On a Thursday night after all the E3 shenanigans (and during our party, no less), we have word that Blizzard has begun the Wrath of the Lich King beta. Sources have told WoW Insider that the alpha phase reportedly shut down a few days ago and that invites should be going out soon for the beta. Additionally, a Blizzard site has gone live to help gamers get the beta set up. Are you one of the lucky few to get an invite? You can check out the patch notes here.

Blizzard has unveiled an achievement system -- much like Steam, Xbox Live, Trophies, etc. -- for World of Warcraft. The categories of achievements include PvP, PvE, world exploration, professions, and character development. Some are simple (give 10 hugs), some are very difficult (completing high-level raids). Additionally, there are "Feats of Strength," very difficult or now-impossible achievements that don't show up if unearned. The Feats are worth no points. No word on if the achievement points are worth anything.

[Via WoW Insider]

Blizzard has opened US registration for the Wrath of the Lich King beta. American World of Warcraft players should probably head over to this page now and register for a chance to opt in. Two helpful reminders:

1. Registering for the beta does not guarantee you a chance to play. It just adds your name to a pool of potential players that Blizzard will choose from.
   
2. Beware of e-mail scams. This is the official URL: https://www.worldofwarcraft.com/account/beta-opt-in.html

Whether or not you get into the beta, be sure to check out WoW Insider for up-to-date coverage.
[Via WoW Insider]

The MMO-obsessed at WoW Insider managed to get some hands-on time with Wrath of the Lich King's Death Knight class while at this weekend's Blizzard Worldwide Invitational. Take a look for impressions and information on the gameplay, skills and talents of this soon-to-be overused class.

• General gameplay impressions
• Blood spells and talents
• Unholy spells and talents
• Frost spells and talents

Don't forget to check out all of Worldwide Invitational coverage, from World of Warcraft to Starcraft 2 and Diablo 3.

For the World of Warcraft fans who might've missed some coverage today, here are some of the highlights, care of WoW Insider:

• Check out these awesome goodie bags
• A look at Lake Wintergrasp, a non-instanced Battleground, as well as new arena maps from the PvP panel
  
• From the Dungeons and Raids panel, we learned about the return of nonlinear dungeons in Wrath of the Lich King.
• A video recap of the first day of WWI, with some good footage of the costume and dance contest (start at 1:45 for that)
  
• Did we mention awesome goodie bags?

You can't escape World of Warcraft at Blizzard's Worldwide Invitational. Between class-specific panels and the giant WoW dev panel. Here's a look into the future of each of the classes, including a ton of information on the upcoming Death Knight class:

• Death Knight
• Druid
• Hunter
• Mage
• Paladin
• Priest
• Rogue
• Shaman
• Warlock
• Warrior

The Murloc costume above only placed second in Blizzard's Worldwide Invitational 2008 costume contest. Interested to see what came in first? Check out WoW Insider's gallery of the costume (and dance!) contest, complete with their own colorful commentary.
When you get through with that, be sure to check out their major gallery of the WWI event, including some hawt ogre-on-ogre action.

An added security feature for those worried about account theft, Blizzard is introducing an Authenticator at this weekend's Worldwide Invitational (WWI) in Paris. The Authenticator is a piece of hardware (we're guessing USB-related) has a button you press whenever you start World of Warcraft that must be inputted to log in.

The purpose of the dongle is to prevent keyloggers and other instances of account theft. We doubt it's the big suprise, but it's certainly good news for those worried about security. More information can be found via the FAQ.

Serving as the CEO for a high-profile game publisher means having responsibilities beyond just attending the occasional meeting or PR function. Many gaming industry executives also find themselves moonlighting as Flavor Flav-esque hype men (and women) for their company's blockbuster releases. Then again, some leaders take a different approaching to promoting their big titles, replacing boisterous claims with cautious, realistic optimism. Then there's a third group of leaders, who etch their upcoming games into their flesh.

Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello fits neatly into group number two, as his comments to a group of investors concerning EA Mythic's upcoming Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning demonstrates. Riccitiello plainly stated that "Warhammer Online [will be] a strong entry in the MMORPG space," but will not "rival WoW." We appreciate Riccitiello's candor, but with Warhammer out of the running, we're beginning to wonder what it will take for a title to knock Blizzard's billion-dollar baby from its position atop the crest of the MMO dogpile.

The latest World of Warcraft patch (2.4.3) has made it to the public test realm (PTR) and our friends at WoW Insider have already traveled far and wide in this strange, but oddly familiar territory. Check out their guided, visual tour of the new features in the update.

Blizzard has released the patch notes for World of Warcraft's upcoming patch 2.4.3. Our friends at WoW Insider are sifting through the notes right now, which you can find here, and pulling out the highlights. Key changes include mounts at level 30 (as opposed to 40), nerfing the Magister's Terrace instance and various changes to to non-combat pets and Hunter pets.

Patch 2.4.3 should be available soon on a public test realm (PTR), likely today or tomorrow. No word on when the patch will be pushed to the live servers.

Additionally, for those who like their WoW on and off the grid, Upper Deck has announced the three new loot items for their trading card game expansion The Hunt for Illidan, including in-game disco lights, glowing foot prints, and an Etheral Soul-Trader pet. The associated cards will contain a code you can input for the virtual equivalent. The TCG expansion launches July 1.

The starting zones in World of Warcraft are incredibly bleak and terrifying locales. Spend five minutes in one of these wastelands, and you're bound to see some half-naked adventurers begging for "teh g0ldenz", or people ruthlessly butchering all manner of local wildlife in search of some nice pants. At the very least, you'll see an uncoordinated young player, desperately a-jigglin' about as he tries to understand the game's controls.

However, perhaps there's something more to this clumsy rookie than an unfamiliarity with the WASD keys -- perhaps he's one half of an eccentric pair of German researchers who have grown fascinated with Nintendo's latest peripheral, the Balance Board. Perhaps he's demonstrating for a rapt YouTube audience how the board can be used to tool around Azeroth with the grace of an overweight alpaca, and would serve little use in the game's "high stress" situations.

Then again, perhaps he's just fantastically drunk.

Can a game spin off into a successful TV series?

Many of us still remember waking up early on Saturday mornings to catch the latest episode of "Captain N: The Game Master" or rushing home after school to watch "The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!" (or if we were lucky enough to be watching on a Friday, "The Legend of Zelda"). While these shows weren't exactly something to write home about, it was certainly exciting to see some of our favorite Nintendo characters come alive in the form of a cartoon. In the last few years the wildly popular Pokemon games have spawned a long-lasting TV show and more recently, a Viva Piñata TV series was launched side-by-side with the game, in what was a moderately successful cross-marketing strategy (the kid's show is still running today and the game posted slow but steady sales, developing somewhat of a cult following). Clearly, there's some precedence for games to become the basis for a TV series, but these have all lacked one basic element that all the games required: interactivity.

So it is with some interest that the LA Times reports that Sci-Fi channel is teaming up with Trion World Network to create (simultaneously!) an MMO and a TV show based on it. Sci-Fi channel president Dave Howe says that it's the "Holy Grail". A subscription-based MMO and a successful television series that are able to successfully leverage each other could certainly be a potential windfall. However, while the details are somewhat scarce at the moment, from what I can glean, there are some major hurdles that this joint venture will need to overcome.

Warning: if you don't play World of Warcraft you might want to cover your ears. What you're about to hear will not make any sense, and will likely confuse and enrage you. If you do play WoW, then you might be very pleased to hear that Arena Season 4 is starting earlier than expected, reportedly kicking off June 24.

As always, Arena ratings will reset at the start of the new season, with Season 3 top teams and players earning their requisite titles, and top players receiving the coveted Armored Nether Drakes. Season 1 items will be gone for good, with Season 2 items being purchasable with Honor, and Season 3 gear receiving a drop in cost and rating requirements. These changes haven't gone into effect just yet, so WOW Insider recommends buying Season 1 gear now if you really really want it.

Okay. That's all the zany Warcraft techno-babble we have for now. You can uncover your ears, non-WoWers -- not that it did any good considering this is all text.

[Via WOW Insider]