It seems that November is a big month for birthdays, with World of Warcraft receiving four candles on their cake this weekend. To celebrate, they've turned the whole "present-giving" idea on its head - sending out gifts to everybody who logs in during their anniversary celebrations.

While the traditional 4th anniversary gift is flowers, Blizzard aren't much for tradition, instead giving gamers a very cute Baby Blizzard Bear! (If you're not one for 'cute', the cuddly munchkin also brings with it a feat of strength achievement to celebrate the game's four years online.)

So - just in case you spent the weekend without signing in to Azeroth, you might like to hop online very quickly and claim your present...

We have no confirmed end-time for the presents, but Blizzard operates on US Pacific time. Given that they've promised gifts for everyone logging in "this weekend", I'd say you've got about five and a half hours to log in before the clock ticks over to 12:01 Monday morning (that's 6:30pm Adelaide time).

With the recent announcement of 11 million subscribers, that's a lot of cake at the birthday party - and Blizzard wanted to thank everybody for the hours (weeks, years) of dedication they've poured into the game. The game's first expansion pack, The Burning Crusade took out the record for fastest-selling PC game ever - only to lose the crown a year later when Wrath of the Lich King moved 2.8 million copies in its first 24 hours of release.


The baby bear - which is account-bound - looks like a miniature version of the BlizzCon Polar Bear Mount that was available to BlizzCon attendees (or Pay-per-view subscribers), and should keep you company as you venture through the Frozen North. Better get in quick though, once they're gone - they're gone!