"The9 Limited (NASDAQ: NCTY) (“The9”), a leading online game operator in China, today announced that Blizzard Entertainment's World of Warcraft, the subscription-based massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) has achieved a record peak concurrency of 1 million, the highest concurrency since the game's commercial launch in June 2005, following the launch of its new expansion pack, World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade, in mainland China on September 6, 2007."

Some of the highlights of the expansion:

• Level cap increased to level 80
• Introduction of Death Knight hero class
• New profession: Inscription

No official date is set, but rumor has it being released early next year, most likely near the same time that Burning Crusade was released.