Earlier today, Blizzard Entertainment announced that tickets for Blizzcon 2009, the fourth convention celebrating the Warcraft, Diablo and Starcraft universes, would go on sale May 16. Tickets will be available for purchase from the official Blizzcon website and will be $125 each. A second block of tickets will go on sale May 30 for those fans that are unable to purchase tickets on the first date. To help fans this year, Blizzard has upgraded the Blizzard Store with a first come first serve queue system and fixed time limit for purchases, as well as linking Battle.Net accounts to ticket purchases to simplify the process.

Gamers that aren't able to purchase a ticket will also have two separate ways of catching the coverage from Blizzcon. Existing DirecTV customers that wish to check out coverage of the show will also have the option to purchase the Pay Per View event for $39.95, which will deliver a minimum of eight hours of live HD coverage per day from the show floor. The coverage will include interviews, demo and extras. DirecTV customers will also receive an Internet stream of the coverage at no extra charge. For non-DirecTV customers, the Internet stream, which will also be $39.95, will provide the same coverage for gamers around the world. Regardless of purchasing the DirecTV event or the internet stream, anyone ordering coverage of the event will receive this year's BlizzCon exclusive World of Warcraft in-game item.

"BlizzCon always offers us a great chance to meet players and celebrate our shared passion for gaming," said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. "We look forward to delivering another entertaining and memorable experience to all attendees and to those joining us from home."

Blizzcon 2009 will host discussion panels, playtime with upcoming games, tournaments, contests and more from the Anaheim Convention Center on August 21 and 22.

http://uk.pc.ign.com/articles/979/979877p1.html