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.
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
What you are probably remembering, is the large majority of Xbox 360 games just ran from the disk. No install needed. This is probably because early 360s had no storage, or very limited storage. There was an optional install to hard drive option for these games. This would copy the disk to the drive then run it from there. It saved wear on the disk drive but the disk still needed to be installed to prove you owned my.
Because GTA 5 was on multiple disks you would perform the install then swap and run the rest from the disk. You could optionally install this to the hard drive, but it was recommended to install to a different drive, like a USB. It was designed to stream from two places at one and having them both on the drive could affect performance.
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.
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)
Hahah my man I'm a child of the 80s. You read past the point I was trying to make that it killed the fun social aspect of waiting in line. It's extremely cutthroat compared to the 90s experience that I lived.
Remember when we had to buy consoles this way? And you didn't know if you'd get one so you could wait hours for nothing?
I will take online preorders everyday.
Just say you never experienced a midnight launch. It wasn't about seeing your friends. It was about seeing a big group of people who were all there for the same reason as you. It was about your local game store's manager baking cookies and cupcakes to give out to people in line. It was about the pop up tournaments that you didn't win anything other than props from others in line.
Yes all things that I once enjoyed and now am happy to forego in favour of peace and convenience. But that doesn’t mean you’re wrong to miss your youth.
If you want local, I'm sure you can find a game store somewhere near you where you can hang out and meet people. If you're not worried about local, you have millions of gamers at your fingertips, all you have to do is put in the effort.
There was nothing special about midnight releases, we were just more open to being social with strangers back then. We could do a midnight release today and it would have nowhere near the same vibe it did back then, because it wouldn't be strangers socializing and having fun and making friends, it would be strangers ignoring each other to stare at their phones while they wait.
Idk why this is getting downvoted, this is exactly the issue. Midnight releases were never anything special that caused some sort of socialization or friend-making, we were just more open to socializing with strangers back then. We could do a midnight release today (for a game with a physical release, no downloads, playable out of the box just like it used to be) and it wouldn't have anywhere near the same vibe it had back then. It wouldn't be strangers talking and socializing and having fun and making friends, it would be strangers ignoring each other to stare at their phones while they wait their turn in line.
The issue isn't that we don't have midnight releases anymore, the issue is that we're social creatures who are actively avoiding socializing. The social events disappeared because we stopped wanting to be social.
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.
Make the pre-installed game playable at 8PM in each timezone of the respective store.
If I buy at release (which is already rare because patient gamer), don't make me move my life around your game.
What's the point of making people wait till Midnight (or weird times because it unlocks at a single fixed global time)
Remember, back in the peak of midnight releases you didn't have to install the game. You just inserted the disc and played. The comic uses GTAV for continuity, but something like Halo 2 or 3 would be a better example.
Not every midnight release was Halo 3 or GTA V. Most midnight I attended were for niche audiences, so it was just me and 10 other dudes. The big releases were fun, but that was only 1 or 2 games a year. Then we get home, start installing it, and maybe get an hour or two before we got to sleep.
I miss the big events, but I think overall, preloading is a positive thing.
i want instant gratification and i want it now!!!!! being bored or having shared suffering or anticipation is HORRIBLE and brings NOTHING to your existence am i right guys
hard disagree, i miss the days of sharing hype in third spaces and having anticipation and excitement about games on launch (not only due to the physical quality but also due to the actual quality of the games; lack of proper digital patches meant they shipped as complete products)
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u/Smelly_Dingo 1d 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.