Oxford Street in London was once again bursting at the seams last night, this time because of the Wrath of the Lich King launch. Just how big was it? Apparently, it was big enough to break the previous record for the biggest entertainment launch. Find out by how much the record was broken at the full article.

We know there is a crisis and we need to cost cut but it seems like not everyone is for buying pre-owned games. David Braben of Frontier thinks that this threatens the game industry. Read up on his opinions on the matter after the jump.

If you like playing MMORPGs and collecting various merchandise from the games that you play, you might want to check out the Collector's Edition of EA Mythic's upcoming Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning. It's definitely packed with goodies, and will be available for pre-order in HMV beginning tomorrow. Details on this after the jump.

Getting to pre-order your copy of Hellgate: London might be trickier for some of you. Not all regions will be having the same kind of bonuses as others would. For one, the Collector's Edition for the game will not be available for the whole of Europe. Those who want to score the bag of goodies included in the Collector's Edition (e.g. the soundtrack, extra artwork, a graphic novel, etc.) are advised to import their copy of the game from the US.

Meanwhile, pre-orders for the regular edition are well underway. Pre-ordering your copy gives you access to some in-game goodies: Dye Kits, Founders Offer, etc. Different countries will have different video game retailers participating in the pre-order campaign. Here's a full list of regions and their participating retailer(s):

• Germany - Gamestop
• Switzerland - World of Games
• Poland - Gram.pl and Ultima
• Finland - Tilt
• Sweden - GAME, EB Games/Gamestop
• Norway - GAME, EB Games/Gamestop
• Denmark - GAME, EB Games/Gamestop

Unfortunately for the UK, no retailers will be participating in the promotion. Yes, you can still pre-order the game (via HMV, Play, Amazon, or Game) but you won't be able to get the Dye Kit offer.

The Burning Crusade's midnight launch at Oxford Street was a success, considering that Blizzard was a bit concerned over it's first launch outing in the UK. An estimated 3,000 people lined up outside HMV's Oxford Street to get their copies of the coveted expansion.

Some have reportedly been on the queue since 5:40 a.m. A few gamers dressed up for the occasion and were given special passes for the Collector's Edition and a free Murlock pet for their trouble.

Itzik Ben Bassat, Blizzard's VP for business development expressed his surprise at the UK launch's success. He gave gamers something else to look forward to as he hinted:

"We'd like to say to our fans of Diablo and Starcraft that we haven't forgotten we have these franchises. We cannot wait to be here in a few years, or however long it will be. It won't be a decade, and we'll be celebrating the launch of [the next] Starcraft together."

Hold on to your hats, the next thing we maybe exploring is just around that Warp Gate. As for now we'll have to content ourselves with entering that Dark Portal.

Okay, so Burning Crusade will finally hit stores in just a little over a week from now. That means launch party galore (and quite a few Azeroth-shaking changes), and World of Warcraft players in London will get to celebrate the launch at HMV 150 Oxford Street, where Burning Crusade's Official European Launch will take place on January 15.

Every launch party always has a few goodies to give away, and a limited quantity of Collector's Editions will be available to those fans who attend the event in WoW costumes. A limited quantity of in-game Murloc pets will also be available on the night, as well as spot prizes.

Burning Crusade's Official European Launch will commence at 10:30 P.M. The first copies of the expansion will be on sale at midnight. There will be various activity leading up to the midnight launch including a presentation from WoW developers Blizzard.