Not even a week removed from the launch of the second expansion to World of Warcraft, and Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime is already talking about future expansions. In an interview with MTV Multiplayer, Morhaime admitted that Blizzard is already thinking about what to include in the massively popular MMO’s next expansion although — for now — they remain completely focused on Wrath of the Lich King. Obviously it’s far too early to go into any specifics as to what the contents might be. He did, however, say, “[W]e will continue making expansions as long as we have players that want to play World of Warcraft — we want to keep them entertained.”

Asked if that means Blizzard will be making expansions forever, Morhaime replied, “Well, probably not forever. But for the foreseeable future, we’d like to be doing regular expansions.” That sounds good, but what constitutes “regular” expansions? Blizzard originally said it wanted to release expansions every year, but the span between The Burning Crusade and Wrath was nearly two years. Are yearly releases still the plan?

[O]ur goal that we’ve talked about is to put out an annual expansion, but we haven’t quite been able to do that. We had one early last year and now we’re sort of late this year, but we do want to decrease the amount of time in between expansions. Although we’ll probably never get it down to a year [between each one] because there’s just so much content. We do want each expansion to be considered a big value for players.

Morhaime realizes there’s a potential fatigue that could come with frequent releases. “I agree — I think putting too many expansions out too frequently, you probably get to the point where people do need to start taking a little break,” he said.

However long it is that Blizzard continues making expansions, you shouldn’t expect to see the monthly subscription fee to drop anytime soon. Morhaime said he thinks the $15 per month “feels right to us and our players,” claiming “there really isn’t a better value you can get in entertainment.”

Having surpassed the 11 million subscribers mark not too long ago, it really doesn’t seem like there’s any imminent need for Blizzard to change what it’s doing.

As anticipation for the Wrath of the Lich King expansion mounts, Blizzard happened to mention this morning that at present, World of Warcraft has surpassed the 11 Million subscribers worldwide mark. This impressive number was reached during the MMORPG’s Beta testing for the upcoming expansion, and those numbers are only expected to grown once Wrath of the Lich King launches November 13.

Mike Morhaime, CEO and co-founder of Blizzard Entertainment is currently basking in the love that gamers all over the globe have bestowed upon the gaming behemoth and promises not to let them down:

“It’s been very rewarding to see gamers around the world continue to show such strong support for World of Warcraft. We remain fully committed to responding to that enthusiasm with a high-quality, constantly evolving game experience.”

Not only has World of Warcraft won numerous awards and can boast of being the bestselling PC game of 2005 and 2006, its first expansion -The Burning Crusade–not only became the fastest-selling PC game of all time, but thanks to selling 2.4 million copies in the first 24-hours of launch and 3.5 million during its first month, it went on to be the best-selling PC game of 2007.

With such staggering sales numbers and subscribers, it is hard to speculate just how many more records World of Warcraft will shatter once Wrath of the Lich King invades retail. Be sure to check back with us because November 13 is looming just over the horizon and there’s no telling what heights will be reached. In the meantime, check out 1UP’s preview of the expansion here.

The second expansion to World of Warcraft is just a few weeks away, and it looks like that crafty bad guy, Arthas, is already wreaking havoc on the world… of Warcraft. As of a few hours ago, agents of the Argent Dawn have arrived in various locations throughout Azeroth, and in their wake, conspicuous crates in Booty Bay. Upon looting them, you’ll become diseased and, unless you find a cure from the Argent Dawn or a fellow player, you’ll become a zombie after ten minutes. After becoming a zombie, you’re able to attack NPCs and players of any faction, thereby further spreading the disease to more players. You’re also given zombie-specific abilities and will be unable to use any of your own abilities.

It’s not particularly difficult to be cured right now — something Blizzard poster Kisirani suspiciously pointed out in a thread on the official WoW forums — but it seems like the disease will inevitably infect everyone and everything.

Both MMO Champion and WoW Insider have more details on the happenings, but I’d recommend you login and see this disaster unfold for yourself.

In preparation for the release of the Wrath of the Lich King expansion, Blizzard’s latest patch, “Echoes of Doom”, for World of Warcraft is now live and includes loads more than just a few items and tweaks to ready your game for the adventures ahead.

The release notes for this patch are pretty extensive, and include information on the new skills sets, raid buffs, professions, Stormwind Harbor, vanity pet and mount changes, the barbershops, arenas and new in-game event calender. This pre-Wrath of the Lich King patch is pretty large, and will get your characters up to date and ready to go kick some Alliance or Horde keister come November 13 when the expansion invades PCs around the globe.

Please note that these patches are only for North American users only and there are some special instructions for this patch that are slightly different than with previous versions.

First, you should install the 2.4.3 to 3.0.1 patch.  If you are a classic World of Warcraft user, you should install the patch found here.  Burning Crusade users should install the patch found here.  You should follow these instructions:

WoW-2.4.3-to-3.0.1-TBC-NA.zip SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS

This patch is the incremental patch that will update World of Warcraft from 2.4.3 to 3.0.1. To apply this patch, do the following:

1. Copy the folder named “WoW-2.4.3-to-3.0.1-TBC-NA” to your World of Warcraft folder.
2. (Windows) Run Updater.exe from that folder (Mac) Run Updater.app from that folder.

This will patch your current World of Warcraft 2.4.3 version.

WoW-2.4.3-to-3.0.1-Classic-NA.zip SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS

This patch is the incremental patch that will update World of Warcraft from 2.4.3 to 3.0.1. To apply this patch, do the following:

1. Copy the folder named “WoW-2.4.3-to-3.0.1-Classic-NA” to your World of Warcraft folder.
2. (Windows) Run Updater.exe from that folder (Mac) Run Updater.app from that folder.

This will patch your current World of Warcraft 2.4.3 version.

Once you’ve got that out of the way, you should run the 3.0.1 to 3.0.2 patch for all North American users, found here.

Mythic is reporting over 500,000 subscription over the first week of Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning. So far WAR is only available in North America, Europe and the Oceanic territories but you wouldn’t guess by the numbers. They have a good solid start. If the WAR team can keep the bugs fixed and restore the cut content as promised, they should be able to keep their numbers formidable.

EA Mythic has unleashed the dogs of war as players from North America, Europe and the Oceanic territories take the battlefield in Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning. The battle is not only online in the Warhammer fantasy universe. WAR is competing for the hearts, minds and money of MMO gamers.

WAR has released its subscription plan which offers a discount for paying for several months up front. Here’s the break down from Business Wire:

• Monthly Subscription: $14.99 USD
• 3-Month Subscription: $41.97 ($13.99 per month) USD
• 6-Month Subscription: $77.94 ($12.99 per month) USD

WAR has met the three and six month discounts that World of Warcraft is offering, but I don’t think it’s enough to keep them competitive. The main problem WAR faces is that WOW has been around a lot longer. It’s faithful have been largely unfazed by many promising MMOs including FunCom hopeful Age of Conan.

Most gamers can afford only one subscription MMO at a time. It’s much easier to sell a new game to a new or solo player then it is to gamers that play with their friends. Since many PvP players belong to guilds, they often come as a package deal. WAR will have to do more than match prices to entice players to convert and bring their friends with them to compete with the entrenched WOW.

BlizzCon 2008 has a contest for just about every gamer who wants to get involved and prizes to reward them. Those of you who are crafty can create Warcraft, Starcraft or Diablo themed costumes, dioramas and motivational posters. If Filking is your thing, put together lyrics or a musical composition based on the games and you could have the opportunity to preform your song for a live audience. There’s a new contest this year for gamers who fancy themselves comedians. Show off your best one liners based on Blizzard’s games in the BlizzCon /Silly Contest.

The BlizzCon Movie contest will have film makers telling an original story using World of Warcraft footage. Finally, you can dance your booty off Azeroth style in the BlizzCon Dance contest. I suppose this would go along with the costume contest so you can dress like your favorite character as well as dance like them. Head over to Blizzard’s BlizzCon 2008 site for all the information on these events and the sponsors handing out the prizes.

Blizzard announced a few minutes ago that they are offering up some of their gaming soundtracks via iTunes.

This follows in the footsteps of the Diablo III Overture, which was recently released as a Discovery Download and is free until Tuesday, September 9. At least in the U.S. – visitors to this site have reported that it was not free in other countries, but hopefully Apple has fixed that by now.

Much of this music was originally available only in collector’s editions of the games, or at special events such as the company’s BlizzCon. Each set will cost the usual in your area.

Here is what is currently being offered up in North America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan:

• StarCraft Original Soundtrack
• Diablo II Original Soundtrack
• Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos Original Soundtrack
• World of Warcraft Original Soundtrack
• World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade Original Soundtrack
• World of Warcraft: Taverns of Azeroth Original Soundtrack

The albums have been placed on a new Blizzard Entertainment hub page within the iTunes store. This page also hosts content such as the BlizzCast podcast and trailers and gameplay footage from upcoming games, with more material to be added in the months ahead.

via: Press Release

Over at the Official World of Warcraft website, Blizzard has posted a reminder that the finals for both World of Warcraft and Warcraft III tournaments are scheduled for this weekend September 6-7. Attendees will be given the opportunity to demo WoW: Wrath of the Lich King and Starcraft 2.

If you’re near the the Hard Rock Cafe in Boston, Massachusetts in the US or the Circulo Bellas artes, Salon de columnas in Madrid, Spain admission is free. Check out the latest World of Warcraft news for the fine print on the tournaments.

The WoW PvP tournaments for Taiwan and Korea are over. There was no mention in the news of gamers being invited to demo the Wrath of the Lich King or Starcraft 2. Of course I can imagine the chaos that would have created in Korea. Starcraft is huge there. As it is, I can envision many gamers who don’t care about WoW or Warcraft III showing up this weekend for an opportunity to get their hands on a Starcraft 2 demo.

It should come as no surprise that WoW would be number one in sales on the PC charts, but for one company to have five titles in the Top 10? That is a testament to the popularity of the games it creates. Blizzard is no stranger to being the dominant company in the NPD charts though, and as you can see below, the week of August 17-23 was no exception:

• 1. World of Warcraft: Battle Chest
• 2. The Sims 2: Double Deluxe
• 3. World of Warcraft
• 4. Spore Creature Creator
• 5. World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade
• 6. The Diablo Battle Chest
• 7. Nancy Drew: The Phantom of Venice
• 8. Call of Duty 4
• 9. The Orange Box
• 10. The Warcraft III Battle Chest

It is also no surprise that the Spore Creature Creator is up there, nor CoD4 or even The Sims 2 for that matter. I have even stopped batting an eye at the Nancy Drew game because despite what we choose to believe, even little girls like PC games too. However, what is shocking to me is that The Orange Box is still in the Top 10 after all this time- maybe this is because of all the Team Fortress updates and the like, because I would think that Portal and Half-Life 2 would be old hat by now.