It's that time of the week again, and even though Wrath is out and we're all playing up a storm, we'll be taking some time out of our schedule to put out our weekly podcast, the WoW Insider Show, and you should come join us. We'll be live on Ustream tomorrow afternoon at 3:30pm Eastern (time zone calculator), and this week, we'll welcome the site's other co-lead blogger, Dan O'Halloran on with us -- he was live on the scene in Anaheim with Blizzard and about a thousand fans during the launch, and he got to talk to Tom Chilton, so we'll get him to tell us all about that. And Chase Christian, who writes the Encrypted Text rogue column, will be joining us as well to talk about his experiences from 70-72 so far. Additionally, we'll be chatting about Blizzard issues with server downtime and how they've fared post-launch so far (very well, I think, queues notwithstanding), and we'll talk about that first to 80 player and all of our other experiences in Northrend over the past few days.

Should be a terrific show, definitely tune in on Ustream, or just come right back to this post, as we've embedded the stream after the break. If you've got a question for the show or something you'd like us to talk about, just drop a note: our email address is the show AT wowinsider dot com. And of course we'll be on for our usual aftershow -- after the show ends, we turn off the recording and chat directly with the people in the channel, so if you haven't listened live before, there's a great reason to tune in tomorrow. See you there!

The Orange County Register was all over the place yesterday -- being the hometown newspaper of Blizzard's hometown, they posted all day about the release and what Blizzard was doing for it (they've got some really good coverage of the event in Anaheim, which our own Dan O'Halloran attended as well). But perhaps most interesting is this post about Blizzard COO Paul Sams -- we haven't heard a lot from him in press before, but apparently he's a bigger Blizzard fan than any of us, with a collection of Blizzard items that includes a mint Spectral Tiger Card, Blizzard skateboards (which are apparently a licensing deal that never went through, so you can't buy those anywhere), and the second Frostmourne ever made -- we assume the first one went to Arthas.

And not all of it is Blizzard stuff -- he's got a first edition of The Count of Monte Cristo, and lots of sports memorabilia, too (but let's be honest -- a signed jersey is nothing compared to a Frostmourne. It's real.). Sams also collected his wife from Blizzard, too, apparently, and he says he'd be happy spending his whole career with the company. Sounds awesome to have someone who's such a fanboy sitting in one of your top exec positions.

Sams' favorite item, though, is probably the coolest: three drawings by the man Chris Metzen himself. That would be awesome to see. Check out all of Sams' collection in the OC Register's gallery.

Today's the day! After years of speculation and months of waiting, Blizzard is finally officially releasing Wrath of the Lich King. More than a few people have grabbed their copies already, but the vast majority of us are heading out to midnight launches all over the country (and indeed, the world) to pick up the game's second expansion.

Blizzard has their own launches planned (there's a rumor going around that the NYC event is canceled, but we've confirmed that's not true -- everything is still on as planned), and so do we here at WoW Insider -- in all the places that we're going out to take pictures and grab our own copies, we're inviting you to come along with us and say hi. We've reprinted all the meetups after the break -- I'll be in Chicago, we'll have people at the Blizzard events in Anaheim and Austin, and in North Carolina, California, Maryland, Minnesota and Florida, and our own Jennie Lees is hosting an event in Scotland. Take a look after the break, and if you happen to be in the area, definitely come out and meet us.

No matter where you are, good luck getting the game, and have a terrific time. We'll be around tonight with coverage of the event as it happens, interviews with devs on the scene, and of course in-depth coverage of our (and your) first steps into Northrend. Today is the day!

Blizzard's holding official launches across the world, various retailers in all sorts of places are planning out midnight launches, and we here at WoW Insider are no different -- we'll be covering the release all across the world, and we're inviting you readers to come out and join us wherever we are.

We've got a full list of meetup locations after the break -- I'll be in Chicago, co-lead Dan O'Halloran will be at the Fry's in Anaheim covering the Blizzard event there (Chase Christian will be in Santa Barbara, also in CA), and Elizabeth Harper will be in Austin, where Blizzard devs will be meeting and greeting as well. We've also got reader meetups planned in North Carolina and Minnesota (where BBB will be passing out buttons), and our own Jennie Lees will be picking up Wrath in Edinburgh, Scotland. And if you're in Orlando, BRK and Mania from Petopia are holding their own event down there.

Stay tuned to this post for more updates (if we've missed anyone on the team, they'll add their information here), and feel free to organize your own meetups and events in the comments. The second expansion launches next week -- let's party!

The WoW Insider Show landed at its new home, our new Ustream channel, last Saturday, and things went pretty darn well. We had a nice turnout of listeners from all over, and we had Adam Holisky and Turpster on, along with our guest Patrick Beja (of Azeroth.fr, How I WoW, and all of the other podcasts and features at his site Frenchspin). We had a few contests (one of which is still ongoing for you non-live listeners, so make sure to listen for the details if you haven't heard them yet), and we took some of the new features over at Ustream for a spin, including some fun polls.

I'm told our new iTunes feed isn't quite up and running yet, but in the future you'll see an iTunes link here as well. Show notes are after the break.

[iTunes] Subscribe to the WoW Insider Show in iTunes.
[Ustream] Listen to the unedited recording in Ustream.
[RSS] Add the WoW Insider Show to your RSS aggregator.
[MP3] Download the MP3 directly.

Or listen to Episode 60 right here:

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.

The crowds have been let in to the main convention center floor, and it is an absolute mad house of Blizzard fun here. BlizzCon 2008 has started in earnest, with a full day of panels and gaming ahead. Knowing Blizzard, it should be truly epic.

If you weren't able to join us here at the Anaheim Convention Center, have no fear. As the day progresses, we'll share many of the sights of BlizzCon 2008, straight from the front lines. So if you're hungry for more of what's going on here, be sure to check back, as we'll be updating the gallery throughout the day!

Today's the day! BlizzCon 2008 is underway in Anaheim, and WoW Insider is of course here -- stay tuned all day today for news from the panels going on all morning and afternoon. We're going to see Blizzard, talk to Blizzard, listen to Blizzard, and if we can get close enough, we may even smell Blizzard, too (Bornakk probably has a musky Old Spice kind of odor, right? Chris Metzen probably smells like bourbon and granite).

And we need your help -- let us know what you want us to ask Blizzard. Is there a class question you need an answer to, or something that's been bugging you since launch? Want to know something about Wrath of the Lich King that we haven't heard yet?

And let us know if there's anyone else you'd like us to talk to -- FigurePrints, Upper Deck, and DC Comics are all here, and we'll be talking to the folks from The Guild later today, so let us know what you want to know and we'll make sure you get to know it. Thanks, and enjoy the show -- we definitely will.

We've all got our badges for BlizzCon now -- badge pickup was a little less chaotic than last year, if memory serves us correctly (though they really need to split up the "S" names -- our line was longer by three times as much as any of the others). There were lots of people waiting outside right before they opened the convention center at 4pm, but once they opened up the doors, things moved quickly. We didn't notice any recognizable Blizzard staff around, but we've heard rumblings from vendors that they're setting up inside, and there's certainly plenty of activity going on back there.

None of the rest of the center is open until tomorrow, obviously, but we also grabbed some pictures of the art we could see posted inside. No, there aren't any big exclusive reveals, but there is a particularly nice piece of the Diablo III Witchdoctor that we hadn't seen before. Enjoy.

Just popping in with a quick note here; even if you're not going to BlizzCon, you can still enter a contest to have a question answered live by the developers.

I braved the red tape for you all to figure out the following:

• You have to be at least 13 years old.

• You can't be a resident of North Dakota, Connecticut, Vermont, or Maryland in the U.S., Quebec in Canada, or Queensland, Victoria, or the Australian Capital Territory in Australia. Otherwise, if you're a player in the U.S., Canada, most nations of the E.U., South Korea, Singapore, or Australia, you should be eligible. No word on Russian, Mexican, or Latin American players so you guys may, like me, be ineligible.
  

• You have until 4:00 pm PST October 11th (this Saturday) to enter the contest.

Twenty contestants will be selected to have their questions answered, and if you're one of the winners, not only will your question be answered, but you'll also get a prize package containing various Blizzard swag items plus a new ATI graphics card.

The actual submission form is right here if you're interested (with the laundry list of rules here if you want to make sure you're eligible to win), and you can ask any question related to Starcraft, Diablo, Warcraft, or World of Warcraft. Good luck!

Yes, this shameful excuse of an iPhone shot of the hotel pool (SOMEone forgot to bring a camera cord, but we're getting one later) is all we've got so far to prove to you that we're live in Anaheim, but it's true -- WoW Insider has returned to the OC (don't call it that) for another BlizzCon's worth of memories, Blizzard news and announcements, and just a generally great time.

Stay tuned all weekend for updates -- we've got our reader meetup tonight and a live recording of our podcast tomorrow for people here, and if you're at home, we're going to bring you everything you need to feel like you're here anyway: galleries, liveblogs, interviews, impressions, and everything else we can squeeze into two-and-a-half days of Blizzard nirvana.

It's going to be fun. Now if you'll excuse us, badge pickup doesn't start until 4. Where exactly can we grab some food around here?

WoW Insider is heading off to BlizzCon tomorrow (I've got to catch a flight out of O'Hare first thing tomorrow morning), but we're obviously not going to be the only ones covering the event. Our good friends at WoW Radio also have big plans to keep you informed throughout the two days in Anaheim -- Totalbiscuit and the gang over there will be hosting live audio streams of all of the panels, both as they happen and after they happen, and they'll have shows, interviews, and commentary throughout the weekend (including our special live recording of the WoW Insider Show there on Friday night). We'll have liveblogs and updates here, of course, but you can drink right from the firehose of an audio stream there as well, all weekend long.

TB has posted a special podcast outlining their plans for the weekend, so if you plan to do some listening to what's going on in Anaheim, check it out. Additionally, they'll also be chatting throughout the weekend in IRC, so feel free to join either #blizzcon08 on irc.quakenet.org or #wowradio on irc.mmoirc.com for up-to-the-minute chats and updates on what's going down near Disneyland.

Sure, you could pay for the DirecTV feed and get just the video, or you could stay tuned to our sites for free, and pick up even more news and views about the big event. If you couldn't grab a ticket or didn't have the time or money to make the trip, don't worry one bit -- we're going to make sure you've got the best seat in the house.

The Orange County Register has made the decision to switch their gaming blog from general coverage of games to strictly Blizzard news all the time (being in close proximity to Blizzard's HQ in Anaheim will help), and for their first feature, they've got a big writeup (and lots of pictures) from that Laguna College Art Show we mentioned the other day.

Turns out it's an all-Blizzard art show, and there's art in there not just from Blizzard's past titles, but also from upcoming titles like Diablo III, Starcraft II, and our own Wrath of the Lich King. It all looks awesome, and the show lasts through the end of the month, so while that unfortunately means that these pieces won't be at BlizzCon (though there likely will be plenty of game art displays there anyway), it also means that if you can find the time to visit Laguna during the convention, you'll be able to check it out.

The Register also has a couple of quick profiles of some student artists at the show, including a few samples of their work and why they enjoy Blizzard's art so much. It's very cool that Blizzard is giving back to their local community like this -- hopefully we'll get a chance to see even some student work at BlizzCon.