The first time I saw the image above, I thought someone at Blizzard had been watching too much Kung Fu Panda, and I still think that. The picture here is blatant leaner, meaner version of Po. If you are a big fan of the game, Blizzard promises that Mists isn’t the last expansion pack for the aging franchise.

In fact, Blizzard COO Paul Sams says that the fifth expansion pack to come sometime after Mists is already in the development stages. Rest assured as long as World of Warcraft is raking in the money, Blizzard will continue to make more expansion packs.

[via VR-Zone]

In case you’re not familiar with 72pins, the group sells functional NES cartridges, but instead of the original cover the cartridges have NES-style cover art featuring modern video games, such as the Blizzard games you see here – StarCraft, Diablo and of course the all-conquering World of Warcraft.

Enter the Konami Code and spawn at 72pins’ store to order the Blizzard Series three-pack for $42(USD). You can also order the NES cartridges separately for $16 each, except for the StarCraft cartridge because it’s already sold out. Again, each cartridge contains a random working NES game inside, so if your recipient still has a working NES you’re basically giving them a 6-in-3 set.

[via it8bit]

Finally, you can take on the mantle of Ben Schulz’ infamous avatar. If only this had come out last Halloween.

You can get the Hello My Name Is Leeroy Jenkins T-shirt at ThinkGeek for only $16 to $18 (USD). That’s a low low price for a very funny meme.

The mouse has a special version branded to go with World of Warcraft: Cataclysm. The MMO centric mouse has 14 buttons and has backlighting that can create 16-millon colors and the thing has four pulsation levels for the backlighting.

The programmable buttons can be used to bind macros and the mouse has adjustable sensitivity ranging from 90 to 5040 dpi. It will work with PC and Mac computers and will launch in December for $99.99(USD) alongside the game.

At this point most of us would say, “Wow. The Maelstrom sure is epic, it’s cool that Blizzard thought of including that in the expansion”. However, one smartass in the beta forums of World Of Warcraft actually complained that the Maelstrom was not epic enough. If you’re a WoW player, you better thank that smartass, because Blizzard responded with an epic sandwich. Players who visit the Maelstrom will be treated to this apparition:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Yes, it’s an Undead playing guitar on top of a T-rex that’s on top of a rocket-propelled, laser-shooting flying shark. Note how the dwarf orc couldn’t take the epicness so he threw himself into the Maelstrom. That’s Cataclysm for you folks.

[via Videosift & WoWWiki]

Next he had to save himself. There’s an ability for that – the Hunter skill Feign Death. Hans lay still on the ground. The moose, exhibiting typical low-level monster behavior, left the boy alone and wandered off. Then Hans transformed into a Death Knight and returned home wearing moose antler headgear. Nah. After the animal left he immediately went home to brag about his accomplishment, which is brag-worthy indeed. You are a noble warrior with a manly name, Hans Jørgen Olsen! Enjoy your Internet fame.

*Edit: as commenter Steam pointed out, this awesome event took place on November 20, 2007, about about three years ago, ruining my joke about Hans transforming into a Death Knight. My apologies for not looking that up when I posted this.*

[via NextNature via Topless Robot]

Nowhere else does the presence of the phrase “All rights reserved” become funny; and yet there it is at the bottom of WoL’s website. Just about the only original thing about this game is the ugly art and the new words and meme-worthy phrases produced by typos.

As far as I can tell, the game is not an MMO; it outright rips off the Alliance and Horde, and even Arthas’ mug, but I think it plays like an RTS, with Heroes of Might and Magic-style battles. I think. There’s no relevant information regarding the gameplay. What is on the website is the most pathetic game trailer I have ever seen, narrated by someone who sounds like an adolescent Alan Rickman.

I wouldn’t be surprised if GSprite soon finds itself in a World of Lawsuits. Until then, fellow Lords, NEVER SURRENDER YOU FREEEDOM!!!

[via Rock Paper Shotgun]

Judging from the info from Lia at Forever Geek, the trojan only affects Windows users. Lia advises WoW players on Windows to look for a file named emcor.dll which will “probably” be found at C:\Users\(Your user name)\AppData\Temp. Of course there’s a good chance that you won’t be able to search for the culprit manually, so your best bet is to use a good anti-virus program. Have any of you experienced this problem?

[via Forever Geek]

D.Bluemoon isn’t a fan of WoW herself, so her boyfriend was the one who chose the words and terms.

If I had one of those onesies when I was a kid mine would have said “Lil’ K.T.”

[via Geek Crafts]

Each adorable widdle monster will come with a special code that will unlock its virtual, non-combat, account-bound equivalent. No word on the price or exact date of release yet, but they will be sold exclusively at Blizzard’s online store.

If Blizzard starts selling level 80 character stuff toys or action figures or whatever with codes for their in-game equivalent, I bet a lot of lazy gamers will snap that up. Maybe they should also start selling plush gold coins with codes for their in-game amount. Take that, gold farmers!

[via Destructoid]

In any case the World of Warcraft epic cooking apron is the perfect gift for skillful cooks who are also WoW fans (wonder how large the intersection is in that Venn diagram?). Mama from Cooking Mama should also have one. And all the Iron Chefs should have at least three each.

Go buy a WoW Epic Cooking Apron for Rokusaburo Michiba! It’s only $22 (USD) at CafePress. Or you could try and hunt Chairman Kaga; maybe the epic apron is one of his drops.

[via Forever Geek]

Thanks to some sketchy automatic translations, I think this is a retail case that runs for $299. Or it could really say that Orcs are actually made of butter. It’s a toss-up.

I don’t have to be able to translate any foreign languages to know that this is a pretty good-looking case, though. I can make that determination on my own, thank you very much.

Canada-based Ateliers-Nemesis are selling this massive 51″ Frostmourne replica on eBay with a starting bid of $510 (USD). As I said, the sword’s blade is made of foam that’s been covered in latex. The guard and pommel are made of cast rubber, while the grip is made of hard wood covered in leather. The sword has also been hand-painted with phosphorescent paint that allows it to glow “for more than 9  hours.” There are already 23 bidders for the sword as I’m writing this, and the auction ends today. But even if you don’t score Frostmourne, Ateliers-Nemesis still have a toy armory full of badass toy weapons, so check out their website if you’re interested.

I think my base damage is -981231, so not even a hundred Frostmournes can make me a worthy warrior.

[via gameSniped]

TweetCraft is an in-game Twitter client that meshes perfectly with the regular WoW interface, so the only thing that stands out from the rest of your game windows is Xeni Jardin.

And for those times when you absolutely, positively have got to let everyone know you’re logging in, TweetCraft will even autotweet it for you. So much for playing on the sly.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

[TweetCraft via The Escapist]

Pretty sweet, right? But hold up there, little paladin–these steins come at a premium. The cheapest single stein is $89.99. They’re pretty hefty, though, at 10″-plus and three pounds apiece.

They may be expensive, but for the dedicated World of Warcraft fan, one of these may be too fascinating to pass up.Especially if you happen to like filling and draining a stein in a repetitive cycle, but which I mean drinking heavily. Because, after all, it’s hardly possible to drink lightly in a three-pound glass.

[WoW Steins via Slippery Brick]

Inside, the eatery is a love song to Blizzard’s MMORPG, with recreations of armor and other loot, and giant screens blasting in-game images while diners order food named after WoW characters. It’s a haven for anyone who can’t get enough (if, that is, you can leave the house to get there), and according to the owner, that feeling of shared fandom is exactly what he was going for with the restaurant.

Considering China’s official position on intellectual property, it’s doubtful the establishment has any sort of sanction. We should probably all be grateful the restaurants won’t be spreading all over the world.

[CCTV via WoWInsider via Game|Life]

This couple took this project very seriously. The Mr. lovingly designed individual placecards for 77 guests, assigning each person his or her own specially chosen avatar. The Mrs. came up with themes and appropriately assigned each guest to the appropriate game table.

Each table included characters from one game, with retro games like Pac-Man and Zelda represented, as well as newer faves like Guitar Hero and World of Warcraft.

I know people stress about their weddings, but I can’t believe the incredible amount of effort and artistry that went into this! You can see all of the pictures and get the details here.

[via GeekSugar]

A couple of guys from DFKI (the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence) took a Balance Board and connected it to a regular old laptop PC. A custom C# application communicates with the controller via Bluetooth, translating simple leaning movements on the board into 3D moves on the computer. By leaning forwards, back, left and right on the Balance Board, the player can move through a typical first-person view game with ease.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

While this demo shows off some basic movements within Google Earth and WOW3, I’d venture to say that it could be easily modified to control any first-person 3D game. Imagine playing a FPS in which you hold onto a gun controller with your hands, and move around the environment by leaning. Even better yet, how about an FPS which supported ducking and dodging bullets on the Balance Board? Now that would be really cool. Only time will tell what other applications end up taking advantage of the board’s unique sensory abilities, but I’d lay odds that Wii Fit is only the tip of the iceberg.

[Balance Board Blog via Hack-a-Day]