The Whole Launch Day Ordeal
 

So we started at 5 p.m., and the first place we went to was a small city called Newburg. I figured that since I had left 7 hours before launch, there was no way I wouldn't get one. I guess I didn't understand how huge it was.

When we got there, there was a huge line of people at Wal-Mart. Some guy towards the front was selling his seat for $300. I couldn't believe how many people were there. I asked an employee if there was any point in staying and he said "Nope. You might as well go back home and go to bed."

As odd as that was, we left and decided to try Fishkill, the next town over. Now, I had the impression that Fishkill, based on its name, was probably going to be an obscure small town, and there would be my chance to strike gold. I get to the Wal-Mart there, and there was an even bigger line. The line went from layaway, which was in the middle of the store, all the way to the end of the store, and curled around down the other way. There were 17 premiums available and over 200 people in line. Employees kept telling them to go home, that there wasn't a chance, but they stayed anyway hoping for credit card malfunction.

After that, we went to stores like Best Buy and Circuit city, both of which said they had sold out hours ago, which was strange, considering it was still the 21st.

So we decided to go to Poughkeepsie and try out their Best Buy and Circuit City. Same deal there. Then we thought, well what about Target? Nobody ever thinks of Target. So we go, and when we get there at about 8:30, we find that nobody is there. There is no line. We talk to an employee and they said that people weren't allowed to line up until 11 p.m., and tickets wouldn't be handed out until 6 a.m. We asked if we could wait out there anyway, and he said no, and that anyone caught waiting around outside would be kicked off the lot. So we waited, bought some food for the campout, and at about 9:30, when we stepped outside to take the bags to the car, what did we see? Yup, a line had formed. I walked up to it to ask what was going on and the dude in first said "There aren't any premiums left! They're ours!"

There was a security guard out there, and when I asked him about not being able to line up until 11, he said "The corporate offices decided to change their policy." I was so ****ing mad; I wanted to smash all their faces in the pizza that was being handed out to them. But then the guard says "Try Woodbury Commons in Monroe, I just got a call from them saying that there wasn't anyone waiting for theirs and they have 20 premiums and 20 core systems.

I asked how far away that was, and he said about 30 minutes. Now, we've already traveled wayyy off our course, so we decided to go for it. When we got there, we found there were people, and they were making a list numbering people in the order that they came. I was number 20. I thought I was finally in. Everyone kept saying they had 20 and 20.

So, we formed a line outside of the store, all in our numbered positions. It was freezing. I don't know exactly how cold it was in terms of degrees, but it couldn't have been more than 40F. Then, it started to rain. People were freezing. Then, all the people in line decided that since their name was on their self created list, that they would all go to their cars and stay warm and sleep. Not me though. I thought there was no way I would come this far and lose it because I sat in the car. I stayed out there, soaked, towels wrapped around my feet because my socks had gotten soaked along with my shoes, with no umbrella while everyone else slept in their cars, including the 6 high school students who were in front of me on the list, all there to buy their Xboxes so they could sell them on eBay. I was there for the love of gaming, and I was pretty convinced that I would be getting one.

At about an hour before ticket time, I found out that one of the guys waiting in line was a Microsoft guy. This guy was high up in the food chain. He even knew guys from OXM and gamestop. He explained to us that he believed the shortages were caused by a faulty plug on the headset, and that he had to organize the recall to fix the problem. I asked what the hell he was doing in line, and he said "Trust me. Nobody except for the very top guys is given an Xbox."

My girlfriend came back from her trip from Wal-Mart and had bought a huge ring shaped sandwich and chocolate covered pretzels for everyone in line.

Soon after that, the employees at target came up to the window we were all lined up by and started to mock us. Long story short, there was almost a brawl.

Ticket time came, and the manager announced that they had 18 premiums and 20 core systems. I took a core system ticked, but I didn't want the ****ing thing. In a daze I walked around looking at it. I decided it was time to go home. I gave the ticked to a sad looking guy with dreadlocks who didn't even give a ticket. He gave me a huge huge and thanked me endlessly. I got in the car, and my girlfriend drove us home after a long night.

It's odd. Even though I was angry and upset at both Target and Microsoft for various things, I still wasn't that mad about it. I met a lot of cool and nice people that night, of all ages, and the fact that I had the love of my life with me through the whole thing made it all seem ok.

Oh wait...except, now i'm sick. So yeah, that sucks.

And you're expecting sympathy?
















HA!! Just kidding, beeyatch. Don't worry, I'm rooting for you and Maxsie to be the first here at AG to own a 360. Besides, who the hell must I live through vicariously til I get my own 360 in several months?

(((((tempslut)))))

If it makes you feel any better:

http://pictures.xbox-scene.com/xbox3...75_600_400.jpg

hahahahahaha :D

me :pan: :pan: :pan:

I'm not expecting anything. Just retelling it as it happened.

Your girlfriend is the sweetest thing for feeding those people in line with you.

By the way, I really don't understand it. What's the obsession with getting a console at launch. Is there such a dearth of good games on current gen systems and the PC, that people can't wait a couple of months. SOME PEOPLE ARE PAYING 2000 dollars on eBay. I just cannot understand how some people think. :crazy:

Sorry dude.

I hope it's not that bad over here, but I guess it will be.

I'm not that desperate for it.

I might look on Launch day, but if I don't get one. i'll get it after christmas.

It's partly the buzz. It's no different from waiting 2 days in line for opening night for a new Star Wars movie.

It's just that i've never gotten a console on launch day in my life. I've never been able to afford it. This was my chance to do it. Plus, I REALLY wanna play Condemned.

What other industry does this happen to.

Maybe movies, but can you imagine having to pre-order the later Zannussi Fridge Freezer and queuing for 20 hours to get one.

It's ridiculous.

It is. Which is why i'll probably never do it again.

I heard someone tried to hold up an EBGames at gunpoint and stole 2 Xbox360's

They got caught I think.

What really pisses me off is how the stores have handled this, from Gamestop's arbitrary and unprofessional pre-order system (where it seems like the sales clerks pull the conditions out of their asses), to Target suddenly changing their mind about when customers can form a line.

Exactly. It screwed a lot of people over.

In the Walmart down the street from us, people had been waiting there for more than 24 hours and then, a few hours before midnight, Walmart dropped the bomb that they were doing a raffel system. So even if you had gotten there first, the number one guy, you didn't have any more of a chance than the guy at the end of the line.

It's funny too. Old ladies and random non gamers were walking up to the thing, thinking is was a prize raffel and entered their names. One person who won was like "Oh, I have to buy this? I don't want it."

And the Target employees making fun of us was great too. :shifty:

That´s really kind of her.:)

A sandwich shaped like a ring?

Isn't that a Bagel. :9~

Temp must have a very good girlfriend as he dragged her across the state for hours and she even gets the sarnies.

What a woman. :D

Mmmm, bagels are delicious.
I could go for one right now.:9~

The guy I was dating back when the PS2 came out waited all night in line at the Metreon so he could buy one when the Sony store opened at 6:00 in the morning. He turned around and sold it on eBay. I didn't think the profit he made ($100 or $200, I can't remember) was worth waiting on the sidewalk all night in the rain.

EDIT: This sure does happen in other industries. Don't you guys remember the uproar over Cabbage Patch Kids and Tickle-Me Elmo? People got beat up and trampled trying to buy those things for their kids.

A ring about half a metre across. They're big.

Look, forget about the sandwhich. It's not the point. Plus, it wasn't even that good.

I wonder how SamNMax did. He must have gotten one since we haven't heard from him.

Yep. Smooth sailing over here. No trouble at all, and no big-ass story to tell.

PDZ = the shit.

Go **** yourself.

I'll do that. I'll go **** myself with my Premium 360 package, which I purchased effortlessly.

You mean your parents purchased effortlessly.

Actually, it was my brother...

Still, me > you.

Actually, he purchased it using his e-fort. Whatever that is. :shifty:

@ SNM: Is Perfect Dark Zero really that good? And does that make it the first good post-Nintendo Rare game? ;)

Fixed it. Happy now?

And yes. I'd say Rare is finally showing traces of its old self. I mean, it's not as good as the old shit, but a great game nonetheless.

Typical.

Interesting. Here's hoping (almost certainly in vain) for a Halo-esque PC port.

So in leet speak, and the bottom line of this thread:

SNM Pwned tempsie :P

Oh yeah. He got me good. :shifty:

SNM r0x0rz. SNM > t3mp5!!1!one!

Perhaps that could be why there was only 18? :P

*drool*
All this talk of food is making me hungry.:9~

*runs of to kitchen to get some food*

Da realest playa in da game knocked ya off yo grind once again, bitch.

Sure did, Slim.

But man, I know what that's like. I remember waiting for Wind Waker on its release date and going through pretty much the same thing with the waiting. Only, I never got a copy because the ****ers at EB never got 'em in.

Great story, Temp. You go stand in more lines so you'll have more awesome things to tell.

I actually miss not having stood in line for something like this yet. I think the atmosphere and event should be interesting. Of course, it's not like a Starwars line where everyone knows he'll get in. This 360-line will have had a lot more vicious competition and spite.

That sucks, can't believe you had to go through all that not to even get one in the end. What were the Target guys doing to mock you?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4462744.stm

Just look at what Arnie went through in Jingle All The Way to get that stupid doll for his kid!

Holy ****ing shit! It's so funny you should mention Arnie in Jingle All the Way, because we started talking about that about halfway through the wait! Creeepppy.

We were all lined up outside of a window in their Starbucks area, and this one guy, some street rat with tattoos on his neck and some tall lanky black dude were like pointing and laughing, mock shivering, faux having sex with eachter (???), the scuzzy looking one would stick his face against the window eating pretzels. It all turned into a shouting match between him and us and there was much banging on the doors and windows. Of course, when management was alerted to this, they did nothing.

Maybe you'll get another one if there are lines on second shipment.

It's funny. There was a small feeling of competition, but it wasn't that bad. There was a rift growing between the first 20 people who were on that list that the first people who were there started, and the 21 - 45 people who came after losing out at that nasty walmart raffle, mostly because those first 20 people were the ones sleeping in their cars while the rest of us waited outside for the whole thing, but it was mostly a nice event. I think that's why I came away not so mad in the end, because everyone was nice about it. I mean, some dude took an extra blanket and wrapped it around me. I don't think you'd see something like that otherwise.

What surprised me the most was the age of most of the people there. Most of the guys there were 30 years of age and older, and they weren't getting them for their kids but themselves. One guy was talking about how he planned on getting one for his kid, but this, as he put it, "baby" was "alllllll his." And that dude that worked for Microsoft told us all this story about how he had to go to China to head the recall efforts. I looked around at the people listening, which was everyone, and they all had slack jaws and were really really interested in his story. It was amazing. You'd think they were watching acrobats at the circus. Another guy told a story about how fun it was to work at a photo center and the weird pictures he's seen. Everyone told their horror stories about that night.

In fact, the whole thing was like an online forum. We discussed "PSP Brick," games that were coming out, past launch experiences, etc etc. I formed such a bond with people, that when I didn't get a premium, one of the older guys pointed to me and said "No! He should get one too! He deserves one!"

So in the end, while I didn't come away with what I wanted, I did come away with the experience, and that is worth at least something.