if you're having trouble preordering a game console online today, just do what i'm going to do: purchase one of the tens of thousands of readily available PlayStation 5s and Xbox Series Xes a couple days before their respective launches by clicking "add to cart" in amazon

this worked (for me, anyway!) in 2013 for both the playstation 4 and the xbox one. i purchased em both a couple days before their launches, and had em both within two days of their releases. played a little resogun and a little ryse and then felt a little sad, as one does

i worked at a gamestop (which was at the time called a software etc) during the PS2 launch. we had people lined up out the door with preorder slips in hand. no employee had preordered. we each just purchased one of the 50 consoles left over after the preorder units were sold

when the playstation 3 launched, i was working literally at sony computer entertainment japan. the week before the playstation 3 went on sale, we had an email from some top guy, asking us to please show our support by purchasing a console at a retail store in person on launch day

i won't lie: i did it! i went to a big electronics store and did it! i waited outside all night in the freezing rain with some buddies. wow! it was cold as heck! all they had was some trashcan gundam game, genji 2, and ridge racer 7. i'd already played em all

i'd already played all the launch games on a tiny crt at my desk because i was 27 years old and lord knows i didn't have anything else to do at whatever my job actually was. i'd played all the games, liked about 33% of one of them (RR7), and tortured myself in the cold anyway

at one point deep into the freezing-rainy night, ken kutaragi came by, surrounded by Suit Dudes. i'd heard the strategy discussed: KK would get chauffeured from big shop to big shop, to bless these Most Loyal line-waiters with his royal presence in a way they'd never forget

so, among the Suit Dudes was a guy from my section. three years my junior. he'd joined sony fresh out of college (tokyo university!). me and him had a joke "rivalry". his suit was too big. i YELLED to him that i'd saved him a spot in line. his face turned the color of blood

the following tuesday, he slid by my desk and asked if i would speak to him outside. i had never "broken up" with a work acquaintance before. it was wild. he was like "i did not appreciate the lack of respect you showed me." i still feel a tiny bit bad about it!

i asked him, "so did you wind up getting a playstation 3?" he blinked and was like, "what?" and i said, "did you Do Your Part and buy one?" and his face went blank. he gasped. "n--no . . . no, n-not yet." then he said, plainly: "i guess i'll buy one on the way home tonight"

he displayed such earnest sincere devotion to his employer there in that sun-bright ice-cold akasaka alleyway. i'd like to think he did, in fact, buy one on the way home that night. he just walked into any store and bought one, because he and i both knew there were plenty of them

seven years later, i was three lifetimes removed from that experience, and in california. i was working on a video game for the playstation 4. i figured i should own one. i ordered a ps4 on amazon. it showed up. well, that's my PlayStation Console Launch Anecdotes Twitter Thread

if i don't get a playstation 5 before christmas, that's OK. i recently purchased horizon zero dawn on PC, anyway. it's not like i was going to actually play the playstation 5 playstation 4 classic playstation plus version of it