Ye Be Warned! A Blizzard Commeth!

by Matt "Memnok" LePage

Gameography, bio's and blogs oh my! A new month means brand new Ten Ton Hammer content and in store for you this week is a updated who's who in the World of Warcraft! Expect to see information on the people responsible for running, designing, and operating Blizzard Entertainment, such as the famous Jeff Kaplan and Chris Metzen. History and facts on Blizzard Entertainment itself, gamelists and achievements, and even a small overview of the big names inside the game's lore itself ranging from Rexxar to Proudmoore! It is a good way to let both n00bs and veterans alike, a small insight into the inner workings of the company that helped visualize, dream, design and create the most successful MMORPG on the market. Enjoy!

Blizzard Entertainment Overview

Blizzard Entertainment was founded in February, 1991 as Silicon & Synapse by Mike Morhaime, Allen Adham and Frank Pearce. The three founders of the company are UCLA graduates. This is likely the reason why typing in "UCLA" as a cheat code in Warcraft II causes the words "Go Bruins!" to be displayed on the screen. The company developed games like Rock & Roll Racing and The Lost Vikings (published by Interplay Productions). In 1994, the company briefly changed its name to Chaos Studios, before finally settling on Blizzard Entertainment after it was discovered that another company with the Chaos name already existed. That same year, they were acquired by distributor Davidson & Associates for under $10 million. Shortly thereafter, Blizzard shipped their breakthrough hit Warcraft. Users play as either orcs or humans in a fantasy medieval world full of magic and swords. By 1995, its sequel came out, originally written for the DOS operating system, though it had a MS Windows launch screen and played well under Windows 95. Blizzard also released an expansion pack for Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness known as Warcraft II: Beyond the Dark Portal on April 30, 1996. Blizzard made a new version of WarCraft II in 1999, called WarCraft II: Battle.net Edition.

Blizzard has changed hands several times since then: Davidson was acquired by a timeshare company called CUC International in 1996; CUC then merged with a hotel, real-estate, and car-rental franchiser called HFS Corporation to form Cendant Software, in 1997. In 1998 it became apparent that CUC had engaged in accounting fraud for years before the merger; Cendant's stock lost 80% of its value over the next six months in the ensuing widely discussed accounting scandal. The company sold its consumer software operations, including Blizzard, to French publisher Havas in 1998, the same year Havas was purchased by Vivendi. Blizzard is now part of the VU Games group of Vivendi Universal.

Starcraft was introduced in 1998, it was the best-selling computer game in that year and won the Origins Award for Best Strategy Computer Game of 1998. Blizzard estimated in 2005 that 9 million copies of StarCraft and StarCraft: Brood War had been sold since its release, and it has achieved an international cult-like status in the computer gaming world, especially in its online multiplayer form.

In 1996, Blizzard acquired Condor Games, which had been working on the game Diablo for Blizzard at the time. Condor was renamed Blizzard North, and has since developed hit games Diablo, Diablo II, and its expansion pack Diablo II: Lord of Destruction. Blizzard North is located in San Mateo, California. Blizzard launched their online gaming service Battle.net in January of 1997 with the release of their action-RPG Diablo. On November 23, 2004, Blizzard released World of Warcraft, which has quickly grown to become the most popular MMORPG in history. On May 16, 2005, Blizzard announced the acquisition of Swingin' Ape Studios, a console game developer which had been developing StarCraft: Ghost. The team was renamed Blizzard Console and is now focusing on next generation consoles, after StarCraft: Ghost was 'postponed indefinitely'. On August 1, 2005, Blizzard announced the consolidation of Blizzard North into the headquarters in Irvine, California.

Blizzard is currently working on an expansion to the highly successful World of Warcraft called World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade. Notable unreleased titles include Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans, which was cancelled on May 22, 1998, and StarCraft: Ghost, which was indefintely postponed on March 24, 2006 and whose current status is in question. IGN has stated that it has been cancelled, but this has yet to be confirmed or denied by Blizzard.

There seems to be no stopping Blizzard right now. With an over 5.5 million player subscriber base for World of Warcraft, everything Blizzard seems to touch turns to gold! Dominating both real-time strategy games, role-playing games and online games, we can only imagine what new game Blizzard will release, though, after the expansion to WOW, “The Burning Crusade” hits shelves.

Blizzard Game List

The Lord of the Rings (1990) - RPG
The Lost Vikings (1992) - platform game
Rock & Roll Racing (1993) - racing game
Blackthorne (1994) - fantasy platform game
The Death and Return of Superman (1994) - side-scrolling beat 'em up
Warcraft (1994) - fantasy real-time strategy game
Justice League Task Force (1995) - one-on-one fighting game
The Lost Vikings II (1995) - platform game
Warcraft II (1995) - fantasy real-time strategy game
Warcraft II: Beyond the Dark Portal (1996) - expansion pack
Diablo (1996) - action-oriented computer role-playing game
Diablo: Hellfire (1997) - expansion pack (co-created by Sierra Studios)
StarCraft (1998) - science fiction real-time strategy game
StarCraft: Brood War (1998) - expansion pack
Diablo II (2000) - action-oriented RPG
Diablo II: Lord of Destruction (2001) - expansion pack
Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos (2002) - fantasy real-time strategy game
Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne (2003) - expansion pack
World of Warcraft (2004) - MMORPG set in the Warcraft universe

The Big Names

These guys are the ones that make or break the games, whose insight for Starcraft and for Warcraft helped elevate them into the well loved and played classics.

Chris Metzen is the Vice President of Creative Development as well as a developer/publisher in Blizzard Entertainment. He is responsible for most of the lore and storylines found in the Warcraft and Starcraft series of games as well as concept art and character design. His art, along with other Blizzard artists, can be seen at Sons of the Storm, as well as the incredible depictions in the gaming guides provided with the product. I can remember the day I bought Warcraft 2, seeing the gritty and dark stories that Mr. Metzen brought to life with such great art. He really helped elevate the work and made it very easy to get into the world in which he provided for you.

Jeff Kaplan, aka Tigole, is a lead designer in bringing the World of Warcraft to life, not only in its content, but making accessible to all the player fan bases… not an easy job by any means, one where you usually receive plenty of 1 thing, CRITICISM! Jeff is the stern and caring face to WOW, a poster on their forums, he tries to stay in touch with the gamers themselves, is the spokesman for Blizzard in newspapers, magazines and articles throughout the world.

The Names of Lore

Here is a bit of an insight on the big names of the current Warcraft Lore!
On the word of a myserious prophet, the orcish Warchief Thrall who had liberated his orcish brethren, set sail for Kalimdor, the "Land of Eternal Starlight". Thus the orcs managed to avoid the devastation of Lordaeron and the Kingdom of Azeroth by the Scourge. Upon their arrival to Kalimdor, the orcish ships were separated. Thrall ended up in the Barrens and thus encountered the Tauren chieftain, Cairne Bloodhoof. In mutual respect, and understanding of the needs of the other, they formed an alliance.
Later, once again at the behest of the mysterious prophet - now revealed to be Medivh - Thrall joined with his enemies of old, the humans, lead now by Jaina Proudmoore, in order to defeat Grom Hellscream, who had become possessed by the blood of the demon Mannoroth. Thrall convinced Grom that he was on the wrong path, and together they managed to destroy Mannoroth and end the taint of his blood in all orcs.
Thrall and Jaina allied themselves with the Night Elves at the battle of Mount Hyjal in the defeat of the demon Archimonde.

Thrall set up the nation of Durotar - named for his father - in the Barrens of Kalimdor, a haven in which orcs might hope to live peacefully as once they had long ago. Unfortunately, this peace was shattered when Admiral Proudmoore, the father of Thrall's friend and ally Jaina, arrived on Kalimdor with his marines and attacked the orcs - refusing to accept or honor any treaties with them. Jaina, horrified at his insatiable lust for vengeance, betrayed her father to his defeat by allowing the Horde to attack Theramore Isle. Thrall's fight was with the Admiral, so he ordered the Horde not to attack the native defenders of Theramore, and after the Admiral's death, they left Theramore in peace, but the true damage had been done. Relations between orc and human deteriorated, despite the best efforts of Thrall and Jaina to contain them.

After the downfall of the Burning Legion, Arthas made the long journey home from Kalimdor to the corrupted lands of Lordaeron. Upon his arrival, he promptly launched an assault against the remaining Dreadlords ruling over the ruins of Lordaeron's Capital City. Declaring himself King Arthas, allied with Sylvanas Windrunner (blessed with her original body by the Lich King), and the Lich Kel'Thuzad, he began to set himself up as ruler of the Plaguelands. However, fate was not to be denied her say in the matter. Illidan, using the power of the Eye of Sargeras, launched an attack on the Lich King at his base of power in Northrend. A fracture in the Lich King's icy prison formed by the magical assault began to sap him of his power. Arthas, his strength directly linked to the Lich King by his possession of the runeblade Frostmourne, suffered the same effects. Slowly but surely, the Lich King's iron grip on the Scourge began to slip, and some of the Undead began to regain their long-buried individuality.

Chief among those to rebel against Ner'zhul were Sylvanas and her Banshees. She planned an ambush to kill Arthas and avenge her ruined homeland of Quel'thalas, but with the intervention of Kel'Thuzad, Arthas escaped and rushed north towards the Lich King's summons.

Arthas' arrival at Northrend was not unexpected. Waiting to meet him stood the legendary Lord of the Nerubians, Anub'Arak. Using their combined might, Arthas and Anub'Arak descend into the depths of Azjol-Nerub, the ancient spider-kingdom, cutting through groups of Naga and Blood Elf warriors, and even a company of Dwarves. Once in the depths of the crypt, and after a harrowing journey through the labyrinth of the ruined city of the Nerubian lords, Arthas and Anub'Arak emerged at the base of the Frozen Throne. There, in a final desperate and horrific battle against the combined Naga and Blood Elf forces, the Undead were able to drive them back. In the end, a rejuvenated Arthas and Illidan faced off at the base of the icy spire housing the Frozen Throne. A vigorous battle was fought there, ending with the defeat of Illidan, having been driven to the ground by the might of the Death Knight. Victorious, Arthas ascended to the Frozen Throne and faced the Lich King. Climacticaly climbing up the icy spire, his mind echoed with the voices of his past, reminding him that he once was the bitter opponent of all that he has become. With the last of his power, the Lich King commanded Arthas to smite the prison with Frostmourne, sending the shattered pieces scattering across the floor. Setting the last echoes of his humanity aside, Arthas picked up the helmet and placed it on his head, melding the Lich King and Arthas Menethil into one. There upon the Frozen Throne, watching the wasted land of ice and all things beyond, sat the most powerful being in the world of Azeroth.

Arthas's role in World of Warcraft is, as yet, unconfirmed. However, in the Eastern and Western Plaguelands the Scourge appears to be rising in power, a fact which has given rise to very ominous rumours of his return.

I hope you have enjoyed the Who’s Who of Warcraft, from lore to company designers, the history and the rise to fame!