Launch day! Launch day!

If you didn’t preorder your new PlayStation 4 console – or were one of the lucky ones that strolled in day-of and got a brand-new version of Sony’s latest console – then you missed out. You missed out on that ultra-special day one access… and you missed out on all the fun that comes from the line-waiting, frantic purchasing, crazy hijinks, and day-one jitters.

In other words, you missed out on a typical console launch.

Never fear, however. We have a quick roundup of the day’s more intriguing stories related to the PlayStation 4, which will surely soothe you as you go about calling various local retails to see what they have in stock (spoiler: likely nothing). Or, worse, as you prepare to smash your piggy bank prior to purchasing an (overpriced) PlayStation 4 on good ol’ eBay(Opens in a new window)…

Comrades in Arms

It might not be as gripping of a news story as, say, BatKid, but it’s still brings the warm, gaming fuzzies to see Sony rival Microsoft congratulating the company(Opens in a new window) on the successful launch of its PlayStation 4. That said, we did get a bit of a laugh at the various commenters posting the “not sure if sarcastic… or actually serious” Futurama meme. Let’s all just game together and sing Kumbaya, eh?

Free PlayStations, anyone?

We had to read it to believe it, and then we read it twice. Suffice, Kotaku is reporting(Opens in a new window) that Dallas Cowboys receiver Dez Bryant reportedly walked up to a Best Buy store for the big PlayStation 4 midnight launch and bought five free PlayStation 4 consoles for some of the people waiting in line. Who needs an autographed football when you can have yummy gaming goodness instead?

Bricked console?

Of course, not every console launch goes smoothly as one might hope for. There have been a number of reports about eager gamers coming home with their brand-new PS4s, only to find that the consoles themselves are quote unquote bricked. In common parlance, that means that the consoles – at first glance – don’t appear to work at all. If you want to check out the wailing and gnashing of teeth yourself, just head on over to Sony’s PlayStation 4 forums. Bring some Kleenex(Opens in a new window). It gets rough.

As for potential repairs – if you’re one of the unlucky few stricken with a console that doesn’t seem to work – there are a number of potential fixes floating around for whatever issues happen to be affecting the consoles. These include bending the pins on your console’s HDMI port(Opens in a new window), removing and reinserting your system’s hard drive(Opens in a new window) and, of course, contacting Sony for its ideas. According to the company, fewer than 0.4% of shipped consoles have had a game-breaking issue(Opens in a new window).

Just desserts

If you’ll allow this writer to get personal for a moment, I hate it when people cut in line. I hate it at concerts, I hate it at food joints, and I hate it at console launches. Thankfully, I’m not the only one when it comes to the latter. If you get a little bit of schadenfreude watching line-cutters get the what-for, then we urge you to take a moment (while your PlayStation 4 updates?) to read this lovely tale of “why are important.” (Opens in a new window)

Rebels Without a Cause

We don’t really need words for this one. Just watch. And gasp.