Wii
Holy God I did it. I got a Wii at launch. I sat in line for roughly 15 hours outside of Target waiting for an 8 a.m. release. I had Susan's company (for a familiar face, but I made friends with the two gentlemen in front of me), so I thank her for being such a good friend to suffer through the temperatures with me. We were estimating them around 30-35, and were actually incredibly lucky. From the hours of 5 p.m. Saturday (my estimated arrival) until very early Sunday morning (maybe 4-5 a.m.) we had very little wind. Between around 5 a.m. and 8 a.m. when we were let inside, wind came and went, making the 30 or so temperature go from a "not that bad" to an "unbarable" level several times. I did not sleep, although many in line did. I was 7th in line, and until about 2 in the morning, our numbers probably peaked around 20-30 people (out of 81 available consoles). This number stayed level until around 6 and then numbers just kept coming. The last official count that I heard was from a Target employee a few minutes before letting us in, around 70 people.
It was a wonderful experience for me. I know it sounds dumb, but because we knew there were 80 or so consoles available and there were only 20 people there, we were all being friendly and talking to each other. People weren't being greedy and staying in line to guard their spot against anyone who may replace them. Had a group of people near the back with a football, and some of us near the front were talking for a few hours.
Reserve the console at Gamestop? Easier? Sure. Convenient? Absolutely. But I fucking earned this console, and it's the first time I've really been able to say that I have. And this thing is 100% worth the time I spent in line.
I picked up Red Steel (a pretty good first person shooter/first person melee) and The Legend of Zelda.
See you all in 5 months.
It was a wonderful experience for me. I know it sounds dumb, but because we knew there were 80 or so consoles available and there were only 20 people there, we were all being friendly and talking to each other. People weren't being greedy and staying in line to guard their spot against anyone who may replace them. Had a group of people near the back with a football, and some of us near the front were talking for a few hours.
Reserve the console at Gamestop? Easier? Sure. Convenient? Absolutely. But I fucking earned this console, and it's the first time I've really been able to say that I have. And this thing is 100% worth the time I spent in line.
I picked up Red Steel (a pretty good first person shooter/first person melee) and The Legend of Zelda.
See you all in 5 months.