The Xbox One - Launch Night at Gamestop

I'm just going to skip over the "I'm sorry I was gone for so long!" speech, and the "I swear I'll write more often!" promise. I feel like it's going to get old if I keep starting my blog posts with those on a regular basis. Just know that now that it's the holiday season, I definitely will have more stuff to write about, so you'll probably see me here bugging you more often than I have been! (yay!)

Even this blog post is a little late though, from when I wanted to post it. But can you blame me? This is, after all, about Microsoft's new Xbox One. So I had a very fun weekend playing a brand new next-gen gaming console! (And the beta for Elder Scrolls Online, but I unfortunately cannot go into details about that. Sorry!)

Unfortunately, the console isn't mine. No, the Xbox One that I've grown so fond of belongs to my dear boyfriend, Zach. I'm hoping to get the console for Christmas, since it is a hefty $500 and I'm currently without the means to pay for it.

But this isn't a post to really review the Xbox One. That will come in a couple days (I promise!), once I get my hands on Zach's Xbox One again. I know some of you might be curious in a review since Christmas is coming up and you might be wondering if it's worth it. (Just so you know, it is!) I'll definitely but the review out soon though. And unfortunately, I cannot review the PS4 this holiday season, since I have no plans to own it for quite a while (I really didn't like the PS3), and I don't know anyone getting it well enough to ask them to let me mess with it for a day. So I'll probably review the Xbox One, and the Nintendo 3DS for any curious buyers.

But today, my blog post is about the 12am launch of the Xbox One at Gamestop, the morning of 11/22.

And first off, let me just say: It was freezing!

I am not a person that can handle the cold very well. At all. The entire time I was in line, my teeth were chattering, knees were shaking. But it was worth it. Luckily, my Gamestop is nice enough to let us inside the store until a few minutes to midnight. So we were able to hang out inside the warmth of the store and talk to friends and other Xbox fans before we had to face the cold of that midnight launch line.

He wasn't even cold. Ugh, lucky. He always says he's a nord, and thus has frost resistance.

We were out there in line for a little while, waiting for the clock to strike midnight. Meanwhile, the owner of that Gamestop gave a speech about how one of the higher ups, who makes millions of dollars a year (it was at this point I decided that perhaps I should in fact pursue a career at Gamestop...) visited this Gamestop specifically because of the high approval rating and how well the business does. Which I think is pretty cool for them, considering the only time I actually had a problem with this Gamestop is when they told me, only a week or two before the release of my 3DS XL that the pink/white one was only ever going to come out in Japan.

That's really the only bad experience I've had with them. So I was pretty happy to find out they're doing so well. Plus, he said that because of that, we got free swag. And my boyfriend, being the generous thing that he is, decided to give me the t-shirt he got from the store, since he wanted me to have something from this launch event, since I went down there with him.

I didn't need anything of course. I love midnight events for games (or awesome movies), but it was pretty great getting the t-shirt all the same. It's too big to wear around, but I have a pretty awesome (very comfy) night shirt now.

I wish I could have taken more pictures of the launch event, but it was too dark at midnight (obviously) to take many pictures. But once we got to my boyfriend's home I took quite a few.

Unboxing the Xbox One was pretty exciting. It was a lot prettier in person than any picture I'd seen of it. Sure, it's a little big and bulky, with no real shape to it other than a giant rectangular box, but it works for the Xbox One, and I personally love it.

A closer picture of the Xbox One, and my adorable boyfriend's reflection, sticking out his tongue in concentration.

I wanted to take a picture with the new controller, but I basically failed. 

Speaking of the new controller, it's perfection. I know I said I wasn't going to review the Xbox One, but I have to say. The Xbox One's controller is my favorite controller of all time. Better than the Dreamcast, and better than the Xbox 360, which were my top two favorite controllers before the One made it's debut. It's just really comfortable to hold, and so pretty. But Zach only got one controller, so I haven't been able to really see how two controllers work.

 For example, the Xbox symbol at the top of the controller lights up a pretty white. But, as far as I can tell, it makes no mention of the fact I'm player one when I use it. So I don't really know how that works. I suppose some research is required before I write up the Xbox One review.

A better view of the pretty Xbox One controller.

What you see plugged into it is the headset, which I admit is pretty uncomfortable to wear, but I love the buttons for 'mute' and the volume buttons this time around. So much better than using the dial to scroll to the volume you want, like on the 360. I was always accidentally bumping that thing and sending the volume to either zero, or headache-inducing highs.

And so it begins.

After getting everything plugged in, turned on, and set up, it was pretty fun watching my boyfriend play until we both passed out. (It was pretty late at this point, and my poor boyfriend had work at 7am that day, so we both only had a few hours of sleep, at the most. ) I haven't played it much. I'd rather wait for my own Xbox One to sit and play for long periods, but I've messed with the homepage so much that I'm pretty much familiar with it. I'll need to try out Ryse still, so I know whether to get it for myself.

My boyfriend bought quite the collection of games for the launch of the Xbox One. (He also got the limited edition version of Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, not pictured here.) He tried them all out, and while I didn't think the graphics were enough to really blow me away, that's to be expected from launch titles, I think. The games will get even better, and prettier, as developers are able to fully utilize the Xbox One's capabilities. So that's something to look forward to.

The games out so far though look pretty amazing. Battlefield 4 seems just as great as Battlefield 3, Call of Duty: Ghosts is the best CoD so far, in my opinion, Deadrising 3 seems just as crazy as its predecessors, Assassins Creed IV is basically Assassins Creed III but with pirates and harpooning, and Ryse seems a little repetitive, but it's a pretty gorgeous game and he story seems well done from what I've seen so far. Over all, the Xbox One got a pretty great line up of launch titles, with even more awesome games on the way soon. (Like Fable Legends, Thief, Dragon Age III Inquisition, and more).

And before I let you go, here's a quick picture of my look from launch night. I figured an event like that was enough reason for me to actually put on eye makeup and curl my hair. Of course,then we spent most of the night back at my house until eleven, so maybe it was a waste. But oh well, because I felt gorgeous. ;)

My hair is always so frizzy though ._.

 I'll be back soon, so you can look forward to plenty of posts within the next two months. Posts such as an Xbox One review, a 3DS review, game reviews, collector edition game reviews, and more. See you all soon!

Until Next Time,
Bye Lovelies! <3