I'm sure some of you are aware that just about every Walmart in the US had a midnight-launch Marvel vs Capcom 3 tournament last night.  That sounded like fun to me, so my brother and I arrived at our local Walmart at 9:30, when the tournament was supposed to begin.  Nobody else was there yet, so we played some matches while we waited.  Considering that I had watched 20 hours of live stream footage and he was just pressing random buttons, I was obviously better than him, but it was still really fun to learn the game a bit. 
 
We kept on playing, and a few Walmart employees jumped in to play a bit.  We played until about 11 AM, and no other players had shown up.  At about that time, some drunk dude in his late 40's walked up behind us, leaned in, and said, "...Atari?"  I said, "Sorry, say again?" "...Do you have an Atari?" "Nope, never had one." "...Do you want one?" 
 
It sounded ridiculously sketchy.  Eventually the conversation moved on to some of his great ideas for the video game industry.  Here are a some highlights: "You know that game Alien Invaders?  They should make that game, but like, you go into a haunted house, but on the inside it's an alien spaceship, like a perfect circle.  I could probably sell that for like $25 a piece."  At one point he pointed to the 360 and asked, "Does it have any fishing games?" I said, "Yeah, there's that one Rapala fishing game." He responded, "They should make one with a catfish.  That'd be fun."  It was so difficult not to burst out laughing. 
 

that's awesome congrats on getting MvC 3 for free.

Way to do work, Gremp.

I would buy an Atari from that man.

Walmart had MvC3 tournaments? 
  
Well fuck.

Awesome tale, my friend. Congratulations on scoring (well, earning, I guess) some sweet free shit!

But what if they did make one with a catfish?  Think about it.

Congrats! Sounds like an awesome night

I think he was trying to tell you the catfish was an unlockable character in MVC3. 
 
Think about it.

" Here are a some highlights: "You know that game Alien Invaders?  They should make that game, but like, you go into a haunted house, but on the inside it's an alien spaceship, like a perfect circle.  I could probably sell that for like $25 a piece."  At one point he pointed to the 360 and asked, "Does it have any fishing games?" I said, "Yeah, there's that one Rapala fishing game." He responded, "They should make one with a catfish.  That'd be fun."
 

Man, America's got all the cool stuff. Here in Italy you'd be lucky to find someone who even knows what an Atari is, much less find a place having a launch tournament of a new game with real prizes. Besides the fact that all new games cost between 80$ and 90$... it sucks being a gamer in a third-world country.

That boxart is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay better then the regular retail one.

That's so sick. You sir, are lucky.

should have gotten that guy's Atari man. Missed opportunity!

That is so damn cool. It sounds like it was a great idea to go the the midnight release, kind of sucks that you couldn't do a real tournament, but hey you got a free game.

Woah woah wait.  that shit took place in an alien space shit?  that shit is deep.  im in.

" That boxart is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay better then the regular retail one. "

WOW Awesome dude, I need to see that. I didn't know it made cover

That is pretty awesome!

that is awesome. i would be sketched out about a drunk guy talking to me. 
 
i went to a concert a couple of weeks ago. there was a drunk guy right next to me in the seat. he started talking to me. he was like o is that your son. my friend is 17 and my other friend (brother) is 22. he was telling me about his life. he got drunk that he couldn't head bang standing up. he was like bent over headbanging. funny to see that.

Asking another man, "....Atari?" is actually a subtle way of offering gay sex. You missed out, man.

That is some fucking sexy box art, but the green Xbox banner ruins it.

That's pretty great! Good on you.

There needs to be a fly fishing game. Congrats on the free game.

Jealous. 

I found your story highly entertaining, nice post.

A legitimately cool story, bro. And the fact that you scored some easy schwag just seals the deal. 
 
Also, catfish. :D

You should have ebay'd that copy :D I bet its worth some money haha =P

" At about that time, some drunk dude in his late 40's walked up behind us... "

Everything the drunk dude says is 100% true. Just imagine that game with a catfish.

Congrats, duder!!!!

Wait... you got there at 9:30pm for a midnight launch? Or is this 9:30am? It finished at 11am? So confused :S

Hes right. There aren't enough catfish games out there.

Man, to live in middle America..

An exchange of cute animals as a conversation was an added bonus. This is not what I expected when I clicked on the title but it was pretty cool. I guess the 40 old man was there to ward off potential players. Congrats to you for struggling past his drunkeness and Atari/catfish story! (Atari Catfish sounds like a pretty cool name)