The Worldwide Invitational Is Over – For Now

The weekend of June 28th and 29th saw the 2008 Blizzard Worldwide Invitational come to Paris, France – the first major Blizzard event to be held in Europe. Visitors from all over the world attended to participate in the developer panel discussions and various community contests, to meet and chat with the developers and to be treated to the announcement of Diablo III. The atmosphere at the event was filled with energy and enthusiasm as visitors had the chance to play the newest versions of StarCraft II, World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King, and to sample the activities and events hosted by our partners.

Throughout the event, attendees could watch the Worldwide Invitational tournaments and see the strategies and tactics favored by some of the world's best RTS players. Visitors could also watch the top-ranking World of Warcraft Arena teams from all over the world duke it out for the first place position. Nihilum held a live raid on-stage where those not quite ready to take on Kil'jaeden could watch as one of the world's top raiding guilds tried to put an end to the general of the Burning Legion.

The event closed on Sunday night with a concert featuring themes from Blizzard games performed by Video Games Live. The concert opened with Blizzard's own Level 70 Elite Tauren Chieftain who, leveling up throughout their performance, managed to ding 80! Grats, guys! When the lights finally went down on the event, the crowds seemed to be glad to have come to Paris and to be looking forward to BlizzCon in Anaheim this October.

If you want to know more about the event, check out our coverage page and have a look at the picture gallery!