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!]

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]

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.

That figure covers any and all games requiring a subscription, so don't go laying all the blame at World of Warcraft's feet. Spare a little for EVE, Age of Conan and LOTRO as well.

"Despite concerns that the recession would cause consumers to reduce spending on entertainment subscription services, most forms of subscription entertainment are doing just fine," NPD's Russ Crupnick said in a press release. "Consumers are clearly looking to the value offered by entertainment subscriptions and like what they get for their money."

According to a report on Reuters, NetEase - the company operating the game in China for publishers Activision Blizzard - have been ordered to "stop operating" the title, cease charging existing user's accounts and block any new account registrations.

The GAPP claim that because of these supposed violations, the game lacks the necessary approval required to be run under China's increasingly strict laws governing online video games.

This move is the latest blow in an ongoing struggle between the GAAP and the Chinese Ministry of Culture, which was behind last month's bluster over foreign investment in Chinese online gaming firms.

Indeed, things are so messy between the two that it's unclear whether the GAPP's actions will even be enforced, with reports emerging that NetEase haven't even been contacted by the GAPP, and that the Ministry of Culture have labelled the threats inappropriate.

NetEase, Activision caught up in China turf war [Reuters]
'World of Warcraft' Faces Goverment Crackdown In China [MTV]

UPDATE - Yup, appears this is more to do with a conflict between Chinese government bodies than the game itself. Reuters report that the MoC have said the GAPP "oversteps its authority" in shutting the game down, along with a clarification that it's only expansion Burning Crusade that's affected, not the core game itself.

After going through the "How long have you been doing hardcore?" motions, we get to the interesting stuff — Ms. Alexis' five-year-long career in WoW, her preference for Star Trek: The Next Generation and Battlestar Galactica. I'm sure Crecente will do a follow-up in the name of journalistic integrity on par with his World of Whorecraft feature.

If this is the sort of thing you'd like to retain in your memory bank—people who play World of Warcraft and regularly have sex on film—you may want to do some "reading" over at Fleshbot. Just remember, they card at the door.

Meet Raven Alexis: Your WoW-Playing, Star Trek-Loving, PC-Modding Crush Object [Fleshbot]

The ReSTART clinic in Seattle claims to be "the first residential treatment center for Internet addiction" in the US, and are offering WoW addicts a 45-day course where patients are weened off World of Warcraft. All for the low, low price of $14,000.

Seriously, $14,000? I know the American medical system is a joke, but I didn't think it was that funny.

Rehab available in U.S. for Web addicts [AP, via Dtoid]

First announced back in June, the faction change service allows Alliance players to switch to the Horde side of things, choosing a new race on the opposing side and transferring over with all of their experience and equipment intact. The service runs $30, and includes a makeover session so you can tailor your lovely new Horde character to your liking. Supposedly the system will also allow Horde characters to be transferred to the Alliance side, but why anyone in their right mind would do that is beyond me.

You can hit up the link below to read Blizzard's extensive, two-part FAQ on the process, covering everything from faction-specific equipment to the fate of your non-combat pets. I would have tried out the system myself, but apparently the account I've not accessed for months has been perma-banned for "intentional exploitation."

Faction Change FAQ Part 1 [Blizzard Support]

"I think the (new MMO) is going to be significantly differentiated enough [from WoW]," Blizzard's COO Paul Sams told Wired. "Such that, you're not going to feel like they're one and the same resulting in that you have to pick or choose".

Ah, so you mean, those hopelessly addicted to WoW can, instead of abandoning the game, double up and become addicted to it and the new MMO? Sure there'll be millions of WoW widows/widowers out there just thrilled to hear that.

Q&A: Blizzard COO Says New MMO ‘Significantly Different' From Warcraft [Wired]

The music was written by Daniel Larsson and the animation was done by Tomas Redigh, of the Swedish electronica duo Rymdreglage.

8-Bit Trip [YouTube]

But now it's back! And, as we told you a few weeks back, it's back with a catch: some of the game's content has been edited by the local authorities. But just what are the extent of those changes?

Blood has changed colours, and is now black instead of red. Undead characters remain edited, so as to appear less "dead." Talent tree icons depicting stuff like bones have been edited. And piles of bones you find in the game are now...piles of sandbags. Yes. Sandbags.

MMOSite have good photos depicting the scope of the edits, the most notable of which we've run at the top (original) and bottom (Chinese edit) of this post.

WOW(CN) 3.1.3 CB: Blood Turn Black, Icons Become Boxes? [MMOSite, via Gamasutra]

Like these cards, which skate so close to the thin ice covering Lake Copyright Infringement that you can hear it cracking audibly underfoot.

I mean, Adam Eternum is...OK. But Keldor is Skeletor's real, actual name. Surely that's a bit much. But hey, hopefully it's not, because as far as hat-tips go, this is pretty great. They even switched up He-Man a bit, making him less grunty grunty Dolph Lundgren, more sexy swarthy Cary Elwes.

UPDATE - People tell me these guys are actually in the game. Awesome.

He-Man and Skeletor in Warcraft?! [FANtastic, via GameSetWatch]

Both the Horde and Alliance will get 24 karat gold plated, Sterling silver and copper coins, based on the gold, silver and copper pieces used in World of Warcraft's currency system. No price or release date announced at Comic-Con, but don't expect to be able to cash these in for a flying mount.

Sounds like they'll be packed in a display box, the kind of thing we don't expect to be cheap. They'll probably look a lot better in person than the shaky digital camera shot above.

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?

That's not to say, however, that Blizzard haven't noticed the commercial appeal of microtransactions.

In an interview with Videogamer, Blizzard's Tom Chilton has said:

I certainly think it's possible that we could do some kind of micro-transaction stuff. Whether or not World of Warcraft ever goes the direction of, I guess like Anarchy Online has gone the direction of going free-to-play with micro-transactions. Whether we ever shift to a free-to-play model is really too hard to say at this point. Anything I say now could easily five years from now end up seeming like, oh my gosh, that was an incredibly dumb thing to say, how naive!

Hardly a firm statement of intent, but then, you don't stay top dog without keeping an eye on the competition.

Blizzard's Tom Chilton on the future of WoW [VideoGamer]

Blizzard have begun work on a new service that will let players switch sides. Alliance to Horde. Or Horde to Alliance. Whichever way you want to turn your coat, you'll be free to do it.

There'll apparently be rules governing the use of the service, but in a nutshell, here's how Blizzard explain it:

There's still much work to do and many details to iron out, but the basic idea is that players will be able to use the service to transform an existing character into a roughly equivalent character of the opposing faction on the same realm. Players who ended up creating and leveling up characters on the opposite factions from their friends have been asking for this type of functionality for some time, and we're pleased to be getting closer to being able to deliver it.

So there you have it. Sounds great for those itching for a change, but I can see some more hardcore role-players within the community being a little upset.

Faction-Change Service in the Works [Blizzard]