This may not qualify as big news on a day when we learned more about Wrath of the Lich King than we have since Blizzcon, but in case you're in need of a new t-shirt or two, Jinx is having a sale on four WoW-themed designs. Each design, in men's, is available for $5, and they are:

• Horde crest
• Alliance crest
• WoW
• Burning Crusade

Note that all sizes in each of the four designs are out of stock except large and extra-large, so I hope your size is one of those. The sale continues until May 14th -- go get your shop on!

The marketing and merchandising machine can be quite a thing to behold, especially when it comes to Hello Kitty. The possibilities for themed merchandise seem to be endless. Here is a list of some of my favorites:

1. The Hello Kitty scooter.
2. Hello Kitty credit card, checking account, and free (exclusive) Hello Kitty business card holder upon qualifying.
   
3. Some Hello Kitty baked goods.
4. A Barbie doll. Not just any, either; this one comes decked from head to toe in Hello Kitty merchandise.
5. Booze. Yes folks, even Hello Kitty supports booze, this time in the form of wine.

What's the coolest, or most unique Hello Kitty item that you own? Do you make your own items, buy them from official shops, or try to score limited edition merchandise?

WoW is a big part of the time my husband and I spend together. If we're not actually playing, we're usually talking about strategies or our in-game goals. Likewise, I spend a ton of time with my guildmates, either raiding or just joking around. These are people I consider good friends.

So with one of the major gift giving holidays just around the corner, I've been working on ideas for WoW-themed presents for the lot of them. And I'm certainly not the only one. The folks over at Warcraft Chicks have been compiling a list of inexpensive to legendary items you can buy or make for your loved ones. There are also a lot of posts over on WoW Ladies about gift ideas. Likewise, Grumble N' Autumnn has compiled a list of in-game toys.

At this point, though, there's less than a week before Christmas. Yikes! So in the interest of time, I'm going to put together one giant list of WoW-related holiday gift ideas and where you can get them.

Speaking of great WoW-related gifts for the holidays, Petopia's creator has broken out a Cafepress site, complete with official Petopia goods for the Hunter on your gift list. There are the standard items-- t-shirts, cups, and a Mazzaranche tote bag.

But the kicker is this: a 2008 Petopia wall calendar. Featuring fun screenshots (and even some original art) of the best and most favorite pets in the game. I love it. Echeyakee, Humar, Takk the Leaper-- all the greats are here to count down 2008 with you. At $25 it's a little pricey, but on the other hand, any Hunter would love to have that as a gift this holiday season. Very cool idea to put that together, and totally fun to see your favorite virtual pets show up in a setting like that.

Sure, there are already licensed World of Warcraft figurines by way of DC. But those are just so generic, you know? Now, what if I told you you could get a figure that looks exactly like your in-game character, outfitted in any gear you own? That's exactly what FigurePrints, a new venture that is set to go live on December 11th, promises to do for you. They are apparently official -- check out the "Licensed Blizzard Product" badge in the bottom-right -- and I find the idea quite intriguing. From one perspective it's the next logical step in merchandising, but really, look at the future we're living in: create a character in an online fantasy game, and have a third party step in, take a model of the character, make a custom 3D print of it, and mail it to your doorstep. This type of stuff has been done before, yes, but the quality on the sample FigurePrints is quite impressive.

Here's some information from the site's FAQ: The data is pulled from the Armory, which makes me wonder: how do they get your appearance right? The Armory, unless I'm mistaken, doesn't include things like hairstyle and the other various customization options. The actual statuettes are built using rapid prototyping (AKA 3D printing) using vertically-stacked slices of "plaster-like powder" and then hand-finished. The scale is 1:18, which means a male human comes out about 4 inches tall, not counting the base. And the price? $99.95, plus $14.95 shipping and handling. They warn that availability is limited, and that the best way to guarantee you get one is to make an account at their site, although I wasn't able to get past the "Open December 11th" banner to actually click on anything. So how about it? Will you be lining up to pay $100 plus shipping to bring your toon out of Azeroth?

It's official: there's going to be a WoW comic (a few days ago we reported on intriguing hints to that effect). Here is DC's own page on it; it looks like it's going to be published under their Wildstorm line, which does a lot of fantasy-type stuff of (in my opinion) uneven quality. The release date for #1 is November 14th, and here are the credits: Written by Walter Simonson; Art by Ludo Lullabi and Sandra Hope; Cover by Jim Lee; Variant cover by [Blizzard's own art superstar] Samwise Didier.

You can also subscribe directly from DC for $23.99 for 12 issues, over at their page. There's some interesting concept art and some more cover images over there as well. And for the curious, the story summary of the first issue is after the jump.

The other day while I was packing up after doing some research at my local library, a small group of people stopped me to ask what the stickers on my laptop were about. I replied that they were symbols from World of Warcraft. It turned out that several of the folks in the group were also WoW players – although they were all Alliance. One of the girls in the group happily told me all about her Night Elf Druid, and how her boyfriend had gotten her into WoW. She then followed up by noting that she was surprised to meet someone who played Horde out in real life. We chatted about WoW for a good ten to fifteen minutes, I told them about WoW Insider (because this place rocks) and then we all headed our separate ways.

With the sheer amount of merchandise now available, like t-shirts, book bags, and stickers, WoW players are making their presence known more and more in the real world. Have you ever worn or displayed something with a WoW reference on it and been stopped by other gamers or people asking about it? If you saw someone wearing a WoW shirt, what would you do? How about if they were of the opposing faction, as most of the group I was talking to were?

Personally, I think it was awesome to meet other gamers, no matter if they were of the opposing faction. After all, we're all just people out to have fun in Azeroth when it comes down to it. I also thought that it was really cool to hear (and remember) the excitement of someone new to the game, as well as sharing experiences with other people who have raided the same places I have.

That said, if you ever see a girl with multi-colored hair who has Horde stickers on her laptop (as seen above) feel free to pop over and say hello!

Fantasy Flight Games, makers of the WoW series of board games, have commissionas a new line of bronze miniature figures, for all you collectors & tabletop gaming lovers. Apparently they make the perfect size pieces for playing the WoW board games, but if you're like me, you'll have your little green army men fighting off the orcs .while defending the kitchen from the Horde. Too bad you can't paint these up all cool like...