Blizzard WWI tickets on sale Thursday

Blizzard has announced that tickets for its Worldwide Invititational event in Paris in late June will go on sale this Thursday, 20th March.

Tickets for the two-day event will be priced at GBP 55 / EUR 70. For that money you'll get a chance to play both StarCraft II and World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King before release, take part in discussion panels with developers and executives, watch eSports tournaments, take part in costume and dance contests and more. You'll also get a goodie bag including a beta key for an upcoming game, and an exclusive WOW in-game pet.

The programme as it stands sounds exactly like last year's BlizzCon convention in Los Angeles. We were there and can report that it was a fantastic and really well-run event, with a huge and enthusiastic audience, a glitzy closing-night concert, some truly eye-popping costumes on show, and plenty to do. Oh, and we saw Macaulay Culkin in the press room.

The Paris Worldwide Invitational is the first such event Blizzard has held in Europe, and if it's up to the same standard, it should be well worth the asking price. It's also worth noting that Blizzard hasn't held a WWI or BlizzCon in the last few years without making a major new game announcement at the event.

The 2008 Blizzard Worldwide Invitational takes place at the Porte de Versailles Exposition Centre in Paris on the 28th and 29th of June. Tickets are likely to sell out fast, so head over to the official WWI site on Thursday to snap yours up.