More giveaways are coming from now through Thursday including more BlizzCon Polar Bear mounts, more Wrath Collector’s edition boxes and a complete BlizzCon swag bag.

The Countdown to Wrath Giveaways takes a turn to the fashionable. Today we’re giving away a hoodie with your custom guild crest imprinted on it courtesy of SwagDog.

To enter, leave a comment on this post before Wednesday, November 12, 2008 at 12pm ET (noon). A winner will be chosen randomly and will receive a SwagDog Guild Hoodie (valued at $64.99). straight from our friends at SwagDog.com. You must be at least 18 to enter and a legal resident of the United States or non-Quebec resident of Canada. You can only enter once. Click here for complete Official Rules.

If you haven’t gotten a chance to see the game in action yet, you’re in luck. Upper Deck tells us that they’ve passed out free starter kits to more than 1,500 hobby stores around the country (they didn’t provide a list, but if the previous TCG events went down at a store near you, odds are the minis kits will be there as well), so if you have some free time this weekend, stop in and ask if you can see the game and how it works.

The game itself launches on November 11th, so if you enjoy playing the game at the store this weekend, you’ll be able to pick up a starter set and booster packs then.We were lucky enough to try out the WoW Minis game at BlizzCon, and I have to say that I really enjoyed it. I’ve never been much into collecting (I used to play CCGs back when I was a kid, and when, at one point, I spent half my allowance on one pack of cards that didn’t have any new ones, I pretty much decided it was over), but the game itself is pretty fun, kind of a mix between an arena match and a turn-based battle. I’d need someone to play with, I think, but if I could convince a friend to sit down and be nerdy with me, I could see getting into it.

I have also heard from Tamat that he got a chance to speak personally with the cast of The Guild. Keep checking the wiki for that. In the meantime, talk about BlizzCon in our WoW general forum and keep reading below for a summary of some of the panel articles.

By now you’ve probably checked out Wordaen’s class panel review and found out that the Wizard is the new Diablo III class, but there are now full articles posted on PvP, dungeons, and a free-for-all Q&A session with Blizzard. One of the best news tidbits is that mounts will no longer dismount in water outdoors!

BlizzCon 2008 may have come to a close, but our extended coverage of the event is just beginning. Our BlizzCon wiki is already full of exclusive panel recaps, interviews and photos for you to enjoy, but that’s not all!  The intrepid ZAM Network staff, including our tireless Allakazham employees, went without much sleep all weekend to make sure that you get as much in-depth information as possible, and new content will be added to the wiki daily. So bookmark the page and refresh it regularly for your BlizzCon fix.

As for interviews, our team realizes that the community aspect of WoW is incredibly important. That’s why even though our wiki is full of official news from Blizzard, there’s also interviews with regular players. In fact, there’s even an exclusive interview with costume contest winner Amanda Hosler!

They also work on the gameplay trailers from World of Warcraft, and walked us through the creative process for the patch 2.1 Black Temple trailer, revealing some interesting lore behind Akama’s betrayal. Finally, they revealed that they were the force behind the Wrath Gate cinematic. It’s no wonder they were able to make such an epic cut scene though: One of their team members was a member of Rufus Cubed Productions, the creations of the epic machinima Return.

There’s some other nice information from the panel, including the real identity of the villain from “Make Love Not Warcraft” and a preview of the lore of Diablo 3.

 Here’s a secret gem from BlizzCon from our sister site, Big Download: The DVD Production panel. The DVD Production team, despite the name, actually oversees most of the video produced by or at Blizzard. That means that they had a hand in the South Park episode “Make Love Not Warcraft,” as well as the “What’s your Game” and “Lawgiver” commercials.

What gives? Well, let’s put it this way: we’ve got one huge game coming up this November, another — or three — coming out when “it’s ready®”, and the long-awaited Diablo III in development. Do we really need more games? Blizzard might actually be doing us a favor by giving us enough breaks to do some real world stuff. Like eat or shower.

Alright, I know what you’re thinking. That’s it? No announcements? No big bombshell revelation at BlizzCon? The biggest thing to come out from those two days was the announcement that StarCraft would come out as three separate games. Yep, that’s not even World of Warcraft-related.  If you missed Day 2, here’s the quick lowdown:

• Adam walked away a little grumpy from liveblogging the Dungeons & Raids panel because one of Blizzard’s promises was to never field another dungeon as retardedly difficult as Sunwell Plateau. And you guys know Adam, he always likes his raiding hardcore!
• It’s hard to be grumpy after watching the BlizzCon ‘08 Dance Contest, though. From the opening clip of a guy shamelessly mimicking an ogre to the girl doing the female draenei dance in 5-inch stilettos, it really brings an embarrassing smile to your face.
• All of us over here at WoW Insider have always enjoyed the independently-produced web series The Guild. So when we heard they were going to be at BlizzCon, we jumped at the chance to interview them. Check out Mike’s little tete-a-tete with the cast of the show.
• First up for the day was my favorite panel, the PvP discussion, which Mike liveblogged for us. The developers talked about the new Arena maps, Battlegrounds, and what lay ahead for World of Warcraft PvP.

Classes weren’t the only topic of conversation at the panel. Blizzard also discussed major changes in buffs/debuffs in groups and raids. While they didn’t talk much about dual specs, they did have this to say:
Dual Specs are going to be designed more for flexibility and “on the fly” swapping (such as in a raid setting) but they are not going to be something as viable for a hardcore raider as they will for a more casual playstyle.

Our very own Wordaen is currently at BlizzCon absorbing all the information the event has to offer. For his first panel, Wordaen attended a discussion regarding Blizzard’s intentions for each class in World of Warcraft.

Check out our BlizzCon wiki to read Wordaen’s article on the class discussion. He covers everything from a complete overhaul of the hunter pet system to the changes in all three talent trees for warriors. Of course, Wordaen outlines the death knight class in depth, as well.

That’s all the time we have. Dungeons and Raids is coming up in a bit, so stay tuned all day today for more live coverage from BlizzCon here on WoW Insider. More pictures coming soon. Thanks for reading!
10:41am: Each pillar has its own top texture, so it can be easily identified while fighting in the arena. Looks great - the blue sky and the fire trails have a great contrast.

10:42am: Now off to the Dalaran sewers — they wanted to make it fit in Dalaran, and make it nice, small, and tight. The sewers are a seedy area, so “you can imagine it as something like Fight Club.” You can even see the arena through Dalaran’s floor — there are scripted NPCs that will fight.

10:43am: More line of sight blocking — there’s a pillar of water that is timed that will block LOS, and even do a knockback if you’re hit by it. Not a knockdown, but enough to keep you out of the water. That’s part of the gameplay — since it’s a small place, there’s not as many places to run. So no hugging the water pillar — they call it “area denial.”

Read the rest of this entry »

There were other entertaining dancers. The ogre dance/striptease (third place) and enthusiastic male bloodelf (second place) were big crowd pleasers. And the many female dancers put their best foot forward going from alluring (female dranei) to raunchy (female orc.) The eight minute video above, generously provided by our mothersite Joystiq, shows you the highlights of the night.

The dance contest at BlizzCon this year was much like the costume contest: many funny, sometimes inept entries and one stand out that took the grand prize, no question. The winner performed the Undead Female dance, but she did more than just mimic the moves, she wove a spell of rythmic seduction and the 8,000 fans attending the contest couldn’t get enough of it. You’ll see her at the end of the footage above.

Check out the gallery below to see what’s in BlizzCon’s art gallery — from the Barbarian brutes of Diablo to the frozen tundra of Northrend and the starscapes of Starcraft, here is Blizzard’s creativity and design mastery put into form on the wall. Whether it’s concept art, quick sketches or full paintings, it’s really amazing stuff.

It’s not the flashiest place at BlizzCon — until you step inside. While the gameplay demo areas and the developer panels have claimed most of the attention here at the convention, there are a few hidden treasures inside the booths, one of which is the Blizzard art gallery. The art inside spans across all of Blizzard’s games, and though their games are beautiful, the art used in designing them is even moreso.