Little background info: I'm 23 years old now and while growing up, I never was that kid who could ask my parents to buy me video games. My late mum would buy us toys if we asked but not games (she was very careful about interative media. Even violent cartoons weren't allowed). Also, I'm Nigerian and unlike many Nigerians of my social class, I did all my schooling, including University, in Nigeria. So I've never actually had the option of going to the store on launch day for any gaming product. But with digital sales on the rise, and having already purchased a few digital titles on my 3DS, I figured I'd make Pokemon Y my first day one purchase. Unfortunately,  I was broke on launch day :)

   I was gonna miss the launch of The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds too when I miraculously received a $100 giftabout two days to the launch. Miraculously because I didn't even get the money in Naira (Nigerian currency), I got it in dollars. I didn't have to go to a Burea de Change before loading up my Visacard. So I bought Zelda on launch day. Anoyingly, it wasn't on the eShop by midnight so I had to start my download in the morning before work. Got home from work in the evening and it had only downloaded 5%! Just my luck, I didn't get to play it on day one.

    I did, however, get to play it on day 2 and for the first time ever, instead of drooling over IGN video reviews and reading what people say in the Forums here, I'm playing it before it gets old. What's more, I have the Black Friday app on my phone but I usually can't enjoy Black Friday sales. Not this time! Today, I purchased all 3 Bioshock games for only $16! I didn't even know Amazon.com sold games as Steam download codes. Before now, my Steam has been used exclusively free games and trial versions. All I need now is an Xbox 360 controller to use with my Microsoft Surface Pro, since I also finally have a computer with decent specs for gaming.

   Everything I've said may not be a big deal to many of you, but I know there'll also be some who can relate so I'm looking forward to seeing similar stories posted here. Kinda like a celebration of how we squeeze out what we can for our hobby :)

Seems as though you made a great decision on what game to buy first. Either that, or that's just how things played out.

Anyhow, congrats!? Day one purchases are rewarding, at times. I think my first day one purchase was Pokemon Pearl... or the Wii? Which ever came first. It was quite the experience since I was only like 7 or 8.

I actually can relate to you..and I'm from Toronto!

Edit: There should be more threads like this

Hehe. Apparently, not too many people can relate.....or the thread title just isn't attractive enough to get lots of clicks. I'm in the second dungeon now anyway :)

I actually just posted this on someone's thread, and realized that it deserves a place here too:
"I never can buy more than 3 games a year, which I'll trade with friends in order to play games I couldn't buy. So no game console ever has a bad enough drought for me. No matter which I buy, it's always a struggle to keep up with my wishlist."

They were talking about bad launch libraries and software droughts (especially for Nintendo)

Nice story :) - my story is rubbish, but here you go :)

When I was a kid, all i wanted for Christmas was a Spectrum 48k + computer (yep when i was a kid was a long time ago). I didnt get one, I had a spectrum magazine which I read over and over, dreaming of the games I could play. I even took the magazine on holiday with me... I read it for most of the trip...

I decided the only way I was going to get a Spectrum was to buy one myself... my parents had 5 kids and though we weren't poor, in the 80's many parents just didnt have the cash for electronics and luxuries. So i did a paper round and saved and saved, but I was still too far away from the price of the computer, then a bit of luck, the guy who owned the paper shop i delivered for had a spectrum which was 2nd hand and they were prepared to sell it to me for half price.

My hobby started that day, then it went onto the Amiga Computer (best computer ever), PC and the AOL Online/Ultima years.. then Playstation/Xbox.. 

Now many many years later, I am still playing lots of games, and loving it.

@Madword, I like your story! I may be way younger than you, but I also read game magazines over and over as a kid before the internet became this easy to access :)

My first ever day one purchase was Sonic Free Riders. I learned to wait for the reviews.

My 1st day one was Majoras Mask for N64.

hehe thanks :)

Yeah, for me the internet has allowed me to find those old magazines and relive the great memories also... not forgetting great emulators and GOG games. I love retro stuff.

I'm not sure I have enough time in my life to ever play all the games I have, but it's my main hobby, and my kids get to play lots of games, so they are very happy. How things have changed in 30 years :)