Ready to head out to Blizzcon this year? Well get your credit cards ready, tickets for Blizzard’s all-things-Azeroth/Diablo/Starcraft/etc conference will go on sale May 21st at 10am PST and May 25th at 7pm PST, for — get this — $175.

Yup, that’s a $25 increase over last year. The price increase hasn’t stopped the WoW community from going nuts over the announcement though, with more than a few people I’ve seen over at Twitter (follow me @halophoenix!) bemoaning the price hike but clearly saying it won’t stop them from attending.

There’ll also be a special series of $500 tickets on sale on May 28th for those lucky folks with more cash to drop and who want to attend a special pre-con dinner to benefit the Children’s Hospital of Orange Country.

As usual, if you can’t make it at all, you can snag the virtual tickets for $39.99, which gives you access to live streams of the panels and all of the events.

And remember – the convention itself will be October 22nd and 23rd of this year, so even if you think you might want to attend, you should probably snag a ticket if you can!

This video, Mafioso Swing, was first-runner up in the Blizzcon 2010 Machinima Contest. This is the video that a number of people think should have won and taken the first place prize. I have to admit, it’s a pretty hilarious musical number, and probably one of the first great videos we’ve seen that feature the Goblins in all of their animated glory.

The video previously mentioned, The Rocket of Love, took the Grand Prize in the Blizzcon 2010 Machinima Contest. This video, I Am Forsaken was the second runner up. The story is pretty typical as these videos go, a once human finds himself in tragic circumstances and eventually winds up on the other side of the line as an undead. Still – the way the machinima was made is brilliant and the video looks stunning. It’s no wonder most people I’ve seen think this video should have taken top prize – it’s heartfelt and evocative.

This lovely lady was at Blizzcon 2010 and I wasn’t. You can imagine how sad that makes me. Aside from the fact that she’s attractive though, look at that Ghost costume! Ghosts are the immensely powerful psychic stealth operatives and assassins in the Terran Military in the StarCraft series of games, and her costume is spot on from just about every detail, from the glowing eyes to the gun to the glowing costume. I can’t imagine how long it took her to make it.

You can check out more pictures of the costume and the detail on the gun (seriously, it’s actually a Nerf gun) over at Unreality Magazine. Trust me, it’s worth it, even if it’s just for you to get some ideas on what you’d like your Ghost costume to look like.

Okay, even I’m not enough of a lore freak to have paid attention to this much detail from the books and the game combined, but holy wow this guy is, and this guy has. He has probably the singular most incredibly nerdy (and I really do mean that in a good way) question to ask that I’ve ever seen at a convention or in a panel, and well…you can see the results. I don’t want to spoil it for you.

Originally over at Buzzfeed.

This little video above took grand prize in the 2010 Blizzcon Machinima Contest!

It’s a cute little story of a gnome who wakes up one morning, walks to his window, and see the most lovely sight he ever could possibly see…and then hilarity ensues.

I have to hand it to Mushanga, the creator of the video, for taking home the grand prize – a lot of people have complained that the other entries were better, and we’ll see as I post those over the coming days – but sometimes there’s something to be said for simplicity, elegance, lack of flare and false flask, and…well…gnomes. Enjoy!

So Blizzcon this year has come and gone, and not without some pretty big announcements. While there was nothing seriously earthshattering that we didn’t expect, the con did give the community some new ways to interact with Blizzard developers, outed the fact that we’ll see some new music from Blizzard soon (and in-game music will be available to buy as sheet music, too!) Cataclysm is going to be as epic as everyone thought it would be, and there are even more changes in store for us very soon.

What did you think? What are some of your takeaways from Blizzcon 2010? Let us know what you thought of the show – even if you didn’t go – in the comments!

If you weren’t sure whether or not the Worgen were going to be awesome, and you were curious about what the Worgen starting experience was going to be like, there’s a little news for you out of Blizzcon – the video above is the Worgen cinematic, in all of its wonderful glory.

The humans of Gilneas are very Victorian; as opposed to the medieval/renaissance style of the humans of Stormwind; it’s interesting to see how they’re all shaping up ahead of the release of the game.

If seeing it above isn’t enough for you, head over to YouTube to see it in full-screen!

From the “jealous I won’t be there” department, news broke yesterday that Tenacious D, Jack Black’s band, will be wrapping up the festivities at Blizzcon next week. Here’s the press release frrom Blizzard PR:

Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. today announced that the greatest band in the world*, Tenacious D, will perform at the closing concert during this year’s sold-out BlizzCon(R). Taking place October 22-23 at the Anaheim Convention Center, BlizzCon is a celebration of the global player communities surrounding Blizzard Entertainment’s Warcraft(R), Diablo(R), and StarCraft(R) game universes. While tickets to the convention are currently sold out, viewers can watch at home by ordering a BlizzCon Virtual Ticket, offering over 50 hours of event coverage (including Tenacious D’s performance) globally over the Internet and also on DIRECTV(R) in the United States.

Tenacious D is made up of musical visionaries Jack Black and Kyle Gass. After forming in 1994, the duo rose to rock god-dom following the release of the HBO cult-hit series Tenacious D: The Greatest Band on Earth. Since then, Tenacious D has released two albums and a pair of live DVDs, sold out arenas around the world, and starred in their own feature-length movie, Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny. At the BlizzCon closing ceremony on October 23, the band will perform an earth-shattering set that includes the debut of new, soon-to-be-legendary songs.

“The best way to wrap up two days of epic entertainment is with an epic rock concert–and few bands fit the bill like Tenacious D,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “We’re looking forward to a great show and can’t wait to see what Jack and Kyle have in store for everyone attending BlizzCon and watching from home.”

In addition to serving as a gathering place for the Blizzard Entertainment gaming communities, BlizzCon will have an array of activities, including discussion panels, competitive and casual tournaments, contests, hands-on playtime with current and upcoming Blizzard Entertainment games, and more. Viewers at home can order a BlizzCon Virtual Ticket for $39.95 USD, available as a multi-channel Internet stream around the world (pricing and availability may vary by region) and also via DIRECTV in the United States . Visit www.blizzcon.com for more details and ordering information.

To keep pace with the continued growth of World of Warcraft as well as development on other Blizzard Entertainment games, the company is currently hiring for numerous open positions. More information on available career opportunities can be found at www.blizzard.com/jobs. As BlizzCon draws closer, further details about the show will be announced at www.blizzcon.com.

*Based on internal reports from Tenacious D and key band devotees

Okay, that’s just awesome. And honestly, no one will be able to say that Blizzard doesn’t know how to throw a party. Maybe the only way that show could get any more awesome is if Tenacious D did an unexpected rock battle with the Level 80 Elite Tauren Cheiftains. Now THAT would be awesome.

If you haven’t already registered for Blizzcon and you’re looking for a last ditch way to make it to the conference, this might be one of your last opportunities. SteelSeries, along with partners like Jinx!, BradyGames, and Cryptozoic, are looking to send a lucky pair of pals to Blizzcon next month, and you can sign up right now at the Blizzcon Sweepstakes site!

The winning prize pack will include airfare, hotel, admission to the con, and even $300 bucks in your pocket to spend while you’re there!

Even if you don’t win the grand prize, you may pick up one of the 20 prize packs from the sweepstakes, with goodies inside including the SteelSeries World of Warcraft gaming mouse, gift certificates to Jinx!, Cataclysm strategy guides, mousepads, and even a talking Murloc plush toy!

Hurry – entries have to be in by October 2nd!

I won’t be there, sadly, but I’m curious how many of you fair readers will be headed to the conference?

Blizzcon is only a few tender weeks away, and if you haven’t made your travel plans, or worse don’t even have a ticket, your time is all but running out. The show is October 22nd and 23rd in Anaheim, California at the Anaheim Convention Center, and there’s certain to be big news at the show, including lots of detail about what we can expect in Cataclysm, more stories on how StarCraft II has been doing, and maybe even some Diablo III news for those of us looking forwards to that title.

So what about you? Are you headed to Blizzon? Maybe you’ve purchased a virtual ticket? Or will you – like me – wait for the explosion of news that comes out of the show on various blogs just like this one and absorb it all as it happens? Leave us a message in the comments!