GOT ONE!

Got one! That was the taunt that we (my friend, Ben, I and about 45 other people) heard twice battling the cold outside Best Buy in Beavercreek, OH Monday night through Tuesday morning. 2 cars drove by while we were waiting for the store to open and for the tickets to be handed out. The funny thing is: they were proudly holding Core systems (dumbasses!). I could have gotten a Core system easily hours earlier and wouldn't have been waiting in line for anything other than the Premium package.

Remember when I said a lot of waiting? (check 2 posts down) Well, I wasn't thinking 15 hours! Our original plan was to wait in nice warm Wal-Mart (which opened at midnight). We showed up around 3:30PM, which was 1 hour too late to get the Premium system (the only option IMO).

After the initial despair of being 1 hour too late (damn punks showed up as early as 8AM Monday, WTH!), we decided to check out Target, my next planned stop if the Wal-Mart fell through. Well, as usual the Target knew shit and were opening at 8AM, which was different from I read on the internet (supposedly they were going to open at midnight, too).

Well, we could have waited at Target, but if we did, we'd need to get some nourishment (which meant a quick stop to my local Buffalo Wild Wings; yummy!). I figured we should stop by Best Buy first because I knew they'd be getting more units in stock than Target and if they were opening at the same time, we'd have a better chance of picking one up.

Ben was going to go to the Springfield one, but I knew that the Fairfield Commons location was getting more units (stock was divvied up between retail chains and individual stores based on previous sales numbers). So, we headed over there after eating some boneless wings and were shocked to see that a line was already formed in front of Best Buy.

We hurried inside to take a leak and checked out the stock of the games and get some info: namely how many units they were getting and what time they were opening. Ben bought a Play & Charge kit (for his wireless controller) and Condemned. I bought Project Gotham Racing 3.

We headed outside to grab our spot, though we were absolutely unprepared to wait outside in the cold (and it was very cold: Low 27° + Wind Chill). We called my little brother, Dan, who without his help (a heavy blanket, a pair of wool socks, my beanie, 2 chairs [Ben's broke on him :)], my gloves coming hours later) in addition to his monetary donation, I would not have gotten one.

Another essential benefit to surviving that night was that I had my friend with me. I even made some new friends, who without them (Sean, you are absolutely hilarious!), I would have been bored to death. Thanks everyone for the help and support!

I don't have pics, but there were other people in line that were taking some (I'm probably floating around the net somewhere). There are also many reports on the web involved personal struggles and celebrations during the Xbox 360 launch (links from IGN):

• This is a rather strange story about a wait in front of Target (poor guys).
  
• A survey of the situation in Colma, CA by IGN.
  
• Did You Feel Lucky, Punk?: More tales from Xbox 360 launch day.
• Flickr database of Xbox 360 launch photos

Lastly, this link makes me feel better about spending $400 on a video game system. ;)
Top 10 Reasons to Buy an Xbox 360: Here's why you should jump in now.