The release date for the highly anticipated game, "World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade" has been announced.

The game is an expansion to the world's leading subscription-based massively multiplayer online role-playing game, "World of Warcraft."

Blizzard Entertainment has announced that the game will be available in stores from January 16th in North America, Europe, as well as in Korea, Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore in a similar time frame.

This release will later be followed by some other countries like Mainland China and the regions of Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau.

Explaining the expansion of the game, Mike Morhaime, president and cofounder, Blizzard Entertainment, said, "With this expansion, we are looking forward to offering the same level of quality that players have experienced in World of Warcraft so far, and we will continue balancing and play-testing up until launch to ensure that The Burning Crusade achieves that goal."

In "World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade" players will be able to advance their characters up to level 70. It will have additional features including two new playable races (the Blood Elves and the Draenei), flying mounts, new talents and abilities for all character classes, new jewelcrafting profession, new magical weapons and armor, and many improvements to the player-vs-player action.

Moreover, the expansion will lead experienced players through the fabled Dark Portal, and into the Outland, former homeworld of the Orcs, through a series of cataclysmic events that helped shape the history of the Warcraft universe. Players will encounter new challenges and dangers in the form of new outdoor zones, quests, dungeons, never-before-seen monsters, and much more.

"The World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade" will be available for Windows 2000/XP and Macintosh formats at a suggested retail price (SRP) of approximately $39.99 (Rs 1,786).

The expansion requires the original World of Warcraft game, which is now selling for a suggested retail price of around $19.99(Rs 890).