I've spent the last three weeks getting married, going on a honeymoon, diving The Great Barrier Reef and getting The Bends. It seems a lot went on while I was gone, but rather than spam your RSS, Twitter and Facebook feeds with a dozen new articles, I thought a summary of those stories would be best, prior to business as usual.

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Are you one of the many millions sleeping restlessly in anticipation for Blizzard's latest masterpiece, Diablo 3? You'll probably enjoy the opening cinematic then, which was just presented in full at the Spike Video Game Awards by Mike Morhaime, Frank Pearce, and Allen Adham. Evil has returned.

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World of Warcraft turns seven years old tomorrow. To celebrate, Blizzard has announced that players who log on between November 20 and December 3 will have a feat of strength added to their Achievements as well as a "Celebration Package" item. It's explained that "using your item will get the celebrations rolling by shooting off fireworks*, applying a (visual only) tabard to your character, and granting a 7% bonus to experience and reputation gains while active." A new television spot has also be...

Another present has arisen from BlizzCon 2011 in the shape of this StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm trailer. Unlike most Blizzard trailers this one includes gameplay, quite a lot of it in fact. Don't worry though, there's still a good share of brilliant cinematic action. PS. Sarah Kerrigan is really, really hot. I love that possessed-by-evil look in a woman.

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Titled "Black Soulstone" this Diablo 3 trailer from Blizzard is sure to impress. "As Deckard Cain's niece, Leah, struggles to make sense of her uncle's mysterious and disturbing notations, she bears witness to a dark vision. Azmodan, Lord of Sin, towers over the fragile young woman, swearing his armies of the burning Hells shall pour forth into Sanctuary, ravishing the world and all hope of resistance."

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If you're one of many active World of Warcraft players looking forward to Diablo 3, boy does Blizzard have a treat in store for you. By signing up to their new WoW Annual Pass, a 12-month contract to your subscription, you will get a full digital copy of Diablo 3 gifted to you to play from day one. Additionally, you will also get beta access to World of Warcraft: Mists of Panderia....

Don't shoot the messenger! "While this news might not be a complete surprise, I know that many of you were hopeful that Diablo III would ship this year," writes Blizzard president Mike Morhaime. Unfortunately a 2011 release isn't happening, so you'll be stuck with Arkham City, Battlefield 3, Skyrim and Modern Warfare 3 until at least Q1 of 2012. Ok, so it's not that bad. "Ultimately, we feel that to deliver an awesome Diablo sequel that lives up to our expectations and yours as well," Morhaime sa...

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Plenty of information had been leaked prior to an NDA being officially lifted, and now it has been. The goss is legit and it's in the wild, already stirring up a lot of healthy anticipation and argument. Of particular note is a real money auction house and a ten character limit on accounts. Blizzard executive VP Rob Pardo has defnded some backlash regarding the real money auction system, saying "people were going to do it anyway, and this way it's secure." Here's some more snippets of info, ...

The official StarCraft II blog has revealed that we can soon expect regions to be linked. It is highlighted that by doing so we'll see larger pools of players, resulting in improved match-making performance. More players of course means more potential matches, and that means less waiting. Your Battle.net friends list will also be cross-region. For more information, check out the official FAQ....

Blizzard has just revealed a new account that removes time limitations on their typical 'trial'. Instead, new accounts will allow unrestricted access all the way up to level 20 before a subscription is required. Thereafter, you'll need to spend $20 for the full gaming which includes the Burning Crusade expansion, and raises your level cap to 70. Oh, and for those who own WOW but hasn't already bought the Burning Crusade; it's now completely free!

The restrictions are as follows:

• A

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Tonight marks the beginning of an epic stretch of Starcraft 2 gaming coming out of Korea. We've got a solid month of gaming with broadcasts five days a week to look forward to. We also see the commencement of a newly revamped Team League which will for the first time feature FXOpen; a team with a strong Australian presence...

The field has been whittled down from 64 players and now we're getting into the pointy end of the tournament with only the absolute best Starcraft II players remaining. Tonight the first group of 8 players will be facing off to get into the next round and one step closer to the US$93,000 first place prize. Find out how you can watch live... ...

Confidential Blizzard production slate documents were recently leaked onto the internet, pictured here, outlining the release of many upcoming games. These include StarCraft II, Diablo III and World of Warcraft expansions. The most interesting of the lot being "Titan", which has now been confirmed by Blizzard to be their next generation massively multiplayer online title...

While it's barely been over a week since Season 2 was decided and NesTea took home the first place prize of US$89,000 we can already get straight back to watching the world's elite Starcraft 2 players doing what they do best when GSL Season 3 kicks off tonight.
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