Although Blizzard has always been one to decline from giving out any release projections unless they're damn sure they'll meet it, StarCraft II's 2010 launch seems to be firmly set in stone. Not so for Diablo III, which was most recently given one hell of a wide release window.

If you're still stewing in your seat thinking about attending BlizzCon 2009, you're too late. Don't worry too much, though, you're not the only one. You know those 20,000 tickets for the event? Well, they were all sold out...in just eight minutes.

Chinese gamers will most probably have to go to Hong Kong or Singapore for a while while their new operator, NetEase, fixes the problem and actually puts World of Warcraft back online. That's right, the country, home to literally millions of WoW enthusiasts - almost half of the world's, in fact - has been hit by a massive roadblock following the turnover of operators. And there doesn't seem to be a clear answer as to when they will go back up.

An MMO GTA? Can you imagine that? Janco Partners is certainly imagining it as it ponders on Take-Two Interactive's prospects at acquisition. Mike Hickey is of the opinion that given the proven success of the franchise, the company is a very enticing candidate for future acquisition.

After hearing the story of the Swede teen collapsing after 24 hours of playing Wrath of the Lich King, this news comes to no surprise for me. World of Warcraft's second expansion pack has sliced its way to second place in the UK charts, topped only by fellow newcomer, Call of Duty: World at War. In other news, LittleBigPlanet shot down form fourth place to 19th place. Ouch.

The rest of the top UK games after the link!

The gates to Northrend open two days early - retail-wise, at least. Yeah, thank 7-11 for Arthas' early arrival. Turns out that they broke WoW: Wrath of the Lich King's street date just yesterday (which conveniently plops right after they reportedly broke street date for Gears of War 2).

What to do when your event is drawing flak and your circle of supporters are leaving one by one? Try a different strategy, for one. And this is what ESA seems to be doing for next year's E3. Talks of them "going public" are circulating the Internet's grapevines. But how probable is this move?

Well, it looks as if the merger between Activision and Vivendi has finally reached its end. We've just received a press release that lets us fully make use of our Activision-Blizzard tag. Learn more about the merger after the jump!

As if it's not enough to just dominate Xbox Live activity charts, Activision is considering a step-up on how Call of Duty is played online. Yes, that means we may see a Call of Duty MMO in the future. Check out the full article to know more.

A lot of people have split opinions on the effectiveness of in-game advertising. However, Sony's chief executive Howard Stern expressed his doubts on the potential of that particular marketing trend. He wasn't alone in the idea either; other big names from major companies such as NBC Universal and Activision Blizzard voiced similar sentiments.

For more details, check out the full article after the jump!