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.

In a recent interview with Blizzard's J. Allen Brack and Tom Chilton, they squashed every console gamers' hopes of seeing the highly acclaimed MMO,World of Warcraft, boxed neatly inside a console. Also discussed were several other topics regarding the upcoming Wrath of the Lich King, as well as other new content for the game.

Beta testers for Blizzard's Wrath of the Lich King should be in the know. Something's down and it's the beta servers. For what? Check out what's going on at the full article.

Good news out of the Leipzig Games Convention for Blizzard fans! The studio has just released the opening cinematic for World of Warcraft's Wrath of the Lich King expansion. Check it out in the full article!

The good folks at 1UP have posted a bunch of new photos from the site of the Leipzig Games Convention as the booths are being set up for the big event tomorrow. From what we're seeing, it looks like we might find at Leipzig what we found lacking at E3. Pics in the full article.

 

The excitement over there in Leipzig just never seems to end. This time, the limelight shifts over to Magtheridon's Nihilum, a very well known European guild in Blizzard's epic MMORPG, World of Warcraft.

Kungen, the guild leader, and Awake, one of their officers, stepped up on stage and gave out introductions about their guild and all the guild achievements so far. They even gave a live performance of what it's like raiding the Black Temple, a feat they were made famous of when they defeated all the endgame bosses from the area.

When asked what their impression was of the upcoming expansion, Wrath of the Lich King, they were rather impressed with the new classes and features, as well as the new dungeon and are looking forward to playing it once it hits the commercial servers. Well, we'll just have to wait and see if Nihilum can keep up with their title of being "world's first" when the new expansion comes out.

And while Nihilum has always been well-known throughout the World of Warcraft community, they have had their share of critics now and then, especially from the forums. Awake had this to say to them:

Yes. First of all, once we wrote "no applications by women" into our application form. People got it wrong and flamed us for this, but it was only a joke. Girls are welcome to apply if they have what it takes. We don't discriminate against anyone. We are also not playing 16 hours a day as is often said - we all have real lives and try to find a balance with our hobby, which is World of Warcraft, and it works very well for us.

For the full transcript of the interview, feel free to visit the source link for the full coverage.

In the MMO arena, one of the most wanted men in the Leipzig Game Convention was Blizzard's Jeff Kaplan, lead designer of World of Warcraft. In the industry, he's known more as simply Tigole, and he was kind enough to answer a ton of questions from Curse.com. As if the other GC interviews with him weren't enough already, we have more info for you guys today.

The video interview (behind the Read link below) is packed with around 25 minutes long of content from the man himself. He reveals a lot of new stuff too. Most of the interview focuses on the upcoming WoW expansion, Wrath of the Lich King. For one, there's the announcement of Utgarde Pinnacle. Here are a couple of other things talked about in the interview as well:

• Alliance/Horde starting points
• Patch 2.3 with more powerful items
• More discussion on Guild Banks
  
• The levelling curve, PvP zones
• More details on the new Inscription class

We can't possibly summarize the whole thing, given that Tigole was just so utterly bombarded with questions. Which is good, of course. So, without further delay, the Read link, if you will.

If you're among the legions of World of Warcraft fans that's been hoping to get a shot at trying out The Wrath of the Lich King, we have some very good news. Blizzard has just sent out a press wire announcing that this much-anticipated expansion will be a playable over at the upcoming Games Convention at Leipzig, Germany.

Visitors fortunate enough to play will be introduced into the frigid territory of Northrend's Howling Fjord region. And from here, players will also get a taste of Utgarde Keep, a dungeon requiring a 5-man level 70 party to accomplish. Fans who've played through Warcraft III may remember Howling Fjord as the same area where Arthas' expedition landed in their pursuit of Mal'Ganis the dread lord.

Another game that's also expected to be playable is Blizzard's much-awaited StarCraft II RTS. To be available in the game's demo will be the Terran and Protoss races, with both single and in multiplayer battles to be playable over six different maps. This year's GCDC opens for the trade on Wednesday, August 22, and will be open to the public from Thursday (August 23) to Sunday (August 26).

Yes folks, it's just one more week to go before Leipzig runs abuzz with various entities in the game industry. The Games Convention Developer's Conference (GCDC) and Games Convention (GC) is taking a hint from this year's Game Developers' Conference, and organizers expecting to be the biggest gaming event in Europe - all by itself.

 

Correspondents from The Official Weblog for GC 2007 Leipzig have stepped into the massive Exhibition Center to investigate just how big GC 2007 may be in a week. And if organizer Leipziger Messe's announcements weren't ambitious enough, publishers and developers have been busy at work to make their presence just as significant as the European-centered event.

They've identified stands from Sony (lots of them, plus a whirpool generator?), Electronic Arts, Midway, Blizzard Entertainment, Codemasters, Saber Interactive, GOA, EA Mythic, Global Star Publishing, and LucasArts, among others. There are stands in the event that have yet to be assembled, but that's subject to change in the coming days. Don't expect Nintendo to make a showing, though.

Codemasters, Global Star Publishing, GOA, EA Mythic, LucasArts, Midway

More pictures courtesy of gc-blog.de at the full article!

A new listing appeared yesterday on German software ratings board Unterhaltungssoftware Selbstkontrolle (USK) regarding World of Warcraft and supposed next expansion Wrath of the Lich King. The listing was accompanied by the tag "GC-demo" hinting that Blizzard will be revealing it at this year's Games Convention in Leipzig Germany.

Quite intriguingly, we checked back at USK's online site but Wrath of the Lich King was nowhere to be found. There have been talks before that the next expansion will revolve around the northern icy region of Northend. This is the place where Warcraft III hero Arthas Menethil made his stand against the dreadlord Mal'Ganis.

However, the hero was eventually corrupted by the Frostmourne sword due to the meddling of Kel'Thuzad. It really is an exciting place to build the next expansion on but Blizzard isn't confirming anything yet. Gaming sites Eurogamer and GameSpot tried to contact Blizzard but the only response they got was, "We have not yet announced any details with regard to future expansions of World of Warcraft".