[ErneX]

I’ll never forget the PS2 US launch. I visited the US for holidays and landed just the day before launch. I thought I was going to be able to get one unit the next day if I asked in a few shops if they knew they were going to have stock. After my sister took me to a few it was clear it was going to be next to impossible, some were going to get as few as a dozen of them and those were already reserved.

But in the last Best Buy we visited the person I asked about the launch told me the same as all the other stores we visited before but said “you really want one?” And he pulled out his wallet and started digging into a bunch of papers and gave me a receipt of his own PS2 reservation at another chain (I think it was Electronics Boutique?) and said “keep it, I don’t feel like getting it now I’ll just get one down the road”, he didn’t want any money for it, we insisted profusely, even though his reservation had like 15 dollars already paid. I was so lucky.

That other store was doing a midnight launch, they even had police in the parking lot keeping an eye. Picked up the console with Ridge Racer V, Tekken Tag Tournament, Kessen and a 2nd controller if I recall correctly.

Good times.

[georgeecollins]

Can you imagine what it was like to work on the PS2? Everyone knew it was going to be huge and it was so hard to get the dev kit. I remember I had to fly somewhere with my prototype game and my development PS2 hardware. That was not long after "911" and TSA was very strict. They were like: what the hell is weird piece of electronics. Those were very exciting times.

[kevinsync]

The very first time I ever flew was very shortly after 9/11. TSA hadn't been created yet, but the airports were still nervous energy and chaos from what had happened. I remember my carry-on was like a thick plastic grocery bag with a couple dozen vinyl records and I may have had a very small backpack with god knows what banging around inside (loose items, a crappy cell phone, likely some booze LOL). Got to the airport at the last minute and had to run full speed to get to the gate looking like a crazy person. Surprisingly nobody really batted an eye, and man oh man how things would change in just a couple of months!

[ineedasername]

Decent people doing nice things for strangers. Always nice to hear.