Alex Lauriano's hands are smudged with oil as he signs the store copy of his receipt.

It's minutes after midnight on Wednesday at the Game Stop at Nellis and Charleston Boulevards. Lauriano has just become one of the first in the Valley to purchase The Beatles: Rock Band, and despite the late hour, he interrupted fixing his car to come to the store and buy it. The game was simply that enticing.

"It's the Beatles and Rock Band," Lauriano says. "I grew up listening to one, and I can't stop playing the other."

A screenshot from The Beatles: Rock Band, which went on sale 9/9/09 at midnight.

Despite the widespread popularity of the Rock Band series and the iconic status of the Fab Four, Lauriano was one of only about a dozen people who made the trek to this Game Stop at midnight. He, and several others waiting in line, expressed shock at the dismal showing.

Employees Alexandria Anthony and Randi Sepulveda expected far more hoopla. They dressed in hippie attire to set the mood for what they thought would be a sizeable crowd, especially as their Game Stop was the only one in town offering a midnight release. Their closest competitor, Game Crazy, didn't. Best Buy and Blockbuster held release parties in several cities across the country, but none in Nevada.

"I'm really surprised," said Anthony, staring outside at the mostly deserted parking lot. "This [release] is a very big deal."

Sepulveda agreed, citing Apple Corporation's tight restrictions on the Beatles catalog. "You can't find their music on iTunes," she said. "It's hard to find it illegally, even. There's been a lot of hype [about the game.]"

Anthony chalked up the lack of midnight buyers to the day of the week. The repetitive 09/09/09 date looks great on advertisements, but a midweek release date in early September doesn't work well for students. "Actually, I'm supposed to be going to bed right now," she joked.

Tiarra Wantz poses with her copy of "The Beatles: Rock Band." Wantz was one of a dozen people who purchased the game at midnight from Game Stop. Photo by: April Corbin

The presence of so many 24-hour Wal-Mart stores may also have factored into the lackluster showing at Game Crazy. Customer Tiarra Wantz admitted she drove to several Wal-Marts late on Tuesday.

"Sometimes Wal-Mart puts the stands out before they're supposed to," Wantz explained. "I thought maybe I could get it early."

Finding no such luck, Wantz headed to Game Stop, where she attempted to convince Anthony and Sepulveda to sell her a copy early. "It's already on 12 on the east coast," she plead.

They didn't buy it, so Wantz waited.

The college student left the store 10 minutes after the stroke of midnight, ready to play for hours and grateful her first class on Wednesday doesn't begin until 2:30 p.m.

Wantz's excitement is one Anthony knows is shared by thousands of others, most of whom just couldn't make it to store at midnight. Pre-sale numbers for The Beatles: Rock Band were strong, and the store has received an influx of calls about the game.

"Plus, it's a universal thing," Anthony said. "You have to like The Beatles."