Hidden beneath the subway lines travelled by millions in Toronto lie the remnants of stations past. A network of abandoned tracks and platforms long out of service, they have found a new life in recent decades as movie locations for Hollywood studios looking to recreate the subways of New York. Last night Microsoft took over the secret platforms lying beneath Bay station to host their launch event for Gears of War 2. To get to it, attendees had to pass through a set of utility doors within Bay Station proper and then descend a flight of stairs, past crumbling tiles and broken light fixtures into a dark transit platform lit only by drum barrels filled with faux flames and banks of LG televisions connected to networked Xbox 360 systems.

As I walked through the darkness, the ground and ceiling shook and rumbled as the trains from the Bloor line up above thundered pass. The tracks on both sides of the platform were occupied by parked trains, their doors open so that attendees could enter and use the seats as a makeshift lounge area, a break from the multi-screened mayhem where bloggers and reporters, many playing the game for the first time, took notes for their articles and TV crews snaked amongst the crowds to gather soundbites and quips.

It gets very warm down below, I had flashbacks of movies I had seen that took place in subway lines and how the characters often complain about the heat, now I’m thinking those lines were probably unscripted. The subway cars, oddly enough, were cooler in temperature and so a popular place for many to hang out. Shifting amongst the bodies in the dark were several who wore metal “Cogs” props, just like the one handed to me in Microsoft’s stunt a few weeks back and in talking around with others I discovered that there is a deeper story behind the keepsakes.

Microsoft created 1,000 of the metal gears and over the past month or so has hidden them in secret locations, some tagged for GPS coordinates, others deposited in little promo stunts similar to the one played on me, in various countries around the world. Each “Cog” has its own serial number and those who discover the prop can visit the GearsOfWar.com website to enter in the sequence for a bonus unlockable for the game. Only thirty of the Cogs were sent to Canada, some hidden within the subway, others in places like graveyards or churches. When I published photos of the one handed to me, I had unwillingly made my blog the secret location for it, for those working together to follow the viral campaign to find it and add its serial number to the others.

While we fought video game monsters down below, fans were lining up on the sidewalks above on the surface. Both Future Shop and Best Buy were opening their stores at midnight to sell the game early. Future Shop had originally planned to create a large spectacle at their Dundas St. location, but before night fell they made the decision to cancel the festivities, both here and at their Vancouver location out of respect for Brandon Crisp, the fifteen year-old boy who ran away from home over a video game dispute with his father. His body was found just the day before.

Both retail chains moved forward with midnight sales and small groups of fans did file up outside of their doors, starting as early as 9pm. In the case of Future Shop, the store thanked fans with a set of giveaway prizes, only offered as part of the midnight sales, that included an online code coupon for bonus downloadable content for the game, a 10% discount voucher, and a special edition ”headshot” action figure featuring one of the Locust enemies from the game.

With more than 20,000 stores around the world selling the game yesterday, the strike of midnight sounded the beginning of hundreds of thousands of Xbox 360 systems connecting online to battle monsters throughout the night and in some cases I can imagine, well into the day too.