Nintendo Switch Launch - Or Why I Was Happy To Spend 14 Hours In The Freezing Cold
Nintendo had been advertising for months that on January 12, 2017 we'd finally start getting some details about the new platform they'd been working on as a successor to the Wii U - codenamed "NX". Hopes and hype were high, and, of course, most of the important details leaked in the days leading up to the reveal. We learned that the console was a portable/home console hybrid and that its official name would be "Switch". It was a closely guarded secret what day it would launch and what its price would be.
No game system is really worth anything without quality games, and Nintendo made sure one of the launch titles was from the Zelda series - one of their two biggest properties and practically guaranteed to be amazing. The new Zelda game, "Breath of the Wild" had been in development for years on their previous platform, the Wii U. I mention this because I already had a standing pre-order for Zelda on the Wii U from before we knew the release date or even the name.
Even if you're not a gamer you probably know that nowadays that when a new console comes out the only way to be sure to get one day one is to preorder or wait in line the day of.
As promised, a manager came out at 9:30AM to hand out tickets for consoles. People wandered back to their cars for warmth, but, of course, I wouldn't budge from the front of the line. When the doors finally opened at 10, I rushed inside to the spot where the manager had told me it would be, and there it was - the Master Edition, the one and only Master edition in all it's glory. The manager was standing beside it ready to guide me to it on the off chance that my eyes hadn't been drawn to it like rare earth magnets to a refrigerator. I had been unable to talk them out of putting one of those terrible anti-theft devices on it so there were little indents along some of the edges, but after what I went through, those are battle scars! I snatched it up, and heard to the disappointed voices of the people behind me asking if there were any others. I rushed it over to the counter and begged the clerk to immediately remove the anti-theft device before it could do any more damage. I didn't even bother to pick up my console until the Master Edition was safely in my car. After tucking it gently into my trunk, I headed back inside to redeem my coupon for a Switch. While inside, one of the other managers spotted me and since I wasn't carrying it anymore asked almost in concern approaching panic if I had gotten my Master Edition. She didn't realize I had left and come back already. Don't think it didn't enter into my thoughts that someone might have been desperate enough to break into my car to get that Master Edition!
It was done - launch day had been saved! I ended up with the Master Edition and a console on day 1. Thank the maker.
The epilogue to my story was that on the way back home, I swung by Gamestop to pick up my Special Edition of Zelda (the less-mega-rare premium version) and subsequently spent the weekend absorbed in the new Zelda game and really enjoying the new console.
Amazon had botched the Switch launch so badly that I now count it as a blessing that I didn't manage to get a pre-order in with them. They actually ended up losing my Super Bomberman R order altogether. When Monday came, my pre-ordered console from Target arrived and I promptly sold it (at cost) to a friend who wasn't able to get one.
I love happy endings:)
The big Switch reveal was broadcast worldwide, so in order to allow maximum viewership, it was done late that night, ending just prior to midnight CST. The Switch would launch on March 3rd and cost $300.
No game system is really worth anything without quality games, and Nintendo made sure one of the launch titles was from the Zelda series - one of their two biggest properties and practically guaranteed to be amazing. The new Zelda game, "Breath of the Wild" had been in development for years on their previous platform, the Wii U. I mention this because I already had a standing pre-order for Zelda on the Wii U from before we knew the release date or even the name.
Even if you're not a gamer you probably know that nowadays that when a new console comes out the only way to be sure to get one day one is to preorder or wait in line the day of.
After staying up another hour waiting for pre-orders to go live, Nintendo made a Twitter announcement that made it seem like pre-orders wouldn't be available until after 10 AM the next morning. This was great, I thought, because it would give everyone a fair shot at getting one in.
So about 1:15 AM, I set my alarm and turned in. In the morning I awoke to the fact that the pre-orders had gone live just minutes after I went to bed and were mostly gone. In the night news had also dropped about two premium versions of the new Zelda game - a Special Edition and an even bigger Master Edition. These, of course, had sold out faster than the consoles. This was a heart-crushing blow because Zelda is pretty central to my game collection, and I absolutely love big limited editions like that. What was more infuriating was the fact that a sizable percentage of the disgusting opportunists who had consumed all of the Master Edition pre-orders had done so for the shameful purpose of re-selling them at obscene prices on Ebay. They were all over the site with 400-500% markups within minutes of the preorders going live.
I was able to get a pre-order in for the system online at Target, but no such luck with the premium Zelda games. After realizing I was pretty much out of luck pre-ordering online, I got dressed and headed straight for Gamestop. They sometimes hold back stock of rare items like that for in-store pre-sales (where you pay full price and have the item delivered to your home) so if you get there early enough you can get an order in even if they're sold out online. When I arrived I was first in line but after an hour wait for them to open, the manager informed me they were not taking any in-store orders of any kind for the Zelda Master Edition. I pre-ordered the Special Edition and left. At least I'd be able to get that one.
Of course I wasn't going to give up that easily. We have an independent game shop in town that specializes in rare releases like this - they have almost all of the Limited Run Games releases, and I even saw a FFXV Ulitimate Edition in their case once (this is noteworthy because that particular game was extremely limited and not sold at retail). I called and inquired and the manager/owner wasn't quite sure if they were going to get any Zelda Master Editions, but he asked me to call back the next day. I called back the next day and he informed me that they would be getting about 3 of them and I could come down and pre-order it in person. One car ride later I had my pre-order ticket and all was right with the world.
A couple of days later another new Switch game - Super Bomberman R went up for pre-order. It wasn't limited or premium so there was no mad rush to get it. I pre-ordered it from Amazon along with a screen protector confident in the knowledge that Amazon had their stuff together and wouldn't let me down.
A couple of days later another new Switch game - Super Bomberman R went up for pre-order. It wasn't limited or premium so there was no mad rush to get it. I pre-ordered it from Amazon along with a screen protector confident in the knowledge that Amazon had their stuff together and wouldn't let me down.
Then things took a downturn. A couple weeks before launch I received a call. The guy at the local brick-and-mortar was informed by Nintendo that he was not worthy of receiving inventory of the Master Edition after all. Without more information I can only speculate on what exactly went down. The guy was super apologetic and told me that if the situation changed and he ended up with inventory anyway that I'd get first dibs, but my pre-order was no longer worth the paper it was printed on (well I got store credit for what I put down, but that wouldn't help me get a Master Edition). At that point I wanted to give up on the idea of getting a Master Edition because the thought of feeding one of those reprobate scalpers was worse than not having it.
So what could I do? Pray. I asked God for help. Why would God help me get an expensive toy when there are people dying of cancer and starving on the other side of the world? Not because I deserve it. Maybe because I was humble enough to ask? I can't say with certainty. But what I can say is that it's never a waste of time to talk to God. I'd wager that most of what we think are moral and worthy causes are equally as meaningless as expensive toys from His perspective. The fact that he helps any of us at all with anything is frankly amazing.
The next blow came from Target about a week later. My console would not be delivered on launch date, but AFTER the weekend when I didn't have time to enjoy it properly. I called twice to see if I could upgrade to overnight shipping. After a stilted and worse than usual English-as-a-second-language conversation with Target's customer support, I finally worked out that once the order was placed it was immediately etched in stone and could not be altered.
It was shaping up to be a pretty dismal launch - I wouldn't get the new system until after the weekend, and I wouldn't get the Master Edition. But at least I could count on Amazon. Unlike Target they have this whole thing worked out so 99% of new games are delivered on launch day if you pre-order. I was sure to get Super Bomberman R, and if I was desperate for Zelda I could play it on the Wii U.
When March 1 rolled around, I was informed that even the juggernaut Amazon was going to let me down. My orders for the Wii U version of Zelda and Bomberman R were both now in limbo and definitely wouldn't be delivered until after the launch weekend - if ever.
By March 2nd I was pretty bummed and expected that this would be the first Nintendo console in 21 years that I didn't get to have on day 1. And then something miraculous happened. An email from Best Buy popped into my inbox explaining that they were having midnight openings in selected locations. Not a big deal on the surface of it, and not unexpected. There was a store in my city that was holding one of the openings and the listing said that there would be a limited supply of consoles for non-pre-order customers. I figured it would be worth spending a couple of hours in line to get the console on day 1. I could always return the one I pre-ordered from Target if I managed to get one at midnight.
When Best Buy opened I called and asked for a little detail about how they were handling the midnight opening, and fully expecting the answer to be "no", I asked if they would have any Zelda Master Editions that weren't already spoken for. To my absolute shock he answered that there were two stores in the area that should have at least one, but of course they would only be available on a first-come first-served basis. Also, neither of the stores that would have the Master Edition were having a midnight opening. To verify with absolute certainty that they indeed had a Master Edition available, he told me to call back that evening and speak with his night time counterpart to visually verify that the store had received one. I started to allow myself to hope a little and my mind raced with plans.
When I got home from work that day, I forced myself to take a nap for a couple of hours, woke up and called the store again at 7PM. The guy who answered told me they did indeed have a Master Edition that would be put out for sale and described it to me in detail so I was sure we were both talking about THE Master Edition. I asked him where it would be when the store opened so I knew exactly where to find it. He was very helpful, but there was too much at stake to leave this up to chance, so I decided to visit the store that evening before they closed. I put on 2-5 layers of clothing, packed my sleeping bag, some snacks, some drinks, and an ebook reader and headed out. When I arrived at the store, I couldn't find the gentleman I had spoken with on the phone, but was able to get the manager to confirm for me that they had at least one Master Edition - she also described it in detail and followed up with a very thorough explanation that it couldn't be held, reserved or otherwise spoken for. They would be passing out tickets for the consoles themselves in the morning but not for anything else i.e. not for the Master Edition. But IT WAS THERE!!!! Originally I had planned to maybe hit the midnight opening at the other Best Buy and head to this one after, but the possibility of someone beating me to that Master Edition made me resolve then and there to plant myself in front of the door and wait. I was just going to be spending the entire interval obsessing over it anyway - might as well do something useful with that energy. That was just before 8PM. The store would not open again until 10AM.
So I rushed to the car, pulled out my supplies and set up right in front of the entrance for a 14-hour wait to save both the integrity of my Zelda collection, and my 21-year streak of having every new Nintendo platform on day 1.
I'm no stranger to waiting in line for stuff like this. I did it for the PS2, the DS, the PSP, the Wii, and the PS3. On every one of those occasions there were always people driving by staring. Many would roll the window down and ask what we were waiting for, and in almost every instance, someone would make fun of us for waiting in line or call us crazy. This time my experience was a lot different. I had set up about an hour before the store closed for the night so around a dozen customers came and went in that time. The ones that bothered to acknowledge my presence would pause, cock their head and then say something like "Oh, he's going to get a Switch." And to my surprise it was almost always followed by something complimentary like "That's dedication." or "He's gonna get one." As the Best Buy employees left, they would sometimes stop to make sure I knew that the store wasn't opening at midnight, or to tell me they were impressed with my determination. The manager I had spoken with earlier left at around 10:30PM and took the time to tell me cheerfully that she'd see me in the morning, and asked if I was going to be warm enough. I was impressed by the level of awareness and acceptance of everyone who stopped by. Waiting in line for over a dozen hours for a toy was no longer a fringe activity, it was accepted and even lauded. Some things really do change.
There were a couple of people that stopped by around 11 to get in line with me but they were completely bewildered when I told them that this particular Best Buy was not opening at Midnight and left shortly afterward. It wasn't until around midnight that the next guy crazy enough to wait all night showed up. He was a night-shifter so he didn't get off of work until 11PM and knew that was way too late to get in line for a midnight opening. He was woefully unprepared for how cold it was outside. Truthfully I was still freezing underneath all of those layers. 20 degrees to 98.6 is one heck of a differential. We chatted for a hour or so. I offered to hold his spot in case anyone else showed up so he could use the restroom at a nearby gas station. He returned about 30 minutes later and handed me a packet of chemical hand warmers (man was that a kingly gift).
My wife would text me occasionally - she had graciously offered to stop by and hold my spot while I used the restroom and/or warmed up in the car. Around 3AM I took her up on it. After a brief bathroom break I was right back at it. Shortly after that the other guy in line left to go somewhere and sleep, leaving the seat from his van next to me as a placeholder. He came back around 6AM and I was still the only person in line. Around 7 my wife came back to give me another bathroom break. It wasn't until around 8 that others began to gather around and wait in line. My wife came and carried away the chair and sleeping bag around 9AM so I could stand for the last hour of waiting - and the last hour is ALWAYS the longest...
So what could I do? Pray. I asked God for help. Why would God help me get an expensive toy when there are people dying of cancer and starving on the other side of the world? Not because I deserve it. Maybe because I was humble enough to ask? I can't say with certainty. But what I can say is that it's never a waste of time to talk to God. I'd wager that most of what we think are moral and worthy causes are equally as meaningless as expensive toys from His perspective. The fact that he helps any of us at all with anything is frankly amazing.
The next blow came from Target about a week later. My console would not be delivered on launch date, but AFTER the weekend when I didn't have time to enjoy it properly. I called twice to see if I could upgrade to overnight shipping. After a stilted and worse than usual English-as-a-second-language conversation with Target's customer support, I finally worked out that once the order was placed it was immediately etched in stone and could not be altered.
It was shaping up to be a pretty dismal launch - I wouldn't get the new system until after the weekend, and I wouldn't get the Master Edition. But at least I could count on Amazon. Unlike Target they have this whole thing worked out so 99% of new games are delivered on launch day if you pre-order. I was sure to get Super Bomberman R, and if I was desperate for Zelda I could play it on the Wii U.
When March 1 rolled around, I was informed that even the juggernaut Amazon was going to let me down. My orders for the Wii U version of Zelda and Bomberman R were both now in limbo and definitely wouldn't be delivered until after the launch weekend - if ever.
By March 2nd I was pretty bummed and expected that this would be the first Nintendo console in 21 years that I didn't get to have on day 1. And then something miraculous happened. An email from Best Buy popped into my inbox explaining that they were having midnight openings in selected locations. Not a big deal on the surface of it, and not unexpected. There was a store in my city that was holding one of the openings and the listing said that there would be a limited supply of consoles for non-pre-order customers. I figured it would be worth spending a couple of hours in line to get the console on day 1. I could always return the one I pre-ordered from Target if I managed to get one at midnight.
When Best Buy opened I called and asked for a little detail about how they were handling the midnight opening, and fully expecting the answer to be "no", I asked if they would have any Zelda Master Editions that weren't already spoken for. To my absolute shock he answered that there were two stores in the area that should have at least one, but of course they would only be available on a first-come first-served basis. Also, neither of the stores that would have the Master Edition were having a midnight opening. To verify with absolute certainty that they indeed had a Master Edition available, he told me to call back that evening and speak with his night time counterpart to visually verify that the store had received one. I started to allow myself to hope a little and my mind raced with plans.
 |
| Only 14 hours to go! |
So I rushed to the car, pulled out my supplies and set up right in front of the entrance for a 14-hour wait to save both the integrity of my Zelda collection, and my 21-year streak of having every new Nintendo platform on day 1.
I'm no stranger to waiting in line for stuff like this. I did it for the PS2, the DS, the PSP, the Wii, and the PS3. On every one of those occasions there were always people driving by staring. Many would roll the window down and ask what we were waiting for, and in almost every instance, someone would make fun of us for waiting in line or call us crazy. This time my experience was a lot different. I had set up about an hour before the store closed for the night so around a dozen customers came and went in that time. The ones that bothered to acknowledge my presence would pause, cock their head and then say something like "Oh, he's going to get a Switch." And to my surprise it was almost always followed by something complimentary like "That's dedication." or "He's gonna get one." As the Best Buy employees left, they would sometimes stop to make sure I knew that the store wasn't opening at midnight, or to tell me they were impressed with my determination. The manager I had spoken with earlier left at around 10:30PM and took the time to tell me cheerfully that she'd see me in the morning, and asked if I was going to be warm enough. I was impressed by the level of awareness and acceptance of everyone who stopped by. Waiting in line for over a dozen hours for a toy was no longer a fringe activity, it was accepted and even lauded. Some things really do change.
There were a couple of people that stopped by around 11 to get in line with me but they were completely bewildered when I told them that this particular Best Buy was not opening at Midnight and left shortly afterward. It wasn't until around midnight that the next guy crazy enough to wait all night showed up. He was a night-shifter so he didn't get off of work until 11PM and knew that was way too late to get in line for a midnight opening. He was woefully unprepared for how cold it was outside. Truthfully I was still freezing underneath all of those layers. 20 degrees to 98.6 is one heck of a differential. We chatted for a hour or so. I offered to hold his spot in case anyone else showed up so he could use the restroom at a nearby gas station. He returned about 30 minutes later and handed me a packet of chemical hand warmers (man was that a kingly gift).
My wife would text me occasionally - she had graciously offered to stop by and hold my spot while I used the restroom and/or warmed up in the car. Around 3AM I took her up on it. After a brief bathroom break I was right back at it. Shortly after that the other guy in line left to go somewhere and sleep, leaving the seat from his van next to me as a placeholder. He came back around 6AM and I was still the only person in line. Around 7 my wife came back to give me another bathroom break. It wasn't until around 8 that others began to gather around and wait in line. My wife came and carried away the chair and sleeping bag around 9AM so I could stand for the last hour of waiting - and the last hour is ALWAYS the longest...
 |
| Safely Nestled in My Car - the Spoils of Victory |
It was done - launch day had been saved! I ended up with the Master Edition and a console on day 1. Thank the maker.
The epilogue to my story was that on the way back home, I swung by Gamestop to pick up my Special Edition of Zelda (the less-mega-rare premium version) and subsequently spent the weekend absorbed in the new Zelda game and really enjoying the new console.
Amazon had botched the Switch launch so badly that I now count it as a blessing that I didn't manage to get a pre-order in with them. They actually ended up losing my Super Bomberman R order altogether. When Monday came, my pre-ordered console from Target arrived and I promptly sold it (at cost) to a friend who wasn't able to get one.
I love happy endings:)
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