World of Warcraft's upcoming expansion, Cataclysm, is targeted to release sometime this year, but that may not be the case if notifications sent out by Amazon are correct. Amazon first started sending out notices that people would receive their copies of Cataclysm on November 29th which was allegedly three days after its "November 26 release date". Their reason for the delay was Thanksgiving weekend, but now Amazon has sent notices to fans who have pre-ordered the Cataclysm Collector's Edition stating that they will not receive their order until sometime in January of next year.

That's an odd jump for Amazon to all but confirm a November release date for Cataclysm, only to then send delay notices to everyone who pre-ordered the more expensive and bountiful Collector's Edition. Amazon should not be believed when it comes to unannounced release dates, so fans should just calm down now and hold off on that protest in Orgrimmar.

It just doesn't make a whole lot of sense for Blizzard to miss the Holiday season unless there were some major bugs that popped up -- the Cataclysm beta has allowed players to get their hands on the expansion, so you would assume it's close to being complete. That being said it's a little odd that Blizzard hasn't given the game an official release date when it's supposed to be hitting store shelves in the next few months.

As originally pointed out by WoW.com, the only people who have received these notices are the people who pre-ordered the Collector's Edition of Cataclysm. This could also just mean that Blizzard is cutting down on the total amount of Collector's Editions and won't have more ready until after X-Mas 2010. You'd hope that they'd be on top of that and had plenty available, but it's a possibility.

My thought is that Amazon is mildly confused about Cataclysm's release date, if you haven't already pieced that together. They aren't going to promise a game to pre-orderees that may not make its original 2010 release date, so they are sending out a heads up to the hardcore fans of the series who are spending the extra cash so they can go all out with the Cataclysm Collector's Edition.

Amazon isn't the most accurate retailer when it comes to release dates, and I wouldn't put money on Cataclysm missing the holiday season yet. I guess we'll all just have to wait and see what Blizzard has planned for World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, because if it really is being delayed there should be news shortly.

Source: WoW.com