Midnight Warfare

Monday’s countdown to midnight came and went but the line of store customers barely moved.

“I want to see bracelets,” hollered store clerk Erin Deary. The bracelets were handed out hours earlier and gave customers first dibs to buy the newest video game on the planet — Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 — when it went on sale at midnight.

Deary counted off five bracelet-bearing customers, letting them inside the door to plunk down $64 for the game in the black-and-white box.

She figured the store would sell 700 of the games before the bleary eyed clerks called it a night, probably around 3 or 4 a.m.

Meanwhile, the customers stood in a line hundreds long, snaked over the Swampscott Mall sidewalk.

They gladly awaited their turns — some had stood in line for five hours.

They were patient and excited.

They were kids as young as 8.

They were parents.

Mostly they were teens and 20-somethings.

What was calling all these video-game-hungry night owls to Paradise Road?

The game’s excitement.  Playing the survival game.

“The best first-person shooter in the world,” said Greg White, 28 of Lynn.

Luke Peters, 18, a Marblehead High School student, stood at the very front of the line.

He said he has been playing the Call of Duty series games for years, from the World War II games to the present day version.

One hundred yards away, Max Shams, 22, of Swampscott, and John O’Connell, 20, of Marblehead, stood at the very back of the line.

The City Grill restaurant employees expected to be waiting for three hours to get their chance to buy the game.

It’s one of the best shooters out there, they said.