Vivendi pointed to lower earnings from its Sierra label, with sales of Crash of the Titans, Spyro: The Eternal Night, F.E.A.R. Perseus Mandate, Timeshift and World in Conflict as "not as strong as the 2006 release slate." Let's hear it for World of Warcraft, ladies and gentlemen!

Vivendi Full Year 2007 Revenues Increase Significantly (PDF) [Vivendi]

Like a coke dealer letting an old client have one on him, Blizzard is flooding their former fanbase with free 10-day trials of World of Warcraft's Burning Crusade.

The box showed up in my mail a few days ago in one of those DVD cases I still associate with AOL free trials. Hitting the FAQ I find that most of the Burning Crusade's content is available for those ten days, though you can only advance to within one experience point of level 61.

My favorite Q&A:

How do I upgrade to the full version of The Burning Crusade?

If you have a credit card, you can upgrade your account directly online for $39.99 USD at any time. You can also purchase a boxed copy from the Blizzard Online Store or most major retailers of entertainment software.

That's right, you buy it. Fahey's already pointed out how easily amused I am. Brian Crecente

Free Trial FAQ [WoW]

Not to be outdone by our lavish GameStop launch events, over in Europe Blizzard is going to co-host four special midnight signing events to celebrate The Burning Crusade's release. Locations in France, England, Germany and Sweden (take THAT, Belgium!) will host BC team members for a meet, greet, and game-signing session kicking off at 0:00 on January 16th.

It is fitting that Europe get special attention during this launch, having originated several other popular crusades throughout history. In fact, I'm relatively sure that there was burning involved as well. If you happen to be Turkish, recently excommunicated, or a heretic in Europe early next Tuesday, you might want to keep a low profile. Spirits will be high, and we all know how easily military campaigns of a religious character can break out.

See the press release after the jump for specific locations. Michael Fahey

World of Warcraft : The Burning CrusadeTM Midnight Store Openings
BLIZZARD ENTERTAINMENT MEDIA ALERT

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 09, 2007

PARIS, France. Blizzard Entertainment announced today that it will co-host special midnight signing events at four retail locations across Europe to celebrate the release of World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade. The four retail outlets listed below will allow gamers at each location to be among the first in Europe to purchase the highly anticipated World of Warcraft expansion, going on sale at 0:00, January 16.

WHAT: Copies of World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade will be on sale during the events, with availability subject to stocks and store capacity at each location. Blizzard development team members will be present to help celebrate the launch.

WHO: Developers from the World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade team will be on hand to meet gamers and sign copies of the game.

WHERE:

UK: HMV
150 Oxford Street
London W1D 1DJ
Paris 8e
Phone: 020 7631 3423
Doors open: 11:00PM, January 15

FRANCE: FNAC
74 Ave des Champs Elys es
Phone: 0153 53 64 64
Doors open: 0:00 - 04:00, January 16

GERMANY: Media Markt
10627 Berlin-Charlottenburg
Krumme Stra e 48
Phone: 030 31992 0
On sale: 0:00, January 16

SWEDEN: EB Games Gallerian
Hamngatan 37
Stockholm
Phone: 08 411 21 51
Doors open: 0:00, January 16

WHEN: Monday, January 15/Tuesday January 16, 2007 | On Sale at 0:00

Players who are unable to attend any of the four official Blizzard launch events can check with local stores for their midnight opening plans.

With more than 7.5 million players worldwide, World of Warcraft has become the most popular massively multiplayer role-playing game to date. The game's first expansion, World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade, will allow players to advance up to the new level cap of 70; embark on new adventures in the continent of Outland, where they can obtain player-controlled flying mounts; play as two new races - the Blood Elves and the Draenei; take up the new profession of jewelcrafting; engage in exciting new forms of player-vs.-player combat; and much more. For detailed information on the expansion, visit http://wow-europe.com/en/burningcrusade.

###

I've promised myself that as soon as Burning Crusade comes out, I'm going to reunite my guild made up entirely of undead rogues with Cthulhuesque names ("...and the Holograms") and waste my entire winter playing a game that has never filled me with anything besides self-contempt.

So good news! Looks like Burning Crusade is starting to wrap up production. Blizzard has started sniffing after prominent guild leaders to ask them if they'd like to join a closed beta, dragging a few of their buddies along.

Please note: Blizzard doesn't want you in the beta. Pleading and whining won't help: they view you as rabble. Let's just keep our fingers crossed that we'll get to see an open beta too. Florian Eckhardt

Blizzard on WoW Expansion's Closed Beta [1UP]

Blizzard announced that they will be holding a series of contests that will net gamers spots in their beta for World of Warcraft's expansion The Burning Crusade. There are three separate contests to attempt on the Test Realms (the contest begins tomorrow). The first is a race to level 50, with the top 1000 fastest levelers landing a spot in the beta. The second is the battle of Warsong Gulch, a PvP centered competition which involves using low level characters (up to 19) in PvP. The last contest is a competition to see how many characters a player can level to 25 during the three-week competition.

Contests on the Public Test Realm [Blizzard]

Best prices on World of Warcraft [Amazon]