Happy New Year's Eve! World of Warcraft fans have a lot to look forward to in 2009, including patch 3.1. In addition to dual spec (hopefully), the update will bring with it Tier 8 sets and Ulduar weapons.

Boubouille of MMO-Champion has provided preview screenshots of most of these items in one handy post. Druids, Paladins, Shamans, Warriors and male Rogues are going to need to wait to see their Tier 8 sets, but the rest of the classes are up there.

As Boubouille warns, any of these items could change since they're still in the beta phase. Regardless, what does everyone think about the armor and weapons? Remember, there's no concrete date set for the release of patch 3.1.

Continuing with our interviews with the cast of Project Lore, we sat down with none other than Joshua "Lylelovett" Brentano, the super tank. During the interview we talked about a number of topics ranging from his main project working in television to a possible decline in World of Warcraft.

Tamat : Hey Joshua, thanks for joining me today to talk about Project Lore, Wrath of the Lich King and, Tanks!

Joshua : WoW WotLK FTW!

Tamat : So, a lot of people don't know this but you're actually the Executive Producer on G4's hit TV show "Attack of the Show". How are you able to balance your time between AOTS and Project Lore?

Allakhazam poster Brisin has shared a good cause with us in our World of Warcraft general forum. Katherine Allen, a Blizzard employee, is going to be running in a marathon to benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, an organization that provides funding for cancer research and helps cancer patients pay for their treatments.

While this is an important fundraising effort by itself, Allen has sweetened the deal by enticing WoW players with the possibility of receiving one of three 1-year time cards if they donate $25 and leave "For the Alliance!" or "For the Horde!" as a comment on her fundraising page. And one lucky player will get free WoW for life since she broke the $5,500 mark!

Allen's initial goal was to raise $5,000. She's already shattered that and currently sits at $15,555. You have until Jan. 5 to donate if you'd like a shot at the free WoW time. You can read her full post here or below.

Oh, Brisin got this information from Ctrl+Alt+Del, a great web comic for gamers. If you've never read it before, here's one about Wrath of the Lich King to get you started.

Now that the holidays are over and all the presents have been unwrapped; we'd like to show you what you may have missed this week.

Allakhazam Features

Jim Lee's Universe, Part One : We sit down with Jim Lee, famed DC comic book artist, to talk about his Sony Online Entertainments upcoming MMO, DC Universe Online. In the interview we talk with Jim about his role on the project, his past, and of course the game itself.

Jim Lee's Universe, Part Two : Part Two of the interview with Jim Lee.

Jumpgate Evolution Media #4 : We give you our final look at Jumpgate Evolution in 2008 with four brand new exclusive screenshots.

Blizzard announced today that World of Warcraft is now played by 11.5 million subscribers worldwide. This should really come as no surprise to anyone since the game surpassed 11 million subscribers in October, but it does continue to demonstrate WoW's immense popularity when it can gain 500,000 subscribers in about two months.

Also, Wrath of the Lich King has sold more than 4 million copies in its first month, setting a new record for monthly PC-game sales. The expansion sold more than 2.8 million copies in its first 24 hours of availability alone.

You can read the full press release after the jump. For those of you who are curious what exactly being a subscriber entails, here's the definition: "World of Warcraft subscribers include individuals who have paid a subscription fee or have an active prepaid card to play World of Warcraft, as well as those who have purchased the game and are within their free month of access. Internet Game Room players who have accessed the game over the last thirty days are also counted as subscribers. The above definition excludes all players under free promotional subscriptions, expired or cancelled subscriptions, and expired prepaid cards."