GAME™ Australia opens its doors for GTA: IV fans across the nation at Midnight

by XboxOZ360

©2008 Grant Smythe

“`For many, waiting the 8-10 hours for shops to open on the morning of the 29th April was just too much to bear. So a crowd began to gather at one Sydney based GAME stores located at Broadway Shopping Centre for the opportunity to pick up their Pre-Order copies on the stroke of midnight.

This scene was repeated throughout 20 or so selected GAME stores that were opened nation wide as the clock approached the witching hour. Game opened their doors at 11pm to begin handing out tickets to all who had come, and those arriving right up to the moment before the magic hour. This enabled staff to hand out the games in an orderly fashion once midnight turned the corner, rather than first in best dressed, which usually always leaves someone feeling hard done by.

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The first “very” happy customer off the rank was a young man that had just this week turned 15, and of course required his ID to make sure staff were following OLFC guidelines and NOT selling to those unable to obtain a copy. To say he was happy is an understatement. Anyone would think someone had just handed him the keys to the city . .oh, hang on, they might have, Liberty City that is.

The numbers were constantly building for the hour before and began to swell a great deal more around 11.30. To a point that there was simply little room within the front half of the store or out the immediate front of the store. Some were still turning up at 12.30 as I left, and the queue was still deep at the counter. Looks like the staff will be their for some time . .certainly hope GAME are giving them some time off for good behavour . . . hint hint Head Office.

Customers milled around and watched various Game Play Promo videos of other great titles heading their way, but their main attention was the GTA: IV Countdown clock on the main monitors within the store. It’s great to see all kinds of people at something like this, a few Mums with sons and daughters, Uni Students young and old, male and female gamers of various ages all milling about discussing their lives and gaming in general.

To be honest, it was basically like a relaxed party, but without the booze and obnoxious loudmouths that usually accompany parties. As the clock grew closer to midnight, the crowed gathered closer and began the countdown for the last 30 seconds. With an eager young man waiting right out front near the counter with ticket number 1 to pick up his 4 copies of GTA: IV, (2x PS3 and 2 x 360) . . . Then the CE’s started to roll out and many were suitably impressed by the Rockstar’s presentation of the game in the Collectors Edition. Many an eyebrow was raised with the appropriate nod of approval from those picking up their CE’s.

The staff and manager of the store were all very helpful and dealt with the evening quite well, all things considered. Even the family dog enjoyed his little venture out for the evening with one gamer and his girlfriend who had come to nab their copies of GTA: IV . . For a moment though, I could have sworn I saw a large rat running about, but no, it was in fact a dog, and boy do little dogs get the women in . . . And it’s nice to see even the managers playing some games (Guitar Hero III) with some of the customers, maniac manager on the loose.

The store was very busy for around 45 – 60 minutes as they dealt out the games, with all 3 staff dealing with customers and sending them happily on their way with various copies securely tucked under an arm, or hidden away in a backpack . . and no doubt back home to their eagerly waiting Xbox360′s or PS3′s. All in all, it was a great evening. Relaxing with like minded people, discussing various aspects of life, gaming, work, fun and just hanging out.

If you do get a chance to venture to any more midnight launches, do so, as they are actually a rather interesting event, and attract a broad range of people, many of which you wouldn’t peg as gamers. Especially gamers willing to venture out on a very cold Sydney evening Check the media blowout for some shots of the evening, and see what you may have missed out on. And to our gaming cousins in far off US and UK, see you on line is around 12-19 hours when midnight crawls around to your shores . . .

Game are also offering a GTA: IV Xbox 360 Bundle Deal just $499 with a copy of GTA: IV and an entry into the draw for the $80,000 Xbox 360 Chopper which is up for grabs. You’ll want to get your legs around this hog, that’s for sure, check th elink out for some pics and info. Plus a guaranteed $75 trade-in on any copy of GTA: IV. Oh, btw, I did ask about people bringing in copies of GTA: IV that they may have purchased overseas and trading them in, for whatever reasons, and they did say the cross check the bar-code to ensure the game comes from Australia . . just a useful bit on info for those who might think about scamming the system.

©2008 Grant Smythe

Filed under: Console gaming, Events, Xbox 360, Xbox 360 3rd Party Games, Xbox 360 News Tagged: | Game, GTA: IV launch, GTA: IV midnight launch, gta: iv rlelease date, Rockstar's GTA: IV