Surprise Lich King event begins in WOW News

Reports are flooding in of a zombie invasion in World of Warcraft, heralding the imminent arrival of the Wrath of the Lich King expansion.

However, the Lich's plague isn't creating a bunch of mobs for players to slay - it's infecting players themselves.

Infected crates in the town of Booty Bay give players ten minutes to be healed by one of the healers of the Argent Dawn faction - who have conveniently appeared all over the world - before they're turned into a shambling Ghoul.

If you fail (or succeed, depending on your viewpoint), you'll be hostile to everyone and everything in the game except other zombies, and you'll get a new skill bar with zombie abilities, including the ability to spread the plague to other players.

This is the first chance to try out WOW's new transformation technology, which gives players a greater variety and flexibility of control schemes and skills when in other forms, or commanding mounts and vehicles.

Argent healers automatically heal any nearby players of the plague, and at the moment the event seems easily contained - but a Blizzard staffer has hinted on the forums that things might get worse before they get better.

There isn't an MMO in the world that isn't celebrating Halloween with some gruesome zombie-themed event or other at the moment, but this must be one of the most chaotic and spectacular.

Stay with Eurogamer for more Lich King launch coverage over the coming weeks.