The virtual lands of World of Warcraft have played host to a number of strange sights these past few days -- and we're not just talking about the Halloween festivities which have turned once proud heroes into foam-mouthed candy addicts. No, we're talking about the new "Race Change" feature, which has basically turned the game's sociological landscape into the ending of the music video for Michael Jackson's "Black or White." Only ... with, like, Trolls and Orcs and stuff.

For a cool $25, players can change the race (provided that race is in the same faction -- changing that costs extra!), gender, appearance and name of their character. We realize there's a number of people who wouldn't mind freshening up their old avatar, but why not just start a new character for free? Seriously, you haven't sunk that much time into your current level 80 Rogue, have you? Oh, you have? 2,800 hours, you say? That's ... that's actually really depressing. We're depressed by that.

Ken Levine plays video games. Shocking, we know! Speaking with IndustryGamers, Levine, who is currently working on a super-secret project, listed his ten favorite games. Occupying the top five spots in descending order are: World of Warcraft, Civilization, Beyond Good & Evil, Ultima Underworld and Company of Heroes.

Back in 2007, Levine produced a similar list for MSNBC. His top five have apparently shifted in the last two years, though, as Heroes of Might and Magic 2 and Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past have fallen even beyond the BioShock developer's top ten. How hast these games forsaken thee, Ken? What hast they done for thou to banish them from thy heart likest so?

After discussing his vision for Fable's future, Lionhead's Peter Molyneux recently reiterated his mantra of inclusive gaming innovation to attendees of BAFTA's Annual Video Games Lecture. Citing their ability to challenge "the foundation stones of conventional wisdom," he revealed five titles (documented by That VideoGame Blog) that he considers to be among the most revolutionary within the last two decades.

Molyneux praised Tomb Raider for subverting gaming's tough-guy protagonist and named Mario 64 as the genuine precursor to 3D titles like Grand Theft Auto 3. Dune 2 got a nod for its encouragement of more thoughtful tactics, while Bungie's first Halo earned mention for halfway introducing the now-ubiquitous regenerative health system and curtailed weapon swapping.

And the fifth title? World of Warcraft, which managed to lure Molyneux to level 40 with promise of a steed. You see? He's human, just like the rest of us.

It's that magical time of year in Azeroth -- pumpkins adorn the inns, players are chowing down on candy like crazy, and a deep rhyming voice echoes throughout the world, originating from somewhere in the Scarlet Monastery. Yes, it's the in-game Hallow's End holiday again, and the Headless Horseman is terrorizing newbies and veterans alike. Head past the break for all the information you need about trick-or-treating your way through Azeroth.

A quick note for the World of Warcraft fans out there: Starting on November 11 (Nov. 12 in Europe, apparently), all WoW players will be required to log into the game using a Battle.net account -- presumably to pave the way for the upcoming new features. Our friends at WoW.com have put together some handy resources to make the change as painless as possible. They've also compiled a quick list of solutions for players that are still resistant to the idea. For those that have yet to merge their current WoW account with Battle.net, now's the time to get it done. After all, no one wants to be deprived of even a second of sweet, sweet Azeroth.

Besides, players that merge their accounts get a free penguin pet named Oswald. You can't beat that!

News

• Brewfest 2009: Coren Direbrew's new level 80 loot revealed
  Same boss for the Brewfest ingame holiday, but there is some new loot.
• Blizzard is tracking 180,000 bugs in WoW
  That includes fixed bugs, but still -- that's a lot of edited code.
• WoW.com's guide to Patch 3.2.2
  A brand new patch in the game, with some special anniversary fun included.
• High-rated PvPers do the robot
  A little bit of sneakiness on the part of PvPers.
• Tips for taking down Coren Direbrew
  Want to bring down the Brewfest boss? We've got you covered.

Features

• The Overachiever: Guide to Brewfest 2009 achievements
  Get all the points you can during the holiday celebration.
• Insider Trader: Patch 3.2.2 madness
  How to make some money in the newest patch.
• Raid Rx: 14 Patch 3.2 trinkets to check out
  Get some of the best raid healing trinkets around.
• Ask a Faction Leader: Garrosh Hellscream
  Everyone's least favorite Horde fanatic answers our readers' questions.
• AGDC09: Blizzard talks about the world behind Warcraft
  Interesting info from Blizzard's presentation at this years Austin Game Developers' Conference.

If you're wondering what the internal goings-on at Blizzard consist of, grab yourself something to eat and kick back. We've got the entire hour-long keynote speech at the Austin Game Developer's Conference down below. Blizzard's J. Allen Brack and Frank Pearce were on-hand to walk a slightly hungover crowd through the way they make things work and how their teams are organized.

Click below for the full audio, or for those of you on the go, download it here.

At this morning's Austin Game Developer's Conference keynote, J. Allen Brack and Frank Pearce of Blizzard took the stage to talk about the inner workings of Blizzard. Most of what they covered was stats and trvia. Did you know the Blizzard bug team is currently tracking over 179,484 bugs? Now you do. There are 7,650 quests in WoW since Wrath of the Lich King! Consider yourself informed.

Some of the trivia was actually pretty interesting, like the fact that when Blizzard releases a patch, almost half of that data is audio. Pearce also mentioned that BlizzCon is operated "at a substantial loss for Blizzard," but the value is that it's a huge marketing/PR opportunity for them. Considering how many tickets they sell (in only eight minutes), that's around $3.5 million that's written off. Plus whatever Blizzard spends above and beyond that. No wonder Blizzard employees have to buy their own tickets.

However, the most interesting part of the keynote was when they briefly spoke about Nomad, the canceled squad-based sci-fi game. Ten years ago, Blizzard put a lot of work in on the game, but eventually looked at it and said "Is this really the game we want to be working on right now? The answer ended up being "no," and the team went on to start work on World of Warcraft. Here we are ten years later with WoW going strong, and no Nomad in sight.

They'd mentioned this canceled game, along with a slew of others, at last year's DICE summit, but without any other information. Sadly, the only thing they had to show were pieces of concept art, including some by "The Bourbon Cowboy," Chris Metzen. The art itself isn't that exciting (the best one is above and there's a couple more in the gallery below), but the words "squad-based sci-fi RPG" are exciting. Could this be Blizzard's next game? Possibly mutated into MMO form? Who knows when we'll find out, since one of the stats they flashed onscreen this morning was "Number of Unannounced MMOs: 1."

Just when you think this kind of thing can only happen in the Netherlands, along comes ReSTART, a Washington state-based rehab center that offers a 45-day course of treatment crafted to help you kick your internet or World of Warcraft addiction. Oh, and it's all offered at the bargain price of $14,000!

"We've been doing this for years on an outpatient basis," Hilarie Cash, the center's director, told the AP. "Up until now, we had no place to send them."

Of course, if you want to kick your WoW addiction for just a little bit less cash, the serious professionals of the Joystiq Internet Rehabilitation Clinic Staffed By Serious Professionals have some fine replacement therapies to recommend.

We know, we know -- 2010 is an entire year, and doesn't provide much information as to when we'll be perusing the ruined landscape of Azeroth when World of Warcraft's next expansion, Cataclysm, is released. Still, we'd be remiss if we didn't mention the only piece of information yet to surface about the release schedule of the recently announced expansion, via a WoW.com interview with Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime. Thus, here it is: It's targeted for a 2010 release.

Here's the two observations we can cull from that ambiguous launch announcement -- first, it's not coming out this year. Second, it's not coming out in two years. It's coming out somewhere between January 1 and December 31 of next year, it seems. That is, unless it takes Blizzard longer to develop than Morhaime initially thought, in which case, we'll hastily revoke our second observation.

Update: This contest is now closed, dearest readers. Winners will be contact via email within the next 48 hours (or thereabouts), so check those inboxes. We'll see you again next week!

With BlizzCon wrapping up today as well as GamesCom, it's a heavy news weekend here on the Stiq. Thusly, we're bringing you this week's Swag Saturday a bit late in the day, but we're throwing in a real gem to make up for it. We have one copy of Capcom's critically acclaimed Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure for the Nintendo Wii.

In honor of Blizzard's annual soiree, we want your best ideas for a new MMO for the WoW developer to create. There is but one stipulation: the game must be made for the Nintendo Wii. Putting aside Wii's online concerns and the relative inability to communicate, how does the game work with the console? How does Blizzard make its next MMO for the Nintendo Wii? Good luck!

• Leave a comment telling us your best ideas for a new MMO made by Blizzard for the Nintendo Wii.
  
• You must be 18 years or older and a resident of the US or Canada, excluding Quebec.(Nous sommes désolés, Québecois!)
  
• Limit 1 entry per person.
• This entry period ends at 3:31 pm ET on Sunday, August 23. We'll randomly select one at that time to receive: one copy of Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure (ARV $70).
• For a list of complete rules, click here

The news coming from BlizzCon has been fast and furious -- and we can hardly blame you if you haven't been able to keep up with the announcements coming from Anaheim so far.

• WORLD OF WARCRAFT: A little expansion by the name of Cataclysm was officially announced, with a world of pain now on its way to classic Azeroth and two new races. So what's new in Azeroth? Two new races, Goblins and Worgen (Horde and Alliance respectively), the reordering and rezoning of much of Azeroth, an array of new race/class possibilities, a brand-new secondary skill, and some shake-ups in class mechanics and character/guild advancement.
• DIABLO 3: Meet the Monk, the game's latest class and -- so the trailer suggests -- a kick-ass martial artist. Also, surprise surprise, the game may still be coming to a console near you.
• BATTLE.NET: Battle.net will gain new features in the expansion, including an Xbox-Livesque ability to see what your friends are playing and which servers they're on, in addition to sending messages to them.
  
• PICTURES: Here's a map of the reordered post-Cataclysm Azeroth, a gallery of the art display at BlizzCon (containing some Cataclysm art, employee-decorated noobz, and StarCraft and Diablo universe pieces), a dedicated gallery for Cataclysm concept art, and a gallery of the costumes at BlizzCon.
  
• VIDEOS: We have video for you of the Cataclysm trailer, what Azeroth zones will look like post-Cataclysm, and the animation for Human-to-Worgen transformation.
• THE GUILD: The entire cast showed up and brought the funny at their live panel and at our reader meet-up. Gallery here!

So, you already know everything you need to know about this World of Warcraft: Cataclysm trailer. It introduces the newly ruined realm of Azeroth, two new playable races, new race / class combinations and new monsters. The level cap is higher, there are more skills to learn and more dungeons to explore. Basically, it's got all that wonderful stuff you want to see in an expansion.

All that you have to do now is watch.