Earlier today the gaming community got a little bit excited over an article in the Detroit Free Press which quoted Vivendi's North American President, Phil O'Neil, giving a definite release date for Blizzard's MMORPG World Of Warcraft.
Most stores have predicted Nov. 15 would be the launch date for World Of Warcraft, guessing that Sony Online Entertainment's behemoth EverQuest 2 would come out on or near the same day. But Phil O'Neil said the game will actually launch a week after the company's other hot holiday title, "Half-Life 2," which debuts Nov. 16.
We contacted Vivendi and asked for a statement to either deny or confirm the quote, but we were forwarded to Blizzard's PR people who did not reply.

Shortly thereafter, the excitement got an ice-cold shower as Blizzard issued a statement refuting Vivendi's statement.
We appreciate everyone's interest in determining when World of Warcraft will ship, but while we are rapidly approaching the open beta period and we are confident that we will meet our goal of shipping the game before the end of this year, nailing down an exact ship date is a little more complicated due to a number of factors. As soon as we have a specific date to announce, we will be excited to share the news with everyone. Please don't consider any announced release dates official until such an announcement comes from Blizzard. This is true for all announcements related to Blizzard games.
This might have been a simple PR stunt to counter the fact that Sony Online announced the release date for its own MMORPG, EverQuest II. .