[Beretta55]

Meryl did Wal-Mart flat out not have Legend Of Zelda at all? I bet they probably sold out. Since everyone and their dog wants that game, I ALMOST didn't get one at the midnight Wal-Mart launch but more on that later. I will now regale you with my Wii line story, prepare to be amazed, shocked, surprised, and perhaps have fun at my expense.

I left my house at around 1:45 PM after doing some homework. I left to scope out the situation of places and see how the line for the Wii was. Well I arrived at the second closet Wal-Mart at 2 PM and there were 18 people in line, I stood in the line while my mom went to check how many units they had. She came back and they had twenty units, with maybe more on the way but those units never showed just the original twenty. We decided to stay in line and she left to get me some food to make the wait more bearable. A guy showed up ten minutes later and secured the twenty spot, he was there earlier in the morning and only saw twelve in line and didn’t think it’d get that bad, he was wrong. Him and the guy in front of me we became good friends out of the experience. Aaron who was number twenty in line and Ryan who was eighteen in line, we talked about videogame related things, anime, the madness of the PS3 launch and the talk of us hoping it not happening to us. Aaron then went and bought a monopoly board game and we played that for five hours until Ryan won, the punk monopolized the hell out of everything and no matter where you went you would land on a hotel of his.

The wait was long and sore since sitting in wooden chairs gets irritating on the body after a while. My mom stayed with me right around until seven and then my dad came and replaced her at 9:30 and we just kept waiting till the midnight launch. At around ten we all shuffled inside and the guy who showed up at 8 AM to be first in line started writing up all our numbers and gave them to us, so we make sure who is who and that nobody cuts in unfairly. More time passed and it seemed antagonizing, you’d think at least half an hour pass you look at your watch or clock on your phone and it’s only been five minutes, it was a bitch.

At around eleven one of the guys in line came down to everyone and said “you down for doing the Conga line down to the Wii line?” It was hilarious and I of course accepted the chance to make a public spectacle of myself. The wait got bigger and bigger, a lot of us made jokes I said “I wonder what a couch feels like” and some people laughed since we were either sitting in uncomfortable chairs or standing for at least ten hours, some were here even longer then that like the guy who showed up at eight AM. The time had come and they brought us down but they got us their ten minutes until street date so the waiting was just more intense. Oddly though the line doubled in around this time, Wal-Mart was only getting twenty and there were at least twenty or thirty more people behind us. Myself and twenty other people were in line mostly the entire day, some people showed up but left when finding about the release numbers. A guy who was 21st I felt sorry for, he waited JUST as long as us and didn’t get one. But it seems he knew a guy in line and they were brothers or something so he’ll still get to play the system which makes me happy, since he damn well deserves a system for roughing it out. And for those that care we never did the Conga line…I know it breaks my heart too.

But the line moved relatively slow, thirty minutes had pass since twelve when Ryan, Aaron and Myself finally got there, the final three. Some guys behind us were grumbling all pissed off even though they showed up at around 11-11: 30 PM which means they had NO chance. Some were making threats and saying they would “knock out our legs with crowbars and steal them” another said, “The Italian in me says we tackle who leave the store and take them.” It was really, really said. If anything the guy who was twenty one in line and was there a long time had EVERY right to be angry but he kept his cool and didn’t make threats or act out of line, so I hope he gets one soon.

Then me and my buddies got to the line, Ryan got Red Steel and Super Monkey Ball, I got Legend Of Zelda: Twilight Princess and Call Of Duty 3, I’ve already previously gotten Trauma Center: Second Opinion, Red Steel, Marvel Ultimate: Alliance and Rayman: Raving Rabbids so I only needed those two. Aaron just got Legend Of Zelda: Twilight Princess as well, which is really all you need since I mean come on…It’s Zelda if you gotta get something make it Zelda.
The funny thing is and I mentioned it at the start of this post me and Aaron almost didn’t get Zelda. They were running out of copies and we were worried the five or six people in front of us would take the remaining two left. Well a lady came out and pulled out like eight Zelda’s out of a sack and Aaron and myself let out a huge sigh of relief since it’s the game we were gunning for, it’s all he was getting so it’s good he got one too. Aaron told the lady "I love you" she and people in line laughed.

Then my father, Ryan and myself waited for Aaron to get his and we all walked out together, Aaron gave Ryan a lift to his car and my dads truck was not far off. We shook hands and we said our goodbyes, I hope I see those guys again since they were awesome and made the experience very nice.

I got my Wii and I’m happy and it was worth it. I’m recovering from the cold, I smell like the street and my back hurts from the wooden chair I had but for the system, the people I met, the friends I made and the general light hearted and joking atmosphere of the launch made it one of the coolest experiences ever. More launch line-ups should be like this, not a mob mentality that some people were susceptible too in other states, this is an experience I’ll never forget, it was just awesome. I think JJ will agree with my sentiments if he reads all this.

Sorry for the length of this but that was my entire launch line-up experience hope it wasn’t too boring. Now I’ll probably be going to bed soon, I feel spent.