your experience with midnight launches?

Tokyo don't do midnight launches, but I did camp out all night on the streets of Shinjuku to pick up a launch PS3. Among the thousands of locals in the queue I found a couple of gaffers to chat with and Phil Harrison and Ken Kutaragi turned up in the early hours of the morning.
 
Super Smash Brothers Brawl launch had a big tournament that was full of snobs who had imported the japanese version. It felt so good to beat one of them, especially since I had never touched the game and hadn't played Melee in years. But yeah after I lost it kinda sucked just waiting with a bunch of weird ass people talking about how they imported the game.

Modern Warfare 2 was fun because I went with a bunch of friends. Same with GTA IV
 
I would only go if I'm awake, if i'm tired or chillin' I just go in the morning or after work or whatever.

For eight years though I could walk to my local gamestop, I have since moved so I will not be going to any more midnights.

Nothing happens, ever.
 
I always get crowds. I'm not good in crowds, start getting like Storm from the X-Men.

Occasionally get some super nerds, and once at the Fable 2 release, a huge mother fucker who must have been so excited for the game he forgot to take a shower since the first Fable came out. He also scared the only girl that was there by staring at her all crazy.
 
First and only Midnight launch experience was for Fallout New Vegas. Arrived about 30 minutes before, maybe about 20 other people there. The manager was kind of a douche. Really annoying and was only socializing with his friend, an employee who was there on their day off. A girl was behind the counter doing all of the work. She was a sweetheart.
Finally, the manager had everyone line up outside. One guy arrived to pick up another game and the manager proceeded to make jokes about it being so lame. He was "whispering" the jokes to his friend but everyone could hear. Oh, and he wouldn't stop staring at my girlfriend's ass. The only highlights: getting the game in my hands and having the girl at the counter try to sell me the collector's edition player's guide. She mentioned how cool it was and that she was getting one. So, I let her know that it was available on Amazon for $15 less. She thanked me for the info, the manager gave me an angry look and we left.
 
The only game I've ever gotten on a midnight release was WoW TBC, back when I was in a successful guild that I enjoyed.

I saw a massive line outside of Gamestop, went inside the WalMart across the street and walked out with game in hand in a matter of minutes. I chuckled at the Gamestop line as I drove away.
 
Never done it, never will as there are no midnight launches where I live. Sounds like it could be fun though.
 
Wii launch- got there at 11pm the night before, store opened at 8am. One of the funnest nights of my life. From meeting all the excited (yet surprisingly intelligent) fanboys, to turning down people at 3AM for coming too late to get one of the 85 Wiis Best Buy had in stock, to 4 player Tetris inside someone's car at 5AM, it was an absolute BLAST. Can't wait to do it all over again for next gen :D

MW2- Went with friends, as many others seem to have in this thread. I didn't even play it til, like, 3 days later, but the night was fun :lol

Brawl- Not exactly a midnight launch, but an adventure none the less. Couldn't find anywhere nearby offering a midnight launch, so the earliest I could get it was 6AM at a Walmart. It was my most hyped game of all time, after all. The thing was... Toronto had one mother fucker of a blizzard the night before, and it continued into the morning. I mean, we were going 20 down the street :lol When we finally got there, I ran to the games section, to see that not a single copy had been picked up yet, just as I planned. Bought that sonna bitch, and played it from 7AM to 12 midnight that day STRAIGHT, unlocking all characters, stages, and music in the process :lol

too bad Melee outlived it
 
I'm sorry to say I've never done this either. I'd like to try it, but being a working adult and getting most of my new games from Amazon will make that difficult.
 
I must be tired. I read the thread title as "your experience with midget launches?" Well to that thread I will respond "Amusing"
 
I am done with midnight launches. Games ussually launch on weekdays and unless I am free the next day, I wouldn't play a game really late into the night.
 
Halo 2 - Went to the midnight launch at the EB flagship store in Universal Citywalk. It was a freaking nightmare. I think we got there at 8PM and were like the 300th in line. There was DJ playing the most atrocious "music" ever recorded. There was an obnoxious guy from TechTV or G4 or whatever it was called back then, running around with a camera crew shining a painfully bright light in everyone's eyes. And the place was just generally filled with hundreds and hundreds of annoying idiots.

Metal Gear Solid 4 - GameStop in the Burbank Media Center. It was nice and mellow, maybe 150 people showed up total. Got there at like 11PM, only about 30 people ahead of us. Met some cool people. Was out of there by approx. 12:15AM.

Bonus: Rage Against the Machine, Evil Empire album, Tower Records in Hollywood. I kept thinking to myself, "Why am I here?" I didn't even really like them, in fact they kinda bugged me because my ex-girlfriend listened to the first album in the car for what seemed like 100 straight weeks. I wasn't aware of any hype really, all I remember is that I read an article about the new album in the Sunday Times' Calendar section that week and somehow that made me want to hear the album really bad. I must have bought Resident Evil right around the same time, because to this day I can't listen to Empire without thinking of RE1 and I can't play RE1 without thinking of Empire.
 
I'm usually in and out of Midnight releases, but when I went to pick up SSB: Brawl they had a tournament at the store. I had fun, but I ended up getting eliminated by my room mate, who then went on to win the whole thing.
 
Did this for Wrath of the Lich King at Wal-mart when it released. I was up and bored and obviously wanted to play it. Needless to say a small group of us were there waiting which contained a few of my friends from high school. Also the only nice employee I've ever experienced inside that establishment was working and was a blast to talk to.
 
Only ever done this on a whim. Probably would have gone through insanely geeky shit for MGS4 but it came early in the post - thanks shopto!

GTA IV

Couple of my friends were round my place, noticed it was midnight, randomly decided to drive to the nearest Tesco. saw A LOT of friends there who i never thought would have been at a shop for a midnight launch. Took about 5 minutes of queuing. Saw a few kids with their Mums.
 
I went with a friend and some beers to the Wrath Of The Lich King midnight sale. We arrived at about 10 o'clock at a big electronic store and then a rather shady looking guy approached us and said that they are already selling the game in a small game store a block away. We went there, bought the game and bam! Two hour head start :D
 
Never been to one since I would never actually play a game straight after getting home from a midnight launch anyway...
 
PS3 midnight launch. Few people........... all looked fuckin weird.

Might have to go to a WOW launch event just for the lulz, friends reckon theres plenty of freaks at them.
 
When I went to the midnight launch for the Gamecube at Walmart in 2001, we were one of a few people there.

In 2008 I went to the SSBB midnight launch at Gamestop. There were nerds on the ground singing internet meme songs and people waving their copies as they walked past the line.
 
MGS4 is my only midnight launch. Pretty uneventful. The gamestop employees started playing the game in front of us as we waited.
 
I must have blocked this from my memory:

Playstation 2 launch, Circuit City in Hollywood
It wasn't a midnight launch per se, it was spending the night in line so you could be there when they opened in the morning. I forget when I got there but it must have been kinda early because there weren't too many people ahead of me, maybe 20. At around 3AM it started raining and there was no awning or anything, so a lot of us ran to our cars. I fell asleep and woke up shortly before the store opened, found the guy I had been in line behind and got back in line. Some bitch further down started screeching "HEY THAT GUY CUT IN LINE HE WASN'T HERE LAST NIGHT BULLSHIT MAKE HIM LEAVE!" I yelled at her that I'd been there, I just went to my car to get out of the rain etc. She grudgingly shut up. The store opened and an employee came out and said they only had a few PS2s, he'd hand out vouchers; if you got one, you could buy a PS2. He started handing them out, and of course when he got to the guy right ahead of me he said "Well that's all the vouchers, sorry to everyone who didn't get one. Better luck next time!" That was in Oct 2000, I didn't get a PS2 until Jan 2001. Good times.
 
Halo Reach Launch.

I went by myself at about 10:30 and just waited, I mostly read GAF on my phone. I talked to an AI designer from Bungie and then I bought the game.
 
Only thing I ever waited outside a store for was to pre-order PS3. I think that was a midnight event - I'm pretty certain it was.

It was stupid, I felt like a douchebag, and from that point on I never wait outside of stores and just go the next morning instead.

(however I was 2nd and did get my 60GB PS3 right on launch day which felt nice...so the pre-order was worth it.)
 
Went to the launch for Brawl

neckbeard asked me if I wanted to see his pokemons within 3 minutes of standing in line

I left the line and got the game the next day
 
I've never done it... but when I lived in Tokyo, there were a few times when I would walk into a game store located about 2 minutes from my apartment at or after 12:00am to pick up a game that was scheduled for launch that day. The store was open until at least 2:00am every day, so it wasn't really anything special. There was a bit of a line for New Super Mario Bros. Wii, though.

Persona7 said:
Went to the launch for Brawl

neckbeard asked me if I wanted to see his pokemons within 3 minutes of standing in line

I left the line and got the game the next day
Click to expand...

Yeah... that didn't happen.
 
Waited outside the Nintendo World Store to get a midnight release of Super Mario Galaxy (a day early, to boot!) and it was a complete waste of time. By the time I got home, I didn't even play it, and just went to bed since I had to work the next day.

No point in doing it again. The "release party" was pretty funny, but not worth the trouble and the few hours I ended up waiting in line.
 
I've been to a few. Show up at 11:45pm, have a copy in my hand by 12:15am. The only "eventful" launches I've been to were MGS4 (Best Buy) and Halo Reach. Honestly, I think this will be coming to an end soon.
 
rainking187 said:
They're always boring. Show up, stand around, buy the game, go home.
Click to expand...

Yep, there is such a missed opportunity at these things... why not have other vendors, or one night only specials, or food and drinks sponsored by whoever... it really is just buy the game and go home. I just get everything from Amazon now, so my midnight launch days are over.
 
Only midnight launch I've been at was for God of War III at a local Gamestop. They had set up a DJ Hero demo station while we waited for midnight. A few minutes before we got our games though, they started up a trivia game. The questions related to characters in the game, who made the game, the different gods in the game, etc. Ended up going home with a huge ass Kratos poster :lol
 
Game midnight launches are almost never worth it.

Only been to one console launch but that was worth it. Updating your electronics (TV, sound system) for the arrival of the new tech + games is always really exciting and something that only comes once every 6 or so years. Also they are the only things that you really have to get there at midnight for because they are all always sold out initially.

I don't know about for a handheld...I want the 3DS but I won't be camping for that.
 
I've done a fair bit of line camping, for various things(not just games), but one of my more memorable ones wasn't for a launch. It was a cold November night, a year after the Wii launched. I wasn't even waiting for myself. I was waiting to get a Wii, for my godson, for Christmas.

TRU got a shipment, and was opening at 8am. I was at a party the previous night, and decided I wouldn't even sleep, and just head straight to TRU, after the party. I left the party (which was still going on) around 2:30am, and got to TRU around 3:00am. There were already a line of cars parked at the redzone curb, in front of the store. Everyone was in their cars. No one was actually waiting outside. I was around the 17th person there.

So, I parked in a proper parking space, and headed toward the TRU entrance, decked-out in my snowboarding gear, collapsable seat, and DS. As I was walking toward the entrance to set-up camp, some woman was honking at me from her minivan, which had been idling in line (probably had the heater running). I keep walking, and she furiously gets out of her cozy van, waving and yelling at me to get back in my car and get in line with everyone else. It dawns on me that she must've been the mastermind who convinced everyone else to illegally park in the redzone, so they could all wait in their cozy cars. I politely tell her, "Sorry, but I'm going to wait out here. I don't want to risk losing my spot, when more people start showing-up. And I don't want to get a ticket for parking in a red zone." She was furious, and went storming back to the caravan of cars, telling them about the "asshole" who insisted on actually waiting at the entrance. Seeing that I wasn't budging, and other customers showing up to the line with me, the caravan relented. They all parked and got out of their cozy cars to stand in the proper line. They were pissed and asked if I would at least get behind everyone who was already there before me. I said, "Sure. As long as you're waiting in line."

So, as the night wore on, the minivan woman continued to tell later-arriving customers that they had to wait in the cold, due to the "asshole" in the snow gear. Most people didn't even care. They came, expecting to wait in the cold.

There were about 75 people in line when, at 7:30am, a TRU manager came out to give the first 30-ish people in line a voucher, guaranteeing us a Wii, when the store opened. This would prevent people from stampeding into the store, at opening. Not 3 minutes after, the minivan woman sold her voucher for $100, to a lady and her daughter, who innocently came only 15 min before opening, expecting to get a Wi. Everyone watched her incredulously, as she smugly walked to her minivan, and left.

Apparently, like me, the majority of the line campers were buying Wiis for kids or other people. However, most of them didn't have a clue what they needed, in addition to the system, itself. I turned from "asshole" to hero, as I was the guru, helping everyone make sure they didn't miss things, like extra Wiimotes and Nunchuks.
 
I've never had any particularly eventful midnight releases. In general the lines seem to be larger and more potentially fun at Best Buy than they are are Gamestop. But I've never been to one where I was glad I got there early and waited lol.
 
Zefah said:
I've never done it... but when I lived in Tokyo, there were a few times when I would walk into a game store located about 2 minutes from my apartment at or after 12:00am to pick up a game that was scheduled for launch that day. The store was open until at least 2:00am every day, so it wasn't really anything special. There was a bit of a line for New Super Mario Bros. Wii, though.



Yeah... that didn't happen.
Click to expand...
Yeah, it did. He kept asking me if I had a DS and if I wanted to play pokemon with him.
 
Starcraft this year was fun. Midnight launches aren't a big deal for me, since I regularly stay up till 3 or 4 AM anyway. At SC2, my friend and I held a big nerdy gaming trivia contest for SC2 custom mousepads and stuff (sponsored).

Camping out for the Wii in Times Square was a blast, though. :D
 
Starcraft II -- my first and only experience midnight launch experience.

I'm sorry, fellow gamers, but why do you HAVE to live down to the stereotype by not engaging in at least a minimum of personal hygiene?
 
Halo Reach at my store was great.

Set up four consoles system linked, four players for each. 16 customers were invited to play between 9pm and 12. We ordered dominos, and had an awesome time. Did the same for Fifa last year (had a tournament), and will be doing similar for Black Ops.
 
the only time I partecipated was the SMG 2 midnight launch at GAME. The first 50 to attend were going to have a bag full of Mario goodness. I was, like, the 52th. So I left in tears wanting to punch some chav in the face
 
i've only ever been to one and it was for the midnight launch of halo 2 at the portage gamestop in kalamazoo michigan.

so they had two lines. one for people who had paid in full (a line of over 200+ people i think) and a line for people who just paid 5 bucks (pretty short line).

you would THINK that the line for people who paid in full would go faster but NOOOO, i was there standing in line for over an hour in the goddamn cold.

and meanwhile, the line for people who just paid the $5 preorder fee, it was flying. what the fuck.

never again.
 
Attended a Halo 3 midnight launch party with a friend of mine, stood out in the cold for about 20 minutes, watched as someone dropped their DS stylus into a potted plant then used their DS to dig through the soil.
 
I'll never forget going to the midnight launch for GTA 4.

I remember a bunch of people were smoking dro in line, while others were showing off their porn collection on laptops. A couple of ladies were there with their toddlers, picking up the game for baby daddy.

It felt like an even scarier, fucked up version of the Mad Max universe.
 
The only one I went to was the Dreamcast one. At a lousy closed mall. A few guys there but none I talked with they were all just a bunch of jerkoffs. Guys from Gamestop or EB's back then handed out swirled Dreamcast cookies and pepsi's. It was pretty okay but uh...the good part was picking up the dreamcast that was it.

I really want to sort of go to the Midnight Black Ops release. I hope it'd be much much better experience.
 
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