Before I go ranting, I suppose I should say why I've decided to become more active here at Destructoid. In a nutshell, I struggled with writing here because I already have a website I run with Nicole where we just blog about geeky news and whatnot. Then it hit me that this is an incredible community, and keeping that in mind I'm a little less restricted here in a way and I can rant about whatever mundane thing comes to mind without worrying about my (lack of) readership. I'm not saying I'll keep these postings devoid of any substance, but when those days come and I post little more than, "I f*cking hate the vehicle mechanics in Borderlands" I feel comfortable doing it here.

Anyways, back to the topic of discussion. I was completely ecstatic that I got to go to the Modern Warfare 2 midnight launch last night. Conversely, Nicole was completely pissed that she got stuck working and couldn't go with me, making me stay up til 4 in the friggin' morning so she could play it with me. Even with games I'm not terribly thrilled about I'll hit midnight launches just to witness the spectacle that is a collective group of gamers exhibiting a shared passion about their personal poisons.

There's just something about the raw energy of everyone who's made a special effort to be among the first ranks of those that want to storm the game of the moment. For me, in particular, it was Halo 2, Burning Crusade, and probably a myriad of others.

However, it's not just that, I'm also a total whore for cheap/free swag, and if ever there was an hour where a retailer can pull me into the jaws of the 'suggestive sale', it's at that holy hour transitioning one day to the next. Seriously, I'm powerless to avoid buying a collector's edition or add yet another t-shirt to my horrifyingly large gamer-centric wardrobe.

In closing, I just wanted you all to know how I feel about the midnight launch phenomenon. What were some of your favorite midnight launches?