The newest expansion for World of Warcraft – Cataclysm – launched just a week ago to much fanfare. Blizzard Entertainment, the company behind the popular game, released day one sales figures today. Within 24 hours of launch, the game had sold an unprecedented 3.3 million copies… smashing records left and right. This means more than one out of four WoW subscribers bought the expansion within 24 hours of its release – making it the fastest-selling computer game of all time.

According to Mashable, “the iPhone 4 saw a paltry 1.5 million units moved in its first 24 hours; and only 2 million songs by the Beatles were sold during the entire week of that band’s iTunes premiere.” That shows you quite an interesting twist on just how many copies of the game sold on the first day.

Does these numbers really surprise you? The cinematic trailer – embedded above – received more than a million views during its first full day on YouTube. I’m told that the original teaser video for the expansion was released during BlizzCon 2009 – which fell during Gnomedex 2009. I later found out that more than half of our attendees sent their laptops and notebooks to the Blizz site to check out the expansion news while listening to speakers on our stage! This game is that popular amongst people of all ages, races and geek-levels. The fans are rabid – and rightfully so, I suppose.

I’ve never been a fan, you already know that. My assistant Kat is, though, and is in love with the expansion. She reports she’s only played about three total hours so far. She restricts herself to logging in on weekends if she doesn’t have other things (family stuff) going on. She well knows how easy it is to get sucked into game-playing when you’re supposed to be working!

Are you a WoW player? What do you think about Cataclysm thus far?

World of Warcraft: Cataclysm Smashes Records

All of our gamer friends know that World of Warcraft Cataclysm release date is getting closer. Things around Azeroth will never be the same, but most players are excited about that prospect. It’s always good when a game shakes things up and makes them almost new again. It keeps players interested, right? There are lots of cool things going on to help promote the launch, and we’re happy to be taking part in a giveaway right here in our community.

Our friend Rubin and his team over at DiabloSpot have graciously donated some seriously cool items to give away. We will be doing two random giveaways – one begins today and the other will be next week! You have two chances to win, simply by sending a tweet. Your tweet must include @Chrispirillo, @diablospot and #Cataclysm in it. By sending that tweet between now and midnight on Friday night (October 29th), you are automatically in the running for this week’s prize.

This week, four lucky people will win Limited Edition Warcraft Trading Card Game Cards… each of which are still sealed in foil and were signed by the artist! At this point in time, there is no monetary value placed on them. I would definitely hold on to these if you win one… they could be worth some decent bank one day.

Are you looking forward to the Cataclysm? What do you feel will be the best change to the game? If you missed out on BlizzCon, be sure to check out the information that Rubin and the gang put up over on DiabloSpot – and don’t miss out on all the talk of Diablo 3.

Are You Ready for the Cataclysm?

Fans of the popular World of Warcraft game have been waiting for more than a year to hear when the newest game expansion would be released. Today, Blizzard Entertainment finally made the proclamation that caused millions of fans to sigh in relief. Don’t get your credit cards ready just yet, though. The Xpac will not hit store shelves until December 7th, 2010, just in time for the holiday season. Cataclysm will bring about massive changes to the game you have come to know and love over the years.

Not everyone is excited to see these changes hit their realms. After all, nothing will look exactly as it once did. There will be new races (Goblins and Worgen), new play areas, new talent specs and new levels to achieve. According to Blizzard:

The first two World of Warcraft expansions, The Burning Crusade(R) and Wrath of the Lich King(R), each shattered PC game sales records upon their release.* In Cataclysm, the face of Azeroth will be forever altered by the return of the corrupted Dragon Aspect Deathwing. Players will explore once-familiar areas of the world that have now been reshaped by the devastation and filled with new adventures. In an effort to survive the planet-shattering cataclysm, two new playable races – worgen and goblins – will join the struggle between the Alliance and the Horde. As players journey to the new level cap of 85, they’ll discover newly revealed locations, acquire new levels of power, and come face to face with Deathwing in a battle to determine the fate of the world.

However, many dedicated fans are chomping at the bit to get their hands on this release. My assistant Kat is one of those people, and is already saving her pennies to have them ready for December 7th. She says that this is what keeps the game exciting… not staying stagnant, always creating new and exciting challenges and writing lore she loves to immerse herself in.

Are you looking forward to the expansion, or are you dreading the changes that will make their way to Azeroth?

World of Warcraft: Cataclysm Release Date Announced

Phil sent me a rock. No, seriously – a space rock! I published the first half of his accompanying letter in tonight’s report, My Mighty Meteorite. This is the second half of his letter to both Ponzi and myself:

What you have here is a piece of shrapnel from this meteorite. Its composition is about 91% iron, 7.1% nickel, 0.46% cobalt, 0.26% phosphorus, and about 1% sulfur. There are trace amounts of gallium, germanium, and iridium (that last was the key element that lead scientists to understand that the dinosaurs were wiped out by a similar but much larger blast).

Most meteorites are stone. They come from asteroids in the belt between Mars and Jupiter. When a large body forms in a solar system, all the stuff making it up is at first mixed, like batter. But when it gets big enough, the heavy stuff – the metal – sinks to the center. So you need a big asteroid for that to happen, bigger than the Moon, so that its gravity is strong enough to differentiate it. Then it has to suffer a mighty blow from another huge asteroid, disrupting it, blowing it into billions of pieces.

What you’re holding in your hand is a piece of metal that was once deep within the core of a planetary-sized body that was destroyed by the impact of another planet-sized body, 4 billion years ago. It orbited the Sun, relatively untouched all that time, until that fateful day 30 millennia ago. It’s a piece of outer space brought to Earth in a fiery, violent decent that ended in cataclysm.

And now it’s yours.

[The first half of Phil's letter has been published elsewhere - and if you haven't figured it out by now, I'm very thankful for his gift. It's kinda like space copralite?]

My Meteorite Piece