So Razlo and I made our Times Square trip to meet Hideo Kojima, creator of Metal Gear Solid (and the only person on my "people I'd like to meet" list that I actually could conceivably meet in real life), on the night of the launch of the fourth installment. The drive was roughly four hours long, but we made it. Spent awhile finding anywhere in Times Square that actually lets you park later then midnight - most of the parking garages close then. But we asked around and the clerk pointed us in the right direction. We walked towards the Virgin Megastore, where the signing was taking place, and enjoyed the surroundings.
Times Square is full of massive television screens adorning buildings, huge billboards, taxis every other car, food carts everywhere, and shitloads of people. It's pretty intimidating, but pretty cool at the same time. I expected it to be a monsterous advertising Mecca full of rampant consumerism at its best, and it was that, but even more so then I imagined.
Anyhow, we got in line at roughly 7:30 or so, and it was huge. It traveled across several city blocks. We were afraid we might be too far back in line, but we were hopeful for an autographed copy of MGS4 all the same.
The line only grew as the night went on. Several thousand people had to be in that line by the end of the night. I was amazed. And so were many passerbys, who couldn't possibly imagine that so many people were waiting in that line to meet a video game designer.
The wait in the line wasn't so bad, as it was full of nerds disecting the Metal Gear universe and speculating on what would happen in the sequel. People who asked what we were in line for got many conflicting lies about what the event was for, though one brutally honest person hilariously yelled "SOME NERD SHIT YOU'RE NOT INTO!" at a group of ladies that asked towards the end of the night. We witnessed a bald man walking around the street with a cat calmly perched on his head, a business man with what only could have been a very expensive "date" for the evening, entering one of the cheap motels for "conversation" most likely, and a bunch of shit-faced kids wandering around the streets post prom-party.
So as midnight hit, the line starting making movement, and we anxiously awaited our chance to get in. By 1:45 or so, our segment of the line was ushered inside. One by one we started toward the escalator to head down into the autograph area. The group of guys we talked to most of the night went down, Razlo and I moved toward the escalator, and security stopped the line, and started yelling at me for cutting in line, and threatened to go find out how I got through and kick me out. Thing is, I never cut in line, as I was in the same row I was in the entire fucking night. Why he thought I did I'll never know. Anyway, Razlo backed me up, of course, so the guard eventually let me through after he got his fun treating me like a fucking criminal.
As we go down the escalator, we get in the line to by the game, starring at the autograph session with giddy excitement. The line for the game weaves through the porn section, the anime section, the controversial film display, and the cult cinema section, so we had plenty of DVDs to look at to pass the time. It's then we notice, that there's only about 10 people left behind us. We're the last group they let into the autograph session. We were all fucking stoked. We're going to some of the last people to get something signed.
The register line moves ahead inch by inch, and it's almost our chance to grab the game. Razlo and I are roughly five people away, from the register, and from there you head immediately to the end of the autograph line. There's maybe 15 to 20 people in that line, so we'll be all set.
And then the Konami representives approach us. They have an announcement to make.
NO MORE AUTOGRAPHS TONIGHT. YOU CAN STILL BUY THE GAME, BUT WE ARE CLOSING THE AUTOGRAPH LINE AND THERE'S NOTHING WE CAN DO ABOUT IT. SORRY GUYS!
How's that for a fuck you. Five people from the cut off point for autographs.
The remaining crowd desperately started chanting "METAL GEAR!", "KOJIMA!", and "HIDEO!" like we were at pro-wrestling event, in a desperate last bid attempt that they'd let us getting something signed. Unfortunately, pro-wrestling rules don't apply to the real world (who knew?) and we were still refused signage. Another Konami rep came over and said "We can give you these launch night dog-tags to make it up to you!" That's as good as an autograph from the creator.
Razlo and I refused to buy anything that night, and left for home dejected. Over four hours, getting lost in Conneticutt, one food-posioning inducing cheese danish and several bathroom stops later, we were home, and all we had to show for it were some little metal dog tags and tired, bitter dispositions. We crashed as soon as we could.
We went to Gamestop that afternoon, got our limited editions of Metal Gear Solid 4, and played it until we both beat it. It was an amazing game. But our launch night experience was like a really fun movie with an absolutely shit ending.
I'm currently entering Joystiq's Win a Signed Copy of MGS4 contest in one last desperate attempt to get what was snatched from me at the last minute.
Times Square is full of massive television screens adorning buildings, huge billboards, taxis every other car, food carts everywhere, and shitloads of people. It's pretty intimidating, but pretty cool at the same time. I expected it to be a monsterous advertising Mecca full of rampant consumerism at its best, and it was that, but even more so then I imagined.
Anyhow, we got in line at roughly 7:30 or so, and it was huge. It traveled across several city blocks. We were afraid we might be too far back in line, but we were hopeful for an autographed copy of MGS4 all the same.
The line only grew as the night went on. Several thousand people had to be in that line by the end of the night. I was amazed. And so were many passerbys, who couldn't possibly imagine that so many people were waiting in that line to meet a video game designer.
The wait in the line wasn't so bad, as it was full of nerds disecting the Metal Gear universe and speculating on what would happen in the sequel. People who asked what we were in line for got many conflicting lies about what the event was for, though one brutally honest person hilariously yelled "SOME NERD SHIT YOU'RE NOT INTO!" at a group of ladies that asked towards the end of the night. We witnessed a bald man walking around the street with a cat calmly perched on his head, a business man with what only could have been a very expensive "date" for the evening, entering one of the cheap motels for "conversation" most likely, and a bunch of shit-faced kids wandering around the streets post prom-party.
So as midnight hit, the line starting making movement, and we anxiously awaited our chance to get in. By 1:45 or so, our segment of the line was ushered inside. One by one we started toward the escalator to head down into the autograph area. The group of guys we talked to most of the night went down, Razlo and I moved toward the escalator, and security stopped the line, and started yelling at me for cutting in line, and threatened to go find out how I got through and kick me out. Thing is, I never cut in line, as I was in the same row I was in the entire fucking night. Why he thought I did I'll never know. Anyway, Razlo backed me up, of course, so the guard eventually let me through after he got his fun treating me like a fucking criminal.
As we go down the escalator, we get in the line to by the game, starring at the autograph session with giddy excitement. The line for the game weaves through the porn section, the anime section, the controversial film display, and the cult cinema section, so we had plenty of DVDs to look at to pass the time. It's then we notice, that there's only about 10 people left behind us. We're the last group they let into the autograph session. We were all fucking stoked. We're going to some of the last people to get something signed.
The register line moves ahead inch by inch, and it's almost our chance to grab the game. Razlo and I are roughly five people away, from the register, and from there you head immediately to the end of the autograph line. There's maybe 15 to 20 people in that line, so we'll be all set.
And then the Konami representives approach us. They have an announcement to make.
NO MORE AUTOGRAPHS TONIGHT. YOU CAN STILL BUY THE GAME, BUT WE ARE CLOSING THE AUTOGRAPH LINE AND THERE'S NOTHING WE CAN DO ABOUT IT. SORRY GUYS!
How's that for a fuck you. Five people from the cut off point for autographs.
The remaining crowd desperately started chanting "METAL GEAR!", "KOJIMA!", and "HIDEO!" like we were at pro-wrestling event, in a desperate last bid attempt that they'd let us getting something signed. Unfortunately, pro-wrestling rules don't apply to the real world (who knew?) and we were still refused signage. Another Konami rep came over and said "We can give you these launch night dog-tags to make it up to you!" That's as good as an autograph from the creator.
Razlo and I refused to buy anything that night, and left for home dejected. Over four hours, getting lost in Conneticutt, one food-posioning inducing cheese danish and several bathroom stops later, we were home, and all we had to show for it were some little metal dog tags and tired, bitter dispositions. We crashed as soon as we could.
We went to Gamestop that afternoon, got our limited editions of Metal Gear Solid 4, and played it until we both beat it. It was an amazing game. But our launch night experience was like a really fun movie with an absolutely shit ending.
I'm currently entering Joystiq's Win a Signed Copy of MGS4 contest in one last desperate attempt to get what was snatched from me at the last minute.
But the dogtags sound awesome! You lucky thing, I'm very jealous.