When I picked up my copy at Gamestop yesterday they said they had 80 preorders and 64 copies to sell, but a ton coming in the next day. Sucks to be the guy who doesn’t come in early to pick up his reserved copy I guess.
The problem with Best Buy is that you can’t count on them to have every new game on the shelves the day of release. Lots of times games will take up to a week or more before Best Buy has them.
I realized real quick how futile it is to call EB on release day and ask if they have copies available for walk-ins.
Yes. It’s the story of why I never preorder games.
This happened in my town with an EB as well – pre-orders only on Tuesday. I hope the morons at corporate are happy with their decision, because I’m going to drive 25 minutes to a Best Buy and get it rather than go to the EB across the street (as others have noted, they’ll sell it to me today). I think Best Buy had it for five bucks cheaper as well.
It’s always been my experience that if it’s a big-release game you’re looking for (Doom, GTA3, etc), you’re better off going to a big store, because places like Best Buy can afford to buy huge lots of these games, where the lil EBs don’t have the money or the storage space for something like that.
Pre-orders ARE a good idea for niche games that Best Buy isn’t likely to carry for a while, if at all. Stuff like Disgaea (when it first came out especially) or some of the smaller import localizations don’t get stocked by places like Best Buy, and pre-ordering is often the easiest way to get your hands on a copy, because if you don’t pre-order, an EB may not order any copies at all.
My experience is pretty much the same as Sam’s - pre-order a smaller title from an online gaming store (one that supports the local gaming community by running a pretty good forum), but I’ve never had problems walking into our local EB and grabbing an A-list title off the shelf (Far Cry, NWN etc.) whenever impulse has struck on release day.
Stores here are pretty good about offering discounts and / or specials for pre-orders - D3 I got delivered to my desk at work on Tuesday with a free t-shirt and the figure, and $10 off.
I hope you guys are telling BB why you’re shopping there and EB why you’re not.
Um… is that Levar Burton’s autograph there? Maybe that guy actually is blind after all…
Come on, at least use a picture from reading rainbow. I’ve been waiting for one all day!
Definitely keep in mind that Best Buy very rarely will have a game on the release day. It only happens with something this big. Even a game that gamers are really excited for but isn’t “casual friendly” will be unlikely to show up at Best Buy until at least a couple days after the actual release day.
–Dave
This is pretty much what my local Babbages told me. The pay more for shipping to get the preorders in on time, then wait for the others to come slow shipping. In their case it was only a day difference, but that could mean a ton of sales considering Best Buy had a ton of copies.
Isn’t this illegal? I’ve only pre-ordered online, and I have never had a company take money until after the product has shipped (sudden backorders like with UT2k4 were promptly refunded).
If they’re making any money off unclaimed pre-orders, are they not stealing?
Where would you expect the money to go if no one shows up to claim the game?
It happens. Strange, but true.
Also… depending where you live, the games will reach you faster or slower from EB. If you’re near where I live, you’re golden. EB’s shipments basically arrive overnight. If you’re in California, unless they have them in a warehouse out there (which I think they now maintain), then you’re going to wait a lot longer for them to get there.
–Dave
I would expect money not to go anywhere until after a product has exchanged hands.
I have pre-ordered a DVD from Suncoast, and they did require me to put $5 down, which was fine. It got deducted from the final charge, and was refundable.
But that it just gets “swallowed up” is enough reason to keep me from ever pre-ordering another product ever again.
I think what Dave means, is that if you put $5 (or $20 or whatever) down on a game, and never show back up they just keep the money and don’t actively try to hunt you down and force the $5 back into your pocket. If you ever showed up 6 months later and said “Hey, I never got this game that I put $5 down on” they’d refund your money, obviously.