Irvine, Calif. - Vivendi's Blizzard Entertainment games studio announced on Tuesday that its massively multiplayer online game "World of Warcraft" has now surpassed nine million paying subscribers worldwide. The company added that its expects an influx of new and returning subscribers when Chinese distribution partner The9 launches the game's first expansion, "World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade."

Menlo Park, Calif. - Sparter on Wednesday announced the public beta release of its online exchange that lets gamers trade virtual currencies for a range of massively multiplayer online games directly with one another. Gamer2Gamer currently supports titles including "World of Warcraft," "EverQuest," "Guild Wars," "Star Wars Galaxies" and "The Lord of the Rings Online." The company, which is headed by former THQ executive Dan Kelly and funded by Bessemer Venture Partners, said it is eliminating the middleman at other services that charge fees for virtual currency transfers.

Irvine, Calif. - A class action suit has been filed by a veteran player of Blizzard Entertainment's "World of Warcraft" (WoW) multiplayer game against a company called IGE, a "gold farmer" that recruits players to accrue virtual gold to sell to WoW players for real-world money, The Escapist reported.

Irvine, Calif. - Blizzard Entertainment, the unit of Vivendi Games that operates the popular "World of Warcraft" multiplayer online game, has filed a federal lawsuit against a company it says has spammed players with ads for its service that sells virtual gold used in the game, Wired News reported.

San Antonio, Texas - AT&T announced on Thursday that it has partnered with Vivendi's Blizzard Entertainment to offer a 14-day free trial of the popular "World of Warcraft" massively multiplayer online game. The AT&T blue room gaming site will host the offer, which figures as the longest free trial of the game available online. "World of Warcraft" currently claims 8.5 million players, while AT&T counts 12 million high speed Internet lines.

Irvine, Calif. - Vivendi Games' Blizzard Entertainment on Thursday announced details of its third Worldwide Invitational, a public event where the company connects with players of its "Warcraft," "Diablo" and "StarCraft" titles, and hosts a range of gamer tournaments. This year's event will be held in Seoul, South Korea on May 19-20, and will feature the first season for its World of Warcraft's Arena Tournament.

Irvine, Calif. - Vivendi Games' Blizzard Entertainment said on Wednesday that "World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade," the first expansion for its title that figures as the world's most popular massively multiplayer online roleplaying game, sold 3.5 million copies within a month of its release in North America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia. The figure represents a new one-month record for PC game sales, and includes more than 1.9 million copies sold in regions that play on North American realms. The "World of Warcraft" worldwide subscriber base has now grown to more than 8.5 million.

San Diego - Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) announced on Wednesday that Station Exchange, the online auction site it launched in June 2005 to allow players of its "EverQuest II" multiplayer online game to pay real money for virtual characters and items, generated $1.87 million in player transactions during its first year.

Shanghai, China - Chinese online game operator The9 said on Tuesday that it has signed an amended agreement with Vivendi's Blizzard Entertainment, to additionally publish the recently released expansion pack to Blizzard's "World of Warcraft" massively multiplayer online game in mainland China. The companies did not say when "The Burning Crusade" would launch in China.

Irvine, Calif. - Vivendi's Blizzard Entertainment game publishing unit announced on Tuesday that "World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade," the first expansion to its massively multiplayer online game, broke the day-one sales record to become the fastest-selling PC game ever in North America and Europe.

Port Washington, N.Y. - U.S. video game sales rose 18% in 2006, to $13.5 billion, bolstered by top-selling PC title "World of Warcraft" and the release of new hardware from Sony and Nintendo, according to a report from market research firm NPD Group.