you continue to pay $15 a month to log into Azeroth.

How long will the game remain at the forefront of the gaming world? Well, probably much longer, as the game’s next expansion, Cataclysm, isn’t even out yet, or has even been dated.

Not entirely related, but WoW continues to expand its cultural phenomenon by embracing Mr. T and letting him sell the game. Take a look.

Source: Joystiq

Amazon’s Deal Of The Day for today, October 7, 2009 is on all things Blizzard strategy games.

The deal, which runs until midnight tonight, or when stock evaporates, discounts the price of popular Blizzard franchises Warcraft, Starcraft, and Diablo.

Starcraft Battle Chest is now $10 and the Warcraft III and Diablo Battlechests are $20. Those price drops equate to a savings of %50 on each collection.

In other Blizzard news, the World of Warcraft Battlechest is still $40, but the Lich King expansion is now $10 cheaper, available at $29.99

If you’ve never played any of these games and have a twinge to, now seems like the time. The price is right afterall.

Source: Slickdeals

It’s no secret Blizzard’s “World of Warcraft” MMORPG is wildly addicting. With thousands of quests to complete, hundreds of mob species to slay and bosses to defeat, it’s a wonder how anyone can play in moderation.

If you’re enthusiastic about kicking your Azeroth-flavored habit, and have $14,000 to spare, an Internet Addiction rehabilitation center in Seattle, just opened up, claiming to be the first of its kind, and more than willing to help you go cold turkey.

The course, dubbed reSTART, is a 45-day intensive program where addicts are continuously forced to listen to a recording of Liam Neeson forcefully saying “Play WoW again and I’ll cut your balls off.” We kid, and if you’re really serious about quitting WoW, head on over to the reSTART website to learn more.

Or end up like this kid, your choice.

Activision/Blizzard today announced that legendary director Sam Raimi will assume the captain’s seat for the upcoming film based in the epic and violent Warcraft universe, lending his directing abilities this time towards Orcs and Trolls rather than the Green Goblin and Mary-Jane.

A deal inked with Legendary Pictures and Activision/Blizzard today confirmed the signing and Raimi had this to say:

“At its core, Warcraft is a fantastic, action-packed story, I am thrilled to work with such a dynamite production team to bring this project to the big screen.”

No mention was made concerning any of the plot, leading actors/actresses, or really anything relating to the actual film, but, if Raimi could take the already loved SpiderMan comic and turn it into a global phenomenon for non-geeks as well, just imagine what he’ll do in the Warcraft universe!

For two days at the end of the summer in August, the usually sunny Anaheim California will morph into a Blizzard of epic proportions.‚  No, not an actual blizzard, rather all things Warcraft, Starcraft, and Diablo will descend upon the city for the fourth annual Blizzcon festival held at the Anaheim Convention Center.

Tickets for the show go on sale May 16 priced at $125 USD.‚  No word on whether or not WoW gold is an accepted method of payment.

Blizzard kindly reminds the faithful ticket-seekers to register with Battle.net before May 16 in order to simplify the ticket purchasing process.

Can’t make it to the show? Not a problem.‚  The event, for the first time ever will be available online as streaming content at the price point of $39.95.‚  What’s more, DIRECTV owners can purchase the pay-per-view event at the same price point and have both the television and internet stream available at no additional charge.‚  And anyone forking over precious moolah to the video game giant will receive an undisclosed WoW in-game item.‚  Better not be the Swine Flu sickness.

Where would we be without Blizzard?‚  Don’t answer that-it’s a scary and impossible thought to even conjure.

What is a 15 hour session of World of Warcraft without a sugar filled, cavity inducing, and caffeine loaded soft drink?‚  My days of WoW have come and gone, but I can easily recall the many late nights fueled by my lust for Alliance blood and that sweet, sweet nectar of life, Mountain Dew.

Blizzard announced today that this summer, you’ll be able to see World of Warcraft characters in a new place — the beverage aisle.

The Mountain Dew Game Fuel will launch in two World of Warcraft inspired flavors, Alliance Blue (wild fruit) and Horde Red (citrus cherry).

I can picture the scene at Store 24, I reach down for the Horde flavor and I am met by a member of the filthy Alliance and in that moment PvP has created an entirely new meaning.

This marketing scheme also begs some very interesting questions; does my in-game loyalty bind me to a particular flavor?‚  Will I be hated based on the drink I hold?‚  Will World of Warcraft guilds and raids bleed into the real world?

Blizzard promises more details soon.

BlizzCon 2009 is officially happening.‚  The fourth annual convention for all things Warcraft, Starcraft, and Diablo will be held at the Anaheim Convention Center, August 21^st and 22^nd.

This year’s BlizzCon will be bigger and better than ever before.‚  Due to a high forecast of attendees, floor space will expand from three convention halls to four.‚  That’s an entire extra hall for you and your raiding pals to soak in Blizzard’s latest offerings.

Blizzard has been known to keep secrets, but when they’re ready to divulge, BlizzCon is usually where it happens.‚  Who knows, maybe we’ll finally get a glimpse at the World of Warcraft movie fanboys have been screaming for, or perhaps, their next non-World of Warcraft MMO.‚  One thing is for sure, whatever coveted secret Blizzard decides to unveil will blow our minds.

Mike Morhaime, CEO and founder of Blizzard Entertainment says,

“We’ve been amazed by the incredible response to each of our previous BlizzCon events,” and that‚  “We’re pleased to be bringing the convention back to Anaheim this year, and we look forward to this new opportunity to meet Blizzard gamers from around the world.”

And why shouldn’t he be. ‚ With hands on time with pre-release titles, discussion panels with Blizzard developers, competitive and casual tournaments for attendees, great prizes, commemorative merchandise based on the Blizzard universe, and a silent auction, this year’s BlizzCon looks to be aiming for new heights.

Keep an eye on the BlizzCon 2009 official site for further details regarding ticket availability and pricing.

About Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.

Best known for blockbuster hits including World of Warcraft^(R) and the Warcraft^(R), StarCraft^(R), and Diablo^(R) series, Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. (www.blizzard.com), a division of Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ:ATVI), is a premier developer and publisher of entertainment software renowned for creating some of the industry’s most critically acclaimed games. Blizzard Entertainment’s track record includes eleven #1-selling games and multiple Game of the Year awards. The company’s online-gaming service, Battle.net^(R), is one of the largest in the world, with millions of active users.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-looking Statements: Information in this press release that involves Blizzard Entertainment’s expectations, plans, intentions or strategies regarding the future are forward-looking statements that are not facts and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Blizzard Entertainment generally uses words such as “outlook,” “will,” “could,” “would,” “might,” “remains,” “to be,” “plans,” “believes,” “may,” “expects,” “intends,” “anticipates,” “estimate,” future,” “plan,” “positioned,” “potential,” “project,” “remain,” “scheduled,” “set to,” “subject to,” “upcoming” and similar expressions to help identify forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause Blizzard Entertainment’s actual future results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements set forth in this release include, but are not limited to, sales levels of Blizzard Entertainment’s titles, shifts in consumer spending trends, the impact of the current macroeconomic environment, the seasonal and cyclical nature of the interactive game market, Blizzard Entertainment’s ability to predict consumer preferences among competing hardware platforms (including next-generation hardware), declines in software pricing, product returns and price protection, product delays, retail acceptance of Blizzard Entertainment’s products, adoption rate and availability of new hardware and related software, industry competition, rapid changes in technology and industry standards, protection of proprietary rights, litigation against Blizzard Entertainment, maintenance of relationships with key personnel, customers, vendors and third-party developers, domestic and international economic, financial and political conditions and policies, foreign exchange rates, integration of recent acquisitions and the identification of suitable future acquisition opportunities, Activision Blizzard’s success in integrating the operations of Activision Publishing and Vivendi Games in a timely manner, or at all, and the combined company’s ability to realize the anticipated benefits and synergies of the transaction to the extent, or in the timeframe, anticipated, and the other factors identified in Activision Blizzard’s most recent annual report on Form 10-K and any subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. The forward-looking statements in this release are based upon information available to Blizzard Entertainment and Activision Blizzard as of the date of this release, and neither Blizzard Entertainment nor Activision Blizzard assumes any obligation to update any such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements believed to be true when made may ultimately prove to be incorrect. These statements are not guarantees of the future performance of Blizzard Entertainment or Activision Blizzard and are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, some of which are beyond its control and may cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations.

Vivendi and Activision announced today that they have signed an agreement to combine Vivendi Games — which includes Blizzard Entertainment — with Activision, creating the world’s largest video game publisher.

According to a statement Sunday, The new company, called Activision Blizzard, is expected to have approximately $3.8 billion in revenues this year and the largest operating margins (read: the richest) video game publisher in the world.

“This is … a pivotal event in the continuing transformation of the interactive entertainment industry,” said Robert Kotick, Activision’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. “By combining leaders in mass-market entertainment and subscription-based online games, Activision Blizzard will be the only publisher with leading market positions across all categories of the rapidly growing interactive entertainment software industry and reach the broadest possible audiences.”

Vivendi/Blizzard bring World of Warcraft, the largest and most proliferated online game while Activision already boasts mega-hit console and PC games including the best-selling Guitar Hero franchise.

“By joining forces with Vivendi Games, we will become the immediate leader in the highly profitable online games business,” said Kotick.

Financials

Under the terms of the agreement, Vivendi Games will be merged with a wholly owned subsidiary of Activision. In the merger, shares of Vivendi Games will be converted into 295.3 million new shares of Activision common stock. Based on the transaction price of $27.50 per share of Activision common stock, this implies a value of approximately $8.1 billion for Vivendi Games. Concurrently with the merger, Vivendi will purchase 62.9 million newly issued shares of Activision common stock at a price of $27.50 per share — a premium of 31% to Activision’s average closing price over the past 20 trading days — for a total of $1.7 billion in cash. As a result of these transactions, Vivendi will own an approximate 52% ownership stake in Activision Blizzard on a fully diluted basis. When the transaction finalizes, Activision will be renamed Activision Blizzard and will continue to operate as a public company traded on NASDAQ under the ticker ATVI.

A host of managerial moves will be made also.

Robert Kotick will be President and Chief Executive Officer of Activision Blizzard. Bruce Hack, current Chief Executive Officer of Vivendi Games, becomes Vice-Chairman and Chief Corporate Officer of Activision Blizzard, in charge of finance, human resources and legal matters. Mike Griffith will serve as President and Chief Executive Officer of Activision Publishing, which after deal finalizes, will also include the Sierra Entertainment, Sierra Online and Vivendi Games Mobile divisions.

Mike Morhaime will continue to serve as President and Chief Executive Officer of Blizzard Entertainment. Thomas Tippl, currently Chief Financial Officer of Activision, will be appointed Chief Financial Officer of Activision Blizzard and Jean-Fran§ois Grollemund, currently Chief Financial Officer of Vivendi Games, will be appointed Chief Accounting Officer of Activision Blizzard.

Vivendi’s board of directors has approved the deal, which is now subject to the approval of Activision’s shareholders and regulatory officials.

This is one of the largest corporate transactions in the history of the video game industry. Both companies are promising a painless transition.

“There will be no changes to our games, our websites, our personnel or our day-to-day operations as a result of the deal,” said Blizzard, in a statement on their website. “However, this combining of resources will benefit all of the companies involved and will further strengthen Blizzard’s ability to continue delivering high-quality content for our players around the world for many years to come.” Blizzard is offering fans a FAQ to explain the merger.