Super Smash Bros Brawl midnight openings cancelled in the US due to stormy weather

Columbus (OH) - Dozens of Gamestop stores in Ohio, Kentucky, and neighboring states have canceled their midnight openings and local round one tournament competitions for Super Smash Bros Brawl due to a nasty late-winter storm.

An intense storm made its way across the eastern half of the US this week, ending in the midwest Saturday, dumping one to two feet of snow in the hardest-hit areas.

In Columbus, Ohio, every single GameStop location in a six- to seven-county area decided to cancel the event after a total of over 20 inches of snow fell over the past two days, a new record. Many locations were not even open for regular business hours today as the city received its first blizzard warning in over 12 years.

Dozens of other stores in Ohio, as well as Kentucky and Michigan, also canceled. Local tournaments for the national Gamespot championship have been rescheduled for tomorrow.

Super Smash Bros Brawl has been declared "the Halo 3 for the Wii." It smashed sales records in Japan when it launched there earlier this year, and is expected to be far and away the top-selling game this month in the US. Gamers have been waiting for Brawl since it was announced in May 2006, and was then delayed twice in the months leading to its release.

Ironically, the game’s release date was seen as targeting the ideal spring break timeframe, but those who are snowed in probably aren’t thinking of spring right now.