Blizzard Entertainment has announced that the first expansion for World of Warcraft, titled "World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade," is now available in North America and Europe. The expansion will be released to South Pacific countries tomorrow and to Asian countries at a later unspecified date.

“The Burning Crusade is the single largest expansion we’ve ever created, and we’re grateful for the support shown by our beta testers and the millions of World of Warcraft players worldwide during its development,” said Mike Morhaime, president and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment®. “We’re excited to share all of the new content with players, and we’re certain that they’ll enjoy the quality and breadth of new experiences that The Burning Crusade offers.”

"World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade adds a tremendous amount of new features and content to World of Warcraft, including Outland, a massive new continent for players to explore, as well as flying mounts, which will allow players to reach locations in Outland that would be otherwise inaccessible. Over the course of their new adventures, players will be able to take their characters up to level 70, gaining powerful new abilities along the way. Hundreds of new quests and monsters and several unexplored dungeons will offer exciting new challenges, while the new Blood Elf and Draenei races, each with capital cities and starting zones, promise a fresh start to current and new players alike. The jewelcrafting profession, socketed items, and expansive new player-vs.-player features round out the offering in World of Warcraft’s first expansion.

World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade is now available at retailers nationwide for Windows® 2000/XP and Macintosh® at a suggested retail price of $39.99. A special Collector's Edition of the expansion is also available, at a suggested retail price of $69.99. This limited-edition package includes the expansion on both CD-ROM and DVD, the Art of The Burning Crusade coffee table book, an exclusive in-game pet, a behind-the-scenes DVD, two World of Warcraft Trading Card Game card packs and three exclusive cards, a map of Outland mouse pad, and the official soundtrack CD. The World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade expansion requires the original World of Warcraft game, which is now selling for a suggested retail price of $19.99. World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade has received a Teen rating from the ESRB."