Fourth World of Warcraft expansion confirmed

The World of Warcraft steam train just keeps powering on with developer Blizzard announcing at BlizzCon 2011 this weekend that a fourth expansion for World of Warcraft is in the works.

And perhaps the game is going a bit doolally in its old age – the expansion is set to star pandas. Pandas that know martial arts.

Called Mists of Pandaria, the expansion stars a anthropomorphic race of pandas complete with their own brand new continent and new gameplay tweaks.

Blizzard die-hards will have encountered the Pandaren race before, of course, in Warcraft III, and a variation on the character has also been used as a virtual pet in WoW.

Blizzard has not yet announced a release date for the expansion.