The 2010 Blizzard Global Writing Contest has begun, allowing fans of the Warcraft, Starcraft and Diablo game series to submit their stories set in those universes for the chance to win a trip to Blizzard Entertainment’s HQ in California. The rules are that the submission must be a short story set in one (or perhaps more – not specified) of the aforementioned worlds, it must be between 2500 and 7500 words, it must be written in English and it must be submitted by August 23, 2010. The grand prize winner will also receive their choice of either a Diablo III “OVERTHROWN” barbarian diorama or a Frostmourne sword.
Blizzard has also announced that Real ID for Battle.net has officially rolled out with World of Warcraft‘s 3.3.5 patch. This feature will eventually apply to all Battle.net games, allowing players to give out their Real ID to those other players who they want to be able to see their characters and status in every Battle.net game. Real ID will also allow cross-game chat, for example if one of your Real ID friends is playing Starcraft II while you play World of Warcraft, you will be able to speak to them from within WoW.
For more information on the Writing Contest, visit the Blizzard Entertainment site, and for more information on Real ID, visit the Battle.net site.