There are now 11 countries that have an annual video game revenue in excess of US$ 1 billion. By 2009, the video game market is expected to reach a whopping US$ 57 billion. Leading the charge are the Xbox 360, the PlayStation 3, and the Wii. Analyst David Cole of DFC Intelligence speaks his peace on the current generation of consoles. Which is the most profitable platform for 2007? The answer is a doozy. Make a guess, and find out after the "read more" link.

In an effort to raise awareness and to ramp up its environmental campaigns, World Wildlife Fund or WWF bought some virtual land in Second Life and named it "Conservation Island". The island will be populated by different animal avatars and the objective, according to WWF, is to teach human avatars how to live in harmony with nature.

"WWF set up the island as a way to help people learn about conservation issues and the need to live sustainably. We want to be able to show people that WWF has solutions to the real environmental issues affecting their 'first life', commented WWF International Online Outreach Manager David Cole.

One avatar SL residents will meet in the island is Mr. Tangee. He's a scruffy looking orangutan that can be found in an ice cream van. His purpose is to let people know that the total number of plantations producing soy and palm oil that are being used in ice creams, cosmetics, and chocolate bars now cover an area the size of France.

This, of course, threatens his kind because most of his natural habitat are being converted to industrial areas. Another notable character is a panda that guides visitors around the wind-powered local town and chats about environmental issues.

Undoubtedly one of the biggest MMORPG in the entire planet as speculated by David Cole of DFC Intelligence. But are you ready for this? World of Warcraft is bound to get bigger as Blizzard bigwig Paul Sams states in an interview with Technology Guardian.

First thing that comes to mind when someone says that WoW is going to get even bigger is its first expansion pack The Burning Crusade, however, that is only the tip of the iceberg. Since Blizzard aims to make games that are "easy to learn but hard to master" and they have somehow managed to maintain a certain amount of simplicity in WoW's complicated gameplay, new players are not daunted to try the game and at the same time keeping hardcore gamers hooked.

Word of mouth has also been a major factor in Wow's "expansion." "Girlfriends and wives are playing with their partners and telling their friends about it. Globally, around 10% of WoW players are women whereas historically for this genre it was around 2%," Sams says. He thinks that this rapid growth in female players can be traced back to a husband or boyfriend playing the game.

Unlike other games, the adventure doesn't end when a player hits the level cap. "The game is different depending on what race, class or faction you choose. I don't see this as being game over when you get to the level cap. There are a lot of different play styles and experiences to try."

As previously mentioned, getting bigger means expanding, so when asked about The Burning Crusade he gladly gave a lot of information on the pack. "Players will now be able to grow their characters up to level 70. And there are new races, new areas and flying mounts plus a host of other features that will excite Warcraft fans. We are going to continue growing the content when Burning Crusade is released. The plan is to release an expansion pack every year as well as expanding the content in the game. But you don't have to upgrade to carry on enjoying the game, and there are no plans to raise subscription costs."

Is it possible to surpass World of Warcraft? That's the question most MMORPG makers are without a doubt asking themselves each and every day. Incidentally, that's the same question that analyst David Cole of DFC Intelligence is asking himself.

Cole has recently written an article where he breaks down the reasons for World of Warcraft's success. In it, he touches on topics such as the sheer number of people subscribing to the game (5 million Chinese players plus over two million Western subscribers), brand consciousness, and the game's controversial "instancing" practice.

All in all, Cole does a good job of identifying and scrutinizing the reasons why World of Warcraft is currently lording it over the others in the MMORPG arena. In his closing statement, he says that World of Warcraft's success will be extremely difficult to duplicate.

Cole, however, also states that "most success with MMOG comes with smaller, dedicated online game companies that use small amounts of investment money to great effect." In this matter he points towards Jagex's Runescape and others, pointing out that "Runescape has even crossed into mainstream territory with over 800,000 subscribers as a result of its less demanding computer requirements and low cost ($5 a month)."