Joystiq goes to Hot Topic, finds WoW

Those crazy lads over at Joystiq have made a journey too perilous for us here at WoW Insider to even imagine. They braved the parking lots, dodged the teenagers, somehow avoided the tackiness, and reached a dungeon even scarier and harder than Naxx. Yes, they went to their local mall's Hot Topic.

And surprisingly, they found WoW. A lot of it. There's buttons, stickers, t-shirts, hoodies, even hats-- all the stuff that Blizzard has been selling through J!NX online. You know the game has made it when the junk gift store down at the mall is selling your officially licensed crap accessories. That said, those hats are pretty awesome. I'd love one of the exclamation point ones. Just dream of what you could make people do for you in that thing.

And as Joystiq found, Hot Topic is not only selling the gear, they're selling the game, too-- in the form of a $1.99 two week trial disc. It's a pretty nerfed trial, though. Not only is the full purchase of the game required later (along with that monthly fee), but apparently there are restrictions in game-- no trading items, no auctioneering. But then again, Blizzard didn't hit seven million players by not giving people ways to find the game for the first time. And the fact that Hot Topic is selling stuff that references WoW gives you an idea of just how popular this game has gotten.