The Trials And Tribulations of the Midnight Launch.

It’s coming up to that time of year again…get your sleeping bags.

We all love a midnight launch. We love that nervous but excited anticipation of a product you’ve waited so long to get your hands on is finally available, and it’s not only available, it’s available the minute the release day begins. You spend the whole time in the queue either staying silent and checking your phone, tweeting such fantastic thoughtblurbs such as ’7 MINS OMGZ!!’ to anyone who hasn’t blocked your ass after doing it for every minute before it or chatting to your fellow gamer/stressed out ‘had-to-be-here’ parent/possible thief about what the first thing you’re going to try out is. If you’re lucky enough to meet like minded folk you’ll become chatty and exchange Gamertags and promise a full evening of total kickass shiny new online entertainment the second you get home, with a message of ‘DUDE! I WAS AT THE LAUNCH! ADD ME!’. You know that the feeling is collectively palpable and you’re all there for the very same reason. To get your hands on your product before anyone else and play it to death before the sun rises. Except for the thief, maybe.

The reason I wanted to talk about this for no other reason than complete devasttation. I love a midnight launch, I really do. I love it for all the reasons I’ve explain above and many more. When I miss out on one for a product I’m craving, my Superhero Geek alter ego ‘Rossko’ cries his poor heart out. The most recent of those, the 3DS launch, was the most heartbreaking of all.

Since moving from a rather loud town in sleepy Somerset to a desolate nothing sleepy town in Somerset, midnight launches have evaded me. I should say now I’ve never been to a huge ‘event’ type launch, like those lucky folk in the picture above, but rather the local GAME/Gamestation launches, which I still regard as being just as fun, if not more so. I don’t have a local game shop here, the closest I’ve got is a rather crappy Blockbuster Video, probably about the same size as any HMV’s kitchen. I’ll be damned if they ever do a midnight launch for anything. Even my local supermarkets, giants Morrisons and Tesco always close before the midnight hour, the latter doesn’t even sell consoles. Or 3DS games. It’s a sorry state of affairs, I’ll never get to a midnight launch in this town, I imagine most are unaware such a concept exists. The fact that the previous statement is probably true is the most depressing of all. Or is it?

The big launch nights are a mixed bag. On the one hand, they are extensive to the point of rivaling some major film premieres. Thousands arrive to get a glimpse at a brand new console or game with the goal of finally purchasing once the festivities have come to an end. It’s a worthy event for modern day gaming, and something we can look forward too. On the other hand….they suck.

Busy, stupid, overlong and filled to the brim with the most exhaustive list of pointless celebrities turning up for other reason than a pay cheque and a possibility of column inches.

Everyone knows celebrities that have nothing to do with gaming shouldn’t be there. With the line between films and gaming drawing ever closer – the likes of Sam Worthington, Ed Harris and Simon Pegg doing voice work for ‘Call of Duty’ and ‘Fable III’, respectively – you would think they could draw more worthwhile names to their launches. Instead, it seems the actors want nothing to do with the game once their work is done in the vocal booth, and will make no effort to attend the game ‘premiere’, they get replaced by the cream of the Z-list, boybands looking for some glorious self promotion, those ‘celebrities’ who will appear at the opening of an envelope and Page 3 male stimulants, of course. It’s, sadly, giving our industry a bad name. It is making our favourite pastime look…cheap? Gaming is the biggest entertainment industry in the world. If celebrities are apparently climbing over each other to do voice-over work in AAA blockbusters, why can’t they be drawn to support their work like they do with movies? Of course with movies it’s a contractual obligation, should it not be the same for games? With astronomical budgets and even bigger returns, AAA games absolutely eclipses most box office takings. It should be an obligation to appear at launch events, that it isn’t really confuses me. Why would you want to go to the launch of ‘Call of Duty: Black Ops’ wanting to see Worthington, Harris and Oldman and instead get Zoo ‘babes’, The Wanted and Danny Dyer? I’d be truly devastated, and it would put down my estimation of the game, and question it’s validity. It’s not like Activision can’t afford it, is it?

Luckily the positives outweigh the negatives when it comes to midnight launches. I’ve been to a few in my time including the 2007 Wii launch at Gamestation in Taunton (where a certain Editor on a certain other gaming site was also in attendance) where we were told that neither ‘Wii Play’ or Wiimotes had arrived in time for the launch, so the dream of playing some multiplayer ‘Wii Sports’ all night was resolutely dashed. A great night though with tshirts and goodie bags available. The most recent was the launch of ‘Halo: Reach’ at GAME. While they weren’t giving away anything free (except double points…yay?), it was packed to the rafters with an awesome group of people sharing plans to navigate the levels via online co-op while flicking through the game guide and staring in envy at those buying the Legendary Edition AND the limited edition ‘Halo: Reach’ branded Xbox. All I got was the Noble Edition (the one in the middle). I left feeling I wasn’t a good enough fan until people still waiting for in the queue behind me were patting me on the back telling me to enjoy it. Being part of the gaming community is brilliant and it’s for reasons like this.

The best one though was for ‘Modern Warfare 2?, again at Gamestation. It started off simple enough, turned up, got in the queue. I’m really going to try hard to explain this in a non offensive way, so bear with me…

The launch of ‘Modern Warfare 2? was different than others because it drew a select group of our community that you wouldn’t normally consider ‘gamers’, y’know, in the same way we are. While a friend and I are standing there patiently, the ‘select few’ – one would call them, um….chavs – were banging on the windows ensuring that they were going to ‘bang out’ the staff if they didn’t open the doors absolutely immediately. There was a Dad and his two kids right at the front (the kids shouldn’t be playing ‘MW2? of course, but that’s another story) and quite rightly, they were getting a bit worried about what might actually happen. The Dad informed the staff as the doors opened that everyone who was working were getting death threats, and as such had to open the doors earlier than planned to calm them down. Once the doors opened, things did relax a little..but only a little.

The Dad and his two kids were rather quickly in and out, with the staff giving them an advanced copy just so they could leave incase anything kicked off. Of course, this just riled up the select few even more. Stating in rather unpolite terms that it was ‘unfair’, they began to pick up empty boxes off the shelf and throw them on the floor, shouting at the staff: ‘Pick it up you f-ing GEEK’ and more. The manager of the store finally arrived and asked them to leave, which of course they didn’t. They said they won’t leave until they get their copy and they want it now, regardless of where they were in the queue. 10 MINUTES later, after the first few in the queue (who were gamers) had their copies, the police arrived. Six of them, bizarrely. They removed the ‘select few’, but not before one of the members of staff got a swift punch in the face for ‘taking too f–ing long’. It was a crazy night, and not a great advertisement for the normal brilliance of such an evening. If anyone had any reservations about how evil Activison are, this could be good a good back up. Wait, I’m not saying video games encourage violence, they don’t. They just…ah, forget it.

Have you ever been to a midnight launch? What was it for? Shout it from the rooftops, or rather, in the comments section below and let us know of any stories, good or bad. I’d like to hear some stories and so we can savour the name of midnight launches, all the in the name of our very favourite past time.

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In addition,

I just thought I’d share this incredible experience I had at a local game retailer, which I shall not name. Not yet anyway, if it happens again they’ll have a banner above their shop warning people of their shocking inadequacies.

I shall set the scene. I walk into my local gamer store, for no other purpose than to pick up a Play and Charge Kit for my Xbox 360. I head to the counter to pick up said item..

Please bear in mind, this all actually happened.

Me : Can I get a Play and Charge Kit please?
Employee 1 : Um, yeah sure. Where are they?
Employee 2 : Uh, are they upstairs?
Employee 3 : I’ll have a look.
Me : They’re behind you, in the cabinet.
Employee 2: Where?
Me : Under the Xbox 360 Controllers…marked ‘Play and Charge Kit’. In green.
*employee 1 and 2 looks around….*
Employee 1 : Oh yeah! Cool, you got the keys?
Employee 2 : No we need to call the manager…
*employee 1 calls manager, manager arrives looking at me somewhat dissaprovingly*
Manager : What seems to the problem, Sir?
Me : Um, nothing…these guys needed you to open the cabinet so I could purchase an item.
Manager (to Employee 1) : You don’t need me, you have your own set of keys right here.
Employee 1 : Oh right! Sorry about this mate
*JUST OPEN THE FRICKIN’ CABINET!*
Me : No problem?
Employee 1 : Right, here we go.
Employee 3 : They’re not upstairs.
Employee 1 : I know, I’ve got one now.
Employee 3 : Oh, where were they?
Employee 1 : In the cabinet.
Employee 3 : This cabinet?
Employee 1 : Yes.
Employee 3 : Oh. LMFAO! (He didn’t actually say that, but he made a face that certainly suggested he was thinking it)
Employee 1 : Right, that’s £14.99 please mate
*hand over card* Me : Thanks
Employee 1 : Are you paying by card?
Me : …………….yes.
Employee 1 : Oh, OK.
*sigh*
Employee 2 : Would you like a bag?
Me : No, that’s OK. I’ll just put it in my laptop ba…..
Employee 1 : HAVE YOU GOT A LOYALTY CARD?
Me : ….yes, but I don’t have it with me.
Employee 1 : That’s OK, I’ll just take your postcode and put the points on there.
Me : Cool. It’s *says postcode*
Employee 1 : ******** Road?
Me : Yes
Employee 1 : Wow! My nan lives on that road
Me : Oh..cool. *sighhhh*
Employee 2 : There you go mate.

*hands over item. in a bag*.

Me : Thanks.

Now, before I get a chance the get the frag out of there, a very nice lady comes up around me to go to Employee 2?s till to purchase a Wii with a Wii Fit Plus Bundle in a big black box, and she asks the employees a question…

Nice lady : Does the Wii play DVD’s?
Employee 1 : Um……
Employee 2 : Does the Wii play DVD’s?
Employee 3 : The Wii? I don’t know. I’ve never tried. I use my DVD player.
Employee 2 *to ME* : Does the Wii play DVD’s?
Me : Um, no. No it doesn’t.
Nice lady : Thank you!! Wow, you should work here.
*employees snigger to themselves, I die a little inside*

And with that, I was gone. The moral of the story is, don’t go to this particular store (if anyone really wants to know which chain it is, I’ll tell you) if you want to find out anything about anything. And quickly. The pure lack of product knowledge was genuinely outstanding, especially on a subject many people, similar to the ‘Nice Lady’ are still learning about. The fact they turned to a customer to find out a piece of product information that should have been absolutely bloody instilled into their brain is ridiculous.

Anyway, I felt I had to share.

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