Excitement fills over me as I take the brown corrugated die-cut cardboard postal packing box from the courier delivery guy and scribble my initial over his sheet. The wait is finally over as I have in the palm of my hands now, what Rockstar promised me months ago. GTA 5 for PC. I hurry through the house as my hands itch to tear off the covering on the case and reveal. Only managing to stay calm and obey till I get the camera.
It has already been too long. The game was launched a few days ago and my preorder came in late. Despite my efforts of mailing the courier and the game seller to ship on priority, it seems Day 0 service is still a distant dream in the country, and that is my main reason for preferring digital downloads in most of my games. GTA 5 however was special. To draw a parallel, this is unlike the n number of holidays that fall throughout the year, this was Christmas, Diwali and Eid all rolled into one. It was a reason to celebrate and what better way than to collect a physical tangible case to commemorate the event. My friends are already playing since they managed to preload the game days in advance preparing for the launch. I convince myself by realising that my FUP (caps of data download limit) restriction on my internet won’t allow for such huge downloads but I feel like ‘The greater fool’.
I write this for those who bought GTA V digitally and don’t even have a picture to show for it, sharing on their social profiles, pictures of box art. Isn’t it hypocritical since they don’t have the box? Well now is not the time to think over it as the clear plastic wrapper comes off. I am greeted to the well-known comic art that GTA has been coupled with for a long time along with the famous Grand Theft Auto logo.
Like the entire Heptalogy of Harry Potter and The Chronicles of Narnia in my book shelf, 7 disks I find to complete the game. Each disk adorned with a picture of the main characters. Along with the disks, my standard edition contained a black box with the GTA V logo, inside of which was the game key printed on the manual, pre-order bonus flyer (In game cash 500k online + 500k story mode) and a big map of Los Santos. This is a huge map and has seen many changes since the 11 years I had not seen it after San Andreas.
As I put the disk in one by one as the game installs I read the back of the box “When a young street hustler, a retired bank robber, and a terrifying psychopath find themselves entangled with some of the most frightening and deranged elements of the criminal underworld, the U.S government and the entertainment industry, they must pull off a series of dangerous heists to survive in a ruthless city in which they can trust nobody, least of all each other.”
It’s installed and ready but as soon as I launch it, I am greeted with a huge patch testing my patience. I prepare myself to cut off from my family and friends behind for a few days. I am already prepared to see the best moments the game has to offer me. The wait is finally over and the physical box now gleams on top of my shelf although a bit lonely as the place next to it lies vacant for The Witcher 3. As any serious gamer I take proud in the fact; as I see the growing collection of big DVD boxes for my most loved games.
As epic music starts to fill my room I close my eyes and take a deep breath and let it engross me, as I get ready, and the game starts….
