The World of Warcraft development team has started an interesting series of blog posts about the 'movers and shakers' in Azeroth and their collective metamorphosis since The Shattering that came with the Cataclysm update. The series starts with a look at Orc powerhouse, Thrall, and gives a retrospective look at the way Thrall used to look and the way he looks now.

One of the most notable metamorphoses in Cataclysm is that of Thrall. Thrall He's worn many titles in his lifetime: slave, gladiator, shaman, chieftain of the Frostwolf Clan, and, most recently, warchief of the Horde. Now, as the son of Durotan puts down the mantle of warchief and takes up the simple garb of a shaman once again, we take a look back at his journey and the events that shaped him into the orc he is today.

Read more here.

For World of Warcraft players who love to replicate their in-game experiences out of game, Taverncraft has made available the Brewfest Tankard o'Terror. Fans can purchase the Tankard o'Terror and have a personal Brewfest at home.

• Available for late September shipment
• Avatar-size replica of the BrewFest in-game item
• Massive stoneware tankard stands 9 3/4" high, weighs 4 lbs, and has nearly 2 liter capacity
• Shipping/handling not included.

Grab yours here.

According to a new article a CNET, there is a definite upswing in Mac game development largely led by industry powerhouses Blizzard Entertainment and Valve, parent company of Steam. Blizzard has always been quite fair to Mac gamers, ensuring that they receive titles at the same time as PCs. And with this month's release of Steam for Mac, there is no question that Valve is now treating Mac as a serious gaming platform. While this is arguably great news for Mac gamers, there is yet a downside.

Ah yes, that performance thing.

Mac lag significantly behind their PC counterparts in just about every performance standard. PC developers in all hardware categories and Microsoft have worked together slavishly to optimize and perfect performance. Apple has lagged due to its secretive development and unwillingness to work cooperatively with developers. One only has to look at the way app developers are treated to see how true this contention is.

The bottom line is that it's a wait and see proposition. Wait to see if Apple continues its dominance as the technology hottie. Wait to see if Apple starts to swing open the doors to developers.

Wait and see.

Starcraft II developers will be hosting a Twitter chat today, Friday, April 30, 2010.

We will be holding our next Developer Chat on Twitter on Friday, April 30, at 5:00 p.m. PDT with StarCraft II's production and game directors, plus Blizzard Entertainment's senior art director. This chat session will have a general focus on StarCraft II gameplay and art.

Questions will be taken live through Twitter, so be sure to sign up for a Twitter account at https://twitter.com/signup and follow account @StarCraft in order to participate!

To submit a question for the Developer Chat, please tweet using the #BlizzChat hashtag between 5:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. PDT on April 30. Due to the character limitation on responses within Twitter, all answers will be posted on the Battle.net forums in a dedicated thread.

Be sure to log onto Twitter and get your questions submitted! You can also read the transcript of the last Twitter chat HERE.

The long-awaited Diablo II 1.13 patch will be available on March 23rd.  In addition to the patch release, the battle.net ladders will also be reset at the same time and all existing ladder characters will be converted to non-ladder characters.

Todays game look back is Diablo II, by Blizzard. Released in 2000, Diablo II is the second game in the series, which takes place a few years after the events of the first game. Diablo has embbedded himself into "The Traveller", and wreaked havok on the world of men. You, one of seven classes you choose at the start, are following after him to prevent Diablo and his brothern from entering this world. Your journeys take you from the wilderness to deserts, jungles, and even Hell its self.... Continue Reading

Watch some gameplay action from the upcoming StarCraft II, available for both Mac and PC later this year