Yes, it's that time of year again -- the lights are up around town, the weather is cold and snowy, and you've got a long list of nice (and maybe even some naughty) people who will need gifts this year. But what will you get? If anyone on your list is a Warcraft player, worry not: WoW Insider has compiled a list of ten Nintendo Sixtyfoooooooour-level gifts for the Warcraft player in your life, five out-of-game and five in-game.

Whether they're level 10 or level 80, odds are that they'll love any of this stuff, and whether you've got just a little bit of time and/or money to put in or want no expense spared, there's something on this list for you. Click into the gallery below to check out all of the gifts, and be sure to have a happy holiday season -- here's hoping there will be a little something more exciting than coal in that stocking!

Looking for non-Warcraft related gamer gifts? Joystiq has up-to-the-minute news on the best holiday deals and tips around for Holidaze 2008. And our friends at Big Download have a nice set of guides up as well, featuring anything and everything you might need for a PC gamer.



Winter's Veil is almost here. Watch the 12 Days again, wonder what might be new this year, or settle down with some cocoa and some tasty... bark?

Blizzplanet's got the news that Upper Deck is offering a break on shipping in the next 24 hours, so if you've been thinking of picking up any WoW TCG-related items for a friend, now's the time to do it.

It's a pretty terrible deal though -- you've got to order $50 worth of stuff to get the free shipping, and at Upper Deck's official prices, you're probably just better running out to a hobby store and picking the things up yourself. But who knows. Maybe there's one of you in Alaska who have wanted to buy tons of stuff from UDE without paying shipping, but don't have a hobby store for miles around -- if so, you're in luck.

The sale inexplicably ends on November 21st, which by my calculations is tomorrow, so get your order in fast. But seriously, someone needs to teach Upper Deck how to have a holiday sale -- who buys all their gifts by Thanksgiving? Maybe we'll see a better sale on Black Friday.

As predicted, the WoW Minis game from Upper Deck has launched -- starter packs and booster sets are now available at a collectible store near you. I got to play the game with one of its designers at BlizzCon, and I actually found it a lot of fun -- it's very much like a turn-based Arena match, though there are fewer abilities to choose from, and if your characters are killed, they actually come back, as the victory is points-based, not just a deathmatch. But it's very similar to Arena matches in that you spend points on abilities, terrain can help or hurt, and each class has its own counters and tactics.

I found it to be a lot of fun, and probably would get involved in it if I had a friend I could also sucker into it, but no dice so far. Plus, it's two hobbies in one -- not only do you get a fun strategy game (that's surprisingly versatile -- you can play with more than two players if you like, and your victory points requirements are based on your characters, not the opposing sides', so you can play with whatever characters you like), but you also get to collect some cool minature reproductions of some of Warcraft's most famous faces. Good deal. Have you checked the game out yet, or is it something you're interested in?

We were lucky enough to try out the WoW Minis game at BlizzCon, and I have to say that I really enjoyed it. I've never been much into collecting (I used to play CCGs back when I was a kid, and when, at one point, I spent half my allowance on one pack of cards that didn't have any new ones, I pretty much decided it was over), but the game itself is pretty fun, kind of a mix between an arena match and a turn-based battle. I'd need someone to play with, I think, but if I could convince a friend to sit down and be nerdy with me, I could see getting into it.

If you haven't gotten a chance to see the game in action yet, you're in luck. Upper Deck tells us that they've passed out free starter kits to more than 1,500 hobby stores around the country (they didn't provide a list, but if the previous TCG events went down at a store near you, odds are the minis kits will be there as well), so if you have some free time this weekend, stop in and ask if you can see the game and how it works.

The game itself launches on November 11th, so if you enjoy playing the game at the store this weekend, you'll be able to pick up a starter set and booster packs then.

The WoW TCG World Championships wrapped up this weekend, and an American player named Jim Fleckenstein emerged the winner. The World Champs took place in Paris, and there was a fun twist -- apparently last year, a French player won on American soil, and next year, the tournament is going to take place in Austin, Texas, so there's a rivalry building.

The WoW TCG site has lots more, including play-by-plays of all the matches if you're interested in how the top players play the game (Jim won with a Shaman -- SHAMAN POWER!), and they've even got video of all the folks throwing down to win the crazy prizes. Looks like lots of fun in Paris for players of the TCG.

The 2009 season kicks off with the end of these world champs -- the next event will be a Darkmoon Faire event in Anaheim, CA on November 9th (right before the Wrath release), and of course the Drums of War expansion is due out soon, with those loot cards we've been drooling over.

We gave away a ton of great loot last weekend at BlizzCon -- every time someone stopped to say hi to us on the floor, we pulled out some swag and passed it out like Hallow's End candy. But even though we gave lots of it away, we've still got some left (huge thanks to Upper Deck for hooking us up -- we had a lot of fun playing the WoW Minis game with them), and so today, as we get the game's second expansion-level patch, we figured we'd give you a chance at a fun ingame item.

Yes, we're giving away a code for an ingame Paper Airplane item -- to enter, just leave a comment on this post telling us the first thing you're going to do when patch 3.0.2 comes back up. The code is good for the US or EU realms, and make sure to use a real email to comment with, so we can contact you if you win. We'll pick one winner randomly tomorrow, Wednesday, October 15, at noon Eastern (you'll have leveled up Inscription by then, right?) to win a code to get an ingame Paper Airplane item from Lando Longshot.

Good luck to everyone -- we can't wait for the patch to come up!

The latest WoW TCG expansion pack, the Drums of War, hits stores in late October (the 28th, to be exact), and Upper Deck has revealed three new loot cards that will come along with it. These are pretty wild.

• Slashdance is a super common card that will give you a party G.R.E.N.A.D.E. that, when thrown, will explode into a dance party on any unsuspecting characters who happen to be standing around.
• Owned! Flag is probably my favorite -- it lets you plant a flag, Emissary of Hate style, with a "thumbs down" flag in your conquered opponent.
• And The Red Bearon will give folks who missed out on the War Bear another chance -- it's a black battle bear mount.

All very cool (still not quite worth paying for by themselves, in my opinion, but that's up to you). If nothing else, folks playing the TCG will have a nice chance at some cool loot.

But that Owned! flag is nuts. Hopefully that's not the only flag we get to stab into corpses in the future -- even if the" thumbs down" stays TCG only, I'd be a big fan of stabbing someone with a Horde flag.

Our friends at WoWTCGLoot just can't stop being generous with all of that loot -- to celebrate the release of six (!) new tabards from Upper Deck, they're giving away twelve of them in total. To sign up for the contest, all you've got to do is fill out the form with "a link to a webpage containing something interesting or entertaining," enter your email, and then sit back and wait to see if you win. They're choosing twelve winners at random, and a 13th will pick up a Paper Flying Machine. Good luck to everyone who enters, and don't forget to visit the rest of the site over there -- if you're going hunting for any TCG Loot items anytime soon, they're a terrific resource.

And don't worry too much if you don't win -- the nice folks over there have also passed a few tabard codes over to WoW Insider that we'll be giving away here on the site very soon (or perhaps even at BlizzCon, so keep an eye out for us if you're going there as well). We told you -- there's no end to their generosity! Go enter WoWTCGLoot's contest right now, and stay tuned to WoW Insider to hear about more chances to pick up an ingame tabard of your own.

A few of Blizzard's partners (including Jinx, Upper Deck, and SteelSeries) have all teamed up to offer you what for many, Blizzard couldn't: two tickets to BlizzCon in October. Yes, in the first of what we're sure will be many contests and sweepstakes for BlizzCon tickets, these guys have set up a giveaway to hook up one lucky winner with passes for two to the event that's a Blizzard fan's dream.

All you've got to do to enter is put your info in over on their site -- the Grand Prize winner will pick up an all expenses paid trip to BlizzCon, and ten other winners will get some WoW-related gear from the contest's sponsors (SteelSeries makes the Zboard, and apparently they're releasing one for Wrath, so you might get one of those as well). There is a checklist that you can leave unchecked to supposedly keep the sponsors from contacting you, so even if you don't want your info opt-ed in, it looks like you're in the clear.

If you do enter, good luck! (And if you win, we'll see you at BlizzCon!) There are bound to be a few more of these contests showing up before the big event, so even if you don't walk away with a trip from this one, stay tuned.

We've mentioned WoW TCG Loot before -- they track prices of those TCG Loot cards, and while I don't think I'd ever pay money for an ingame item, if you want to, their price guides are pretty invaluable (not to mention that they provide a helpful directory of all the cards released so far).

And now they're hooking up some lucky folks with some TCG loot of their own, specifically some of those tabards that got released a while back. Usually, items like the Tabard of the Void and the Tabard of the Arcane are only available through Upper Deck's points system, but WoW TCG Loot is giving three Tabards to folks who enter on their contest page. And even if you don't get a tabard, they're also randomly giving away a paper airplane kit to one lucky winner.

Entering is as easy as telling them why you want it and putting your email address in (they say they don't send unsolicited email, but as always, enter your info at your own discretion), and you've got to enter before August 17th to be a part of the contest. Good luck to everyone who enters!

The WoW Minis game is picking up steam towards a release later this year, and after a first play chance at the ComicCon last week, Upper Deck has posted a downloadable demo of the game on their website. In this case, a "downloadable demo" actually means a printable PDF, complete with little figurines to cut out and assemble into a game board. Not exactly the most quality experience, but a DIY demo is a pretty interesting way to test and see how you like the game mechanics.

And inside the PDF, you can find a coupon that you can redeem at Gen Con this coming weekend for a chance to play in a preview event, and walk away with some real product from the game. If you can't be at Gen Con, don't worry, Upper Deck is planning some WoW Minis events for BlizzCon later this year as well.

And if you don't have the cash or the time to be flying all over the country and visiting huge groups of nerds enjoying their favorite pasttimes in packs, no big deal either -- the WoW Minis game itself is set for release sometime this Fall. So pretty soon you'll be able to play it yourself in your own nerdy way.

If you remember way back to the end of June, we told you about the new tabards available for purchase using your UDE points from the WoW Trading Card Game. At the time, Upper Deck said the new tabards would be included with patch 2.4.3. Well, 2.4.3 is here, but the tabards are sadly not.

According to UDE_Patrick, the plan for releasing the tabards is now a little different. The first tabard will be available on August 1st, and each additional tabard will be added one at a time over "several months." He doesn't really specify why this change has been made, or even which tabard will be first.

Some of us will obviously be disapponted (like tipster Donna, who already has ample points to pick up one for her, and one for her boyfriend). Some of us will have a little more time to pick up more points in before the release, and maybe score some of the cool loot cards from the new set.