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!

More bad news for Electronic Arts as investors are beginning to abandon the publisher despite its strengths and potential to improve. Industry analyst Michael Pachter explains that EA management has shown indifference in handling their current situation.

We interrupt your regularly scheduled TGS updates for news on another gaming convention, E3. No, it's not dead yet. But this new development won't help it recover any.

It seems that Codemasters, the company behind Clive Barker's Jericho, Colin McRae, and Lord of the Rings Online, has left the ESA. This makes the sixth publisher to leave the organization since May.

With the great response the community gave Funcom's Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures, it's no surprise that it has topped the US PC sales charts. To find out more, head on over to the full article by clicking on the "read more" link below.

The vice president of Electronic Arts' Jeff Brown said some pretty strong words regarding Activision and Vivendi's decision to leave the Entertainment Software Association (ESA). He also reaffirmed EA's loyalty to the ESA and said that this year's E3 will most likely be successful. To find out more, head on over to the full article.

It's one thing to look at the past in order to learn from it; it's quite another thing to examine the present and to see which direction you're heading toward. In the light of recent developments, various game industry insiders have taken to doing precisely those things. More reflection ensues in the full article after the jump.

Normally, a major event such as E3 would have all the big name companies attending it.  This year will be different, though, as five publishers have decided to drop out of the event altogether. Part of the reason may be due to reported bad blood between them and ESA president Mike Gallagher. More on this after the jump.