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The second expansion pack for World of Warcraft is due out in the second half of 2008, according to Vivendi. In financial details released today, Vivendi stated not once, but twice that Wrath of the Lich King will arrive during the second half of 2008.

Still no exact “yes or no” coming from the Blizzard camp on this though, so just sit tight until we get an exact release date.

Two other things were also revealed today, one was that as of March 31, 2008, the WoW subscriber base had grown to 10.7 million since January’s report of just a paltry 10 million.

The other thing that was announced, according to this, was that a Blizzard staffer hinted around that the Wrath of the Lich King expansion will include polar bear mounts. Nice.

Via: Shacknews; Image: Worldofwar.net

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With the Wrath of the Lich King expansion on the way for the World of Warcraft, Blizzard is preparing players for new content. The latest article focuses on The Nexus; an instanced dungeon for a party or 10/25 man raid.

The article gives the back story for The Nexus War. The author spins a tale of the blue Dragon Aspect, Malygos and his quest to stop what he deems the abuse of magic by the mortal races of Azeroth.

Determined to forestall a catastrophe, Malygos decreed that the world’s unbridled magic must be reined in by any means necessary.

Now Malygos uses the Arcanomicon to locate and tap into the ley lines, diverting the magical powers that course beneath the earth to his home base in Northrend, the Nexus. Once harnessed, the energies are focused through the Nexus’ ascending rings and blasted into the Twisting Nether. Malygos’s redirection of the ley lines has carried disastrous consequences, however, splintering the world’s crust and opening unstable rifts: tears in the very fabric of the magical dimension.

Players will be working with the red dragonflight, which is charged with preserving life.

The site has a number of screenshots from The Nexus as well as a short video showing off MOBs players will encounter in their assault upon the home of the blue dragonflight and Malygos.

via The World of Warcraft

Blizzard’s Jeffrey “Tigole” Kaplan, one of World of Warcraft’s Lead Designers, gives WoW players a glimpse of what lies behind the blue curtain for the upcoming Wrath of the Lich King expansion. Representatives from the MMOGamer, TenTonHammer and Curse all got the chance to submit questions to Kaplan for this podcast interview.

Most of the questions concentrate on raids. Kaplan talks about the duel raiding system for 10 and 25 man raids.

The goal with the 10 and 25 thing is not that we want to have sort of easy-mode, and that’s 10, and hard-mode and that’s 25, we do want to have two separate, clear progressions, and even within those we want to have easy 10 and 25 raids, medium 10 and 25, and hard 10 and 25. We want to have progression through those.

He speaks specifically about the with problems balancing everything out for the duel raiding system for the Four Horsemen; comparing it to Naxxramas.

Kaplan does talk about other aspects of the new expansion, touching on PvP content, item inflation (or building a bigger shoulder pad) and content for the average WoW player. You can listen to the podcast interview, or for those who prefer to read a transcription of the piece you can find it up on the MMOGamer.

Activision has published results for the company’s 2008 financial year and the numbers are pretty impressive. Raking in over $2.9 billion in net earnings gave them a 92% increase in monetary gains over last year’s figures. Activision’s net income stands at $344.9 million, up from $85.8 million last year and kudos goes out to Guitar Hero III and CoD4 helping them out by bringing in one billion dollars each in sales.

Head honcho Robert Kotick stated during a conference call following the published figures:

“During the fiscal year, we were the number one US console and handheld publisher in dollars for the first time ever, according to The NPD Group, and we grew our worldwide share of the console, handheld and PC markets year over year.”

Also mentioned during the conference call was the confirmation of a fifth Call of Duty game, the reinvention of the Tony Hawk series, the announcement of a new Marvel: Ultimate Alliance title and discussions relating to Guitar Hero 4 and its holiday release date.

This means that Activison will be another contender for number one publisher next year, especially considering that they have merged with Blizzard. Just think of the money they will earn when Wrath of the Lich King is unleashed upon the world.

Via: Eurogamer

Hey buddy, want some WoWcrack? You know you do. Its cheap too, and when I say cheap, I mean free. Follow me into this dark alley and I will give you the goods - make sure no one sees you and that you are not followed or else the deal is off. You aren’t packing heat or wearing a wire are you? Ok cool, let’s do this then.

All of my stuff is premo and pure and it is a new strain of WoWcrack sure to please even the most discerning of tastes. It is called Wrath of the Lich King and I have nine different types.

• The first one is an interview with designer J. Kaplan & Producer J. Allen Brack about what World of Warcraft’s upcoming expansion has to offer.
• Next we have the first footage of air-to-air battles featuring vehicle combat.
• I also have an extended look at new zones (Northrend) and more vehicle combat
• Here I have the Howling Fjord which is one of Lich King’s two starter zones, including the Utgarde Keep instance and the new Tuskar race.
• Then I have this sweet bit of stuff that contains footage of the Borean Tundra which is the Lich King’s other starting zone, along with Howling Fjord. This clip shows both the Alliance and Horde towns, and the Nexus level 71-73 instance.
• Dragonblight is some really good stuff too where you can catch a glimpse of Wyrmrest Temple, the Nerubians, and Naxxramas.
• Like trolls? Then you will love Zul’Drak - the former troll empire has fallen on tough times. It’s not just for ice trolls any more.
• Sholazar Basin is the sister zone to Ungoro Crater. That crashed ship? Hemet Nessingwary’s. Good times to be had with this one
• Last but not least I have the Grizzly Hills where the Venture Co. has set up shop in Northrend, and so have the Furbogs (they live in the fallen, mini-world tree).

So what will it be then? You will take all of them? You are hardcore indeed my friend! Make sure you tell your friends about me, and as long as they are not narcs - I will do my best to supply them with more WoWcrack when it becomes available. In the meantime, if they need more information on my wares, they can check out previous posts on Wrath of the Lich King here. You can also get more of the goods after the break.

Enjoy my friend, but just be careful you don’t OD on all this WoW.

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The World of Warcraft Insider has an article on the latest expansion for the Burning Crusade; Fury of the Sunwell. The Sunwell is the culmination of the Blood Elf and Draenei storylines. It will the reveal the fate of the final member of the triumvirate of Illidan, Vashj, and Kael’thas. Players will also be introduced to a new “ultimate bad guy.”

World of Warcraft lead producer J. Allen Brack and art director Chris Robinson give players a lot of info on both Fury of the Sunwell and the Wrath of the Lich King. However the focus is on the evolving art style of the game and how it works with settings, scenery and architecture. They talk specifically about the style for the Sunwell and therefore the Blood Elves at the height of their power and the contrast with the style of the Northrend area. Items and armor for both these areas will be thematic and will be easily recognizable by players as trophies from a specific area.

For the full picture of the Sunwell and a preview of Northrend, check out the insider interview on World of Warcraft.

Blizzard has clinched an agreement with The9 and Soft-World the insures China will be getting the World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King expansion. The9 handles Blizzards WoW support in mainland China while Soft-World is its contact for Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau. More details about the release of the expansion will follow at a later date.

via World of Warcraft

While this doesn’t help to peg a release date for the second expansion for World of Warcraft, we know that Wrath of the Lich King is at least in playable form. Blizzard staff and an extremely lucky select few (accompanied by a nice NDA, of course), are – right this very second, as I’m typing this and as you’re reading this – running around, killing things in Northrend that you’ve never even so much as dreamed of.

WoW Insider was able to confirm the news last week through anonymous sources. As I said, this isn’t indicative of the game being a certain number of months away from release. Blizzard rarely releases things too early, so don’t expect to see Wrath of the Lich King rushed out before the holidays.

But that doesn’t mean we can’t hope they do get it out by then.

Tickets for the 2008 Blizzard Entertainment Worldwide Invitational Tickets are now on sale. Gamers from all over the world will be converging on Paris, France June 28-29, 2008 for this special event. Attendees will be treated to Q&A sessions, eSport competitions and a chance to get some hands on experience with World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King and StarCraft II.

Tickets are priced at €70 / £55 for both days. You can order your tickets on the official Blizzard Entertainment Worldwide Invitational website.

World of Warcraft players are already in hot anticipation of what the next patch upgrade could bring. So of course, Blizzard’s just adding fuel to the fire by releasing a new trailer showing off the Sunwell Plateau. The devs are also billing this as the hardest raid instance in the game until the Wrath of the Lich King is released. Personally, I don’t play WoW though, so all this video shows to me is that Blizzard can still make a better Warcraft video than anyone else on the web. Well, except for this one maybe.

The World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King site has been updated with an article on Dragonblight. There’s also screenshots and a brief video to go along with it. The footage is incomplete, but it gives you a good idea of the open country. The city is more fleshed out though.

Learn more about the final resting place of the dragon flights, the shrines imbued with their power and the forces players will face in Dragonblight on World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King.

So, as a World of Warcraft player and a person who follows the gaming world fairly closely, I tend to read a lot of forums. With the upcoming 2.4 content patch currently on the Public Test Realms (hereafter referred to as PTR), the WoW Test Realm Forum (found here) is a great place to see how players are liking the upcoming content and class changes.

Judging from the forum posts I have seen, one of the more controversial changes coming in the 2.4 patch is the removal of attunements for the Mount Hyjal and Black Temple 25-man raid instances, and the introduction of gear that can be purchased with Badges of Justice that is on par with Hyjal/Black Temple drops. At first glance, the non-MMO player would wonder why this, of all things, would be a point of contention. Personally, I wonder what mindset makes players think this is a bad idea.

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As the release of the Wrath of the Lich King expansion approaches, Blizzard is steadily feeding World of Warcraft fans enticing bits of information. The latest offering is a Faction Overview of the Tuskarr.

These walrus like humanoids make their homes along the southern coast of Northrend. They’re part of the Kalu’ak faction and although they’ll interact with both the Horde and the Alliance; the Horde will be more likely to find them sympathetic, even willing allies.

The article also mentions MOBs the characters will face in the area on land and sea. The Murlocs’ arctic cousins the Gorloc race will challenge players on the coast. The seas teem with giant squid and whales. Read the full overview on World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King.

Blizzard Entertainment announced today that it is bringing online a set of new competitive World of Warcraft realms that will allow players to enter into a a worldwide team-based tournament. What is the prize for this you ask, why it is over $200,000 in cash prizes and allow the competitors to instantly create level-70 characters with epic equipment, placing the focus on tactics and execution rather than normal adventuring.The servers will offer 3 vs 3 team play events, with qualifiers in a number of territories and each entrant will have to pay an entrance fee of $20 to compete - Europe, South Korea and Taiwan/Hong Kong/Macau can also participate in the tournament - so it is global, not just North American exclusive.Competitive matches will start in April with two regional qualifying rounds and each will run for six weeks with the top four teams going to the regional finals with the possibility of winning $27,000 to feed their wallet. These teams will then be invited to compete in the global finals with the chance to win an additional $120,000 and a winner’s prize of $75,000. Gotta love those numbers folks!

The tournament will be separate from WoW’s live realms and the normal in-game Arena seasons will not be affected. Each team that plans on entering into the qualifying rounds will have to compete in at least 200 matches if they plan on trying out for the finals. So, clear your schedule and cancel your life if you plan on trying out.

Blizzard has yet to announce when or where the global final will take place, and a dedicated website for the event will be launched in the near future and will include all the specifics. In the meantime, if you need more information just go here, which is the official Blizzard site.

While you are there, you can check out the new Wrath of the Lich King trailer which shows off some of the environmental eye-candy of Grizzly Hills.

Via: Press Release

At last week’s DICE event, one of the things that perked up many an eyebrow was a presentation by Blizzard execs where, at one point, they listed several games that had been canceled by the famed developer. Aside from the fact that most people had no idea Blizzard had ever worked on these titles, a number of people noticed the curious absence of Starcraft: Ghost on the list. Many people still remember the stealth-based shooter that would have players traveling through the Starcraft universe in the third person, particularly since it looked almost complete the last time it was seen before being put on “indefinite hold.” Well, MTV’s Multiplayer blog decided to go straight to the source and asked Blizzard co-founder Frank Pearce whether the game was actually canceled or not. Pearce’s response:

It never was technically canceled. It’s just a focus thing for us right now. We’ve got a finite amount of development resources and a lot of different things that we want to focus on so there’s always the possibility, but right now we’re spending our time on “World of Warcraft” and our expansion “Wrath of the Lich King” and “StarCraft II.”

Translation: “World of Warcraft is so popular that we don’t really have to worry about any new games for awhile.” On the plus side, it looks like there’s still some hope for Starcraft: Ghost. It just might take a decade before it ever sees the light of day again.

Via MTV Multiplayer

Without a release date in sight and full content details still not fully revealed, Blizzard is handing out the screenshots for their second expansion to World of Warcraft and as usual they are enough to drive their rabid fan base around the twist. Wrath of the Lich King takes place in new area in northern Azeroth, Northrend, where the fallen prince Arthas twists his cruel mind around his plans for revenge and global domination. With a new storyline, another massive world to explore and the long awaited level 80 cap; player can expect to quire a slew of new skills, abilities, dungeons to explore, envy inducing armor, new professions and a brand new character class - the Death Knight.

As if WoW players don’t spend enough of their time staring at the screen for what could be an accumulated six months out of year, a new expansion might just make them never to want to go outside ever again. However, if I was playing a game that looked this pretty, I may not want to leave my house either.

With the release of World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King closing in, Blizzard is feeding the hype with new content. Up on the Wrath of the Lich King Bestiary, WoW enthusiasts can find profiles on two new opponents they will face in the expansion.

Players will test their mettle against the Nerubian Viziers, a race of cunning humanoid spiders and the Lich King’s new shock troops, Plague Eruptors. Check in to the World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King Bestiary for the full intel.

Whether you think of GameStop as Gaming Nirvana or the Evil Empire, the business was booming this holiday. GameStop experienced a surge of sales that has the company raising its quarterly earnings estimate. However despite the money rolling in from games like Guitar Hero, GameStop shares fell over 6% as analysts predict the trend won’t last.

“First of all, the numbers were lights out,” said Mike Hickey, an analyst with Janco Partners Inc. “But the concern is that their same-store sales guidance was raised to 15.5 percent to 16.5 percent, which is measurably below the 20 percent they just produced for the holiday period.”

He added: “The difference last year was ‘World of Warcraft,’ which sold 850,000 plus units in January and that creates a difficult comparison for them this year.”

I tend to wonder if these experts are underestimating the continued appeal of World of Warcraft. With the release of the Wrath of the Lich King imminent, I wouldn’t count on a mediocre showing for WoW this year. If that’s what they’re basing there projections for GameStop on, they might want to reconsider.

via Reuters

I noticed we haven’t posted any WoW:WotLK news worthiness in a while. So without further ado…

Blizzard has just posted six new high-res in-game screenshots of its second WoW expansion World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King. You can check out each screenie in its high-res glory by clicking the appropriate thumbnail below.

Via Blizzard.com

The folks over at Blizzard are constantly updating their cash cow, World of Warcraft. So, I’ll admit to be being less than surprised at the news another major patch is in the works. However, one thing you have to give them is that they put in a pretty strong amount of content with every patch.

The newest patch will bring clients up to version 2.4, and will introduce a number of new things, including new 5-man instances and a new 25-man raid. This raid is intended to close the storyline of the Burning Crusade expansion before the Wrath of the Lich King expansion is released (still no date on when that will happen, though).

There are also changes to PvP balance and a new faction. Blizzard even says they’re aiming to bring PvP closer to e-sport acceptance, whatever the heck that means. In news that is sure to please the ‘I really need to make some more gold’ crowd, Blizzard is raising the cap on daily quests from 10 to 25.

First off, please understand that I don’t have some secret mole at Blizzard. I wish I did, but since I don’t, I had to steal this info from an interview with Jeff Kaplan (Tigole) published in a Swedish magazine. I’m hoping Blizzard won’t come after me for it. If they do, I’ll have one of my guildmates build me one of his patented poo forts (yes, that’s you Tak). If that sounds ineffective, ask yourself how eager you’d be to attack a fort constructed from poo.

You can check out the entire list of (revealed) upcoming items after the break.

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