Earlier this week, it was confirmed that director Sam Raimi has hopped on board the Warcraft movie project. Now, word is abuzz that Warner Bros. wants to dip their hands into the Warcraft cookie jar as well, planning to launch a franchise based on World of Warcraft.

What are the lowly denizens of QJ looking forward to in 2009? We highlight the games coming next year (hopefully) that get us all hot under the collar.

Do you agree? Think we're raving loonies? Got suggestions of your own? Sally forth good readers, and let us know what you think.

While the Western side of the world is all excited regarding the upcoming launch of DC Universe Online, Japan is prepping for its own MMO of superhuman proportions, courtesy of Namco Bandai's Dragon Ball Online. Join QJ.NET as we begin our character spotlight with Dragon Ball's most prolific bad boy: Vegeta.

Wondering how Batman will look like in the upcoming MMO game from Sony Online Entertainment? In the full article, you can check out some of the first-look screenshots released for DC Universe Online. In addition, you can also read some of the details of the DCUO party which will be held at Comic-Con this July 25.

The first MMORPG Weekend Warrior is here and it provides busy gamers with a weekly round up of the hottest topics in the world of MMORPGs. This week sees a number of major updates such as details on Sony Online Entertainment's DC Universe MMORPG, a pair of patches for Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures, Rob Pardo's revelation that World of Warcraft was originally designed to be free-to-play, and two awesome giveaway promos for those who are thinking of starting a free-to-play MMORPG. More on this in the full article!

Aside from the upcoming fighting game Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3) from Midway, there's another DC-based game inbound and it's aptly called DC Universe. This one will be an MMORPG for the PC and the PlayStation 3, and it'll feature your favorite heroes with a hybrid game mechanism. Details after the jump.

BlizzCon 2007 is already exciting as it is given all the details and information we know about it so far. In an interesting development, we learned today that the famed event is about to become more important as it will be graced by the presence of legendary comic book artist Jim Lee.

Lee has worked with both Marvel Comics and DC Comics and his most notable creations include X-Men, Punisher, Superman and even the Dark Knight himself, Batman. In case you don't know, he also did the cover for the recently announced World of Warcraft comic book - hence his presence at BlizzCon.

If you want to catch him, be sure to be at the DC booth on August 3 between 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. He will be happy to chat with attendees as well as sign autographs. BlizzCon 2007 will be held at the Anaheim Convention Center in California.

This is definitely Blizzard's week on the spotlight as The Burning Crusade continues to disappear from shelves faster than you can say, "Hotcakes." WoW has wowed the world over with gamers' warm reception of TBC and we all want to know what their secret is. Itzik Ben Bassat, Vice President of Development at Blizzard gave some insight in an interview with Empire Online.

According to him, the thing that makes WoW last (as it has been online for two years) is its playability, since nearly every guy and his brother can play it. Fantasy is always appealing, as the masses are basically always drawn to anything fantasy-based (read: Harry Potter and LotRO). WoW's popularity has reached beyond the gaming world and crossed over to having a card game, a clothing line, plus an episode of South Park.

WoW has an estimated player count of eight million. Just how many girls do they think play? WoW has made itself playable for girls when the female species are stereotyped as gaming inept. Anyway, it has attracted gamers of all shapes and sizes since the game is role playing, social, and competitive - all rolled into one. It fuels everybody's needs.

The World of Warcraft movie is currently in the works (along with Blizzard's new MMO), with Legendary Pictures, makers of Superman Returns and Batman Begins. So far, all we've had was Fanatik's film so we'll be crossing our fingers and praying at night for that WoW movie.

When Cryptic Studios decided to leave the comforts of the MMO genre and step into the console domain with Marvel Universe Online (MMO, X360), the company's head Jack Emmert became a relatively known figure. But until the comics-based title gets releases, Emmert will always be known for games like City of Villains and City of Heroes.

Actually, all three titles are part of Emmert's dreams. After all, he has been a huge comic fan since he was around 8 years old. And as to his favorite comic book hero? Emmert reflected, "I love the fact that Namor roots stretch back to the Golden Age (40's) and the dawn of the comic book medium. While Superman and Batman were strutting their stuff, Marvel had creations like the Sub-Mariner, the Human Torch and Captain America."

One remarkable thing about the guy is his respect for comic book characters especially women. When asked about the vogue Superheroes is in with NBC Heroes, the Cryptic official lamented,

One thing that disappoints me is that the female characters are all used as sexual objects. The cheerleader is almost raped. The African American woman cheats on her painter boyfriend. The police man's wife cheats on her husband. The blonde sleeps with the politician. It seems that the women's plot lines inevitably involve sex, while the male story lines don't.

The interview then went on to include several topics like his role in Cryptic, his normal day at work, his views about the industry in general and much more. To get to know Emmert more, kindly click the read link below for the whole interview.

Team Warhammer Online was nice enough to answer several questions from Slashdot readers. Since we think that you guys aren't really interested with the questions that people had to ask, we just cut the fat and stuck to the meat. Here be the pertinent details surrounding WAR from the answers given by the Warhammer devs. Enjoy folks!

CRAFTING - Sorry but for now they can't release any details on crafting mechanics. Wait six-months.

PORTS - They didn't do a straight tabletop port because they decided to treat Warhammer like Batman. You all know how many flavors Batman comes in: from oddly jolly Adam West to amusingly hoarse Christian Bale. This is the MMO version of the world the tabletop strategy war game.

GRINDING - What they did to help get rid of grinding is to allow players to level not only via PvE but also through what they call Realm vs Realm game-play. RvR lets you jump into Skirmishes, fight for control of landmarks in Battlefields, run through Scenarios, or capture land and sack cities in Campaigns.

The full article awaits after the jump!