Being able to go into a store on a major game or system launch day and buying it is becoming a thing of the past. Preorder it to make sure you have it.
The main theme that stays constant through all of these is the store and who came along for the ride, my mother. Time for the GameCube launch, which was a little different than other times. There is usually a Toys R Us open that we can go to but since the GameCube release was on a Sunday, that was a problem. I live in a county that stores aren’t allowed to be open on Sunday in certain areas. Luckily, I’m use to this sort of thing and it didn’t faze us one bit. It was a nice time because there was a meteor shower that night and it’s moments like that that add to the memories you’ll have forever. By this point, the stores were getting smarter by giving you something that recognized your spot and you could leave and return a little later. Being outside all night, my mom and I were tired and hungry, so we went to a nearby diner for breakfast. The diner is no longer the diner we ate at but that’s beside the point. The point is gamers have memories like this they will be telling their kids when they want to wait outside overnight for a system and you say “hell no!” After breakfast we went back and got the GameCube and some games, such as Luigi’s Mansion and NHL Hitz 2002. Being a huge New Jersey Devils fan and Captain Scott Stevens being on the cover was all I needed to know before I grabbed it.
Here is the interesting one, the Wii preorder. Same story with the Toys R Us but this time we had to wait on Sunday for the store to open Monday. It was the same time as the Playstation 3 preorder and there were people waiting in line for that as well as the Wii. My mom and I got some lunch and we sat down for the long haul. We alternated being online and in the car because it was cold that night. I can remember listening to the Rutgers/UConn football game on the radio. My mind is weird like that sometimes. I can remember stuff like that and then I can’t remember things I need to remember. People tried to cut the line and you just don’t do that in a crowd like this and the Police we called. I can still remember my mom yelling “Hug the wall!” because you get to know these people inline with you for about a day and the kids in front were just sitting there, not doing a damn thing. My mom, being a mom, didn’t want to see these kids get jerked around and better to have her in my corner rather than the other. They had the same “give out and comeback” policy to preorder the system, which was great because I got sick that night. I went to my lecture class that night and handed my paper in and got the hell out of there.
