The Weekend Debate: The Minute-To-Midnight Feeling

SECOND!

I like to be the first to play a game for one reason. To boast to my mates. Just like when I got the Battlefield 3 Alpha Trial for PC

THIRD – And i luv da midnight launch due to da w8tin 4 a game for atleast 6 month and then ull b da one first 2 experience it this is da best thin bwt da launch da w8 is over

I think people like to be amongst the 1st to play a new game because they want to try the game and offer their view of that game to their friends, colleague etc. I personally would like to be one of the 1st to get a new game because then I could see what the game is like and recommend it to people. I personally am against midnight releases because of the carnage it can cause at video game stores. My local GAME branch got trashed when GT5 got released.

both failed. lol

I pre-ordered my PS3 and didn’t pick it up till mid day. come to think of it the only game i can think of that i’ve ever qued up for at a midnight launch was WOW: wrath of the litch king and boy was that a disappointment. I did que up at 7am when iphone 3g launch as it was a free upgrade for me. Again what a disappointment that was.

Although i don’t que for new releases much these days mainly case most places have plenty of stock but i like to get games i’m really interested in one day one if i can. I dunno its just a case from seeing the games in developement all the video’s and the hype and when you finally get that nice shiny copy in your hands and sit down it’s like a relief that its finally yours to play. I guess we can all be the victim of hype some times. lol

can ony say for pre-ordering games, for me it’s more about dying to get started on the title as soon as I can and then enjoy it in my pace. Has nothing to do I want to be the first in the world, country, town, neighberhood to finish the game.
About camping this blog particulary. I can only say I do on wednesdays, Especially when I got an (to me) important question or something to report that doesn’t work like it should on the Store to Ross.
Knowing that if I get my post in on the first 2 pages considerably increases my chances to get an reply to the post.

As like me…i preorder my Games… & never had any Midnight camping days of waiting experience to pick up a Console at launch…so my life is pretty boring in that case… i think that makes me a straight candidate to get my life spiced up with Limbo….hmm maybe i´ll dance Limbo under my PS3…let´s check out if this works……

For most games I don’t really care to much. Singleplayer games can be played any time, but a multiplayer community hardly lasts unless it’s either a AAA-title or the game is just *that* awesome.

To me midnight launches are fun. Get to spend an evening in line with like-minded people. Though the CoD:MW2 one was just creepy >.> Really, I was about the only girl there and the setting wasn’t cheery or anything. Didn’t help that the store didn’t have anything to keep us waiting in line entertained or calm as they kept us standing in the cold well past midnight.

The best one for me was WoW:Cataclysm because there were full families there. Mom, dad and their son and daughter all decked out as Night Elves. The sight was amazing!

Most of the time I will pre-order game simply because they are cheaper then than they are on release (I use ShopTo loads – they usually deliver a day before release and usually price pre-orders around £35!)

My little anecdote would be for Uncharted 2, which was one of the first games I’d pre-ordered. Started off on the first day doing only five or six chapters (I tend to pace myself when playing through storylines), went to school the next day and came back to find that my little brother – who had been off sick – had finished the rest of the game off for me, in one sitting. He even went and blurted out the rest of the story too

It was at that moment that I made a rule that if he wants to play my games, he needs to have his own PS3 and never spoil anything I’ll get my own back on him one day too

i dont need to be first, i dont see any value in having a game before others have it. however, i want (some) games as fast as possible – so if a game really thrills me, ill go to the midnight sale just so i don’t have to wait any longer. sadly, in germany we very rarely have midnight sales. the next one i would go to is for uncharted 3 or dark souls.

even tho this is not a game – i couldnt wait for the last harry potter book so i ordered it online with “midnight delivery”. and exactly at midnight the doorbell rang and a very nervous postman asked ‘did i wake anybody? am i at the right house?’. that was funny.

on blog posts its a different thing – everybody reads the first few posts so the first one gets a little bit of fame

@ DANTE

Actually we didn’t fail we meant it that way round!

Dante what games do you own out of curiosity?

I think we have similar tastes.

@ catkiller1
I currently have 68 games in my colelction at the moment so i’m sure you could probaly name a game and the chances are i own it or have owne it at some point lol.

@topic. Maybe i should camp out online in the hope of being first to get a limbo voucher? lol

james can u tell katie that she is beautiful for me m8

p.s im not trying to cheat

Have never queued up for a midnight launch, no matter how eager I am to play a title/get my hands on a new console, I have always been able to restrain myself and pick it up throughout the following day. I can understand the desire to play games first though, some games now you can follow in production for years and the desire to actually get your hands on them can be great. Also being among the first eradicates the possibility of having the game ruined by spoiler-spouting mates.

As for the code thing, I would be delighted at being successful due to the amount of hours I put in dancing under low things in preparation for Limbo’s release. Alas, my initial assumption that this was some sort of Move based dancing game were unfounded and now all I have to show for it is a dodgy back. Being awarded a code would be great consolation though, because that game that it actually is,looks great.

The simple answer for me would be yes, As to why ? well its probably for the same reason I get excited by any new technology thats due out. I always want to be able to see it myself and feel it(Insert own joke here) and see how it works and if it lives upto what I was expecting.

When it comes to games its slightly diffent. Personally I really enjoy playing SP games rather than MP games(Not that I dislike MP games as I dont) and thats because I can allow myself to be truly drawn into a games world. I can allow myself to truly believe in that world and its characters. I can feel the emotions that a developer its trying to push accross to us through the screen.

(Possible Spoilers)
I can remember the first time I felt this and it was in Final Fanasty 7 when Aeris was killed. I remember being shocked and a immense sad feeling at the same time. I wanted to take revenge as Cloud and it drew me even further into the story.

Thankfully though I dont wait in huge lines or camp out for the latest games/consoles largely due to that lovely little thing we call the internet

i’ve just thought though. money and release day permitting i might find myself queing up at midnight for the PS vita launch though cause i know the hardware and the games are gonna be epic.

Why not?

There is a special feeling that overwhelms you when you wait for something with friends. Whether it is about games, movies or even the latest harry potter novel, you know you’re going to witness something special. Especially when the store or cinema organizes some kind of event around it.

Our local mediastore organized a big lan competition the night before the launch of modern warfare 2. A friend of mine won the special competition, but there weren’t any hard feelings from the losers. It had a very relaxed atmosphere to it, because everyone there was waiting for the same thing. This mutual fandom made for great conversations, and some psn friends.

As for being the first one playing, it’s nice to play before any spoilers hit the web, but US always gets their games earlier, so much of that value is gone.

Some games are definitely worth it to play before you read or hear spoilers. Especially my friends are excellent in spoiling game-endings!

The worst of it all was GTA4 SE. I pre-ordered the game from a game store I’ve bought several games from and they promised to deliver on the day the game came out. Of course they didn’t… They didn’t have it and weren’t going to get it. So the order was cancelled. I still tried to find it on the internet and finally found it. It even could be delivered in 3 days. It took 7 days, but…

…my PS3 broke down in the meantime. So I send it to Sony for repairs, who were extremely fast, but do you know how long a couple of weeks is, when in such desperate need to play a game? Meanwhile hearing about Jacob, pooling with Packie or going to the stripclub with Roman? Hated it at that time! I had the metal box, key ring and bag to ‘play’ with, but come on!

Finally got my PS3 back, so immediately popped the disc in. Maybe it was meant to be, the long wait made me want to play the game so badly and it lived up to all my hopes. It was a gaming experience that proved to be pure magic! And even today I still play GTA4 every once in a while, so maybe I’ll see you online someday!

I like to get games early purely to play them; I don’t really care whether I’m first or not, I go to the odd midnight release because the anticipation is great, sometimes better than the game itself… I’ve picked up and then gone straight to bed once I’ve got home before.

I’m really looking forward to Battlefield 3 and felt slightly jealous of those lucky enough to play the alpha, so you can imagine the mixed woohoo/face-palm when I checked my email today to find I was invited to the alpha three days ago! D’OH!!!!!!

Well, I’ve never attended a midnight release of a game, because my city is not that big enough, but I try to buy games on release day.

Usually I go to local to claim my prize on the release date, sometimes with pre-ordering it.

I tend to open the disc on the spot, remove the wrapping, smell the scent of a new game unpacked and look at the disc art.

Next I browse through the manual and wipe off the protection for codes you get. Then I go home. My girlfriend tries to put the game in her bag, but I insist on carrying the whole disc myself, showing it the public, because I want everybody to know “I BOUGHT THIS GAME!”! While I’m walking home, I’m always opening and closing the box and looking at the contents… that’s my habit, I know it’s a bit odd.

I can only imagine how I would act on a midnight sale. I guess as soon as I’ve got my copy, I would raise it above my head and show the whole store that I’ve got the SHINY!

Before, I think I would debate with other fans of the game how the series envolved, or how rad the last trailer was or promised game mechanic will be. After that I have to fullfill my habit…

The hell with waiting at my “local” game shop.

At midnight I would get the game, then have about an 8 hour wait for the first train back to my house, which gets to the station at 8.38, then at least a good 25 minute walk back to my house which results in me arriving literally 10 mins after the postman turns up with the same internet ordered game.

I rather spend that 8 hours in bed than clutching a disk on a dark platform………

For me it’s not about being first, it’s about the enjoyment I know I’ll get from the title in question.

I am a very selective gamer, sometimes planning which titles I will be buying months in advance of their release. Given the time frame of my choice, anticipation builds and builds until release day (oh, that sounds dirty), doubly so for franchise releases because I already know, from past experiences, that I will be enjoying my long awaited game soon.

The ONLY time I have been outside a retail store waiting for them to open was to buy a PS3 (ooh, the shiny black goodness *drool*).

My concern was that as I live in a very rural area, stocks were limited and I did not want to miss out (IIRC, the retailer had 3 only). So I phoned my work citing a flat tyre (I started work a 7:30am back then) and promptly made my way to the retail park. Low and behold I was the only one there (yes, it’s that rural). Needless to say, the black behemoth sat taunting me in my office all day. It was the longest day in my working life.

@ Dante

68 games! If they are all disc based games then that’s alot!

I have 15 Disc games & over 100 Digital titles!

Was thinking of getting MW3 but i’m going to pass & dedicate my time on RAGE, BF3, Resistance 3 & Uncharted 3.

BF3 is a no brainer as I have followed them since the PC days. All imo are great, apart from 2142 which was dreadful! They’re more tactical than COD, although I have been dedicated to all the COD releases but they bore me now, as not much has changed on each release.

Catherine looks different & El Shaddai!

Would absolutely love a new Kingdom Hearts & i’m awaiting the day when Final Fantasy 7 HD remake, will finaly arrive

I have never been to a midnight launch, mainly because everywhere I have lived there have never been any. I would love to go one day though (hopefully the PS4 or PS Vita if I find anywhere with midnight launch). I always envy everyone waiting and getting their mitts on one first before me Plus I might get to be on the telly WOO

I met my girlfriend at a midnight launch. Turned out it was a great way to talk to strangers given you know you have shared interests. In the end it turned out she was much more fun than the game we were waiting for haha
As for owning a game early I do like that element of ‘unknown’ about it there won’t be any walkthroughs for it or trophy guides so you’re in the same boat as others. Not to mention if you’re already a fan of the game you just can’t wait to get into it!

No games worth me being out of the house in the middle of the night and never will be.
Doesn’t matter if it’s day one or six months after release it’s the same game to me.

@ catkiller1, i stopped counting digital games after i hit 100. lol but yeah i’m looking forward to alot of the major releases coming up although to be honest i’m actually looking forward to the HD remakes slightly more. Catherine is a definate one for me though. I played the demo off the US store and have been following it since it was annouced and i love its concept, the gameplay is pretty neat too.

I am hoping to add 1 more digital game to my collection soon but i’m being left in LIMBO till monday to find out if it’ll be on my download list courtesy of James and KAtie. lol

i have never been to a midnight launch and thats mainly because i didnt know that there was some for games, i knew about the console one but didnt have the money to buy one! i have been to a different kind of midnight launch though which was to see the latest harry potter film at the cinema which was busy but i got there early for my booked ticket when it was not busy luckily for me.

I’m not an early adopter on anything, like to see that things are running smoothly first. I think its the accountant in me holding me back.

I am fun at parties though. Honest!!

I always thought the whole midnight release thing was a bit weird to tell the truth; but from what I’ve seen after accidentally being in town at the release of FFXIII a few years back, it seems the act of being the first to pick up the game was only a small part of the reason that most people were there.

In that crowd I saw not only a group of fans, but a small part of a larger community who would never usually get to interact. Not only that, but this was intensified by the fact that each one of them knew they already had something in common; a shared passion that wouldn’t be judged by anyone else around them, as they were there for the same reason.

Of course, there are the hardcore gamers who find the kudos achieved by being the first to complete, or plat a game reason enough to go to a midnight release. But I’d argue that even if they didn’t admit it to themselves, the community feeling they get at the release was good for them too.

I remember when I was a little kid and I went to the movies for the first time. It was with my dad and we went to Star Wars (1977). It was the first showing of the day on the first day it came out. I was so in the moment and so excited! My dad and I loved it and the next day I told all my friends about the theater, the movie, everything. It made me the coolest kid.
I still have that feeling when I get a new game, or better, a special beta. So I just got the beta for journey (awesome game!!!). When I found out there were just a few people got that code, well, that was just awesome.
It´s not a must but it´s fun when it happens.

@ AllytheBruce

LOL

There hasn’t been many games in recent history that I’ve been to a midnight launch or gone early for when shop opens, used to be mainly Zelda’s, Final Fantasies and that sort of thing. Now a days I usually pre-order online and get it the day before launch that sorta killed the whole waiting up all night thing.

I think consoles can be different I got all my Playstations on 1st day same as majority of my Nintendo consoles apart from the NES. I think having the console first is a big thing, showing your mates your nice new graphics and hardware, until you realise that most launch games suck and will be ages before you get anything decent lol.

I love to be the first person to play a brand new game just ’cause i hate all kind of spoilers, and i would (eventually) like to help other people to walktrough the games, to collect trophies and be usefull for them, once in my life
As for the game consolle, it’s good to have always the last innovation, i love to be update with the ulimate technology..

Being one of the first to play on a game isn’t that important to me. I guess if I was a games journalist or a youtube commentator where playing a game first is important, then my attitude would be different. However i’m neither of those therefore it’s not really a necessity for me to be one of the first people to own/play a game.

With my budget I can’t really preorder all that many games, so i’m one of those types of people who waits a couple of months for the price to go down. In an ideal world i’d love to be able to preorder every game that takes my fancy but gaming is an expensive hobby and I have to balance that with my other expensive hobby (music) which often takes priority.

Consoles is an entirely different matter alltogether though. I like to be up to date with owning consoles. Having said that though I wouldn’t spend days camping outside a store on a cold day, the temptation of the Mcdonalds across the road, or not having any decent winter clothing would probably make me give up after an hour.

@ Dante

Same here, I stopped counting so I just say over 100 lol!

I’m also intrigued by the HD remakes.

I would like to see a Final Fantasy collection, Jak & Daxter (Got to happen due to the requests they’ve received), Ratchet & Clank, Medal Of Honor, James bond (Agent Under Fire, Everything Or Nothing & Nightfire & include No One Lives Forever), TimeSplitters, Ape Ecape, Amplitude with Frequency, Would like Battlefield 2 Modern Combat maybe on the store, Burnout with all 5 games, Champions of Norath & Return To Arms, Crash Bandicoot including the Driving games, SSX series, Def Jam Vendetta & Fight For New York, Devil May Cry (Although this has already been hinted at) Grand Theft Auto including the PSP Story remakes, Both Maximos, Project Zero series, Hitman series, Kessen series, Manhunt 1&2, The Suffering 1&2, Megaman Anniversary Collection with the X Collection on 1 disc, Mortal Kombat series with Shaolin Monks, SOCOM 1-3, Onimusha 1-4, Rayman, Red Faction 1&2, Kingdom Hearts, Soul Calibur 2&3, Spyro, Star Wars Battlefront with the Racers & Bombad as unlocks, Tekken, Ghost Recon, True Crime, Twisted Metal, Viewtiful Joe & Wild Arms to name a few LOL

Standing in the cold is not my idea of fun so am happy to wait for the gentle stroll to the letter box and pick up my internet ordered game then pop it in the PS3 and play.

Note all this is done while wearing my favourite Spongebob lounge pants and sipping a nice coffee, possibly with a little sprinkle of vanilla.

I often buy newly released games at midnight. If I’m completely honest it’s nothing to do with being ‘FIRST’ it’s just because I really want to play the game, as I’ve likely been waiting for months watching videos on YouTube, desperately looking for any new footage lol

@catkiller1
that maybe an idea for next weekends debate, what ps2 games would you love to see get the HD treatment. I’m not sure if that topics been covered before though

Being first to play something isn’t really that important at all for me. And I don’t really care for midnight releases. But there are exceptions. When it was announced that we in Europe would get Metal Gear Solid 3 6 whole months after the American release I was about to lose it. Being a regular at several gaming-related websites and on top of that a die-hard Metal Gear fan is NOT a good thing. I knew that avoiding spoilers in those 6 months would be incredibly hard so I had to do something.

In the end I imported an NTSC copy of MGS3 and an American PS2. Because of this my wallet was starving but it was totally worth it! In PAL territory I was definitely there on “day 1″.

Of course, 6 months later, I bought the PAL version too. Then further down the line Subsistence too… and one year for Christmas I got the Japanese special edition from my brother. So today I have 4 different version of MGS3. And with the upcoming collection I’ll soon have 5.

I tend to preorder my games, never been to a midnight launch, though when preordering most of the time I’ll get the game a day or two early, so for the week to go I constantly check my email, or the account where I bought it from to check the status of it, hoping to see that it’s been sent, then it’s another wait for the post :p.

I don’t necessarily have to be the “FIRST!!!” to play a game or a new console (or comment…) but when you look forward to a game you grab every opportunity to play it as soon as you can.
I’m currently really looking forward to “The Elders Scrolls V: Skyrim” (Not a shooter this time ) and if there would be a person to wake me up in the middle of the night to let me play it, I would ‘fly’ out of my bed immediately, even though I LOVE sleeping!
A couple of years ago I was at a Dutch game event called ‘First Look.’ They had Modern Warfare 2 playable there. The line was HUGE! But I just didn’t care and waited in line for like 2 or 3 hours. When me and my friend were finally up to play the game, we played ‘Breach’ a Spec Ops mission. We had like 4 or 5 minutes to play. Then I thought it was absolutely awesome! Looking back to it right now, it wasn’t really worth waiting in like for 2 or 3 hours.
I never attended a midnight launch for a game, and I’m not really planning either. I just pre-order most of my games, and the usually show up on release date in my mail. Sometimes that’s early in the morning and I’ll play the game the whole day. Sometimes it comes in late, but I still have a lot of fun while playing it!

Anyway, that’s my thoughts on it. I’ll be playing Eat Them! this weekend, thank you Katie and James for last weeks code!

Stupid character limit!

I personally hate getting a game first mainly due to my so called friends. I was a bit skeptical of just cause when I first saw it but after some exciting previews I decided to get it, not at midnight thats when the weirdos com out. Anyway I fired it up to beging my rain of chaos in Panau and very soon I was bombarded with messages asking me “is it any good”. I DON’T KNOW IF ITS ANY GOOD YOU KEEP RUINING IT GO AND READ A REVIEW!!! Turns out it wasn’t very good, If only I had waited for one of my friends to get it then I could have asked them if it was any goo……Oh wait..

I went to the midnight release of GTA 4. After months of hype I couldn’t miss out on being the first to play. However, on the night I was seriously unwell suffering a fever. Regardless, I simply had to have it! So I braved the outside world and waited in line sweating and almost passing out. Actually buying it was a blur I’m not even sure how I got home that night. The very next day I ended up in hospital and underwent surgery for an illness I’d never heard of. So, was it all worth it? Even though my brother now rates me as the hardest core gamer he knows, sadly, no, GTA 4 turned out to not live up to my expectations a massive step backwards in the series in my opinion. Now I preorder online and get it delivered usually a day early anyway. ^_^

The only time I went to a midnight launch was with MW2. How awesome would it be to buy it with my friends on the first night and play it together? So we went to the biggest Midnight Launch in the country. In november it can get pretty cold, so when the pre-show turned out to be kind of boring, almost everybody went to the entrance. Only we didn’t notice that and went at 11 o’clock and saw a few hundred gamers in front of us. Only problem was that I had to be gone by 0:45, because the last train was leaving at 1 AM or else I had to wait to 6 in the morning, but that wasn’t a option, because I delivered a morning newspaper. The entrance was blocked by fences, but not that good. So when the doors opened at 0:00 and there was a whole group.. wait, i’ll sketch it. (x= me, 0=people, G=guards, -=fence)

0000
00————–
0000000 G
0000000 G Entrance
0000000 G
00————–
x
I knew I wouldn’t make it in time if I didn’t sneak around. So the moment the guards weren’t looking, I climbed over the fence and were one of the first in turn. So a few seconds after I jumped over, lot of people saw it and they tried it as well. Only that was noticed by the guards and they al were pushed back.

1/2

In the end I just reached the train back in time, played with my friends all night, untill it was time for the newspaper. I know, happy ending! But that was the only and probably last time I went to a midnight launch. Because midnight is for sleeping, so why wait in the line for hours to buy a game, when you can also purchase it the next day and play then? I know the feeling is special to be one of the first to have/play the game, but I’ve been hyped for months, so I can wait a few extra hours. But I’m very easily hyped. So last few years I maked a lot of day 1 purchases, but several games still lay on my ‘still need to play when I finally have time’ pile (Assassin’s Creed II, Borderlands). So I stopped buying most games on day 1, except when I have the time or me and my friends will play it. Yes, it was hard to don’t feed my hype. Only things I pre-order are CE. I made a lot of my friends jealouse when I bought the Hero Edition of inFamous 2 and had my own Cole McGrath-bag. That feeling is better dan waiting around at a midnight launch. So day 1 purchases and midnight launches are not really for me, but only when I will play them with my friends or make them jealouse with a beautiful Collector’s Edition. 2/2

Yes i like, when i can get my game at the launch as my friends. I dont like if i get it laiter, becuse it teases me how they have it while i have to wait for mine game. I would also like to be the first to play a game, LBP for example, the game came out in 2008, and it was fun who was the first one to publish the first LBP level of all time. Now i would like that if i had the chance. The one who had that chance, must be very lucky.

I preorder the games i want, if theres a game that looks fun for me, but not a must buy for me, i wait for a price drop.

Sadly, theres no midnight launches here where i live, so i cant be there, but if there was, then i was gonna go to it.

The game im looking forward to right now, is Starhawk, and you can already tell that im going to buy it at launch ofcourse. Im gonna pre order it too, when my game shops have more information on it.

Yes i do love to be among the first. had PS3 on day one, and buy most games day one. But you’d never find me queuing up for one!

I prefer the lazy approach. Preorder it online and wait for it to turn up. Get to sleep in a comfy warm bed, and still play it on the first day Suits me fine.