Suds of Wrath for the Lich King!
EB Games, Albert Street, Brisbane
FOR my first blog for Tech Wired Australia, I thought I’d best post on topics I know the most about, so here’s the spill on what was the main Brisbane launch of World of Warcraft’s: Wrath of the Lich King.
Thursday even before 10pm there were large queues of rabid gamers snaking up Adelaide and Queen streets. This was to be their standing for the next two hours until the game was released. A young girl by the character name of Lolirpreist proudly announced that she’d been lining up since 8 o’clock but that her friends had arrived around 3.30pm. Lack of cosplay in Brisbane, although there was one guy wearing furry ears on his head and a lot of t-shirts with character names and guilds on them. Chicks could easily push ahead in the crowd I’d been informed.
The store front was well decked out with posters, security guards, logo lighting splashed all over the opposite stores and sud machines imitating snow as per the game theme. Needless to say, everyone was sudded up by the end of the event.
The pizza and free V drinks were well-received by those who dared to leave the queue for the goods, but the activities not so much. This was mainly due to the audio not reaching those standing around the corner on Adelaide Street. The finest example of audio confusion was the dance competition of the different character races called the “Racial Dance” from what the MC was saying. Not a good image for people walking past the glowing store thinking EB was planning a revival to the White Australia Policy.
In addition to missing out on announcements and vital information as to what was going on, attendee Rajinder mentions that…
‘unless you were there early, you couldn’t see the wow dance comp or play guitar hero.’
I didn’t even see or hear of the advertised trivia game either.
When the rain started staff scrambled up slippery ladders to cover up lighting and technical equipment. Luckily no one fell or was injured from this combo, but vision was blocked for the duration of the rainfall. And they did have a ‘Warning: Wet floor’ sign in front of the trees and snow set-up.
‘GET OFF THE ROAD!’ was a common quote of store staff and security due to the shared pedestrian/traffic zone running across the store front. Thanks to no directional signage, passerby’s wondering what the heck was going on were rolling their eyes all night at EB for this; fantastic publicity there.
Closing up, the event consisted of fancy lighting and little entertainment for customers standing in queues for mediocre benefits other than the excitement they had for the newest installment of their favourite game.
Quoted:
“If that’s World of Warcraft I’m gonna bash me some nerds.” – passerby.
Loser: Showgirls across the street probably lost a lot of their patrons to EB. Poor strippers! Krispy Kreme would have gained customers if they’d stayed open too.
Winners: The 100s of happy Brisbanites who can now fit their computer keyboards into the bags under their eyes after playing WoW non-stop since the launch. Enjoy it, kids!
Woah, never thought I’d be mentioned here!
Thanks Nikki!
While Nikki did quote me correctly, I’d like to clarify my statement: the Guitar Hero competition, you couldn’t see it or play it at all unless you left your line because it was held in the relatively cramped store, while you could watch the dance competition only if you came early enough.
Another problem with the night was the fact that they had 2 lines, 1 for those who had purchased/preordered it from the Albert St store, and the other one for those who had purchased it from the other 2 store in Queen St. Now you would think that the 2 lines would run simultaneously when the clock struck midnight, right? Wrong. The Albert St line was actually the last to receive the game. The Albert St line went up the hill and around the corner into Queen St itself, whereas the other line basically ran alongside Adelaide St.
As for the trivia competition, it was held by 2 of the sales staff (one asking the questions and the other holding the box with the figurines) and they made their way up the line asking the questions every 10 meters or so. Problem was, hardly anyone could hear her as her voice was relatively soft. =/
I arrived there by 10pm, was in the wrong line till I happened to ask one of the sales staff a question, at which point he asked me which store I had bought mine from, and then directed me to the correct line (Albert St line for me). I stood in front of the 7-11 (which was 3-5 shop lots away) on Albert St and even then I couldn’t hear the announcements clearly enough.
Also, the Collector’s Edition free upgrade (for those who had purchased the standard edition) was very flawed. Different people kept giving out the coupons, so some of those in the crowd actually got a few tickets each. I had bought a Collector’s Edition myself, so I wasn’t too fussed, but others surely lost their chances. I heard (heard mind you, no evidence) that some of the people in the Adelaide St line actually had up to 4 coupons (heard them as they were sitting at a bus stop while I was walking back). Others may have had more.
I’ve yet to play WoTLK, though I played it in beta. Won’t be playing it till after my finals in 2 weeks.
But the soundtrack which came with the Collector’s Edition and the Echoes of War Collector’s Edition music are pretty awesome. 
I’m willing to give the EB Games store the benefit of the doubt though, as I think this is the first time they are having a launch party and maybe they did not expect such a big turnout. However, I think EB Games should have had the launch the night before, as there were people passing us by with copies of the game that they had purchased from other stores that had released it earlier in the day.
Well, enjoy the game. It’s awesome.
Loved your Showgirls comment. Tho’ to be honest, WoW gamers are not their market to begin with because you first have to PRY them off WoW in order to get them IN the strip club. As someone with a WoW addicted flatmate (soon to be x flatmate due to WoW), I can tell you that no amount of bribery to come inside would “WoW” him from the game.
You know. Because doing an “raid” or whatever (yeah, I’m so “out” of the WoW lingo LOL) is just so so so much more important than actually LIVING life.