This week we have a bit of breaking news that hit Thursday evening about World of Warcraft losing its lead designer to another MMO. We also have also news of layoffs at NCsoft and an announcement about SOE’s next MMO, Free Realms.

World of Warcraft

Today is a bittersweet day for Blizzard fans. On the World of Warcraft forums, blue poster (they are the developers) Tigole posted that he would be stepping down from working on World of Warcraft to jump in the bed with another MMO. Tigole is Jeffrey Kaplan, lead designer on WoW and basically the face you have put with the Wrath of the Lich King expansion. His forum post talked about how the community is what made the game so successful, and that WoW is still his favorite game. Don’t be too upset because Kaplan is going to be working on Blizzard’s other unannounced "next-gen" MMO. No details about a possible WoW successor have been leaked, but since Kaplan is switching games you should expect to start hearing things within the year.

Good news, fans of PvP. The 2009 Arena tournament will be starting up next week, in which you can win cash prizes up to $200,000. I’m not a big arena person, but that is what press releases are for -- to inform the uninformed.

We’re pleased to announce that the 2009 World of Warcraft Arena Tournament is nearly here. Starting next week (February 17, 2009), players will be able to sign up to compete in this year’s exciting competition. The tournament will feature an online qualifier played on our special tournament realms. Top teams will proceed to their respective regional finals and compete for a chance to reach the global world championship – with cash prizes totaling over $200,000.
These realms have been outfitted with level 80 character templates and the latest epic gear from Wrath of the Lich King. As an added bonus, we have included exclusive rewards that players can earn by participating in the tournament, including an Armored Murloc in-game pet. Top teams will also contend for a chance to achieve the "Vanquisher" title for their live characters.
If you would like to demonstrate your arena prowess, or simply want a chance to earn the exclusive loot, please check back next week for more details and register!

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Warhammer Online

Twitter is kind of a big deal. As of right now I am following the likes of Cobra Commander and Darth Vader. Now you can follow the WAR Herald which will give you updates on community and server news. Hopefully, they use this to reach new subscribers or hand out free goodies. You can sign up for twitter and follow the guys at Warhammer by clicking here.

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