Has anybody been to a Gamestop midnight release?

[Krynn72]

So The Last of Us comes out tonight, and I have a pre-order at a Gamestop a couple towns over for it. Thing is, when I pre-ordered I thought it was going to be releasing on a Tuesday, like normal games do, and that I could just pick it up on my lunch break or after I get out of work, since I work not 5 mins from the place. But I found out that... nope, its releasing on a Friday (tomorrow). So instead of being able to just pick it up on my way home from work, I'm going to have to specifically drive out there on my day off to get it.

However, as it turns out, I'm going to be in town hanging out with a friend tonight in that area. Gamestop is having a midnight release for it, and I'm going to be out there around that time anyways so I am now considering going to the midnight release. But I've never gone to one, so I'm not sure how it works. I also haven't pre-ordered a game through a retail shop in probably almost a decade. So a few questions for you experienced nerds.

1) I got a text yesterday saying "GameStop:Your The Last of Us avail 12:01AM Fri, Arrive 10pm Thu to finalize payment, 30% bonus on trades."

Dafuq does this mean? I have to get there 2 hours early to pay the rest of the bill in order to get it at midnight? I asked them if I could pay the whole thing down when I pre-ordered and they said they only like to take the $5 reserve. I sure as shit don't want to hang out there in that tiny ass store for two hours with shitloads of "gamestop customers" smelling up the place eugh.

2) Does this mean they simply will not be closing overnight? Like, if my friend doesn't want to go, and I just head over there at 1 or 2am when I leave his place, will it still be open and I can grab the game then?

3) How social are these events? Will I have to talk to these people? Are any of them going to be normal?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Vegeta897]

Never been to one. This is what you get for pre-ordering a mainstream game.

I hope they all smell and have iPads and talk to you constantly.

 

[JUL3]

I went to the MW2 midnight launch at EB Games (which I think is the Aus version of GameStop) back in 2009.

Based solely on that experience:

1) Rock up at about 11:30 and get to the end of the long-ass queue, it should move pretty quickly.

2) They will shut once the line is gone and every nerd has gone home.

3) CoD was pretty damn social, there were people dressed as Ghost ffs. People may want to pat you, 'cause you're such a cute lil woofer Krynn. But really, chuck in some headphones and be "that guy", stand in line, block your nose, get your game and bail.

I could be completely wrong though, seems a lot can change in all of 3 and a half years.

 

[Krynn72]

I went to the MW2 midnight launch at EB Games (which I think is the Aus version of GameStop) back in 2009.

EB Games was a company in the US (and presumably elsewhere) as well, but they were bought out by Gamestop, and, at least in the US, every EB Games I knew of has been converted into Gamestop.

Hrm, so they do close after, damn. I'll have to convince my friend to go then, because I don't want to be around console gamers by myself. Although The Last of Us should have a slightly different demographic than COD, so maybe I won't get too pissed off when listening to them talk.

 

[Krynn72]

So it was better than expected. There were indeed a lot of console peasants, and me and my friend had to endure a guy chat us up about how the Playstation is the best and how he has all these achievements and other bullshit, and the token fat guy with ponytail who knows everything about everything was in full force (he also loved free shit, and was trying to win every trivia/raffle thing there was, and got things like a cardboard display of the game's box art, and a t-shirt that wouldn't fit him in a million years yet he wanted it despite other people who probably could actually wear it wanting it.

However, there was both a Playstation representative there, and one of the artists from Naughty Dog. The PS rep was actually pretty cool and very knowledgeable, and didn't harp on how shit the XBone is. The Naughty Dog artist signed my copy of the game when I finally got it.

Went better than expected. Certainly won't do it again unless there's a guarantee of cool people being there, because ponytail man and ps fanboy were super obnoxious.

 

[DEATHMASTER]

Ah EB Games, I remember when they were just EBX many years ago. Never been to a midnight release but I do recall accompanying my friend on the launch day of Halo 2 to get his copy. I ended up getting Halo 1 for PC, amazingly addictive game it was. I remember beating H2 the same day with him and getting that cliffhanger ending. Seems like forever in between that and Halo 3's teaser at a later E3.

I might pick up The Last of Us later on, but I have a shitload of games to catch up on for the PS3, might as well start with the cheapest and best known. Though I'm a sucker for Japanese stuff so I'll probably get Project Diva F when it comes out here, demo was hard as ****.

 

[SpotEnemyBoats]

Years ago in the malls and the shoping outlets there was EB games and Funcoland for console games, used games, refurbished consoles.

Not anymore, there's like 2 gamestops in one mall. And the mall isn't exactly the biggest.

 

[Vegeta897]

(signed game)

Don't you know what NDI means? That's a non-disclosure insignia. You're not supposed to post it anywhere.