Shopping season in the snow

Black Friday is the first Friday after Thanksgiving.

Following the stock market crash in October, an invisible anxiety began to spread rapidly among consumers.

Nearly 10% of households expressed concern in the poll about a potential decline in income over the next six months.

This makes participating in this year's shopping extravaganza a rather delicate matter.

It's not as devastated as the financial markets, but it's far from being completely unaffected either.

Lexington, Massachusetts.

A rare blizzard blanketed the city in silver.

Three in the morning, during the coldest hours.

There were no streetlights, no sunlight, and everywhere exuded an unsettling, deathly silence.

This atmosphere is hardly a good sign for the most important shopping season of the year, which is about to begin.

The mall manager, his hands trembling, lifted the curtain.

Looking out at the parking lot through the glass curtain wall.

Although consumers gathered there as in previous years, there were obvious differences.

The most obvious thing at first glance is the significant decrease in the number of people.

The days of massive crowds and throngs of people are gone.

The second point is the increase in the proportion of young people and the decrease in the number of housewives.

This very point dampened the mall manager's spirits.

Despite the still considerable number of people, this unusual consumer composition can only mean one thing.

These people didn't come for any so-called "Black Friday".

They gathered here for only one thing.

A new game from Gamenova.

GAMENOVA is such a company; if they wanted, every day could be a shopping festival.

Perhaps only Gamenova, aside from top-tier novels, movies, and records, can achieve this.

Look at all those young men and women!

Wrapped in thick clothes, they stood there in the deep snow, not caring at all about the darkness before dawn.

It's as if getting the Sims disc today is more important than anything else.

If only housewives who stay at home could have such consumer desires.

The mall manager's eyes dimmed.

GAMENOVA single-handedly drew in the enthusiastic crowd that arrived early today.

But the consumers they bring will only buy GAMENOVA-related products.

If we can't wait for those major consumers, daily consumer goods, luxury goods, and large home appliances will still go unsold.

To be honest, although he didn't really want to face it, didn't really want to admit it—

But today's situation is really bad.

Compared to the merchants' concerns, the players who got up early to queue up had a completely different feeling.

On the snow, they gathered in small groups, passing the time by clumsily fiddling with the joystick with their gloved hands.

Robert had his hands tightly tucked into his pockets, and his hat and scarf were wrapped tightly around his neck.

His expression was somewhat stiff as he stood in the cold wind.

I don't understand.

I really don't understand.

Why would people rather freeze and shed tears in the snow than stand in line in front of a convenience store?

Does GameNova have some kind of brainwashing trick up its sleeve that it managed to capture all these people?

His eyes peered at Yuli through a rare crack in the dressing room.

She really has the ability to stay up so late at night.

Knowing that today was the release date, she insisted on dragging me here to catch the first release and get the pre-ordered stock.

Young people are full of energy and vitality; they can endure it.

But he's a rather middle-aged man.

Robert truly couldn't understand why he would stay up all night to come and freeze.

Are people these days so naive?

"Boss! Yuli! I'm here!"

The crunching sound of footsteps on the snow grew louder as it approached, accompanied by Sean's urgent shouts.

His woolen hat was askew, revealing half of his messy, permed hair.

The cold wind along the way must have been quite a choking experience for him. Through the dim light, Robert could vaguely see glistening snot on Sean's philtrum, clearly indicating a trickle of snot from his nose.

His face was flushed, but he didn't care at all; his face was full of excited smiles.

"Sorry, the snow was too heavy and the roads were difficult to travel, so I was a little late."

We had agreed to come together today to get the first pick, but luckily we missed it because of the heavy snow blocking the roads.

I left his number when I pre-ordered it. If he doesn't show up, this is going to be a real disaster.

Good morning, Sean.

Yuli chuckled and waved the handheld console in her hand, her meaning clear: she wanted him to log in quickly and take her to the gym.

"Are all these people here to buy Gamenova's new games?"

Robert's deep, muffled voice came through the scarf.

Sean looked around and nodded with a smile.

"I'm afraid so."

Players are attracted to each other; sometimes you can recognize them at a glance.

Their temperament is easily recognizable.

Sean chuckled and pulled out his handheld console.

He couldn't wait for the shops to open for business.

What else can we look forward to at the end of the year?

Sean wasn't a materialistic person, especially now that Robert had promoted him and given him a raise, which greatly reduced his financial pressure.

While I'm far from being Fortune free, I'm already at a stage where I can eat whatever I want and do whatever I want.

But the only thing that could truly make Sean feel "I absolutely have to get my hands on it" was a new game from Gamenova.

He's really eager to see what this year's final piece will be.

Last year's Christmas was Civilization, and before that it was Pokémon; both are dominant titles.

Recalling the fragmented information from the official sources and the unreliable information from various media outlets, the tone of this work is completely different from before.

Like its title, The Sims, this isn't the first time the word "sim" has appeared in a Gamenova work.

Last time it was SimCity.

According to the magazine, the word "Sim" should be interpreted as "simulation".

This game should also be a simulation game like SimCity.

In this installment, GAMENOVA added an's' after 'Sim', making it plural.

Based on a simple guess, "Sims" here seems to refer more to game characters.

Simulate a group of citizens?

It sounds a bit strange, like some kind of electronic game.

The collaboration with Attitude magazine and Mattel perfectly illustrates this point.

Honestly, this made Sean hesitate a bit more.

He was worried that the work might try too hard to cater to female audiences, resulting in it not being to his liking.

If that's the case, then it would indeed be a bit of a headache.

Sean glanced at Yuli, who was equally excited, and shrugged.

In short, all we need to do now is trust GAMENOVA.

At six o'clock in the morning, the convenience store officially opened.

S