New Blizzard Splash page teaser…

These are always fun.  Blizzard has a new splash page teaser up today.   What is it?  It looks frozen (the image is even called ice1.jpg) or icy so perhaps it’s something to do with WotLK.  Anyone dig anything up yet?

Back in May of 2007 Graev and I had a lot of fun guessing what the splash page leading up to the announcement of Star Craft 2 would be.  We even made an event out of it by taking the Blizzard games and writing about them one by one in order that we played them.

Hopefully this is more than a release date for WotLK or another announcement that they’ll be having open-world PvP or achievements. 😉

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  • Im gonna go with this recent news update:

    “Update: IncGamers say they have solved this mystery, saying the image is “a dead ringer for a rune seen on Arthas’ sword, Frostmourne in another picture.” So the image seems to relate to World of Warcraft, rather than Diablo III or some other game, though it is still not clear what the image signifies. “

  • The weird pictogram swirls is on the left. That’s the most evident.

    In the upper right, I could swear there is almost like the dark outline of a bat-like wing (demon? not sure). If you take the image into photoshop and play with the colors so as to bring certain tones out more than others you may start seeing other things.

    Also whats up with the number sequence 232309 in the site/image URL? Is that normal for Blizzard sites? For example, WoW doesn’t have code numbers for it’s images, etc.

    All in all, if this is for Wrath of the Lich King, the hyper is going to disappoint some people. 🙂

  • Diablo on Ice, as performed by the Disney on Ice skating troupe. =P

    @Keen: WC4 would be the best choice IMHO.

  • WoTLK is my guess, as it seems pretty blatant. Should be bigger news than a beta though, as it is on the corporate site.

  • I did some photoshop tinkering and found some interesting stuff. There’s the swirl easier to read and in the red one there is some form of bubbles or circular looking objects visible.

  • They could be getting ready to announce the release date of WotLK. That could either be big news or no news, depending on when.

    I too, would rather it be an announcement for Warcraft 4 though.

  • @TrollToe: I think Diablo.com redirects to the main blizzard page now altogether though.

    A few more insights from reading other websites:

    In the URL appears 232309. Alphabetically that could be WWI (World Wide Invitational).

    Perhaps hell has frozen over? Diablo 3?

  • Here’s the best theory yet…

    Look at this image:


    That’s the picture with the natural red amplified. The picture has a LOT of red in it and if you look at it… it looks like hell under ice. Perhaps over the next few days as their stunt continues they’ll slowly begin melting away the ice in the picture to reveal… DIABLO 3!

    eh? eh?

  • I hope so Keen, I really do 😀
    But sadly I think it’s more likely to be WotLK date, beta or some event related to it.

  • Keen… quite a cool looking picture 🙂

    I think there may be a bit too much reading into this. WoTLK is the simplest answer and most likely. I would enjoy Diablo 3, but I find it hard to believe they would use very obvious WoTLK art to somehow trick their fans/customers.

  • Ya Keen, that second image you displayed is close to what I got as well. You start noticing all of those little red squiggles all over the place. The bubble like objects in the top right is interesting. Those are the objects that to me almost form like a bat-like wing up there (the bubbles are the empty space between the wing edges).

    I agree the obviously thing this is for is WotLK, especially with all of the blue ice. Yet they’ve never done this before for something they’ve already announced.

  • This is reminding me of all the excitement over the WAR countdown back in . . . March? In the end it was just announcing the collector’s edition of WAR. I have a feeling this is going to be a similar let-down 😉

  • @Troll/Toe – All the Blizz sites make you pass through that splash screen at the moment. They just want to make sure everybody sees it.

    For my money, I think we’re finally going to get a WotLK target month for release. The question will then be, whose expansion or release are they going to crap all over with their timing?

  • Here is the official GOSSIP

    As mentioned, the very same teaser on worldofwarcraft.com kind of settles the argument…WOTLK and the collector’s edition of it.

  • i think keen has the most creative idea and I think that quite possibly be it. Why would they torture us so just to announce a fricken release date.

  • I think it is diablo 3, just looking at Keens red one and how it nearly made everything clearer. They knew people would put it in photoshop. WoTLK is an easy distraction to people so it will be surprising when it does say diablo 3 under the ice. God I hope it is.

  • browsing the net, I found some more hints for diablo 3.
    the WWI is at the same day, as diablo 2 + lod launched.
    apparantly it’s the first time that a blizz event got an age restriction of 16 (not sure about that).
    they recently took over diablo3.com
    so yeah maybe =o
    <3 speculating

    (apologies for bad english blabla)

  • It could be D3, and I hope it is, but after all the chess gaming that EAMythic and Blizz have been doing over a release date for their respective games, I expect Blizz will bite the bullet and announce a November release for Lich King (makes most sense from a holiday sales point of view) and then a few weeks later or so we’ll hear that EAMythic will be releasing WAR on the 23rd of September (ship date).

    See my blog for the reasoning on the latter. 🙂 I get all Mel Gibson and Conspiracy Theory on your asses.

  • My first thought was that it looked like a patch of Starcraft minerals. Then I saw the runes which leads to WotLK.

  • worldofwar.net/n/414868/blizzard-image-solved
    as much as i would like to believe it was d3 it looks like wotlk

  • I read that it’s a screen to announce that WOTLK is going to be pushed back until March 2010.
    Or was it to announce the start of the next Arena E-Peen, er, E-Sport competition?
    Bah, I can’t remember. I’m sure it’s something equally as worthy of hyperventilating over since they’ve pretty much lost their spot at the top of the hype meter to AOC and WAR. Blizzard hates to not be at the top of the hype meter!

  • No way is it the release date of the WoW expansion.

    That release date to me is fairly obvious – whenever WAR comes out. Easiest way for Blizzard to combat the biggest competitor on the horizon.

  • well we got the “Shael” rune, the “Hel” Rune, next are the “Ko” and “Ohm” runes and then you have -> Hell Shall Come!!! (or maybe not..)

  • Sorry guys, but the runes don’t have to have anything to do with Diablo. Keep in mind that the mechanic behind the Deathknight is the use of runes to power abilities . . . so that’s probably all we’re seeing. There will be three runes in total, one for each type the Deathknight uses. Then we’ll see information on when ‘deathknights are coming’ (i.e. WotLK release).

    I can change my handle to Killjoy if you like :p

  • I agree this still could be anything but it seems strange it would be for WotLK.

    1) They’ve never done a splash page like this for an already announcement game. If this is for WotLK, then it has to be announcement that relays something entirely new about the expansion that we’ve never heard before (which is totally possible). In effect, a reason for all the hype.

    2) The word is that Blizzard will be holding a press conference at the WWI event in Paris this weekend. Again strange to hold a press conference for something already know.

    http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/06/23/leaked-wwi-schedule-hints-at-diablo-3-announcement/

    Coincidence maybe but this weekend is also the eight anniversary of the release of Diablo 2 (for those praying and wishing this is going to be a Diablo 3 announcement).

  • I think it’s WotLK, but I hope it’s a new Diablo… although, I’m a bit lost as to what Blizz will do with all the work they put into StarCraft: Ghost. They must have intentions to at least salvage some of it, right? Maybe this is it?

  • That will more than likely go into “Universe of Starcraft” whenever they announce that theyre doing that (obviously they are :X they have to compete with Warhammer 40k Online). As for this, I dont think it has anything to do with Starcraft related stuff just because of the runes. I HIGHLY doubt blizzard would be so lame as to re-use their runes for D2 for the new class in wow, its completely unoriginal and all diehard d2 fans will scoff at it. Thats not blizzards style. I think the natural red in the picture, the two D2 runes, the eighth anniversary of D2 release and the press conference all point to D3 announcement. Ofcourse it could be about war4 or WOTLK but War4 is unlikely and Blizzard isnt so lame as to do all this for WOTLK. Also, if you look at the art styles of the ice on WoWs main page and this page they differ very subtely. blizzard.com vs worldofwarcraft.com/wrath check it.

  • I think Railith is on to something here. Its definitely the new Lost Vikings game. LOL! Lost Vikings FTW! My mom actually picked that game out on her own and bought it for me way back in the day when Sega Genesis was the hawtness. It was something I would of never looked at probably and I ended up loving that game. Go mom! Im gonna call her and tell her how awesome she is now. =P

  • I really hope it’s something Diablo related. It would be such a waste (A successful waste) to rally this much hype over something WOTLK related. 😐

  • Definitely starting to look like Diablo 3, especially with those t-shirt shots. If so, it would be nice if Blizzard pulled a page from Steve Jobs book and did a surprise product release within the month. I know what I’d be playing to carry me over till WAR started. 🙂

  • One thing playing against a Diablo related announcement is that Blizz already has two pending releases to hype, WotLK and SCII. Adding a third, as much as I want to see it, would seem to be diluting their efforts.

  • The Diablo team is separate from the SC2 and WoW team though. Blizzard has different teams for all their games. I can totally see them having 3 games in development because it would further set them apart as THE company out there to beat – something they have never shied away from.

  • If this was a Diablo MMO, ya I’d totally agree this would be a bad time to announce it. But I’m assuming this is the Diablo we know and love (I hope) and thus it’s a target audience that differs from the other two (i.e. WoW = MMO, SC2 = RTS), so there’s no overlap.

  • EETT’S MELTIINGG!!!!!

    OMG Flashback;
    Keen said:
    ‘it looks like hell under ice. Perhaps over the next few days as their stunt continues they’ll slowly begin melting away the ice in the picture to reveal… DIABLO 3!’

    I thought at the time I’d be a fool to write you off!

  • Rob Pardo have told in a interview that it’s going to be announce a COMPLETELY new game, not something that’s already been announced, which rolls out both Starcraft2 and Wrath of the Lich-King..

    If you look at the runes, one is from Frostmourn, another one from Diablo and third one from Warcraft / World of Warcraft?

    The starts might have something to do with StarCraft?

    So might the pictures be showing bits of all games they are going to talk about at Worldwide Invitational?

    Stars = Starcraft2
    1x Rune = Wrath of the Lich-King
    1x Rune = Something new about Diablo?
    1x Rune = Something new about Warcraft?

    My bet is that they are going to officially announce their new upcoming MMO that they confirmed being developed a while ago, perhaps a Diablo MMO?

  • Or, maybe it’s an MMO based on a giant complied universe of Warcraft, Starcraft and Diabo to maximise profits! Money ftw! 😛

    Seriously though, I hope Diablo. But not a Diablo MMO, or it’ll mutate over time into the same structure as WoW, i.e. raiding for gear for raiding, or PvPing for gear for PvPing. Simply because that gets Blizzard subscribers.

  • I’m hearing that they represent Warcraft, Starcraft(I recognize that one), and Diablo(and that one). The announced game will be totally new. I doubt it will be Diablo III if it’s going to be TOTALLY NEW. They are showing all three games and advertising something new. Not to mention, everyone knows there’s going to be a Diablo III. Just a little fuel for the brain fires here. I can imagine Starcraft Online will come out sometime around WH40KO, and that release isn’t for a few years. That’s that, that new in-development MMO was already announced (http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/blizzard-confirms-new-mmo-underway). So what about Hydra? They could take WarCraft’s Hero RTS gameplay, Starcraft’s Massive RTS gameplay, and Diablo’s Hack-n-Slash gameplay, all in one bundle. Or they could make something completely, totally, utterly, absolutely, fantabulously new, exciting, riveting, and awesome.

  • look at the picture today as opposed to the picture that they post at the top. the ice is melting. check it out.

  • I gotta agree with DFG. Image on the left looks like a rune on Frostmourne from Warcraft. Bottom left looks like the symbol of the Protoss of Starcraft and the Upper right looks like the Hel rune from Diablo 2. I draw this conclusion from what I’ve seen other people sayin so I’m not taking credit for finding any of this out. 😛

  • http://us.media.blizzard.com/232309/_images/ice4.jpg
    http://www.worldofwar.net/gallery/data/500/Frostmourne11.jpg
    http://www.starcraft2.com/features/protoss/main.xml
    http://www.lewt.com/images/items/rune_hel.GIF

    So what’s the lower right symbol now? Three rings, with planets, around a sun.
    This is as exciting as when Ralphie from A Christmas Story was doing the little orphan Annie ovaltine secret message promotion. I hope it’s not as disappointing as how it turned out. “Be sure to drink your ovaltine” = “Be sure to check out the new sequel.” Like I really want it to be a new IP, lest we have WarCraft XXXXVIII in the year 2700.

  • The gradually (and grudgingly) emerging general consensus seems to be that it’s going to be an announcement of a new IP, with all the factors we’ve seen in the image so far being nods to Blizzard’s existing IPs. We’ll know in a few days at least. I still think it’s just a WotLK promotion, but I’ll be happy to be proved wrong.

  • I don’t think it’s a new IP, just because they don’t have too make a new IP. The trinity are strong enough, and there’s always new ways to present them.

    I think it’s the next-gen MMO they’ve been hiring for, it’s several months of job postings. I also think it’s either Starcraft related, or a Diablo MMO set before the original game…Sin War anyone?

  • I hope it’s a new IP because I have wanted Blizzard to break away from the trinity for a long time. At the same time I hope it’s NOT a new IP because I have wanted Blizzard to make another Diablo game for a long time.

    … What an awesome catch 22 to be caught in!

  • Has anybody considered that it might be our old formerly-dearly-departed friend come back from the dead? I refer to The One Protoss who briefly united The Khala and the Dark Templar.
    If you look at the eyes sans the powerful smoldering, the ridge and the color match up with Tassadar’s. Is he back? Queen of Blades beware. Thy days…are numbered.

  • dammit…it’s an Archon. Thanks to the zoom on firefox 3 (which everyone should download), you can see that the skin furrows and ridges on the cheekbones just below the eyes. If not an archon, then it’s some Protoss entity. I retierate…it’s Tassadar!

  • ok, the latest rune is NOT a snowflake. Snowflakes are hexagonal. This thingy has 8 spokes. Hmm…what else has 8 spokes? A PROTOSS SHIELD BATTERY !!!

  • The new rune looks definitely to be the compass from Lost Vikings.
    So we have Frostmourne on the left, Protoss on the bottom left, Diablo on the top right, and Vikings at the top.

    This might be out there but…The bottom right rune looks like it refers to Battle.net. Check out the site. It has battle.net with a ring around it. Under it, you see the same ring with three circles around it, one for WarCraft, another for Starcraft, and the final for Diablo.

  • DEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE FUCKING THREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • I think I need a new pair of pants. I’m so amped for D3… but it’s so far away ;-;