PREparing for the PRE (Part 1)

Add June 6 to the dates of product launches that will soon become part of my geek history. Although relatively short, I've had a number of memorable geek gadget launch stories.

PS2

I somehow had the vision to pre-order it...except I happened to be out of town due to work that whole week. My little brother got to receive it instead. I can't remember if I let him open it or not to start playing Madden. On launch day, I do remember hitting up a Detroit-area Best Buy to buy overpriced specialized PS2 Monster S-Video cables. Who would have known that this would have been my easiest experience for something I was dying to have?

PS3

With my Sony fanboy levels at historic levels, it would be a shock to no one that I was DYING to buy this, no matter what the price point. Well, check that, I wanted to pay up to the retail price point, but not the ridiculous pre-order bundles that a lot of retailers were doing. At this point, the internet combined with store employees to try to give people an idea of inventory levels, and people lined up everywhere! I don't remember how many places I tried to hit up, but all that awaited me was utter failure. Best Buy in Downer's Grove, Circuit City. Heck, I think I even walked into a K-Mart. By noon that day, we gave up. Thank gosh for my buddy Fran who hung in there, came along and stayed until the end. In fact, some weeks later, he found a PS3 at a Game Stop and scored me the PS3 finally.

Wii

Was I looking forward to getting a Wii? Not at all. One rumor was that on Black Friday, some locations were going to get a PS3 or two. So an hour before opening, I hopped over to a relatively unknown Gamestop to find a line of only 3 people. All of whom had lined up for a Wii. The store opens. The first 3 people promptly get their Wiis. Then it's my turn.

Wes: Did you get any PS3s?
Gamestop: No.
Wes: Let me get a Wii. (Since I was there anyway, what the heck.)
Gamestop. Ok. Announcement: That was the last Wii in the shipment.

In retrospect, I probably should have tried re-selling on ebay for twice or even three times the cost. Part of me was still upset to have lost the PS3 to people that were only re-selling, which is probably why I ended up keeping it. I barely play it at all. I let my older brother borrow it in the meantime.

Metal Gear Solid / Fallout (Video Games)

Yeah, yeah I know these aren't quite gadgets. The Metal Gear Solid line, had about 30 or 40 people ahead of me, though I think that some of them were lining up to get the special edition PS3 that was available too. I easily got my game, and played it that very night. Well worth getting it quickly.

Fallout was a bit amusing in that my local Best Buy was supposed to have a launch event that a smattering of publicity announced. I showed up and OOPS, the store is completely dark! Turns out they cancelled it, with no more of announcement publicly than a small piece of paper on their door. I wasn't as upset as a local blogger crew who apparently had planned to cover the event. I had to quickly drive over to a Gamestop to pick up my Collector's Edition.

Samsung ACE

My entry into the world of smartphones, my previous phone had limited data and email capabilities, and the promise of a full keyboard and work email integration had me salivating. After months of stalking the stores, and online stories about the release, I finally called Sprint Telesales and ordered mine, to receive it a couple of days later. It did a number of things well, but was horribly held back by the limitations of Windows Mobile. Amusingly, I also got it for its World Phone capabilities (it also had a GSM SIM), but I never once travelled anywhere that had GSM.

Once I really needed to push it, it couldn't do what I needed it, or rather wanted it to do...which brings us to today...