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While you may think your friends at Joystiq are only on the prowl for the hottest gaming scoops, we want you to know that's not true ... we also monitor the fabric of the universe for any tears that might upset its delicate balance. Do not panic, but World of Warcraft's lead designer, Tom Chilton, mentioned to PC Gamer that "at some point, it may not make sense for us to have a subscription fee." Now, pause and savor the moment, because it's fleeting.

Before you decide whether to buy a loaf of real bread or another month's subscription, listen to the remainder of Chilton's thought: "We're not spending a lot of time thinking about it. It's not something that's a reality for us in the near future."

When the fateful day comes that WoW can make more money as a freemium title than an MMO with a monthly subscription, we're sure it'll take that path. MMO expert Elizabeth Harper, high mistress of WoW.com, tells Joystiq, "Free to play is the future of MMOs. We're seeing Turbine push their games to the free-to-play model and becoming more profitable because of it. Life or death for an MMO is all in subscriber numbers -- free to play lowers the initial barrier to entry and opens up more opportunities for players to give you money."

#blizzard With many major massively multiplayer online role-playing games adapting the free-to-play model, could Blizzard's immensely profitable World of Warcraft one day make the switch? Lead designer Tom Chilton says that one day the game's subscription model "may not make sense." More »

#wow Stephen Gillett was at one time the youngest chief information officer on the Fortune 500. How'd he get there? Playing a ton of World of Warcraft, of course. More »

#wow Stephen Gillett was at one time the youngest chief information officer on the Fortune 500. How'd he get there? Playing a ton of World of Warcraft, of course. More »

You always like to think that the director working on a film adaptation of your favorite video game is actually a fan of the game. Some claim to be, but World of Warcraft director Sam Raimi appears to be the genuine article. Speaking with Collider, Raimi revealed that he's currently rocking a level 72 character in WoW, this after someone wiped his level 29 shaman "by accident."

Raimi also talked about his WoW film due in 2013, of course, confirming that it won't be a Tron-like affair with segments set in the real world and the gameworld -- "It will all be taking place in the world of Warcraft," he said. Also offered: his list of likes about the franchise from a director's perspective, including its scale and locations, calling the world "incredibly, engrossingly terrifying."

[Image credit: CHUD]

#hollywood Slated to helm Spider-Man 4, director Sam Raimi walked away from the project earlier this year. He is currently working on something that could very well be bigger. Much bigger. More »

#battlenet Blizzard's 3.3.5 patch for World of Warcraft went live yesterday, enabling the new Battle.net Real ID feature, allowing for cross-faction, cross-server, and when StarCraft II comes out, cross-game chat. More »

#wow Think Jamie Lee Curtis and you think Hollywood star. Maybe that scene from True Lies. You probably don't think "World of Warcraft apologist". More »

In less time than it takes to complete the Halls of Lightning, the first round of BlizzCon tickets sold out last night. WoW.com has the timeline (pictured) of how quickly the $150 tickets sold out -- only to appear on eBay at $500 shortly thereafter.

The next opportunity to gain entrance to Blizzard's celebration of all things itself occurs this Saturday, June 5 at 1PM EDT (10AM PDT) sharp, with a limit of five tickets per household. WoW.com has some tips on how to make sure the process goes smoothly.

#blizzard Blizzard's first batch of tickets to BlizzCon 2010 sold out quickly yesterday. As expected, a nice chunk of them are now available on eBay for more than double the price. Now how much would you pay? More »

#screengrab Benny encountered floating formation gold seller spam outside of the Orgrimmar auction house on World of Warcraft's Destromath server. Apparently it's the latest thing. More »

#clips Cormac Kelly has released this charming short film about everyday people and their World of Warcraft avatars, interviewing a few players while their characters stroll around in the real world. More »

#science Behold the Pink Handfish, one of fourteen species of bottom-dwelling marine fish endemic of the waters of Southern Australia and Tasmania, or, as World of Warcraft players know them, Murlocs. More »

"Avatar Days" is a new short by digital artist Cormac Kelly that examines the fascinating relationship between a World of Warcraft player and their in-game avatar. Not only is the animation great (and you can see how he's upscaled the five-year-old player character graphics of the popular MMO), but the premise is perfect, placing video game avatars of real-life players in everyday situations, and asking us the viewers to examine how they're connected together.

Excellent stuff. Not the first time we've seen these characters invade the real world, but definitely the most poignant. Watch the whole four minute short embedded after the break.

[via Citizen Game]

#security Anti-virus software maker Symantec recently uncovered and analyzed a cache of stolen online accounts—many from games like World of Warcraft and Aion—an impressive collection of 44 million swiped virtual credentials. What does Symantec find so interesting about this? More »

#blizzard Oh really? More »

VG247 met up with Blizzard Executive Vice President Frank Pearce in London to talk about StarCraft 2 and World of Warcraft. While it appears that WoW reached its peak with 11.5 million players, Pearce disagrees. "I don't think 11.5 million is a peak, necessarily," he says, "but there are certain things that we need to do and need to do well in order to see it go further." Those things include finally launching the Wrath of the Lich King expansion in China and bringing players back with the upcoming Cataclysm expansion in the US.

And while some have guessed that the release of StarCraft 2 might make a dent in WoW's player base, Pearce says he expects the opposite: StarCraft's Real ID social network system works across both games, and it may "potentially have a strong enough connection so that [someone playing StarCraft] may get a message from someone in WoW saying, 'Hey, come on over, we need a last person to fill our raid.'"

Will expansions mean WoW's biggest numbers yet?

#republished The sun rises around 6 am and that's when it starts to come full force.  More »

#blizzard Blizzard has rolled out the first phase of the remote World of Warcraft auction house, allowing players to browse auctions on the web or via iPhone, with subscription-based bidding and auctioning coming soon. More »

#blizzard Mark your calendars, Diablo, StarCraft, and Warcraft fans, as Blizzard lays out two dates in early June for you to attempt to spend $150 a ticket to BlizzCon 2010. More »

Blizzard has just announced when it will open up the rattling floodgates for BlizzCon 2010 ticket sales. Passes to the event will be sold in two separate chunks on Wednesday, June 2 at 7 p.m. PST and Saturday, June 5 at 10 a.m. PST. Folks interested in attending the Anaheim-based event will have to pony up a $150 entry fee. Given their proclivity for purchasing imaginary horses, we don't think diehard Blizzard fans have any qualms about parting with their hard-earned cash.

Remember, these things have a tendency to sell out moments after they go on sale, so we suggest you start tightening up your F5 finger's reflexes.

Direct TV will again be providing video coverage.

The NPD Group's recent annual poll of MMO fans' favorite online titles seems to indicate a pretty substantial power shift in the MMORPG space -- one that heavily favors Turbine's Dungeons & Dragons Online. The D20-friendly game, which went free-to-play last September, managed to wrestle the number three spot in the survey out of Guild Wars' hands. The percentage of participants who claim to be active DDO players doubled from four to eight since last year's survey.

The survey also inquired what MMOs former World of Warcraft players have switched over to in the past year. Though fellow free-to-play title Runescape fell from 20 percent to 13 percent in this category, DDO jumped from five percent to 11 percent year-over-year. That just goes to show: People don't just like free stuff, they like free stuff that didn't used to be quite so free. Also, they like dragons. And occasionally dungeons.Dungeons & Dragons Online rises in popularity among former WoW players

#nsfw Take one World of Warcraft account. One changed password. And a very, very angry fat man. Hijinks ensue. More »

#betawatch The closed beta test for World of Warcraft's Cataclysm expansion is just around the corner, and Blizzard is encouraging players to opt-in for their chance at early access. Here's how you do that. More »

#blizzard Remember that giant compilation of World of Warcraft: Cataclysm alpha test info and screens MMO Champion released last week? It's gone now, but certainly not forgotten. More »

#arenanet In the latest Guild Wars 2 update, lead content designer Colin Johanson talks about how the game's dynamic event system is doing away with the traditional question-mark driven MMO quest systems in favor of world-changing events with lasting results. More »

#research When it comes to spending money on video games, nobody does it quite like the US of A, with research finding that Americans spent over $25 billion on the things in 2009. More »

Hey, if you've made the important life-altering decision to sell your soul (and all your free time) over to World of Warcraft, you might as well go whole hog, you know? Best Buy's got a pretty scintillating deal for the 40-or-so people left on the planet who've yet to play Blizzard's super successful MMO: For a limited time, if you purchase the core game for $20, you'll get the Burning Crusade expansion (which retails for $30) at no additional charge. It's like getting twice as addicted at half the cost! What a steal!

[Via Blast]