Over 2,500 gamers turned out last night to HMV on London's Oxford Street last night to celebrate the launch of what is hotly anticipated to be one of the biggest games of the year: World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King.

The game, which is published by Activision Blizzard, is the second expansion pack for massively multiplayer online role playing game, which has 11 million subscribers worldwide.

MCV sister site PC Retail reports that some gamers queued for 36 hours to be one of the first to get their hands on the game in the UK – a spokesperson for HMV telling PC Retail it was the largest games launch the store had ever seen – while many others dressed up as characters from the game.

Gamers were also treated to the chance to have their game signed by Blizzard vice president Paul Sams, with many waiting into the early hours to have their chance at meeting the executive.

PC Retail spoke to one of the first people to buy the game, Jon White (pictured) about why he had queued up for hours to be one of the first to buy the game: "I've been looking forward to losing hours in the game – and nerfing some paladins."