Who knows why Curry, the first winner of America's Next Top Model, chose to share this, but she did over Twitter last night. Lots of people game in the buff, but not many of them look like her, so I'm stamping news on this one. Oh, shut up, not everything has to be Investor's Business Daily around here.

Is she really playing though? In that pose, she must be using her feet on the mouse and the keyboard.

Love this comment from her Twitpic page: "You are a nerd's wet dream." One of them, anyway, and I'm sure a goodly number don't even involve girls.

me ... naked ... playing World of Warcraft ; ) [Adrianne Curry on Twitpic, via HBG]

The new service is aimed at every facet of the PC gaming community, from pro-teams that want to show off their skills to publishers that wish to show off their wares. Even you, the solo PC gamer, can allow the world to watch you play World of Warcraft, garnering helpful comments from the community via Livestream's chat functionality. Helpful tips like "should have presured the pally abit more" and "lalalalalala." Helpful!

"The partnership expands Xfire's offering to our vibrant community. It keeps our users involved, engaged and active. For Livestream, the partnership adds compelling gaming content to the linear and on-demand video content already available to millions of viewers and reinforces the power of the Livestream Platform," says Chris Kirmse, Xfire's General Manager. "We integrated Livestream's Platform within two weeks using their Platform APIs providing our users a 1-click solution to start a live broadcast."

You can visit Livestream's Xfire Gaming Network page right now to watch other people playing video games, or download Xfire and show the world your mad skills.

Let's understand each other: I have nothing against Warcraft or Warcraft gamers, or MMOs. I don't fear addiction to them, because I've built my life around deadlines and never missing them, and I'm fortunate to have some every single day to keep me honest. It's not the fantasy setting or the stigma, either - I was trundling AD&D books to my seventh grade classes and suffered enough teasing that I truly don't care about such things, now that I'm older. Maybe it's the fact that I've never been a serious PC gamer. Maybe it's my lack of comfort with WASD and mouse controls.

I think mostly it's how I was raised on RPGs. When I play a fantasy role-playing game I expect dice. I expect dice chalk. I expect character sheets. I expect stacks of hardbacked manuals. I expect a dungeon master screen. I expect rainy Saturdays with nothing to do but read "Unearthed Arcana." I expect going over to a friend's house on a Friday night. I expect paying the DM $20 to let me re-roll at name level. I expect everyone telling Eric to shut the fuck up, we're not letting him name his drow paladin-bard-illusionist "Zartan."

While I can't say these things have no analogue in WoW (except for paying the DM), the experience does seem to me to be a little less social. Yeah, you can form a raiding party at 3 a.m. and battle both sleep and orcs. For me, nothing beats lurching into one last cavern full of bugbears, and watching your pal, laying on the floor with his eyes closed, confidently tick off his weapon and spell choices to save the day, and then finding him the next morning asleep in exactly the same posture.

Again, nothing against Warcraft, but back in the day, that's just how we rolled. Literally.

Stephen Totilo, Deputy Editor, Kotaku

I don't play World of Warcraft. Haven't touched it since a single Saturday a few years ago when I brought a Tauren Druid to his 12th level and had a player, controlling a Tauren-turned-bear, approach my character and lick him. I believe this was the same player who, earlier in the day, went on a quest with me and didn't actually disconnect when I needed him most — he just had stepped away to change a load of laundry. I get what's appealing about WoW: The leveling, the oddities that occur when you're playing a game full of real people. But I quickly decided that I feared the game. I feared its monthly drain on my budget. I feared the sense of obligation to keep playing a game I continuously paid for. And I feared the amount of other games I wouldn't have time to play in order to play this single one. I like to play games that people consider to be great. I like to try to understand them. But with some disappointment, I stay away from World of Warcraft. I think it's better for me that way, that I gain more than I lose.

Juan Perez, Editor-in-Chief, Perez Start

Easy answer, addiction. MMO players are a different type of gamer. They live for the grind. Previously, I played Star Wars Galaxies - the first release - not that "revamped" watered-down version. There were not enough hours in the day to rank up my Twi'lek Bounty Hunter, join the Imperials and raid Anchorhead looking for Rebels who took the battles a little too serious by "reporting" other players. World of Warcraft then came along and swooped all those who still had the itch to game MMO. Macro nerds really pissed me off. You know the type, the ones that made all their actions a damn script. What enjoyment did they get from that? Sure, it was practical but gaming should be fun not a job. I already know gaming is an addiction that some can handle, while others become infatuated. WoW changed lives and kept some living like hermits. Monthly fees forced them to play "more" because of the "Geez, I'm paying for this crap so I'm going to use it" mentality. WoW is a cult I may have missed thanks to SWG setting my standards for MMOs, but I'm glad it did. Not sure how much time a week a WoW player plays but I bet it's close to 20 to 25 hours. No Thanks! Oh yeah, and that South Park episode helped keep me away. "Make Love, Not Warcraft". Staaaaaaan!!!

Fergus Mills, Senior Editor, The Koalition

Many people have tried to get me to play World of Warcraft, but it never appealed to me. Playing a game like WoW consumes so much time and all WoW players that I know play for hours on end everyday. There isn't enough time for me to have a social life, go to college, get enough, sleep, and play WoW the way they seem to. I have nothing bad to say about WoW players in general. Now that I am older I realize that people are just passionate about things that increase their quality of life. I just don't see why WoW is worth my time, so I stay away from it. It seems like just another game to me.

Overall, I think World of Warcraft has an extremely niche audience. I might be wrong, but WoW seems to take a certain amount of time and resolve to really get into it. It's not a game that you turn on and start to have fun right away with. My roommate DeJarvis Oliver says that he never got into WoW because it takes too long to build a character, level him up, and enjoy the action. I never got into it because of its monthly subscription. I have an internet bill, Netflix, Gamefly, and a cell phone bill to pay to name a few things. World of Warcraft does not have priority over any of that. I can cop a few console games and have satisfied experiences without any additional cost (besides XBL hitting my wallet up once a year). I realize that some of this additional cost is perceived and justified to some aspect, but I like variety in my games. Playing one game for too long is not my style. I don't think World of Warcraft has done a good job in letting people know why this is the game that they should playing. The commercial with Ozzy Osbourne is cool and all, but c'mon. Ozzy isn't going to convince me to play this game. He looks like he doesn't play it himself.

Brian Miggels, Editor & Graphic Designer, GameSpy

I don't play World of Warcraft at all. I never have and I never will. There's something that makes me cringe whenever co-workers start talking about raids, loot, and whatever level their blood elf is. I find it easy to sit back, relax, pick up a controller (not a keyboard with strategically popped out keys) and be labeled a "con-tard" by a number of people here at the office that specifically play PC games. Point number 1: Whatever the minimal difference is between my computer screen and my HDTV, it's enough to make me separate my worlds as far as a life is concerned. The symbolic gesture of closing my laptop at the end of the day is a brief reminder that it's game time or going out time. Point number 2: WoW is one of the most obviously addictive games there is. I have a full time job that I largely owe to me getting my shit together and doing away with some of my tendencies of being a highly addictive person. If I started playing it I know I would like it so much that my entire career would fall apart and I would go back to living in my parents' basement — although they never really even had a basement to begin with, but you get the point. Not for me, and no thank you.

Marc Normandin, Baseball Prospectus

Most of my close friends played WoW a few years back. They would play at a LAN center we visited often, and eventually would only play WoW. I still went to hang out with them, but that became harder to do as they morphed into hot-key-striking zombies.

Thanks to watching all of the riveting non-action as they stood around for hours waiting to organize themselves for daily raids, and what I can only assume are the same feelings a resentful, scorned girlfriend would have towards the game, I have had no interest in giving it a shot.

Shaun McIlroy, U.K./European Editor, One Last Continue

There's a simple reason why I no longer play World of Warcraft, I've got too much to lose in my life. Back in 2006, as a lowly college student, I managed to justify my then-addiction by claiming it was a way to unwind after a busy week. It was then that grades began to suffer. After a time I decided that enough was enough and the increasing workload was definitely more important than collecting animal pelts.

In short, life had, and has, more to offer than a trip across a virtual land for a nominal fee each month. I'd much rather use that money on a night out with my girlfriend, or a book for my games design degree, or even something more basic such as rent. I'm not sure how many hours I'd need to invest into that world again without risking my University degree or my wonderful relationship, but I know it wouldn't be worth it.

To contrast, my older brother (38) spends a hell of a lot of his personal time on WoW. Then again, and I say this with the utmost love and respect, with a lack of a real social life outside of Azeroth he can afford to.

Kreyg Dezgo, Editor, Hot Blooded Gaming

To this day, I have never played or so much as tried World of Warcraft. Some might say, "what kind of gamer are you?!" and I would reply sarcastically with, "a smart one?" While the game seems fun and like something I would greatly enjoy, the price of addiction is not one I wish to pay. It seems that everyone I knew who played WoW became addicted to it in some way. Working at a gaming LAN center/retail store didn't help either. Co-workers would play at work instead of working, friends would rather stay in and when asked to hang out, they would "not feel like it" It seemed like everyone just wanted to play World of Warcraft.

Instead of jumping on the bandwagon, I stayed away from the game. Co-workers and friends tried to peer-pressure me into playing many times. It was almost like those situations they told us about in [anti-drug program] D.A.R.E. Luckily I remember the "eight ways to say no," "broken record" and "say no and walk away" seemed to work best. Over time, my friends stopped playing, but periodically they would relapse and all their old patterns were back. The South Park episode later came out and I said to each of them, "at least you weren't as bad as that guy" Ultimately my friends are the reason I do not play WoW.

Josh Robinson, The Blue Banner (University of North Carolina Asheville)

The first time I tried World of Warcraft was when I was in the 11th grade. My buddy let me try the "friend trial" that came with the game. I gave it a try, but I was just so bored with the repetitive nature of the game. The never-ending leveling up, or "grinding," wasn't fun to me – I'm still not sure how it is for everyone who plays that game.

My friends were obsessed with the game from about the 11th grade until somewhere around the end of my sophomore year of college. I've still go friends who play it, but none that play it nearly as religiously as they did.

I don't have the time to play most of the video games I'd like. I don't see how people have the time to dedicate to a game like that. I definitely understand the appeal of the community aspect. I played EverQuest: Online Adventures for the PlayStation 2 while I was in the ninth grade and then Final Fantasy XI on the PlayStation 2, as well, in the 10th grade. I made some relationships with people that I still keep in contact with today.

But these days, I don't have the time to give to an MMO. I'm a full-time student and I have a job, as well. That alone ties up most of my time. I'm a senior, which means no rest, even in death, haha. Any spare time I have isn't going to be spent on a game that requires a monthly fee.

To me, WoW was not as fun as the other two MMOs I had played before. Can't really put my finger on what it was, but WoW lacked something the other two had. But obviously there's something there that appeals to a much larger group of people than the two MMOs that I played before it.

Your turn. If you don't play, now or ever, why not?

Check back all week for more stories related to World of Warcraft's fifth anniversary.

Truth be told, I did actually take a stab at WoW a few years back at the behest of an ex-boyfriend. I was willing to go to hell and back for that man at the time, but it turned out I wasn't willing to go to Blackrock. Also, I never did get over my scorn for total strangers who demand to know if I'm really a woman before partying with me – and I was never very good about following directions, anyway.

Luckily, you never have to look very far to find someone who does play WoW. They might be only casual amateurs as opposed to level 60 devotees. However, as people who keep coming back to play World of Warcraft, I think they're every bit as qualified as a social scientist to explain the phenomenon.

Dan Amrich, Editor-in-Chief, World of Warcraft: The Magazine
I am an altaholic so I have many, but my main is a 74 blood elf rogue. I play for the social aspect. WoW has become more about the people I play with than the game itself. Although I really enjoy the stories and the spectacle, I find it much more enjoyable because I get to share it with my family. I play with my wife and brother-in-law every week; we live in different states and it's a lot more fun to chat on Skype about what happened in our lives that week while simultaneously slaughtering murlocs wholesale. It's three hours of online quality time. We've been trying to convince my mother-in-law to play but I don't think even WoW is that powerful.

Katrin Auch, Freelance Graphic Designer
I have 10 characters from 77 to 35, mostly horde, but I have Blood Elves, Tauran, Undead, Human, and Dreani. I play because I love that it is cooperative. I almost never solo. I play with different groups of friends, with different types of characters at different levels-we usually voice chat, and we find ways of using our skills together. Most of my characters are healers of some class, priest, shaman, pally-I get great pride out of keeping my party alive. And we talk about all kinds of things, so it's fun and social-like having a game night, but not having to clean up afterwards.

Casey Lynch, Director of Public Relations, Reverb Communications
Explaining why I play WoW is like explaining why I like to go out and eat pizza, drink beer and hang out with my friends all night. Obviously, because it's hella fun to me. And come to think of it, when I play, I'm usually eating pizza, drinking beer and hanging out with my friends all night, except we're wired into Vent and running Naxx instead of carousing at our favorite pub.

Compared to other games out there that have quantifiable replay value, i.e. something I could potentially sink 100+ hours into, WoW just seems to have more variety to offer. Between running endgame instances, PvP, Arena, Battlegrounds, and leveling new classes of toons I haven't played before, to the more obvious introduction of new content via expansions and updates, just when you feel like you've done it all, you try something different and it feels like a new game. I heart wow!

Reginald Rhoades, Corporate Support Associate, Viz Media
Why I play? Zombies. Also I played the original [real time strategy] games when I was a no good punk kid back in middle school. Being a delusional adult who gets obsessed with false realities, interacting with these long-known characters has been immensely entertaining.

I have additional reasons such as bonding with friends that live far too far away and flirting with married women in a safe environment.

My favorite character is a level 80 Forsaken warlock hotty named Arisu.

Just to summarize… In WoW, you can play as a zombie! And eat people!

Anonymous GameStop Employee
I play World of Warcraft to unwind – that's my "me time" after work. I play as a Hunter, which is a solo class, so I don't really party up with friends. But, yeah, I can go anywhere and do anything I want. It's the one time of day when I feel like I can do that. It's so relaxing.

Feel free to share your World of Warcraft motivation down below. And for all you haters out there who don't play WoW, stick around. Old Man Owen Good is cooking up something for you tomorrow.

Check back all week for more stories related to World of Warcraft's fifth anniversary.

World of Warcaft is important. The developers tell Kotaku they even dared to dream that they'd some day get a million subscribers. But to tell the story of the fifth anniversary of WoW, we first have to look at the game that started 15 years ago, Warcraft.

It All Started On Arrakis

In 1992, Westwood Studios released a game that changed the way real-time strategy games were made. It was Dune II, the first RTS to incorporate mouse movement, resource gathering, technology trees, and unique weapons and units per faction, all elements that are still being used in RTS games today.

The game caught the eyes and imaginations of several members of Silicon & Synapse, a game development studio that had mainly focused on porting games from other studios. After a brief stint as Chaos Games the studio took on the name Blizzard Entertainment in 1994.

As Blizzard art director Sam "Samwise" Didier explains it, the team's fascination with Dune II led directly to the development of its first blockbuster hit, Warcraft: Orcs & Humans.

"Back in the Jurassic period we all loved playing games like Dune II. We got inspired and thought this game was awesome and wanted to make something like it. We were all big fans of Dungeons and Dragons and Tolkien, and we wanted to make a fantasy world real-time strategy game."

Taking cues from existing titles was the norm for Blizzard in the early days. Samwise points to another early Blizzard title, The Lost Vikings, which was born out of the team's love for PC puzzle game Lemmings from DMA Design, the studio that would go on to become Rockstar North of Grand Theft Auto fame.

So Blizzard took the formula established in Dune II and expanded upon it in Warcraft: Orcs & Humans, adding goals beyond simply building your army and decimating your enemies. Players found themselves rescuing friendly forces from enemy camps, assassinating key members of the opposition, and rebuilding ruined towns. It was also the first RTS game to feature hand-to-hand combat and magic.

One more important innovation was borrowed from a decidedly different sort of game – Doom. Inspired by the fun of playing Doom together, Blizzard added the ability to play multiplayer battles via modem and local area network to Warcraft: Orcs & Humans, a feature that would become a key feature of the RTS genre.

Expanding The Story

While Orcs & Humans laid the groundwork for games to come, it was relatively light on story. Blizzard rectified that oversight with the game's 1995 sequel, Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness, elevating Azeroth from game setting to fully realized fictional world.

The game saw the Orcs and Humans gather allies in the Trolls, Goblins, Elves, Dwarves, Orcs, and Gnomes, laying the foundations for the Alliance and the Horde as we know them today. The game and it's expansion pack, Beyond the Dark Portal, introduced characters and locations that would play a large part in the games to come.

Tides of Darkness also expanded on the multiplayer of the original game. In 1999, Blizzard released both the game and its expansion as Warcraft II: Battle.net Edition, allowing players to engage in multiplayer matches over the internet using the Battle.net service introduced with 1997's Diablo.

Class Clowns And Failed Comedians

Along with solidifying the world of Azeroth and strengthening the foundation for the fiction that would grow with each new game in the franchise, Warcraft II also established another signature feature of the series: its sense of humor.

"We had lots of class clowns and failed comedians on the team," explains Didier. "We never really took it too seriously. We wanted really cool characters and events while making fun classic fantasy stereotypes. We included anything we thought was cool, serious or humorous."

For instance, clicking on a unit once in Warcraft II elicits a normal verbal response. Click repeatedly on a unit for no reason and they become annoyed, spouting humorous phrases like "are you still touching me?" Samwise cites this feature as a prime example of adding humor to a game without alienating those craving a serious experience. "Only the people who wanted the comedy had to deal with it."

The Lost Chapter

As Warcraft was inspired by Dune II, Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans was inspired by classic LucasArts adventure games like The Secret of Monkey Island. Development on this adventure game began soon after the completion of Warcraft II. Using a combination of cartoons and point and click adventure gameplay it would tell the story of the Orcs trapped in Azeroth following the destruction of the Dark Portal, and the rise of the famed Orc warchief Thrall, Sadly, the game never saw the light of day.

In a move that Blizzard would later repeat with StarCraft side-story Ghost, the company canceled the game days before the 1998 E3 Expo in Atlanta, despite the game being mostly complete. The animation was finished, the puzzles in place, and even the voice over work had been fully recorded, but Blizzard felt the game wasn't up to their high standards.

In an announcement issued on the 22nd of May, 2008, Blizzard explained the cancellation to fans. "The decision centered around the level of value that we want to give our customers. In essence, it was a case of stepping up and really proving to ourselves and gamers that we will not sell out on the quality of our games."

When asked if there was ever a chance of Adventures being released, Samwise was skeptical. "We're not taking the old one and finishing it. It wasn't up to par and we'd have to polish the hell out of it. DVDs are really popular because of deleted scenes, but when you watch them you can see why they weren't included in the movie. That's what Warcraft Adventures is."

Still, Blizzard felt the story of Thrall too important to gloss over, commissioning Star Trek novelist Christie Golden to write Warcraft: Lord of the Clans, a novel that bridges the gap between Warcraft II and the next game in the series, Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos.

Further Evolution

Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos, released in 2002, delved deeper into the lore of the series than ever before. It chronicles the rise and fall of Arthas Menethil, the prince who would become the Lich King; introduces the Night Elves and the Undead; and introduces the Burning Legion, the demonic scourge of the Warcraft universe.

Deviating from previous entries in the series, Warcraft III and its expansion, The Frozen Throne, integrates storytelling into the gameplay itself, rather than feeding the player through mission briefings. This allowed for a more seamless and immersive game, further cementing Blizzard's reputation as top-notch storytellers.

Warcraft III, like Warcraft II, included a World Editor program, allowing players to craft their own scenarios and maps, and players took full advantage of the feature, creating their own game types. One such custom game, Defense of the Ancients, gave rise to a new sub-genre of RTS, in which players control a single champion that gains levels and abilities as it battles alongside computer-controlled units. Defense of the Ancients-inspired games like Gas Powered Games' Demigod and the recently released League of Legends from Riot Games serve as a lasting reminder to the legacy of Warcraft III.

Welcome To Our World

In early 2000, Blizzard's development team found themselves fascinated by another type of game.

"Everyone here had been playing a bunch of Everquest and Ultima Online," says Samwise Didier. "It goes all the way back to the whole Lost Vikings/Lemmings thing. It was a genre we enjoyed, and Warcraft was a good fit."

Blizzard announced World of Warcraft, the massively multiplayer take on the Warcraft universe in 2001, and for three years fans eagerly awaited their chance to take their first steps into the world of Azeroth, unfettered by the rules of the real-time strategy genre.

The game would pick up the story four years after the events of Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne, with the world split into two major factions – the Alliance and the Horde. Players would experience the battle for Azeroth from an entirely new, more personal point-of-view.

As the 2004 release approached, Blizzard was aware it had something special on its hands, though some members of the development team had more faith than others. World of Warcraft production director J. Allen Brack relates a particularly amusing story about a pep talk given by Blizzard co-founder and lead designer Allen Adham.

"Allen Adham got everyone on the team in a room to talk about how great his confidence was in the game, and how he thought we had something great. He said, 'One day this game will have a million subscribers.' No one believed that. We thought it was crazy. We thought, 'You're a liar.' There was no way that any game would have a million subscribers."

World of Warcraft launched in North America on November 23, 2004. Fan reaction to the release was so massive that the game was plagued with downtime and server queues for the first week, as Blizzard opened new worlds to deal with the exploding population. By December 2005, the game had 3.5 million subscribers. By December of 2008, that number had jumped to 11.5 million.

How does a PC game attract 11.5 million players? World of Warcraft game director Tom Chilton says the game has something for everyone.

"It's easy to learn, but hard to master, which attracts different sorts of gamers. The hard to master part keeps the hardcore players around, while the casual players enjoy the wide variety of things to do," Chilton explains. "Ultimately it's just a really good game."

Massively Mainstream Appeal

The success that World of Warcraft has achieved over the past five years is nothing short of astounding. It was the best-selling PC game of 2005 and 2006 according to NPD data, knocked from the top spot in 2007 by its own expansion, The Burning Crusade. In 2008 the game's second expansion, Wrath of the Lich King, took the top spot.

The success of the game goes far beyond sales numbers. World of Warcraft has become a pop culture phenomenon. It's been used to advertise products like Coke and Toyota, while its own advertisements have feature pop culture icons such as Mr. T and William Shatner. A 2007 episode of Comedy Central's cartoon South Park, "Make Love, Not Warcraft," won the 2007 Creative Arts Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program.

Like Super Mario Bros. or Grand Theft Auto, World of Warcraft is a game that has gained recognition far beyond its already expansive audience. For a fantasy game that is strictly PC-based, that's no mean feat.

The Future

So where will the World of Warcraft be in another five years? Tom Chilton delivers a blissfully blurry outlook for the world's most popular subscription-based MMO.

"One of the cool things is: who knows where it will go next? The world itself is filled with so many possibilities. We've got outer space demons. We're about to add little green guys and werewolves (in the upcoming Cataclysm expansion). There are so many different directions you can go in. Magic, guns, machines – anything we want to come up with we can fit into the World of Warcraft with no problem."

And the continuing success of World of Warcraft doesn't preclude the possibility of a Warcraft IV. Just don't expect it any time soon, with teams tied up with Diablo III and StarCraft II.

Real-time strategy or massively multiplayer, the Warcraft universe continues to make its mark on the world, with each new game and expansion adding layer upon layer to a tale that J. Allen Brack believes could go on forever.

"We've got quite a bit to do before we run out of ideas. New people are constantly joining the team, bringing their own ideas with them. The full story will never truly be written."

Check back all week for more stories related to World of Warcraft's fifth anniversary.

"The quote is classic Greinke - honest, surprising, funny - and probably as good a way as any for him to mark a day on a national stage," writes The Kansas City Star. It'll also boost his nerd appeal - already stratospheric, since he toils for a small-market franchise where statistical analysis is the only thing keeping a fan interested as the team approaches its inevitable mathematical elimination.

Unfortunately, the Star goes no further in sourcing out Greinke's online life. What class? What level? Has he done nothing but grind since season's end? Actually, considering who is his girlfriend, I hope the answer to that is yes.

Greinke Proves He's the Best in the Game [Kansas City Star, thanks mrlogical]

Image via Beyond the Box Score

Interested? Well your prospective employer also demands that you be able to play a Death Knight to "farm honor for items." Reward is $50 per hour while he's sub-1,850 in arena rating, $100 an hour when he's past that, and a big fat $5,000 bonus if he hits 2,350.

I'll admit, half of this is going well the fuck over my head, but it sounds a lot like the time back in sixth grade when I paid Jones Holcomb $20 to let me roll a 16th level fighter in D&D - in the basic set. That's right, I didn't even get to buy an artifact with that. No Mace of St. Cuthbert, no Celestian's Mantle, no Libram of Ineffable Damnation. Not even a sword +4 vorpal. And I was certainly more gracious and less bitchy about the transactional relationship than this clown:

"You *MUST* be trustworthy, helpful, have vent WITH MIC, and not have an holy-then-tho [sic] attitude," the advertiser writes. Christ, if I was getting paid to go into Warcraft and stand around healing some schmoe with more money than sense for 20 hours a week, I might not have a high opinion of my employer, but I'd definitely have a lower opinion of myself.

Oh, and, "Principals only. Recruiters, please don't contact this job poster." Just in case you're a headhunter for arena-healing death knights.

Looking For WOW ARENA Healer Who Can Also Play a DK...(Laurel Hts / Presidio) [Craigslist, thanks Jeffrey S.]

In a game-centered candidacy announcement, to GamePolitics, Tenorio said he's on the ticket led by fellow Sen. Eddie Baza Valvo. "As most everyone in WoW are eyeing level 85 in the Cataclysm expansion, waiting to take down the Lich King and still grinding heroic Ulduar," is his preamble.

Through his candidacy, he says, "we can continue to let people, voters and those in positions of authority know that gamers are the same as those who do everything from clean public parks, fight and die for democracy, conduct intricate procedures in professional careers, and, yes, even make policy."

Lieutenant governor of Guam - a U.S. territory with no voting representation in Congress - is not exactly on the top 100 list of visible political offices. But you gotta start somewhere, and if gamers get this, at least it's better than the Libertarians, who have like a county medical examiner or something as their highest elected official.

Tenorio is also known as Paleray, a level 80 Dwarf Priest in the Knights of the Marianas guild. He can be found on the Silverhand server.

Hardcore WoW Playing Senator Announces Run for Lt. Guv of Guam [GamePolitics]

Replying to: "Stephanie from New York City," Ferguson says, more or less, guys his age and ethnicity (47 years, white) don't do "hip" things. So there's the tradeoff for Blizzard. They lose the valuable 47-year-old white guy market, but gain hip cred.

I think his original answer: "I don't even know what you mean," is likely most accurate here.

Click the thumbnails for more details.

Sonic Universe #7 ... Written by Ian Flynn. Drawn by Tracy Yardley.

Summary Via Publisher Archie Comics: PART THREE OF THE EPIC "MOBIUS: 30 YEARS LATER" TALE!
"What's Old is New Again": King Sonic has been evicted from his castle with only Lara-Su at his side! What's a deposed king to do? Gather up some Freedom Fighters, that's what! But who? And from where? This pulse-pounding tale allows readers to see some familiar faces as the Future Freedom Fighters assemble for the first time!

World of Warcraft Book 1... Written by Walter Simonson. Drawn by Ludo Lullabi and Sandra Hope.

Summary Via Publisher Wildstorm Entertainment: Collecting WORLD OF WARCRAFT #0-7, based on the world's most popular massively multiplayer video game! In this epic tale, a human is found unconscious, with no memory of who he is. Enslaved by the Orc Shaman Rehgar Earthfury, this man must fight for survival, striking uneasy relationships with other races in his quest to find the secrets of his past!

World of Warcraft Book 2... Written by Walter Simonson. Drawn by Ludo Lullabi and Sandra Hope.

Summary Via Publisher Wildstorm Entertainment: The second WORLD OF WARCRAFT collection, featuring issues #8-14 of the hit series, tells the saga of the Missing King of Stormwind. Upon learning he is in fact the lost ruler of Stormwind, Lo'Gosh returns to reclaim his throne with his comrades-in-arms Valeera and Broll. But all is not as it seems in the Eastern Kingdom, especially if one informed dwarf has anything to say about it.

Street Fighter Legends: Chun-Li #4 (of 4)... Written by Ken Siu-Chong. Drawn by Omar Dogan.

Summary Via Publisher Udon Entertainment: In the conclusion to Chun-li's prequel miniseries, the strongest woman in the world comes face to face with the king of Muay Thai! It's Chun-li VS Sagat, with the souls of eight thousand Chinese warriors on the line!

Warcraft Legends: Volume 5... Written and Drawn by various.

Summary Via Publisher Tokyopop: Some of the world's best talent — including New York Times Bestselling Warcraft author Richard A. Knaak — join together to bring the world of Warcraft to life as never before! Told from both Alliance and Horde points of view, these stories have entertained the likes of travelers, soldiers and thieves in taverns, inns and camps all throughout Azeroth. They have endured the trials of time and have earned the title of legend.

Now, I don't have the first clue how you'd predict these winners. But if you do, or if you get lucky, you get two of aforesaid laptops - 2.26GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 320GB drive, 15.6-inch screen, 4 gigs of RAM and an NVIDIA 9800M GS graphics card.

Right now, the site has the fields set for just two tournaments - Warcraft III and Warcraft Arena. When they get the field set for Starcraft they'll do another survey. Here's the contestants, first for the Warcraft III championship.

• Phil Crawford, aka Long Walk. Night Elf, United States, Winner, 2009 North American WarCraft Regional Final

• Deokman Yoon, aka PhoeNix_Soccer, Night Elf, Korea, Winner, 2007-08 AWL Season1; 2008 AMD Challenge Black

• Chulwoo Park, aka Shy, Night Elf, Korea, Winner, Leadtek WarCraft III; KODE5 Korea, WGT 2007 Tournament

• Pedro Moreno Durán, aka LucifroN, ORC, Spain, Second Place, 2008 BlizzCon Global Final; Winner, 2009 European WarCraft Regional Final

• Nikita Pomadov, aka Nicker, Night Elf, Russia, Third Place, 2009 European WarCraft Regional Final

• Nikolaus Cassidy, aka Sonkie, Human, United States, Winner, 2008 North American WarCraft Regional Final

• June Park, aka Lyn, Orc, Korea, Winner, 2008 BlizzCon Global Final; 2009 Korean WarCraft Regional Final

• Manuel Schenkhuizen, aka Grubby, Orc, Netherlands, Winner, WCG 2008; Second Place, 2009 European WarCraft Regional Final

And here is the field for the WarCraft Arena championship.

• Woah (Second Place, 2009 European WarCraft Regional Final) Members: Carlos "Ocelote" Rodriguez Santiago, Spain, Warrior , Patrick "Inflame" Costales, Germany, Warlock , Hugo "Kae" Gonzalez, Spain, Druid

• DKP (Winner, 2009 Taiwan WarCraft Regional Final) Members: Ming "Kita" Lee, Taiwan, Priest , Po-Jui "Ray" Lee, Taiwan, Death Knight , Yu-liang "KH" Huseh, Taiwan, Rogue

• SK Gaming (Winner, 2009 North American WarCraft Regional Final) Members: Joseph "Enforcer" Morrone, Canada, Rogue , Mark "Pookz" Rendon, United States, Mage , Ryan "Realz" Masterson, United States, Priest

• x6tence (Winner, 2008 and 2009 European WarCraft Regional Finals) Members: Nestor "Souler" Garcia Trabazo, Spain, Paladin , Javier "Siler" Dobon, Spain, Hunter, Victor Manuel "Falcon" Sanchez Lopez, Spain, Death Knight

• Shipit (Winner, 2009 Korean WarCraft Regional Final) Members: Soonjae "Coilmaster" Cha, Korea, Death Knight , Jaemin "Tsukiyomi" Lee, Korea, Hunter , Janghwan "Kamiu" Bae, Korea, Paladin

•TSG (Second Place, 2009 North American WarCraft Regional Final) Members: David "Valrath" Kovacs, Canada, Death Knight , Bennett "Veex" Lynch, United States, Warrior , Fabian "Zilea" Siffredi, United States, Paladin

• Button Bashers (Winner, 2008 Korean WarCraft Regional Final) Members: Naehyun "Orangemarmalade" Kang, Korea, Mage , Seoungouk "Numberone" Oh, Korea, Priest , Woojin "Hannival" Kim, Korea, Rogue

• All Pass (Second Place, 2009 Taiwan WarCraft Regional Final) Members: Yen-Fu "BA" Chen, Taiwan, Priest , Ming-Wei "Seven" Ho, Taiwan, Mage , Te-Chen "Tank" Liu, Taiwan, Rogue

Choose a Champion with Intel at BlizzCon 2009 [site]

The Telegraph of London talked to Dr Graham, who plans by the end of the year to skulk around Azeroth to provide counseling to at-risk elves and such. "I think it's already clear that psychiatrists will have to stay within the parameters of the game. They certainly wouldn't be wandering around the game in white coats and would have to use the same characters available to other players," he said.

Mmm-hm. OK, so, you're gonna create characters that look and act and play like characters. Oh, and there's this, too: "One problem we're going to have to overcome is that while a psychiatrist may excel in what they do in the real world, they're probably not going to be very good at playing World of Warcraft. We may have to work at that if we are going to get through to those who play this game for hours at end."

Now, I'm not sure what the likelihood of success is for offering, let alone providing, "in-game therapy." What this project really sounds like it's gonna do, for the first few months anyway, is give a bunch of labcoats some free Warcraft and let them play it for a hundred hours so they can get real good at spotting and relating to addicts.

You know, I think porn addicts need some counseling. I think Bang Bus should give me and my friends some free logins.

Addiction Therapists SIgning Up to World of Warcraft [The Daily Telegraph, via GamePolitics]

You can head over to Cartagen, the mapping utility, and see for yourself. It runs in HTML5 and does not require Java or Flash. Punch in a landmark and off you go. (I did Big Ben, above).

London Mapped in Warcraft II Style [Boing Boing]

The hot topic currently raging at Blizzard's creatively leaning offices is apparently "What role will Bruce Campbell play?" That's according to Blizzard VP of creative development Chris Metzen, who thinks that Raimi, director of the Spider-Man and Evil Dead trilogies, is "gonna rock it out."

"I keep thinking [Campbell] might make a killer Goblin," Metzen said during today's Warcraft "Epic Loot" Comic-Con panel. "He's got a kick ass chin."

Metzen commented casually that he'd envisioned the actor taking a digital role, perhaps in Gollum style pre-rendered performance.

While Metzen couldn't say much about the Warcraft flick in an official capacity other than "we're prepping all engines to rock" and his comments about a Bruce Campbell cameo weren't confirmation that the actor is signed on, it sure sounds like a good idea.

They have boom sticks in Warcraft, right?

Ain't It Cool is reporting that Sam Raimi (Evil Dead, Spider-Man) has signed on to direct the film version of Warcraft. "It [the announcement] will come out in trades later this week or next," writes Ain't It Cool. "But you can take this one to the bank."

The movie version has been in development at Legendary Pictures for several years now.

Not official confirmation by any means. Stay tuned!

Update: Variety has confirmed that Raimi will be helming the picture. Legendary Pictures and Blizzard will be collaborating with Warner Bros., who will be co-financing and distributing the film.

The movie will be produced by The Dark Knight producer Charles Roven. Blizzard's senior VP of creative development Chris Metzen will co-producer. Raimi is supervising the film's development while shooting Spider-Man 4 next year.

"At its core, Warcraft is a fantastic, action-packed story," said Raimi. "I am thrilled to work with such a dynamite production team to bring this project to the big screen."

The official press release refers to the move simply as "Warcraft" and not "World of Warcraft".

AICN Exclusive Confirmed: Sam Raimi is going to direct WORLD OF WARCRAFT!!! [AICN Thanks to all who sent this in!]

Fortunately, Cracked is here to explain the Warcraft phenomenon in the context of something I can understand - Super Mario Bros. of which I have played shitloads. This 1,500 word slandering of MMOs in general, Warcraft and its players in specific, is full of revelations like: "Getting a WoW group to do anything together is harder than getting a bag of chickens its SCUBA certification," and "WoW is like Girls Gone Wild without the tits: idiots and douches taking turns doing anything to get noticed, and no one knows what a condom looks like."

I thought about this for the Reader earlier today, except it is anything but erudite. Console gamers, go have a good 15 minutes of schadenfreude. MMO fans, commisserate here.

Understanding World of Warcraft Using Super Mario Brothers [Cracked, thanks Gabe]

With TweetCraft, WoW gamers get a fully-featured Twitter client that, of course, allows you to send and receive in game - but also schedule your Tweet uploads, send in-game screenshots, and auto-tweet whenever you log in, get an achievement or enter an instance.

I'll confess to being bored and switching over to Twitter almost by reflex, just to see what's going on. This kind of multitasking seems like it mostly furthers stereotypes about WoW players and the triviality of Twitter content.

Oh hell, they even made a demo video for this thing. Here, check it out.

TweetCraft [site, via Blue's News]

The Blizzard employee library is home to the informational—programming language texts, maps, historical reference—but it's also filled with fun, as decades' worth of PC and console games take up almost half of the room's space. Let's take a look.

Nerd alert! Classic Dungeons & Dragons manuals and campaigns join copies of the original Warcraft: Orcs Vs. Humans and... a copy of the Sega Genesis version of Populous.
Given display priority are the works of Yoshitaka Amano, famous for his Final Fantasy work, in Amano: The Complete Prints of Yoshitaka Amano, one of three books so prominently displayed.
Battles of the Ancient World 1285 BC - AD 451: From Kadesh to Catalaunian Field and Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar. If you want to work at Blizzard, it might not be a bad idea to read these books.
There are... a lot of PC games, still in the box, at the Blizzard library. From classics like System Shock to competition like EverQuest, you'd be hard pressed to find many marquee titles missing from these shelves.
More pen and paper role-playing game manuals up top, every nerd reference—comic books, Star Wars, Star Trek, Tolkein, et al.—on the bottom.
What Blizzard's library is a little shorter on are console games. There are some last-generation must-haves out of frame, but the Wii, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 aren't as well represented.
Yep, more PC games. Can you name them all?

Via publisher Dark Horse Comics: Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic #42... Written by John Jackson Miller; Art by Ron Chan; Cover by Benjamin Carre..

When an argument between ex-Padawan Zayne Carrick and the mysterious Jarael leaves her questioning her place in his life, the appearance of the Jedi Malak threatens to make up her mind for good. Yet Malak's not the only one with an interest in Jarael. Just how far the Mandalorian Rohlan is willing to go to stay by her side has never been revealed — until now!

Major developments for Zayne and Jarael! Previously untold events in the story of Malak and Revan! For in-the-know Star Wars fans, this issue is a must have! A special one-shot story featuring Malak and Revan from the Knights of the Old Republic video games sets our main cast on a deadly new course!
Via publisher Wildstorm: Gears of War Sourcebook ... Written by Joshua Ortega; Art by Federico Dallocchio, Liam Sharp, Andy Smith, Brandon Badeaux, Doug Mahnke and others; Cover by Stephen Platt...

A great jumping-on point for new readers! We've gathered together some of the most enthusiastic fans of the mega-popular Gears of War franchise and developed a unique look at this complex and challenging world. Featuring a short story written by Gears 2 game writer (and monthly comic scribe) Joshua Ortega and art by rising superstar Federico Dallocchio. There are also loads of pinups by some of the hottest names in the industry, bringing gritty reality to this incredible property!
Via publisher Wildstorm: World of Warcraft #20... Written by Walter Simonson and Louise Simonson; Art by Mike Bowden and Phil Moy; Cover by Walter Simonson...

The Scourge makes their move and attacks from all fronts intent on taking no prisoners! No longer united, can Varian and Thrall survive the onslaught? And will Valeera once again succumb to her addiction to magical energy?
Via publisher Tokyopop: Warcraft Legends, Volume 4 ... Written by Dan Jolley, Christie Golden, others; Art by various …

Some of the world's best manga creators join together to bring the world of Warcraft to life as never before! Between these covers lie tales of adventure, treachery, humor and bravery. Told from both Alliance and Horde point of view, these stories have entertained the likes of travelers, soldiers and thieves in taverns, inns and camps all throughout Azeroth. They have endured the trials of time and have earned the title of legend. Whether this is your first journey into Azeroth, or merely the latest in a long line of visits, this collection will not soon be forgotten!

Fans of Warcraft, Starcraft or Diablo are invited to write 3,000 to 10,000 words, set in either of the three franchises. The grand winner gets a trip to Irvine, Calif. to meet and dine with the Blizzard lore staff. He or she (but, since this is fan fiction, I mean, yeah, probably a he) will get a Frostmourne sword. Runners-up, and there will be seven, get prize packages comprised of signed copies of the Blizzard novels.

The contest is open worldwide, so, if the winner happens to reside in Ulan Bator, guess that means Blizzard will spring for the airfare and lodging. And since this will be judged by the Blizzard folks, I'm reasonably sure entries should keep it all fapfree and all the characters should belong to Blizzard IP. So, no weird crossovers with Sailor Moon or Stargate: SG1, and no hot orc-on-elf action either, no matter how good you think you are at describing such passion. More details at the official contest entry page.

Blizzard Invites Fan Writer to their Offices [Incgamer]