Small Wait Auto: GTAIV Wal-Mart launch recap (Tulsa, OK)

Gamestop sucks they don't even give you any incentives to buy the game there.

Which one are you? With the blazer? Or the black dude?

Well, that's good. On Halo launch, I went to a Walmart and there was a line of about 200 people and only 1 register. I decided I could wait until the next day and buy it at Best Buy.

That's a nice ride through the midnight launch! Makes things very smooth indeed!

I'd consider it except there is absolutely none in any reasonable distance from me.

Yeah, well Carson City Nv had even less, it was my buddy and I and one other, but I was'nt gettin a copy.....my buddy called me dumb, but when we got to his pad, it only took me 10 min to get bored, it took him about half an hour......then we flipped to online and the game got marginally better......not enough to justify $60 though............that game is the most overhyped BS ever.....Halo 3 was way more fun.....

haha wal-mart.. that's cute

I prefer going to gaming stores to hang out with other gamers while I wait. Non-game stores usually non-gamers (parents, grandparents) hanging out too and that's usually lame. But if my local Walmart Super Center has a midnight launch I may consider going there. I love that place...

Doh! Makes sense hehe...5 more hours for me

Got to Wal Mart at about 11:45, there was one guy waiting. Another ten or so showed up by 12:00. Halo 3 launch there were about 20 people. Across the parking lot at GameStop there were easily 100 people in line. Wal Mart is the way to go.

I stopped by a Gamecrazy at 10 til midnight (I didn't preorder) and at midnight they let 4 prepays in the door, and after 5 minutes, no one had yet walked out (there was a line of about 20 there). Gamestops in the area were worse... I drove over to Walmart (same shopping complex as the local gamestop) walked back to the Electronics section, and low and behold, one guy at the register buying GTAIV... I walked up and asked for a copy for the 360. While checking out a lady behind the checkout clerk (manager I think) held up the Special Edition, which I quickly asked for instead of the standard I was about to buy (I had asked previously, and was told Walmart would not have the SE). Needless to say, I was home by 12:20, SE in hand, no preorder, thanks to Walmart! And this was just your run of the mill 24hour store... nothing special about it.

They made 30 of us wait outside in Buffalo and it was 30 out. Wtf

I don't understand why Walmart hasn't done this before. It IS the perfect place to wait. You have so much around you that you don't mind waiting. OKC has a few 24 hr Supercenters and their games section is always sparse. Richard, you have found a goldmine. Well....you were the first one to scream "Gold!"

I actually also chose to forego the usual Gamestop/Best Buy midnight purchase and drove three blocks down the street to Blockbuster at about 10 til. First in line and home by 12:05, I won't do it any other way from now on. Also, I'm loving the Free Mode multiplayer, can't wait to get more of my friends in the game that didn't have the heart to go out at midnight last night. It's a blast to run around the city reeking havoc on the citizens of Liberty City as a mob!

Also, Richard, I was born and raised in Tulsa and graduated from OU several years ago, always good to hear stories from the hometown!

That's because Wal Mart is evil.

Great story, but it can't be a real representation of how all Walmart launches go ... and getting past that, I dunno, say what you will about standing in lines, cold, bored, 12AM, etc, but I'd rather support another company before I drop my cash at Walmart.

Walmart has the greatest midnight launches. I was lucky enough to get in on the Wii release there back in 2006. My friends and I just grabbed lawn chairs and set them up in the back asile until they would sell us the game.

This entry sounds more like a promotion for Wal-Mart than a midnight launch coverage.

I went to Walmart last night also. There were 5 people there, including me and my brother. I was home with the game at 12:07. I had another friend that went to a different walmart and had a similar experience. I know that I will be checking with Walmart first for my future midnight game releases.

I drove by the gamestop on the way to Walmart and there were about 40 people in line outside. When got back to the electronics section there about 15 people ahead of me and they had 2 registers going. I out of their in 10 min.

I figured I'd got to Wal-mart cause I didn't want to wait out in the cold, the fact the the line was much shorter was a bonus.

Wal-mart's where I got my Wii on launch date. One of my friends had a friend that was sitting by my friend, and his friend ended up not getting one, so through being a friend of my friend I became 11th in line instead of 25th (there were 19 consoles--one broke), and what's nice is that they had seats for all of us.

Columbus, OH / Canal Winchester (Suburb)

I was debating the last few hours before launch on what I wanted to do. My friend had a $10 reserve at EB Games and was pissed when he found out they weren't doing a midnight launch (they are inside a mall) like they originally said. They called and told him things changed (two days ago). So we were debating on CC @ 10AM, EB @ 10AM, GS @ 10AM or try Wally-World for the Midnighter. My boy texted me about 8PM and said let's go ahead and feed the beast Wally-World. We get anxious too around 11:15PM and just roll down the street 5 mins to WW. As we pull into the plaza we roll past GS where there is about 40 people outside (New Store) and park right upfront of Wal-Mart (my friend swears he's handicap). We get to the back of the store about 11:22Pm and see only about 4 people and they're just wondering around the Electronics Dept. wasting time. So my boy and I find a bench and just chill out clowning with other Wal-Mart employees. When it did hit midnight there were only about 20 people there, 3 employees, 2 lines. The employees where taking forever literally, when I got to the front of the line which took about 20 mins (I was about 12 people back.) I found out they didn't have Special Editions for sale at their location. I was a little piss but my boy bought his. We went outside to GS, I asked the employee in front of the line if they were selling 360 SE's tonight without reserves, he yelled for a quantity check and told me yes, GET TO THE BACK OF THE LINE (joking on the yelling). Chopped it up with a few guys in the back and they said they just left BlockBuster where their friend pickuped a SE without reserve. When we got their 2 mins later, they were sold out of SE's so we ran back over to GS where I had lost spots to only about 4 people. When I got home about 12:50AM, I bumped the soundtrack and then hit the game. So this was my long short night dealing with a launch. If Wal-Mart had the copy, my night would have been alot more gaming instead of sleeping. Better luck next time though.

There were about 30 people at the Walmart in Fayetteville, Ar. Thats not too far from Tulsa.

gamestop was packed just like the halo 3 launch. I went with gamestop this time because walmart failed to have a few exclusive games this year when they were supposed to. I prefer walmart because it's indoors, they provide chairs and even have tournaments with game thats launching, well at least my walmart does (Fayetteville, NC).