News.blog: 'WoW' expansion delayed

The online game World of Warcraft has garnered more than 7 million subscribers since its release two years ago -- many of them could be described as rabid -- so it's no surprise that the game's first major expansion was one of the most anticipated releases for Christmas.

But Blizzard said on Tuesday that it plans to hold back the release of World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade until January, according to the Associated Press.

That sound you hear is tens of thousands of hard-core WoW players simultaneously groaning at the fact that they'll have to wait a few more weeks to attempt to raise their level from the maximum 60 in the current WoW to the maximum 70 in the expansion.

Blizzard said, basically, that the expansion wasn't going to be ready in time and that it thought it would be best to wait a few extra weeks.

"We feel confident that the extra time spent polishing the game will result in the high-quality experience that our players expect and deserve," the AP quoted Blizzard president and co-founder Mike Morhaime as saying in a press release.

Blizzard isn't saying precisely when the expansion will hit stores, or its price, but retailer Amazon UK is currently listing a 1 February release date and a price of £17.99.