Launch of the Year? GTA4 Midnight Release, Philly Style

As people waking up for class/work in the next five or six hours, it'd be hard to say we're glad that Grand Theft Auto 4 inspired GameStop (among other retailers) to hold midnight release events wherein you arrive late at night, buy your copy of the game ('Would you like a strategy guide with that? 20% off if you buy it with the game!') and then proceed to go home and play it well past any reasonable hour (it's currently 3:30 in the morning.) That last part, we suppose, is optional, though hardly controllable. We arrived at the local area GameStop around 11:40, debit card in hand, and $64.19 later, we were lining up to wait out the rest of the hour with everyone else. The line, as you can sort of see, was extensive, though not disabling so. As detailed in our previous midnight release coverage, this particular GameStop location handles events such as these with relative ease -- politely ushering everyone in and out, keeping people informed and generally making the situation a pleasant one.

In the intermediary, we took time to speak with the lucky group of fellas heading up the (by midnight) 200+ person raving beast we dare call a "line." Anthony, Joe and Rob like Grand Theft Auto quite a bit -- not necessarily first-in-line-at-a-Star-Wars-opening level excitement, but excited enough that they arrived three hours ahead of time. (We should mention, though located within Philadelphia city limits, this particular GameStop location isn't exactly in an exciting neighborhood, so three hours here means something.) Anthony was the glorified gamer among the group, having played and completed nearly all GTA's, excluding only Vice City Stories for the PSP and having started with number two on the Playstation 1. GTA3 was the majority favorite among these guys, who were all prepared to go home and start immediately.

Upon exiting the glowing light of GameStop's front windows and seeing the line for what it had truly become, we snapped another shot to our best ability (which is to say very little), and QP blogger extraordinaire Shawn Annable noted, "There have to be at least 200 people here. This is nuts." Within minutes the clock had struck midnight and the line began moving -- fast.

As you can clearly see, we certainly didn't leave empty handed. A quick trip to the nearby Wendy's to insure gastrointestinal problems later in the night sealed our adventure with a greasy and over-processed kiss. In case you were wondering, the mysterious markings on my receipt are just a few of the Ancient Druid rune writings, passed down centuries upon centuries through dynasty to dynasty of GameStop Regional Managers. It's beauty knows no bounds.

It's currently 4:30 in the a.m. when I type these last words, half wired on coffee/half asleep from exhaustion. We're glad GTA4 came out on a Monday, seriously.

Why the Gaming Community is Amazing

We could leave this video with the headline, letting everything speak for itself as it's entirely capable of doing. However, we want to use this space as an open thank you letter to the gaming community at large for doing everything mentioned in this story to help a local Philly resident get his stolen property returned. It's not often (at least for myself) that we use expletives in our posts on QP but to hell with it: fuck all of these son of a bitch robbers in Philadelphia. As someone who's car was broken into (for nothing!) recently in the "City of Brotherly Love," it's fantastic to hear the story of someone who got revenge. Wooo! Vigilante Justice!!!

Brawl Blastoff: The Midnight Release of Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Philly Love Edition)

This past Saturday night marked a big night for a lot of folks out there in the wide world of videogames -- and not just because G4 showed Ninja Warrior for 10 whole hours. No, friends, this past Saturday marked the release of Super Smash Bros: Brawl, a seminal game in the lexicon of great games, and one we'll be playing here around QPHQ for years to come, if the Nintendo Wi-Fi connection would work...

To commemorate (and capitalize) one of the larger release events since Halo 3, GameStop stores around the nation held Brawl tournaments just before the midnight launch. As you would imagine, QP was there to cover (and participate) in one such tournament -- in Northeast Philadelphia. We were told to arrive early, as the tournament would start at 9:00 p.m. and they were assuming folks would be showing up starting around 8:00 or 8:30 p.m., which turned out to be fairly accurate.

Josh (lovingly pictured above), the first person to arrive at GameStop and at very least, the first person in line, showed up from Cheltenham (a 'burb of Philadelphia) around 8:20 or so, though we're not sure whether or not he knows Mario can't get the raccoon suit in Brawl. It was a bitter-cold Philly night and the wind whipping around the side of the building probably didn't help anyone either -- the GameStop employees did their best to expedite our wait time and started sign-ups for the tourney promptly at 9:00 p.m.

After everyone grabbed their number (only 65 spots available, all filled), the crowd was dispersed until 10:00 p.m. when the tournament would actually begin. This left myself and fellow QP'er Shawn Annable playing versus mode in New Super Mario Bros. for the hour in my car, an epic battle in and of itself. Soon though, the hour arrived and the friendly GameStop employees opened the doors to somewhere between 60 and 120 gamers, anxious to get their hands on Brawl.

First up, explanations: the rules of the store, the tournament and the evening (including a long, legal disclaimer) were presented humorously by an employee rockin' a Nintendo World store track jacket. The same employee, when asked whether the store had any Wavebirds in stock, replied with, "No, we've been searching and the closest GameStop with them is in Massachusetts. We have GameStop wireless ones, but they're garbage. Don't bother." Good to hear a bit of honesty from retail every now and again. One final plug for Papa John's (who sponsored the event with 10 free pizzas -- terrible, terrible pizzas) and the tournament began. One Wii demo station was set up running a copy while a t.v. located on the other side of the store displayed another.

Little did we know, hidden amongst our ranks, were ringers. The gentleman pictured above came reppin' his Major League Gaming skills (though he was knocked out in round three of five). The buzz in the room rose steadily from a quiet din early on to out and out shouting, trash talking and name calling by the end of the tournament. "Come on MLG!", was heard steadily throughout the night, directed at the previously mentioned ringer. The second match in, the first smash ball appeared, to much "Ooohs" and "Ahhhs" from the crowd. After 10 or 15 matches, the GameStop employee managing the Wii demo station shouted, "27!" and I headed in for my match...

(Though I'm not much for tooting my own horn, this QP Editor may have made it to the last round of the tournament, using none other than my main man Lucas, of Mother fame. Toot toot, bitches.)

According to GameStop's rules, all of the tournament competitors had to use a Wiimote and Nunchuk, a caveat that elicited many groans of disappointment from the GameCube controller loyalists in the crowd (roughly everyone, ourselves included.) The controls explained beforehand, the many gamers there traded Wii Friend Codes and waited their turns, joining in with the crowd for, "Oooooooh!"s every now and again, swapping information about the game itself and discussing their history with the franchise.

Perhaps the Papa John's delivery man put it best when he said, "I've never seen anything like this for a videogame! Y'all sound like you're playing Madden!" If he only knew.

Around 11:40 p.m. the tournament drew to a close (tears, running down my face) and the crowd excitedly dispersed around the store, anxiously awaiting the midnight release. A long line began forming within the store, made up of tournament competitors. Folks outside began lining up, arriving just to pick up the game and not participate in any of the tournament madness. After a countdown from 11:59 to midnight, the first copies were handed out and people began rushing out of the store, directly to their quietly waiting Nintendo Wii's. The Brawl has begun.