If you’re a World of Warcraft player, you might be aware that Mountain Dew has teamed up with Blizzard to offer up some neat prizes during their Mountain Dew Game Fuel promotional campaign. Every 15 minutes they give away a prize on their website, www.mountaindewgamefuel.com, ranging from t-shirts to gaming laptops. So it’s something worth checking out.

Also, for US players, you can hop on over to the website to redeem your free battle bot in-game companion pet. It’s free and all you have to do is click a couple of buttons. Oh, and make sure your WoW account is bound to Battle.net. Players outside of the US are out of luck on that one. After you’ve got your pet, wait 24 hours and head on back to the website to pick up red or blue colored “fuel” to power your in-game pet. Nice way to kill a few minutes of standing around time in the game, watching your red bot slap around a blue bot and/or vice versa.

As part of the campaign, Mountain Dew has also released a commercial, which I’m sorry to say is kind of lame and nonsensical. But it’s fun to watch all the same. So here you go:

Image: Blizzard

Getting around Azeroth can be a little frustrating, particularly in the old world where flying mounts aren’t available and getting to that next zone can take a whole lot of running. As it stands, players have access to regular mounts at level 30, but come patch 3.2 (World of Warcraft’s next major content patch), there will be some major changes coming to mounts. The changes will affect both the level requirements and the price.

Here’s a breakdown of what’s coming with 3.2 with regard to mounts:

• 60% land mount speed
• Requires level 20
• Cost: 4 gold
• Mount cost: 1 gold
• Mail will be sent to players at level 20 guiding them to the riding trainer

Journeyman Riding (Skill 150)

• 100% land mount speed
• Requires level 40
• Cost: 50 gold
• Mount cost: 10 gold
• Mail will be sent to players at level 40 guiding them back to the riding trainer

Expert Riding (Skill 225)

• 150% flying mount speed; 60% land mount speed
• Requires level 60
• Cost: 600 gold (faction discounts now apply)
• Mount Cost: 50 gold
• Can now be learned in Honor Hold (Alliance) or Thrallmar (Horde)

Artisan Riding (Skill 300)

• 280% flying mount speed; 100% land mount speed
• Requires level 70
• Cost: 5,000 gold (faction discounts now apply)
• Mount Cost: 100 gold

Currently there doesn’t seem to be any official announcements regarding the 5000g pricetag on the epic flying mounts, but that doesn’t mean that Blizzard doesn’t intend to lower it sometime in the future. They’ve lowered everything else, so why not? Perhaps they’ll eventually make even faster flying mounts more readily available to players. But for now, these changes should be pretty good news for those just starting out and wanting to catch up to friends and family, or to those altoholics who like starting from scratch.

Patch 3.2 has no official release date, but is expected sometime before the end of the year. Hopefully.

Via | MMO Champion

Image: Blizzard

Okay, fine, Christmas has passed by and I’m a little late with the holiday cheer, but I like to believe it’s never too late to watch a really good machinima video.

Filmed and edited by Legs, “A Very Northrend Christmas: Out in the Cold” is beautifully made. As a WoW addict, I tend to prefer most-things WoW-related, and I was happy to come across this excellent video.

Hope you enjoy it!

Via | WoW insider and Machinima

I’m fairly certain most of the MMO gaming population is currently in Northrend, but for those still stuck at work (you mean you didn’t take off?), I wanted to wish you all a happy WotLK release day. I’m currently waiting for the game to finish downloading and installing (thank you, MMO Champion). And then it’s bye bye Outland, hello frosty cold new place.

I’m taking the wait time to think about the most pressing question I believe most players ask themselves upon launching a new expansion: What to do first?

Which of my 70s do I want to level to 80? Should I start off with a Death Knight? Where do I want to start off my adventure? Should I focus on leveling my professions or just plow ahead through the levels?

Ah, Blizzard, you really know how to fill our heads with important, life-altering questions.

What are you guys planning to do first? I think I’ll focus on my mage first. No…. my druid. No… my priest.

Hmm…

Image taken by Ingrid Diaz

Thanks to a friend’s heads up, I managed to grab the Collector’s Edition for WotLK off Amazon the other day minutes before it was sold out all over again. News comes from WoW Insider that the Collector’s Edition is once again back on sale at Amazon. This time for $129.79. Ouch. Guess they’re really trying to cash in on people’s desperation.

If you’re really desperate for a CE, you might want to hit Amazon ASAP before it gets sold out again. After all, it’s not going to be any cheaper on eBay. You can also probably turn a profit - as many tend to do - by selling your hard-to-find CE after there’s no more available.

Via | WoW Insider

Image: Amazon

It was only nine months ago that Blizzard’s insanely popular MMO World of Warcraft reached the jaw-dropping amount of 10 million subscribers. We’d been counting up ever since it hit five million, then six million, etc. Well, now there’s a new milestone: 11 million. There’s undoubtedly a pool of cash at Blizzard headquarters the Blizz team takes turns swimming about in.

Personally, my household is responsible for four of those 11 million subscriptions and we’re just two people. There’s that guy that has like thirty-six accounts. I’d be curious to know how many individual players this actually amounts to. Not that Blizzard cares. They’ve got the shiny monies coming at them no matter what.

Well, congratulations, Blizzard. It’s been four years and I’m still playing religiously. You must be doing something right. Bring on the twelve million.

Via | Joystiq

Image courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment.

There’s been no new details revealed about the planned World of Warcraft movie that we heard about last year, but rumor has it that Sam Raimi (Spiderman) could be a potential candidate for the director’s seat. In an interview with MTV, Raimi stated:

“In the world of video games, it’s usually more of an environment or a scenario, not character-based … but they certainly could [be better]. There’s ‘World of Warcraft’ — what an awesome video game! It has such great, adventurous characters in it and such fantastic landscapes and rules. … You could make a brilliant ‘World of Warcraft’ movie — as fine as any of the best superhero movies — if you had the right writers and directors.”

While this is far from any sort of confirmation whatsoever, it does warm my heart a little to think that someone like Raimi might take the reigns on the WoW movie. I’m a die-hard WoW addict, and the thought of a film based on the game both excites and terrifies me. The potential is there, in the right hands. But it could also turn out to be a disaster.

I’m remaining optimistic that whoever makes the film will do a good job. No matter what, I’ll be there on opening day with pointy ears on. But it’s still a long ways away.

Who would be your perfect director? Peter Jackson? Uwe Boll? (Haha!)

Via | Yahoo!

The 3RD Space Vest now apparently works with World of Warcraft, giving players in Azeroth additional ways to immerse themselves in Blizzard’s environment. The vest provides “accurate tactile sensory stimuli” so you can feel what you’re doing as you’re doing it.

The driver offers players fantastic contact effects as well as a physical sensory experience linking a new meaning and signature to magic spells and powers, while enhancing the intensity and fun of game play. The 3RD Space Driver Version 2.0 includes the entire functionality for all supported FPS and RPG titles within the single free download. Any 3RD Space Vest works with all supported titles and for those gamers who have already downloaded previous versions of the 3RD Space Driver, these new functions are automatically added with the driver’s auto-update function.

The vest also works with a plethora of other games including Call of Duty, F.E.A.R., Crysis, etc. So even if you’re not into the WoW thing, you can still find a reason to buy this bad boy. The vest will set you back $189 and you can find out all of its features over at TN Games.

Via | Coolest Gadgets

Image courtesy of Blizzard.

Blizzard released an interactive map of the new continent of Northrend which will come to us via the Wrath of the Lich King expansion. With that special day on the horizon, those who haven’t gotten access to the beta yet can at least live vicariously through the interactive map.

The map’s features are few but should help kill a few minutes of boredom. Click on a zone on the map to find out:

• Level range for the zone
• Flight points available
• Dungeons located there (and its level range)
• Its specific zone map

Access the map, here.

If you haven’t yet seen the cinematic trailer for WotLK, here it is:

I already put in my pre-order for the expansion. Can’t wait!

The people at Costumes Inc. have been busy getting their World of Warcraft costumes ready for this year’s Halloween so that you don’t have to make them yourself anymore. Or, you know, think about making them yourself but not actually doing it.

Head on over to see their supply of Orc Warrior Masks, Wild Beastman Masks, Tauren Overhead masks, and Orc Overhead masks. Something tells me the people over at Costumes Inc. play Horde-side.

In addition to some pretty nifty masks, you can also pick up some spiffy looking weapons, like the Thunderfury. None of this stuff is particularly over-the-top expensive. Though you’d need to shell out $142.99 for the Tauren mask. I think it’s worth it, though. I mean, how cool-looking is that thing? Too bad it’s out of stock. Hopefully more will be on the way before the big event.

Anyone interested in gearing up in WoW-related costumes or is that lame? I wouldn’t mind being a blood elf. I love me some pointy ears.

Via | WoW Insider

Image courtesy of Costumes Inc.