But that just adds to the puzzle. Unlike console competitors Microsoft and Sony, Nintendo has few properties directly tied to the PC market, and last February, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata said they had no interest in adding an MMO to its Wii system. Nintendo’s U.S. president, Reggie Fils-Aime, said they wanted the Wii to appeal to crossover demographics “very much like the Second Life audience,” so maybe it’s just a virtual marketing site, like Microsoft’s Xbox island.

Here’s a more tantalizing possibility: A German firm has created a Wii-to-SL interface for the treadmill, and developers

Gallery: ION 08: John Smedley keynote

It probably wouldn't be fair to say that Blizzard is worried. But with two determined attempts on its hegemony of fantasy MMOs coming this year (Age of Conan and Warhammer Online), last week's Wrath of the Lich King showcase at the company's Californian HQ was, at the very least, a firm reminder of why you might want to keep playing World of Warcraft. The timing, two weeks before Conan's launch, could hardly have been a coincidence. And the reminder was effective - the next WOW expansion impressed us deeply.

Blizzard has a reverential and protective attitude to its talent though, and there wasn't a sense that lead designers Jeff Kaplan and Tom Chilton, or producer J. Allen Brack, were feeling the pressure when we spoke to them. They are well insulated from it, on a roomy campus plastered with WOW art and crowded with fantasy figurines, piles of comics and Rock Band units.

Kaplan, a slight, unassuming man with a ruffled hair and a charming, far-off air, is responsible for questing, dungeon, environment and story design. Chilton, round-headed, close-cropped and thoughtful, a veteran of Ultima Online, has the unenviable task of managing player-versus-player balance and character cl

At present, the store's digital download section only contains three listings: the StarCraft Anthology, Warcraft III, and the WarCraft III Frozen Throne expansion. They mark the first digitally distributed releases of any Blizzard game, apart from World of Warcraft.

Furthermore, owners of certain Blizzard efforts can now register their CD keys on the site to add the titles to their Blizzard Account and download them for free at any time, though Diablo II-related downloads are not yet ready.

A new beta lottery program is also available, allowing registered users to be automatically entered into a drawing for beta access. However, no public betas are known to be underway.

At present, the company is known to be working on StarCraft II as well as a title only referred to as "an unannounced Next-Gen MMO," which some speculate to be a new Diablo game.

A list of PC titles that can be registered and downloaded from the Blizzard Store follows, as well as a description of the beta lottery.

• Diablo II*
• Diablo II: Lord of Destruction*
• Diablo I