World of Warcraft's earth-shattering new expansion pack Cataclysm has finally went on sale in the UK, with a rammed London event that saw members of the Blizzard team greet both Horde and Alliance as the countdown grinded down to an 11pm launch.
Blizzard's Greg Street and Dave Kosak, who were in the city that afternoon to field questions from the press (of which we were part of - stay tuned for the full interview soon) joined The Gadget Show's gaming guru Jason Bradbury on stage at Leicester Square's Sound nightclub, and along with hundreds of fans queued inside the venue and those circled around the block outside, roared as the last ten seconds counted down.
GAME's flagship Oxford Street store and its staff had temporally re-located inside the venue and set up shop (literally), manning tills and working through the mammoth mountain of retail copies stocked behind them. The lucky first buyers were serenaded by an in-venue two-piece band as they swapped plastic for a key into Azeroth's new dragon-drenched future, and afterwards were given the chance to be snapped against green-screen by a photography crew, who'd then drop them into Warcraft's iconic settings to commemorate their purchase.
Big Ben was working his way towards midnight and the queues were still going strong. The air might have been chill but the atmosphere was electric as fans patiently awaited their turn. With access to Azeroth's new look now granted, it's doubtful many will be sleeping tonight.
Here's a selection of shots from the night that was:
