Yesterday, I received a press release from Nintendo hyping the creation of a Nintendo mini-store in the Toys R Us located in the heart of Times Square. Some said this store was only for the lazy. It's a mere two blocks from the Nintendo world, after all.
I thought: this store might be for me -- because I can practically see it out of my office window.
At lunchtime today, I decided to journey to the store to see what it was all about. I also hoped to do it quickly. And obtain a ham sandwich.
My 41-minute Adventure To The Nintendo Mini-Store
12:12 With snow falling outside I stand up from my desk, look out the window down at the Toys R Us on Times Square and decide to begin my journey.
12:17 I have put on my coat and am waiting for an elevator on MTV's 29th floor. A Miley Cyrus video is playing in the waiting area.
12:19 I am venturing outside into blizzard conditions.
12:23 I am in Toys R Us. People are shouting: "Welcome to Toys R Us! Stop and smile!" They're not trying to be friendly. They're trying to snap our photos so that, when we exit this place they can try to sell us those images. I believe ground level is level 2. A sign tells me to go downstairs for Nintendo's store.
12:25 Accidentally ventured downstairs. Wrong move I am at the base of a massive in store Ferris wheel. Need to go back upstairs. Apparently the ground level is in fact level 1.
12:28 I have found it. The Nintendo area. The, uh, emptiest area in this store.
12:31 Oh no, not this again. The first DS I walk to has a "Pictochat" window open with someone having written the system's username in as I[heart]p--sy bbl. I try to help Nintendo out. But I can't remember how to change the name. So I switch to a different DS that has a "Mystery Case Files" demo in it. This one has the username of Taz.
12:34 Two little boys next to me are engrossed in the new "Kirby" and "Pokemon" games. I notice that a framed TV screen behind them is showing a reel of "Punch-Out!"
12:38 A boy is trying to convince his mom to play the DS. A man is annoyed that one bolted DS is turned the wrong way for him to play "Brain Age." He is left-handed.
12:40 I'm leaving the store and venturing back outside. All I need to do is cross the street to get back to MTV HQ.
12:41 Huddled under an awning waiting to cross the street, I figure out how Nintendo can afford to have its own store within the Toys R Us store: I overhear a mom saying, "$500 for the PS3? For one thing, that's all of Christmas! [mumble mumble] He's 15. He wants a 360. That's $300 and doesn't even include a damn game." She may be standing in outside in the snow, but this woman might as well have been part of a stealth wing of the Nintendo stand. She was just 10 feet from it.
12:45 I have ordered a ham sandwich from our MTV building's lobby cafe.
12:53 I'm back at my desk with my ham sandwich