The new Cataclysm trailer can be found on the official WoW Media site, if you haven't seen it yet. The video showcases fly-bys of the Old World zones that will be ravaged by the Cataclysm event, including the Barrens and Darkshore. The trailer also shows off some impressive in-game footage of the new Goblin and Worgen classes, and their respective starting zones.

Screenshots, artwork and wallpaper media are also available, including an epic-looking glimpse at Deathwing, the character that the upcoming expansion revolves around. Stay tuned for more news and media, and remember to check out our Cataclysm Wiki for the most up-to-date info regarding the upcoming expansion.

The official Cataclysm website is also live. It doesn't feature too much additional info and media beyond the aforementioned vids, screens and artwork, although it will serve as a repository for any upcoming official announcements, so you'll want to keep it bookmarked.

As you all already know, the Cataclysm expansion for World of Warcraft will open up goblins and the worgen as playable races for the Horde and Alliance, respectively. Well, playable demos of the new starting areas for both races are available on the BlizzCon floor, and I got the chance to try out the life of a goblin first-hand.

WARNING: There are spoilers ahead. If you want your starting area experience to be a complete surprise, you may want to stop reading. Also, I wasn't allowed to take photos of the screen, but you all know what goblins look like anyway, right?

If you're a fan of Blizzard's novel series, you might be happy to find out that Christie Golden (author of Arthas: Rise of the Lich King, among others) will be writing the upcoming "Cataclysm" novel, as recently reported by WoW.com. Unfortunately, there are no other details about the upcoming novel available yet, although if it follows the same pattern that Arthas did, fans can probably expect the book to hit shelves a couple months after the Cataclysm expansion launches.

As you've probably read in our announcement earlier today, the most recent character class for the upcoming Diablo III was revealed at BlizzCon that the Monk. Blizzard's official Diablo III website has now been updated to reflect the announcement, with a full class breakdown, including artwork, screenshots and even in-game video trailers of the Monk in action. Check out the Monk class info page.

I visited the Cataclysm Preview Panel this morning after the Opening Ceremony and I have a rundown for you after the jump.

Members of the ZAM staff are currently on the floor at the first day of BlizzCon, and we heard some exciting news during the opening ceremony: Cataclysm is indeed the new World of Warcraft expansion, and the monk will be the fourth playable class in Diablo III.

Both of the announcements were made by Vice President of Creative Development Chris Metzen at the end of the ceremony, so for now I'll pass over Lead Artist Gary Platner's introduction and Blizzard CEO and co-founder Mike Morhaime's speech and jump right into the big news. You can read what both of these men had to say after the jump.

Let's actually start at the very end of the ceremony with the Cataclysm announcement. Metzen mentioned the rumors that where circulating about the expansion before BlizzCon (without naming MMO-Champion), and then said the wait is over. He said the expansion is "nothing less than earth-shattering. It will very literally change the face of the world of Azeroth as you know it."

In a recent article, MMOsite discussed some of the most famous scenes in World of Warcraft lore, and they asked users to vote on what scene they would most like to see in the upcoming World of Warcraft movie. If you didn't already know, Sam Raimi, director of Spiderman, Spiderman 2 and Spiderman 3 (although we try to forget that he did the third one) will be directing The World of Warcraft movie, so this may be the best possible chance we gamers will get when it comes to receiving a decent video game to movie port.

According to MMOsite, they movie has already exceeded an estimated $100 million dollar cost, but the screenplay has yet to be released.

BlizzCon hasn't even officially started yet, but the line of attendees waiting to pick up badges wrapped around the Anaheim Convention Center the day before the event's grand opening. We even saw our first cosplayer walking around outside the venue! We took a bunch of photos and added them to our BlizzCon gallery, which you can check out here. We'll be adding to the gallery throughout the weekend, so keep checking back for new pictures.

We also picked up our BlizzCon goody bags. Keep reading after the jump to see what's inside them.

While BlizzCon doesn't officially kick off until tomorrow, I had the opportunity to represent ZAM today at a fansite summit that was held at Blizzard Headquarters. Official Blizzard fansites were invited to send one staff member each to the event, and the reasoning behind the attendance limit became quite clear as a large number of journalists packed into a bus for the ride to Blizzard HQ.

Once we passed through the huge gate and walked around the drab buildings that make up the Blizzard campus, we were greeted by a huge statue of Thrall. This is the first visible sign you're about to enter a structure that houses the development teams of some of the most popular games on the planet.

After we handed over our signed non-disclosure agreements and were told not to take photographs during most of the tour, we got the chance to look through the Blizzard museum. This room holds all sorts of memorable items, from original art and awards to a script of the "Make Love, Not Warcraft" South Park episode signed by Matt Stone and Trey Parker. This one one of the few places where pictures were allowed, and you can check out all of my photos from the summit in our BlizzCon gallery.

BlizzCon kicks off tomorrow, but members of the ZAM team are already in Anaheim preparing for the big event, and there's a few different ways to follow our coverage. First and foremost, we have a BlizzCon section set up for all our news from the convention. That's really the main thing to check throughout the weekend and beyond for BlizzCon articles. You can even find a banner link to it between the GamesCom and PAX buttons on the front page.

In addition, you can follow Togikagi and Fewyn on Twitter for constant updates from the floor. All of our tweets will be added to our WoWCM feed as well. If you're not a Twitter fan, you can read all of our updates in real time on our WoW front page. Just scroll down and you'll see it on the right near the bottom.

Speaking of news, the BlizzCon schedule is now available. What do you want to see covered? Is there a panel or event that really sticks out for you? Do you have specific questions for Q&A opportunities? Let us know. Also, are there any other ZAM users out there attending the convention? You can discuss our BlizzCon coverage in this thread in our general forum, or in our #WoW room on IRC. If you're not sure how to connect to IRC, here's the instructions.