http://hd.engadget.com/2005/11/22/no-sleep-and-no-hd-gaming-either/ Engadget HD Comments for No sleep and no HD gaming either http://hd.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://hd.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2009 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://hd.engadget.com/2005/11/22/no-sleep-and-no-hd-gaming-either/http://hd.engadget.com/2005/11/22/no-sleep-and-no-hd-gaming-either/
On my way home last night at around 1 AM I passed the Target near my house and saw that people were camping out. I headed home and went to sleep (just put in an 80 hour week at work to get a release out of a new product, Talkman T5, coincidently released on November 22, 2005; shameless plug: www.vocollect.com). I got up and arrived at Target around 7 AM to find out that they handed out the tickets for the 360s at 6:30 AM and they only had 6 of each SKU. So I proceeded to Sam’s Club where the line that had been standing outside prior to my arrival was now inside getting 360s. They had 20 of them and were already sold out. So I continued on my journey to Toys R Us where there was a line of about 20 people. I spoke with some of the people in line and they said that no one from Toys R Us had spoken to them yet. So based on my previous experience I decided not to wait in that line, instead I proceeded to Sears. I ended up third in line at the lower entrance. They opened up the doors at 8 AM, mind you there was a second line at the 2nd floor entrance. Well apparently they opened up that door first and by the time I reached the electronics department I was 5th in line. The cashier came over and said that they only had 2 360s. Needless to say, I gave up and went to work. I will be waiting patiently by the phone for the call from EB about my preorder. Until then I will live vicariously through my friends who preordered early enough to get one on launch day. The End!
]]>Nov 22nd 2005 10:29AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2005/11/22/no-sleep-and-no-hd-gaming-either/http://hd.engadget.com/2005/11/22/no-sleep-and-no-hd-gaming-either/
At this point, they had opened up the first set of doors, and were letting us in 7 at a time to play on a widescreen set they had in the lobby. Unfortunately all they had was Ridge Racer. Some people seriously started questioning why they had been waiting so long after playing that game. The controls were horrible. It looked pretty, but a fresh coat of paint can't save a terrible gameplay experience. I like the idea of setting a monstrous HD set in front of a captive audience for boosting sales, but put a good game on it.

Of course, my mission was simple. Just get the system, and a memory card for kiosk downloads. Then the more I waited, I saw the wisdom of an extra controller. Batteries are expensive, so play and charge kits will save money over time. I have no idea where my TV and satelite remotes are, so one of those spiffy universal remotes would be nice too. Oh, and a face plate for the wife. And since I can't pick just one game.... that simple little purchase plan quickly grew into $790 as my wife got suckered into the service plan, even though a better one was offered for the same price inside the box. (I tried to tell her that they were lying about Microsoft's service plans, but I was too tired to fight about it.)

So yeah, when I get home from my 10 hour shift (after staying awake for 24 hours by the time I had that 360 in my hands) I'm shooting some Nazis on COD2. I think I deserve it.]]>Nov 22nd 2005 3:05PM