I've been watching WoW addiction confessions on YouTube for the past few hours already, and let me tell you, there's an odd sense of guilty satisfaction. Guilt, because I know how it feels to be addicted to a game and actually lose hours I could've spent on something productive. More importantly, I feel guilt because there's this sick sense of joy in seeing that other folks got it worse than I did.

They didn't just drop out of school - they lost friends, and they got disconnected with family. They ruined some of the more permanent things in life, over something that was designed to be a pastime. Over something that was meant to compliment life and not take over it. I go: "Ha! Loser!" Yes, I know it's not nice. Schadenfreude, is the appropriate term, I think.

As much as I'd like to post those videos, I won't. They're pretty common place in the intertubes and I believe they'll just bore you. Instead I'll post a video that'll make you folks go: "Ha sucks to be them!" Remember all those times your parents threatened to send you to boot camp if you didn't straighten out but didn't actually? Well, these Chinese kids aren't as lucky as you are:

C'mon. Laugh all you want. They'll never know you were laughing at them.

Guilty pleasures aside, what's your take on this? Is China going a step too far? It's not like they don't already have measures (systems that kill your character if you play too long) against addiction, do they really need de-programming camps stocked with pseudo-shock-therapy-acupuncture equipment?

Ex-night Elf that turned into a hybrid of demon and night elf, Illidan Stormrage is the Lord of Outland in the World of Warcraft. And probably one of the coolest characters in the Warcraft universe.

Sorry Malfurion, even Sephiroth is cooler than Cloud sometimes. Anyway, Windspire from YouTube uploaded a video featuring the big man himself - in motion. The model viewer pic of Illidan looked... well, it could have been better. Thankfully, he looks good when he's moving. Anyway, see him take swings at the air, flying up, landing, feigning death, dying for real, screaming in the air, walking, and everything else.

Check out the video. We wonder who gets to down him first.

You know what really scares gamers? Little girls (Alma from F.E.A.R. and Alessa from Silent Hill just to name a couple) and babies (remember that creepy advertisement with the baby doll?). The World of Warcraft MMORPG is no exception.

Pwnda and stujchap from YouTube uploaded their WoW videos of one of scariest places in Outland. Challe's Home for Little Tykes. It's located north of the Laughing Skull Ruins in Nagrand (coordinates - 49.14). Well, as far as we can tell, it's full of Horde babies. They are cute, yes, but then the videos have a different spin to it. They show a boiling cauldron and meat right beside the little bundles of joy. With "Challe" the owner of this WoW daycare nowhere to be found.

These WoW videos were apparently taken while both were flying over Nagrand. We'll leave you to judge for yourself and tell us what you think.

Hmmm, looks like someone was having second thoughts of considering these additional entries for the "Azeroth Exposed" contest. The total number of entries now rises up to 24 (let's see, that's 13 more or less left to go), although admittedly from entry 7 to 17, there's a huge gaping hole of at least 9 entries that haven't made the cut. mrmintel's own entries have also been noticeably removed from the official finalist list.

But lo and behold! GoRemy's "Warcraft: The Rap" and Myndflame's second entry "Druid Epic Flight Form" (although his first entry is missing) is now included in the top finalists! With no more than two days to go, your options for voting your favorite, hilarious World of Warcraft videos just got a whole lot broader. And even before we lead you to the official entry page, we're telling you, it's a lot more difficult to decide.

So we're just wondering how exactly the voting will go... can we vote on all our favorite ones or do we have to make a single choice and support the best in our books? That, we're afraid, will have to be revealed on April 1, 2007 when the voting starts. The entry list now stands at:

• Snacky's Journal - Episode 1 by wasteofaces
• Jimmy: The World of Warcraft Story by Rurikar
• Druid Epic Flight Form by Myndflame
• I am a Warrior! by dem0ndeath
• Warcraft: The Rap by GoRemy
• 10 Second Warlock by Xorco1
• My life in World of Warcraft by Chrisislikeagod
• The Murloc by Flurd70
• Unidentified by Triodin
  

Best one? It's a tough choice. But it looks like "Unidentified" by Triodin is a sure win, if Myndflame's latest entry can't garner enough votes. Ultimately, the fans will decide who'll get to grab the Intel Core 2 Extreme gaming PC from Intel, Blizzard and Youtube.

We love machinima. Those in game movies span in variety (just like Hollywood, we note) from socially conscious to movie and television series spoofs. Just goes to show just how many things you can do in the World of Warcraft - other than end game that is. Today, we've got the trailer of Azerothian Espionage by Cameron Gadsby and edited by Ciavarella Studios.

Azerothian Espionage looks like an epic movie, but will this be comparable to Fanatik's work? We'll see that when the actual movie comes out. According to fubarius2 (of YouTube, who also did an amazing job with "It's All Coming Back to Me Now"), the movie will be posted in "several days" and will run approximately 16 minutes.

We'll keep our eyes peeled for that and for the meantime, you can watch the trailer for Azerothian Espionage. Stay tuned for more World of Warcraft movies.

Finally, more than three entries can now be voted on at April Fool's Day (that's a Sunday folks!) and these two new entries follow up on Myndflame's approach to conjuring humor in World of Warcraft: telling interesting stories of avatars in-game. Not only do they fit the rules of the contest, they also look professionally polished.

As covered last time, there were reportedly 37 entries submitted (could be more now), although those suggested at the World of Warcraft Forums have yet to make an appearance on the finalists' list. So don't forget to reward these guys for making the cut and vote on your favorite video starting April 1 all the way up to April 15. Remember: the grand prize winner gets to take home an Intel Core 2 Extreme gaming PC.

But if you're looking to add your own entry, we've got bad news for you: the deadline for submissions have already passed. Still, you can enjoy these videos from wasteofaces and Rurikar (in that order).

Snacky's Journal - Episode 1

Click on Full Article to view the sixth entry for the World of Warcraft Youtube contest.

Of the 38 suggested videos submitted in Nethaera's World of Warcraft Forum official sticky, only one seems to have made it into the finalist videos. Aside from mrmintel's first video, Myndflame's own masterpiece has great elements of musical score and video coordination, even ending in a funny finale. Unfortunately, there is no official word out yet about the other entries, or whether or not they will make the cut.

As we've reported a couple of weeks ago, the Youtube contest sponsored by Intel, Blizzard and Youtube had been accepting entries for hilarious World of Warcraft videos (or Machinimas) for a chance to win a super souped-up gaming rig powered by Intel's Core 2 Extreme processor. Deadline for submissions is today, March 20, 2007, and voting for the finalist entries will begin on April 1.

Now while this video is old, Myndflame, famous for another hilarious video on World of Warcraft, still has the style and concept that fits within the rules of the contest while still being able to squeeze a little humor out of it. In fact, he has about four funny WoW videos that could qualify, although we're not sure why the other three haven't made the cut either. We'll be checking for more updates on other entries, so stay tuned folks!

Since the announcement of the Youtube contest for the funniest video in World of Warcraft, we've been a little lax in monitoring further developments. While the submission deadline hasn't passed (March 21, 2007) yet, we thought we already missed a lot in the contest's progress. Seeking out waxxy Nethaera, we've finally been able to spot her stickied (thank her for that!) thread where entries were probably previewed.

But lo and behold: nothing much has happened. For a contest putting an extreme gaming PC as a tangible trophy, it's somewhat lacking in drive, isn't it? We've sifted through the six pages of posts and were only able to find a couple videos that were made known in the thread. What was even more disappointing was the fact that only a real few were just as funny as the first entry by mrmintel. Let's not even get to how many qualify, technically speaking.

So come on, Youtube WoW-heads out there! Spice up the content with some real sock-peeling gags. Just pick up Machinima and take something in-game to a whole new broadcast level. There are currently around only 37 submissions since the submission date was moved. Best one we picked out from the thread sports a WoW-head rapping the lowdown on his WoW-addicted life.

So what does a mage like you prefer as a talent in WoW? Mikeystar obviously need not think twice as to what his reply will be for that question. In fact, he's just got to show his YouTube vid, and we'd all get his answer. Yes, if you've clicked on the play button already, you'll see that he's got the hots for the ice block.

And it ain't really hard to see why he prefers that talent. It's cool, and it's really useful, too, considering that for just 21 points in the frost tree, you can use the ice block, which in turn will make you immune to ALL damage for 10 seconds given a 5 minute cooldown. And as it turns out, there's even so much more you can do with it, given the proper timing. If you are to turn into a skeptic here, then go ahead. Just see for yourself what Mikeystar was up to in this vid.

Well, we all know that there are tons of places for text walkthroughs of all your favorite games. How about a place for video walkthroughs, though? Well, there's one company that wants to tout itself as the YouTube of game walkthrough vids, and it's known as the Click.TV player.

According to their website, the Click.TV player would allow video makers to "add running commentary, clickable bookmarks, share entire videos, or highlight reels." While this can basically be used for just about everything from political commentary to educational videos, gamers can definitely use this to post strategy vids on their website. Even better, you can search through the videos for specific areas and comments you want to emphasize, making it a very versatile system indeed.

The player is currently in beta, which probably means it needs some fine tuning, but it's bound to make some noise. In the meantime, let's try putting a vid up on the site. The very first video walkthrough from Click.TV, featuring the Working as Intended Guild's walkthrough for World of Warcraft's Shadow Labyrinth, could be found in the link below. And yes, it's complete with the commentary at the bottom of the video.