Walked in to Wal-Mart at 11:55PM last night. At midnight they announce a line will form by the Garden Center. Five minutes later, I have a slip for the Premium. Go in today and pick it up.

Total time spent = 30 minutes.

You got the Xbox 360 flu! You're gonna want brains here soon.

Man, just went through a loooong line at Gamestop. Almost an hour and a half of waiting in line just to pick up my system. The worst part was there was only one employee working, the other that was supposed to be there slept in and didn't show up. Everyone in front of me wanted their systems but couldn't get it because they didn't have enough. I got some dirty looks when I got mine, the guy said I was the first one today that he was able to give one too and suggested that I "leave the mall IMMEDIATELY". I was talking with some guys while I was in line and I heard about a fist fight at a local Walmart last night!

Why would picking up pre-orders take so long?

There was only one employee and about 10 people in front of me. The phone was ringing off the hook and stuff. It was nuts, I felt really bad for the guy. It was probably more like 50 minutes or so, but still, it was a long time.

I couldn't fall asleep so I left for NYC at 4:00AM. I got in line at 5:00AM and was 3rd in line. #2 got there at 1:30AM and # 1 got there at 7:30PM Sunday night. I was all prepared with my rain gear and sandwiches. Needless to say the media was all over us. It was lots of fun.

I got interviewed by the Daily News, USA Today, 1010 Wins, G4, Replay, Reuters, FOX, CBS, NBC, ABC, World News w/ Peter Jennings, CNBC, Bloomberg and a shit load of gaming sites.

They stopped the line at around 3:00PM. There were 105 premium systems and over 200+ people. Many people were pissed that they could only get the core.

When we entered the store there was a ton of media and all the best buy staff to meet us. As we entered the store they all cheered and applauded. I finally know what it feels like to be surrounded by paperazzi.


Some pics from my Midnight Launch at the midtown Manhattan Best Buy:


I bump into #1 and #2 at 5:00AM



Me with #4, #5, #6... Usher was doing a signing at 7:00PM but all the media was paying attention to the gamers. :lmfao


Best Buy buy staff looking at the caged animals from inside the nice warm store...


The 12:00 Noon shot of the line.


The 3:00PM shot of the line.


#1, #2 and me ...#3..... just 6 hours till midnight. :thud

http://cgi.ebay.com/Microsoft-Xbox-3...QQcmdZViewItem

Something stinks about this auction. The bonus item is Need For Speed and the system won't ship until 2 weeks due to low stock? WTF?!?

Two 360s taken in Virginia armed robbery

News | Posted by Brandon Hill on Nov 22nd, 2005 from GameSpot

Wow, some people are just downright pathetic. GameSpot reports that a EB store was the victim of an armed thug determined to get an Xbox 360:

A Stafford, Virginia, Electronics Boutique store was the scene of an armed robbery this morning. According to sources, the perpetrator made off with two Xbox 360 systems, forcing the store manager to hand them over at gunpoint.

**Updated**

Here's another story of a kid getting beat up over his Xbox 360:

A 17-year-old boy who was one of the first in this city to buy one of the much-anticipated new Xbox 360 video games was assaulted and robbed as he left the store, police say.

Man I had an AWFUL experience with this. I got in line at my Best Buy at 10:00pm with my brother for the 9:00 am opening. However there were already 20 people there. This did not bother me since that store was getting 40 premiums in. Anyway about an hour later no on else was behind me, yet the line had grown to 35 people. Why? Because all of the white trash losers on the line in front of me were calling up all of their friends to get one too. That was some mega bullshit. I waited a bit longer and this dick in front of me who worked for best buy was calling his dad to pick one up for him since he was not allowed to buy it for himself. He then called one of his friends who wanted to get one too. So that only left 3 premiums for me to get. Plus that same dick was bragging about how he was allowed to reserve systems for the next shipment, and he was going to get five so he could sell them all on ebay. Prick. Anyway, it was about 11:45 pm when more cars pulled up and people jump in line with their friends in front of me. The line was well over 40 now and yet there still was no one behind me except 1 guy. So I screamed "FUCK THIS" and left with my brother. Then every store we went to after that had a line that was longer then the systems available. So we just went home. What a fucking awful experience. People suck.

Well my system from Wal-mart just arrived at work. This will be the longest 4.5 hours of work ever.

I don't know why all these retailers make this so difficult. Tell everyone that you can arrive at a certain time. Hand out vouchers in the order that people arrive. Nothing but positive feedback for your store and chain.

Why does this happen with every system launch. Is this some marketing bullshit to drive up hype by not manufacturing enough systems? My friend in Houston tried 5 different places between 10:00 pm last night and 5:00 am this morning with no luck.

I think that if a system release isn't an "event", then it will be deemed as a failure. Of course, I'd say 50% of the people lining up this time were scalpers, which inflates the "need." I guess I have a different view of things than most scalpers. I see online buys as fair game, but don't even try to touch local stock so that gamers/parents in my community aren't shorted for my greed.

Is this true? The only chance to get the premium system for $400 was on launch. From now on all that will be available will be core systems?

If that's true that does suck!

Demand > Supply. Simple.

Add in the fact that you have asshats buying multiple systems to make a profit on ebay = screwed gamer actually wanting the system for themself.

There were 3 of them in the line I was in for 10.5 hours at Walmart. Each had 2 preorders from other places that they were going to keep and getting the system at walmart to put on ebay because they got it in their hands that night. Other systems they wouldn't get until the GameStop stores opened in the morning.

I went on my lunch break to get WOTW dvd at Circuit City. They got in 20 systems, sold all in about 1 minute. Went to CompUSA, they got in 12 and said it took about 15 minutes to sell theirs. This is the place that most people probably overlook when it comes to gaming. I think I'll keep checking that store for a 360 instead of going to Walmart, Best Buy, and Circuit City.

I wonder if any gaming company will every try to equal those out for launch? Launch at $1000 and keep dropping the price by $100 every month until you kit your key price. If you can't wait, you'll pay for the convenience.

Of course, how many of you would be then pissed because it was "so expensive" for those few months?

I got soooo lucky. I lost out a Sams, Walmart, & Target so I thought the line didn't look that bad at Best Buy so I waited for 1.5 hours and I was 70th in line with only 30 systems and 20 bundles available. One of the employees came to the back of the line and said they have 3 extreme bundles available for $1,500 each that includes 8 games and every accessory for the xbox you will need. I grabbed it immediately. Only 6 hours of frustration to finally get this sucker and only cost me $900 more than I was planning on spending.

Lucky? I'd say you got robbed. Why not wait a week and pick one up and save yourself $900? Unless, of course, you have the money laying around at your disposal.

Got to Sams Club at 5:00AM and left at 6:45 with the 360 in hand. I was 9th in line when I arrived. They had 20 systems like every Sams I called. I think Sams and Costco were the best places. Costco here didnt open until 10 AM so that was not near as good as Sams opening at 7AM for business members.

On a sad note I got home about 7:15 AM and forgot to buy any games So I just played Halo 2 for a few minutes and headed to work. 8 PM can't come soon enough....

I read his post as saying that he missed out on the by-the-book premium, so he only could get the core and then buy the accessories to make it a "premium" system equivalent. Which of course would be more out of pocket than the premium would have been alone (gotta pay for all that separate packaging and all ).

Ok, I get it. So the premium will still be available in upcoming shipments then.

Sell the games close to retail value and the accessories and you don't lose out on much.

Good point. Hadn't thought of that.