Crispy Gamer News

Blizzard Entertainment will have special midnight signing events at retail locations around the country to commemorate the launch of World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King on November 13. Each location will open its doors at 12:00 a.m. local time, allowing addicts.. I mean WOW players to be among the first to get their copies of the World of Warcraft expansion. Blizzard Entertainment developers and executives will be in attendance to meet players and sign copies of the game, and increased quantities of the Collector’s Edition will be on hand for purchase. Official launch events will be held in the following locations - after the break:

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The Game Developers Conference (GDC) will return to the Moscone Center in San Francisco March 23-27, 2009. I bet you’re excited. This year’s conference produced by the Think Services Game Group features five days of keynotes, sessions, panel discussions, and roundtables aimed at game developers and business professionals. The entire GDC Summit Lineup for 2009 includes summits on AI, casual games, game outsourcing, IGDA education, and localization. GDC will also feature its popular Serious Games, Independent Games and Worlds in Motion Summits.

The conference takes place from March 23-27, 2009. Registration and conference information is available online at the official GDC website, www.gdconf.com.

The organizers of the Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) today sent a reminder that this year’s gaming festival will begin later this week. PAX 2008 is being held August 29-31 and the group expects to draw over 45,000 gamers, industry professionals and media to the Washington State Convention and Trade Center in Seattle for the 3-day event.

Attendee badges may be purchased at the door at $30 for a one-day badge or $60 for all three days of the show. Is it any wonder that they expect so many to attend this event, given that most of our industry’s biggest shows are a shut-out for regular gamers? Highlights after the jump:

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Details on Hero-Con ‘08, NCsoft’s annual fan gathering dedicated to all things related to City of Heroes / City of Villains, were released today and registration is now open. This year promises to raise the roof of Hyatt Regency Hotel in Santa Clara, California on Saturday, October 18, 2008. The first thing to note is that NCsoft has secured a special rate deal of $119.00 per night at the hotel for attendees looking to book a room (from here, use code G-NCSO).

Moving on, this year’s event feature a community address from Lead Designer, Matt “Positron” Miller, and Executive Producer, Brian Clayton; a banquet dinner, with entertainment and exclusive announcements; Q&A, Round Table Discussions, and Workshop sessions provided by City of Heroes game creators and players; free gifts and in game rewards; a live mission event with a team of 8 other players that you can participate in for a grand prize; rub elbows with the development team; participate in a myriad of contests; and VIP passes to unlock the Carnival Harlequin Costume Power.

Sign up now at www.cityofheroes.com.

If you are a media type and you want special treatment at this year’s Penny Arcade Expo (PAX), then you have until midnight tonight to get that registration in. The organizers of PAX announced that media pre-registration ends Friday, August 22 at 11:59p.m. Pacific Time.

If you want to sign up for the event as a member of the media you’ll need some credentials like a business card with your name, editorial title, and media outlet logo or (for freelancers) a letter on letterhead from the assigning editor with his/her contact information; a government issued ID, and a recently bylined article written by you.

After August 22, all media registrations will be handled at the show, beginning Friday, August 29 at 2:00pm. Every on-site applicant must bring hard copies of the required credentials and his/her media outlet’s business license to Will Call for on-site processing. PAX staff reserve the right to deny media badges to anyone with insufficient documentation.

Find out more by visiting www.pennyarcadeexpo.com.

2K Games confirmed today that BioShock for the PlayStation 3 will be available at retailers in North America on October 21 and internationally on October 24. Developed by 2K Marin, 2K Boston, 2K Australia and Digital Extremes (that’s a lot of developmental power), BioShock for PS3 contains all-new content that augments and extends the game already available on the PC and Xbox 360.

Headlining the list of new features is the inclusion of the Survivor difficulty mode, Trophy support and the addition of all-new Add-On Game Content. Created exclusively for the PS3 version of the game, the Challenge Rooms will test the intestinal fortitude of players by requiring them to utilize the knowledge and skills they have learned while conquering Rapture.

The first Challenge Room will be viewable by appointment at Games Convention 2008 (CCL, Level 0, A02/1 + A02/2) from August 20 to August 24 and will be available for download shortly after the game’s launch.

Like many other publishers, Electronic Arts is show its goods at the Leipzig Games Convention this week in Leipzig, Germany this week.

At its press conference scheduled tomorrow, EA plans to give presentations on FIFA 09, The Sims 3, SimAnimals, Boogie SuperStar, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Littlest Pet Shop, Monopoly, Command & Conquer Red Alert 3, Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning, Dragon Age: Origins, Need For Speed Undercover, and a sneak peak at RAGE from EA Partner, id Software.

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