There’s a nice oasis in the desert of post-holiday game releases with the launch of The Burning Crusade, WarioWare: Smooth Moves, March Madness 07 and the new Phoenix Wright. The rest of this week’s releases within…

World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade
Publisher: Vivendi Games
Developer: Blizzard
Release date: 1/16/07

With over 8 million players worldwide and 2 million in North America alone, Blizzard’s World of Warcraft is more of a phenomenon than it is a mere computer game.

Likewise, this week’s World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade, the first expansion for WoW, is shaping up than much more than just a mere expansion pack. Game companies, industry analysts and even companies outside of gaming have pored over the MMO and its impressive numbers, studying what the game does right and how to apply those features in games and otherwise.

One particular area that interests analysts is the success of the game’s subscription model, which is perhaps gaming’s best example of success outside of the retail (North American gamers pay about $15 a month). But being the overachiever that it is, WoW is doing fine at retail as well.

The Burning Crusade will further build upon the unwavering success and growth of WoW by appeasing players with a boosted level cap from 60 to 70, two new playable races, additional quests, items, dungeons, zones and a host of other features.

For fans who’ve cleared their calendars and set aside their recently renewed vacation days to play the expansion, its launch couldn’t have come soon enough. In late October, Blizzard announced that it wouldn’t be releasing Burning Crusade in November 2006 as expected, opting to hone the game for a few more months to work out some wrinkles found in the Beta. Of course, it missed the busy holiday shopping season, but with WoW’s clout, we’re sure it didn’t fall off gamers’ collective radar after Ryan Seacrest announced the dawn of 2007.

Perhaps the simplest reason for this devotion isn’t only because WoW is an impressive game, but because its players are more of a community than a fanbase.

One interesting piece of evidence of the high level of anticipation surrounding Burning Crusade is the fact that the limited $70 collector’s edition is going for around $150 on eBay at the time of this writing. Stores such as top US retailer GameStop are also holding midnight events nationwide on the eve of the game’s release. The regular version sells for $40.

Currently, there are no reviews for Burning Crusade, but popularity rankings on major websites are unsurprisingly high. It’s the most anticipated PC title on GameSpot, sixth for PC on 1UP and fourth on IGN’s GameStats.com.

WarioWare: Smooth Moves
Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: Intelligent Systems
Release date: 1/15/07

WarioWare: Smooth Moves is about as far from Azeroth as you can get. Basically a collection of about 200 quirky (to put it mildly) “microgames,” the title is the epitome of Nintendo’s “pick-up-and-play” strategy that the company is counting on to bring new gamers to the Wii and DS.

But console game companies have now figured out that both new, non-gamers as well as more core gamers are willing to pay for fun, easy to pick up twitch games (see Xbox Live Arcade and PS3’s DLX).

WarioWare Touched! for DS succeeded in Japan when it released in December 2004, selling 642,000 units in the region less than three months after its launch. The US version debuted in February 2005, cracking the top NPD’s top 20 list after its opening two weeks. The WarioWare franchise, which began on the GameBoy Advance in 2003, has overall sold hundreds of thousands of copies more.

Just as Touched! for DS catered to the system’s touch screen capabilities, WarioWare Smooth Moves will of course utilize the unique strengths of the Remote in its microgames. So this latest WarioWare sounds great in theory, right?

Early reviews largely say that it also works in practice, with Smooth Moves earning an average of 83 on reviews compilation site Metacritic.

GameSpot comments on its “fantastic visual style,” “terrific use of the Wii Remote” and says simply, “The Wii and WarioWare are a perfect match.” The site gave the game a 9.1/10 “Superb” score.

IGN gives the game an 8.2/10 stating that it’s not the best in the series and is “a bit on the short side, but nonetheless calls the game an “essential” part of the Wii library with plenty of lasting appeal.

Electronic Gaming Monthly gives the game an average 8/10: “It may not be the only game to put the Wii Remote through its paces, but it's certainly the most interesting.”

A common theme among many critics is that the game’s trademark humor is still intact. Yes, Smooth Moves does involve nose-picking.

For such a weird game, Smooth Moves is garnering a lot of consumer attention on top gaming sites. It’s ranked as the most popular Wii game on GameSpot, second on Wii on GameStats.com and third for the system on 1UP.

Also releasing this week:

Fossil League Dino Tournament—DS
D3 Publisher

Great Invasions—PC
Strategy First

NCAA March Madness 07—PS2, Xbox 360
EA

Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: Justice for All—DS
Capcom

The Shield—PC
Aspyr

Underground Pool—DS
UFO Interactive