Slash Dance -- Night Elf Dancer

On the upper level of the Hyperion's cantina, you can see a hologram of an erotic dancer. You can't interact with the moving image in any way, but keen-eyed World of Warcraft fans will probably pick up on the familiar dance moves -- she mimics World of Warcraft's Night Elf "/dance" animation. As an added nod to WoW, she also looks like a Night Elf -- without the pointy ears, that is.

You Look Like You've Just Seen a Ghost -- Nova

That Starcraft: Ghost likely won't see the light of day still breaks my heart. I always thought Nova looked cool, and dropping down to the ground level of the Starcraft universe sounded like a great spin on the series. Nova's brief appearance during the Wings of Liberty campaign felt like an apology from Blizzard.

Having her show up again in my armory? That was taunting and teasing.

If you side with Nova over Tosh before the New Folsom jailbreak mission, you'll earn access to the Ghost unit, which you can look at and read about in the Hyperion's armory. The catch with Ghosts is that they can cloak, so the unit space is unoccupied... for a bit.

If you wait long enough, Nova materializes out of thin air, glances for a moment, and becomes invisible again. With any luck these brief glimpses at Blizzard's infamous assassin won't be our last. I'm aching to see Nova branch out beyond the comics, and I hope these teases mean something more for her.

Confidential Information -- The Secret Mission

During the "Media Blitz" mission, move Tychus' Odin walker to the southeast corner of the map. Follow the road down and you'll find a science facility. Destroy it and you'll see Terran documents pop out of the rubble. Simply collect the pickup and you'll unlock access to the secret mission, "Piercing the Shroud."

It surprises me that this mission is locked away in secrecy because it's easily one of Starcraft 2's best. It's a squad-based laboratory infiltration that reveals a lot of juicy, dirty details about the Dominion's science program. The challenging finale is one of the most exciting scenes in the game, too. The payoff is well worth it, so take the time to find this facility.

Character Cameo -- Grunty The Murloc

Halfway through "Piercing the Shroud," you'll earn a pile of reinforcements. Once Jim's dropship unloads them on the landing platform, move your new team up the edge of the outer wall until you can't walk any farther. Across the gap, you'll see a pint-sized space marine firing frantically.

This little fellow is none other than Grunty the Murloc space marine, the Blizz Con-exclusive promotional pet from World of Warcraft. He doesn't do anything beyond shoot his rifle randomly or jump around and fall over, but his presence is a cute nod to another Blizzard inside joke.

Too bad he's stuck out there on that space rock, though. I'd love to recruit the little dude to take on the Queen of Blades.

Take Your Shot at Life -- The iPistol

I don't know what makes me laugh more -- that Apple's evolved into a weapons manufacturer, or that the company's silhouette marketing campaign hasn't changed in 500 years. The wink-wink, nudge-nudge commercial that airs on the Hyperion's television doesn't even try to disguise its jab at Apple. The iPistol -- now with Advanced Targeting 3.0! -- even looks like it's connected to a suspiciously iPod-shaped ammunition pack on a marine's hip. Personally, I'd have pegged Google as the future's intergalactic arms dealer.

Bitmob probably didn't catch 'em all, so feel free to leave your own awesome discoveries in the comments. Also, special thanks goes out to Matt Clark for capturing the high-res images in this article -- my barely capable laptop would have muddied and ruined things like Optimus Prime's license plate and Grunty the Murloc. Thanks, Matt!