American Chopper fame will be coming to World of Warcraft

Custom-made Choppers by renowned bike designer Paul Teutul Jr. of Discovery Channel reality TV show American Chopper fame will be coming to World of Warcraft WoTLK Gold . If this week's announcement took you by surprise, you probably were not alone. We spoke to Paul Jr. himself and Blizzard this morning while at PAX East to try to get the most out of this.

"For us, it's nothing new, because what we are with companies that are like Blizzard is a new approach to marketing. Everyone asks "How does this work?' and by creating content, we help it make sense," Paul Jr. said. "For me I think this is more suitable than some of the work we've done that has been extremely successful. What I like about this is that it energizes the fan base. From the point of view of creativity we're able build something that can bridge the gap between reality and fantasy. Nobody is doing anything like this."

"I was completely creatively free and that's a lot of fun" -Paul Jr. Paul Jr.

Paul Jr.'s New York-based custom-bike shop Paul Jr. Designs is planning to create two real world bikes to represent the in-game factions Horde and Alliance This endeavor will be featured in a seven-part World of Warcraft web series which will begin in the coming week. At the end of the series, viewers will be able to vote and a winner--Horde or Alliance--will be announced. Participants of the winning faction will be awarded a bike for free in the contest, while players of the opposition will be left in the dust.

Speaking to P2Pah, Paul Jr.--who also developed a customized bike for WOW WoTLK Classic Gold --reported Blizzard did not try to rein in his concepts of what Horde and Alliance bikes might appear like. He said this level in freedom is unprecedented for such a renowned and respected brand such as World of Warcraft.