Last week, I was fortunate enough to pre-order the 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Nintendo Switch 2 when pre-orders went live in the U.S. 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:It was pretty messy – Target’s w🅺ebsite crashed and was down for about 25 minutes – but even then the process wasn’t as bad as when the Xbox Series X and the PlayStation 5 first arrived back in 2020.

After the dust settled and I woke up the next morning, I saw that a friend of mine had gone in person to 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:GameStop to secure a pre-order, something I never even considered. “Well, I bet that was a mess,” I thought to mysꦍelf as I did my mo𒉰rning scroll through BlueSky. Then I saw another person who did the same. Then another.

In retrospect, I wish I had too.

Turns Out, Console Launch Events Still Exist

I’m not sure why in-person pre-orders never occurred to me as an option for the Switch 2. I dismissed the idea because they felt like a thing of the past since 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:midnight launches for games have a🌊ll bu🍌t died out thanks to the prevalence of digital ownership. Additionally, the console launches in 2020 were wrapped up in the height of the pandemic, meaning a lot of stores weren’t doing in-person pre-orders, and the fꦺew that were had extremely limited stock.

The pandemic felt like the end of in-person console launches forever, but I was wrong. From what it looks like based on my friends 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:who secured pre-orders from GameStop, they had a great time. People lined up outside storefronts for an hour or two before the doors opened and when they did, most stores seemed to have been stocked relatively well to accommodate pre-orders – a stark contrast to the four PS5s and ten Xbo🅷x Series Xs that my local GameStop had at launch to sell to a line🔯 of 50 people in 2020.

Not only was the process of pre-ordering a console simple, but it seems like everyone who went in person got a taste of the kind of gaming community building that’s been lost in the digital age. One of my friends told me about how he talked with the person in front of him for 20 minutes or so about how they’re hoping 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:the JoyCon 2’s mouse capabilities will be used in future games and about how they’re both excited for 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Kirby Air Ride to be making a return after more than two decades.

What I Missed Out On

That experience is entirely opposite to mine. I spent the night refreshing pages on Best Buy and Walmart texting a friend to see if he had secured an order and that was about it. The process didn’t feel like an event, it just felt like I was buꦏying so♕mething while my internet freaked out. There wasn’t that warmth and exciﷺtement that comes with physically being around other people who are just as excitꦑed about new gaming hardware as you are.

Pre-ordering a Switch 2 in person sounds like it was a drastically better experience both on the pre-order side of things and on the human side. It🎐 sounds like my friends who went in person made a legitimate memory by leaving their house. It might not be the most exciting story – all that happened was they waited in line and talked with people – but it’s certainly more memorable than another night buying something online.

Even though release events for physical games have disappeared almost entirely, it’s nice to know that console launches are a different story. Hearing about what I missed out on from my friends who went in-person has me reconsidering how I plan my future console purchases. When the PS6 and Xbox Series X-2 (not to be confused with 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Final Fantasy X-2) launch in a few years, I might skip the digital queue and hop into a physical one. That is, 168澳洲幸运5开奖꧒网:if GameStop 🦄even still exists at that point.