What makes a great game launch? Some would say simply getting a highly coveted game like Grand Theft Auto IV into the hands of hungry gamers is enough, but to some of us a launch night means more than that. To some, big-name game launches are like mini gaming conventions, where we can swap stories, bitch about the way the store is handling things, and speculate on how much sleep we'll be losing over the next couple of days. Or, it can just be a line of people waiting. I attended two different midnight launches at GameStop tonight and got a healthy dose of both sorts of events, just 10 miles apart.

GameStop One - Roswell, GA

When I moved last year I had to say farewell to my favorite GameStop in favor of something a bit closer. At first I was preordering games from the local mall, but said mall wouldn't allow for a midnight launch, so I took things up the street to the Mansell store in Roswell, Georgia. It was here I preordered Grand Theft Auto IV, expecting the gala launch event that GameStop had announced last week. When I arrived at 9PM yesterday evening, I was the only guy waiting. One of the employees informed me that a line would start forming at 10, and that no events were planned. Bummer. I decided to take a trip north to my old GameStop, where I had cut my teeth as a Game Advisor years before. The difference was amazing.

GameStop Two - Alpharetta, Georgia