Like a burning crusade marching across the planet, World of Warcraft continues to expand with a population of 9.3 million subscribers. In late July, Blizzard announced that WoW reached the 9 million subscriber mark. All this player retention is fantastic for the game, but World of Warcraft is still an anomaly in the commercial MMORPG genre. If Lord of the Rings Online is in the number two spot like Turbine claims, they have yet to announce even hitting one million subscribers (they cover it smoothly by saying they have four million characters). Although, in all fairness, LotRO hasn't expanded into Asia yet -- that's where the real MMO money is.

Blizzard's parent company Vivendi continues to reap the financial rewards of WoW's success as their sales continue to rise. With such massive retention rates on an MMO, we can only imagine what happens when Wrath of the Lich King, the next expansion for WoW, releases sometime next year.

[Via Massively]

Whereas some console are only being predicted to have a downfall, the real estate market for Blizzard megaton World of Warcraft is down as players appear to be deserting the MMO. A concurrent player activity census compiled by a Warcraft Realms site admin reveals a steady decline in the US and European market since peaking in February 2007.

Before anyone starts championing these statistics as the end of WoW's reign, let's take a logical approach to the data. Player activity spiked in January 2007, when The Burning Crusade came out with inordinate publicity for the game. No doubt many gamers with little interest in MMO tried out the title then based on its hype and then slowly moved onto something else.

The census does not take into account other markets such as China, Korea and Japan.

Current activity is still higher than pre-Burning Crusade levels by a decent margin and, if the trend continues at a somewhat linear pace, we suspect World of Warcraft player activity won't be at those levels again for another six to eight months. Now, if the MMO continues to decline, or reaches a level where it might actually have sizable competition, then perhaps Blizzard should consider another expansion to keep the hype going.

[Via WoW Insider]

Released in Europe, Canada, and the United States on January 16, World of Warcraft expansion pack The Burning Crusade has topped the 3.5 million sales mark. That's one copy for every man, woman, and child in Casablanca and is half a million more than the population of Armenia. Over 2.4 million of those sales took place on release day alone. Nearly 8.5 million people in the world (and it's safe to assume the galaxy) are subscribed to the MMORPG, and it shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon.

Blizzard officials were unavailable for comment, but were spotted sunning on their private yachts, Speedos stuffed with cash.

With silly non-animation and infantile STD humor, With Your Mom dot Com takes the [adult swim] award for best game-related webcomic this week.

Second and third place were occupied by Tycho and Gabe, with PVP Online's Penny Arcade joke edging out over Penny Arcade itself. Thanks to everyone who voted this week and be sure to let us know of any gaming comics you stumble upon this week!

According to Blizzard, and based on reports from select distributors, 2.4 million copies of World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade were sold worldwide in the expansion set's first 24 hours at retail. With an estimated combined total of 2.3 million copies sold in North America and Europe, Burning Crusade has become the fastest-selling PC "game" (it's technically an expansion) ever in the two regions. Despite lines forming, overcrowding, and server instability, 1.7 million North American and European players managed to log in and upgrade to Burning Crusade status by the end of the first day (just hours before Gullerbone reached level 70).

The worldwide release, which also included Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia, followed by Australia and New Zealand, was not without its distribution blunders. Romania, home to more than 10,000 WoW account holders, was sent a mere 1,600 copies of the expansion (even though Blizzard supplied roughly 4 million copies worldwide). Still, the launch marks a great, albeit anticipated success for Blizzard, and will no doubt drive WoW's dominance for months to come.

Though it's intended to meet the needs of overworked graphic designers or computers users with physical constraints, the Ergopod seems like the ultimate tool for those World of Warcraft players who simply must reach level 70 in one sitting. In fact, there's no need for sitting at all. Lying down in bed with your equipment eerily hovering above you will do just fine.

The Ergopod (likely named for its ergonomic qualities and not its ability to logically present arguments) supports several other, less horizontal positions, but the effort required to make use of them just seems so daunting now.

[Via Boing Boing]

So, what are you up to this week? Chances are, you're too busy to read webcomics on account of that newfangled World of Warcraft thingamajig. So for everyone else, here are our picks for the best gaming webcomics this week, be sure to vote for your favorite!

	Accepting my new overlords
	It's a small World of Warcraft after all
	Gaussian blur
	Through the looking glass
	Lost metaphor
	Bull milk
	Jokes become stale ... really!
	A slight burning sensation
	Gaming scientific, episode 2
	Wario warning
Free polls from Pollhost.com

Sister site WoW Insider has been doing a stellar job this week with all the World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade news -- and there has been a lot to cover. With many addicts gamers returning to WoW following detox a sabbatical, servers have had stability and population issues. The problem is quite apparent given realm queues and Blizzard is implementing free server transfers for certain realms.

Server transfers normally cost $25, so when any company does something they'd typicaly charge you for free, well then you know they got an internal mess to fix. For the servers having free transfers (list after the break), if enough of the population does not transfer the Hand of Kaplan will come down and swiftly split the overpopulated realms. So fellow WoW junkies, if you don't emigrate off the server and take one for the team, they may make you do it anyway. Speaking of WoW junkies, notice how members of the Joystiq staff never even wrote their pieces about the midnight launch -- from four days ago!? Hopefully we'll fix that by this weekend ... after we get some sleep -- if we get some sleep.

Just 28 hours after the release of The Burning Crusade, World of Warcraft player Gullerbone snared the touted level 70, the game's new ceiling. But how did Gullerbone do it? An unlimited supply of Chex Mix? Non-stop jungle music? Caffeine injections? We just don't know.

But investigators have discovered a three-minute video showing the process of monster killing and leveling up, today's most-watched YouTube game video. Alas, the investigators couldn't find the 28 hours of time to give back to the player.

See the video after the break.

Well, that wasn't much of a race. After being on store shelves for little more than a day, World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade has gained its first level 70 in French player, Gullerbone.

Clocking in at 28 hours, Gullerbone's journey from the lowly plain of mortals known as level 60 to the god-esque status of 70 seems almost disappointing for a task estimated to take most players a few months at the very least. Somewhere, in the halls of Blizzard, someone has slapped their forehead.

For the curious, Gullerbone goes deeper into the method of his leveling madness in an interview with World of Raids. While his act of gaming fortitude is commendable, we're just glad that no babies died in the process this time.

Gullerbone can now look forward to sitting on his hands, waiting for the rest of the folks on his server to catch up so that he can actually do something worth his level. Congratulations!

Unless you were lucky enough to have snagged an early copy off of the shelves at a Wal-Mart, then you probably haven't seen the insides of a World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade - Collector's Edition yet. If you don't want to wait until midnight tonight, then here's your chance for a sneak peek.

Unfortunately, this Collector's Edition appears to be sold out everywhere, including the Blizzard store. We're hoping to find a copy somewhere tonight, although it sounds like we'd have a better chance surviving as an icecube in the Molten Core. You can still snag a copy on Amazon ... to the tune of $200 and up. Hardly surprising, since folks are selling the original WoW collector's edition for over $500. Is an exclusive pet worth that much, we ask you?

The highly anticipated expansion for WoW will be selling in stores at the stroke of midnight tonight. In fact, they're having midnight launches for it, and Joystiq will be braving the cold and freezing our butts off to bring you some coverage.

Our pals at WoW Insider have obtained a page from Walmart's Release Playbook concerning World of Warcraft's new expansion, The Burning Crusade. Though the page itself is somewhat dated ("December 27is so last year, Joystiq"), the information reveals a sign of confidence in Blizzard as a major source of revenue for the big box retailer.

The Playbook page cites figures from an unspecified source that 90% of current WoW players intend on purchasing the expansion, with 75% purchasing within the initial 10 days. The document also notes that, of the then-7.5 million players of the MMO, 450,000 of them purchased their copy from Wal-Mart. Assuming they can keep up with the supply (eBay bidders seem to think otherwise), repeat customers tally approximately 303,750 in sales for the first 10 days, with 405,000 total expected. More generally, Wal-Mart expects The Burning Crusade to sell 5 million in the first 10 days and at least 6.75 million in its lifetime. Holy Market Value, Batman!

To this end, the Wal-Mart playbook page outlines that 2,008 stores have been selected, based on sales data of the original WoW, to receive at least one half-pallet containing 60 copies of The Burning Crusade. Those packages were noted to arrive January 8 in stores and amount to at least 120,480 in expected first-day sales. Wal-Mart has told its stores to release the product to the masses at 12:01 a.m. January 16, so if you have a pre-sell card (or just hope to be lucky), then you better expect a midnight-sale camp-out of console release proportions.

[Thanks, Nelson]

SOE and Sigil have upturned some eyebrows today with the announcement that their MMORPG Vanguard: Saga of Heroes will be released on January 30; just two weeks after Blizzard drops the World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade expansion. While it seems like poor timing for any new MMO franchise to enter the market, there's also pervading doubt that Vanguard has been thoroughly beta tested.

SOE has already become (somewhat) infamous for a string of ill-received alterations to its big brands, notably EverQuest and Star Wars Galaxies. If Vanguard is indeed rushed, such a careless release would only deal further damage to the studio's image.

Those eagerly awaiting the upcoming expansion pack to Blizzard's all-consuming vortex of addiction, World of Warcraft, should take note of special midnight signings happening on January 16th. Four stores in California will host members of the development team who will be happily signing copies of Burning Crusade and asking intense cosplayers to back the hell off.

Though three of the four stores have 4,500 copies available (the last one having 1,500), you can already start lining up on January 15th. If you don't live in California and absolutely require your copy of the game to have some scibbling on it, convince a friend to go in your stead -- thinly-veiled threats work a charm.

The stores and relevant addresses are listed after the break.

[Thanks Taran!]

With less than a week to go before its Jan. 16 release, pre-orders for the limited edition collector's edition of World of Warcraft's Burning Crusade expansion are fetching prices as high as $400 on auction sites like eBay. While careful eBay buyers can get the game for as low as $110, ending prices on the site averaged just over $200, or just under three times the $69.99 retail price. For those who want to forgo the auction route, there's always the Amazon.com resellers, starting at $250.

The collector's edition includes lots of extra goodies, including an exclusive mount pet [update: couldn't keep my world of Warcraft creatures straight], making it a highly sought after prestige piece for many of World of Warcraft's 7.5 million subscribers. Blizzard has said the collectors edition will not be reprinted after the initial allotment, which has been sold out in pre-order for months.

The original World of Warcraft Collector's Edition still fetches auction prices hovering around $300 on eBay over two years after its extremely limited release. Will the Burning Crusade frenzy similarly endure, or will we see a console-style bottoming out of the auction market once the game is actually in stores?