According to Gamasutra Square Enix has plans to open a US studio based in Los Angeles for the purposes of creating an action game based on an original IP (assumedly for the 360 based upon the job descriptions.) It should be interesting to see how this pans out in the end. Square Enix, original IP, and action game aren't usually phrases that you see lumped together. I'm personally just excited to see what sort of art direction we can expect to see from this new studio. I'm going to be really disappointed if it's full of man-tough space marines rather than my beloved effeminate Gackt copies. In the end, I'm just glad to have had a chance to use this image.

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 ”Okay, so let's do a conservative estimate, and say even 1 million of these counted subscribers are still in their free month. That leaves 9 million paying subscribers who, at the $15 fee, are generating $135 million every month. Hell, even if you adjust that to, say, $120 million (since many subscribers may be paying for slightly discounted 3- or 6-month subscriptions), that still means Blizzard more than recouped their entire upkeep costs over a four-year period in just two months."

Get ready, the expansion (World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King) is due out in stores on November 13, 2008.

"We're looking forward to launching Wrath of the Lich King and finally giving World of Warcraft players a chance to take on Arthas and his minions," said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. "Until then, we'll continue to refine and playtest the expansion content to make sure it provides a highly polished and entertaining experience."

The expansion will be available in Korea and the regions of Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau on November 18.

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Attention, World of Warcraft fans: WoW Insider is reporting that Wrath of the Lich King, the next WoW expansion, is no longer in alpha and will soon be entering beta. This means that those selected from the pool of entries for beta access should soon be getting their invites.

Blizzard has a website set up that contains information for those of you who get beta keys, like how to create a Blizzard account and access client files needed to play.

Remember, there are quite a few beta scams out there, so make sure you're careful with where you disclose your account information.

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