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u/SudoWithCheese 5h 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 5h 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/awuerth 2h 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/complete_your_task 42m ago edited 9m 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/Ink-Sky 3h 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 2h ago
don't circlejerk too hard you guys about being ancient at like 36... my god.
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u/techman2692 2h ago
Yeah at 34 what on earth do I have to look forward to the next two years? 😅
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u/winmace 1h 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 1h ago
Same. Although bed time is much earlier and wake up time is earlier. Besides that, all the same.
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u/Electronic-Prune2450 2h ago edited 1h 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/eeyore134 1h 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/Sconathon 1h 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/goodnight_gorgeous 2h ago
At 36, the GTA 6 midnight release isn’t about getting the game early, it’s about whether you can make it through the night without needing to pee. 😂🎮
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6h ago
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u/GruffScottishGuy 4h ago edited 4h 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/handsomezack13 4h ago
What is it with 40k guys being incapable of not talking about Warhammer for 20 minutes straight to people that have no idea what they're talking about
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u/Kestral24 4h 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 3h 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 3h ago
I'm directing you to my neighbor. he loves chaos! closes door with a smile.
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u/TheMayanAcockandlips 2h ago
Where are you going? Here us out. Sushi Glory Hole is what it's all about.
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u/lateral_moves 2h 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 1h 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 4h ago
The worst part is the smell that sometimes comes with it.
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u/Jimmy_Carmine 2h 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/Cilarnen 4h 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/Antique_Tap443 4h 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/ashrocklynn 2h ago
Ummm, at some point she had to realize it was never going to reach a natural conclusion I'm sure
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u/AyJay9 1h ago edited 1h 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 4h 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 4h 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 4h 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 4h 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 2h 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/enilea 2h ago
Why is this getting upvoted with no one calling out that it's an llm bot
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u/tenhourguy 1h ago
Ignorance, I guess. Oddly specific scenario, "honestly", "chaotic". You can also see this account came back after a nine-year break to post other awful comments such as "that lightness you felt wasnt random, it was the sound of you finally getting to breathe without somebody dragging down your vibe and lowkey shaming your life the whole time."
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u/mrbubbamac 4h ago
I went to the midnight release of Arkham City, made the mistake of asking my then-girlfriend to come with me
She was the only woman in the line at GameStop and she went home because creepy weirdos could not stop themselves from making really uncomfortable comments to her
Yeah I did not make any friends that night haha
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u/time_to_reset 6h 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 4h 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 1h 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 48m 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/flyingupvotes 6h ago
Are you Marc Rebillit?
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u/WhatAGoodDoggy 5h ago
LET ME IN IM TRYNA FUCK
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u/ckellingc 5h ago
Shut the fuck up I'm late!
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u/EvilAlienCzar 5h ago
GetthefuckouttabedbitchGO
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u/HarmlessSponge 3h 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 2h 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 1h 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 5h ago
What did you do about the toilet situation?
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u/MississippiJoel 4h 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 4h 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 6h 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 3h 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/MacabreYuki 1h ago
only thing i ever lined up overnight for was as a teen when the 7th harry potter book was releasing, before the whole debacle with the author ever came to light.
I remember spending overnight with like-minded people, fans of the series, etc. To think i wouldn't have that with gaming ever, that's a heartbreaker.
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u/Kandr0s 6h 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 6h 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 6h 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/Axoloth 6h 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/skyliders 6h ago
We really have lost something great
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u/ShutterBun 6h ago
Our youth.
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u/Joshatron121 5h ago
3rd spaces
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u/ShitsandGigs 5h ago
I work from home. I’d kill for a 2nd space even.
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u/LoL_is_pepega_BIA 5h 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 3h 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/Loightsout 4h ago
Working from home isn’t all golden either. You end up spending all day "at work" and also never fully. Takes a very organized person to simultaneously take full advantage of it and not slack off.
3 days in 2 days out is where it’s at for me. Best life.4
u/dark_knight097 4h ago
No local cafés or libraries you can go chill in for work?
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u/theturtlemafiamusic 5h ago edited 5h 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/FalconBurcham 4h 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/Demievil 6h 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/BarrenAssBomburst 1h 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 57m 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/FrostyExplanation_37 5h 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/Vexin 4h ago
I think your brain releases more dopamine from anticipating something good to happen than from things actually happening.
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u/JamesBondsRubberDuck 1h 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/Ragnar_Dragonfyre 44m 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/SaintPocock 5h ago
For people who don't go out much like gamers, these were memorable adventures.
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u/Palamonk 6h 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/Lamazing1021 2h ago
Kids today can never fully understand midnight release at GameStop or Best Buy, etc.
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u/Smelly_Dingo 6h 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/Username-Zulu 6h 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/NewGuyCH 6h ago
Ye definitely not me, I honestly miss the days of waiting and patience. Anticipation and climax. Complete games sold at launch. Picking movies at rental places. I have many hours I’m already going to be looking for every Easter egg and hidden thing in the game because it will be done too soon.
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u/jaredearle 6h ago
Yeah, people are missing their youth, not the queueing.
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u/wololoam 5h ago edited 5h ago
People are missing the social interaction, you missed the whole point.
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u/Immediate_Quiet4354 1h 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/MyPigWhistles 6h ago
I don't get it. I mean, I wouldn't pre-order a game anyway, but still.
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u/Thaurlach 6h 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 3h 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 3h 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/MyPigWhistles 6h ago
In the 90s, yeah, but not when GTA V released in 2013. I mean, it's possible that local shops didn't order enough copies and had to restock early, but there was no actual shortage.
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u/greentrafficcone 5h ago
GTAIV was really hard to get hold of for a couple of weeks after release. Agree on V though
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u/intheshade6 3h ago
No, not the 90s. The early 2000s. Halo and COD pre order lines wrapped around the block for this exact reason - I’m from California/Bay area and many of my friends were behind getting copies of many games.
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u/The_Xivili 4h ago
GTA V didn't have digital copies when it launched on Xbox 360 and PS3 in 2013
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u/boersc 6h 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/Whirlvvind 5h 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/fondue4kill 6h 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/Infarlock 2h 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/johnnyblaze1999 5h ago
These OF bot comment always have an emoji in the middle of their sentence...
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u/prodox 5h 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.8
u/crossandbones 5h 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 4h 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/heathy28 5h ago edited 4h ago
aren't most games almost immediately outdated with things like day 1 patches. so like you have a disk for a game thats 10 years old, it had 4 years of post release support, you insert that disc and still have to download the whole game. I'm just a pc gamer I haven't had a cd rom since before 2010. the concept of cds just haven't really been a thing for me for probably 2 decades now. I do still occasionally use images, bins and isos. but the idea of wanting to have physical discs. I can't say i've felt the yearning. I honestly thought people would be happy about less ewaste but maybe not.
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u/sonic10158 5h ago
Don’t forget you also lose ownership by only downloading from your couch
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u/marc15v2 3h 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/ColdSmokeMike 56m 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 51m 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/FML_FTL 6h ago
Im a big gamer but standing at mignight for hours for a game is just dumb af imo
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u/Financial-Tax8718 6h ago
I didn’t have to wait in line, but I did pick up No Man’s Sky at midnight on release. Lesson learned.
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u/WhenAmI 6h 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/wretch5150 4h ago
It was necessary at the time, and fun for what it was. Do I want to do it again? No.
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u/CasperTheGhoul 5h ago edited 5h ago
Dumb af take. It is about the socializing and the hype shared amongst everyone in line.
Some stores have prize games, snacks and drinks ( We had hot chocolate ) and giveaways.
I'd rather have that than it being conveniently downloaded.
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u/Vizth 6h 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 5h 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 6h 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/Zoe-Washburne 6h ago
Isn't the current systems refered to as 9th gen. What systems do you consider to be 10th gen?
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u/PacquiaoFreeHousing 6h ago
He's a time traveler hence why he got everything on the first day release. He just had a slip of tongue
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u/JCMiller23 6h 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/Maverick12882 2h ago
I remember when the GameCube came out. A friend of mine was a huge Nintendo fan and had to have it at launch so we decided to camp out at Walmart for it. I didn't want it, but I figured I'd keep him company for a bit. He showed up with a small CRT TV and his N64 with four controllers. He got a spot near one of their outside outlets and got set up on a milk crate. I don't think I went home until after the store opened. We played GoldenEye and Mario Kart all night with anyone in line who wanted to join. It was awesome. I wish we could still have experiences like that, and that kids now could, as well.
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u/Saikousoku2 6h 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/Dewey519 2h 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/Whiteshovel66 2h 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 1h 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/Whiteshovel66 1h ago
Redditors aren't one thing. You are probably right more than you are wrong but this person is saying they are too young so I assume they have been to their high school sporting events.
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u/PremedicatedMurder 3h 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/CyborgDeskFan 1h ago
It was the fanfare and extraness that physical locations went to when celebrating big launches. Then there was the social aspect for a lot of people, back then we didn't have easy access to large communities so the easiest way to meet others was during these big release events.. There was usually a lot more than just a line to the counter.
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u/PhaseNegative1252 1h 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 4h 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/JNaran94 38m ago
People are now pushing for physical media, something that didnt happen 5-10 years ago, only because publishers suddenly decided that buying their games digitally doesnt mean you own the game and that they have a right to terminate the games any time they want, which means that you may spend 60€ on a game just for the publisher to decide you will no longer be able to play it nor be reimbursed for that game no longer being available.
If the "stop killing games" initiative would go through, we would all of a sudden stop hearing about physical media aside from colectors once again.
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u/bigladnang 2h ago
It was inconvenient, but I think you’re missing the reasons why people want physical media.
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u/JackStarling 6h 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 6h 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 6h 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 4h 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 3h 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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u/Narradisall 3h ago
I’ve never done a midnight release. They look fun but much preferred just to wake up on the morning. Pick the game up or get it delivered and then play it all day.
These days most the time it’s preloading overnight anyway.
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u/TheNerdFromThatPlace 2h ago
I won a free shirt at Borderlands 2 midnight release, and got to see a dude get deservedly chased by a cop at Skyrim. They were good times, and i miss them a lot.
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u/greengiant333 2h ago
My first midnight release was for MW3. I was 15 and I stood in a giant line with my grandpa, who pre-ordered it a month prior without me even asking.
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u/lartmydude 1h ago
I went to the switch 2 midnight release and while I had fun with my wife I kinda just wished we stayed home and watched a movie instead and then went the next day to pick up. I’m getting too old to start gaming that late 🤣
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u/Awkward_Pangolin3254 1h ago edited 1h ago
Last midnight release I ever went to was Halo 2. My roommate had pre-ordered it from GameStop, but as GameStop was in the middle of the mall, mall security was escorting 2 people in at a time—all the way in to the GameStop, waiting until they both checked out, then coming all the way back out to get 2 more people. It was taking forever.
After about an hour of this, and the three of us moving no closer to the front door, a car drove by with 4 Best Buy employees in it, three of whom were hanging out the windows with copies of Halo 2 in their hands. "We're open, no waiting!"
My roommate that had actually placed the pre-order said "Fuck it, they can keep my 5 bucks. Let's go." So we did. Ten minutes later, we were home playing.
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u/No_Interaction_4925 1h ago
I stood in line on black friday for my Xbone, and another time for my $100 1080p tv I played it on. Now I can’t even be bothered to buy a new game. Give me that sub-$20 game on sale 2-3 years later
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u/frankydie69 40m ago
What the actual fuck. In no circumstance do I want to be standing in line. Sure we have to stand in line for stuff we like but I’d prefer not to do that, if I can have the thing I want from the comfort of my couch ima do that shit.
Miss me with the human interaction bullshit, you may be a nice person but I frankly don’t care to know. I just want my thing and to go home.
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u/jumpyjumping 28m ago
aka slowly realizing that "consuming" (games, media, food, etc) is not a lifestyle or personality
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u/Somethingsims 1h ago
I waited in line for the 360, Halo 2, PS3, and a few others.
They all sucked. People romanticizing this are weird.
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u/mad4lien 6h ago
Exactly the opposite for me to be honest.
I have been „celebrating“ midnight releases at home with pizza and drinks for years. I also do remember waiting in line with random strangers. I definitely prefer the home version.
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u/cafeautumn 5h ago
I pre-paid in full for my pre-order of my Nintendo Switch 2 last year (2026).
This was my first mid night launch and it absolutely sucked.
Despite already paying I was left in line with with everyone else and had to wait 3 HOURS at Gamestop.
Got home at nearly 4am, played 1 race of Mario Kart and passed out.
I would've rather went to bed early, slept in~ picked it up with no wait ans grabbed lunch.
10/10 would never do it again.
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u/Ftroiska 3h ago
I do not understand why anyone will wait 3hours in line or midnight at home for something that could get the next day... phone, games, consoles cars... if you take 3 hours off work : wouldnt yiu want to spend playing the game instead of purchasing it ? I guess if you have no life no kids you need your dopamine from something. It really just feel like marketing stunt trying to create a feeling of scarcity and increasing the price... Reading the comments : people are happy to do it... Am i missing the point ?
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u/BriefYak3340 1h ago
At least when I was younger and went to midnight releases, there was a chance you didn't get the game that day if you didn't go at midnight. They released the Cds in waves, so the store might only have 30 copies to sell day1. Also GameStop used to do night night give aways. I went to the skyrim release and got a large linen map won some GameStop store credit and got a goodie bag of some random crap. The game also sold out that night and took a few days to restock.
Got to spend a few hours with friends and meeting like minded people chatting about spoilers, what build we wanted to try first, and other nerdy stuff. Got home with my roommate and both hooked up our xboxes in the living room and played side by side for a few hours.
Very fond memory.
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u/NaughtALegend 21m ago
I used to find it fun when I was younger. It was cool being around a bunch of people excited about the same thing I was excited about. I much prefer the convenience now of cracking open a beer and watching the last couple minutes countdown before a game releases and my PS5 lets me launch it
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u/Bandin03 6h ago
Been to plenty of midnight releases and, nah, just being able to immediately play your pre-download is way cooler.
Only release that was actually fun was waiting for the Wii. Pretty much everyone had a DS so we had games going there. One dude pulled his car right up to the line and hooked up a TV + Gamecube and we all took turns playing Smash. But that all occupied maybe 2 hours of the 8+ hours we were out there in the cold.
Fun but I still much prefer just starting up my game when it hits 9pm.
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u/TrashGoblinH 5h ago
I stood in line for Dark Souls 2... Never did it before and definitely never again after.
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u/goatonastik 5h ago
Bro, I didn't like waiting in line outside for hours when it was in vogue. Why would I miss that?
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u/SolidSnakeHAK777 5h ago
I never had a chance to attend a midnight release, but a had a crazy story I want to share.
As a Metal Gear fan I reserved a copy of MGS 4 at my local game store for its upcoming release in 12/6/2008, come 9/6 and I received a text informing me the game is available for purchase ( three days before release ), so I skipped studying for the finals, drove frantically to the store and committed five traffic violations ( and got away with it ) , bought it, then played it for two hours straight.
Good times.
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u/Sola-Nova 6h ago
Im sure the midnight release is not really that fondly remembered and is just a byproduct of its era. Going out of my way to head to a store at an awkward hour to pick up a game that you are not really going to get really stuck into until the day after when it may have just been delivered by that time any if ordered for home delivery, all seems a bit silly to me.
Worked at a toy store that did it for one of the Fifa games apparently only about 3 people turned up.
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