Remember those connection issues World of Warcraft players were experiencing in Europe due to Cogent? Thundgot dropped by the MMORPG's official forums earlier with an update on this matter, which apparently has something to do with Sweden's TeliaSonera phone company. Details are up ahead in the full article.

Keeping your fingers crossed for the latest 411 on the Dreamhack World of Warcraft Tournament over in Sweden? In case you missed out on the event's grand final bouts, here's an info snippet that should help. The tournament's fight videos for this Blizzard MMORPG's grand finals, winner's bracket and the loser's brackets have been uploaded for viewing. More details on are available in the full article.

Blizzard's forum moderator for MMORPG World of Warcraft Thundgot announced that their company will be attending the world's largest LAN party and computer festival DreamHack Winter 2007.

The event will start on November 20 and will end on December 2 in Jonkoping, Sweden. Thundgot wasn't able to mention what specific titles Blizzard will be bringing into the event but fans can expect to see hit games WoW and StarCraft among others. More details after the jump!

What are they playing over at Sweden? Aren't you curious? This bit of info just might save your life one day, y'know. The region's data trade firm, Dataspelsbranschen (now try saying that as fast as you can, ten times consecutively), has just released the top sales charts of video games for Sweden.

The Multiplatform chart is dominated by the MMORPG mogul that is The World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade from Blizzard. This is followed by Pokémon Diamond on the Nintendo DS. MotorStorm and R:FoM have also landed a place in the multiplatform chart, and unsurprisingly, both titles get bragging rights in the PS3 chart.

The 360 chart has Guitar Hero II fronting the musical act - and smack dab in the middle is Gears of War on fifth place. The Wii has Leon Kennedy and Ashley Graham running up to first place with Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition, while Twilight Princess is galloping up to the Top 2 spot.

On the handheld side, the DS chart has both Pokemon (Diamond and Pearl) titles on top, while the PSP chart has Pro Evolution Soccer 6 kicking into the goal - Konami's sports title is enjoying the kingly spot on top.

 Multiformat

1. World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade (PC)
2. Pokémon Diamond (DS)
3. World of Warcraft (PC)
4. Counter-Strike 1: Anthology (PC)
5. Guitar Hero 2 Rock the 80´s (PS2)
6. The Sims 2 H&M Fashion (PC)
7. Pokémon Pearl (DS)
8. Motorstorm (PS3)
9. Resistance: Fall of Man (PS3)
10. Singstar 90's (PS2)

Check out the Full Article link below for each individual chart per platform!

 

A bit late in the news, we know, but at least it's finally brought out here to our readers. Stripped off from the 3-man World of Warcraft Arena bracket charts it appears that the Horde took a serious beating at the first round of the BlizzCon Arena Tournament. All Horde teams, save for one, have been knocked off the main bracket a week ago.

Team Log, with members hailing from Sweden and Finland, was the sole surviving team for the Horde. Other Horde teams took to the lower bracket, so painfully named the "Losers Bracket," to regain their honor against other defeated teams. We're currently finding out the final results of the BlizzCon 2007 Arena Tournament. More on the winners as they come in.

Blizzard's World of Warcraft has made it into the primary lineup for this year's World Series of Video Games (WSVG). The game has already started making inroads into the world of eSports with the new Arena system and the subsequent signing of several WoW Arena teams with various eSports sponsors.

Other titles that will be played at this year's WSVG include Fight Night Round 3 and Guitar Hero 2, making for a pretty eclectic game lineup. The total prize money up for grabs at this year's WSVG is set at US$ 1M, a quarter of which will be winnable at the event's finals competition towards the end of the year.

This year's WSVG will be the second season for the relatively new eSports competition since it rose from the ashes of the Cyberathlete Professional League. The WSVG will be kicking off next month in Wuhan, China, and will conclude in December for the championships at the world's biggest LAN party, Dreamhack in Sweden.

If you think that the U.S.A.'s IRS is the only one planning on imposing taxes on online game loots, think again. Other countries like Sweden are following suit. Swedes who earn tax-free money from playing World of Warcraft and Second Life would have to think twice about their activities as their government said that they were planning a clampdown.

Dag Hardysson, head of the Internet trade division of the Swedish tax authority, said that they "are not interested in ordinary gamers - 99 per cent of them play for the sake of playing...Most people play and keep their money on their game account, but if they move it out of the virtual world into the real world, then we're interested in them."

He cited a couple of examples: a WoW player who advances to a higher level and earned a virtual weapon, which he then sold to another player for real money; and a fashion designer in Second Life who sells clothes in both the real and virtual worlds. But in spite of all the strong words, Hardysson mentioned that he would not expect players to actually have to pay taxes for another two to three years.

 

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.