Star Wars Episode III midnight opening
For the game, that is. You were going to be up anyway, so you might as well win a lightsaber, right?
Star Wars fans who like being up at midnight (which, let's face it, is all of us) are being invited to do just that on Thursday 5th May, when London's Oxford Street Virgin Megastore will open its doors for people to buy the new Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith game for PS2 and Xbox at 12:01am.
Stormtroopers will be on hand to welcome people, along with Darth Vader (spoiled the ending a bit there), and the first 50 buyers will receive an exclusive goodie bag. They will receive an exclusive goodie bag.
Plus, everyone who turns up will receive a limited-edition reversible wristband, and the store opening will culminate in a presentation of one of five lightsabers (toys, presumably) for the five people most convincingly dressed up as Star Wars characters.
A few quick tips for people who want to try that. Darth Vader? Man with a PS2 stapled to his chest. Ewoks? Wrap yourself in a carpet and kneel down. That'll work. (Haha! Watch us subvert them so that we can turn up dressed convincingly as the Millennium Falcon and waltz off with the prize!)
Finally, the evening will also reveal the winner of Virgin Megastore's Star Wars Poll, in which people are meant to vote for the Star Wars character most likely to work as Prime Minister. Apparently Leia, Obi-Wan and Yoda are out in front in their attempts to replace the current UK administration, which of course consists of Palpatine and Jabba the Hutt. Not just physically but facially, ya know.
Anyway, the upshot of all this publicity is that people will be able to get hold of the new Revenge of the Sith game a fortnight prior to the film's release. We only hope it lives up to Lego Star Wars, also featuring Episode III elements, which came out last week and is quite possibly the best Star Wars game we've seen since, like, February when KOTOR2 came out.