G&T's GTA IV Launch Day Tales of Triumph and Tragedy

Bamelin

I figured that instead of cluttering up the main thread with funny stories of the launch people could put their tales of what happened picking up their copy here.

I went out last night with camera in hand determined to get some nice pics for the forums here at G&T and MSXBOX-WORLD. The night ended up being rather epic for me:


Bamelin's Launch Night Story


So I attended a few launch parties last night officially on behalf of MSXBOX-WORLD, unofficially to get some pics for G&T forums. I had a preorder at Futureshop but decided to swing by Best Buy first, as there was a 360 event happening. When I arrived at Best Buy I was immediately arrested by these lovely ladies:




Apparantly there had been a major heist and the entire area was cordoned off:




I was carted out to the waiting cruiser:




A reporter from Naked News as already slammed against the side of the car:




After being "frisked" by the LCPD, I was taken to an interrogation centre and waited while the guy ahead of me pleaded with the cops that he was innocent:





Lucky for me they had no proof that I had stolen anything though and had to let me go. As soon as I left Liberty City News was all over me:





I noted that LCPD was still watching us menacingly 360 controllers uncocked in their holsters:




And at this point I decided to see if I could get my copy of GTA IV at Futureshop, another downtown store holding a midnight launch party. To my dismay I was greeted by security AGAIN:




Panicking I started babbling about my media credentials, as sketchy as they are. The mob out front was not impressed thinking I was trying to skip the line :whistle:




I got lucky though, Kyle, a PR Associate from Sony heard my case and whisked me in the doors, shitty Cybershot camera and all. Very nice of him considering I work with MSXBOX-WORLD, and this was the Canadian Playstation Launch. I'll admit I did mention my active community participation here in the G&T forums 8-) Inside the store it was a bastion of peace and calm compared to the mob outside, with much swag for the taking:





Heading upstairs I took some shots of the one thing everybody was dying to get:




At 12:00 sharp the doors opened and a mob of preorder holders rushed in, ready for GTA joy:




Score!




I waited a couple minutes then integrated myself into the line, as I just so happened to also have a preorder at this location. :whistle: Thus ended one of the most interesting launch nights of my life:

DarkPrimus

A major city gets awesome release party shit like that.

The local Gamestop in the mall here had three giant TVs set up with Guitar Hero 3, Smash Brothers, and Rock Band on them.

I showed up about 9:30 PM and started playing the drums (I'm an expert-level drummer). I ended up playing for the next two and a half hours, as no one else wanted to try the drums. Finally I took a bathroom break, then got on the drums for about fifteen minutes more, and at 12:30 or so I got my copy of GTAIV, after the rest of the line had died down.

Everyone who had played Rock Band with me was fantastic.

FaceballMcDougal

I went to Fry's at lunch and an asian employee claimed he knew nothing about GTAIV or where to get it.

I was amused... it was a hell of a launch.

(also great post, Bam... good to see fun being had somewhere and by someone)

EskimoDave

I just waited in line for 90 minutes. =\

some guys have all the luck.

Dodge Aspen

Hm. I wonder what the Future Ship in my city did? I just went to the local EB at lunch to pick up my preorder. No lineups at all. I guess all the hardcore GTA homies got up for the special 6am opening this morning. No thanks. I can wait a few hours.

Hotlead Junkie

A guy got mugged and his jaw broken for the game after buying it at the games/video-store closest to me, a 5 munite walk away. I hate the assholes who live in this town.

http://www.lep.co.uk/news/Teen-has-jaw-broken-for.4029994.jp


EDIT: oh jeez, the irony of me posting this article

The first robber started punching the victim in his face.

check the sig/title/location

BlueDestiny

I just walked in around 2-ish in the afternoon today. I did one midnight launch before and the experience wasn't really worth standing around for an hour in the cold.

wakeboarderblunt

Dodge Aspen wrote: »

Hm. I wonder what the Future Ship in my city did? I just went to the local EB at lunch to pick up my preorder. No lineups at all. I guess all the hardcore GTA homies got up for the special 6am opening this morning. No thanks. I can wait a few hours.

I went to the Saskatoon Futureshop, I had preordered my two copies (one for my brother) and went in at 11:00 am this morning. There was an error with the way the teller took my preorder initially, but there were ALOT of copies around. Due to the error I got both games without tax saving me $12 and she gave me two of the pre-order hats, which I was not expecting in the first place.
So all in all, I've got my copy, and will be playing in approx 30 mins.

musanman

I went to meijer and got a copy, with a $5 coupon and another $10 off towards my next purchase. There were 3 people there and I was home by 12:15.

Gamespot can burn in hell with their preorders.

Bamelin

I bet there were some good parties in NYC, LA, etc ....

Major cities have all the fun.

Jammers

I went to my local indie store for a midnight launch. Arrived at 2355, waited in line for almost 45 mins before being served. Got the collectors edition, and started walking home.
About 10mins later (when I was just around the corner from where I live) some chav runs up behind me and punches me, knocking my glasses off. He takes the game (doesn't ask for my wallet, phone, anything like that) and runs off.
At this point I run home, wake my flatmate up and ring the police. After they come to take a statement, one of them says "I can't believe you spent 45 minutes and £68 on a video game"
I managed to buy a regular edition the next morning (without a preorder), but I've had to buy a new pair of glasses, making it one of the most expensive games I've ever bought

Bamelin

Jammers wrote: »

I went to my local indie store for a midnight launch. Arrived at 2355, waited in line for almost 45 mins before being served. Got the collectors edition, and started walking home.
About 10mins later (when I was just around the corner from where I live) some chav runs up behind me and punches me, knocking my glasses off. He takes the game (doesn't ask for my wallet, phone, anything like that) and runs off.
At this point I run home, wake my flatmate up and ring the police. After they come to take a statement, one of them says "I can't believe you spent 45 minutes and £68 on a video game"
I managed to buy a regular edition the next morning (without a preorder), but I've had to buy a new pair of glasses, making it one of the most expensive games I've ever bought

That sucks Jammers, but at least you weren't seriously hurt. I read an article about some guy in the UK that got his jaw and nose broken when they robbed him for his copy of the game while walking home.

Hell even when I was walking home I was watching my back the whole way. You can't be too careful and these midnight launches are magnets for little punks.

PikaPuff

Laaaaaaaaame.

Is it ironic that people are mugging and stealing to play this game in which you mug and steal?

Really though, it seems like the main issue is with people out and about after midnight that caused most of the trouble.

edit: My story is yesterday my brother went to best buy during lunch break and bought one of the many copies available.

phekno

I was a little afraid of some retaliation after what I pulled. I thought I had pre-ordered at the local Gamestop. The procedure there is, go in, pay, get your receipt and stand in line until they hand the games over at 12:00. I showed up at around 11:55 and was preparing to get in line when an employee explains that if I don't have a receipt then I need to go in to the store and get one. I immediately cut in line in front of probably 4-5 other people who were waiting to get their receipts (and the 150 other people who already had theirs). Nobody really said anything. I got to the cashier around 12:02 and gave him my phone number so that he could look up my pre-order. He then explained that it wasn't in their system so I must not have made one. At this point they had started handing the game out to people who had their receipts. I asked if there was any chance I could get one while I was there. He asked which platform I wanted it for and I responded that I needed the PS3 one. He reached behind the counter and handed one over. I payed for it and was one of the first people out of the store with a copy.

tl;dr....I cut in front of the line of ~150 people, without a pre-order, and they probably sold me someone else's pre-order.

Boutros

I waited in line at Gamestop for an hour, only to find that I had been in the "paid in full" line all along. So I paid up and the line was only like 5 minutes long by then, since I didn't get there until 12:30. I should have found somewhere better to go, but I didn't want to drive around a bunch and I knew for sure gamestop would be open.

It was a shorter wait than Halo 2, at least.