As many as 2000 gamers descended upon HMV in Oxford Street for the midnight launch of World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King, Blizzard's second expansion pack to its hugely popular MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online).

UK retailer's games commercial manager, Jonathan Hayes, told GamesIndustry.biz that the event was HMV's biggest ever launch, beating out the launch of WOW's last expansion pack.

"We had the official launch [of the Burning Crusade] and that was the biggest launch ever - up to this time," Hayes said.

"Last time we had 1600 people, this time we have up to 2000... We're not sure until we see the actual figures tomorrow but it looks really good."

Lines of eager fans formed around the store, with one gamer in particular trying to book his place at the front of the queue by lining up 36 hours before the launch.

"It's just amazing, the community," commented Hayes. "I think it's the nature of those worlds - we had a person turn up yesterday at 6am and then this morning we already had calls in our head office saying there was already people outside."

Many fans were dreesed up as their favourite characters, while an actor dressed up as the main villain, Arthas the Lich King, roamed around the store posing for photos.