Reporting from GDC, Gamesindustry carries word that Blizzard executive Rob Pardo has revealed that the studio is in active talks with Microsoft regarding the successor to the Xbox 360.

It should be noted that Blizzard’s games sell like hot cakes on PC and that their last console release was of StarCraft way back in 2000 on Nintendo 64. However, with blockbuster titles in the making – Diablo 3, StarCraft 2 and an unannounced MMO – the company might be looking to expand its reach to consoles.

Blizzard today announced that it will be capitalizing on its own customers by releasing World of Warcraft-themed flavors of Mountain Dew Game Fuel.

Reflecting opposing sides, there will be Alliance Blue and Horde Red, both of which will debut this summer at your local 7-11 store. More details are coming soon.

In an official question and answer session, Blizzard thoroughly outlined dual talent specialization, an update that is coming soon to World of Warcraft.

To be included in the next patch, dual talent speccing will allow players to easily switch between two different talent specs, glyph and hotbar setups. Level 80 characters will be able to gain the ability by paying a one-time training fee.

Once gained, the talent specs can be switched at any Lexicons of Power. These lexicons will be available in major in-game cities; inscribers will be able to create an item that summons one.

“We will be launching the feature with just two specs, but depending on how we feel it works out, we might consider additional specs in the future,” said Warcraft senior designer Greg Street.

Moving on to another project, Blizzard’s Jeff Kaplan has left his post as the director of World of Warcraft in order to work on the company’s unannounced next-gen MMO.

"World of Warcraft has been such a central part of my life these past six and a half years, and it’s success would not have been possible without the tremendous community around it, so I wanted to say thank you to all our players who’ve shared this amazing experience with us so far," he wrote in a forum post.

Kaplan noted that he still plans to be involved in the MMO’s future, adding that Tom Chilton and J. Allen Brac will now handle day-to-day operations.

"When all is said and done, WoW is still my favorite game. I play it every day. None of that passion is gone," he concluded. "If anything, it fuels the challenge of making our next MMO even better. We know we have some big shoes to fill."

Blizzard Entertainment today announced that Wrath of the Lich King, its second expansion pack for World of Warcraft, has sold more than 2.8 million copies in its first day of availability, making it the fastest-selling PC game of all time. The record was previously held by the studio’s other expansion for WoW – The Burning Crusade – released back in January 2007, selling nearly 2.4 million copies during its first day at retail.

“We’re grateful for the incredible support that players around the world have continued to show for World of Warcraft,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “Wrath of the Lich King contains some of the best content we’ve created for the game so far, and we look forward to seeing even more players log in to experience it in the days ahead.”

The expansion adds a whole new continent to explore, the Death Knight hero class and more. World of Warcraft, prior to the launch of the expansion, had more than 11 million players.

Speaking at the London World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King launch, Blizzard’s Paul Sams and Lee Spark answered questions about their unannounced MMORPG they have been tight-lipped about so far. That stance didn’t change, as they would reveal no information on the project, though they did point out the reason for the silence: it is early in development.

The duo also fielded questions about console development, which they shot down, noting that there is a “lot more that can be done on a PC.” They also talked about paid character customization in WoW, which they pointed out acts as a deterrent for users for wanting to jump between appearances and whatnot.

Said Sams: "We want to give you the ability to do this, but we don’t want you to do it all the time. The same thing goes for paid character transfer, we don’t want people bouncing back and forth. It serves as a tool for people to do it, but also as a deterrent to not do it too much, and also allows us to have the staff to be able to continually manage the population.”

Best Buy has announced plans to hold a midnight launch for Wrath of the Lich King, the upcoming highly anticipated expansion for World of Warcraft, in New York city on November 13.

Beginning at 8pm on Wednesday, gamers can gather at the Times Square Best Buy to meet with Blizzard’s Mike Morhaime and Frank Pearce; G4’s Geoff Keighley will also be there. The event will be host to interviews, prize giveaways and more.

After having caused a major speculation storm, PC Gamer has confirmed that Diablo 3 is not the big reveal contained within its August 2008 issue. Apparently they’ve got two major announcements in the issue, none of which are from Blizzard, developer of the classic series.

The official World of Warcraft website offers details on the upcoming Wrath of the Lich King expansion for the game. There is a new Death Knight gameplay information page, new gameplay features page and new wallpapers among other things.

If you’re a hardcore World of Warcraft player, keep running Windows Media Player 11 in the background then! Gizmodo reports that running the media player speeds up loading in the popular MMORPG, strange as it may sound. Blizzard knows about this and is currently investigating.

Game god John Carmack of id Software, in an interview with Gamasutra, has noted the power of Blizzard’s World of Warcraft, saying that it has spurred PC gaming, all the while reaffirming his company’s support for PC as a gaming platform.

He described WoW as a “train driving all the PC sales numbers altogether on gaming,” while at the same time acknowledging that most players of “higher-end games” have moved onto the consoles, citing well-implemented console features as well as connectivity options such as Xbox Live.

However, he still believes in the strength of PC as a games platform, stating that “the PC still has a strong enough margin to make games, and we continue to support it.”

World of Warcraft junkies looking to get the fix for free now have an opportunity to experience the game free for 11 months. DirecTV and Blizzard have teamed up to offer a free subscription for the aforementioned period of time to new DirecTV subscribers.

A new “service release” for Two Worlds is now live on the game’s official website, updating the RPG to v1.5. To coincide with the patch’s release, an updated demo can also be found on the website.

New updates for StarCraft and StarCraft: Brood Wars are now available, bringing the RTS and its expansion up to v1.15.1. The updates can be applied automatically by connecting to Battle.net; manual patches can be found on Blizzard’s website.

With the Leipzig Games Convention just two days away, Blizzard has announced that it will be showing off World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King and StarCraft II at the show in playable form.

Wrath of the Lich King will let players adventure in the Howling Fjord region of Northend and check out Utgarde Keep, a five-person dungeon located there. For StarCraft II, attendees will be able to experience the newly revealed units of the Terran race and play as either the Terrans or the Protoss in single-player skirmishes and in multiplayer battles on six different maps.

Though Blizzard is doing well in China, it still isn’t far away from legal problems. The company has been sued by Chinese IT company Founder Electronics who is claiming for 100 million yuan in damages for copyright infringement. Apparently, Blizzard, The9 (which runs WoW in China) and Qingwentuwen (Beijing distributor) had used five fonts from the company’s database for use in World of Warcraft without proper authorization.

Founder Electronics, the largest provider of Chinese fonts in the country, claims that the infringement of copyright was “serious” due to the fact that WoW has more than 7.5 million active player accounts. “The lost earnings of one billion yuan was a conservative estimate,” they said.

No comment has been made yet by Blizzard. This is, interestingly, the largest IP suit in China, a country ridden with software piracy.