The Xbox 360 launch was far worse than I thought it was going to be. I showed up at the Meijer on Jackson Rd. in Ann Arbor around 10:20 and found out that they only had 12 units (6 bundle, 6 core) and that they were all spoken for already. I figured I might have a chance at another location, so I went to the Target on Ann Arbor-Saline. They too were only selling 12 units and there was already a full line of people sitting in the cold waiting. At this point it was pretty hopeless, but I tried the Meijer across the street anyways.
It turns out this Meijer was doing a lottery. They too had 12 units and were, from what I heard, the only local location that was doing a lottery. So, I wrote my name on a slip of paper and waited an hour with 500 other gamers to find out who would win. About half way through, after the bundled units were gone, the person drawing the names drew his own name and everyone started booing. I think 80% of the crowd was made up of male college students. It had the potential of getting ugly, but it ended up settling down.
In the end I came up empty. 12 units per retailer is pretty crappy. Especially when half of the consoles were the core unit which NOBODY WANTS. It's seems unlikely that I will be able to pick one up before the end of the year. But that's not saying I won't try.
Shame on Ebenezer Gates for not making enough! There will be a lot of kids crying under the Christmas tree this year. I heard that some folks waited in line for three days... like in CA and NY. Gary says that Best Buys were supposed to have 20 each...big deal!
that is a pretty tense looking crowd.