And in the world of competitive gaming, the Championship Gaming Series ladder stage has concluded recently, allowing the current top-five teams in each battlegroup to head for the qualifiers round. The second stage will decide which U.S. and European teams can face off at World of Warcraft Arena 2v2 showdown at the upcoming BlizzCon.

From 13 battlegroups, 65 teams will have to double-team their way through the best of the best for a sure ticket inside of Blizzard's Anaheim event. Regional qualifiers already got their passport to Blizzard's haven some time back, and now it's time for 16 lucky ones (eight from Europe, eight from U.S.) to get their share of the opportunity.

Now while no names have been officially announced, we've gone through the hard way of extracting all the top five teams of all battlegroups and listed them here. Hopefully the list was updated in time for this announcement, but if it wasn't then consider these names not etched in stone.

Click on Full Article for the full list of (possibly) qualifying teams from each battlegroup.

  

Now if something like this ever happened, it could probably cause all the top brass at Vivendi to suffer from heart attacks... simultaneously. We mean seriously, when would you ever hear Blizzard offer something for free? No, not even in your Emerald Dreams, mister. So perhaps the statement "supposedly" given by PC World's top four Most Influential peeps isn't as official as it actually is:

By eliminating all subscription fees, Blizzard is proud to usher in an unprecedented, new era of high quality, free MMORPG entertainment. This historic shift in our business model wouldn't have been possible without the overwhelming positive support of our worldwide players. By opening up the World of Warcraft to a wider audience, we expect the community to grow even stronger and more dynamic. Blizzard is committed to giving our millions of loyal fans what they want and we are confident this move will lead World of Warcraft to even greater record-breaking heights.

Now while the Michael Morhaime puppet preaches jaw-dropping hopes for many aspiring, broke World of Warcraft addicts out there, how exactly is the Blizzard Entertainment's cash cow supposed to reel in the big bucks now? Well, according to the questionable press release, revenue will come from micro-transactions, in-game advertising, and third-party licensing.

So you can expect trees to be branded "brought to you by Evergreen Investments" or Lady Vashj to be wearing Victoria's Secret lingerie (spring catalogue, page 24).

Or imagine fear-spamming Harbinger Skyriss with a "No Fear!" logo slapped onto his torso and the new Tier 6 Epics sporting neck tags saying 100% Khorium-made by D&G... LOL! Need consumables in a hurry? For a buck you could probably get a full stack, courtesy of Axe... for Raiders.

Bugs will probably get fixed for a pay service, and the Clefthoof Brigade would probably be one of many mini-episodes launched instead of a full-blown expansion.

You can even get neat merchandising, just like this exclusive, limited edition The Burning Crusade bedpan! It's for all your nature's call needs without having to step away from the mouse and keyboard. Gold-plated editions available for the Collectors' Edition.