There are people who are really into attending major game-related events. World of Warcraft player Faloxi appears to be one of them. The player expressed interest in attending the next BlizzCon event, and ended up throwing a Horde of questions Blizzard's way. Fortunately, Bornakk responded. Find out what the response was in the full article after the jump.

Blizzard is sending out word that tickets for its upcoming Worldwide Invitational event in Paris have now sold out. We imagine this shouldn't come as big surprise for the fans, given what sort of events await those who decide to pay the cash for their admission fee. More details are available in the full article.

Blizzard's Worldwide Invitational is coming to Paris! This year marks the fourth Worldwide Invitational and Blizzard has just announced that tickets will soon be available. Details about the event in the full article.

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.

MMOGs (massively multiplayer online games) are taking over the world. Screen Digest studied last year's numbers and found that the MMOG market outside of Asia have reached US$ 1 billion. This isn't really as surprising as it looks for the rest of the world, with titles like World of Warcraft conquering boundaries.

The research called "Western World MMOG Market: 2006 Review and Forecasts to 2011" studied the current economy of the MMOG world, which business models are better, and gives a forecast on subscriptions and revenues up to 2011.

All the MMOGs currently in North America and Europe are collectively currently worth US$ 576 million and US$ 299 million respectively. Of course, everybody can guess the number one heavyweight of the MMOG subscription market - World of Warcraft, which has 54% of the market (translating to revenues of US$ 471 million last year). Number two on the list, believe it or not, is Jagex's Runescape.

The subscription business model dominated during the previous year - getting about US$ 875 million. The other two business models are expected to flourish this year (though maybe not a booming success like the subscription type): in-game items and currency sale and in-game advertisements. According to Piers Harding-Rolls, Games Analyst at Screen Digest:

During the past few years the Western landscape for MMOGs has become increasingly fragmented following the introduction of new genres of game including social networking, virtual pet rearing and virtual world building titles. These new games and platforms have brought with them many new gamers and also new business models that are generating revenue that is largely incremental to the incumbent subscription business.

Screen Digest foresees an increase of subscriptions to 10 million in 2011 and will get a whopping US$ 1.5 billion. Plus Europe's subscriptions will increase with countries Germany, UK, France, Spain and Italy (respectively) at the frontlines of subscription numbers and growth. Along with this increase comes the increase of broadband in homes, online console platforms and an increase in casual MMOGs. Harding-Rolls concludes:

Our analysis shows that the MMOG content pipeline differs from the current commercial climate in areas such as platform support, intellectual property licensing and content origin. MMOG developers and publishers should be aware of the implications of these trends to stay ahead of the market.

 

This probably isn't news to us anymore as Blizzard's World of Warcraft has been boosting Vivendi SA is a video game developer; formerly known as Vivendi Universal">Vivendi's sales and profits for some time now. What came as a surprise was Vivendi's Q4 report. They reported a 51% drop in profit for last year's fourth quarter.

The giant conglomerate based in France earned a massive 1.25 billion euros in the last quarter of 2005. Last year though, they only earned a fraction of that, reporting a profit of only 610 million euros (US $799 million). The plunge in profit figures was due to tax credit and one time gains from asset sales, according to Forbes.

Vivendi's plans to aim high this year as they raise their profit outlook to (adjusted net profit) 2.7 billion euros or US $3.5 billion. Considering that The Burning Crusade's sales were highly successful, higher expectations are bound to be a given come the year's end. In terms of video game sales for 2006's last quarter, Vivendi's sales were boosted by WoW sales and enjoyed an increase of 33% (326 million euros or US $428 million).

 

Amidst all the Burning Crusade news, most of us almost forgot that the Day of Hearts is fast approaching. Yep, just a few weeks to go until Valentines Day 2007 goes in full swing. And just like last year, World of Warcraft has something up their sleeves that is sure to make your hearts melt.

The first to announce their Valentines Day activities is WoW Europe. They are currently holding a Valentine Card Contest to get you in the mood for some lovin'. Basically, you'd have to design a Valentine Card showing your love of WoW. The price, a Gurky key! Anyway, the contest will run from January 22 - February 2  and the number of entries is limited to five per household. Those who are eligible to participate are:

• Participants aged 15 or more residing in:
• France
• Belgium
• United Kingdom
• Luxembourg

• Participants aged 18 or more residing in:
• Germany
• Austria
• Sweden
• Finland
• Denmark
• Norway
• The Netherlands
• Spain
• Ireland

To read all about the contest, click on our read link below to know where to submit your entries and to check out the full terms and conditions of the contest. Good luck!

We told you The Burning Crusade is going to have launch party. As busy as the players and the developers are, they just can't do without them. Anyway, we've just spilled the beans about the different U.S. locations of the said gathering and our readers from other countries are wondering if they get to have a party too.

Don't worry druid friends, we've got you covered! And no, we're not only referring to the 150 Oxford Street in London. Aside from that one, there are other launch parties as well in France, Germany and Sweden. If you are not sure if there's a one near your location, here are the complete addresses:

• France: FNAC (74 Ave des Champs Elysées; Doors open: 0:00 – 04:00, January 16)
• Germany: Media Markt (10627 Berlin-Charlottenburg Krumme Straße 48; On sale: 0:00, January 16)
• Swden: EB Games Gallerian (Hamngatan 37 Stockholm; Doors open: 0:00, January 16)
• UK: HMV (150 Oxford Street London W1D 1DJ Paris 8e; Doors open: 11:00PM, January 15)

Blizzard also mentioned that the World of Warcraft expansion will be available by midnight in most areas. The ones included in  the above mentioned list are just the official venues, meaning members of the development team will be present to meet gamers and sign copies of the game. Finally, Blizzard is suggesting for everyone to ask their local dealers if they will be open by midnight.

Now, videogames may not be the first thing that comes into people's heads when they hear "France," but the fact of the matter is that three of the world's biggest videogame manufacturers - Ubisoft, Infogrames Entertainment and World of Warcraft publisher Vivendi Games - call the country home.

According to Culture minister Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres, local production of videogames is as important to France's national identity as the Louvre, and he is now calling for laws that would prevent the country's videogame companies from outsourcing their production to low cost countries.

One of the things he is suggesting is to give France's game producers the same tax breaks that are given to cultural institutions.

"Call me the minister of video games if you want; I am proud of this," said Donnedieu de Vabres, in a recent interview with the International Herald Tribune. "Video games are not a mere commercial product," he continued. "They are a form of artistic expression."

Of course, the heads of France's videogame industry are all going for the idea. They've even pledged not to even think about outsourcing if the French government agrees to the deal. Says Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot, in an interview with the Herald Tribune, "Without production in France, we lose the creativity and diversity that this country offers."

WoW is one game that's making a lot of people happy. For its 6 million subscribers, it's definitely a source of joy. The guys at Vivendi love this game, too, as it's bringing them a lot of moolah.

But how much, you ask? Well, for the first half of the year (as compared to the same period last year), WoW helped ushered in a 24% increase in the company's gaming division, which is equal to a whopping 296 million euros. Convert that into dollars and you get a cool $377.6 million. As the year progressed, revenues continued to shoot upward. For the second quarter of the year, sales rose by 30% year over year, which is equal to 162 million euros ($206.7 million).

According to Vivendi, Wow is the primary sales driver for the period. Games such as Ice Age 2, 50 Cent: Bulletproof and Crash Tag Team Racing also helped the company do well.

Vivendi games is a conglomerate based in France, with Blizzard Entertainment, Sierra Entertainment, Radical Entertainment, Massive Entertainment, Swordfish Studios and High Moon Studios under its wing.