Joystiq

European WiiWare launch lineup

Alexander Sliwinski — 2008-05-13T08:30:00+00:00

There's a little bit of confusion regarding next Tuesday's WiiWare launch in Europe and what games will be available. Although Next-Gen reports that eight titles will be available at launch, Eurogamer found out from Nintendo that eight titles have been announced, but "not all eight titles will be immediately available from the May 20th launch date." Apparently the wording in the press release was a little tricky.

The European pricing for the games also didn't accompany Nintendo's press release. Eurogamer is guessing that the pricing (in Wii Points) will be the same as they are in the US and Japan. We've placed the launch list after the break. We'll update if Nintendo decides to clarify the situation.

Dr. Mario & Germ Buster (Nintendo)
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King (Square Enix)
LostWinds (Frontier)
Pirates: The Key of Dreams (Oxygen)
Pop (Nnooo)
Star Soldier R (Hudson)
Toki Tori (Two Tribes)
TV Show King (Gameloft)

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Grand Line Auto: A diverse gathering (Broken Arrow edition)

Jason Dobson — 2008-04-29T04:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Culture, Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360

Given the nearly unquantifiable level of anticipation building up to the midnight unveiling of Rockstar's opus, it seemed prudent to roll up to the local Broken Arrow, OK Gamestop well in advance of the game's release. All of the preparation went for naught, however, as the store kept its doors open all night as enthusiasts congregated inside, joked in the secret language that only we nerds can appreciate, and not-so-quietly chatted about the game they would very soon be playing.

Even for Oklahoma, which isn't a video game mecca by any stretch of the imagination, the event showed the popularity of a game like Grand Theft Auto and its reach across all demographics. By 11:00 PM, the store had seen pre-purchases by an off-duty police officer, an elderly father purchasing the game for his underage son and equally youthful pal, and an older man obviously buying the game for a child waiting gingerly outside for the opportunity to run over prostitutes in glorious, high definition.

Things began to take a turn for the strange by 11:45 pm, when the loitering mass of thugs-to-be were ushered outside the store to form an "orderly line." By now the headcount was 80 strong and growing, with the majority having showed up tonight to purchase the game -- only a very small handful of those in attendance had pre-ordered the game beforehand, a reality that made the fact that they were asked to wait outside for the last 15 minutes in the wind and cold after hanging out in the store all the more surreal.

I like to think that the time passed for the employees inside even slower than it did for us in the night air as they found themselves without the conversation partners they had enjoyed for the last two or so hours.

As both the big hand and little hand on the clock nestled together on the 12, small groups of those in line were permitted entrance into the store, where two lines were quickly formed, pre-purchase receipts and photo IDs checked, and games handed over. As launch events go, it was certainly one of the most orderly and least abrasive that I've had the pleasure of being a part of -- a comical contrast to the game that inspired the gathering in the first place. As someone was overheard as a group of us filed out of the Gamestop, "Life, it was nice knowing you ... I'll see you again in a week."

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Grand Line Auto: Almost failure to launch (Boston edition)

Alexander Sliwinski — 2008-04-29T03:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Culture, Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360, Business

click to embiggen

I don't have much luck with midnight launches. Turns out the midnight launch at the Best Buy in Dedham, Massachusetts, was no exception. Signs that something was wrong were quite evident when I was driving through the parking lot and noticed the considerable lack of vehicles present. Standing outside the store was the manager, Howard, who had some bad news.

Howard, in a very somber, respectful and apologetic tone, told me there wouldn't be a midnight launch at the store. He explained, "It's a problem with the license. You have to have a special permit between midnight and six in the morning." Thanks, town of Dedham! Obviously, the store didn't get the permit and Howard said he'd be standing outside until about 2AM giving customers the bad news.

The bright side of this failure to launch in Dedham is that the store will open at 6AM tomorrow (today) and anyone that showed up for the midnight launch will get 10% off the game (they gave out slips as proof).

At this point it was 11:25, with still plenty of time to make it from Dedham to Cambridge for the only other midnight launch in Mass. All I could do was hope that the Cambridge store didn't have a licensing problem as well.

A to B is Dedham to Cambridge ... this is definitely not the route I drove

After driving through the pouring rain along the Jamaicaway (a windy road that isn't fun -- especially not in snow, rain or with drunks on the road), hopping across the Charles and going down the wrong way of a one way street to park (quite illegally) in the Petco across from the Best Buy at the Cambridge Side Galleria, it was quite obvious this place was having a midnight launch. The line had hundreds of people in it and stretched down the street.

GameStop Prudential line (Photo cred. Brendan)

I got in line. The guy in front of me received an image from one of his friends waiting in line at the Gamestop at the Prudential mall (above). Turns out the line was just as long there and consisted purely of pre-order folks -- and those people would probably be waiting a while because (if previous coverage holds true) there are only two registers.

The Best Buy Cambridge line was quick and efficient. Of course, some jerk in a car drove by screaming, "It's sold out." Luckily, not the case. I passed the time by talking to the guy in line behind me, Oliver, and it turned out he was another exile from the Dedham store (he even had a pre-order there). We finally hit the main door around 12:24AM. Upon entering, they had salsa music playing and a big table where you picked up your copy of the game, paid and got out. A five minute painless experience and I was back home by 1AM ...

And poor Howard, the Dedham Best Buy manager, was probably still outside turning people away.

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Seen @ Huntington GTA IV launch: A history of Nerf-related violence

Griffin McElroy — 2008-04-29T02:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Culture, Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360

The brave souls who soldiered through the vast queue at the Gamestop in downtown Huntington, W. Va. were put through a rigorous gauntlet of trials and tribulations before being rewarded with Rockstar's blockbuster shoot em' up -- including, but not limited to a freak, unseasonal cold front; a somewhat humorous (but unfortunately brief and unphotographed) drive-by water balloon strike; and alarming in-line discussions of bomb recipes and Sedan-mounted automatic weaponry.

However, the most disturbing sight seen at the launch is pictured above -- a tragic crime scene, just a few feet away from the store's registers. These two poor fellows were just mere moments from claiming their respective copies of the much anticipated title, leaving behind a puzzling forensic tableau. Hastily driving from the event with copies of Grand Theft Auto IV in hand, we were left with these pertinent questions:

What kind of altercation could have lead to this unfortunate double homicide?
What modifications were made to the pictured Nerf guns that imbued them with lethal force?
What sort of Crime Scene Investigation squad leaves behind the murder weapons in such a public place?
Most importantly, why did Gamestop remain open following this horrible act of violence?

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Grand Line Auto: Waiting for GTA IV (Baltimore suburbs edition)

Kyle Orland — 2008-04-29T01:30:00+00:00

Filed under: Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360

Believe it or not, the police car in that photo actually belongs to an off-duty Anne Arundel County police officer looking to pick up a copy of the anticipated crime simulator for himself. But that doesn't mean there wasn't active law enforcement involved with the Grand Theft Auto 4 launch festivities at this Laurel, MD Gamestop. Keep reading for more pictures and a full account of the line-waiting experience as GTA4-eve finally bled into GTA4-day.

By 11:45, there were 50 people waiting in the 55 degree weather of the strip mall parking lot to get their copy of the game as soon as possible. By midnight, the crowd had swelled to about 70, and late stragglers brought the total pick up count closer to 100. Store management opened the doors at around 11:30 to start processing payments and get receipts cleared so the handouts would go smoothly at the stroke of midnight. Still, the line wasn't fully cleared until about 12:30.

Federal officer Kevin McMurtry was on hand to make sure the line behaved in an orderly fashion. Store management called him in at around 9 p.m., he said, to keep an eye on things and prevent confusion over the the two-line system the store had set up (one to get your receipt marked, one to wait to pick up the game). McMurtry said that the crowd was nothing compared to the Halo 3 launch, which reached around the block, and that everyone was on their best behavior. "Everybody knows if you make trouble, you're not getting the game," he said.

Ryan Wilhite, Charley Kingsley and Jon Gomez (right to left) were the first ones to line up for the game at 4 p.m. Monday. Simon Rojas (far left) and Julian Richardson (not pictured) joined the line around 8 p.m. Asked why they got there so early, Kingsley gestured towards the line and said they "thought it would be like this, then." The group agreed that the multiplayer mode was the main draw for No. 4, but granted that they'd be blasting through the single-player mode all night tonight. "We might not be going to school tomorrow," Gomez offered. Might? "Maybe it's definite," Wilhite added.

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Rumor: Europe's Rock Band rollin' onto PS3, PS2 and Wii Aug. 29

Alexander Sliwinski — 2008-04-14T16:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Sony PlayStation 2, Sony PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii

VideoGamer reports that EA has slated Rock Band's release on PS3, PS2 and Wii in Europe for August 29. This means the Xbox 360 will have three months of exclusivity on the ~~exorbitantly priced~~ enhanced cost game before it releases on other consoles.

Harmonix's PR states it has not made an official announcement on a European release for any other consoles beyond the Xbox 360. We'll update this story if things change, but for now this release date is still in the rumor territory. Either way, there's still plenty of time for non-Xbox 360 owners to sell a kidney (remember, keep at least one!) to afford the game.

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1UP ranks botched PC game launches

Justin McElroy — 2008-03-24T11:30:00+00:00

Filed under: PC

If you've played PC games for any length of time, we're sure you've experienced it: You wait for months for the game to be released, only to spend launch day (week? month?) staring at a frozen cinematic, a crashed-to desktop or (in the old days) the dreaded blue screen of death. 1UP has called up those repressed, heart-breaking memories to rank them in order of their wretchedness.

Some picks are obvious, while a couple may be a surprise. What we're really interested in though is which of your own personal tragedies escaped the list? We're not limiting the question to PC gamers: As we learned over the weekend, even console launches aren't immune from being debacles.

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Report: Wii coming to South Korea by May 5

Kyle Orland — 2008-03-18T11:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Nintendo Wii

We've known for a while now that Nintendo was planning to bring the Wii to PC-gaming mecca South Korea some time this year, but recent word has it that the system may be hitting the country's shores sooner than later. The Korea Times is reporting that Nintendo and Activision recently registered two Wii games each with Korea's Game Rating Board. The paper speculates this move means Nintendo Korea is looking to launch by Children's Day on May 5, a popular gift-giving holiday in the country. Though there's no official announcement from Nintendo, we can't think of a better holiday to launch for a system known for kid-friendly games like Super Mario Galaxy and Resident Evil 4.

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Joystiq live-ish at the U. of Illinois SSBB midnight launch

Kyle Orland — 2008-03-09T11:35:00+00:00

Filed under: Retro, Nintendo Wii, Fighting

What started with around five people milling around an Urbana-Champaign, IL Gamestop at 6 p.m. became a throng of about 200 clamoring for the midnight launch of Nintendo's newest fighting extravaganza. But don't take our word for it -- check out our video report from the scene last night.

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Japanese Wii Ware promo page shows off 11 games

Kyle Orland — 2008-03-03T15:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Nintendo Wii, Online

While American Wii owners have to wait until May to enjoy original downloadable Wii Ware games, Japanese Wii owners are gearing up for the March launch of the service with a screenshot-filled promotional web page.

The site's list of 11 games (translated to English below) is conspicuously missing Western -developed titles like ~~Telltale's~~ Frontier's (edit: typo) Lost Winds and Mastiff's Major League Eating, although that last omission might be considered a bonus for Japan. It's not clear which of the listed games will be available for the service's Japanese launch, but you can bet the initial lineup will be better line up than the three games that are currently confirmed for the service's U.S. debut.

Games listed on the Japanese Wii Ware site:

FFCC: The Young King and the Promised Land
StarSoldierR
Word Puzzle Mojipittan Wii
Pokemon Ranch
Dr. Mario's Virus Buster
Marubou Shikaku
Magnetica
Bomberman
Okiraku Ping-Pong Wii
Angels' Solitaire
Joysound Wii

[Via NintendoWiiFanboy]

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Zac Efron turns Los Angeles Halo 3 launch into teeny bopperazzi fest

Kevin Kelly — 2007-09-25T03:45:00+00:00

Filed under: Culture, Microsoft Xbox 360, Action, Fighting, First Person Shooters, Galleries

Boy, we didn't expect the crowds in line for the Halo 3 launch at Universal Citywalk in Los Angeles to start screaming like little girls when Zac Efron appeared, but they certainly did. We'll be hearing those shrill screams in our ears for days to come. Unless we pump up the volume on Halo 3 while we get into some fragoffs.

So, having attended the Halo 2 launch at the same spot, this launch was incredibly lackluster. There was no music, no local radio DJ pumping up the crowd, no bikini-clad babes handing out samples of Mountain Dew, no one hurling t-shirts into the crowd, and no big countdown and fanfare. The most noise made by the crowd was whenever Master Chief would stroll by, and everyone would go nuts trying to take a photo of him. Then there was the guy handing out free swag for ... The Kingdom. Everyone mobbed the poor guy, thinking it was Halo stuff, but they were bummed when it turned out to be notebooks and pins from the upcoming movie.

Gallery: Halo 3 Launch - Los Angeles

However, all of that was tossed aside when ZAC! appeared on the scene. You would have thought the Beatles had just made the second coming. People immediately shoved everything aside in their way to get a photo of ZAC! Some teenagers in front of us were screaming "OH MY GOD! HE'S SOOOOO CUTE!" Wow. We're not quite sure why they got him to sell the first copy, unless Disney made a deal with the Devil (er, Microsoft) in order to give Zac a little macho street cred.

So, that excitement aside, the rest of the evening was spent watching Zac and Executive Producer Jonty Barnes play the game up until the stroke of midnight. At that point, a smiling Zac, Master Chief (we don't know if he was smiling) a GameStop employee, and someone from Entertainment Tonight sell hardcore fan Chris Brubaker the very first copy of Halo 3 in Los Angeles. He also got a nifty little Halo 3 courier bag, and hopefully some sleep. He'd been waiting since noon on Sunday to buy the game.

After that little photo-op, the doors were open and the long line began streaming in. We were lucky enough to snag our copy right after Chris, and we high-tailed it out of there before we got trampled to death.

Some notables:

The line was much shorter than the Halo 2 and Burning Crusade launches
One TV news reporter was heard saying, just before he interviewed Master Chief, "Uh, is his name Master Chief? Are they all Master Chiefs? What's the deal on that?"
All the food shops nearby were closed, which led to save grumbling tummies in line. Nice planning.
The only swag we saw handed out were Halo 3 posters, although they had a big rack of things for sale. We picked up a wristband and some achievement pins, ftw.
Some people kept unrolling a massive GTA: San Andreas banner and holding it up. We're not sure why.
People go nuts for free stuff.

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We wait for the Halo 3 (Boston edition): aka failure to launch

Alexander Sliwinski — 2007-09-25T01:15:00+00:00

Filed under: Culture

Don't see much in the picture above? Don't worry about it because there's nothing to see. Remember how there were those midnight Wal-Mart launches for Halo 3? Well apparently that didn't apply to the Wal-Mart in Walpole, Mass. Quick timeline of the events leading to midnight:

11:43PM - Arrive to an almost empty parking lot at Wal-Mart.
11:43:30 - Realize there is nothing going on here as I watch a woman cleaning inside.
11:44 - Two guys pull up asking what's the deal with the midnight launch? Tell them it looks like it's not happening here.
11:48 - Call up Ross who's apparently in a really great launch line waiting for his copy. Ask him if he can easily find a 7-Eleven on his internet-enabled phone that has a midnight launch. He can't hear me, but the two guys in the car know of a local store. It'll be a roll of the dice whether they're selling Halo.
11:50 - Follow the two guys to the nearest 7-Eleven. That's at least where I hoped we were going.
11:55 - Arrive at the local 7-Eleven and in a very awkward exchange that involves me pointing at the Slurpee machine and asking if they are selling, "The Halo 3." The clerk politely responds and laughs, "No, no, no, no."
11:57 - Say goodbye to the two strangers who say they're off to bed. They say they'll just pick it up tomorrow morning.
12:01AM - Standing in the empty 7-Eleven parking lot and accepting the fact that there won't be the Haloz tonight. Begin the drive home.

So, what's the point of this post? Did you try and get a copy of the game tonight and have no luck? Share your stories below.

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Analysts: Halo 3 shipping 4.2 million first week; Xbox may finally show profit

Alexander Sliwinski — 2007-09-24T20:15:00+00:00

Filed under: Microsoft Xbox 360, Business

So there's this Halo 3 launch thing going on and it's apparently big, so big that firm Goldman Sachs projects it might actually bring Microsoft's Xbox division into "slight profitability." Analysts for the firm say that Microsoft will ship 4.2 million copies of Halo by the end of September. Even if all those were the normal $60 version that's still $252 million. Microsoft's fiscal quarter ends at the end of the week and the game is expected to bring in $170 million by then, meaning the Xbox division will have its first quarter of profitability since the launch of the original Xbox. It's back to black baby -- for now.

The September NPD numbers expected in mid October will be incredibly interesting in terms of the Halo effect. Halo 3 is guaranteed to be the top selling game (only an act of whatever deity you believe in could stop that at this point), but we're more interested to see the Xbox 360 sales figures. Goldman Sachs expects the momentum of the Halo launch to last well into next year. Wait, hold up ... are they saying Microsoft could have two profitable quarters in the Xbox's entertainment and devices division? *faint*

[Via GameDaily]

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Impressive homemade Master Chief costume at Halo launch NYC

Alexander Sliwinski — 2007-09-24T16:15:00+00:00

Filed under: Culture, Microsoft Xbox 360

Jim Cush from N. Babylon, New York, is definitely dressed to impress at the official Halo 3 launch event going on now in New York City at Best Buy. Cush says that the costume cost him "multiple thousands" of dollars and a year "on and off" to create. Asked if he's going to sell it on eBay, he jokingly replies, "I want to be buried in it. They'll dig me up 10,000 years from now and say, 'He must have been king.'"

Cush's friend Tom isn't afraid to give some more details, "It started with the helmet, then one thing led to another and now he's got the armor, flag, plasma grenades and guns." He estimates that the whole thing set his friend back about two to three thousand dollars. Hell, if it gets him on-air with Major Nelson we're sure it'll be worth it. Bungie says they have their own Master Chief showing up soon -- yeah, but it means more when somebody does something like this out of love.

[Special Thanks to Ray A. Hernández]

Gallery: Halo 3 launch NYC

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Halo 3 launch events in US and free Xbox Live Gold

Alexander Sliwinski — 2007-09-11T21:55:00+00:00

Filed under: Microsoft Xbox 360, First Person Shooters

The time is almost upon us to finish the fight and today Microsoft announced the official details for their plans around the Halo 3 launch. Microsoft is calling it the "Unite to Fight" events. The most prominent thing that everyone can enjoy is from Sept. 25-27 everyone will automatically have Xbox Live Gold membership sponsored by Best Buy -- meaning you can play online with (or against) friends regardless of their Xbox Live membership.

There will be four major Halo 3 launch events in:

New York City - Best Buy, 529 5th Ave, New York, NY, 10017
Seattle - Best Buy, 457 120th Ave NE, Bellevue, WA 98005
Los Angeles - Gamestop, 1000 Universal Studios Blvd, Universal City, CA 91608
Miami - Circuit City, 8575 Northwest 13th Terrace, Miami, FL 33126

You can check out more details at X3F. For those who just want their damn copy of the game without all the pomp and circumstance, remember you can just stop by 7-Eleven at midnight for the game and a Slurpee, or the "over 10,000 stores [which] will be open to sell Halo 3 in the biggest entertainment launch in history." Remember, the Halo 3 launch has lofty goals to attain.

[Via X3F]

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Wii hits 100,000 in Australia, breaks more records

Scott Jon Siegel — 2007-06-21T12:49:00+00:00

Filed under: Nintendo Wii

The Wii is lightning fast in Australia. It was already the fastest selling console at launch, and now the Wii has surpassed yet another milestone, selling over 100,000 consoles down under in less than six and-a-half months.

This beats the Xbox 360's previous record, which was 100,000 consoles in approximately seven months, Gamespot News reports. The Nintendo Wii launched in Australia on December 7, 2006. We'll have to wait and see whether the PS3, which launched on March 23, 2007, can outpace Nintendo's speedy little machine.

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Australian PS3 launch underwhelming

Alexander Sliwinski — 2007-03-22T19:30:00+00:00

Filed under: Sony PlayStation 3, Business

Today is tomorrow in Australia. Not just is it tomorrow, but it's coming on noon. According to The Sydney Morning Herald the PlayStation 3 launched last night with "officials, media and security outnumbering customers." The 500 retailers on the continent opened their doors for a midnight launch and despite the estimated 20,000 pre-orders "most stores were virtually deserted."

The Herald says even the official launch event at Myer's Pitt Street store had only 40 people in line at midnight "causing distress for the army of camera crews who turned up expecting to capture launch mayhem." The gentlemen who ended up being first in line showed up at 9 PM. Adding insult to injury, television producers "unashamedly" had the crowd fake cheer for the cameras. A local radio station even had their on-air talent create "bogus cheers" to convince listeners that a major event was going on. Looks like the hype accompanying the U.S. launch has all but vanished. We'll get a better picture of the PS3 PAL release later this evening when reports of the European launch trickle in. Maybe the land down under is just full of Xbox and Nintendo fanboys?

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Italy breaks Euro PS3 street date

Kyle Orland — 2007-03-21T11:35:00+00:00

Filed under: Sony PlayStation 3, Business

You'd think that after waiting for roughly five months longer than the rest of the world, European retailers would be able to wait a couple more days to start selling their one million stockpiled PS3s. Apparently not, though, as an Italian retailer has broken Sony's carefully planned street date, causing a domino effect in other other stores across the country.

GamesIndustry.biz reports that small specialist chain Darty took out ads for a 7 p.m. Wednesday PS3 sale in advance of the official Friday launch. Competitor Media World responded by canceling midnight sales plans and letting its stock loose at 9 a.m. Wednesday morning (or roughly seven and a half hours ago, Italy time, as of this posting). Italy's GameStop stores are currently planning to stick to the street date, but said they might be forced to break it to stay competitive.

Sony, for its part, is "deeply disappointed by the unilateral decision" to launch early and is "carefully consider[ing] all available options in relation to retailers who have commenced sale of PlayStation 3 prior to 23rd March 2007." Unilateral decisions? Retaliation? Is this the console war or the Iraq war?

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Brits learn from U.S., some stores cancel PS3 midnight launch

Alexander Sliwinski — 2007-03-20T23:30:00+00:00

Filed under: Culture, Sony PlayStation 3

In an effort to protect the citizens of London during the PlayStation 3 launch this Friday, police expressed security concerns and two major retailers on Oxford Street have canceled their midnight launches. Virgin Megastore will still proceed as scheduled, but Game and HMV are opening at their normal time the following morning.

Great examples of the right and wrong way to hold a launch occurred in Boston last year during the PS3's U.S. launch. Best Buy at Landmark saw the writing on the wall and canceled their midnight launch, placing public safety above profit. On the other hand, the Sony Style Store at Copley Square took a very different approach. Although they didn't hold a midnight launch, they withheld information from customers about how many units were available and caused tensions to escalate over the evening. It all came to a head the following morning with screaming crowds and panic. The mayor ended up billing Sony for the chaos, but at least nobody got shot. Best advice to our fellow gamers across the pond: Stay calm Europe, stay calm.

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London police gear up for midnight PS3 launch

Kyle Orland — 2007-03-16T12:25:00+00:00

Filed under: Culture, Sony PlayStation 3, Business

In the wake of the somewhat chaotic crowds surrounding the U.S. PS3 launch, London police are taking steps to make sure the midnight sale at Virgin Megastore's marquee Oxford Street location goes smoothly. GamesIndustry.biz reports Sony and Virgin are working with police to make sure the crowds of PS3 fans wont clog up the streets and subway station entrances on March 23.

Police are also suggesting special precautions so gamers attending the midnight launch don't become "an advert for muggers," as an unnamed source on the Westminster Council put it. People queueing up should bring a friend and a mobile phone, carry as little cash as possible and carry the system home in an unmarked bag, a police spokesperson said.

Don't want to worry about becoming mugger-bait? "Don't attend the launch event," the spokesperson suggested. "Pre-order your console and pick it up during the daytime." Hey, you Europeans have waited this long for the PS3, so what's a few more hours?

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