Tweet
A few generations back, a friend and I established a pretty nice launch-day ritual. When there was new hardware to try, I'd rise at rosy dawn, grab donuts, and get on a train to meet my pal who buys every console the minute it comes out. He'd queue for video games, I'd queue for coffees, and then we'd gather at his house to spend at least 12 hours cross-legged in front of the TV. I have no idea what he got out of this, although whenever we were in the kitchen getting refills, I'd do that hilarious thing where I make it look like the pedal bin is talking. Whatever: I can at least say that I enjoyed the whole event enormously. Early adopters are great, aren't they? Heck, there's a better than average chance that, if you're reading this, you're an early adopter yourself. Let's assume you are, and let me take a minute to show you a little appreciation. Let's catalogue the various things you do for the rest of us.
In the earliest days of a console's life, you're our demo pods - demo pods that frequently serve tea and biscuits, too, and ask us how our families are. Amazing memories! My friend and I first had our little ritual for the launches of the GameCube and the original Xbox. I can still remember those fat crows waiting for Luigi outside his mansion, the cloth physics on display as a rug disappeared into a Poltergust, those north-western climes of Halo's Truth and Reconciliation and the moment my friend first stuck a sticky grenade to the side of a sleeping grunt. Video games were amazing, but they were even more amazing than usual because they were suddenly so new again, and we weren't witnessing them on our lonesomes. We carried this on for the Wii and the PlayStation 3 and the 360, too. Bowling! Mii Plaza! The spinning, fizzing catherine wheel lights of Geometry Wars! Um, Resistance.
Read more…
More...