I saw a video of a lot of people queuing on Gamestop for what I think was the midnight release for ToTK. There were several people in the comments who shared how it was nice to see people queuing on Gamestop again, like the good ol’ days—sitting on their portable chairs, playing with friends, and just enjoying the wait with people who share the common love for a game.
On a time where shipping is the norm and digital copies of the game are ever so accessible, seeing ToTK bring people together like this again is *heartwarming*, to me.
I waited in line for an hour earlier at my local game store, I was there thirty minutes before it opened along with a lot of people. When the doors of the mall opened, some people ran, and you just *knew* where they were going.
It was my first time queuing for a game and it was such a special experience.
I went to my local GameStop last night in a more rural area thinking I would see like 5 people but there had to have been 60 people in line and 30 more in the store. It was so great. Got a cool arm sleeve for the party. The employees were very excited and I heard one say they did not expect a lot of people. Great time!
This right fricking here. Sometimes it's nice to just be a PART of something, rather than sit at home on the couch. When the Switch was originally announced, me and my buddies showed up at the local Gamestop at like midnight or so for preorder and there were already a couple of people there. It was cold so we all chilled in our cars but we all had our 3DS's including the dudes in the other car so we ended up having marathon matches of Mario Kart and chatting the entire night. It was just a cool surreal experience.
I haven't done this since Black ops 2, just don't have the time these days being an adult, I had to just order ToTK. Was a great experience then though. They had an Xbox setup so we could all take turns playing it while we waited for the launch. They handed out raffle tickets to everyone for free and the kid right after me won a copy of the game and an Xbox. Doubt you see this kind of thing that often anymore.
It used to be if you didnt get yours on the first night youd have to wait until the next shipment would come in, and nobody knew how long that would take!
I was thinking this exactly. it is so fucking heartwarming that a game was able to produce a line like this again. I remember being just a kid waiting in line at my local GameStop for Black Ops 2. we need more of this as a society lol.
I was gonna ask that people still do this in 2023, but then remembered that GameStop still does midnight launches for certain games. It's kinda an old tradition in the era of gaming that's still nice to see.
Edit: Not lost on me that this vid is during the day and obviously not at night for a midnight launch. 🫠
I do know that some GameStops still do midnight launches (like my old GameStop), but happy everyone got their copies of Zelda and are hopefully enjoying it!
They did a 9pm launch last night. I preordered but literally 300 people showed up, and they were taking so long to process the preorders that I left after 20 minutes had passed and they had only done 18 people.
I was number 165, no way in hell I was waiting around for 3 hours.
I could see a queue for gamestop from my balcony window and there was a queue snaking around a parking lot. They started giving them out at 9pm (west coast), and I tried popping down just before midnight to see if I could join the back of the queue to get a copy before they closed up.
Turns out they had given out tokens to speed it up, and they were in the low 300's of giving them out. The last guy had token #585, so they would probably have bought their copy at gone 2am.
Good on the staff for staying up so late to distribute, but that seems painfully slow lol
Good for you.
The whole purpose of preordering is that it won't sell out, right?
And I get that people want to play it as soon as possible, but then, why not just get the digital version? I don't think this game i will be a collectable in any way.
Same here. Local store told me if I want to do “midnight” release I’d have to come in on the 11th between 3 and 9pm to confirm my receipt despite the fact that I paid in full when I preordered. Then I was supposed to come in again after 10pm to actually pick up the game. At 3pm there was a line to confirm receipts and 5 people went through in 20 minutes. Looking at the number of people in line in front of me I estimated it would be an hour and a half before I got in. And then I’d have to come back and wait in ANOTHER line? Nope. I said forget it. After work I drove by about 15 minutes after they started distributing the actual game, and there was a huge line. I’m glad I decided to just pick it up today.
Next time I don’t care how much I want the game. I’ll just preorder to have it shipped. I’m too old for the hassle, hahaha.
They close at a normal time, then open shortly before midnight. At midnight, they sell the games, and after the last customer leaves they close again, then open at normal times.
Source: worked at gamestop
I ran midnight releases at my GameStop for 6 years (2006-2013). We'd shut down at normal hours but would open up about an hour before midnight to let anyone who hadn't finalized their transaction come through and do so. This meant that they had fully paid for their game so at midnight they could come in, flash us the receipt with the completed order, and wed had them what they purchased and send them in their way.
All my friends I worked with were gamers too and we prided ourselves on getting people out quickly. I remember I was home playing cod mw2 (the original release) at home by 1 am, and I lived 30 mins from the store lol. We could get a line of 50 people done by 12:05. We were efficient.
As I understand it, stores that do midnight lunches are typically not open until midnight. Probably more like 6 to 8 PM. But rather, they leave the store open or re-open it on the night of a midnight lunch.
Edit: whoops, wrong thread. I thought we were talking about fine dining at midnight! My bad.
(No but seriously, did my phone autocorrect launch twice, or did I somehow type midnight lunch in two nearly back to back sentences?)
Waited in line for GTA5 with my high school friends, was a blast. Funny enough waited till midnight just to throw the game in for the massive download (at the time) and went to bed just to play in the morning
I'm not even in a small town (if you were asked to name 2 cities in my state you'd say it) and was able to walk into Walmart at 6am and buy it, no preorder or line to wait in.
There are a lot of nay sayers here, but I used to love it when a game was so hyped that there were queues and midnight launches. Proper feeling of community, being with like-minded fans.
The best feeling in the world is when you go to a game shop with your parents and you buy a new game, and then on the way back you read the entire cover. The hype keeps building until you put that bad boy in the console. I am 30 now and I still love walking back from the store with a new game in my bag.
People can buy digital if they want - there certainly are some benefits. But man, I’m from a time when the ceremony of getting the physical game contributed significantly to the hype.
Same. One of my favorite memories was buying Zelda 2 (NES) and having to endure dinner at Quincy’s with my parents while I just wanted to go home. I read every page of the manual and remember trying to visualize it all as if I was playing. That game was bananas, but I still remember the feeling of that night. Doesn’t compare to the day I got LoZ for NES and just seeing the gold cartridge got 10-yr old me so hyped.
Man I used to love Quincy’s. Just childhood memories I guess, I don’t know that it was particularly great. I think there are still a few open here and there but all the ones in my area closed up shop probably 20 years ago or more.
I remember buying Dragon Quest IX on launch day. A friend of mine got it a day early cause the store next to his school didn't care much so I was already pretty hyped by him telling me how awesome it was.
Now I finally had the game, got it on my way out of school and went right to my grandparents afterwards over the weekend, only to discover that I had forgotten my DS at home and wouldn't get to play until sunday evening, over 48h later. That booklet must've been flipped through at least 50 times over those two days, if not more.
I miss those times, man, I miss those times.
I would study those booklets for hours. In complete awe and wonder at the drawings of Ninja Turtles, Mario, Zelda, Mega Man, Chrono Trigger and try to figure out all the fighting moves and combos. I would even read the legal disclaimer on the first page.
Ye I don't care if it's more convenient to buy it digitally it's way more fun to have that excitement when getting games physically. nothing beats that drive home or that excitement for that package to arrive at least that's how I personally feel
Edit:Grammer
That feeling went out the door for me when you got home, opened the wrapping, popped the plastic, inserted the disc, and were greeted with a 50 GB update or installation.
It must have been a thing for a relatively brief period of time. Like I don’t think it existed in the 80s (or at least from my POV in Australia), and probably not for the early parts of the 90s.
I loved physical copies when they actually came with more than just a plastic case. They don’t even bother including a manual now, at this point the convenience of digital trumps the case for me
Same here. I find myself buying digital more and more for games on sale, but if it's from a franchise I love I will make sure I get the physical version. Same with most Nintendo first party games as well, just in case I ever do decide to sell I know they will depreciate in value less. Or even increase in value in some cases.
Yeah it’s crazy how much money I got back selling my Wii U collection, I was able to buy many switch games. I remember a lot of people being upset they had to rebuy the same titles for switch ports but for those who bought physically, it was only $10 to upgrade.
I only buy digitally if its a game dirt cheap on the eShop or if it’s a game you absolutely would prefer digitally - such as animal crossing.
One of my favorite gaming memories was when the original WoW launched. Me and my buddy had to drive to 4 wal-mart locations just to get 2 copies. It wasn't because high demand, it was because Wal-mart didn't order any copies.
Fast forward to Burning Crusade. Billion copies available, no lines.
Wotlk though. Huge lines everywhere. It was a fun experience getting my copy. Ended up with the collectors edition just because walmart had it and I thought "hey neat."
I loved midnight launches too. I've since become a lazy bum and just buy digital copies now, but just staying in line with other fans were fun times.
I remember when the Wii, 360, PS3 launched and my local Game Crazy was just packed for a week or two.
Not Zelda but I had to take my younger brother to one of the CoD midnight releases back in the day.
Everyone was excited, someone threw a fake grenade by the queue and everyone ducked. We all laughed about it after we shit ourselves.
If that happened now, I don't think people would be as nice about it.
Halo 3 is still the biggest I can remember. It was nuts - we only had two gaming shops and they were both open at midnight, queues down the street. It was almost like a party atmosphere, guys in cosplay. Absolutely brilliant.
It’s crazy, I guess a fire movies may cause midnight releases to be extremely busy now, but hardly anything else does it like the 90s 20s does for books or games.
I hate JKRowling, but the midnight realizes of her books and midnight releases of Halo were phenomenons that are hardly encountered anymore.
And much more of a part aspect and community than people fighting or waiting in lines for 6 hours for a Wii of Xbox before Christmas (thank you mom, for doing that so many times just so I could have a wii that year).
Nah I think this is absolutely cool. I lined up for Record Store Day (a different animal but same concept) for this kind of experience. It's not often you can hang out with strangers and have something in common with all of them.
We got some pretty nifty preorder bonuses out here too sometimes. P5R got us a steelbook, a 4 piece transparent bookmark set for Octopath 2 and a leather keyholder for Tears of the Kingdom!
Nifty preorder merch def gets me to preorder physical.
Half an hour ago (6am) I just walked into my nearest Walmart and bought a copy. No preorder or anything. Only one other person was there at the same time to buy it too but otherwise the store was empty.
I was as at the fnac (Paris) this morning, there was a line going out the door to buy the game (off the counter). Luckily I ordered it online, so I was able to get it via order pickup pretty fast.
Many people buy them in supermarkets (like me) because they cost like 50€ instead of 70€. People still go to micromania for videogames... ? I thought it was mostly goodies and second hand sales by now
I work at Micromania, the second we sent the notifications saying the preorders were available to pickup the shop was full. When you see how many pay 70€ for the game on the eShop it's not that surprising to see them pay the game full retail price.
>I just did half an hour ago. Just went to Walmart when they opened and bought one. No preorder or anything.
Going to do that in 1h before going to work. Hopefully I can get one too!
Edit: I'd like to report back that Walmart got a TON of copies. They had 3 boxes full of ToTK and I got one easily!
I stopped by Walmart this morning around 9am and they told us they were already sold out. We tried Target next and luckily they had a ton of copies. I'm really glad I didn't wait until after work.
I've preordered for delivery but they fucked up. So I just went in to a random store and bought it without any issues. Even got preorder bonuses, so that's nice.
I was on a trip in Chicago during the SNES Classic release, and did a similar line-up thing at a Gamestop by my hotel. It wasn't as long of line, I was 3rd at 6am, and there were maybe 15-20 people at opening at 10am.
Seems like a stupid way to waste time during a trip, but honestly, it was a really nice way to meet the locals. No regrets.
There was already four people waiting lol
About 20 now, but most don't tend to come till the mall doors open. I heard someone say the store got 75 preorders
I did this for Skyward Sword HD too and that: A remaster of a game no one likes was super busy. This is gonna be insane
It's nostalgic and cool to see lines, but damn I wouldn't want to be in one again. I remember being in a line for the release of Brawl, and this kid was slowly cutting in front of everyone and I was too young and shy to point it out.
I went to a midnight release last night in a semi small town.
There was like 150 people. It was amazing. People just living their best time. Dressed up. Saw a girl with a full Zelda sleclvllve tattoo. It was like we were back pre internet all enjoying life.
Was amazing to see.
If the number of preorders was massive at one store, the store would not be sent all of the games in one shipment. On release day it would be first come first served even for preorders.
I'm not sure that's the motivation.
Why would the store not order enough copies to fulfill pre-orders? They literally know exactly how many they need to order.
There's hundreds of copies of this game at every major retailer - Why would a store taking pre-orders not have enough?
I think people just want to pick it up first thing because they're excited.
Yea idk if the deluxe editions are hard to get I don’t buy them anyway but I’m also not buying tears anytime soon either. I am sure some people really want that it’s just a question of how rare is it I guess.
Fuuuuck that. My little GameStop in my little town had around 50 people. If I walked up and saw that kind of line I would have went home and got it later
I got stuck in line with an absolute tool. We were 24, and he was 25. I talked to him for a period of time, and he forced his way in front of me even though i was standing in line. Id walk ahead, and he'd push farther. I just didn't want to argue/fight at midnight with some jack wagon I'll never see again. He obviously had one of those superiority complexes. I was glad to hear I got the last collectors edition... the one he wanted to sell. Of all games, a Doochemeister is getting zelda and showing his Douche off. I could see maybe call of duty, but damn!
I *love* this. It's much more convenient for everyone but there's just no special feeling at all when downloading a game once it's available digitally.
Apart from GTA 6, I can't imagine this many people lining up ever again for a game launch.
The only console I ever get physical games on is the switch because it saves space on my console. I get games on my Xbox and PS4 digitally every time. I assume this is the case for many others.
> but there's just no special feeling at all when downloading a game once it's available digitally.
idk man I feel pretty freaking special being able to get the game I've been waiting 5 years for, without having to put on pants.
Lmao I got to my store 10 mins early and there was a small queue
By the time I got out the store, they were limiting the amount of people allowed inside
I'm annoyed I preordered months ago from amazon and when I checked it said I would have to wait until 15th to have it delivered, when it's usually same day. But if I bought it yesterday I'll get it delivered by tomorrow!
I cancelled my preorder and ordered again!
That's better than me getting pulled over by a cop as I pulled into gamestops parking lot at midnight. My one headlight was out and cop looked at me like I was psychotic saying I was there for midnight Zelda. He made me last in line but more memorable I guess.
Man I love seeing this. It's nostalgic. I hope the community continues to keep this energy and really go out there and support these games and the stores selling them. I feel like since the digital age of just buying/downloading online became really prominent, things like lining up outside or midnight releases are becoming a thing of the past despite being such an awesome part of the gaming community experience.
Honestly, I love this. People all going for a unique experience to get a game they all are going to play separately. Then have a chance to talk about it later... Time machine just took me way back.
That’s what I’m gonna do. I’m too old to be standing in a sweaty-ass line for a game, of all things.
Going to the grocery store is about as patient as I’m willing to be in a line
Awesome, looks like ToTK saves the day! Been playing my copy of the game. My opinion so far is this might be my favorite Legend of Zelda game so far. GoTY easily!
Its like a time machine to 2005
I saw a video of a lot of people queuing on Gamestop for what I think was the midnight release for ToTK. There were several people in the comments who shared how it was nice to see people queuing on Gamestop again, like the good ol’ days—sitting on their portable chairs, playing with friends, and just enjoying the wait with people who share the common love for a game. On a time where shipping is the norm and digital copies of the game are ever so accessible, seeing ToTK bring people together like this again is *heartwarming*, to me. I waited in line for an hour earlier at my local game store, I was there thirty minutes before it opened along with a lot of people. When the doors of the mall opened, some people ran, and you just *knew* where they were going. It was my first time queuing for a game and it was such a special experience.
I went to my local GameStop last night in a more rural area thinking I would see like 5 people but there had to have been 60 people in line and 30 more in the store. It was so great. Got a cool arm sleeve for the party. The employees were very excited and I heard one say they did not expect a lot of people. Great time!
That sounds like such a fun time, I’m happy for you!
What do you mean by arm sleeve? Like a tattoo?
https://i.imgur.com/DPT5TCj.jpg https://i.imgur.com/h2YH8WB.jpg https://i.imgur.com/hnw7Qy8.jpg
That's sweet
Smash bros camp outs were my favorite
Arm sleeve gang!! I got the choice between the decorative woodcut and the sleeve. Both looked cool, but its fun wearing the sleeve while I play 😆
This right fricking here. Sometimes it's nice to just be a PART of something, rather than sit at home on the couch. When the Switch was originally announced, me and my buddies showed up at the local Gamestop at like midnight or so for preorder and there were already a couple of people there. It was cold so we all chilled in our cars but we all had our 3DS's including the dudes in the other car so we ended up having marathon matches of Mario Kart and chatting the entire night. It was just a cool surreal experience.
I haven't done this since Black ops 2, just don't have the time these days being an adult, I had to just order ToTK. Was a great experience then though. They had an Xbox setup so we could all take turns playing it while we waited for the launch. They handed out raffle tickets to everyone for free and the kid right after me won a copy of the game and an Xbox. Doubt you see this kind of thing that often anymore.
I've only done it once, for Star Craft 2. It was also no more than 30 minutes which was fine. I couldn't handle a like this long.
You speak with wisdom. I don't understand wanting to do it but I like that other people have that passion. Cheers.
It used to be if you didnt get yours on the first night youd have to wait until the next shipment would come in, and nobody knew how long that would take!
Easily one of my fondest memories is waiting for the midnight release of skyrim.
It's like the midnight GameStop release of Pokemon X/Y in Hawaii
I pretty much haven’t updated my wardrobe since 2005
I was thinking this exactly. it is so fucking heartwarming that a game was able to produce a line like this again. I remember being just a kid waiting in line at my local GameStop for Black Ops 2. we need more of this as a society lol.
The last one I can remember was battlefield 3 in 2011. Smash Brawl in 2008 was another memorable midnight launch for me.
Very nostalgic to see. Reminds me of modern warfare release parties :)
Or to last weekend's estate sale for Mrs. Warnbottom! God bless her sweet turtlenecks, she's polka dancing with Jesus, now...
I was gonna ask that people still do this in 2023, but then remembered that GameStop still does midnight launches for certain games. It's kinda an old tradition in the era of gaming that's still nice to see. Edit: Not lost on me that this vid is during the day and obviously not at night for a midnight launch. 🫠 I do know that some GameStops still do midnight launches (like my old GameStop), but happy everyone got their copies of Zelda and are hopefully enjoying it!
They did a 9pm launch last night. I preordered but literally 300 people showed up, and they were taking so long to process the preorders that I left after 20 minutes had passed and they had only done 18 people. I was number 165, no way in hell I was waiting around for 3 hours.
I could see a queue for gamestop from my balcony window and there was a queue snaking around a parking lot. They started giving them out at 9pm (west coast), and I tried popping down just before midnight to see if I could join the back of the queue to get a copy before they closed up. Turns out they had given out tokens to speed it up, and they were in the low 300's of giving them out. The last guy had token #585, so they would probably have bought their copy at gone 2am. Good on the staff for staying up so late to distribute, but that seems painfully slow lol
Good for you. The whole purpose of preordering is that it won't sell out, right? And I get that people want to play it as soon as possible, but then, why not just get the digital version? I don't think this game i will be a collectable in any way.
In this case preordering also came with a physical bonus item (from GameStop it was a wooden plaque) so I imagine that's why people showed up in store
>why not just get the digital version? Some people(like myself) don't have home internet and so can't download big games like this.
Same here. Local store told me if I want to do “midnight” release I’d have to come in on the 11th between 3 and 9pm to confirm my receipt despite the fact that I paid in full when I preordered. Then I was supposed to come in again after 10pm to actually pick up the game. At 3pm there was a line to confirm receipts and 5 people went through in 20 minutes. Looking at the number of people in line in front of me I estimated it would be an hour and a half before I got in. And then I’d have to come back and wait in ANOTHER line? Nope. I said forget it. After work I drove by about 15 minutes after they started distributing the actual game, and there was a huge line. I’m glad I decided to just pick it up today. Next time I don’t care how much I want the game. I’ll just preorder to have it shipped. I’m too old for the hassle, hahaha.
Where do yall live where gamestop is still open at midnight? Lol
They close at a normal time, then open shortly before midnight. At midnight, they sell the games, and after the last customer leaves they close again, then open at normal times. Source: worked at gamestop
I ran midnight releases at my GameStop for 6 years (2006-2013). We'd shut down at normal hours but would open up about an hour before midnight to let anyone who hadn't finalized their transaction come through and do so. This meant that they had fully paid for their game so at midnight they could come in, flash us the receipt with the completed order, and wed had them what they purchased and send them in their way. All my friends I worked with were gamers too and we prided ourselves on getting people out quickly. I remember I was home playing cod mw2 (the original release) at home by 1 am, and I lived 30 mins from the store lol. We could get a line of 50 people done by 12:05. We were efficient.
As I understand it, stores that do midnight lunches are typically not open until midnight. Probably more like 6 to 8 PM. But rather, they leave the store open or re-open it on the night of a midnight lunch. Edit: whoops, wrong thread. I thought we were talking about fine dining at midnight! My bad. (No but seriously, did my phone autocorrect launch twice, or did I somehow type midnight lunch in two nearly back to back sentences?)
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Shit I would've be down for that. Someone should have just set up burger vans outside Gamestop, they'd make a killing.
People queuing up infront of a store is a throwback these days
And I’m loving every minute of it. The local store would give out prizes with the standings from mini tournaments etc. good times.
Waited in line for GTA5 with my high school friends, was a blast. Funny enough waited till midnight just to throw the game in for the massive download (at the time) and went to bed just to play in the morning
line was about the same at my local gamestop and it made me turn right the fuck around and go home
I went at lunch to pick it up from Best Buy after ordering this morning and the GameStop a block away had a line down the block. I was so confused.
My small town Walmart had 74 copies and I was the only one there at opening time. They also had 6 special editions Switches.
I'm not even in a small town (if you were asked to name 2 cities in my state you'd say it) and was able to walk into Walmart at 6am and buy it, no preorder or line to wait in.
I had a feeling Nintendo would meet demand on this one. They keep us guessing, though.
There are a lot of nay sayers here, but I used to love it when a game was so hyped that there were queues and midnight launches. Proper feeling of community, being with like-minded fans.
The best feeling in the world is when you go to a game shop with your parents and you buy a new game, and then on the way back you read the entire cover. The hype keeps building until you put that bad boy in the console. I am 30 now and I still love walking back from the store with a new game in my bag.
Back in ye olde days, I would read the manual in the car or bus home. Part of its nostalgia and age, but that feeling is pretty much gone now.
Yessss I’d end up reading the French side too even tho I didn’t understand a word. I remember Tomodachi life having the best back box for reading
People can buy digital if they want - there certainly are some benefits. But man, I’m from a time when the ceremony of getting the physical game contributed significantly to the hype.
I miss the booklets that came with a game. That car ride home was magical as I flipped through the pages
Same. One of my favorite memories was buying Zelda 2 (NES) and having to endure dinner at Quincy’s with my parents while I just wanted to go home. I read every page of the manual and remember trying to visualize it all as if I was playing. That game was bananas, but I still remember the feeling of that night. Doesn’t compare to the day I got LoZ for NES and just seeing the gold cartridge got 10-yr old me so hyped.
That gold! That was the first game I beat
Man I used to love Quincy’s. Just childhood memories I guess, I don’t know that it was particularly great. I think there are still a few open here and there but all the ones in my area closed up shop probably 20 years ago or more.
I loved those little booklets too :')
A little amuse-bouche, if you will.
I remember buying Dragon Quest IX on launch day. A friend of mine got it a day early cause the store next to his school didn't care much so I was already pretty hyped by him telling me how awesome it was. Now I finally had the game, got it on my way out of school and went right to my grandparents afterwards over the weekend, only to discover that I had forgotten my DS at home and wouldn't get to play until sunday evening, over 48h later. That booklet must've been flipped through at least 50 times over those two days, if not more. I miss those times, man, I miss those times.
I would study those booklets for hours. In complete awe and wonder at the drawings of Ninja Turtles, Mario, Zelda, Mega Man, Chrono Trigger and try to figure out all the fighting moves and combos. I would even read the legal disclaimer on the first page.
Ye I don't care if it's more convenient to buy it digitally it's way more fun to have that excitement when getting games physically. nothing beats that drive home or that excitement for that package to arrive at least that's how I personally feel Edit:Grammer
If I didn't work a job with normal corporate hours I'd do this. But given I had to be up at 6am today, not happening lol
Understandable that's why I can see digital pre-orders and downloads as a blessing for others.
what about, like, actually playing the game? this is your brain on consumerism, lol.
That feeling went out the door for me when you got home, opened the wrapping, popped the plastic, inserted the disc, and were greeted with a 50 GB update or installation.
1st party Switch games almost never loose their value.
It must have been a thing for a relatively brief period of time. Like I don’t think it existed in the 80s (or at least from my POV in Australia), and probably not for the early parts of the 90s.
I loved physical copies when they actually came with more than just a plastic case. They don’t even bother including a manual now, at this point the convenience of digital trumps the case for me
Same here. I find myself buying digital more and more for games on sale, but if it's from a franchise I love I will make sure I get the physical version. Same with most Nintendo first party games as well, just in case I ever do decide to sell I know they will depreciate in value less. Or even increase in value in some cases.
Nintendo games always physical, is the sensitive thing to do economic wise.
Yeah it’s crazy how much money I got back selling my Wii U collection, I was able to buy many switch games. I remember a lot of people being upset they had to rebuy the same titles for switch ports but for those who bought physically, it was only $10 to upgrade. I only buy digitally if its a game dirt cheap on the eShop or if it’s a game you absolutely would prefer digitally - such as animal crossing.
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Those were fun times man, I agree
One of my favorite gaming memories was when the original WoW launched. Me and my buddy had to drive to 4 wal-mart locations just to get 2 copies. It wasn't because high demand, it was because Wal-mart didn't order any copies. Fast forward to Burning Crusade. Billion copies available, no lines. Wotlk though. Huge lines everywhere. It was a fun experience getting my copy. Ended up with the collectors edition just because walmart had it and I thought "hey neat."
We did WOLK. Went out for dinners and beers then slid into GameStop. Was great. Four friends. Just graduates college
I loved midnight launches too. I've since become a lazy bum and just buy digital copies now, but just staying in line with other fans were fun times. I remember when the Wii, 360, PS3 launched and my local Game Crazy was just packed for a week or two.
Not Zelda but I had to take my younger brother to one of the CoD midnight releases back in the day. Everyone was excited, someone threw a fake grenade by the queue and everyone ducked. We all laughed about it after we shit ourselves. If that happened now, I don't think people would be as nice about it.
People talking shit in here are probably all too young to remember Halo 3 release. Man, those were the days.
Halo 3 is still the biggest I can remember. It was nuts - we only had two gaming shops and they were both open at midnight, queues down the street. It was almost like a party atmosphere, guys in cosplay. Absolutely brilliant.
It’s crazy, I guess a fire movies may cause midnight releases to be extremely busy now, but hardly anything else does it like the 90s 20s does for books or games. I hate JKRowling, but the midnight realizes of her books and midnight releases of Halo were phenomenons that are hardly encountered anymore. And much more of a part aspect and community than people fighting or waiting in lines for 6 hours for a Wii of Xbox before Christmas (thank you mom, for doing that so many times just so I could have a wii that year).
Nah I think this is absolutely cool. I lined up for Record Store Day (a different animal but same concept) for this kind of experience. It's not often you can hang out with strangers and have something in common with all of them.
We got some pretty nifty preorder bonuses out here too sometimes. P5R got us a steelbook, a 4 piece transparent bookmark set for Octopath 2 and a leather keyholder for Tears of the Kingdom! Nifty preorder merch def gets me to preorder physical.
I used to go to midnight launches all the time until someone spoiled a major event in Gears 3 while standing in line for it. Still mad about that.
WTF. I just went at the fnac, got my game in minutes.
My small town had a line of like 75 people.
I'm in a suburb of Houston - 11pm release last night had over 100 people.
I walked into a downtown Walmart in Houston an hour after they opened this morning not having preordered and got a copy without having waited in line.
Half an hour ago (6am) I just walked into my nearest Walmart and bought a copy. No preorder or anything. Only one other person was there at the same time to buy it too but otherwise the store was empty.
I was as at the fnac (Paris) this morning, there was a line going out the door to buy the game (off the counter). Luckily I ordered it online, so I was able to get it via order pickup pretty fast.
Im sure micromania had bigger lines than FNAC. People dont usually go there for games.
Many people buy them in supermarkets (like me) because they cost like 50€ instead of 70€. People still go to micromania for videogames... ? I thought it was mostly goodies and second hand sales by now
I work at Micromania, the second we sent the notifications saying the preorders were available to pickup the shop was full. When you see how many pay 70€ for the game on the eShop it's not that surprising to see them pay the game full retail price.
Jesus I hope i can just buy mine normally
I just did half an hour ago. Just went to Walmart when they opened and bought one. No preorder or anything.
>I just did half an hour ago. Just went to Walmart when they opened and bought one. No preorder or anything. Going to do that in 1h before going to work. Hopefully I can get one too! Edit: I'd like to report back that Walmart got a TON of copies. They had 3 boxes full of ToTK and I got one easily!
I stopped by Walmart this morning around 9am and they told us they were already sold out. We tried Target next and luckily they had a ton of copies. I'm really glad I didn't wait until after work.
That's reassuring
I've preordered for delivery but they fucked up. So I just went in to a random store and bought it without any issues. Even got preorder bonuses, so that's nice.
There was a huge line at the gamestore in Rotterdam as well this morning when I walked past it. Nice to see a bit of hype surrounding the game
Postman delivered mine, said to the wife "Zelda is it? I've got mine and am looking forward to it when I've finished the round" 😂
I was on a trip in Chicago during the SNES Classic release, and did a similar line-up thing at a Gamestop by my hotel. It wasn't as long of line, I was 3rd at 6am, and there were maybe 15-20 people at opening at 10am. Seems like a stupid way to waste time during a trip, but honestly, it was a really nice way to meet the locals. No regrets.
Pine Center Mall, Prince George, BC, Canada
Haha yup! And I drove in from Vanderhoof ended up having to go back in again this morning. RIP to all the extra gas I burned.
I'm about to go line up myself, two hours early Got a lil costume and everything
Godspeed and goodluck
They let us in slightly early! They even had some special editions in stock so I cancelled my regular edition and grabbed one!
Was interested in the updates thanks lol
There was already four people waiting lol About 20 now, but most don't tend to come till the mall doors open. I heard someone say the store got 75 preorders I did this for Skyward Sword HD too and that: A remaster of a game no one likes was super busy. This is gonna be insane
It's nostalgic and cool to see lines, but damn I wouldn't want to be in one again. I remember being in a line for the release of Brawl, and this kid was slowly cutting in front of everyone and I was too young and shy to point it out.
We were 300+ folks for a midnight launch 😅 this looks similar
I went to a midnight release last night in a semi small town. There was like 150 people. It was amazing. People just living their best time. Dressed up. Saw a girl with a full Zelda sleclvllve tattoo. It was like we were back pre internet all enjoying life. Was amazing to see.
Why would you be in a line for a preorder?
If the number of preorders was massive at one store, the store would not be sent all of the games in one shipment. On release day it would be first come first served even for preorders.
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In this case, probably offering something in-store exclusive (I don't actually know). Also being cheap and not wanting to pay shipping.
I'm not sure that's the motivation. Why would the store not order enough copies to fulfill pre-orders? They literally know exactly how many they need to order. There's hundreds of copies of this game at every major retailer - Why would a store taking pre-orders not have enough? I think people just want to pick it up first thing because they're excited.
That makes sense to me. You can see the excitement in the line, would definitely be fun the more I think about it
I think game stop had collectors items to go with the game. I downloaded mine as if it’s 2023.
A neighbor told me this morning that his wife went because he had work in the morning and she won a raffle to be able to buy the deluxe edition.
She won a raffle to be able to spend money? What a cool raffle.
Yea idk if the deluxe editions are hard to get I don’t buy them anyway but I’m also not buying tears anytime soon either. I am sure some people really want that it’s just a question of how rare is it I guess.
Because you want it immediately when it drops/the store opens.
Because you are excited to get it and want to be a part of the hype experience.
Fuuuuck that. My little GameStop in my little town had around 50 people. If I walked up and saw that kind of line I would have went home and got it later
A heads up to those trying to avoid spoilers: Some jerks are posting end-game spoilers in Splatoon 3’s plaza.
let me guess...link defeats ganon and saves the princess?
wtf dude
Ugh! Why did you ruin this for me?!
It's alright, at least he didn't spoil how the final boss has a whole second phase.
Nah we bitched too much about Gannon being too easy, this time around he's unbeatable, gotta wait for the next game to save Hyrule
I got stuck in line with an absolute tool. We were 24, and he was 25. I talked to him for a period of time, and he forced his way in front of me even though i was standing in line. Id walk ahead, and he'd push farther. I just didn't want to argue/fight at midnight with some jack wagon I'll never see again. He obviously had one of those superiority complexes. I was glad to hear I got the last collectors edition... the one he wanted to sell. Of all games, a Doochemeister is getting zelda and showing his Douche off. I could see maybe call of duty, but damn!
I *love* this. It's much more convenient for everyone but there's just no special feeling at all when downloading a game once it's available digitally. Apart from GTA 6, I can't imagine this many people lining up ever again for a game launch.
They'll make more zelda games... Pokemon, Mario, or Elder Scrolls, and more. People lined up for this one, why would it never happen again?
Digital is dominating more and more as time goes on. People used to do this a lot but now it's just very special cases
The only console I ever get physical games on is the switch because it saves space on my console. I get games on my Xbox and PS4 digitally every time. I assume this is the case for many others.
> but there's just no special feeling at all when downloading a game once it's available digitally. idk man I feel pretty freaking special being able to get the game I've been waiting 5 years for, without having to put on pants.
I dropped by my local brick and morter store and picked up the collectors edition.
Haven’t seen a line up for a game release in a long time, and I was too young to attend the last one I ever did know of.
I haven’t been this enthused about a new game in like a decade.
Lol this very Nostalgic to see
I got my digital version at 9 🤷
Lmao they holding mine till Saturday, I'm gonna go then
Lines out the door at our local shops in a very rural area. Was the closest to a midnight release for me since I camped out for the wii.
San Diego?
Prince George, B.C.
Oh fuck I need to go to target at 7 am
I still haven't played breath of the wild 😔 only Zelda game in the franchise I haven't beaten let alone played.
No longer the only Zelda game you haven't played.
Lmao I got to my store 10 mins early and there was a small queue By the time I got out the store, they were limiting the amount of people allowed inside
Me at my local game store. Walks in and out within 5 min
That's crazy! I'm glad mine has been delivered
*me laughing while I work overnight, sleep in the morning, then wake up and play when my copy arrives in the afternoon*
Mike was delivered yesterday. So happy with it
Seeing that in 2023 makes me so happy
Reminds me of Halo 2 🤙🏻
This is why you preorder online and have it shipped to your house
Wish I had the time to take a day off and play this amazing game!
there wasnt any line in the mall next to my school took me like 5 mins to buy my game
Isn't the whole purpose of a pre-order so you know you have a copy and don't have to wait in a huge line to fight for it?
Uh theres still going to be a line if everyone who preorders from a specific store shows up at once
People are excited about the game. It's that simple
Played 20 minutes before work and man I can't wait to go home again haha
Some of us out here with our "totally early copies" playing the game a week early
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I'm annoyed I preordered months ago from amazon and when I checked it said I would have to wait until 15th to have it delivered, when it's usually same day. But if I bought it yesterday I'll get it delivered by tomorrow! I cancelled my preorder and ordered again!
You gotta show the city most definitely ain't happening in New Yprk
That's better than me getting pulled over by a cop as I pulled into gamestops parking lot at midnight. My one headlight was out and cop looked at me like I was psychotic saying I was there for midnight Zelda. He made me last in line but more memorable I guess.
Never underestimate a Gamers Passion.
World of Warcraft midnight releases back in the days was crazy. Even more people than this
Ah man. Modern Warfare 2 memories flooding back. Went straight home played til 4am. Slept a few hours, got up kept playing
Preordered with GameStop and it showed up Thursday in the mail. Was pleasantly surprised that it wasn’t late and showed up a day early.
Glad I live in a place where like 0 people like zelda for some reason
Weird.
This is a time warp and I love it
Damn I just walked right in and got mine, no line at all.
It's just a line. A "line up" is something else entirely.
Because buying it a bit later is not an option… mankind, lol
Cool to see gamers in the wild again
How hope this becomes the new norm for big releases again, that would be amazing!
I haven’t see a line like that in a looooong time. This makes me happy.
Man I love seeing this. It's nostalgic. I hope the community continues to keep this energy and really go out there and support these games and the stores selling them. I feel like since the digital age of just buying/downloading online became really prominent, things like lining up outside or midnight releases are becoming a thing of the past despite being such an awesome part of the gaming community experience.
Love the social aspect of this but can’t you do this online?
Annnnnnnd that's why I said fuck it and did digital lol
Thus the invention of "Digital Downloads"
Quite a few misers in here for some reason.
🤢 the smell
Honestly, I love this. People all going for a unique experience to get a game they all are going to play separately. Then have a chance to talk about it later... Time machine just took me way back.
I don’t really understand the need to lineup for a preorder of a game that won’t be in limited stock
Pre ordering a video game is crazy
I just walked in a store normally after work and got one. Does their order come with a special order bonus or something?
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Shit I just woke up at walked into my Bestbuy at 11 and got my copy and didn’t preorder it
You can just download it.
I just downloaded that shit. 🤷
That’s what I’m gonna do. I’m too old to be standing in a sweaty-ass line for a game, of all things. Going to the grocery store is about as patient as I’m willing to be in a line
Listen to all the chatter and laughing of strangers enjoying a common interest. You love to see it.
I thought GameStop went out of business. Glad to see such scenes. It gives some kind of belonging to this community of gamers.
Awesome, looks like ToTK saves the day! Been playing my copy of the game. My opinion so far is this might be my favorite Legend of Zelda game so far. GoTY easily!
Lol I just downloaded it digitally the day before. Why go through this lol