Surprise! This is actually a story about rational people. He put the orc, which he'd owned for six years, up for adoption. "Dee means more to me, so he had to go," said Robert Cushnie, a 42-year-old telecommunications manager.

Seems Cushnie had acquired the statue when a games store shut down. He married his wife in February, but she, standing 5-3 was mildly repulsed, if not intimidated, by the six-foot orc. The statue is now with an elderly couple, whose 16-year-old granddaughter adores it.

Oh by the way, the Cushnies are still moving to Canada, Dee's country of origin. See? Happily ever after. We can do that here, too.

It's Him Orc Me [The Scottish Sun, via HBG]

[Image via GizmoWatch; it's not the statue in question, but close.]

According to Toronto's Globe and Mail, Andrew Kane, 16, "nonchalantly" asked his mom and dad if they would drive him to a motel where he would meet up with a woman who'd flown up from Texas to meet him. They weren't too keen on that idea. So he went back upstairs to tell the woman - a mother of two - he couldn't make the date. Mom and dad went back to check on him - at 2 a.m. - and lo and behold he was gone.

Kane was missing for two days. The Globe and Mail, drolly identifiying Kane and Lauri Price, 42, as "the couple" were found Thursday in a store in a nearby town. Ms. Price said whoa-whoa-whoa he told me he was 20, but it doesn't matter, 16 is the age of consent up in Canada anyway, so she's not gonna face charges.

The Globe and Mail has all of the creepy-creepy, as can only be supplied by two delusional lovebirds, one of whom got her college degree before the other was born. Obligatory game addiction mention, too.

Teen Found After Meeting his 42-year-old Online 'Soulmate' [The Globe and Mail, Toronto]

[
pic via]

The Howard County Sheriff's Department in Indiana discovered that Hightower, was a big fan of some "warlock and witches game", eventually piecing together that it was World of Warcraft.

The investigating deputy contacted Blizzard to see if they would help track him down, the Kokomo Perspective reports.

"They don't have to respond to us, and I was under the assumption that they wouldn't," Roberson told the Perspective. "It had been three or four months since I had sent the subpoena. I just put it in the back of my mind and went on to do other things. Then I finally got a response from them. They sent me a package of information. They were very cooperative. It was nice that they were that willing to provide information."

Blizzard provided the sheriff the suspect's IP address, account information and history, his billing address, and his online screen name and preferred server. Deputies then used the information to pinpoint Hightower's location in Canada.

Hightower, who was wanted on charges of dealing in a schedule III controlled substance and dealing in a schedule IV controlled substance, and two charges of dealing in marijuana, was picked up by Canadian authorities and will be returned to Howard County on Jan. 5.

While it's good to see Blizzard helping out law enforcement, it is a touch Big Brothery to hear just how much information they track and keep and are so willing to give away... even when not legally required to do so.

Long arm of law reaches into World of Warcraft [Kokomo Perspective, thanks Tim]

Each 148-page issue is funded solely through subscriptions (and, presumably, Blizzard), so there'll be no ads. Just articles and pictures. Below, you can see what those articles and pictures will look like, each $10 issue (available only through an annual subscription) claiming to be "more like a softcover book than a magazine".

Which sounds ridiculous, but to WoW fans- who will buy this in their thousands - it rings as true as it can ring.

World of Warcraft Official Magazine [thanks Neil!]

World of Warcraft Special #1 (of 12)
Written by Mike Costa. Drawn by Pop Mhan.

Summary Via Publisher Wildstorm Entertainment:
Kicking off a bold new direction for World of Warcraft comics! Algalon will be the judge! This special issue of WORLD OF WARCRAFT introduces new Horde and Alliance characters not yet seen in the ongoing series. Discover, through the eyes of The Observer himself, if the inhabitants of Azeroth are worthy of survival - or will they inevitably meet certain doom?

Street Fighter II Turbo #10
Written by Ken Siu-Chong. Drawn Jeffrey "Chamba" Cruz and Bob Strang.

Summary Via Publisher Udon Entertainment Entertainment:
In stores this Wednesday Dec 16th is Street Fighter II Turbo #10. This issue features not only the tournament battle of Cammy VS Balrog, but also Ryu VS Sagat in the rematch of the decade! Plus an all-new Street Fighter III backup featuring the mysterious Q!

The Blizzard authenticator is a device that generates a one-time code that secures your Blizzard account from unauthorized access. The device costs $6.50 at the Blizzard store, and are given away in great numbers at BlizzCon, the company's annual fan celebration. Apparently being cheap as hell and sometimes free isn't enough incentive for some people, so Blizzard is passing out the baby Core Hound in-game pet , seen here in an image from MMO Champion, as an incentive. Anyone who adds an Authenticator to their account or has already done so scores the pet, which should see the little keychain fob devices being activated left and right.

Seeing as my World of Warcraft account has been hacked at least twice now, you'd think I would have used one of the many Authenticators I've had laying about from the past two BlizzCons by now, but no. Now that there's a fire dog involved, however, expect to see me digging through boxes of random junk in my closet later today, desperately searching.

The 750MB patch adds three new 5-man dungeons and one new 10/25-man raid to Icecrown Citadel, a new built-in quest tracker and a new Looking for Group system, among other things. This patch will hit European servers later tonight.

Feel free to hit us up with impressions in the comments section below.

WoW Patch 3.3 Live News Item [IncGamers]
World of Warcraft Patch 3.3.0 is Coming Today [GameSpy]

J!nx, creators of fine gaming apparel, and Hot Topic, the store that helps millions of teenagers be unique and edgy, riff on PETA with Savethemurlocs.org, a website dedicated to stopping the senseless slaughter of Azeroth's gargling aquatic pests. Or perhaps the site is dedicated to selling exclusive Hot Topic Save the Murlocs t-shirts. Either way, they play a good game.

The Save the Murlocs Foundation aims to preserve and protect these majestic creatures. Through numerous awareness and outreach programs, we work to outlaw Murloc cruelty, help rebuild villages, protest part harvesting, and find homes for poor orphaned baby Murlocs.

While I certainly enjoy the video, the prospect of shopping at Hot Topic makes my eye twitch, and considering you have to actually enter a retail location to buy one, I'll have to pass.

Still, nice shirt.

For a limited time, Blizzard will be selling action figures of their most special fat panda, Chen Stormstout. They'll be $50, and available only from Blizzard's online store, so if this kind of thing sets your commercial klaxons sounding, best be snappy.

Pandaren Brewmaster Deluxe Figure [Blizzard]

According to website MMO Champion, the player has completed all the achievements except for the recently added "BB King" and is the first player to reach 986/986 points listed in the armory.

His stats in the Armory revealed that he has killed 390,895 creatures and died 8,543 times himself. He has racked up 7,255,538,878 points of damage and has completed 5,906 quests. That's an average of 14.6 quests per day.

As website GamePro points out, 小灰 has only given 11 hugs and "LOL'd" just once.

Congrats?

Player gets all achievements, Shadowed Unit Frames [MMO via GamePro]

Earlier this year, scientists from the US and China published a paper called "Human group formation in online guilds and offline gangs driven by a common team dynamic". Which does a neat job of summing up the paper's contents.

Basically, there's a mathematical model, a "a common team-based model can accurately reproduce the quantitative features of [WoW guilds and gangs] simply by adjusting the average tolerance level and attribute range for each population". So WoW guilds and gangs run on the same mechanics.

And it took scientists to come up with this? Crips and Bloods, Alliance and Horde...it's right there in the colours when you sign up, let alone whatever happens later on.

Human group formation in online guilds and offline gangs driven by a common team dynamic [Physical Review E, via Slashdot]

"There are a lot of people that try to emulate World of Warcraft - and as flattering as that is our end it's definitely not the right move," says Blizzard producer Shane Dabiri in magazine PC Zone.

"I know that World of Warcraft is very successful, and so people think if they were to make another game just like it they could somehow capture that audience. However, I don't think that's what players are looking for.

"Players that have invested time in WOW don't just want to do the same thing in other game - they want to try something completely new and different," he argues.

"I think the industry needs to move in that direction to come up with some innovative new MMOs that are trying really different things. Take City of Heroes - at least that's something that's not a fantasy game."

Man's got a point. There already is WoW. If someone wants to play a World of Warcraft like game, then they'll probably play, well, WoW.

News: Copying WoW "not the right move" [CVG]

This post is part of our series this week on the fifth anniversary of the launch of World of Warcraft.

Yes, I know that many massively multiplayer online games preceded World of Warcraft and persist to this day. Plenty of praise is due to the EverQuests and Ultima Online, to Star Wars Galaxies and City of Heroes, to Eve Online, Saga of Ryzom and others. There were here before Blizzard. But today's post isn't about them.

For reference, Blizzard's MMO launched on November 23, 2004.

Asheron's Call 2: The first Asheron's Call from developer Turbine is still going and just celebrated its 10th anniversary, but sometimes you can't turn people onto a new thing. The sequel, Asheron's Call 2, ended four years ago, with some press attention from me at this semi-busted link of my old employer's and by reporter Clive Thompson, who attended the end of that world.
Born: 11/02. Died: 12/05

Shadowbane: The player-vs-player-focused fantasy game published by Ubisoft went free. Hung on for another three years, but got the axe in 2009, the year that you'll see throughout this post marked the demised of many any MMO.
Born: 3/03. Died: 7/09

The Matrix Online (pictured above): Backed by Warner Brothers and Sega, this was one of those can't-miss MMOs based not just a popular fiction but a fiction that was all about people jacking into another reality. This was also the rare movie-spin-off video game that was considered canon. The game blinked out this past summer, putting the entire franchise on hold, I believe.
Born: 3/05. Died: 8/09

Auto Assault (pictured above): The development studio that made this game is making a Lego MMO now, so don't feel too bad for the folks at NetDevil. I remember being impressed with the pitch for Auto Assault. Other MMOs would make you a character. In this one you could be a car, because, well, playing as a car could lead to fun gameplay. I regret never having tried it once it went live. Crecente had theorized that the game was just too different from its MMO peers.
Born: 4/06. Died: 8/07

Tabula Rasa: This MMO, overseen by Ultima Online creator Richard Garriott, flamed out quickly, hounded by complaints that it just wasn't much fun. At least the sci-fi game was stamped out by giant robots.
Born: 2/07. Died: 2/09

Dungeons and Dragons Online: One of MMO developer Turbine's tries for a game in the exact same genre as World of Warcraft — likely using much of the source material that inspired Blizzard's developers — this game became a free-to-play MMO this year.
Born: 2/06.

Vanguard Saga of Heroes: Sony Online Entertainment's other fantasy MMO (besides EverQuest). Our Michael Fahey has posted about his lukewarm interest in the game a couple of times. Still going.
Born 1/07.

Lord of the Rings Online: The closest MMO, in terms of content, to World of Warcraft. Turbine's game is still going, still being expanded, and, Turbine said as recently as June of this year, even has a growing userbase.
Born: 4/07

Pirates of the Caribbean Online: From Disney. Fee to play, but costs money for the fully-featured version.
Born: 10/07

Pirates of The Burning Sea: From Flying Lab Software. Has had its dark days. But keeps getting patched. Still going.
Born: 1/08

Age of Conan: Funcom's MMO was one of the splashier contenders to WoW's dominance, boasting, at one point, 700,000 users. But its director quit the company over a year ago, expressing dissatisfaction with his work, and the buzz for this game has diminished significantly.
Born: 5/08

Warhammer Online: EA's big push in the fantasy MMO genre. Seemed to start strong, but the studio's been beleaguered. And, earlier this month, the game went free to play (for players okay with being capped at level 10). Not the signs of a game firmly entrenched in the market, sadly.
Born: 9/08

Aion (pictured above): NCSoft's latest MMO had, according to company claims, 400,000 pre-ordered customers ready for launch. Servers couldn't handle demand, exemplified by the user who got hit with a seven-hour wait to log on to the game. Fahey's been playing it, amid the crowds.
Born: 9/09.

Champions Online: A super-hero MMO from the creators of City of Heroes, Cryptic Studios. Boasts a million created super-heroes, including a super version of our editor-in-chief. Our MMO mastermind Fahey has provided us impressions.
Born: 9/09.

UPDATE: As some readers noted, this last list should have included NCSoft's player-vs-player-based Guild Wars, which was launched in 4/05 and is still going.

More MMOs are soon to be born during World of Warcraft's continued life. DC Universe Online. Star Trek Online, And more. Looking back, and the games that couldn't keep up with WoW or were born during it, tell me what I missed. And tell me what you think about why some games made it and others didn't.

Halo Helljumper #5 Written by Peter David. Drawn by Eric Nguyen.

Summary Via Publisher Marvel Comics:
Dutch and Romeo have gotten themselves into some pretty crazy situations, but stealing a Covenant ship would definitely get a medal for Most Insane Thing Done In the Line of Duty. If they survive this, they'll still have plenty of questions to answer: what the heck are the Covenant doing here on Planet Ariel, an otherwise harmless colony? And why are they acting so strange-taking the humans hostage instead of glassing the planet, which is their M.O.? Whatever's lurking deep underneath the surface, if the Covenant wants it that bad, it has to be big… and deadly. DON'T MISS THE GRIPPING CONCLUSION TO THIS HEART-STOPPING STORY!

Free Realms #3 (of 12) Written by J.S. Lewis. Drawn by Jon Buran.

Summary Via Publisher Wildstorm Entertainment:
Dane and Maya return from their dangerous mission into the Briarwood to retrieve the missing girl, but the queen's representatives aren't offering a hero's welcome! Looks like the queen couldn't care less about the young girl and instead wants the box containing the potion that could keep her majesty from dying. But the box is empty! Now Dane and Maya must return to the Briarwood to find the vial before the queen dies...or her fate becomes their own!

Sky Pirates of Neo Terra #3 Written by Josh Wagner. Drawn by Camilla D'Errico.

Summary Via Publisher Image Comics:
This issue is non-stop action as Billy and the Pirate King clash over the Light Crystal. Wurl engages in a battle-to-the-death with an old rival, and Suma and Racket have to help fend off a Sky Pirates attack! Based on a game for Nintendo DS and Wii.

Starcraft #6 Written by Simon Furman. Drawn by Federico Dallocchio and Brian Denham.

Summary Via Wildstorm Entertainment:
What exactly is Cole Hickson's connection to Jim Raynor? Unless the threads of the past can finally be unraveled, the future is looking distinctly truncated. Trapped and surrounded by hostile Zerg insectoids, not to mention a vengeful C.O. and his crack Cerberus unit, the War Pigs might be making their last stand as the Protoss prepare to incinerate the Zerg-infested world the War Pigs are stranded on!

Warcraft Death Knight Volume 1 Written by Dan Jolley. Drawn by Rocio Zucchi.

Summary Via Publisher Tokyopop:
Thassarian is a loyal Lordaeron solider that longs to be a great hero like his deceased father. Although he possesses immense strength and skill, Thassarian is told that he lacks the spark that all great leaders have to guide men into battle. So when Prince Arthas calls to arms brave men to sail to Northrend and battle the scourge army, Thassarian sees his chance to prove to others—and himself—that he has what it takes to lead. When Arthas goes missing, Thassarian bravely searches for him...and unwillingly becomes ensnared in darkness. Led to a mysterious cave, Thassarian is transformed into a Death Knight, a powerful, emotionless pawn of the Lich King who will follow any order, no matter how cruel...

"Echoes of the Past Part Two": As Knuckles' friends try to valiantly defend the Master Emerald against a seemingly never-ending horde of robots, Knuckles delves deeper into the mysteries surrounding him... until he finally finds Dr. Finitevus! Knuckles is bent on revenge, but he's not counting on the surprise twist that will delay his quest. You can't afford to miss this exciting, action-packed issue!

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.

That or he's crazy. It could go either way.

Estavillo claims the company "continues to maintain a harmful virtual environment to many of its customers by forcing them to follow [World of Warcraft's] sneaky and deceitful practices".

And what could those "sneaky and deceitful practices" be? Walking is one of them, as he feels it takes too long to get from one point to the other in the game world. Because you can only speed up through extended play or buy purchasing an expansion pack, that qualifies as "deceitful".

He also believes that, because of a litany of health problems he suffers from (including OCD, agoraphobia, depression and Crohn's Disease), he's at risk of sharing the fate of Shawn Woolley, an Everquest player who committed suicide in 2001.

The best part follows: to back up his claims, Estavillo has subpoenaed Winona Ryder (who would presumably be able to "explain the significance of alienation in Catcher in the Rye") and Martin Lee Gore, of Depeche Mode ("he himself has been known to be sad, lonely, and alienated as can be seen in the songs he writes").

Best of luck, Erik.

Winona Ryder, Depeche Mode Factor in WOW Lawsuit [GamePolitics]

There are two tabards ($80) available, one for the Horde, one for the Alliance. They'll fit a large, brave human. There are also two flags, again, one for each faction ($40). At 7m x 5m, these are bigger than a human. And there's a lifesize replica of the Frostmourne sword as well, which is selling for $150 (and is available only in the US, sorry).

All five items will be shipping early next year, so really, the only way they're tying in with the game's fifth birthday celebrations is that this is the week they're taking your money.

Standout stories include Blizzard chief Mike Morhaime discovering that World of Warcraft would be a hit based on a minor traffic jam as well as Blizzard's Rob Bridenbecker describing how one quest line in Wrath of the Lich King was written as an ode to his brother's struggle against cancer.

Powerful stuff about one of the world's biggest video games. Look for the video or read the full transcript at the official site.

World of Warcraft 5th Anniversary Movie [World of Warcraft official site]