Blizzard's back in the news front with some more Burning Crusade numbers. The company announced today that World of Warcraft's Burning Crusade expansion has sold through approximately 3.5 million copies within one month following its mid-January launch in North America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia.

This figure, which enshrines Burning Crusade as the new record-holder for PC-game sales within one month, includes nearly 1.6 million sold in Europe, and more than 1.9 million sold in regions that play on North American realms, including more than 100,000 copies in Australasia.

World of Warcraft's worldwide subscriber base is now more than 8.5 million strong, and it's still continuing to grow as new and returning players join existing players in the game.

"We're thrilled about the overwhelming response that we've received for The Burning Crusade," said Mike Morhaime, president of Blizzard Entertainment. "We have worked hard to build upon nearly every aspect of World of Warcraft with this expansion, and it’s gratifying to see that players and reviewers are enjoying the new content."

Hmm, how many subscribers does Blizzard have for WoW? Eight million right? And still counting. If the World of Warcraft was a country, it would be the 94th most populated country in the world.

The nation of WoW p'wns the following countries in terms of population: Ireland (4,062,235), New Zealand (4,076,140), Denmark (5,450,661), Israel (6,352,117), and Switzerland (7,523,934). Since Azeroth has something that would equal to an open city policy, it doesn't require a visa or a passport to be a citizen. All you need is a flexible schedule, a flexible income and a flexible PC (read: more than acceptable specs).

With the addition of Outland via The Burning Crusade, who knows just how many more people Blizzard was able to pull in to testify unwavering faith to the Horde or the Alliance. And it's a true melting pot of a country, with ten races and all: Draenei, Dwarf, Gnome, Human, Night Elf, Blood Elf, Orc, Tauren, Troll, and Undead.

Oh, and did we mention Azeroth's population swells at a rate of around 406 people (or whatever race they choose) per hour?

Around the central area of Stranglethorn Vale lies Gurubashi Arena; here, some of the most intense combat found in the Eastern Kingdoms happen. It's a PvP area where every player not in the player's party can attack and be attacked. Every 3 hours, its grounds are blanketed further by blood of fallen warriors the pirate "Short" John Mithril places a chest in the middle of the arena.

This very environment is what inspired Bigfoot Networks for its latest competition. We quote their open challenge: "We're looking for some belligerent adventurers to let their artistic fury fly by taking screenshots of themselves doing what they do best, vanquishing their foes!" That means creating carnage, spilling blood then taking some photo opportunities. Of course, the most merciless and without heart wins the competition.

To the victor goes the spoils, says an old adage. Well, we say indeed. The grand prize winner will receive a package consisting of 2 Gurubashi Gold Coins (real collector's item 24k gold coins engraved with the World of Warcraft logo) which translates roughly to $ 1,000, a Killer t-shirt, and a network card with an approximate retail value of $ 279.00. The complete set of rules and prizes can be accessed here.

Winners will be chosen on October 22 and will all be notified through e-mail. The competition is open to all 13 years old and above and active subscribers in select locations (U.S.A., Australia, Canada but not Quebec, New Zealand and Singapore).

Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.’s World of Warcraft, the world’s leading subscription-based massively multiplayer online role-playing game, has surpassed the one million customer milestone in Europe, more than quadrupling the previously estimated size of the entire European MMORPG market since its launch in February 2005. In addition, World of Warcraft topped the sales charts for full-price PC games in Europe last year. Worldwide, the game has a growing audience of more than 5.5 million customers.

“It is extremely rewarding to see so many European players enjoying World of Warcraft,” said Mike Morhaime, president and co-founder of Blizzard Entertainment. “The players have supported our belief in the European MMORPG market, and we thank them for helping us make World of Warcraft one of the most popular games in the world.”

Available in English, French, and German in Europe, World of Warcraft is operated by Blizzard’s local European office. Established in late 2003 and already comprising more than 400 employees and 22 different nationalities, Blizzard Europe – the second-largest Blizzard office in the world – has expanded rapidly to keep pace with the growth of World of Warcraft in Europe.

World of Warcraft has steadily grown in popularity around the world since its initial launch in North America, Australia, and New Zealand last November. Following successful launches in Korea, Europe, China and Singapore, World of Warcraft launched in the regions of Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau.