Blizzard Entertainment today announced plans to launch a new type of tournament competition using the Arena system in World of Warcraft, its popular subscription-based massively multiplayer online role-playing game. The tournaments will take place on special realms that allow competitors to instantly create level-70 characters with epic equipment, placing the focus on tactics and execution rather than normal adventuring.

World of Warcraft's community continues to grow, recently hitting a new high of 10 million subscribers around the world. Interest in the award-winning massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) has remained high in all regions, with thousands of new and returning players signing up through the holiday season. World of Warcraft now hosts more than 2 million subscribers in Europe, more than 2.5 million in North America, and approximately 5.5 million in Asia. "It's very gratifying to see gamers around the world continuing to show such enthusiasm and support for World of Warcraft," said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. "We're always pleased to welcome new players to the game, and we're looking forward to sharing the next major content update with the entire community in the months ahead." Since debuting in North America on November 23, 2004, World of Warcraft has become the most popular MMORPG around the world. It was the bestselling PC game of 2005 and 2006 worldwide, and finished behind only World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade, the first expansion pack for the game, in 2007. In addition to being the bestselling PC game of 2007 in both North America and Europe, The Burning Crusade holds the record for fastest-selling PC game of all time, with nearly 2.4 million copies sold in its first 24 hours of availability and approximately 3.5 million in its first month.

Blizzard has issued a new World of Warcraft US/AUS patch, updating version 2.3.2 of the game to version 2.3.3. The 4.3MB update offers improved load times and more bug fixes. Click here to download it manually.

According to this press release, the France-based Vivendi has secured a $5.13 billion loan to help in part with its upcoming Vivendi Games merger deal with Activision to form Activision Blizzard. Part of the loan will also help Vivendi with another financial deal unrelated to the Activision merger.

The first BlizzCast episode is now online through Blizzard's website. In each episode favorite Blizzard developers and staff members will be inteviewed, giving you a glimpse of what it's like from their perspective to make the games you love. The first BlizzCast series, begins with Samwise Didier, Art Director and concept artist for many of the popular Blizzard icons, such as the Pandaren, Fel Orcs, Dark Templars, Zerglings, and many more. During the 21 minutes long interview you'll learn how he came up with the characters he did, as well as what it is like to work on both the Warcraft and StarCraft franchises. Check out the new BlizzCast page.

Blizard Entertainment has released new artwork and screenshots from the StarCraft 2 RTS game for your viewing pleasure. Blizzard also unveiled a "new" terrain unit, the Cucio Siege Tank. You can find more information about the armored vehicle here. I'll upload just a few screenshots in the news body, just to give you an idea, while the full list can be viewed on Blizzard's StarCraft 2 web page.

The upcoming World of Wacraft expansion (Wrath of the Lich King) will feature a large area dedicated to PvP (Player vs. Player) battles, Blizzard has revealed. A "cool part of Northrend is new big PvP zone. It's about the size of Westfall, and will be all-PvP - in no way, shape or form will we support PvE [Player vs Environment] players in it", the developer's Jeff Kaplan has told PC Zone. He continued, "It'll be optional, but it'll be completely non-instanced, have multiple objectives, siege weapons and destructible buildings". In the interview, Kaplan went on to promise that WoW adventurers will be pleasantly surprised when they first enter the new continent of Northrend. World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King is expected to launch this year, though Blizzard has yet to confirm when.

After lots of denial, it seems as though a Blizzard community representative has confirmed that the mega-developer is working on a new massively multiplayer online game. The revelation came quite unexpectedly in a World of Warcraft forum post (via Wired) questioning Blizzard job listings looking for character and environment artists for a "Next-Gen MMO" marked "Top Secret." After two pages of speculation from forum goers, including many writing it off as probably just another World of Warcraft expansion, Blizzard community rep Drysc gave this response: No, it is an unannounced Next-Gen MMO. And that doesn't mean an expansion for World of Warcraft either." As could be expected, things exploded after that. Blizzard remains tight-lipped, and to be fair whatever this project is probably won't see store shelves for years yet, so they have no reason to rush into talking about it.

Korean online games developer Gravity has opened a new US studio staffed by former World of Warcraft and Diablo developers from Blizzard North. The new team - L5 Games - will focus on creating online titles for the growing Western market, backed by the veteran Ragnarok Online developer. "We are happy to announce that former employees of Blizzard North have joined L5 Games as members of the Gravity family," commented Il-Young Ryu, CEO of Gravity. "We intend to develop online games targeting the North American market, one of the fastest growing online gaming markets, with the outstanding developers of L5 Games who have a successful track record and thorough understanding of the culture of the North American market," he added.

The recent merger of Activision Blizzard seems to have slowed down neither. While Blizzard announced yesterday that the only thing changing on their side of things was ownership, Activision announced that they're going to immediately begin (or continue) work on new games. Activision is proud to announce that they're hard at work on quite a few games, including "Guitar Hero IV, Call of Duty 5, James Bond, new Tony Hawk, new DreamWorks titles, new Marvel titles and (an) entry into racing with Bizarre." Thanks to the experts at Blizzard, we may see some great games coming from Activision in the future.

Blizzard Entertainment has posted a frequently asked questions document on its web site in which it sends out one clear message: It's business as usual. Many of the questions relate to whether or not the merger between Vivendi Games and Activision would impact the company or its games, and according to the FAQ even the company's brand will remain the same to consumers.

We do not anticipate any difference in Blizzard's operations as a result of the combination. Joining forces with Activision will create a stronger and more diversified company that we anticipate will benefit and strengthen both brands.

Additionally the document stated that no management or office changes are expected, and its game release schedule would remain unaffected.

Activision and Vivendi today announced that they have signed a definitive agreement to combine Vivendi Games, Vivendi's interactive entertainment business - which includes Blizzard Entertainment's World of Warcraft, the world's #1 multi-player online role-playing game franchise - with Activision, creating the world's largest pure-play online and console game publisher. The new company, Activision Blizzard, is expected to have approximately $3.8 billion in pro forma combined calendar 2007 revenues and the highest operating margins of any major third-party video game publisher. On closing of the transaction, Activision will be renamed Activision Blizzard and will continue to operate as a public company traded on NASDAQ under the ticker ATVI.

The Vice President of Blizzard, the esteemed creator of such popular games as World of Warcraft and Starcraft, recently divulged some information about Starcraft 2. The already famous sequel to Starcraft has already seen a multiplayer beta at BlizzCon, and has supposedly been in development since Summer 2003. The Vice President divulged in a forum post that Blizzard was putting plenty of focus on the development of Starcraft 2. Considering how long the game has been in development, as well as the amount of attention Starcraft 2 is receiving inside Blizzard, public betas and demos for Starcraft 2 may be "just around the bend".

The World of Warcraft Battle Chest, a complete collection of World of Warcraft and The Burning Crusade expansion, is now available at retailers throughout North America for $39.99. In addition to the two complete games on DVD, the World of Warcraft Battle Chest also includes two Battle Chest Guides from BradyGames to aid you (or a friend) in the quest to level 70. Get the World of Warcraft Battle Chest at the Blizzard Online Store or a retailer near you.

Blizzard has revealed details of the first Hero class in World of Warcraft, the Death Knight. They've emerged in an official chit chat with designers working on WOW's second expansion, Wrath of the Lich King, which will introduce the new class. The Death Knight is a tank hybrid created to offer an alternative to the Warrior when building a group. Blizzard felt this role was essential in almost every scenario, so an extra class here was needed. Specifically, Death Knights will focus more on attack than defence - but come equipped with taunting abilities so that they can maintain the attention of monsters trying to kill the rest of the group. Death Knights will also rely on a new rune system resource to power their attacks and spells, one separate to the existing mana, energy, and rage bars. But details on how exactly this will work are yet to be announced. World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King was announced at the Leipzig Games Convention earlier in the year. It will up the level cap to 80, add a new Northrend continent, introduce the Inscription profession, use siege warfare to tear down buildings, give you more character customisation options, plus oodles of new dungeons, quests and items. Head over to the official World of Warcraft Wrath of the Lich King site to find out more.

Blizzard has just released a brand new StarCraft II gameplay video demonstrating the resourcefulness and sheer grit of the Terran forces. The movie shows some of the Terrans' new and improved designs in action as they adapt to and counter their enemies' strengths and weaknesses.

Download the StarCraft II Terran Gameplay Demonstration video now.

The infamous South Park episode that satirized the Blizzard game World of Warcraft, titled "Make Love, Not Warcraft", recently won an Emmy at the 59th Creative Arts Emmy Awards ceremony. Executive Producers Matt Stone and Trey Parker, also writer and director on the episode, were honored, along with producers Frank C. Agnone II, Anne Garefino, and Kyle McCulloch, as well as Eric Stough, director of animation.

At the same ceremony, Justin Timberlake, Andy Samberg, and others were honored for their Saturday Night Live skit "D*ck in a box".

Blizzard's chief operating officers Paul Sams and Chris Metzen are planning on producing a WarCraft movie for 2009. They are discussing the upcoming film project with members of Legendary Pictures, the studio best known for 300, Batman Begins, and Superman Returns. The movie will be based on both the original WarCraft and World of WarCraft.

More information on the WarCraft movie can be found here on the IMDb website.

Blizzard's award-winning massively multiplayer online role-playing game World of Warcraft (WoW) has reached a new milestone, with a player base now totaling more than 9 million subscribers worldwide. Since debuting in North America on November 23, 2004, World of Warcraft has become the most popular MMORPG around the world. It was the bestselling PC game of 2005 and 2006 and has remained at or near the top of the weekly PC-game sales charts for much of 2007 as well. Blizzard's Burning Crusade expansion released to critical acclaim in several regions earlier this year and shattered PC-game sales records in North America and Europe, with nearly 2.4 million copies sold in its first 24 hours of release and approximately 3.5 million in its first month. World of Warcraft is available in seven different languages and, in addition to North America and Europe, is played in mainland China, Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, and the regions of Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau.

Everyone who's ever waited for a Blizzard game to be released knows just how long "when it's ready" is. StarCraft2 is no exception to this rule. Unfortunately for anyone waiting for StarCraft2, this game is not going to be "ready" for quite some time. MSNBC scored an interview with Rob Pardo, the VP of game design at Blizzard, which explains when we can see this game.

I can give you the old Blizzard mantra of: 'It'll ship when it's ready,'" said Pardo, "but it's something that historically, we've learned to keep release dates really close to the vest. I think all game developers are extremely optimistic, and we used to give optimistic dates and we'd disappoint our fans when we didn't hit them. So now, I think we've just gotten more gun shy. The only thing I can give you [that's] concrete is it's not going to be this year. Some people were hoping, because of how advanced the game looks, that we'd have it out by Christmas, but that's definitely not happening.

StarCraft2 started development in 2003, and full production started a year later. The team working on this game comprises of 40 people.

StarCraft2 will be available for PC and Mac "when it's done".

Almost ten years after the original, Blizzard officially confirmed today at the third Worldwide Invitational in Seoul, that a StarCraft sequel is in the works. Click here to watch the Starcraft 2 CGI announcement trailer, or here for the first ever posted in-game screenshots!

Visit the official Starcraft 2 website for more information.

StarCraft was by far the most popular game in Korea and the korean website thisisgame.com has some juicy information about the sequel. Apparently Blizzard will be announcing StarCraft 2 at the Blizzards World Wide Invitational which is held from May 19th to May 25th in Seoul. There will be developers of the game at the event and pictures of the 3D sequel will be shown. A new race has been added to the mix and the original units have gotten new upgrades. Teamliquid.net has a translation of the korean text here If you are able to read the language, follow the source link below for the original.

Blizzard is now offering a 10-day free trial of its Burning Crusade World of Warcraft Expansion. The downloadable trial let players try out new races and all the content in the expansion world, Outland. Players can keep most of the virtual loot after the trial ends. The trial is available through Blizzard's World of Warcraft website and players will need to have the original World of Warcraft game installed. After the free trial, players can continue playing the expansion by buying a retail box or by paying $40 online. More information on the Burning Crusade free trial is available here.

During the last week already Blizzard Entertainment and Vivendi Games filed against Michael Donnelly, creator of WoW Glider. WoW Glider is a so called Bot which acts for you and controls your character while you are away. Blizzard respectively Vivendi, who are known for banning thousands of players because of using such 3rd party software, accused Donelly of violating their rights associated with "World of Warcraft", of infringing copyrights owned by them, violating the DMCA and so on.
A fairly one-sided and biased presentation of what happened can be found at MarkeeDragon.

If you are interested in more forensic details you can read a few documents regarding the claims and counterclaims over here.