Stompy

It's Sunday, and I really would like to get a copy of Metroid Prime 2. I've called game stop and several stores around here that seem like they'd have it, but they're not selling it yet until tuesday, I believe.

I know a lot of people had GTA 2 or 3 days before the official release date (not the pirated copy, but actual retail), so I'm curious as to which stores are good for this type of thing.. same with Doom 3 and Halo 2 - people had the actual retail copies days before the official release date.

I know these other places have em (like Gamestop), so why don't they just start selling em anyway? Is there some kind of rule about breaking the official release date?

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blar

well i don't think there is actually a store that sells games early a lot of people get the games early from stores they work at or know people that work in stores that sell videogames.

and the stores that put games on the shelves early, usually happen becuase the manger has no idea to put the game out for sale on a certain date. well this is my opinon because the games that i have gotten early is usally becuase the manager had no idea whats was going on and just put the games on the Shelves for example how i got HL2 on friday.

bal8664

Walmart, they usually have no idea when the releae date is and put games and movies out whenever they get the shipment.

BTW, What store did you get HL2 at blar?

shadowalker

I am friends with a guy that works at eb, He just gives me the copy and i give him the money for it and when it goes live he just rings in the sale. /Shrugs always worked for me. 3 days early for halo 2 and i was not asking questions.

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CityOfAngels

Stores might be a bit wary now when it comes to releasing games a few days early. Microsoft informed vendors that they would sue anyone who sold copies of Halo 2 early $100,000 per copy sold.

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Munku

HL 2 won't work until tuesday anyways considering they have to activate it through steam online first.

Echodork

Short answer: No, you can't get games "early."

Long answer:

Game shipments come in two varieties. There are "shelf immediately" games, and this is the catagory that most games fall into. It means that on the "release date," the publisher ships the game to the store. Depending on the method of shipment, the store either receives the game the same day or the day after. The store will put the game on the shelf the instant it is received. You can't buy it early, because the store doesn't have it early.

The second type is "street dated." These are games which the publisher wants to be sure will be on the shelves on a particular day, so they ship the boxes a week or so in advance to the stores. This way, the stores can just put the box on the shelf on the street date without worrying about shipping delays. Major releases are usually street dated... my Gamestop had several hundred copies of Halo 2 sitting in the back room as early as the 6th. However, game stores face major... and I mean major penalties for selling games before the street date. $100k per copy might be excessive, but a game store that sells street dated product early might be banned from carrying that publisher's releases in the future. Best Buy had some trouble with street dates a few years back, and an EB in Kentucky sold Halo 2 early and is in deep shit right now.

Every single copy of Halo 2 comes with a label that says "Do not sell before 11/9/04" along the top. It's that serious.

Stompy

This sucks.

Today is the release date for MP2 and no one's selling it. WTF is wrong with these places

[edit]
Toys R Us and Game Stop are saying the 16th, Circuit City and Best Buy are saying the 17th, but toysrus.com says it's available now, IGN and a few other sites say it's available now.. these places need to get their info straight.

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omega2K4

Just because today is the release date doesn't mean its going to be in stores.

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Cader

Games pretty much always arrive on shelves on Tuesdays. And never trust release dates, that tends to be when they will ship and never seems to be a good indicator of when it will be available to you. For some games that date is right, for most it is a day early.

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Wingless

I work at a GameStop, and he's right - it's a serious business. For some reason most people can't grasp that the video game industry is a serious industry. Car companies probably wouldn't be happy if a 2006 model vehicle hit the streets a month before its unveiling.

At our store, GTA: SA went on sale at exactly 7:00pm. Any copies sold before then and our store would recieve a $50,000 per copy fine. We actually had Half-Life 2 in sometime last week, and it said "DO NOT SELL BEFORE 11/16/2004"

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DarkPho

Well, i'm in England so can't give you any names of vendors, but when i pre-order online the game tends to get here a day early. I guess they send it out 2 days before (first class being 1-2 days) to ensure it gets there on time, presuming the postal service in your area is good, you have early.

I didn't think it was illegal or fine-able for selling copies early. I remember something about Doom3 in the news, where they were saying rather than downloading it early, just find a vendor who's letting it go before the date.