Thursday began just like any other day, except that I was up at 6am, and a new console was launching. I got up, threw on some wrinkled clothes, skipped the shower, (Hey, the worse I smell, the faster theyll get me in and out of the store) and headed out into the crisp morning air. As I headed off to the mall, I went over in my head everything that I would need that I had not pre-ordered. Most important of those items was a memory card. Recently I was having doubts as to whether or not my Japanese memory card would hold US and Japanese data at the same time. I screeched into the mall parking at 6:41am, and saw a group of cars parked near the mall entrance. Its showtime!

Upon entering the mall, I heard the unmistakable sound of dozens of freaks just like me that had gotten up at the crack of dawn for a videogame console. As I approached the line, I thought to myself "Im not as big a geek as THAT guy, am I?" That guy, being the 30 year old playing Pokemon gold, and carrying a Pokemon backpack. After assuring myself that I was a 24 year old geek, not a 30 year old geek, I took my place in line. I spent most of the time in line talking to a kid and his mother, and listening to how much stuff his mom was hooking him up with. Lucky kid.

The doors opened, and the line slowly crept forward. One by one, people emerged from the counter with the coveted blue box, and big cheesy grins plastered to their faces. Since EB had been so kind to confirm my order a whole 30 hours in advance, I was not too concerned about not getting a system. I was a little apprehensive however, as I realized how foolish I would look to you readers if I were somehow denied. Slowly but surely, I inched closer to my prize.

Finally! Its my turn at the counter, and it looks like theres a system waiting for me. I flash my ID, and tried to buy a memory card, but I was denied, there were none left.. The monkey that is bagging everything hands me my PS2, DOA2, SSX, and Madden2001, and I walk out with that same cheesy grin I mentioned earlier. I walk out of the mall with a group of other lucky PS2 owners, so we dont get "Jacked". In hindsight, it was probably a stupid plan, walking out with so many systems, but our blood was rapidly being diverted from our brains to our thumbs in preparation of many consecutive hours of gameplay.

When I got home, I slid the system into its own spot, and plugged it in. The already familiar boot screen comes up, asked me to choose my language of preference, and then the intro to SSX came up, its pretty sweet. After about an hour, I pried myself away from the television, and wrote this article, just for you guys. There you have it, my launch experience from start to finish. If any of you have launch stories that you would like to share, send them , and I will post them in the mailbag. - Aaron