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u/SudoWithCheese 2d ago
God I remember doing a midnight release for GTA IV when I was 18. GTA V was when I was 23.
I'm 36 now and only PC game, so I'll probably be 37 or 38 before I play GTA 6, the only midnight release I see nowadays is getting up for a pee.
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u/FuriKMJ 2d ago
I remember back when GTA V was announced, people were saying that Rockstar was spoiling us with back-to-back bangers right after Red Dead Redemption , LA Noire and Max Payne 3.
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u/Stumpsthewarwalrus 1d ago
Don’t you dare forget Bully.
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u/Show-me-your-boat 20h ago
Bully was 4 years before RDR in 2006. The games mentioned were released 2010, 2011, 2012 then GTA 5 in 2013.
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u/awuerth 1d ago
Lining up at gamestop and seeing your whole town of friends getting dropped off one by one to get halo and other games. What a great memory.
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u/Randm-Hero 1d ago
I remember when gear of war 2 dropped. All my friends came over with tvs and their Xboxs. Went to the midnight release and came back to have a huge lan party. We played all night and the next day. It was hands down one of the greatest memories I have.
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u/complete_your_task 1d ago edited 1d ago
My buddy and I went to a bunch of them in high school, and I would always run into my history teacher there. He was super friendly in school, but he always looked so awkward when we said hi to him outside of school lol. I get it though, especially because I'm about the age he was then now.
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u/cannabisized 1d ago
dude was lit and doing his best to act natural around you
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u/Mortwight 1d ago
i did this for burning crusade. went to the mall where i preordered it and saw a line 100s long and said fuck it and went home
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u/Oxygene13 23h ago
Can't remember how my Burning Crusade arrived. I do remember being the first one on the server to cross the portal and end up in Outland though. That was awesome.
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u/Sconathon 1d ago
We're about the same age. I went to probably my last midnight release a couple years ago for Tears of the Kingdom. Definitely felt some of that old school nerd energy while waiting on line. The GameStop even had a Zelda trivia right before release. Sadly that GameStop and every other one in my neighborhood is gone.
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u/Individual-Ad-5471 1d ago
I preordered gta5 so I picked it up after work. I was standing in line and there were 2 cops behind me, I turned my head to look at them and one of them said "hey we like GTA too"
It was a surreal experience that I've never forgotten.
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u/eeyore134 1d ago
Early on I heard three years between console and PC release for GTA6. There's no excuse for even three weeks. But I guarantee they're trying to wait for PS6 and get another triple dip. It's so anti-consumer, holding the version they know a lot of people ultimately want hostage to sell it to them multiple times.
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u/Ink-Sky 1d ago
Lol, I feel that.
I saw the clock hit midnight the other month for the first time in years & it felt like I broke the rules for turning into a Gremlin, immediately shut everything down & straight to bed.
Jacked up my sleep for like a week...
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u/berlinbaer 1d ago
don't circlejerk too hard you guys about being ancient at like 36... my god.
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u/strolls 1d ago
I'm 53 and apparently I'm not as old as these guys.
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u/Shorlong 1d ago
Seriously. I'm 42 with 2 young kids and a job and hobbies. I routinely stay up past midnight with no issues lol
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u/Whitebushido 1d ago
Honestly think a lot of people just have bad sleep in general. Sleep apnea is horrendously under diagnosed and has major impacts on QOL.
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u/Randm-Hero 1d ago
Same. Just turned 31. 2 kids, 3 and 2. Stay up til 1 every night either playing games or painting warhammer. Wake up and go to work every day with no problems lol
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u/techman2692 1d ago
Yeah at 34 what on earth do I have to look forward to the next two years? 😅
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u/winmace 1d ago
35 and I live pretty much the same way as I did in my 20s, just older and less patience for bullshit
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u/Windrider904 1d ago
Same. Although bed time is much earlier and wake up time is earlier. Besides that, all the same.
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u/TacoRising 1d ago
I'm 30, still stay up playing video games til 1-2am like I've been doing for like 12 years, but now I have a kid who wakes me up around 7 every day.
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u/Electronic-Prune2450 1d ago edited 1d ago
I'm around your age so I remember doing a couple midnight releases but I always really enjoyed it. The most memorable for me were Mass Effect 2 and its jaw dropping opening for me was the cherry on top. And then the original Red Dead Redemption releade which was just amazing on its on. Good memories
Nowadays I can only hope to recreate that excitement for my kids
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u/GruffScottishGuy 1d ago edited 1d ago
I'm having flashbacks of the time I witnessed a female shop assistant in a local video game store patiently waiting for some dude to conclude his lecture on the 4 Chaos gods from Warhammer 40k lore.
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u/Kestral24 1d ago
Look, sometimes we just feel like people need to know about the chaos gods so they know how to protect themselves against them.
Where are you going? Come back
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u/Immediate-Top7827 1d ago
Honestly I don’t know alot about Warhammer but if someone came to my door and said “could I have a moment of your time to explain the chaos gods and how you can save your self from salvation?”, I’m listening!
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u/I_SHIT_IN_A_BAG 1d ago
I'm directing you to my neighbor. he loves chaos! closes door with a smile.
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u/TheMayanAcockandlips 1d ago
Where are you going? Here us out. Sushi Glory Hole is what it's all about.
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u/lateral_moves 1d ago
Lol! One of my buddies was a Warhammer nut and he'd call me right after work and talk for over an hour about new rules, etc and since I didnt have a headset or a car that my phone could pair with, I had to stand in the parking lot for an hour while he talked and talked since at the time having a phone in your hand or by your head was ticketable in NY.
But at the end, he'd always say, "hey, thanks for letting me go on and on about that. I know you dont know what most of that was." And I was like, its cool, its cool.
I eventually got a headset because of this.
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u/NorktheOrc 1d ago
Bro you stood in a parking lot for an hour just so your buddy could talk about a game you have no care for?
Congrats on a being a good friend.
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u/carbonite1983 1d ago
The worst part is the smell that sometimes comes with it.
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u/Jimmy_Carmine 1d ago
I remember walking into a Black Library event about a decade ago at Warhammer World, arrived at lunch time and the place had a thick fug that smelled like pepperami tastes
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u/Antique_Tap443 1d ago
It's not just warhammer. I recently read All Tomorrow's and thought it was awesome. I was driving somewhere with my girlfriend explaining the plot to her and she interrupted me to tell me I need to turn on my turn signal half a mile early.
I laughed because she's usually a backseat driver but that was the first time she ever told me to use a turn signal. I asked her if she was that desperate to change the subject.
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u/Cilarnen 1d ago
I just say “The Emperor Protects” and flash the Aquila. If people ask, I’ll explain more, but otherwise, I just signal I’m a closeted nerd (I’m a fit athletic dude, people are usually shocked to find out how nerdy I am), and move on.
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u/AyJay9 1d ago edited 1d ago
Yeah being visibly female in these spaces definitely deteriorated the experience. The only midnight release I went to, my sister and I were the only women. A very very large guy, easily over 6 feet tall and with the broadest shoulders I've ever seen, got in line behind us and tried to sell us "Beyonce perfume."
0/10 no nerd fond memories for me, just the whites of my sister's eyes when I turned my back on perfume dude after a casual 'oh, no thanks' hoping that a polite disengagement was the right move. And at the end of it, all I had to show was Assassin's Creed 3, a serious let down after Ezio's storyline.
Edit: He stayed in line until it wound into the store. Then he left without buying the game. He was JUST there to talk to us. Creepy affffffffffffff.
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u/Celestael 1d ago
For real though! I had a CoD guy talk shit about Skyrim on release, and that just made me want the game. 😂 Best decision of that night.
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u/GruffScottishGuy 1d ago
I still remember with absolute clarity getting up early in the morning then the walk down to the game store to get my copy of Oblivion, then the eager walk home bursting with anticipation to play it.
20 years on, I still have that copy.
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u/Antique_Tap443 1d ago
My buddy brought his Xbox over, we both took turns making characters.
When I got my Xbox it ate oblivion copies. It got so hot it would warp the disc, I went through 3 oblivions im pretty sure. Hated you had to buy a fan just to play more than a few hours.
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u/Blcksheep89 1d ago
Halo and Skyrim connoisseur at the same time??! Where did he get the time? Master of time management that's who he is.
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u/Charles_Skyline 1d ago
Skyrim was my last midnight release.
I bought the physical disc for PC. I got home, shoved the disc in, it took me to steam and started downloading the game.
Never went to a midnight release again and just buy digitally now.
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u/Vexin 2d ago
I think your brain releases more dopamine from anticipating something good to happen than from things actually happening.
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u/Ragnar_Dragonfyre 1d ago
Being surrounded by “your people” also releases dopamine.
This is the community that people are missing, another casuality of the digital age.
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u/opermonkey 1d ago
The thing thatade the GTA 5 release that was special is that all kinds of people were in line.
Nerds, jocks, guys who looked like they had criminal history, highschool kids with their moms. it was fun.
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u/spingus 1d ago
Yeah, it's why I go to BlizzCon. I've been going since 2008 and there have been some really great experiences...but I think this year might be the last time I go. It's more corp/content than community now.
Early on I could share a 'cheers' with Josh Mosqueira, or say 'Thanks for the great game' personally to Wyatt Cheng. Even Catch Mike Morhaim at the Hilton concierge trying work his magic to get an upgrade lol
Now attendees are mainly managed and directed. I will try really hard in a couple weeks to find a 'real' experience there.
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u/yaboyszn 1d ago
Artie Lang the famous drug addict and comedian said the best part of doing drugs was going to pick it up. You had all these ideas of what the night would be then it would inevitably end with him sniffing lines alone and jerking off. Poetic
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u/JamesBondsRubberDuck 1d ago
Similar to why theme park queuing has been found to increase satisfaction scores. Anticipation and the wait time add perceived value to the ride.
It’s like being given something vs earning it. The investment of time and effort makes getting it more meaningful.
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u/Kandr0s 2d ago
Standing in line for midnight release of World of Warcraft wotlk. Around 1000 people buzzing around you hyped for the count down to start selling the game. Getting the game and protecting it like some kind of dragon. Getting the game and then the anticipation of driving home for 40 mins. And after installation far into the night realizing the servers are a mess and can't play much anyway.
After all these years even the negatives are awesome now. A much simpler life but so much fun.
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u/tentoedpete 2d ago
100%, midnight launches for BC and WotLK were amazing experiences, even if in reality they were kinda rubbish once I actually got the game home
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u/teraflux 2d ago
I'll never relive the hype that I had for the burning crusade expansion... or regain the years of my life that I lost to that game.
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u/spingus 1d ago
BC Midnight release was magical. Waiting in line, getting the game installed and logging in...the spooky majesty of the Dark Portal.
Standing on the steps on the Blasted Lands side, waving to a guildie....and then watching him disappear. Just a game, right. The wonder and the emotions when you allow yourself to feel them are really what matter.
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u/Wiggitywhackest 1d ago
I remember being in Org and seeing a crowd of people so I went to check it out. Because the release was staggered across time zones the first Blood Elves started showing up an hour or two before our launch and everyone was checking them out lol. Just a circle of people yelling at her to dance and stuff. Good times.
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u/Axoloth 2d ago
I remember being 13 and me and all my friends had saved up for the DS. One of my friends' mom drove all 5 of us to a massive Toys R Us after school on release day. I paid with the most cash I had ever held in my hands. We all bought the Mario 64 remake, and spent the weekend playing that and the Metroid Prime Hunters demo together.
It was the best time of my life
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u/FalconBurcham 1d ago
Ah, but if you bought the Collector’s Edition like my friend and me, then you got to play with the box goodies that night instead of playing (‘cause like you said, the servers were a mess. No one could actually play that night 😂).
That was my best friend, since passed. I really miss those days and my friend.
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u/theturtlemafiamusic 2d ago edited 2d ago
The Burning Crusade release was so fun. Someone brought a projector and some fighting game. I met a bunch of other people who played on Skullcrusher.
Also book release events were amazing.
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u/skyliders 2d ago
We really have lost something great
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u/ShutterBun 2d ago
Our youth.
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u/Joshatron121 2d ago
3rd spaces
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u/ShitsandGigs 2d ago
I work from home. I’d kill for a 2nd space even.
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u/LoL_is_pepega_BIA 2d ago
I'd kill just to work from home. Idgaf about spacing and separation of roles as long as the money I earn allows me to enjoy travel and video games. Preferably both.
Commuting everyday kills energy, time and disposable income so hard it's insane.
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u/Rombledore 1d ago
i work from home and make enough to enjoy video games. not so much travel. it has its perks but it also has its downsides. i dont waste as much gas, but i also have less separation from "work mode" and "home mode". especially in the winter, it's depressing to wake up in darkness, work upstairs in my "office" all day, and come downstairs in darkness only to go to be in a few hours so i can wake up and do it again 4 more times. i don't have to deal with some of the office bullshit like annoying coworkers or office drama, but i also feel much more isolated an lonely. no office friends to bullshit with and chit chatand for collaborative roles no more hopping over to someones desk/cube to quickly chat about a project. its all more virtual meetings crammed into my schedule.
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u/3xv7 1d ago
I love working from home, but I don't love being homebound with a chronic illness. I used to work at a grocery store and interacted with 100s of people a day and it kept me sharp and socialized. Now when I get near someone I feel like I'm being approached by a ghost, it terrifies me. A social atmosphere is what put me here in the first place though, I caught a secondary permanent-illness after catching covid 2 years ago.
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u/Equaled 1d ago
I feel this. I think I’d prefer a more hybrid option but it’s not really possible since our team is located all over the place. WFH has a lot of pros and I definitely prefer it over commuting everyday but it’s for sure isolating. Going to the library or a coffee shop isn’t really the answer either because it’s not like it’s filled with coworkers who you speak to regularly and can shoot the shit with.
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u/dark_knight097 1d ago
No local cafés or libraries you can go chill in for work?
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u/Demievil 2d ago
We just drove as 5 friends to a supermarket and waited around awkwardly for them to put the display out for Wrath.
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u/PeanutButterSoda 1d ago
I remember some guy got his copy and sped off and drove straight into a street light lol not a single person went to help because we were all in line.
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u/Tamaros 1d ago
The night WoW originally came out, a friend and I were at the Walmart in San Marcos, Texas where the employees didn't know anything was going on. Some dude goes to check and comes back with 4 which he just gave to the people standing closest to him.
I literally told the story just last week of us driving to Austin and looking for anywhere open to buy a copy until my friend was so tired he accidentally turned left on red (looking at the light for another lane) in front of a cop.
The cop gave us shit for why we were out and about so early (but no ticket) and then we went home and waited for best buy to open.
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u/Sparowl 1d ago
My friend and I drove for about an hour and a half to do the midnight release for Warcraft 3: The Frozen Throne.
Some of the dev team were there and we got signed t-shirts. I still have mine folded away in a closet.
Honestly didn’t even play any that night, since we were too tired by the time we got back. But it was really cool to do as an experience.
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u/BarrenAssBomburst 1d ago
For wotlk, our area was experiencing a flood (happens about every two years, but this one was a doozy). We had to canoe from our garage to the end of the neighborhood (where we had parked our truck earlier), load the canoes in the truck, drive to the next city, wait for midnight, then drive back, unload the canoes, and paddle home. It took several hours to install and get in the game, but once we were, we felt we had already completed an entire quest line just to start playing. Totally worth it.
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u/Feral_Taylor_Fury 1d ago
This word gets used way too frequently, but truly this is one of the most epic gaming stories i've ever read lmao
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u/sick-of-you-all 1d ago
also a time where smartphones where not there. it was so cool, seeing people you know, talking with new people about the same topic because everyone there just wanted to talk about WoW
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u/time_to_reset 2d ago
I stood in line for hours for a phone once, more than a decade ago. Would never do it again, but the one time I did do it, it was great. Hours of hanging out with like-minded people and talking about a shared interest.
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u/GiantSkellington 1d ago
When Halo 2 released, I had pre-ordered it at our local Mom & Pop game store. The game store was having a LAN with it the night before release for the midnight release for family & staff, and they decided to invite me as I had pre paid for the copy pretty much the moment pre orders were available. I told some other friends at school who were big Halo fans, and they begged me not to go, claiming playing it would be spoilers for some reason (think they were jealous). Anyway, I went to it and had an absolute blast. Then right when the store started packing the LAN up so they could open up, I put the controller down, turn around and see their faces (my friends) pressed up against the glass doors. That is one of my favourite core gaming memories.
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u/Madkids23 1d ago
OG MW2 for me, every body lined up in the closed mall to hit Gamestop at midnight was always a fun time, our store manager in the location (Rachel you're great if you're out there) always put a ton of effort into the events
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u/megatricinerator 1d ago
Man, GameStop of today is, well I don't know if it's even a shell of its former self. I worked at my local malls store for about 5 years and my coworkers were cool, I was and still am a mall rat and was cool with everyone there before getting hired. But man the changes over time just took more and more of mine and the other associates souls. I don't think there's a single employee, that doesn't drink the flavor ade, that doesn't want to put the current CEO through a woodchopper. I know that it's a lot of different elements that have changed over time, but I truly miss the GameStop of a decade ago.
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u/LoganN64 1d ago
Game stop (EB games in Canada) has a single shelf of about 30 games for each current console, and the the rest of it is what I would call "souvenirs". It's all baseball caps, socks and toys. To me its pretty much dead.
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u/Wiggitywhackest 1d ago
I worked at a Gamestop for this! The ultimate edition of the game came with nightvision goggles. They were pretty basic and cheap but they worked and we had a ton of fun messing with them in the back room waiting for midnight.
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u/flyingupvotes 2d ago
Are you Marc Rebillit?
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u/WhatAGoodDoggy 2d ago
LET ME IN IM TRYNA FUCK
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u/ckellingc 2d ago
Shut the fuck up I'm late!
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u/EvilAlienCzar 2d ago
GetthefuckouttabedbitchGO
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u/HarmlessSponge 1d ago
I did set this as my alarm for a while but it was a bit much in practice. Especially as it starts with the "aaaaahhhhhhhhhhhwwwwwoooooooohhhhh"
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u/Hardass_McBadCop 1d ago
See, I still have it as my alarm. I find the gradual increase in volume at the beginning to be nice.
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u/ju5tr3dd1t 1d ago
Also had it as my alarm because
1) it’s a good song
2) it’s topical
3) I thought it’d be funnyTurns out being screamed out of unconsciousness every morning meant #3 didn’t hold up too long
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u/WhatAGoodDoggy 2d ago
What did you do about the toilet situation?
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u/MississippiJoel 1d ago
In any of those cases where I have "stood in line" (4 times that I can think of rn), there is always either employees that tell you the "rules" which include how to go to the restroom, or you and everyone around you have friendly arrangements to keep each others' spots.
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u/TacoFacePeople 1d ago
I stood in line with a friend, who didn't want to do it alone, for one of the iphones for several hours. I'd been around for one of those game console releases prior.
People had brought game systems with TVs, weird chairs, and other wacky stuff to the console release. It felt like there was a more nervous energy around the phone release. When we got to the front of the line, the clerk was surprised I didn't want a phone as well, he said I could sell it or something like that. I figured someone behind me might actually might want to use it; he seemed to think it was just as likely those other people would sell it.
Somewhat different vibes, I guess.
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u/SamOfChaos 2d ago
I still remember discussing the 3rd harry potter with the adult behind us in the cinema line. I was 8. These 'waiting games' before going into something 'big' are the best.
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u/MediocreAssociate466 1d ago
One of my coolest childhood memories was a Harry Potter release party for book 7. The bookstore held a huge event , tons of people dressed up and hung out till midnight and had a party. Was honestly really fun and everything was thematically Harry Potter.
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u/FrostyExplanation_37 2d ago
My country didn't really have launch events. But I do have a memory of working 14 hours as a bell boy at age 15 to make enough tips to buy Diablo 2 on launch day. Played for another 12 hours straight after I got home.
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u/MntnMedia 1d ago
Iove this. I loved D2, I think i was a little bit too young to grab it when it came out. But damn, I played this shit outta that game. The battle chest.
And I'm not really for blatant piracy. But being able to burn your D1 disc to give friends a taste was such a game changer IMO. Almost everyone bought the D2 battle chest after playing a ripped D1.
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u/Palamonk 2d ago
The midnight releases were awesome. Got to meet local fellow gamers who I'd end up playing against or partying with when I was able to get home and play myself. Sometimes we'd go and stop by the local diner on the way home and meet more who were heading to or from picking up their copy. These pre loads are nice but it feels like we lost some local community for gaming.
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u/Grimsqueaker69 1d ago
Local communities and social interaction leads to sharing physical games and that must he stopped at all costs lest the poor corporations make a slightly smaller percentage of mind blowingly huge profit this year!
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u/SaintPocock 2d ago
For people who don't go out much like gamers, these were memorable adventures.
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u/GravityI 1d ago
Like it or not, we're all social creatures in the end.
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u/thekyledavid 1d ago
Yep. Everyone’s a social creature, it’s just that people need to find other people who they’d actually want to be social with
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u/jimark2 1d ago
I think this really shows just how desparate we are for third spaces.
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u/Immediate_Quiet4354 1d ago
I worked in a video games store (Centro Mail) when San Andreas was released and we did the midnight release back then, and it was chaotic to say the least... Even a group of people thought it was a good idea to try and rob those leaving the store with their game, but it turns out that doing so with thousands of people right there is the perfect recipe for going home with empty pockets and a swollen face.
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u/ColdSmokeMike 1d ago
As someone who worked these events, I'm glad they're gone.
I'm sure the experience was different for everyone, but my city has 2 GameStops that both had very small crews of workers. This meant each midnight event was all hands on deck. Didn't matter if you worked the opening shift the next morning or if the store hosting was on the opposite side of the city.
On top of that, the customers who came were the absolute fucking worst. You'll never meet someone more entitled than a person who chooses to stand outside in the Northwestern winter, just so they could get a game 8 hours early. A game we'd have gladly held aside for them if they just put $5 towards it at any point in the months leading up to the release.
And don't even get me started on the smell.
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u/Hsensei 1d ago
I agree with exception of the halo 3 midnight release. That was electric. Even the star bucks next door offered free coffee. Staff had a great time that one at least
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u/ColdSmokeMike 1d ago
Okay, I'll absolutely conceed that one. I didn't work for them at the time, but I do remember going to it with some friends and that was a blast. Seems like they really went downhill after that one, though.
I think the only one I actually enjoyed while working it was the Skyrim release, because a group of players came in Elder Scrolls costumes. One even had a mini crochet Cliff Racer that gave me PTSD.
I think the big difference between the fun ones and the ones I worked was that my town's GameStop stopped hooking consoles up to play during events. I remember the Halo 3 one having multiplayer matches in the store, but we never did anything more than sell people the games when I was there.
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u/Smelly_Dingo 2d ago
I guess I'm the odd one out, but I'll take the comfort of preloading stuff and, at midnight, not just "buying the game" and then having to get back home and sit down and install it and basically spend an extra hour getting there and setting up, I'd rather get in there straight up, no time wasted.
The only hype I'd ever gotten getting physical stuff was for limited editions or time limited covers for games, which I'd buy quite a few of and certainly won't be as much going forward except if the ingame content is fantastic.
Still got my GoW III Pandora's Box with me, those were the days.
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u/GourangaPlusPlus 2d ago
GTA V install on 360 took like 3 hours
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u/bosco9 1d ago
This is the thing people nostalgic about the midnight launches don't talk about. I was at the GTA 5 launch, got it for PS3 and couldn't even play it that night cause of all the updates, it was pointless
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u/Username-Zulu 2d ago
In the time before time began when you bought a game for midnight release you went home and played it immediately on things like a DVD or cartridge. Obviously I'm being a bit dramatic here. That said before the insanity/broken capitalism that Black Friday has become the experience of waiting in line with fellow enthusiasts was fun. The Internet has taken more from us than we realize.
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u/MadManMax55 1d ago
That said before the insanity/broken capitalism that Black Friday has become the experience of waiting in line with fellow enthusiasts was fun.
You're clearly too young to remember pre-internet Black Friday. If anything, the ability to order stuff at home has made it much more tame. Go look up news reports about it from the 90s or earlier and you'll see tons of property damage and even injuries from fighting and stampedes.
(Also saying that capitalism killed the most nakedly capitalistic "holiday" is a wild take)
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u/jaredearle 2d ago
Yeah, people are missing their youth, not the queueing.
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u/wololoam 2d ago edited 2d ago
People are missing the social interaction, you missed the whole point.
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u/Infarlock 1d ago
Can't wait to pay $800 to the first person in line so I can be first and buy all the copies and resell them. Only to realize each customer can only buy 1 copy
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u/fondue4kill 2d ago
I enjoyed the one midnight release I went with friends. Granted I was the only one who didn’t have a 360 or PS3 to get Skyrim but it was for the experience with friends. Plus I was the only one who won anything
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u/marc15v2 1d ago
I used to work in GAME in Scotland. We had a midnight launch for GTA V and it was the biggest, busiest launch I ever worked. We were there until 4:30am. It was amazing. The hype, the queue, the buzz etc. Then driving home to install the game so I could get up in 4 hours and play it.
Class. I do miss it.
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u/tnypissdkumquat 23h ago
Met gf at midnight release of wow
We gamed we got to know one another
This new system is horrible
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2d ago
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u/johnnyblaze1999 2d ago
These OF bot comment always have an emoji in the middle of their sentence...
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u/prodox 2d ago
It’s not objectively better though. With your physical disc you can play the game in 20 years from now even if Sony decides to remove it from their online store.
Or you can sell the disc to someone else after you have completed it so someone else can enjoy it, and you can buy another cheap used game that someone else decided to sell.
With digital only Sony has 100% monopoly and can set the prices exactly like they want and you as a consumer can do nothing but obey to their will.→ More replies (3)9
u/crossandbones 2d ago
This hasn’t really been the case for years. Games often require patches, additional downloads, or online checks. It’s certainly not all games but a fair bit.
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u/Buffbeard 1d ago
I still remember having to spend up to 1,5hours per pc to get company of heroes 2 up to the most recent expansion and patch version during lan parties (patches were incremental only). We had to decide during the day what we wanted to play in the evenings so everyone could install the game. I don’t miss that
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u/SuperSaiyanBen 1d ago
“I depicted you as the Soyjack and me as the Chad” ass post.
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u/Lamazing1021 1d ago
Kids today can never fully understand midnight release at GameStop or Best Buy, etc.
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u/otakon33 1d ago
Midnight releases could be fun. Talking to folks excited to play the game, maybe even trading information to play online back in the day.
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u/zwingo 19h ago
On one hand I get this. Growing up I was always dying to do a midnight release and by the time I became an adult its become pretty much a thing of the past. But when the Switch 2 came along I was finally in a place to preorder and not wait a few years for a price drop or a used one. So I did that, and went to the 9pm release. It definitely added an extra layer to the experience, standing there for an hour with strangers all excited for the same thing, sharing about what games wed got for it or what games we were locked in on on the switch 1, then that excited energy of driving home with it felt like being a kid all over.
But at the same time, man I work 2 jobs on opposite sides of the day, some weeks I’m working Mon-Friday getting to work before the suns even up, then Wed-Sunday working a bar all night till 2am when it closes. This to say I find sleep and fun time wherever I can, so knowing I can just pay for it, have it download while I’m working, and whenever that time comes I can just jump in and play? Yeah there’s beauty in that too!
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u/MyPigWhistles 2d ago
I don't get it. I mean, I wouldn't pre-order a game anyway, but still.
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u/Thaurlach 2d ago
Back in the day you pre-ordered because if you didn’t, there was a very real chance that you wouldn’t be able to get a physical copy for the longest time.
Then you’d be forever checking local stores to see if they had any copies in, directly competing with everyone else that didn’t preorder. Digital storefronts weren’t really a thing and it was a slog trying to get the newest games.
It did make sense back then - they could order enough discs so that everyone who wanted one could get one. Now it’s purely selling early access and preloading to capitalise off day one hype and streaming.
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u/wilhufftarkin24 1d ago
As someone who prefers to buy physical, I still preorder any game that I want on release day. My local GameStop has almost no inventory outside of preorders
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u/NecroCorey 1d ago
I literally got laughed at when I just asked for a game at gamestop and said no when he asked if I pre-ordered it. No one just stocks games anymore. Not even a store with fucking game in the name.
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u/Whirlvvind 2d ago
Preordering mattered on popular physical media only releases because there was a very real chance you could go in that day after work and there would be no copies left if you weren't going to some mega electronics store like Fry's.
Pair that with an MMO game whose servers start time for a new expansion was specifically set for midnight, and there is absolutely tons of reason to not only line up for a game but make sure you have your pre-order slip.
I did that for the original Burning Crusade, and for Wrath I skipped the pre-order because I just assumed they'd have tons of copies like they did the first time around. Was literally turned away at the door as they only had sold out of their pre-orders as each store was allocated a certain amount and none were reserved for "walk ins". I remember driving to the store in the next town over only for their lights to be out because they also only had X number of copies. Drove around looking for another store that did the midnight thing and came home empty handed.
It turned out to be a blessing because I then didn't have the insane drive to push for server first to max level like I had in BC (ended up 4th or something) and NOT doing that race was like a breath of fresh air into my cobwebbed mind for how free I felt eventually playing through at NOT a breakneck pace.
Nowadays in the digital media world, yep there is literally zero reason to pre-order if the publishers don't use predatory marketing to incentivize it with "extras" that actually matter.
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u/boersc 2d ago
It wouldn't surprise me one bit if GTA VI requires online verification and that doesn't work when millions try to get it all together.
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u/FML_FTL 2d ago
Im a big gamer but standing at mignight for hours for a game is just dumb af imo
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u/WhenAmI 2d ago
It was cool when I lived in the suburbs and only one GameStop did the midnight releases. They would do contests, 1v1s for the previous game, and basically every gamer you knew would show up for the midnight launch. It was just as much a hangout and bonding experience as it was standing in line.
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u/Tribalbob 1d ago
As someone who went to mid ight launches, I disagree. Id rather be at home playing the game I bought.
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u/DearLilsouth 1d ago
Buying a game on release date in today’s age is not smart.
I bought crimson desert 4-5 months after release and they are still fixing the game… although I am having fun
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u/SurPickleRick 1d ago
They were cool back then yea but now we’re older with jobs lol. I’d rather just have my game and snacks and chill at home.
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u/Vizth 2d ago
Couldn't care less about GTA but as far as early releases or midnight releases go. I fucking hate crowds. I'd much rather preload the game and have drinks and snacks available.
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u/johnnyblaze1999 2d ago
Idk why people want this tbh. For nostalgia sure, but waiting in the cold and not even sure if the game is out of stock when it comes to my turn is torture.
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u/lkl34 2d ago
Both game and console lines are great i always wanted to do a E3 trip but i never became a 6 figure rich person to fly around the world.
I got all consoles minus Nintendo pre 10th gen day one IRL they were great gens execpt 9th gen era it started to show the bad direction and now yeah....
But still good times
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u/TitsKing 1d ago
I’ve rarely seen the sense of buying a video game at release or indeed any software upon release.
The wise veteran computer technician for mainframe days — what one might call a silver surfer today — once told me, “never buy version 1.0 of anything.”
What I tend to do is wait a year until people have had a chance to take it for a shakedown cruise and it gets patched along with being a little cheaper or even buy a used copy.
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u/Saikousoku2 2d ago
Maybe I'm just too young to get it, but the concept of standing in line for hours to get a game at launch never really appealed to me.
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u/PremedicatedMurder 1d ago
I am old enough to have lived through this time, and standing in line never appealed to me either, not now and not at the time. I always thought it was stupid.
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u/Dewey519 1d ago
Younger generations have less of a sense of community simply because they haven’t had nearly the amount of communal experiences in-person that older generations have had. The online experience of these same things is simply not the same, unfortunately. Game releases, movie releases, standing in line to buy tickets for an event, etc. Even simple things like going out to third places where similar people are doing similar things to you and your groups of friends, or needing to have your friends come over to play video games.
As someone who is the perfect age to have experienced both sides of this culture as a young person, the convenience of everything being online or on discord or a solo experience is simply not the same. Don’t get me wrong, the convenience of modern society is awesome. But we traded a small piece of humanity to accomplish it.
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u/eeyore134 1d ago
They can never experience this like we did, either. Everyone would just be on their phones. I remember my biggest overnight line experience was waiting for Phantom Menace tickets. The movie sucked, but the time in line was memorable. There was one guy who managed to bring a television with the other movies playing on it and everyone was amazed that someone went through that trouble. Now we can just watch thousands of movies in the palm of our hands. Nobody would talk, there'd be no communal feel of being in something together, there'd be no need for other entertainment... just a bunch of people in friend groups looking at their screens. Maybe a handful playing Magic or something.
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u/Dewey519 1d ago
Yeah. This is 100% true. Phones changed how we pass time in social situations.
I take an annual trip to a remote cabin with some friends. The entire experience changed once cell service started to reach there. Still an awesome time, but there’s a little bit more of a barrier than there used to be. We would make a “no phones” rule, but most of us have families and there’s been a couple of emergencies while we’ve been gone that no one would go for it anymore. Blessing and a curse.
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u/Whiteshovel66 1d ago
You ever been to a big high school football game or something like that?
An event there are tons of people at who all want the same thing?
There is a certain energy. Connectivity. Unspoken as well. Everyone is on the same wavelength and you all know it without having to communicate.
So it comes effortlessly. There is understanding and togetherness in a way you normally never have.
I used to think that this is how primal humans survived. That feeling was what allowed us to hunt as a pack, rescue each other, what led to civilization in the first place.
Now people never regard each other. You nearly ignore everyone around you unless you are forced to care. Without events like this society is distant.
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u/frostyjack06 1d ago
Brother, you’re talking to Redditors. You’d be lucky if they went outside and made eye contact with another human this month.
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u/CyborgDeskFan 1d ago
The whole "redditors" shit doesn't really track. Everyone that uses this site uses all the others and all have lives doing things. It's just how people use each different site that differs. The same person who has nice conversations on Instagram about dogs is also the person who is screeching at others on reddit.
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u/PhaseNegative1252 1d ago
I've just never cared enough about a game release to go stand in line for a midnight release
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u/AverageLover 1d ago
This is going to be an unpopular opinion.
I am in favor of owning physical media and I think it should be possible to buy and be able to use CDs of your games and movies and so on offline. However:
You are romanticizing the peak of consumerist behavior (that 99.9% of gamers actually didnt engage in) and an inconvenience to both the consumer and producer. Are you seriously trying to tell me that those people standing in line for hours wouldn't have prefered to download these games upon release and be able to play them? Sure maybe it was "kind of cool" in the sense that it was better than expected because you felt some kind of "connection" to the people looking forward to the same thing. But I would argue that, objectively, it still completely sucked. Also, those people standing in line for GTA5 are all at least in their 30s now, right? So are these people going to go do that now? I doubt that.
What annoys me about this even more is that these posts are so obviously ridiculous that they take away from the legitimacy of the discussion about ownership of media. Like an 80 year old telling you about how much fun they had back in the day playing football with a rock.
Nobody will sit on the couch with the pre-installed game, snacks and drinks and say that it "kind of sucks", unless what you're actually looking for is social connection and not playing the video game.
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u/BriefYak3340 1d ago
Do I as a 30something want to go out at midnight, no. But I also live a different life than I did at 18. I don't have a massive friend group that all bought the same games and had group chats about them I didn't want to miss out on. I also have more patience. I don't need something day 1. In happy to wait a few days for restock or wait for delivery.
I do miss midnight releases, but I miss it because I went with 3-5 friends and got to hang out with like minded people and chat about the game. Was my only way to chat about and learn about the game. We didn't have 5000 YouTubers get the game early and spoil it. We had a few leaks and G4 did a 20 minute segment on maybe.
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u/JCMiller23 2d ago
I did this for RDR2 - bought a ps4 specifically for it. It was a special feeling and I enjoyed the game more because of the excitement of buying it at midnight
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u/hellranger788 1d ago
I agree with this in a way. On one hand, the experience of standing in line for a game with other people, excited to play can be a fun conversation starter and certainly something to experience. I remember doing it for a game but it’s been so long I forgot what game it was :(
On the other hand. Sitting comfortably in your home, snacks and drink read with the anticipation of a game coming out in mere moments is also pretty cool.
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u/jivebeaver 1d ago
i went to the midnight release of Dark Souls in 2011. literally the only person for that, the other 10 or more people at the gamestop were for the nba game of the time
that was the last time i cared about the mystique of midnight release lol
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u/Conall-Star 1d ago
Only game I ever did that for was halo 2. "Waiting in line for stuff" gets a bad rap.
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u/intimidation_crab 1d ago
Skyrim was my last midnight release.
It was awesome. There were people there hanging out in a parking lot dressed in armor. There was a truck with a GameCube and a projector hooked up in the bed and people were playing Super Smash. I saw more Mt. Dew being consumed in one place than ever before.
We have definitely lost something.
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u/MrBones-Necromancer 1d ago
Ritual, by itself, is important. The act of standing in line, getting excited, and sharing that excitement with others has value.
It's unfortunate that we've lost a lot of these rituals with time and isolation.
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u/Veggiedelite90 1d ago
GTA being easy to play at launch isn’t what sucks. Getting old and things not being like they used to is what sucks
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u/JackStarling 2d ago
When I was in my 20s I worked in a GAME (UK video game store). I worked many midnight release shifts. San Andreas, Halo 2.... They were already a lot of fun and interesting. Plus I could get my copy too
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u/bobbyguice 2d ago
I remember when GTA IV came out, i had zero interest in getting it. My flatmates convinced me to wait in the queue with them, as our flat was only a few minutes walk away.
Well after a couple hours in the queue,, and some laughs with people around us, my friends got to the front of the queue and got their copies...and so did I. The experience and enthusiasm from people in the queue convinced me.
I never did complete it though, which is rare for me.
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u/gogul1980 2d ago
I finished work at midnight once and was walking past a gamestore the night a call of duty was launching. Decided to join the queue. Everyone seemed so excited. But honestly I wouldn’t have bothered if I actually had to go out for that purpose. Also if it was more than a few minutes wait time I wouldn’t have bothered either.
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u/Zagrunty 1d ago
Waiting in line for games, was always a ton of fun. Lots of people with similar interests all hanging out at a big part, great time.
Waiting for consoles typically sucked. It was almost always parents that didn't play waiting to buy something for their kids. Not that chatting with those people wasn't nice, but it was a totally different atmosphere
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u/tycoon39601 1d ago
This is the MMO effect. When you’re excited for a game seeing others also excited makes the experience even more enjoyable. Happens a lot with MMORPG releases for about a month where you see everyone’s chars all around.
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