madden ’09 line

(I wrote this up last night, then got playing and forgot about it. I’m very bad at this game suddenly, so sad.)

I was going to wait until tomorrow to write this (well, twelve or so hours, whatever tomorrow is), but it appears I have some time to kill here. Madden has an immediate 1.10update. Uploading a lucha match at the same time is surely not helping things.

Not much to say about the line. Apparently you were supposed to head inside earlier in the day and get your receipt golden star-ed to ensure speedy delivery. Since I specifically asked the GameStop people if I needed to bring anything, and they specifically no, I just hung outside, singing along to Johnny Cash in the empty Starbucks patio. GameStop had let people come in and fool around in the store during the lead up, but kicked out everyone 10 minutes ahead of time to form a pseudo line.

There seemed to be about 20 people waiting by the time midnight hit, and some were just hanging out with their one buddy who was buying it. Surprisingly, only one football jersey. Not surprisingly, one girl, and she was just there with a boy friend. Most were just talking to the friends about what they heard about the game (Farve did come up.) I chatted with a off-duty employee who was there to pick up the game for his brother, and who confirmed I’m better off not getting Metal Gear 4 if I haven’t played 1-3.

The line moved super fast, despite only letting 3 people in the store for fear of mass chaos – I wandered over to the end of it and was in and out before 12:05. The golden star really meant nothing – maybe more to a busier store, but I it was just about making it easier for Gamestop to figure out who gets what if they had a lot people. They didn’t, and they’re probably shutting down around 12:20. They tried to sell me on the guide, and I resisted. I have a little sense I have left, apparently.