Blizzard Entertainment's newest and the highly-awaited fourth expansion to the popular subscription-based MMORPG "World of Warcraft," "Mists of Pandaria" is now live.

Gamers in U.S., Canada, Europe, Russia, Southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, and Brazil will now be able access the newly discovered continent of Pandaria by either purchasing the expansion in retail stores or digitally from the game's official Web site.

"Mists of Pandaria takes players back to the roots of World of Warcraft - exploration, discovery, and the epic conflict between the Alliance and the Horde. It also contains the widest variety of content that we've ever added in an expansion, and we're excited to be able to share it with players around the world this week in our first truly global launch," stated Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment.

"Mists of Pandaria" will feature a new playable race (the pandaren), a new character class (the monk), and an exotic new continent to explore. What's more, the game will offer a huge variety of content for new and returning players.

The expansion is now available on DVD-ROM for Windows XP/Windows Vista/Windows 7 and Macintosh at a retail price of $39.99. The expansion's digital counterpart, on the other hand, is directly available from Blizzard's "World of Warcraft" page, with the same price tag.

A special Collector's Edition, priced at $79.99, packed with bonus items is also now available (exclusive for retail stores). The Collector's Edition contains:

• A World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria behind-the-scenes DVD and Blu-ray two-disc set including over an hour of developer interviews and commentary.
• The World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria Collector's Edition soundtrack CD.
• The Art of Mists of Pandaria: A 208-page hardback tome including never-before-seen artwork from the development process.
• A special-edition World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria mouse pad featuring Chen Stormstout, the legendary pandaren brewmaster
• World of Warcraft Imperial Quilen flying mount and Lucky Quilen Cub pet, StarCraft II Battle.net portraits, and Diablo III banner sigil and accent.

"Mists of Pandaria" will be available in South Korea and Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau on Sept. 27. The game will launch in China on Oct. 2.