Blizzard's Cinder Kitten raises over $2.3 million in Sandy relief

Warcraft players around the world showed their generosity by purchasing the Cinder Kitten pet from the Blizzard store. Blizzard announced in November that every Cinder Kitten purchased by the end of December 21, 2012, would have the profits from the sale go straight to the victims of Superstorm Sandy. They managed to raise a cool $2.3 million dollars! Cinder Kitten Raises More Than $2.3 MillionThanks to the overwhelming generosity of World of Warcraft players around the world who purchased the Cinder Kitten pet, we've raised a total of more than $2.3 million USD to support the American Red Cross's ongoing Superstorm Sandy relief efforts. In December, we announced that for every Cinder Kitten purchased by December 31, 2012, 100% of the adoption fee would be going to assist victims of this disaster -- and the community embraced this fiery feline in droves, helping out a great cause in the process. Thanks again to everyone who helped make a difference.
What a great move by Blizzard to help out in disaster relief. It's not the first time they've done so either as players will remember back in 2011 when they donated 100% of the proceeds earned from the Cenarion Hatchling to Japan's Earthquake and Tsunami relief efforts! Tags: battle-pet, benefit, breaking, charity, charity-pet, cinder, cinder-kitten, cinderkitten, hurricane-sandy, kitten, pet, relief, sandy, sandy-benefit, sandy-relief, superstorm-sandy

Filed under: News items

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Patch 5.2: Blizzard's preview trailer

Blizzard Community Manager Bashiok has heralded his recent return to the WoW Community Team by sending over a teaser video for Patch 5.2: The Thunder King. You can see the video above, and our first impression is that it looks great. There's previews of the raid, the new mounts, and the new zones packed in there.

The new mounts appear to be very dinosaur themed, to the extent that they are pretty much all dinosaurs, with some very Zandalari-looking armor added. Which is your favorite? For me, it's absolutely the triceratops mount, I adore the look of it, but the one that strongly resembles Oondasta is a very close second.

Moving on to the raid, the darkness and feeling of a forgotten world is captured beautifully, there's a real sensation of having worked your way into a long-abandoned temple or palace. One part of the video that filled me with horror, though, is the shot of what appears to be a boss room, where the floor is made up of several square-topped pillars. I'm not the best at jumping around in a co-ordinated fashion, having killed my raid countless times by not making it onto Nefarian's pillars, so a room like this sends shivers down my spine!

What do you think of the trailer?
Mists of Pandaria is here! The level cap has been raised to 90, many players have returned to Azeroth, and pet battles are taking the world by storm. Keep an eye out for all of the latest news, and check out our comprehensive guide to Mists of Pandaria for everything you'll ever need to know.
Tags: mists, mists-of-pandaria, mists-of-pandaria-patch-5.2, mop, mop-5.2, patch-5.2, patch-5.2-preview, patch-5.2-raids, patch-5.2-trailer, trailer

Filed under: Blizzard, News items, Mists of Pandaria

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ImagineFX Gets Exclusive with the Blizzard’s Fine Arts Project

The December edition of ImagineFX magazine is now on sale and packed with a little something extra for Blizzard art enthusiasts, including tutorials and how-to information from some of the artists that help bring World of Warcraft to life. You’ll also get to take a look into Blizzard Entertainment’s Fine Arts Project; a unique gathering of some of the world’s greatest contemporary fantasy artists creating their own visions of the Blizzard universe. Legends including Alex Ross, Boris Vallejo and Julie Bell, Craig Mullins, Alex Horley, Todd Lockwood, and Syd Mead share their experiences and showcase the incredible pieces of art they produced for the project.

Art by Paul Bonner

Blizzard’s artists are featured throughout this memorable issue. Their contributions begin with new cover art for the magazine from Glenn Rane, featuring Alliance heroine Jaina Proudmoore. Inside you’ll find Samwise Didier explaining how to depict an epic fight between two heroes, and Laurel D. Austin sharing her approach to creating dynamic groups of characters in the workshop section.

Whether you’re an artist or just someone who appreciates fantasy art, this issue would make a worthy addition to your collection.

Learn more about this issue here.
Buy ImagineFX issue 90 now.

Art by Paul Bonner

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