just checking if anyone wanted to carpool to avoid the freaking 10 parking
I’m on the opposite coast but I have to ask- what’s happeing at Universal tonight?
I’m only 50 miles South and I have to ask - what’s happeing at Universal tonight?
A bunch of us from VUG will be there to take in the spectacle and yell “GEEKS!” as often as possible.
EB Games (Electronics Boutique Holdings Corp.) (NASDAQ:ELBO) will launch “Halo(R) 2,” the successor to the largest selling Xbox game to date, at midnight tonight, Monday, November 8th. The title will launch at more than 1,300 EB Games storefronts across the nation, giving hundreds of thousands of diehard fans the opportunity to be among the first to purchase “Halo 2” at EB Games’ special “Midnight Madness” events. EB Games’ premiere “Halo 2” launch event will be held at its recently opened flag ship store location on the famed Universal CityWalk in Los Angeles.
Heh, Sierra picketing the other big FPS of the month. Funny.
Uh, we’re not picketing. All of us have pre-ordered the collector’s edition. I can’t wait to play it.
damn. there goes my self-righteous Adam-bashing :wink:
[size=1]it was a joke, but i am still apprehensive about most of your posts[/size]
November 05, 2004 - Monday night thousands of eager gamers will begin lining up outside video game stores across the country. With upwards of two million preorders, Halo 2 is the sensation of 2004. It may not end up the best selling game of the year, but no other game launch is an event like Halo 2.
Being the most important game it has ever released, Microsoft is sponsoring specific stores in five different locations. If you’re near one of these places, be sure to stop by before midnight to catch the festivities. Though there is no official statement as to the possibility of prizes, since these are official Microsoft events, it’s safe to assume they will offer more for gamers than any other store in the US.
Along with the LA Citywalk, you can find Microsoft-sponsored launch events at the following places:
Seattle, WA - Electronics Boutique
400 Pine StreetChicago, IL - Best Buy
1000 W North AveDallas, TX - GameStop
6109 Greenville AveSan Francisco, CA - EB
151 Powell St.If you come to the Powell Street EB, we’ll see you there! Now, go get Halo 2.
– Hilary Goldstein
That Chicago location is not very far from me, however I have no plans to buy this game tonight…Tomorrow afternoon likely though.
Looks like I quit EB just in the nick of time…
On a somewhat related note, do any of you know people working for EB or Gamestop?
I talk to this guy that works at the EB closest to me and he said the used game stuff has really changed their clientele. He compared it to a pawn shop for video game hardware and software. He had a bunch of stories regarding people trying to sell obviously boosted stuff, from homes, businesses and shipments.
He also mentioned that some stores get robbed a lot, and looked a little nervous to be one of only 2 people that would be working tonight’s event at the store, where they have ~300 preorders, with over 400 total copies to distribute, and will be open from midnight until they sell out.
I was aware that used games were big business for the chains now, but hadnt thought about the pawn shop angle or the fact that these stores have a lot of cash on hand and are poorly staffed and not very secure. Mall shops are probably fairly safe but this one, like many others, is in strip mall with no kind of security at all.
olaf
I’ll never understand lines for these things…
on the used game angle - aren’t there laws regarding stores buying used shit from people? Like they take down your drivers license #, etc… so they can find you if it is stolen?
Actually wasn’t there a news story a year or so ago about a lady who was trying to get back her stolen ps2 from an eb store and they knew it was stolen but tried to make her buy it or something?
There are laws, and they do require some kind of id. But people are still pawning stolen shit, at least according to this guy I talk to.
The story you mention happened with Gamestop I believe, they wouldnt give her her PS2 back even with a police report that included a confession. Nice.
olaf
Gah! You’re giving me Radio Shack flashbacks. I’d be a lot nervous in his situation. The mall is going to be empty save for the people going to EB and those 2 people unless EB is paying the mall rent-a-cops overtime, which I doubt. Even if they are there, I wouldn’t be very reassured.
I had the bad luck of working at Radio Shack during the Rodney King riots. The mall security people decided to close up shop before sundown on the second day of rioting and they claim that they told all the shops to do the same. I never got the word and it was just me and my co-worker in the mall after dark. Once we figured that out we called our manager who told us to stay open. We finally said fuck it locked up and bolted. The only reason we didn’t get mugged was because my co-workers husband showed up to take her home and the guy was black and a bodybuilder. The store was broken into 10 minutes later.
Me either. I only live a few miles from Universal Citywalk and I won’t be there. Sorry, Shieldwolf.
shrug No really different than working in the video rental business.
Unlike most game stores, video rental stores tend to be larger with more room for theives to manuever product to a less visible location in the store. And unlike the game stores, the discs tend to actually be inside the rental boxes. Add to this the fact that all stores are open to midnight, every night, and many until 1am on weekends.
At Blockbuster, the most common method relised on the fact that the movie cases are easily sliced with an easy to conceal shipping knife, allowing the disc to be pocketed. A fair number of stores don’t have games in the thick clear plastic cases, making them easy targets as well. The locks on both the regular and extra-strength cases use magnets to unlock them, and are easily bypassed once you know how. In fact, two years back, the chain was hit pretty bad due to a flexible magnet toy given out by Arby’s that worked perfectly on the cases with a single swipe.
Of course, the other popular method is just to have three or so guys walk in, open garbage bags and run towards the front doors tossing in as many as possible.
Even in the best protected video stores, it’s rare that one movie or game doesn’t goes missing every week.
What I meant by robbed was, held up at gunpoint for cash and all the software they can carry. That is what the guy was telling me, that some of their franchises in the Houston area have been hit more than once in a year.
olaf
It was a whole bunch of PS2 games, it was EB, and it was about 20 miles from me. As far as I know, EB still hasn’t offered to give her the stuff back, even after a police report confirmed it was stolen and the thief confessed, and said exactly what store he sold the stuff to.