I got down to GameStop at 6:45 a.m. sharp this morning. There was already a crowd of a dozen to 20 people waiting in a semi-organized line, talking among each other and checking their watches. I proceeded to walk right past the line and peereded right in through the door. I caught sight of the manager and tapped the glass.

It was at this moment that I realized it was dead silent all around me, as at least 14 people had ceased all conversation and were staring at me.

"I work here," I said.

Three little words. I do believe they saved my life. 

I had never worked a retail "Black Friday" before today; working in food and bakeries I was used to the less-mentioned Black Wednesday. It would astound you how many obscenities a human being can muster in the process of demanding an eleventh-hour pumpkin pie.

Now I am a GameStop employee, and have seen this eventful day up close.  With the rush over and finally being able to rest, I would like to inform you all of the general view of retail with the morning finally out of the way. While I am, of course, a GA writer, I am a paid GameStop employee and value (and certainly enjoy) my job; I have no intention of spilling corporate numbers or particulars, just some first-hand impressions from my bustling shop in mid-Michigan.

I'll cut right to the chase. In the blur of Blu-Ray, high-definition, motion control, and all the horrors of economics and technology that surround us, the winner of the next-gen console war shined through this morning. The overpowering, triumphant console of this season is clearly...

...the Nintendo DS.

Well, sorta. Honestly, people, DS Lites and DS games kept going at a very steady pace today. Despite all the specials and deals on regular consoles, the DS was on wishlist after wishlist. The little system is going very strong.

Budget-priced PS2 games did very respectably, as well as new slimline consoles. It's racing against the original Xbox to be the cheapest home console to still have support, and it seems to be doing well.

Xbox and Xbox 360 seemed unusually slow despite the rush. This seems inexplicable, especially in an area where 360 seems fairly commonplace. We see plenty of 360 owners around here, so I'm not sure what to say about this. Both systems seemed brushed aside from the wave of DS and PS2 customers.

Now, real next-gen. That's what people want to hear, yes?

Well, the obvious part is that any Wiis or PS3s in stock moved instantly. Duh. The real points of fascination are the murmurs afterward. We had consistently more customers, kids, and parents asking about the Wii throughout the day than the PS3. It was definitely the hotter topic. There were already more Wii hopefuls lining up than those hungry for PS3s, and Wii-hunters kept showing up throughout the course of the day.

Furthermore, people want nunchuks. Everybody wants nunchuks, and nobody can find them. This has been confirmed as a national trend.

Lastly, but most awesomely, several stores in my area received the finest object ever to grace this industry: The Reggie Shirt. We didn't get these for anything earlier, but we got a handful of them to give out with purchases of multiple new DS games. I don't know if those rules applied in other districts, but it seems that GameStops that didn't get these shirts for Wii launch may have them now. Ask! Ask, and sate your precious lust!