world-of-warcraft-cataclysm posts

The launch of two PC games from Blizzard helped boost sales of the overall PC game software industry in 2010. A new report from the NPD Group said sales of PC games in retail stores in the US were 3 percent bigger in 2010 compared to 2009. The biggest reason were because of sales of Blizzard's sci-fi RTS sequel StarCraft II and the MMO expansion pack World of Warcraft Cataclysm. According to Gamasutra, NPD stated that those two games generated 14 percent of all PC game sales in 2010.

World of Warcraft Cataclysm was the third best selling game, console or PC, in December according to NPD's numbers. Call of Duty Black Ops was the number one selling game in the US for the month of December and for 2010 overall.

World of Warcraft Cataclysm continues to break PC game sales records. The third commercial expansion pack for Blizzard's hit MMO has now sold a whopping 4.7 million copies worldwide since the expansion went on sale on December 7. Those sales numbers include copies sold in retail store boxes and via digital download. Blizzard says the numbers are a new record for sales of a PC game in just one month.

Blizzard sold the vast majority of those copies on the game's first day as it registered 3.3 million units sold in the game's first 24 hours. It also proves that despite a recent slowdown in new game subscribers there are still a ton of World of Warcraft players out there.

The end of 2010 was a good one for gaming retailer GameStop. The company announced today that for the nine-week holiday sales period that ended on January 1, 2011 the company had $3.02 billion in total sales. That's a 5.4 percent increase in sales compared to the 2009 holiday sales period. Same store sales went up 3.4 percent for the time period.

Part of the reason for the higher sales came from Blizzard's launch of its third MMO expansion pack World of Warcraft Cataclysm. Overall sales of PC games (which is combined with GameStop's sales of video game accessories) went up 15.9 percent for the time period.

So say you are a World of Warcraft player but for some reason you have not been convinced that buying and installing the recently released (and selling by the millions) expansion pack World of WarCraft Cataclysm is for you. First we have to wonder if you are really into World of Warcraft. Second, Blizzard has a solution for all those procrastinators.

Blizzard is allowing WoW players to download and play a free version of Cataclysm that will last you for 10 days. That will give you a chance to play as one of the two new playable classes in the game (the worgen or goblins). If you have a character in the game that's level 78 or higher you can also check out the new high-level zones in the expansion. After the 10 day trial is over you will be asked to fork over $39.99 to pay for the full thing.

The popularity of Blizzard's MMO World of Warcraft continues unabetted. Today the developer announced that the third commercial expansion pack for the game, World of Warcraft Cataclysm, sold over 3.3 million copies worldwide in just its first day on December 7. Blizzard claims that makes its the fastest selling PC game of all time, surpassing the previous record of over 2.8 million copies sold of the last expansion, Wrath of the Lich King, in the same time period.

Blizzard took digital pre-orders for the expansion but the press release doesn't state how many copies of Cataclysm were sold by that method versus the traditional box retail copies. Last July, Blizzard sold over 1.5 million copies of its RTS game StarCraft II in the game's first 48 hours on sale and later said it sold over 3 million copies in its first month.

World of Warcraft Cataclysm is the third expansion pack for Blizzard's hit MMO game. However the expansion isn't actually adding new lands to the game world. Instead it is remaking the game's two continents (the "Cataclysm" of the title) while still adding new playable races, dungeons and quests.

But the upcoming fourth expansion for the game will likely go back to the tried and true format and add an all new continent to World of Warcraft. Blizzard's lead systems designer Greg Street told Computer and Video Games, "I think the next expansion will be something more like a new continent approach. More like the Burning Crusade or Nothrend, where we send players somewhere new that they haven't seen before." Street says that Blizzard might also go back and fix continuity issues with the game's Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King content, saying, "We're going to have to do something to bring that up to speed."

As always check out our sister site WoW Insider for all of your World of Warcraft Cataclysm needs.

Gallery: World of Warcraft: Cataclysm Screenshots

World of Warcraft Cataclysm is supposed to be sold at midnight tonight in various time zones but some lucky folks got their copy of Blizzard's MMO expansion on Saturday. Gamesindustry.biz (free registration required) reports that a retailer in Sweden started selling the expansion pack on Saturday.

That caused a couple of GameStop stores to do the same thing in order to complete. However those stores have since stopped selling the expansion and will now wait until the embargo expires at midnight. In any case, Blizzard won't actually turn on the online servers for the expansion pack until midnight tonight, making the early sales of the game somewhat moot. As we have mentioned before check out our sister site WoW Insider for all of your World of Warcraft Cataclysm launch needs.

While there are other PC games planned for released later in December this is the final week of the year that we will see multiple major game releases. That includes a huge MMO expansion, the next game in a very popular casual puzzle game series and a game based on a much beloved movie franchise.

World of Warcraft Cataclysm - Blizzard is doing something a little different for its third expansion pack for its massively popular MMO game series. In addition to adding two new playable races, new quests and dungeons, a raise in the level cap and more, some of the earlier game zones are getting a makeover with new quests replacing some old ones as well as other changes.

In less than 36 hours what could be the biggest PC game of 2010 in terms of sales is due for release, and it's not Tron Evolution. You can check out the coverage of World of Warcraft Catalysm over at our sister site WoW Insider.

• Speaking of that game you can now check out the newly launched official World of Warcraft community page.
• Australia is one step closer to having an adults rating for PC and console games ... maybe.
• That previously announced Red Faction TV movie on Syfy starts filming in January and will be broadcast in May.
• Check out some hardcore Super Meat Boy level runs.
• While PC gamers await the release of Assassin's Creed Brotherhood, there's a survey asking people about features for the next game.
• Natural Selection 2 has a new patch for its beta users.
• A minor patch for Warhammer 40,000 Dawn of War II is due for release Monday.

The holiday season is in full swing now. Lots of gift buying, lots of decorating and lots of TV specials. Oh, and lots of lame Christmas puns.

• Quake Live got a new patch update that includes the return of its old in-game ad provider IGA Worldwide.
• Steam added the new games RUSH and Blue Toad Murder Files to its library with 10 percent off each game for the next week.
• Steam also has a big new Global Agenda update that adds four new maps and other new features and improvements.
• New patch updates for Super Meat Boy, Counter-Strike Source Beta and Left 4 Dead are also available on Steam.
• Who is really waiting to play World of Warcraft Cataclysm? This guy.
• There's also a new Minecraft update available.