'World of Warcraft' blitz on game fans
2008-11-12

Category World of Warcraft Halloween Nations France City Paris Category Regions Ile-de-France People William Shatner Jean-Claude Van Damme Source (AFP)

PARIS (AFP) - Top video game maker Activision Blizzard threw crowds on streets Thursday for the launch of the much-awaited new extension of its record-breaking "World of Warcraft" which already has a claimed 11 million players worldwide.

Gamers lined up on Paris' famed Champs-Elysees for "Wrath of the Lich King", released in Europe and the United States at midnight as "the next epic chapter" in the life and times of Azeroth, a medieval fantasy world now the planet's most popular multiplayer online role-playing game.

Camped on the avenue since breakfast time, Alexandre Laurent and Christian Le Roux, aged 18 and 19, and at the head of a snaking queue, said "We wanted to be the first to get it."

In accordance with the game, where competitors line up as members of races belonging to two opposing good and evil factions, the Alliance (including humans and dwarves) or the Horde (including orcs and trolls), gamers joined either Alliance or Horde queues.

"We are definitely Horde", said Laurent and Le Roux.

First released late 2004 in the United States and in 2005 in Europe, World of Warcraft's latest "Lich King" extension throws adepts into a cold and inhospitable environment set four years on in time and ruled over by Lich monarch Arthas Menethill.

The previous extension, "The Burning Crusade", sold 2.4 million copies the first day of release, but senior producer John Lagrave declined to state anticipated sales or give the cost of developing the game.

More than 125 people of the 3,000-plus staff at Blizzard, a company set up 17 years ago which is owned by French group Vivendi, had worked to develop the new extension, he told AFP.

"We don't know if there is a limit to new Warcraft players," he said. "We'll see but nobody knows the limit. Video games are definitely an emerging new aspect of entertainment."

In gaming terms, this latest extension allows players to increase the powers of their character avatars to a level of 80, compared to 60 when originally launched and 70 on the launch of "The Burning Crusade" early 2007.

It also throws out a new race of super-heroes, the Deathknights.

A fantasy universe popular across the planet, Warcraft's game world remains similar day to day but has also smartly linked into the affairs of the real universe.

Seasonal events such as Halloween, Christmas or the Olympic Games have been added, regional editions modified -- in China flesh was placed on the living dead -- and pop culture celebrities such as Jean-Claude Van Damme or William Shatner used to sell it.

Players too often take part in creative activities in the virtual community, including art work, comic-strip style stories and the making of machinima videos.

"It works", said Lagrave, "because it's easy to learn, even a grandmother can play, but it's very difficult to master and really rewards mastership."

Asked to comment on claims that the game could be addictive, Lagrave said "We have a problem with using that word.

"We're concerned with indulgence and over-use," he said, stressing that Blizzard had installed parental control devices and took the potential for trouble seriously enough to have added rest bonuses that rewarded gamers for not playing.

Lagrave said Blizzard was working on a not yet announced new gaming world but had no immediate plans to take World of Warcraft to the console market.

"Right now we have our hands full supporting Macintosh and PCs," he said.