Ask Lemmy

Just once, for GTAV.

They released just after midnight. There was a decent line as I recall, probably less than 50 people. People cracked jokes about the series, and quoted favorite dialogue. The first guy in line strode victoriously to his car, his copy held high, then burned rubber when he hit asphalt. Immediately a cop tore after him out of the darkness. The rest of us went "ooooooo". Somebody said, "No that's just one star. He can do this!"

During that time when the LOTR movies were first coming to cinemas, people were camping outside to get premiere tickets. While we were all in the target demographic for said movies, having read rhe book and all, we found it a bit laughable considering how important it was to some people to see the movies on the premiere rather than just waiting a day or two...

Well, a couple of friends and I decided to ensure we got premiere tickets as well, so we brought sleeping bags and beer for our overnight adventure.

Except we weren't there for LOTR. We got premiere tickets for Shrek 2, just because why not. We were the only ones there. 10/10, would recommend.

Nah.

It's always seemed really desperate. Very Cult of Capitalism. I can wait. Life is full of other things I can occupy my time with.

I can see doing it as like a social thing. Camp out with friends. Meet likeminded people. But it's still supporting over-the-top capitalism.

When I was a child my parents took me to a midnight release reading of probably the fourth Harry Potter book. After some woman read aloud the first chapter, at midnight, everyone was allowed to buy the book. It was very fun for little me back then.

These days it's a complicated feeling, tainted by Rowling's behaviour.

My usual MO is getting things when they are discontinued. And cheap. Turbografx, Sega Saturn, Virtual Boy, Game.Com. I have them all. Virtual Boy was $20 at Target.

The only time I got something when it came out was the Gameboy Advance. But I pre-ordered it. No camping, just went in and picked it up.

I got the PS2 for Christmas the year it came out, but it was out for almost 2 months at that point, plus it was a gift, so I didn't have to camp for that either. I still love that thing.

I'll keep this brief, but me and my buddies are down in Philly just smoking a lot of weed and having some beers, as we tended to do. Our friend who's going to school at John Jay in the city (which is New York where we're from) tells us they're going to be giving out PS3s on TRL. So this is sometime around November 2006. So me and my friends drive to Trenton and hop on a train to Manhattan, get in around 5am, stumble out into Times Square with all the degenerates on a Friday morning, get to the MTV building, meet our friends, and do this thing. There's a decent enough line but nothing crazy.

Hours go by, and we just wait. We hang out til showtime, which is like 2 or 3pm, I can't remember. Needless to say, they eventually come out and say it was all a rumor and there are no PS3s. Depressed, we hop back on a train back to Trenton, because we are seeing Brand New open for Dashboard Confessional in Camden that night. We are exhausted. We meet a friend in Ewing, smoke some blunts, get uncomfortably high, but head to the show anyway. On the way in we watch this girl trip on a sidewalk and land on her face. Her friends help her up. I want to help, but I am too high and so we ask if she's okay, get nods, and we continue in.

Brand New is already on. We hear one song. Dashboard comes on. Lead singer starts crying almost immediately. A woman who's at least 10-15 years older than us (we are 19-20) keeps hitting on my one friend, and eventually says "This guy's a bigger pussy than me, and I've got one!" We go home.

It was one failure after another for us. That was my one and only.

Went for the midnight release of Death Stranding. I wasn't really interested in the game, but Hideo Kojima was there signing games, so I went and got his signature and a picture.

It's not really my type of game and I never finished it, but I love Kojima and I'm happy I got the signature.

Just once for GTA 4 midnight launch. Only took 2 hours, mild weather.

Nearly did for the PS3 launch but managed to snag one on a digital storefront same day.

PS2 release day when I was 16 at best buy. I'm 42 and still have it, works great. Just tried it last month with some Twisted Metal, sat hiding as Spectre just doing my special like a bitch. Actually it's under my TV, a bit dusty but all the og cords and controllers.

I worked the midnight release of the PSP. nobody came. like...nobody.

so I bought one after my shift ended. played it for a week and returned it.

it really was a trash system at first launch, though playing twisted metal online was pretty fun, until the Japanese players came on (if there be gaming gods, the Japanese are it).

last Sony system I ever bought.

I went to the midnight releases of Call of Duty Black Ops, MW3 and Pokemon Black and White 2. I was in college at the time so had a lot more time to play video games on release back then.

Waited in a three-hour-ish line for The Phantom Menace. 100 minutes of "I'm sure it will get better" followed by the Naboo duel tricking my fanboy brain into thinking it was a good movie.

I went to the midnight release for Portal 2. My GameStop had more people there for Mortal Kombat though. And by more I mean I was the only one there for Portal 2 and all 7 other guys were there for MK.

I waited in line for 3 hours to get tickets to The Phantom Menace. I’d like those 3 hours back.

Actually it was with a group of friends so it was actually kinda fun.

Well, not camped but went to a midnight sale of a WoW expansion and there was a bit of a queue.

Went to a midnight release of Halo 3. Then it was a 2.5 hour walk home because no buses. So much excitement on such a tedious walk. Cant be good for the nervous system.

I did not camp out myself, but I did work a register when some early World of Warcraft expansions came out. People went crazy for them.

I remember one evening we had some Wrath of the Lich King collector’s editions available for the release event and there was a huge rush to get in when they opened the doors. I had this sweet old lady come through my line with one of the big boxes. She was very excited because she bought it for her grandson and she wanted to give him a special gift. She was all smiles.

A few minutes later, I had a guy come through my line. He looked a little flustered and had a regular edition in his hand. He said some old lady ran up, pushed him out of the way, hit him with her purse, then grabbed the last collector’s edition and ran to the front.

Pretty sure my sweet old lady customer was the same one that hit him with her purse lol. It was a weird night.

2012 I think Diablo 3 midnight launch.

Total disaster of a launch from blizzards server/network teams

Not for a game, but for Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. Waiting outside in downtown Boston with a bunch of other Star Wars nerds who had waited their entire adult lives for this moment was a better experience than the film itself, by a longshot.

edit - there are a few of us in this thread with the same experience. If you weren’t there, you really can’t imagine what it was like growing up with the original trilogy and the hope that someday maybe there would be more. It’s hard to express how disappointing TPM was. In hindsight, it was probably impossible for the studio to satisfy us, but I wish they could have tried just a little bit harder.

iPhone 4. First and last time.

Never.

The two longest and most memorable waits I've done were for the Wii and Wii U.

The Wii was great. Was a very social, collaborative experience.

Got to the store probably at 6 or 7 am. Two people were in front of me in line. The first would show up in my circle of friends years later, and I didn't even realize until going back and looking at the pictures. The other was an older gentleman getting in line for his son, and when his son did show up later it turned out to be a friend of mine. I just hadn't met his dad before.

At first we were in the lobby, then moved to the garden center, eventually to outside the front entrance before noon. Employees didn't really know to expect us or what to do with us.

Everyone had their DSes and we spent most of the day playing something or other. Toward the end of the night, when the crowd got bigger, I remember doing 8-person Bomberman battles.

It was a cold November day. By the evening, I was freezing and hungry. My parents and some friends swung by at different times to bring blankets, snacks, etc, and those felt like such exciting moments.

Fast forward to the Wii U. I got a preorder, but they said there weren't enough preorders to do a midnight launch. Stubbornly wanting to relive the great time I had waiting for the Wii, that was enough to make me drive over to the next big town and wait at a different store.

For a long time, I think I'm the only one in line? Or maybe someone was before me. Idk. But the line didn't build up until like, an hour before midnight. I talked to people, but didn't really connect with anyone strongly.

The cold was bitter this time. I was layered up way more, but felt as tho I was barely hanging in by the end of it. Folks in line kept asking if I was alright, offering to hold my place in line if I wanted to go take a break and warm up in the car.

I don't know that we did any multiplayer sessions, but it was cool at least to get 3DS streetpass hits all day.

After all of it, I could just as easily have walked into a store the next weeks and bought one.

So yeah, the Wii was a moment for me, the U was a failed attempt to revisit that moment (a lot like the systems themsleves, kinda). Then there's the difference between being in high school, hanging out with friends in your home town, and being in college keeping to yourself.

In highschool a few friends of mine waited to get the final Harry Potter book when it was released. We all got a copy and then I think I finished it that night so I talked with one of my friends about it the next day at work. Great fun but a little embarrassing to admit now. Fuck J.K. Rowling

I'm thinking of queueing up for the Steam controller. Does that count?

No, but I worked at the Apple 5th Avenue store for the launches of both the iPhone 3G and the iPhone 3GS, where people camped out, and there were lines around the block both times

What an absolute nightmare that was

I lined up to get the Wii on it's release date. I went to Walmart at around 11 am to wait on the midnight launch. We were put in the garden center, and it was pretty chill. The guy at the front kept a list so people could go to the bathroom or to grab food without losing their spot. One guy brought a portable TV with a PlayStation and guitar hero, so we spent a lot of time playing that. I brought my DS, but not many people in line had one. It turned out to be a fun and memorable experience, but I've never waited in line like that again.

Yup! Waited in a three hour line at GameStop to pick up my pre-order of Tears of the Kingdom. I was close to the front (10 people back) and they had extras of the Amiibo of Link, and the collectors edition and said they would be selling them first come first serve. I got the last of each, besides my pre-order. Was pretty cool!

The only ones that come to mind are a midnight release for Super Smash Bros. Brawl in 2008 and one for Skyrim in 2011. I was working the graveyard shift in 2011 and went to work late to pick up the game so my wife could play it.

11/11/11

I camped out in front of a Blockbuster so I could buy a copy of Modern Warfare 2 on launch. I was one of the first people in the store so I got the special limited edition version that came in the the tin box.

My friend and I camped out for the original Xbox launch (I was only going to pick up Metal Gear Solid 2 which launched the same night). he had saved up his money from his job to buy the system, 2 controllers and 1 game. Now you're assuming it's Halo...no...he wanted Cel Damage. The game was a cel shaded twisted metal style game. That's all he wanted. I convinced him to also pick up Halo because I had read good things about it in some gaming mag. I said I would go halves on it with him and call it an early birthday present.

We go back to his place and we play like one round of Cel Damage and then stay up the entire night playing Halo.