Nintendo DS Launches in the US
300-plus people lineup at the EB Games in Universal City. And then the PictoChatting begins.
November 21, 2004 - Who says Nintendo doesn't know how to throw a party? Certainly not us. The videogame giant hosted a bang of a launch event to kick off the stateside release of its anticipated new handheld, the Nintendo DS. IGN's own GameCube guru and part time DS fanatic Matt Casamassina was on hand for the event. And this is what happened.
Hours before midnight, more than 300 eager fans had lined up outside of the EB Games retail store inside the famous Universal City Walk strip in California for the chance to be some of first people in America to get their hands on Nintendo's new dual-screened portable. This was a dedicated bunch. The super fans. The ones who couldn't wait until the following day to pick up the system, which comes packed with a demo of Metroid Prime Hunters: First Hunt for $149.99. Amazingly, the first person in line claimed to have been waiting there since early Saturday morning, incidentally more than 12 hours ahead of schedule.
Although Nintendo did its best to keep attendees entertained -- the company hired a DJ to spin live, thumping beats, and handed out prizes like free "Touch the DS" t-shirts -- the wait was not always pleasant. To be sure, as the clock struck 10:00 p.m., the cold weather took a turn for the worse, first drizzling down mist upon those in line and then hammering them with hard rain. The downpour continued, on and off, for the next three hours, and while the line itself was moved to a dryer spot at a nearby retailer, it never dwindled.
Inside, the managers and clerks at EB Games waited anxiously for the impending barrage of customers and we passed the time by playing our own DS units, which were given to us by Nintendo a couple weeks earlier. We booted up PictoChat to see if by some miracle someone in line might be waiting for the chance to converse with other geeks, and we were surprised to find that one or two people were already waiting in the chat rooms. Of course, with highly inconspicuous chat handles like "NOA rep" we never once suspected these ready socialites as Nintendo plants.
As the clock struck midnight, Nintendo unleashed an impressive show of pyrotechnics to drive home the official launch of the DS system. Fireworks, sparks and flames blanketed the Universal City alleyway with flashes of bright lights, and bucketfuls of confetti showered the cheering crowd. Music continued to spin in the background. And then EB Games swung open its doors and a steady stream of new DS owners started to flow into the store.
A host of shapely models equipped with tight-fitting, black Nintendo DS shirts waited inside to greet customers, but most passersby barely noticed as they rushed to the front desk to pick up their systems, and copies of games like Spider-Man, Super Mario 64 DS, Feel the Magic and Madden NFL 2005. A busy EB clerk took a minute break to let us know that he expected the store's full shipment of DS units and games to be sold out by the end of the night.
With the doors open and traffic going in and back out again, we were slightly more confident that at least some buyers would not be able to wait until they got home to try out their DS, and as it turns out we were right. We booted up PictoChat again, entered a chat room and found ourselves immediately greeted by five or six new DS owners. We had no idea where these people were chatting from; we looked around the EB store and saw nobody with opened DS units. But nevertheless, chatting they were. "This kicks ass!" somebody named Alex enthusiastically wrote. Another used the type function to let us know that he reads IGN every day. We say thank you. Before we knew it, 20 minutes had passed, another 50 people had DS units, and we were still drawing crude pictures to people we would probably never meet face-to-face.
It was time for us to get home and to spend the rest of the early morning with our stylus and Feel the Magic.
No doubt about it: a great launch event to what will hopefully be a fantastic new portable.
![[IMG]](http://www.nintendo-ds.de/images/news/11-2004/anleitung1.jpg)
![[IMG]](http://dsmedia.ign.com/ds/image/article/567/567979/nintendo-ds-launches-in-the-us-20041121032942549.jpg)
![[IMG]](http://dsmedia.ign.com/ds/image/article/567/567979/nintendo-ds-launches-in-the-us-20041121033001564.jpg)
![[IMG]](http://dsmedia.ign.com/ds/image/article/567/567979/nintendo-ds-launches-in-the-us-20041121033007704.jpg)
![[IMG]](http://dsmedia.ign.com/ds/image/article/567/567979/nintendo-ds-launches-in-the-us-20041121033014548.jpg)
![[IMG]](http://dsmedia.ign.com/ds/image/article/567/567979/nintendo-ds-launches-in-the-us-20041121033021891.jpg)
![[IMG]](http://dsmedia.ign.com/ds/image/article/567/567979/nintendo-ds-launches-in-the-us-20041121033427519.jpg)
![[IMG]](http://dsmedia.ign.com/ds/image/article/567/567979/nintendo-ds-launches-in-the-us-20041121032951893.jpg)
![[IMG]](http://dsmedia.ign.com/ds/image/article/567/567979/nintendo-ds-launches-in-the-us-20041121033034422.jpg)
![[IMG]](http://dsmedia.ign.com/ds/image/article/567/567979/nintendo-ds-launches-in-the-us-20041121033109060.jpg)
![[IMG]](http://dsmedia.ign.com/ds/image/article/567/567979/nintendo-ds-launches-in-the-us-20041121033206870.jpg)
![[IMG]](http://dsmedia.ign.com/ds/image/article/567/567979/nintendo-ds-launches-in-the-us-20041121033216448.jpg)
![[IMG]](http://dsmedia.ign.com/ds/image/article/567/567979/nintendo-ds-launches-in-the-us-20041121033226166.jpg)
![[IMG]](http://dsmedia.ign.com/ds/image/article/567/567979/nintendo-ds-launches-in-the-us-20041121033250743.jpg)
![[IMG]](http://dsmedia.ign.com/ds/image/article/567/567979/nintendo-ds-launches-in-the-us-20041121033302477.jpg)
![[IMG]](http://dsmedia.ign.com/ds/image/article/567/567979/nintendo-ds-launches-in-the-us-20041121033407692.jpg)