Blizzard's annual BlizzCon convention won't be sticking to its annual schedule this year. For the first time since 2006, Blizzard fans won't be gathering at the Anaheim Convention Center to celebrate all things Blizzard.

Blizzard made the surprising announcement on its blog earlier today. BlizzCon will return in 2013 -- it isn't a matter of the event being put on ice indefinitely -- and to make up for its absence this year, Blizzard announced the 2012 Battle.net World Championship. Set to be held later this year in Asia, it'll be home to the World Championship tournaments for both StarCraft II and World of Warcraft. It's another example of Blizzard supporting eSports and professional gaming, with it having already hosted tournaments at BlizzCon itself.

Electronic Arts has continued working to expand Origin into something more than a home for its own games. The publisher announced today it has agreed to deals with 11 third-party publishers to bring their games to Origin's catalog.

Trion Worlds MMO Rift (pictured above) is the first of these additions and is now available. Specific games beyond that weren't mentioned, just that in the "coming months" Origin will also be home to titles from Robot Entertainment (Orcs Must Die), CD Projekt RED (The Witcher 2), Freebird Games (To the Moon), Recoil Games (Rochard), Autumn Games (Jimmie Johnson's Anything With An Engine), 1C Company (IL-2 Sturmovik), inXile Entertainment (Choplifter HD), Paradox Interactive (Magicka), Core Learning Ltd., and N3V Games (Arcania: Gothic 4).

Since Microsoft launched the Xbox Live Marketplace alongside the Xbox 360 in 2005, there's been a nagging issue that's bothered many users: Microsoft Points. According to a report, they might be finally going away this year in favor of a more preferable setup.

Inside Mobile Apps reports a source has indicated Microsoft Points are to be replaced by real-world currencies by the end of the year, which means a new currency system would be put in place not only for Xbox Live, but also the Windows Phone and Zune Marketplaces.

Ubisoft is no stranger to DRM controversies. This was amply demonstrated last year between reviving always-online DRM (and deeming it a success) and what happened with From Dust. But it was the DRM implemented in one of Ubisoft's final releases in 2011 that feels like it may have finally stepped over the line.

DRM, or digital rights management, is a form of technology used by companies in the entertainment and technology fields to control how their products are used. In the case of videogames, it might mean you can only play when you're connected to the internet (as mentioned above) or if you've got the disc in the drive. The goal of DRM is generally to combat piracy, but it isn't always (if ever) effective in that pursuit.

You may have noticed us spamming the site with games of 2012 lists for the past week. Or you may not have been paying attention. But we've been spending a lot of time thinking about the future, and as the final entry in that bag of fun, everyone around here picked their most anticipated game for the year ahead. Then we made a video!

Then we went all crazy and embedded that video into this news story so you guys could make your own picks easily below. If you feel like it!

A number of rumors emerged over the weekend involving the future of THQ, none of which painted an especially promising picture for the publisher. Despite suggestions that it had canceled its entire slate of games set to come out in 2014, it has released a statement denying that is the case.

It all started when Kevin Dent, the head of the IGDA Mobile Special Interest Group, began tweeting about the dire situation THQ finds itself in. According to him, THQ canceled not only The Games Workshop's MMO (referring to Warhammer 40,000: Dark Millennium Online), but "all of their 2014 [games]." Also alarming was him suggesting, "[W]ord is spreading that THQ has returned IP to Disney AFTER paying the advance, with no refund."

Much like other recent Electronic Arts game releases on PC, Mass Effect 3 will not be available through Steam. And regardless of what format you decide to get the game in -- digital or physical -- Origin is a requirement for playing.

In a post on the BioWare forums by community man Chris Priestly, some frequently-asked questions regarding the PC version of Mass Effect 3 (launching on March 6 for PC and consoles) were addressed. Regarding a release on Steam, it's said that "during initial release" the digital version will be available through Origin and "a number of other 3rd party digital retailers," Steam not being among them.

Update: Microsoft has responded to our questions on the matter. Regarding the method outlined below, which I referred to as a "loophole," a Microsoft spokesperson told 1UP, "This is not a 'loophole' in Xbox.com. The hacking technique outlined is an example of brute force attacks and is an industry-wide issue."

And as for the attacks themselves, Microsoft continues to assert that there is no breach in Xbox Live's security. The full statement follows:

The NPD Group's sales data for both December and the entirety of 2011 has been released today. Unsurprisingly, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 was the best-selling game in both December and 2011.

Call of Duty is a sales monster, and it was a given that it would be the top game. NPD only tracks new physical retail sales in the United States, including PC game sales, so any games sold through Steam or used copies at GameStop are not included. 6.5 million units of the game were sold in the U.S. and U.K. in just one day, and it was only a few weeks before the game surpassed $1 billion in sales.

The list of companies opposing the Stop Online Piracy Act has grown a bit longer today with both Torchlight developer Runic Games and Nvidia sharing their official stances on the proposed bill.

A thread was made on the Runic Games forums yesterday inquiring about the company's stance on SOPA. A response was posted today which reads in part, "It is clear that the scope of the proposed legislation would give unnecessarily broad power to large corporations while reducing the rights of individual citizens -- and it won't even stop software piracy," pointing to this Boing Boing story as evidence.