Less than an hour ago Blizzard officially announced the new World of Warcraft expansion, Mists of Pandaria, and now we have the first preview trailer for you straight from Blizzcon.

Is it just me or does this trailer scream Kung-Fu Panda? Serious Blizzard, Pandas doing Kung-Fu? Lame!

Blizzard released a press release yesterday announcing that a fully localized Brazilian Portuguese version of World of Warcraft would be launching in Brazil later this year. The Brazillian version will be the ninth officially supported language and launch with its own community website and customer support.

“One of our top priorities is ensuring that our games are easily accessible to players all around the world. By offering a fully localized version of World of Warcraft along with customer service in Brazilian Portuguese, we’re able to deliver an experience that meets our standards and the expectations of our players in Brazil,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO of Blizzard Entertainment. “We look forward to welcoming Brazilian gamers to the global World of Warcraft community, and we hope they have a great time in Azeroth.“

You can read the full press release on the Blizzard site.

The latest World of Warcraft novel, Thrall: Twilight of the Aspects, is now available on store shelves. Written by NY Times bestselling author Christie Golden, the new novel follows Thrall, the former Horde War Chief, as he struggles with the ongoing repercussions of the Cataclysm.

For those interested head over to Amazon where you can purchase either a hardcopy for $15.56 or if you have a Kindle, a digital copy for $12.99.

Over ten thousand years ago, a betrayal by the maddened black Dragon Aspect, Deathwing, shattered the strength and unity of the dragonflights. His most recent assault on Azeroth—the Cataclysm—has left the world in turmoil. At the Maelstrom, the center of Azeroth’s instability, former Horde warchief Thrall and other accomplished shaman struggle to keep the world from tearing apart in the wake of Deathwing’s attack. Yet a battle also rages within Thrall regarding his new life in the shamanic Earthen Ring, hampering his normally unparalleled abilities.

Unable to focus on his duties, Thrall undertakes a seemingly menial task from an unexpected source: the mysterious green Dragon Aspect, Ysera. This humble endeavor soon becomes a journey spanning the lands of Azeroth and the timeways of history itself, bringing Thrall into contact with ancient dragonflights. Divided by conflict and mistrust, these dragons have become easy prey to a horrific new weapon unleashed by Deathwing’s servants . . . a living nightmare engineered to exterminate Azeroth’s winged guardians.

Of even greater concern is a bleak and terrifying possible future glimpsed by Ysera: the Hour of Twilight. Before this apocalyptic vision comes to pass, Thrall must purge his own doubts in order to discover his purpose in the world and aid Azeroth’s dragonflights as they face the Twilight of the Aspects.

With the launch of World of Warcraft patch 4.2, Rage of the Firelands, Blizzard rolled out their new free trial offer, Starter Edition.  The Starter Edition allows players an unlimited amount of time with multiple toons up to level 20 including the following,

• Players with the WoW Starter Edition can create draenei and blood elf characters, which were previously unavailable with trial accounts.
• The two starting zones associated with these races are also available to people wishing to try out the game.
• The gold limit has been raised to 10 gold, allowing Starter Edition players to purchase mounts when they reach the appropriate level.

All previous trial accounts have been reactivated and are now Starter Edition accounts, which means if you ever played the free trial and want to continue with your character, you now can.  The Recurit-A-Friend program was also updated and you can find its details here.

Three new World of Warcraft digital mangas are available now through the Cryptozoic Comic App, which is available free from the ApplesApp store, although you’ll have to purchase the actual mangas.  Each of the following three mangas is over 160 pages:

World of Warcraft: Mage

• On the heels of “Warcraft: Death Knight”, this class-based manga follows a young mage who faces his greatest challenge when he is forced to confront a foe only he can stop.

Warcraft Legends Vol. 3

• Featuring anthology stories “Fiend,” “Crusader’s Blood,” “I Got What Yule Need,” and “The Thrill of the Hunt.”

StarCraft Frontline Vol. 1

• Featuring anthology stories “Why We Fight,” “Thundergod,” “Weapon of War,” and “Heavy Armor pt. 1.”

The World of Warcraft is getting a little smaller with the new Real ID Party feature that is now available on servers for testing. Real ID Party will allow players who are Real ID friends to raid together regardless of what server they are on.

Currently during the testing phase the service will be free, however once out of testing, players can expect to pay a fee for the service. No date has been announced yet for when testing will complete.

Although just announced, there is already player backlash that yet another WoW service will charge players. Not only do players already have to buy the game and expansions, they also have to pay a monthly subscription fee, pay for race changes, name changes, character transfers, faction changes, pets and store items. For a game that is P2P, that’s a shit load of paid services already to add yet another paid service to the mix.

Second doesn’t Blizzard realize the service will be a failure if they charge for it.  What good is paying for the Real ID Party service if none of your friends on other servers do?

Blizzard announced today that both the 2011 Global Battle.net Invitational and the 2011 Global Starcraft 2 League will be held live at this years BlizzCon in October.  The Global Battle.net Invitational features top-ranked pro players who have been invited to participate from across the world. This year, players will compete in StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty and World of Warcraft: Cataclysm.

Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment has this to say about the two competitions,

“We’re looking forward to witnessing the high level of competition between the pro gamers participating in these events alongside our attendees at BlizzCon and the viewers at home.”

For those of you who didn’t get tickets to BlizzCon, you can access the competitions at blizzcon.com for free if you have a active Battle.net account.   If you want full access to BlizzCon 2011, virtual tickets can be purchased for $39.99 at blizzcon.com as well.

Blizzard announced today that their popular Battle.net Mobile Authenticator is now available on Windows Phone 7 devices.  The mobile authenticator is already available on iPhone, Android and Blackberry mobile devices, and now is also available on Windows phones.

For those of you Win phoneusers, you can now add extra protections for your World of Warcraft accounts by downloading the free mobile authenticator for your phone.

If you can any concerns on security or just questions, just check out the official FAQ.

Yesterday Blizzard announced an update to its free trial period, changing from a 14 day free trial to unlimited up to level 20.  Is this a sign of weakness coming from the king of MMORPGs?  In shorty, yes, World of Warcraft is heading into its seven year and it’s safe to say has passed its prime.

Back in March 2011, Blizzard revealed that subscription numbers were around 11.4 million, which is down from the 12 million it announced only a few months before in Oct 2010.  The 5% drop could be related to the fact that RIFT is gaining steam or that more and more quality MMOs are switching to the free to play model. Offering an unlimited free trials could be a way for Blizzard to test the waters and systems it needs to make the switch to free to play themselves.

Blizzard already has all the tools in place to make a quick and smooth transition to F2P.  The WoW store has been live for well over a year and is already massively successful and now they have the Free2Play system in-place. They only need to flip the switch at this point.

Whether or not this will ever happen can be argued, but as the game ages and subscribers continue to decline, I think Blizzard will see F2P as a way to stabilize its player base and extend the life of World of Warcraft well into the future.

The latest patch from World of Warcraft, update 4.2, is now available on public test realms.  WoW update 4.2 brings some major changes to the World of Warcraft such as a new raid, legendary questline, daily quest hub update, major story developments, interface enhancements and much more.

New Raid – The Firelands

Players will have the opportunity to turn the tide in the Firelands, a huge outdoor raid of the highest difficulty, with 10-person and 25-person normal and Heroic modes.  Those who dare accept the challenge will face six unique bosses that stand between you and the reinvigorated Ragnaros.

New Legendary Questline

A new epic quest that will challenge those daring enough to complete the legendary staff Dragonwrath, Tarecgosa’s Rest.  The great staff duplicates destructive magics, and also bestows upon its wielder the ability to transform into a member of the Blue Dragonflight.  However those who complete the staff won’t be the only ones to receive a reward. Upon completion of the staff all guild members will receive a unique non-combat pet to call their own.

New Daily Quests Areas – The Regrowth and Molten Front

Players will have the opportunity to test their mettle at two new daily quest areas known as the Regrowth and Molten Front.  They are located in the fertile hillsides of Mount Hyjal and the burning depths of the Firelands.  These areas will offer an unprecedented amount of daily solo content for level-85 players to enjoy — including over 60 new quests, four “unlockable” iLevel 365 gear vendors, and a world that evolves right before your eyes.

Major Story Developments

It is rumored that Thrall, former warchief and shaman, has been struck down by a powerful Twilight’s Hammer agent and cast into the four domains of Elemental Plane.  Patch 4.2 will reveal the fate of one of Azeroth’s greatest champions.

Full 4.2 update details can be found on the official Blizzard site.