Yes folks, the QJ Giveaway spree is well underway! SOE gave us a ton of beta keys so that people can try out their upcoming Free Realms MMORPG, and already, we've been able to roll out the first batch of keys to our lucky QJ.NET readers - congrats guys, you know who you are! More beta keys strung up on our belts and chains, meaning everyone's still more than welcome to join in on the fun! We've even included a full 10-minute dev walkthrough of the game in the full article, just to get you guys started. Have fun!

Blizzard's J. Allen Brack and Tom Chilton are reiterating that World of Warcraft will not be heading for consoles. As if echoing Hideo Kojima's words yesterday about a 360 port of MGS4 being impossible, Brack and Chilton say that WoW was just basically not intended for the PS3 nor 360 to begin with. In Chilton's words, "it's a square peg round hole thing."

This year's Games Convention at Leipzig was a sure fire success. And though some of you might not think that the same could be said about E3, GC 2009 has already been scheduled. Via press release, we find out that this year's event has set records above and beyond what GC 2007 had, and reception from the masses has definitely shown a good sign that the video games industry is booming more than it used to.

Feeling lucky? The opt-in lottery ticket drawing for the BlizzCon event is now in full sway. If you were able to create an eligible Blizzard account, you stand a chance to win two tickets to the BlizzCon! It's a relatively simple matter, actually. Read on for more details.

QuickJump QuickPeek finally gets a make-over! After a full year of weekly updates, we're now turning over a new leaf and allowing this QJ.NET mainstay to branch out by introducing the Weekend Warriors. Sorry, the Weekend Whattssitts? Hmm, just think of it as the Planeteers summoning Captain Planet. ...Or something - some other equally bad analogy like that at least. Ha! Nonetheless, it's going to be quite interesting from here on out. Here's to yet another year of some crazy weekly updates! And with that, we open the floor for the Weekend Warriors!

Numerical scores are like so last decade ago. So, breaking free from the supposed "one-size-fits-all" checklists of items to add up to a game's "score", we're going to be implementing a new five-star review system. See, we're trying to avoid having to quantify video games into arbitrary numbers. After all, many of us feel that a game isn't just the sum of all its parts (as in a checklist), but rather, the totality of the gaming experience itself! In the full article, we've come up with a handy FAQ to introduce this brand spanking new system to all of you QJ.NET readers. And yes, there're no half-stars about it! Rawr!

Open wiiiide! Now say "Aaaah." A bug has been discovered in one of the items in Blizzard's World of Warcraft. If you've beaten Hex Lord Malacrass in Zul'aman and snagged that Hood of the Third Eye, listen up. There seems to be a little glitch in the item.

It seems to have gotten a model upgrade, true. Though something seems to be off. Something... amiss. Read more to find out exactly what's up - or in this case, what's gone.

Blizzard Entertainment just announced that a Russian version for their smash hit MMORPG, World of Warcraft, will be available by 2008. This marks the fifth official language version after English, French, German, and Spanish. Read more for full details and a remark from Blizzard president and co-founder Mike Morhaime.

Today, we see the birth of a new umbrella corp (no zombies included) in the gaming industry.

As announced in a press release, Activision and Vivendi Games (which includes Blizzard Entertainment) are to merge into one great powerhouse and be called... [drumroll] Activision Blizzard! Once established, Activision Blizzard will be the world's largest pure-play online and console game publisher.

So what's the deal with the Horde and Alliance members duking it out on World of Warcraft's next expansion, Wrath of the Lich King? Supposedly, Blizzard's next expansion will be focusing on growing tensions between the two factions, however, with places like Kirin Tor, it seems as if Alliance and Horde players will actually have to kiss and make up in some scenarios.

Upon posting an open question about this matter, Blizzard poster Bornakk re-affirms that the Horde and Alliance factions will indeed have a merry time together:

There could be some "teaming up" in Wrath of the Lich King with the Alliance and Horde as they try to defeat a common enemy, but a place like Lake Wintergrasp shows how tensions are at an all time high too. A world is a big place, a lot of things can be happening at once. :)

Who's this common enemy, you ask? Well, you may draw your own conclusion with this. But considering one of the first few details that we were able to gather abotu Wrath of the Lich King, it could be Arthas himself. To quote back on our previous report: "Arthas [...] is scheming to corrupt the players of the Horde and Alliance against their own people as he himself was corrupted against his own father by the Lich King." Intriguing, eh?