StarCraft II features the return of the Protoss, Terran, and Zerg races, overhauled and re-imagined with Blizzard's approach to game balance, and designed to be the ultimate competitive RTS game.

En Masse Entertainment, a new breed of game publisher specializing in bringing globally renowned online properties to Western audiences, today announced its company formation. En Masse is focused on selecting high quality online games and adapting, refining, and positioning them so they are perfectly suited for audiences in Western markets.

Activision Blizzard announced December quarter and calendar year 2009 financial result, racking up net revenues of $4.28 billion. More importantly CEO Robert Kotick stated that WoW: Cataclysm and StarCraft II (also as digital download through Battle.net) are both scheduled for later this year, with the latter going into closed beta this month, while new installments in the Call of Duty, Guitar Hero, DJ Hero, Tony Hawk and Spider-Man franchises are also planned for 2010.

French magazine NoFrag claims to have received information from an "inside source familiar with the concept" that World of Warcraft powerhouse Blizzard's next online multiplayer title will be an MMOFPS in a futuristic setting. While Blizzard has previously confirmed that it's next title will be vastly different, the source further claims the game will have a social aspect, compared to The Sims Online, a big lobby of sorts where the player goes about his business, and an action part where the combat takes place.

League of Legends is a session-based online multiplayer game that combines elements of RPG and RTS genres with addictive battle action where rival teams compete against one another for victory on highly stylized battlefields and landscapes. Riot Games has expanded the development team with two former Blizzard designers.

Due to the better-than-expected performance of its titles at retail, Activision announced that its March quarter revenues ($860 million) are tracking ahead of its prior outlook ($550 million), driven by Call of Duty, Guitar Hero and World of Warcraft.

At last week's GDC's Luminaries Lunch, Blizzard's Rob Pardo claimed that they were having preliminary discussions with Microsoft about the next Xbox console, which it now has denied, saying that "we aren't in discussions with Microsoft regarding any future consoles" and that "Microsoft occasionally bounces ideas off of us, with no specific reference to any possible future consoles."

With World of Warcraft still going strong, we all know Blizzard is working on StarCraft 2, Diablo III and its next-gen MMO, but according to a recent job listing, Blizzard is looking for a Client Software Engineer who will be in charge of developing a new game engine from scratch, for a new, unannounced project that's not related to the aforementioned titles. Currently, the title is running on the World of Warcraft engine, but that is merely for testing purposes.

While analyst Michael Pachter claimed earlier this week that this round of consoles will be the last one, Blizzard's Rob Pardo revealed at GDC's Luminaries Lunch that they are in contact with Microsoft and having preliminary discussions about the next Xbox console. The main talking points seem to be the input device and ways of making it easier for users to interact with games, particularly MMOs and RTS titles. It's one of the reasons Blizzard is not currently supporting consoles.

Blizzard has a few titles in development that are public knowledge, such as a World of Warcraft expansion, Diablo III, StarCraft II, and another next-gen MMO, but it is also looking to fill two job openings, revealing there might be yet another title in the works: "Blizzard Entertainment is seeking an experienced gameplay engineer to focus on game rules systems for an unannounced title. This is your chance to get in on the ground floor of a dynamic and focused team working on a brand new project."

Activision Blizzard announced the appointment of Thibaud de Saint-Quentin as the Senior Vice President and Managing Director of European Publishing, where he will oversee the company's regional strategy and long-term growth initiatives.

Blizzard announced plans for its fourth BlizzCon gaming convention, to be held at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California on Friday, August 21 and Saturday, August 22. In response to the festival’s increasing popularity, this year’s event has been expanded from three convention halls to four.

In a community update long time World of Warcraft director Jeff Kaplan revealed that he is leaving his position to work on Blizzard's still unannounced next-gen MMO. While Kaplan will still be involved in WoW's future, his day to day duties are being taken over by Tom Chilton and J. Allen Brac.

Activision Blizzard's Dec. quarter beat expectations, and while it ran an operating loss of $148 million, its operating income was $644 million, the highest in the company's history, driven by World of Warcraft, Guitar Hero and Call of Duty titles. During the investors conf. call, it was revealed that three new IPs would launch in 2009: Prototype, Singularity and an unannounced racer from Bizarre Creations. A new James Bond game is in the works but is getting delayed in order to not compete with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 later this year. in additional to Guitar Hero: Metallica, three more titles in the franchise are planned for 2009: a compilation, a new DS title and a cryptic "major restage." The StarCraft II beta and Wolfenstein are due this summer.

Missing in E3 2008, Activision revealed earlier this week that it is once again an exhibitor at this year's weeklong gaming conference in Los Angeles. However, people looking forward to checking out StarCraft II or Diablo III will be disappointed as Blizzard confirmed it will not be attending the E3 2009, claiming, "our current focus is on the ongoing development of Diablo III, StarCraft II, and World of Warcraft." Seems like BlizzCon is going to be the main event for all things Blizzard this year ....

Activision announced its plans for the New York Comic Con show on Feb. 6-8, 2009. where it will have Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2, Prototype and X-Men Origins: Wolverine on display, with both hands-on demos and producer-led demonstrations, special trailers featuring never before seen game footage, as well as panel presentations on all three titles, presided by the developers and writers.

The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) today released additional details about the 2009 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3 Expo), including a preliminary list of exhibitors. Last year's absentees Activision and Atlus are back on the floor...

The existence of DJ Hero isn't exactly a big secret. It has already popped up a few times in the past few months, but a TV interview with Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick on CNBC is the first confirmation from the publisher that it actually exists. Kotick was quoted as saying, "We have this product called DJ Hero coming out later this year, which is a turntable that you actually can play competitively and spin discs and mix songs." Rumor has it that the game will come with a turntable controller.

In-game advertiser Massive has signed a multi-year agreement with Blizzard to provide its online game service Battle.net and other websites with advertising.

We all know that Blizzard is not afraid to use the ban hammer on gold farmers and all sort of cheaters, so in a continued effort to ensure a fair and fun online experience for all Battle.net players, it has expanded its efforts to remove cheaters from StarCraft and Diablo II. Blizzard has identified and closed (banned their CD keys for 30 days) over 350,000 StarCraft and Diablo II accounts which were found to be using third-party hacks.

Blizzard Entertainment announced that a wide selection of music from its popular games, collector's edition tracks and special tracks from gaming conventions such as Blizzcon, have been added to the iTunes store.

In anticipation of the Diablo III and StarCraft II launch, Blizzard is giving its longtime online matchmaking service, and community portal for all its multiplayer enabled titles, a next-gen overhaul adding new features such as achievements, in-game/voice chat, avatars, clan support, improved cheat detection and punishment, AMM-type matchmaking, friends/ignore lists with advanced management, general web community overhaul, and eSports support with automated tournaments. Whether it will be compatible with older titles was not revealed (thanks DIII.net).

Check out the following new screens from Blizzard's Leipzig Games Convention 2008 lineup:

• 'Diablo III' - 13 New Screens
• 'World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King' - 10 New Screens

Blizzard signed an agreement with NetEase.com allowing it to bring StarCraft II, Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos, Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne, and Blizzard's multiplayer service Battle.net to China

AMD has entered into an agreement with Blizzard that will allow AMD to bundle Blizzard’s best games across all ATI Radeon graphics products, and as the exclusive graphics sponsor for BlizzCon 2008, AMD will power all PCs at the event with ATI Radeon HD 4800 series cards.