Such expectation changes are due to a position of uncertainty about how the rest of the year will play out, including the upcoming holiday season, as specifically noted by the company’s CEO. Uncertainty about the next generation of the Xbox and PlayStation, for example, were factored into Activision’s outlook on the rest of the year, something that caused its shares to drop 6-percent.

Said Activision’s CEO Bobby Kotick in a conference call today: “While we do believe further declines are likely, and we expect to have fewer subscribers at year-end than we do today, World of Warcraft remains one of the most successful franchises in the history of entertainment.” To help mitigate their current woes, Activision plans to roll out more content at a faster rate for the game.

For 2013, Activision estimates making $0.82 per share with $4.25 billion in sales. As of now, World of Warcraft subscribers sit at 8.3 million, a hefty drop from the all-time high of about 12 million. Although there are plans to push out content faster, the Wall Street Journal reports that no big updates are slated to happen until 2014.

[via WSJ]

However, a standard BlizzCon ticket isn’t the only way gamers can gain access to the event. Blizzard will also be selling 200 tickets on May 1st that will allow players to attend both BlizzCon and the BlizzCon Benefit Dinner, which is set to take place on November 7th. The dinner will benefit the Children’s Hospital of Orange County, and will let guests dine and converse with the Blizzard team before the weekend festivities.

At BlizzCon, Blizzard will be hosting a whole bunch of events and activities that will show everyone a great time. Players will be able to play demos of Blizzard’s latest games, participate in discussion panels with Blizzard’s developers, and even watch the StarCraft II World Championship Series Global Finals live at the event. The event will appeal to gamers from all of Blizzard’s franchises, including Warcraft, Starcraft, and Diablo.

If you are unable to attend the event, you are still able to stream it live by purchasing a BlizzCon Virtual Ticket. With the virtual ticket, you are able to enjoy various aspects of BlizzCon through Blizzard’s multi-channel streams. For those of you who want a standard BlizzCon ticket, you will be able to purchase them on April 24th starting at 7:00PM PDT, and April 27th starting at 10:00AM PDT. Tickets to the benefit dinner will go on sale May 1st at 7:00PM PDT. Standard tickets will cost $175, and tickets to the dinner will cost $500. No pricing on the virtual tickets is available yet. You can purchase your ticket(s) from this link, but be sure to act fast as these tickets usually sell out very quickly.

[via Blizzard]

At the annual BlizzCon convention, gamers from World of Warcraft, StarCraft, and Diablo all get together to witness the next big thing Blizzard has to offer. At BlizzCon 2013, players will be able to get a hands-on demonstration of the latest Blizzard games, become an audience to a discussion panel with Blizzard’s game developers and artists, have competitive, yet casual tournaments with other fellow gamers, compete in contests, purchase Blizzard’s gaming merchandice, and more. The global finals for the Battle.net World Champsionship Series will also be making its debut at BlizzCon 2013, where select top pro-gamers from all around the world will compete.

Blizzard wasn’t able to hold its annual BlizzCon event in 2012 because of the company’s jam-packed schedule. It was in the process of launching its latest installment of the Diablo series, Diablo 3, as well as the World of Wacraft: Mists of Panderia expansion. It was also in the process of developing its StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm expansion.

BlizzCon 2011 was a major success, and tickets sold out within seconds, so there’s no time to think once the tickets for BlizzCon 2013 goes on sale. While you’re thinking, someone else (or rather thousands of other people) will have already confirmed their purchase. You don’t want to be left out of Blizzard’s biggest event of the year. Blizzard has also launched a site that will let you book your hotel in advance with special BlizzCon rates. Will you be attending this year?

Schneiderman spoke this week on how the most recent (but not the largest) wave of 2,000 registered sex offenders being kicked from gaming communities as a result of his office’s initiative called “Operation: Game Over.” Cleverness of the title of the project aside, this situation has offered up some key quotes from the official in his bid to cut out any offenses before they happen.

“The Internet is the crime scene of the 21st century, and we must ensure that online video game platforms do not become a digital playground for dangerous predators. That means doing everything possible to block sex offenders from using gaming systems as a vehicle to prey on underage victims.” – Schneiderman

In New York State the law requires all sex offenders to provide the state with all of their electronic identities. This includes online accounts of all kinds, email addresses, screen names, and basically any other identifying set of numbers and letters a human might have to tie them in to the web. This initiative has this list of contacts run down and used to contact online gaming developers, asking them kindly to purge accounts of the sex offenders. It’s not clear at the moment if this request can be enforced with each developer, but by the sound of it, there’s not been much resistance either way.

“peration: Game Over coincides with recent incidents of sexual predators using voice and text chat functions in online gaming services to lure underage victims across the country. … I applaud the online gaming companies that have purged registered sex offenders from their networks in time for the holiday season. Together, we are making the online community a safer place for the children of New York.” – Scheiderman

The message released today by Schneiderman’s office also included the following tips for parents with kids that play video games:

Attorney General Schneiderman provided the following tips for parents to protect children from sexual predators from online video game networks:

• Choose games appropriate for your child’s age and maturity level;

• Use your game console’s parental controls (control which games can be played, for how long, and whether they can play online;

• Keep computer or game console in a public area of the home; and

• Talk to your kids about how to protect identifying information, and to avoid and report conversations that make them uncomfortable.

Schneiderman’s initiative previously had announcements with different amounts of registered sex offenders kicked from gaming communities, the most recent being an amount of 3,500. Recent targets included Microsoft’s Xbox LIVE community and World of Warcraft. Let us know what you think of this program in comments below!

[via Attorney General Eric T Schneiderman]

Of course, we expect Madden to sell well, so the fact that it took the top spot in September is no surprise. What is surprising, however, is that Borderlands 2 managed to come in second place. According to NPD’s numbers, Borderlands 2 sold 1.48 million copies in September, and analyst Anita Frazier tells Game Informer that represents a 234% increase over the first month sales of the original Borderlands. It’s important to remember that NPD only reports sales numbers for physical media, so none of Borderlands 2‘s digital PC sales are counted in that 1.48 million figure. In other words, Borderlands 2 could have easily sold more than 2 million copies during the month of September.

Also interesting: Guild Wars 2 managed to beat out the latest World of Warcraft expansion, Mists of Pandaria. Of course, we’re assuming that most of the sales for both Guild Wars 2 and Mists of Pandaria were digital, so it’s hard to say that Guild Wars 2 is the clear winner with any certainty. Still, it’s interesting to see that NPD has Guild Wars 2 outselling Mists of Pandaria. Have a look at the full top ten software list for September:

1. Madden NFL 13 – Electronic Arts (360, PS3, Wii, Vita)
2. Borderlands 2 – Take-Two Interactive (360, PS3, PC)
3. FIFA Soccer 13 – Electronic Arts (PS3, 360, Vita, Wii, 3DS, PSP)
4. New Super Mario Bros. 2 – Nintendo (3DS)
5. Guild Wars 2 – NCSoft (PC)
6. NHL 13 – Electronic Arts (360, PS3)
7. World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria – Activision Blizzard (PC)
8. NCAA Football 13 – Electronic Arts (360, PS3)
9. LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes – Warner Bros. Interactive (360, Wii, 3DS, DS, PS3, Vita, PC)
10. Battlefield 3 – Electronic Arts (360, PS3, PC)

In September, we saw Battlefield 3 claw its way back into the top 10, most likely due to the recent release of the Battlefield 3 Premium Edition. Overall, it was a good month for sports games (and Electronic Arts), but it wasn’t so great for game sales in general. Software sales were down 14% year-over-year, but we can probably expect them to climb this month as we begin to close in on the holiday season. Stay tuned.

We also had plenty of news about SpaceX’s Dragon capsule, which launched for the ISS yesterday. The launch went well despite a rocket blowout, and we learned that the capsule is carrying – among other things – ice cream and silly putty to the space station. Later on in the day, SpaceX released a statement about the minor problems on the launch pad, telling us that the mission should still go as planned. We heard that 10 million iPad Minis are on order, despite the fact that we don’t know for sure that it exists yet, and today Google started calling for more tablet-friendly apps.

The Samsung Galaxy S III was named T-Mobile’s best-selling device of all time today, and speaking of T-Mobile, the carrier received the LG Optimus L9 today as well. A 32GB Nexus 7 model was accidentally shipped to one lucky Japanese customer, and Microsoft has launched free Wi-Fi in both New York City and San Francisco. Windows 8 PCs started showing up early on HSN’s website today, and Microsoft released a Kinect SDK for Windows 8 too. Microsoft has apparently dropped its “Live” branding from its Windows 8 launch, and T-Mobile looks primed to receive iPhone 5 owners with a new NanoSIM delivery.

After being teased last week, Rovio revealed Angry Birds Star Wars today, an announcement that was quickly followed by additional details. XCOM: Enemy Unknown is available for pre-order on Steam today, while Blizzard told us that a World of Warcraft hack that allowed one player to murder others one city at a time has been patched. Pokemon Black and White 2 launched yesterday, and PETA has something to say about it, while Nokia announced that its new Lumia 810 will be bringing the Windows Phone 8 touch to T-Mobile.

That about does it for tonight’s Evening Wrap-Up, but before we part ways, we have one original story to cover: Chris Burns tells us why Nokia will need to push its graphic design abilities when it comes to making Windows Phone 8 a success. Enjoy the rest your night folks!

With a message that appeared inside the last day, Azeroth appears to be safe once more. As Blizzard puts it, the fix appeared to be simple, but the damage was already done. At the moment it would appear that they’ve got everything under control, but that they’re still hunting for the villains that made the deaths of masses of characters a possibility. Blizzard has sent out word that they’d be glad to hear any information regarding the incident as soon as possible – note it!

“Earlier today, certain realms were affected by an in-game exploit, resulting in the deaths of player characters and non-player characters in some of the major cities. This exploit has already been hotfixed, so it should not be repeatable. It’s safe to continue playing and adventuring in major cities and elsewhere in Azeroth.

Video above via BornInCrimson – showing some of the death in Stormwind.

As with any exploit, we are taking this disruptive action very seriously and conducting a thorough investigation. If you have information relating to this incident, please email hacks@blizzard.com. We apologize for the inconvenience some of you experienced as a result of this and appreciate your understanding.” – Nethaera, Blizzard

This situation should remind you of a certain South Park episode in which one single player had enough power to destroy any other character in the game – WoW – to which the boys responded with days and weeks of leveling up, preparing to destroy him. It ended up being that Blizzard had to intervene with a “Sword of a Thousand Truths”, a weapon that only existed in legend – and on a USB stick – with enough power to destroy the one deadly player. As it were here in the “real” world, the hacker(s) still roam free – powerless, but free.

[via Joystiq]

Cataclysm sold 3.3 million copies in its first day, compared to the 2.7 million copies Pandaria sold in its first week. It would seem that World of Warcraft players aren’t as excited for this particular expansion, and there could be a number of different reasons for that. First and foremost, it could be that Pandaria is failing to grab players’ interest in the same way Cataclysm did. Cataclysm, remember, involved the destruction of Azeroth at the hands of a dragon named Deathwing, which to some is probably a bit more exciting than discovering an ancient race of panda bears.

World of Warcraft could also be suffering temporarily at the hands of Guild Wars 2, which was released at the end of August. Hype for Guild Wars 2 was incredibly high during the lead up to its release, so it makes sense that some World of Warcraft players would leave the game for a little while to go see what Guild Wars 2 has to offer.

Regardless of the reason behind the lower number, Blizzard is still happy with Pandaria’s week one sales, and anticipation for this latest expansion was enough to push World of Warcraft’s active player count over the 10 million mark once again. Indeed, 2.7 million sales in the first week is nothing to stick your nose up at, it’s just interesting to see that Cataclysm managed to net so many more sales when it launched. What’s your take on the whole situation?

[via Eurogamer]

Chinese World of Warcraft fans will be able to get their hands on the expansion pack when it launches in mainland China on October 2. Blizzard points out that this is the first time Chinese players have been able to join the rest of the global World of Warcraft community within the same one-week global launch period. There’ll also be a special edition of the game for Chinese gamers.

Chinese gamers will be able to purchase the premier Chinese Ultimate Edition of Mists. The Chinese Ultimate Edition of the game will sell for 486 CNY. The special version includes several bonus items, including an in-game mount in the form of an Imperial Quilen flying mount.

Players will also get a special in-game pet called the Lucky Quilen Cub. Also included is art from the expansion pack with the 208 page hardcover book. Gamers will also get a special edition mouse pad featuring game character Chen Stormstout. The special edition also includes a soundtrack CD and behind the scenes DVD among other items.

The trailer focuses on a Human and an Orc who have washed ashore in a strange place after a naval battle. Once they discover each other, they begin fighting it what appears to be some kind of old ruins, destroying some ancient-looking relics in the process. It’s then that one of the Pandaren interrupts and shows them both what’s what. After both of them have been beaten back by the Panda, the Human and the Orc realize that they have washed up on Pandaria, and we’re treated to shots of sprawling, beautiful wilderness, populated by Pandaren who are training for battle.

It’s definitely one of the better cinematic trailers we’ve seen in a long time. With an exciting battle, a wonderful soundtrack, and a little bit of humor, cinematic trailers don’t get much better. Blizzard knows it has to impress too, as World of Warcraft‘s numbers have been slipping a bit lately. Couple that with the fact that reaction to Mists of Pandaria was mixed when the expansion was revealed at BlizzCon last year, and Blizzard has its work cut out for it.

World of Warcraft‘s subscriber numbers will almost certainly increase once Mists of Pandaria is released, but the hard part will be getting those returning (or new) subscribers to hang around once they’ve finished the expansion. Blizzard has wowed us with the opening cinematic, but now it has to wow us with the expansion itself. We don’t have much longer to wait, as Mists of Pandaria is releasing on September 25.

When it comes to staying safe after the hack, the first place you’ll probably want to start is changing your password. Blizzard says that the intruders only made off with cryptographically scrambled versions of passwords – meaning that it wasn’t your actual password that was stolen – but its investigation is still ongoing. It could find more evidence of password theft as time goes on, but even if it doesn’t, changing your password as soon as you can isn’t a bad idea. This is especially true if your password for battle.net is the same one you use for other online accounts (if that’s the case, be sure to change those too).

Blizzard says in the FAQ that while mobile and dial-in authenticators were compromised (dial-in authenticators to a lesser degree), physical authenticators are still believed to be intact. This means that if you have a physical authenticator, now is the time to use it, and keep on using it if you were already. In the event that these hackers do manage to figure out your password, the physical authenticator will provide an extra layer of defense. Some claim that Blizzard’s authenticators aren’t a sure thing, and that may be the case, but in this situation there isn’t much reason to believe you’re actually better off without one.

Now for something that is a bit alarming: answers to secret questions were taken during this breach. When paired with an email address, that could provide an easy way into your account, and the bad news is that there currently isn’t a way to change the answers to your secret questions. Even worse is the fact that Blizzard has opted not to suspend secret questions, as it believes that leaving them active does more good than harm. In any case, Blizzard will be asking battle.net users to update their security questions soon, and it’s a very good idea that you do so as soon as possible after receiving the prompt. Doing so closes a backdoor that hackers could use to easily gain access to your account.

Make no mistake, this breach could have been a lot worse, but the steps above will still help ensure that you stay safe as Blizzard continues its investigation and begins rolling out software updates. We’ll likely be finding out more about the breach in the coming days, so keep it tuned to SlashGear for more information.

However, even though Activision managed to exceed expectations, it still came up a bit short when compared to the same quarter last year. In Q2 2011, Activision managed to pull in a net revenue of $1.146 billion and was able to boast an earnings per share of $0.29. A significant difference to be sure, but that doesn’t mean Activision had a bad quarter.

It was quite the opposite actually, with Activision announcing that Diablo III has brought in a whopping 10 million players since launching on May 15. We already knew that 3.5 million of those sales occurred in the game’s first 24 hours of availability, and with roughly 1 million of those players getting in for free thanks to the World of Warcraft annual pass, that leaves about 5.5 million sales in the three months since launch.

World of Warcraft‘s subscriber numbers are down a bit, with Activision reporting 9.1 million monthly subscribers at the end of the quarter. That’s a little low compared to where World of Warcraft was at its peak, but those numbers will probably get a boost (at least temporarily) when Mists of Pandaria is released in September. Activision also announced that Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure was the number best-selling console game in the first six months of the year “overall in dollars,” which is to say that the company had to count the toy sales in order to name Skylanders the top-selling game.

The company has upped its outlook for the year as a whole to $4.33 billion, and expects to bring in $740 million next quarter. Activision’s boosted outlook is based on the upcoming releases of Mists of Pandaria, Black Ops II, and Skylanders Giants, so that expectation could change if one of those games under-performs. Even if that happens, though, it’s pretty clear that Activision is poised to rake in a ton of cash this year, so we’ll let you go back to wishing you were Bobby Kotick now.

This expansion will be popping up with a playable monk class, is the fourth expansion to the game since its first launch in 2004, and will be popping up on both PCs and Macs at the same time. This expansion will be available for the following three prices in the following three flavors:

• Standard Retail : $39.99
• Collector’s Edition : $79.99
• Digital Deluxe : $59.99

The standard edition comes with the game and the game only, while the special editions each come with their own unique bits and pieces. The Digital Deluxe edition includes an Imperial Quilen Mount (basically a flying lion creature) that’ll allow you to jet around the landscape, while the Lucky Quillen Cub runs along by your side as you travel on land if you wish as well.

The Digital Deluxe edition also includes a Banner Sigil and Accent that’s unique to this deal that’ll pop up for you in Diablo III. You’ll also get a StarCraft II-based treat with two exclusive portraits – one infested orc and another night elf Templar. The Collectors Edition will include all of the items listed above in addition to the following:

• Behind-the-Scenes DVD and Blu-Ray
• Collector’s Edition Soundtrack CD
• The Art of Mists of Pandaria Book
• Chen Stormstout Mouse Pad

You can pre-order the digital version now via Blizzard or wait just a few short weeks before the final editions are ready to go!

It was previously reported that server populations for the game were dropping, with Bioware’s Daniel Erickson saying that wasn’t the case despite a decrease in peak time activity. The latest numbers seem to confirm the worst for EA, who say that the drop is in line with “original assumptions” for the games launch. EA went on to say that it was planning on adding more subscribers with new upgrades and features to the game.

EA believe that “core” MMO gamers are sticking with the game, and the decline is a result of more casual gamers dropping the game after the initial billing cycles. Even with the reduced numbers, EA has suggested in the past that the game would maintain profitability even with 500,000 active subscribers.

Blizzard has also seen a drop in World of Warcraft numbers recently. The game seemingly reached its peak of 12 million players back in 2010, with the most recent November 2011 info showing that the numbers have dropped to 10.3 million. Blizzard says part of that is due to gamers wanting to try Star Wars: The Old Republic, while others are waiting for the next WoW expansion, Mists of Pandaria. The company hasn’t issued any updated subscriber numbers since November.

[via Ars Technica]

Schneiderman said, “We must ensure online videogame systems do not become a digital playground for dangerous predators. That means doing everything possible to block sex offenders from using gaming networks as a vehicle to prey on underage victims.” Schneiderman and his team worked with the game companies mentioned above to link the sex offenders to their Xbox Live, PlayStation Network, and online role-playing game accounts, and blocked a total of 3,580 accounts from being able to connect to other gamers online.

The Attorney General thanked the companies for their cooperation. He called it a first-of-its-kind initiative for online safety. The so-called dangers of online gaming are highlighted every few months, like clockwork, on the morning “news” shows and various other places where people can spread fear. Nevertheless, if one incident arises from online gaming when it could have been prevented as with Operation Game Over, is one too many.

[via AFP]

The folks at Eurogamer spoke this week with Blizzard’s senior World of Warcraft producer John Lagrave. Who said that the dip Blizzard is experiencing at the moment in subscribers to Wow “has to at least be attributable to [Star Wars] The Old Republic.” He added:

“Of course people are trying Star Wars – our development team are trying Star Wars! I’m one of the few people who’s still playing it actually, but yeah we’ve seen a dip in subs. It certainly has to at least be attributable to The Old Republic, but it’s also attributable to people who want to wait and get Mists of Pandaria, so it’s not surprising.” – Lagrave

Lagrave also mentioned that they were looking at giving users additional incentive to continue playing WoW in this low period where WoW subscribers number at around 10.3 million where the peak from last year was 12 million. Boosts included the already announced Scroll of Resurrection campaign as well as a possible free subscription extension all the way up to level 40. At the moment such a possibility does exist but no plans to actually implement it are on the table.

Blizzard’s Lagrave also noted Skyrim in its chat about the current state of World of Warcraft subscribers:

“Are they going elsewhere? Yes they are. We don’t have a lock on all the best games in the world – Skyrim was an amazing game.” – Lagrave

Do you currently play World of Warcraft, or Star Wars: The Old Republic? Or do you play both? Or are you simply waiting for the greatest of them all: Diablo III?! And don’t forget to take note Lagrave also told Eurogamer about the mobile future of WoW as well, saying the following whilst holding an iPhone aloft:

“Here’s your platform, you’ve got to put an interface, what do you do? So yes we have [looked into mobile] and we always are. Maybe we’ll stumble on the great way to put WOW on the phone – maybe we won’t, but we’re certainly looking into it.” – Lagrave

World of Warcraft certainly isn’t over yet!

[via Eurogamer]

Blizzard also took advantage of the holiday season in December, offering the BattleChest for $5, Wrath of the Lich King for $10 and Cataclysm for $20. Without these deals you can expect to pay $19.99 for the BattleChest and $39.99 for both the Wrath of the Lich King and Cataclysm expansions. Sadly these sales ended pretty quickly, but if you were one of the many who wanted to get started with World of Warcraft and not break the bank, you’re in luck!

GameStop is offering the BattleChest and the Wrath of the Lich King for $19.99. In other words, buy the BattleChest and get Wrath of the Lich King for free! For a mere $19.99 you can get to level 80 and attempt to slay the Lich King in the final boss battle in Icecrown Citadel.

[via GameStop

Blizzard vice president Chris Metzen has described the land of Pandaria, the new China-inspired country that comes in this expansion, as a peaceful place. This peaceful place, he says, is then ruined by the players that come in with the expansion. So basically Blizzard is daring us to be evil, essentially. The announcement of this expansion game at this year’s BlizzCon, taking place this week, and it is said that it will focus on a war between the game’s two factions, blue and red, rather than any sort of new external enemy, he saying thusly:

“Red and blue are about to get it on with a heavy ferocity that has not been seen since the days of Warcraft II” – Metzen

My god! Store your food and stack you paper, war is coming! This announcement also came aside word that World of Warcraft would begin to have an annual subscription plan that would be able to be paid for in monthly installments. For a limited time, they say, anyone who decides they want to sign up will receive a TOTALLY FREE COPY of none other than DIABLO III. Oh my gosh, my goodness, I think I’m going to have a heart attack.

Of course also of note is the fact that neither Diablo III nor the Panda expansion for WoW has been given a release date, so you’ll just have to continue to chill.

[via Wired]

Take a peek at all three cards in their tinier state in the gallery below or head over to Blizzard to take a peek at slightly larger versions. That barbarian is totally absurd. I mean, look at all those extra horns and whatnot sticking up everywhere – he’d totally stab himself in the eye! And look! He’s crushing all the presents! All hell shall break loose upon the day of that Santas arrival.

[Via Blizzard Entertainment]

*The image you see above is from this post: Dungeon Defenders Coming to Android

R3 Media Network

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Android Honeycomb Actually 2.4, Launching in February?
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Amazon Kindle for Android 2.0 released: Periodical support & SD saving
Motorola Quench XT5 Launches on Aircel India
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Grab a Lagfix for your Galaxy S Device WITHOUT Voodoo
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Android Malware Infection has the Highest Growth, Overall Infection Lower than Other Platforms
Dungeon Defenders Coming to Android
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EA iPhone, iPad and iPod touch games slashed to 99 cents
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Google’s music aspirations surface
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To see more Daily Slash posts, click here: [The Daily Slash] or here: [SlashGear Morning Wrap-Up]

Now, this is an awesome tactic. This sort of deal was offered on the original base setup of World of Warcraft and there’s definitely demo versions of basically every Blizzard game out there, including the greatest series of all time Diablo (don’t deny it mang.) This new expansion for WoW isn’t hurting for sales, breaking records by selling 3.3 million copies in 24 hours, but I’m sure a little demonstration action wont hurt to give that another boost.

Check the full trial out over [here] and don’t be shy, tell everyone how you like it (or, if it’s the worst thing since the amount of time you’ve had to wait for Diablo III, say that too.)

[Via Blizzard Entertainment]

When asked why he’d do such a lovable thing for the fans of this epic game, Pearce, signing autographs as he spoke, had the following to say:

Those guys have been in lines for days. Those are some of our most dedicated fans, of course we want to treat them right. I mean, we want to treat all of our fans right but, you know, special recognition for those guys is really important. I think it’s really valuable for the community to know they’re really important to us.

What a nice guy! Also, courtesy of the Orange County Register, take a peek at this launch party video. Looks like a completely wild and crazy time had by all:

[Via Orange County Register: OC Unwired]

You can upgrade online by heading over to Blizzard Account Management, or go to the store to find yourself an elite Collector’s Edition which features a behind-the-scenes DVD, soundtrack, artwork book, exclusive WoW trading card game cards and starter packs, mousepad, the game, and best of all, an exclusive in-game pet, Lil’ Deathwing! Check out the full press release below:

WORLD OF WARCRAFT®: CATACLYSM™
IN STORES NOW

Highly anticipated third expansion to the critically acclaimed massively multiplayer online role-playing game launches around the world this week
IRVINE, Calif. — December 7, 2010 — Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. today announced that World of Warcraft®: Cataclysm™, the highly anticipated third expansion for the world’s most popular subscription-based massively multiplayer online role-playing game, is now on sale in stores throughout North America, Europe, Argentina, Chile, Russia, Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand, and will be available beginning December 9 in Korea and the regions of Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau.

The expansion can now be purchased at retail stores on DVD-ROM for Windows® XP/Windows Vista®/Windows® 7 and Macintosh® at a suggested retail price of $39.99 USD. A special Collector’s Edition packed with bonus items is also available exclusively from retailers for a suggested retail price of $79.99 USD. World of Warcraft: Cataclysm is also offered as a digital download through Battle.net® account management (www.battle.net/account/management) for $39.99 USD.

“Cataclysm adds an incredible amount of new content for players to explore, revitalizing the game world and building on everything we’ve learned since World of Warcraft launched over six years ago,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “We thank all of our beta testers for helping make this our best expansion yet, and we’re looking forward to seeing everyone in the new Azeroth.”

In World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, the corrupted Dragon Aspect Deathwing has returned, and the world has been reshaped by the devastation left in his wake. In an effort to survive the planet-shattering cataclysm, two new playable races — worgen and goblins — join the struggle between the Alliance and the Horde. Players can now begin their journey to the new level cap of 85, discover newly revealed locations, acquire new levels of power, and come face to face with Deathwing in a battle to determine the fate of the world.

For more information on World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, visit the official website at http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/cataclysm/.

About Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.
Best known for blockbuster hits including World of Warcraft® and the Warcraft®, StarCraft®, and Diablo® series, Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. (www.blizzard.com), a division of Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ: ATVI), is a premier developer and publisher of entertainment software renowned for creating some of the industry’s most critically acclaimed games. Blizzard Entertainment’s track record includes twelve #1-selling games and multiple Game of the Year awards. The company’s online-gaming service, Battle.net®, is one of the largest in the world, with millions of active players.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-looking Statements: Information in this press release that involves Blizzard Entertainment’s expectations, plans, intentions or strategies regarding the future are forward-looking statements that are not facts and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Blizzard Entertainment generally uses words such as “outlook,” “will,” “could,” “would,” “might,” “remains,” “to be,” “plans,” “believes,” “may,” “expects,” “intends,” “anticipates,” “estimate,” “future,” “plan,” “positioned,” “potential,” “project,” “remain,” “scheduled,” “set to,” “subject to,” “upcoming” and similar expressions to identify forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause Blizzard Entertainment’s actual future results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements set forth in this release include, but are not limited to, sales levels of Blizzard Entertainment’s titles, shifts in consumer spending trends, the impact of the current macroeconomic environment, the seasonal and cyclical nature of the interactive game market, declines in software pricing, product returns and price protection, product delays, retail acceptance of Blizzard Entertainment’s products, competition from the used game market, industry competition and competition from other forms of entertainment, rapid changes in technology, industry standards and consumer preferences, including interest in specific genres such as real-time strategy, action–role-playing and massively multiplayer online games, protection of proprietary rights, litigation against Blizzard Entertainment, maintenance of relationships with key personnel, customers, licensees, licensors, vendors and third-party developers, including the ability to attract, retain and develop key personnel and developers who can create high quality “hit” titles, counterparty risks relating to customers, licensees, licensors and manufacturers, domestic and international economic, financial and political conditions and policies, foreign exchange rates and tax rates, and the identification of suitable future acquisition opportunities, and the other factors identified in the risk factors section of Activision Blizzard’s most recent annual report on Form 10-K and any subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. The forward-looking statements in this release are based upon information available to Blizzard Entertainment and Activision Blizzard as of the date of this release, and neither Blizzard Entertainment nor Activision Blizzard assumes any obligation to update any such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements believed to be true when made may ultimately prove to be incorrect. These statements are not guarantees of the future performance of Blizzard Entertainment or Activision Blizzard and are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, some of which are beyond its control and may cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations.

R3 Media Network

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To see more wrap-up posts, follow the following tags: [The Daily Slash] or [SlashGear Morning Wrap-up]

And bonus! Though nothing compares to actually buying the game, running home at full speed, and playing it for a week straight, there are a couple more things. One, customers who purchas Cataclysm at midnight will get a free video game rental coupon, and two, those same customers will get a $5 off coupon for the strategy guide (uh yeah right who would buy such a thing! Me.) Check out the full press release below:

AMARILLO, Texas, Nov. 30, 2010 /PRNewswire/ — Hastings Entertainment, Inc. (Nasdaq: HAST), a leading multimedia entertainment superstore retailer, has announced its plans for chain-wide midnight release parties for the new World of Warcraft: Cataclysm video game. Fans are encouraged to join their local Hastings for a midnight release party on Monday, December 6. Festivities for the night will begin at 10:00 pm and will end after the video game goes on sale at Midnight.

Fans enjoying the festivities and awaiting the release of the game will be able to take advantage of special promotions, including 30% off all used CDs, books, video games, and movies during the release party. Customers who purchase the game at the party will also receive a free video game rental coupon and $5 off the World of Warcraft: Cataclysm strategy guide.

To find out more about the World of Warcraft: Cataclysm midnight release party in your area, visit us online atwww.goHastings.com or contact your local Hastings superstore.

About Hastings
Founded in 1968, Hastings Entertainment, Inc. is a leading multimedia entertainment retailer that combines the sale of new and used books, videos, video games and CDs, as well as trends and consumer electronics merchandise, with the rental of videos and video games in a superstore format.  We currently operate 146 superstores, averaging approximately 25,000 square feet, primarily in medium-sized markets throughout the United States.  We also operate a new concept store, Sun Adventure Sports, in Amarillo, Texas.

We also operate www.goHastings.com, an e-commerce Internet Web site that makes available to our customers new and used entertainment products and unique, contemporary gifts and toys.  The site features exceptional product and pricing offers.  The Investor Relations section of our web site contains press releases, a link to request financial and other literature and access our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

WoW fans may be wishing that they could play the game on their shiny new iPad and some pictures of just such an occurrence have turned up online. WoW is streamed in these images to the iPad using Gaikai online gaming service.

The Gaikai service lets you play games within a browser using server side streaming tech. If you are intrigued be the possibilities this streaming tech brings you can sign up for a private beta invitation. The big question right now is exactly how the iPad is working with the service since Gaikai typically uses Flash and that’s obviously no happening on the iPad.

Over at Cologne, Germany, Gamescom is going strong, and companies like Razer are not letting the time slip by without some kind of announcement. In the case of Razer, they had a doozie lined up for this conference: a 17-key mouse, that looks like some kind of futuristic toy, which is called the Naga. It’s set to be used for Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) games, but as you can probably already assume, it’s tailored for the largest of them all, World of Warcraft.

This USB-connected peripheral has a unique 12-button pad on the left-hand side of the mouse, lined up in a simple to use format, so that your thumb doesn’t have to travel all that far to press any one of the buttons. In addition, there’s the regular five buttons found on “normal” mice, which means there’s some semblance of a traditional piece of hardware in there somewhere. The mouse itself isn’t solely designed for MMOs, and can be used with any application that allows for button configuration of custom mouse buttons, as well as Razer’s own Windows software which can be used to map a wide array of shortcuts to very specific tasks.

We’d just like to say how unique this thing looks, and, if it’s not too crazy, attractive. Maybe it’s just the promotional pictures, but either way, we’re pulled in and can’t wait for this thing to ship, whenever it ships. At this point, Razer isn’t letting out anything other than “soon.” But, one good thing we can take away from this, is that it won’t cost you your left arm to get this peripheral. Just $80 will get you more than prepared for your next year-long campaign in WoW. Are you ready?

[via Electronista]

The character profile site now features all sorts of stats including tabs that make it easier to keep track of your Achievements. In-game calendars are also included. Pretty much any detail you want to know about your characters or your friend’s characters can be found out here.

Apparently, you can even figure out how many times your character has hugged or waved at other characters, too. Who knows why you’d want to know that, but hey some people are stat happy, and if this appeases them, good for them!

According to Mike Morhaime, CEO of Blizzard, the company is already thinking about what the next expansions will bring to the World of Warcraft. There’s nothing official yet, as the company is still working hard to ensure Lich King is a success, but Morhaime did make one thing perfectly clear: they will continue to expand the game so long as people want to play it.

He also noted that Blizzard wanted to continue making “regular expansions.” However, it is not clear what “regular” means. While they would like to have yearly expansions, the gap between The Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King has almost been two years. They would like to decrease the space between expansions, but they will not do so if content is sacrificed.

So you can set hot keys when playing WoW on a standard keyboard, but it can be difficult to remember what you set the comma to do as opposed to the hyphen. To avoid this confusion, this keyboard has specific keys to make it easier for you. For instance, there are keys for Raiding, PvP, macros and more.

There are also color-coded keys for easy identification. You’re allowed up to 7 keystrokes at once. Yeah. That’s a lot, I know. But for those hardcore Warcrafters, this should be great news. Sounds pretty cool to me. And it’s designed to match up right with your Lich King expansion pack. You can get the keyboard now on Amazon for $69.99.

The original launch plan was to make it so everyone had to wait until midnight in their time zone to access the the expanded content, but a change in the plan occurred yesterday. Instead, users were allowed access at 9 p.m. PST to make for a single launch. Of course, some subscribers complained, but there will always be a few discontented individuals.

Apparently, one bug has already been detected that makes it so users on the European servers couldn’t access the Death Knight class, but Blizzard made a temp solution: first create a new character at level one, and then make a Death Knight. A real fix should be rolled out soon.

Now that the latest expansion pack for the game, Wrath of the Lich King, is drawing closer to its release on November 13, many have signed up for the beta phase. In fact, it was this beta testing that pushed the game over the 11 million mark. That’s a lot of people, folks.

This is pretty impressive, especially considering WoW is several years old now. Blizzard keeps breaking records all over the place, so we’ll just have to wait and see how they do with the Lich King expansion.

And while the patch brought new things, like a harbor at Stormwind, new spells and abilities, Barber Shops, plus a lot of class-specific alterations, it also caused a few problems.

In fact, the server was down 24 hours during the patching process, however they came back online and popped back off over and over again. People’s character lists were messed up and there was a serious lag that caused many to take their complaints to General Chat. Things seem to be back to normal now, however, so I guess that means all is well in Azeroth.

[via CrunchGear]

According to a recent conference call with Blizzard co-founder and CEO Mike Morhaime, “we have said that it will be coming out this year,.” That nails it down to sometime in the next five months, however, he goes on to say that “I can tell you it’s not coming in the July to September quarter.”

So it looks as though we can expect to see Wrath of the Lich King on store shelves in Q4 this year. If I were a betting man, I’d say it’s more likely that they would get it out in October or November for the holiday season.

[via WoWinsider]

The email came in last night around 9pm EST, so if you haven’t checked your mail since then, you might want to do just that. I then was able to upgrade my current account, create a new temp account for the beta and then select one of my characters to copy over to the beta server.

Unfortunately last night was rather busy, so after the nearly 3 hours of waiting for the new client to download from Blizzard and install, I’ve had little time to do more than wander around briefly with my favorite mage. I’ll be covering the beta until it closes, so if you have any questions feel free to leave a comment below and I’ll do my best to answer it.

Hopefully you have a thing for lace accenting your bags with a bit of polka dot fabric lining the inside of the bag. The bag is made from blue corduroy material, which means it’s likely to be a bit more durable.

The seller has been playing WoW for a little over two years now and suggests that the bag be used for strategy guides, game cards and other random WoW stuff you may own. The bag is being sold for $180.

[via gearfuse]

Of course if you haven’t gotten that wonderful email (I haven’t either), don’t fret, as they’re going to keep sending them out until the beta ends. If you didn’t remember to sign up in the first place, registration will be open until the beta closes as well. You can register here.

There’s really no way to ensure that you’re going to have better odds of getting a key. You could have purchased a special WoW Dell XPS which gave you instant access to the beta. Everyone else is picked at random.

[via WoWinsider]

In case you missed the previous memo, you can now pony up 35G at level 30 to get yourself a mount. This does not change the requirements for subsequent mounts, but will definitely make those 10 levels between 30 and 40 go much quicker.

A few other big changes include contstruction of a new dock inside of Stormwind city in preparation for the Wrath of the Lich King expansion. You’ll also find a few new time management features such as an alarm and stop watch. Now maybe you won’t look up and realize you’re an hour late for work anymore.

The gaming community has a tendency to get a bad reputation, especially when it comes to the mainstream media. Thankfully, the LA Times has a story about a married couple playing WoW together and it’s actually positive.

The story is about Brad and Cynthia Murdock who are happily married and play WoW together. She actually started playing with him, so instead of grumbling she tried out the game.

The LA Times even managed to get an interview with Frank Pearce who avoided giving out the release date for WoTLK. Just stating “We typically try to avoid launch windows until we’re pretty sure we can achieve them.” Well, looks like a heart touching story about gamers in love won’t even get us the release date any sooner. You can check out the full story here, it’s nice to see a story like this reaching the LA Times.

[via wowinsider]

If you head over to the official WoW site and log into your account, you’ll find a handy link for the beta opt-in. If you’re feeling particularly lazy, you can just click here and it will take you to the right place.

We still have no word on when they will begin sending out beta keys, however, I would imagine that we’ll be hearing more in the coming weeks (if not sooner). We do know that the selection process will be totally random, so you’ve got just as much of a chance as anyone else.

[via WoWinsider]