European World of Warcraft beta launches

Blizzard Entertainment has kicked off the European closed beta of the World of Warcraft MMORPG this week. Those among the many thousands of applicants for positions who were successful in their attempts to get on this most hallowed of beta tests should have received an email invitation by now, so check your inbox. Don't worry though - Blizzard will be phasing in more and more testers over time, so if you're not there yet you might be soon.

If you were lucky enough to get onto the WoW Euro beta though, keep an eye open for us, as we'll be trolling the lands of Azeroth soon enough. You should also keep an eye on the English, German or French community sites for information - at the moment Blizzard is offering an English language version of the game, but French and German versions will be introduced "in due course".

Furthermore, the European beta "includes the latest content and updates, following the push yesterday in North America and Korea. Moving forward, beta testers in Europe, North America and Korea will have access to the same content as future pushes will occur simultaneously in all territories." However, as we reported last month, the regional versions are separate and there won't be any intermingling unless you happen to be playing the wrong version.

For more on World of Warcraft, have a look at our huge preview here, and our interview with producer Chris Sigaty and Blizzard PR George Wang here. The game should be out in Europe in the first months of 2005.