OMG RPG.com

Good morning omgRPGers. As you wake up and stretch for your morning cup of coffee, here are some of the World of Warcraft stories that we've gleaned from over the July 4th weekend.

* On Thursday afternoon, Blizzard announced that they were opening up an opt-in process for the Wrath of the Lich King expansion beta test. Now, knowing that Vivendi let slip that they expect to see the expansion released in the second half of 2008 , that leaves us with some speculative wiggle room as far as the timing for a beta test goes. My guess is that we will see the beta open up for testing sometime late August, and that it will conclude around BlizzCon time, giving us a chance to experience the new content from Maelstrom.

If you still haven't opted in to beta test Wrath of the Lich King, hop on over to the page pronto.

* In the Jun 20th issue of Science magazine, John Bohannon talks about a conference he helped organize WITHIN World of Warcraft. Almost 300 attendees logged in for the 3-day event, attending the conference panels held in the horde cities of Orgrimmar and Undercity, as well as the neutral coastal town of Booty Bay. Each of the panels were held via in-guild chat, and dealt with topics such as issues of identity within virtual worlds. The article detailing this sociological experiment that was this scientific conference is absolutely fascinating, and definitely worth reading for yourself.

* CrunchGear is reporting that a request for a preliminary injunction against the Vivendi Activision merger was rejected last week. It is interesting to note that the judge appeared surprisingly open-minded (methinks he be a gamer himself):

In the role-playing game that is this disclosure litigation, both sides have played their respective roles well. Plaintiff has vigorously battled for additional information about the proposed transaction, and, indeed, additional information has been released by the Company during the pendency of this litigation. Likewise, defendants have responsively and effectively addressed the many variations of claims that plaintiff has proffered. Ultimately, however, there still remained three outstanding disclosure claims for the Court to resolve. Like any game, this one has rules, and the most essential rule of disclosure is materiality. Because the plaintiff could not establish the materiality of its final three disclosure claims, the motion for a preliminary injunction is denied. The July 8, 2008 meeting may proceed. GAME OVER.

Tomorrow Activision shareholders meet to vote on the proposed merger. We'll know soon thereafter what the future holds for WoW.

[via About.com: Physics,CrunchGear ]

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