Wii Launch

So yes, the time came and went. GameIndustry.biz has a pretty good write up (that I've linked to above), but in short we got there at around 1030pm to be faced by a pretty long queue. There must have been around three hundred people in front of us, and suddenly we regretted not listening to Imran (the chap from Game who had called us on Saturday) when he told us to get there for sevenish. Or maybe not; the guys at the head of the queue had been there since 4pm. Pictures will be up on Picasa soon.

In hindsight, we should have really turned back then to delay buying the consoles (between us we had two on pre-order) the next morning. But we were too excited, and we figured that we'd get to the front of the line by around 1am or so. The queue was growing behind us, and as sorry as I felt for myself, I felt even more for those behind me. Still, at least the weather wasn't too bad (although I now realise how quickly the temperature drops at that time of night!).

The doors opened a half hour or so before midnight to allow those at the front of the queue to a) keep warm and b) start eating and playing. No one was allowed to actually buy (and therefore leave) till twelve, so it was only around then that the queue began to move. In the meantime, HMV down the road had no more queue - the flagship store is was big enough to contain everyone waiting, plus Game had more people in total anyway. I reckon they had around 500 units to shift.

Even so it was slow going. Those at the front were hanging around in the store, wasting time instead of leaving and allowing new customers to move in. Three of us actually considered going home; the fourth managed to convince us to stay. A good thing, since after an hour (as the food ran out and people just wanted to get home) it had begin to pick up. Staff were giving away some pretty rubbish freebies (scarves and hats), but I was pretty happy with my free Wii golf umbrella. Result! Well, kinda.

We got to the tills at around 215am. We didn't hang around, I paid for my console and waited for my friend to get his (along with a copy of Wii Play). Getting home was quick since only insane people were out at that time, and we managed to arrive by three.

Ten minutes later, we had set up and were playing two player Wii Sports Tennis. We only played for thirty minutes or so, and I was in bed by 4am, but the past four and a half hours of hassle had suddenly been totally forgotten.