Think it was impressive that Gears of War 2 sold two million copies over the course of a weekend? That’s nothin’. Blizzard can top that… and do it in only 24 hours.

The World of Warcraft expansion Wrath of the Lich King sold a mind boggling 2.8 million copies in a single day. Yes, one day. That’s 25% of Warcraft’s population. The other 75% is made up gold farmers. Just kidding. No word on sales beyond that opening push, although surely people who enjoy other aspects of life, fresh air, and sleep will be picking it up down the road to further make Activision-Blizzard their own country.

Meeting someone in Warcraft or Second Life and marrying them has happened before. It’s rare, but it happens. However, if that’s all this story was about, it wouldn’t be news worthy, now would it?

Amy Taylor and David Pollard met in Second Life. They married in Second Life (and in First Life known as the real world). Three years later, Amy caught David cheating on her after hiring an in-game PI. Really.

Who was he cheating with? Someone in Second Life. And no, not cheating with someone he met in Second Life, but someone actually in the game… like with a keyboard. Typing. Not in real life. That was enough to send Amy into a frenzy, filing for a divorce. Where does she go from there? She’ll be fine as she claims to have met someone in World of Warcraft.

*Head meet desk*

This is more proof that Idiocracy is the most important movie of our time.

All of you Warcraft players excited for the next installment after seeing job announcements for help on developing Blizzard’s “next-gen” MMO are in for a bit of a disappointment. As it turns out, Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime has confirmed that it is most definitely not a sequel to the world’s more popular MMO. In fact, they plan on keeping that going for as long as possible given how much they make from it.

Instead, the game will be something that will sit alongside World of Warcraft as a side product. So yes, Blizzard wants you to spend more of your time and more of your money playing their MMOs. As if you had any of the either after Warcraft…

It’s not a huge surprise given the apparently low population and departure of creator Richard Garriot, but MMO Tabula Rasa only has a few months to live. Feb. 28th will be its final day of operation. Starting January 10th, the game will go into free play mode until its closure.

Those paid subscribers can either gain three free months of access to City of Heroes, Lineage II, or be invited into the beta for Aion (plus get one free month when it launches). The news came as a farewell on the game’s community site as these things usually do. The developers promise to make the stay until the end worthwhile, though it what way is left as a surprise.

Think your World of Warcraft addiction is out of control? Well, rest assured, it’s not as bad as this guy. Going by the name of Prepared, he uses a massive, ridiculous 11 computer rig to control (count ‘em) 36 characters at once. How exactly do you control that many characters at once, and honestly, is it even fun anymore?

Besides the debatable fun factor, this is what it costs him: $5,700 a year, plus $1,500 for any expansions that come out. Oh, and that doesn’t include the PC’s impact on the electric bill. Seriously, I love my gaming, but this is ridiculous.

For those still plugging away inside Final Fantasy XI, Square’s got some news for you. The game is set to expand in the form of three different packs, running $10 each. These will not increase the size of the game world, but full in story holes within areas that already exist. The full extravagant titles of these expansions are:

A Crystalline Prophecy - Ode of Life Bestowing
A Moogle Kupo d’Etat - Evil in Small Doses
A Shantotto Ascension - The Legend Torn, Her Empire Born

The first one is due in Spring of ‘09, with the others following a month or so afterwards.

One would think at some point, Blizzard’s servers would implode under all of the stress they go through. Now, with World of Warcraft hitting a nearly absurd 11 million players, maybe that time will come. The news comes only a few weeks before the next expansion, Wrath of the Lich King hits stores. The expansion means more money for Blizzard, more expansions, and more advertising. All of that leads to more players. At this rate, 12 million only seems like a few days away.

Kudos to Blizzard for creating this beast and keeping it going for so long.

It seems Wrath of Lich King is a solid expansion. If not, a 15-year old Swedish boy probably wouldn’t have went into seizures during an overly long 24 hour binge play session. Doctors state the convulsions were the result of sleep deprivation and lack of food. The unnamed minor’s father states:

They played all day and all night. Maybe they got a few hours of sleep. They ate a little food and breakfast at their computers. [When the boy went into convulsions] we were terrified and called rescue services…

As Jon Stewart stated on the Daily Show once referring to binge gaming and parents: “As they lay there, I am powerless to stop them.” The media is of course linking it to video game addiction instead of completely oblivious parenting. Pulling the plug, canceling the WoW account, killing the internet connection, or simply talking to the kid were all possibilities. Apparently, that’s all too logical.

Knights of the Old Republic is, in many people’s eyes, the greatest Star Wars game ever made. The extensive RPG could now be set for MMO glory is a rumor turns out to be true. The somewhat cryptic statement comes from EA CEO John Riccitiello who stated in an interview that they have:

“… got two of the most compelling MMOs in the industry in development” including “the one that people are dying for us to talk to them about — in partnership with Lucas, coming out of BioWare.”

Take a note that the only game to ever come from BioWare and LucasArts was KOTOR, hence the reason why just about everyone figured out the announcement on day one. Still, nothing official, but certainly something you can look forward to without much disappointment.

Unschooling, a belief that traditional education doesn’t work and needs changed, has become the basis for University of Wisconsin-Madison Constance Steinkuehler’s study that Warcraft provides actual education value. She gathered up some eight and ninth graders for after school sessions of the game, and lo and behold, it seemed to have an effect. As the report by LiveScience states:

Some of the eighth graders and high school freshmen who signed up for the group couldn’t have cared less about writing or reading in school. Yet those students have gone from barely stringing together two sentences to writing lengthy posts in their group’s Web site forum, where they discuss detailed strategies for gearing up their virtual characters and figuring out tough quests…

So, if they can write detailed strategies about the game online, why is it that they can’t handle and English class again?

If you’re finally ready to give up your addiction to World of Warcraft for something you believe to be less addictive, chances are you’ll be back. Say that “less addictive” activity is Age of Conan. Well, the stats say you’ll be back to Azeroth 68% of the time. Maybe Warhammer is more your speed? Chances are you’ll be back 46% of the time.

Whether that’s the high quality of Warcraft, the low quality of the other games, or simple familiarity with Warcraft isn’t very clear. One thing it does show is how much people love their Warcraft, and what a slim chance any other game has of breaking its spell.

Chances are, you’ve heard of Johnathan Riches. He’s a prison inmate who has filed some of the most absurd lawsuits in recent memory, going as far as suing George Bush, Barry Bonds, and Eiffel Tower (?). This time, his target will be Blizzard, as their addictive World of Warcraft sent him on a crime spree, which in America, is entirely the fault of Blizzard (*sarcasm*). Why is the game at fault specifically you ask? It’s responsible for:

“…. causing [me] to live in a virtual universe, where [I] explored the landscape committing identity theft and fighting cybermonster rival hacker gangs.”

Riiiight. Sound logical. Anyone to start an office pool on how long it takes for this to get tossed out of court?