Photos: World of Warcraft Wrath of the Lich King UK launch

By Alex Sassoon Coby on 13 November 2008, 4:32pm

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Thousands of people of all ages queuing in the freezing cold for hours on end can only mean one thing -- no, not a new iPhone -- it's time for another World of Warcraft expansion.

Last night saw the release of World of Warcraft: The Wrath of the Lich King and there were 16,000 midnight launches of one sort or another across Europe and the rest of the world -- including a disco-dancing spectacular in San Francisco. London was no exception, though it was a decidedly more traditional affair. HMV's flagship Oxford Street store once again played host to the UK's main launch event, with fans turning out in their thousands.

Numbers seemed likely to dwarf those who turned out for 2007's Burning Crusade launch at the same store. While official figures are yet to be released, the queue stretching right the way around the store was longer before the store opened than it had been for last year's event, and showed no signs of dissipating even after doors opened -- more fans arrived shortly after midnight.

Some of the thousands of people queuing said they had been there for up to 36 hours -- one of the two people at the front of the queue, Scott Hamshere from Bromley, was so overcome at the excitement, he actually passed out shortly after walking through the doors.