Is preordering even important anymore?

I'm just been wondering this, seeing as how Gamestop has a new VIP type deal for people who preorder in full. I don't know the details of it, though.

Also, Fable, one of the big big releases of the season, was pushed constantly by EB and GS workers to preorder, or you might miss out, but I just went in today, the day after release, to find EB sitting on about 50-100 (a rough estimate, but the case was stocked full of copies) non preorder copies.

This isn't even counting the fact all non games stores have yet to receive their copies, and they'll get tons of them in on the first place. Is preordering really important for games like Halo 2 (regular edition) or GTA: San Andreas? Or for games in general?

It just seems EB and Gamestop get enough for everyone now, and you've got 5 or 6 other stores who sell video games that will make sure they've got a ton of copies for everyone as well.

The stores push this so hard and I wonder if preorders have increased since a few years ago, or fallen?

The only time I even consider it is on a smaller release, because EB or Gamestop are getting in the habit of ordering 1 or 2 copies of lesser releases no one preorders. I know the local EB, with 50-100 copies of Fable, got in a whopping two copies of Gradius V.

News you can use.

Kids, buy your new games on ebay instead, or support your local gamestore.

That is all.

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Originally Posted by PepsimanVsJoe

or support your local gamestore..

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When my local gamestore is too retarded to get overnight shipping on Fable, and tells me "oh, it should be here Friday, or maybe next Monday", and dosen't even bother to get in ANY copies of The Sims 2, he can promptly kiss my ass.

AFAIK, pre-ordering is only important if:

1) you know they're going to sell out and you want it ASAP and

2) there's some preorder bonus you really want.

It's not like there's much extra effort or extra money involved here.

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Originally Posted by Roufuss

I'm just been wondering this, seeing as how Gamestop has a new VIP type deal for people who preorder in full. I don't know the details of it, though.

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Basically you don't have to wait in line. You just walk in, show your slip, get the game and leave.

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Originally Posted by Mzo

AFAIK, pre-ordering is only important if:

1) you know they're going to sell out and you want it ASAP and

2) there's some preorder bonus you really want.

It's not like there's much extra effort or extra money involved here.

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Sounds about right.

Well, for Fable, our GS only got 6 extra copies, so if you do your shopping there, it would have been a good idea.

The other factor is that, if your store goes the extra mile to get you the game a day early, odds are they won't sell you a copy if you don't have a pre-order.

That may not be a big deal to some people, but I'm weird about getting a game as soon as humanly possible. When I worked at GS I was even known to give up my discount & buy stuff from EB if GS didn't ship it on the release date. (That happens a lot with them on budget or niche titles)

JM

I really don't think preordering is important at all.

Unless like Mzo said:

1) you know they're going to sell out and you want it ASAP and

2) there's some preorder bonus you really want.


I really don't think it's necessary. I don't think I've ever ran into the problem with a game selling out on the first day. The only time preordering has been a factor was when I was buying a system.

"is preordering necessary"?
no

I went to GStop a few minutes ago to get GV. Right after me, someone asked if they had Fable in.

"Did you preorder it?"
"no"
"Nope, sorry"

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Originally Posted by Joust Williams

I went to GStop a few minutes ago to get GV. Right after me, someone asked if they had Fable in.

"Did you preorder it?"
"no"
"Nope, sorry"

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That sucks, but I've also heard that GS or EB will sit on extra copies for a day or so just to be asses to the people who didn't preorder. This way, next time the customer will just preorder thinking they don't get in enough copies.

And yea, it has happened to me, and I did call corporate about it. Went to get a game in the morning, same situation as joust described, stopped by later that night when a different employee was there (because I wanted to see if anyone cancelled their preorder), and when I asked he gave me a funny look and said "we've had extra copies all day, I don't know why our manager would tell you that", and sold me a copy.

I was pretty furious.

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Originally Posted by Videodrone

Basically you don't have to wait in line. You just walk in, show your slip, get the game and leave.

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That's stupid, I usually do that anyways :confused:

I don't really think there's been a time I wanted to get a game and there's been a huge huge line.

I preordered Fable 2 hours before it got in the store. So I got it that night, instead of today.

i always loved getting in a game to have a couple motherfuckers not show up for weeks to get their copies. and since the inventory was based on selling out......and by god we could NEVER sell off a preordered copy we would be OOS longer than we should have.

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Originally Posted by Chux

I preordered Fable 2 hours before it got in the store. So I got it that night, instead of today.

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I don't get why stores would just on extra copies because people didn't preorder.

I'm lucky that all the EB's and Gamestop's around here actually went to sell their profit the day it comes in, and don't make people wait a day just because they didn't feel like putting up 5 bucks they could have used.

Anymore? It was never important.

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Originally Posted by Mzo

AFAIK, pre-ordering is only important if:

1) you know they're going to sell out and you want it ASAP and

2) there's some preorder bonus you really want.

It's not like there's much extra effort or extra money involved here.

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Yup, those are the only reasons for why I'll preorder. Sometimes, thats what determines which game out of several I'll be picking up that month.

Well at the EB near me, you get the 5 dollars for the pre-order off the marked price of the game. So there is no harm not to, and if you really want posters there is sometimes one that comes with a pre-order if you check in. Of course then there is Zelda Master Quest, the best reason to have pre-ordered a game ever.

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Originally Posted by Thief~Silver

Well at the EB near me, you get the 5 dollars for the pre-order off the marked price of the game.

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ummm thats what every store in their and GS's chain does.

Pre-orders are starting to suck ass hard now a days. My EB didn't give me shit when I pre-ordered SF:AE and Silent Hill 4. I'm going to start pre-ordering online where I can get the extra little stuff. It's not much, but it means a lot to me when they give me little gifts. It's like they care.

its not so bad...yes it is.

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Originally Posted by Dragonmaster Dyne

ummm thats what every store in their and GS's chain does.

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Ah I wasn't sure, thanks for the clarification.

I mean if you're ever at a game store and their offering pre-orders on something there is no reason not to take them up on the offer (Unless of course you can't afford it at the time).

But I guess driving 20 minutes out of your way or something to pre-order these games.. wouldn't be worth it. So... no pre-ordering isn't that important.

You should have gotten the SH4 soundtrack when you pre-ordered the game.

For a game like Fable, no, there's no real reason to pre-order. For really small or niche titles, however, it can be. A lot of stores around here won't even in a game if it is too small if there are no pre-orders. So, if you're somebody without the ability to purchase things off of the internet, then it can still be important to pre-order that kind of stuff.

If you have an internet connection, however, and the ability to buy things from said internet, the need of pre-ordering is pretty much gone.

There is a GameStop in Arizona (Pheonix or Flagstaff, cant remember) that has over 1,300 preorders for Halo 2.

In that case, I'd say getting a preorder would be fairly important.

I used to make a ton of reserves to help out my friends who work(ed) at GameStop. But I pulled them all 2 weeks ago in order to have enough cash for Phantom Brave and Star Ocean. Its actually kind of an investment. I had 9 preorders pulled, yielding me $45 that I didnt have before. woot.

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Originally Posted by Rhydant

There is a GameStop in Arizona (Pheonix or Flagstaff, cant remember) that has over 1,300 preorders for Halo 2.

In that case, I'd say getting a preorder would be fairly important.

I used to make a ton of reserves to help out my friends who work(ed) at GameStop. But I pulled them all 2 weeks ago in order to have enough cash for Phantom Brave and Star Ocean. Its actually kind of an investment. I had 9 preorders pulled, yielding me $45 that I didnt have before. woot.

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:nod:

Never thought of it that way.

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Originally Posted by shidoshi

You should have gotten the SH4 soundtrack when you pre-ordered the game.

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I thought so, too. When my g/f and I went to go pick it up, the guy just gave me the game. I asked him about the soundtrack and he said they don't know what I'm talking about. So now, all my pre-ordering is going to be done online.

ive stopped preordering since the stores in my area give out freebies if the workers havnt taken them all, which is usually never.

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Originally Posted by shidoshi

For a game like Fable, no, there's no real reason to pre-order.

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People who preordered Fable got a DVD with trailers for Microsoft's games through Q1 2005, as well as a 30 minute feature on the making of Fable. Definitely worth the preorder, imo.

I stopped pre-ordering a few years ago, and I've only done it if there's a bonus, or a good chance the game will be hard to find down the line.

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Originally Posted by Raz0r

I thought so, too. When my g/f and I went to go pick it up, the guy just gave me the game. I asked him about the soundtrack and he said they don't know what I'm talking about. So now, all my pre-ordering is going to be done online.

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Same fucking thing happened to me and the soundtrack with Castlevania for ps2. The EB worker told me "I don't know anything about that, we didn't get in any preorders".

Now I preorder online where the bonus item is it's own seperate item, so you know if it's coming or not, and if it dosen't, they legally owe it to you.

I pre-ordered R-Type Final online and got me a decent looking dogtag out of it, so yeah, it's worth it for the bonuses.

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Originally Posted by Dragonmaster Dyne

ive stopped preordering since the stores in my area give out freebies if the workers havnt taken them all, which is usually never.

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I'm starting to believe all video game stores do this. Before the EBX used to give away the pre-sale items to their friends.

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Originally Posted by Roufuss

Same fucking thing happened to me and the soundtrack with Castlevania for ps2. The EB worker told me "I don't know anything about that, we didn't get in any preorders".

Now I preorder online where the bonus item is it's own seperate item, so you know if it's coming or not, and if it dosen't, they legally owe it to you.

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This is why I am going to start doing it online. Now I'm out a Ryu bust AND a Silent Hill 4 soundtrack. Waiting a week for a game to get to my house won't kill me if I'm getting a kick-ass item along with it.

Great thread. In all honesty, I really am not a big fan of pre-ordering anymore. It's just not that big of a deal, and I know that Reno, NV will never sell out of any game ever. I plan on walking in to EB on Nov. 9 and picking up a brand new copy of Halo 2 without any worries. It's just not that big of a deal anymore, really.

As far as Halo 2 goes, some places you'll be able to walk in and pick it up on 11-9. When I went to Cleveland, I asked a local GS how the Halo 2 reserves are going, they said shitty, cause they mostly get reserves for GTA and sports games. I should have known, because Cleveland is mostly composed of blacks.

At the GS I work at, we have a lot of Halo 2 and GTA reserves, since we're comprised of a lot of mexicans, and they love their GTA. And there's a lot of army guys and FPS fans in the area, so Halo 2 is more than covered. Over 200 reserves I think. I don't feel like counting them.

I know my store has gotten Star Ocean 3, Pokemon FR/LG, Fable, and a couple other games in early, I think it was because we had a lot of reserves for them. On Tuesday we had 60 Fable reserves, we got 60 Fables in. Hoped to get more the next day, but we didn't. We only got 3 copies of Advance Gaurdian Heroes today, and no reserves, and me and one other employee are definately picking it up.

And I have to reserve to get my free stuff, but the free stuff I want is always for games I'm gonna buy anyways.

Here we go, reviving an old thread.

Preordering sucks. Alot.

I preordered Alien Hominid at EB, it wasn't supposed to be until 11-22. I go today to get Shikigami 2 for the hell of it, and lo and behold, AH is on the shelf. I ask the guy "Alien Hominid already came out? How come I never got the call?" to which he said "oh, it looks like nobody saw your preorder".

It proceeds to tell me how he only got in 2 copies, and then tried to sell me the gutted one, when the sealed one was right behind him in the case. I said "Hey, I don't want your gutted shit, espically when I preordered in full, how about you give me the sealed one right behind you jackass" to which he replied "ok, sure". So EB only got in two copies, and they were planning on selling both of mine, and not calling me, so if I followed their website release date I probably wouldn't have gotten any copy at all.

So I go to Gamestop to pick up Viewtiful Joe 2. I got the call yesterday, so I go in, and ask for it. The employee gives me the most dumbfounded look on his face, and say "um... that hasn't come in". I ask him why did I get the call, and the game is not here, to which he replies "I guess no Gamestop's got it in, maybe Monday, I don't know." So I go home, call another Gamestop that's about 15-20 miles further down, to which they tell me "yea, we got the game in, we got lots of them, we can transfer your preorder if you come down!"

So bullshit. Preordering is WORTHLESS.

Does EB transfer preorders?!?

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Originally Posted by Cowutopia

Does EB transfer preorders?!?

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You're going to have to call and ask.

I didn't even know Gamestop did until the guy I told my story to told me about it. He said it's a hassle, but that he'll do it because it's not right I have to wait until Monday.

They always tell me they don't.

Who care's about preordering?

Most games aren't in high enough demand to make it an issue.

The only time preordering is worthwhile at all is if something cool is thrown in with it, like a poster, or a bottle of anal lube with Gordan Freeman on it.

Haha, cmon, think about how funny that would be...

Well Prodering can be important, if you wanted to get a NintendoDS day one from GameStop you are out of luck now because they filled all of the preorders they could take because Nintendo can't make them fast enough to fill all the orders. So now you have to wait for the next shipment.

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Originally Posted by Roufuss

It proceeds to tell me how he only got in 2 copies, and then tried to sell me the gutted one, when the sealed one was right behind him in the case. I said "Hey, I don't want your gutted shit, espically when I preordered in full, how about you give me the sealed one right behind you jackass" to which he replied "ok, sure".

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Did you really say this? I would have punched you dead in the face.....and then sold you the game.

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So bullshit. Preordering is WORTHLESS.

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Originally Posted by Omnigear

Who care's about preordering?

Most games aren't in high enough demand to make it an issue.

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Indeed.

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The only time preordering is worthwhile at all is if something cool is thrown in with it, like a poster, or a bottle of anal lube with Gordan Freeman on it.

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:lol:

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Originally Posted by Raz0r

Waiting a week for a game to get to my house won't kill me

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I've only pre-ordered a few games online, and the ones I got from GameStop were shipped FedEx to me, so I got them on the actual release date. I didn't even pay for FedEx shipping, just regular. Dunno if they still do that or if my games were just flukes, but it's worth checking out.

I pre-order when I get stuff. There is absolutely no point otherwise. Stores don't even really hold copies half the time

I haven't been called about a pre-order in I don't know how long. Everytime I do, I've never been called to say it came in. I always call the day before or the day it's due in.

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Originally Posted by Roufuss

I said "Hey, I don't want your gutted shit, espically when I preordered in full, how about you give me the sealed one right behind you jackass" to which he replied "ok, sure".

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Are you sure you just didn't think those things?

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Originally Posted by OmniGear

Are you sure you just didn't think those things?

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No, I'm pretty sure I said them, since it caught my girlfriend by surprise. You don't piss me off when I'm extremely angered.

1) They didn't bother to call me about my preorder and 2) they were going to sell the two copies they had to someone else, so if I DID wait until the ship date that's plastered over there (next Tuesday), I probably would have been SOL, negating the point of preordering a niche title.

And then on top of that, that's when he decided to try and sell me the gutted copy (that had about 9 EB stickers on it) instead of the fresh sealed one right behind him in the case? I knew he knew it was there, because he turned RIGHT AROUND and looked at it when I first asked him.

That's when the shit hit the fan. And believe me, the dude at Gamestop got it just as bad when they didn't get Viewtiful Joe 2 in at all, but every other GS around here did, so I had to drive 25 minutes away just to switch my preorder, since I have no time to play it next week and wanted it this weekend.

Fuck EB, fuck Gamestop, from now on I'll just order through their websites since those have yet to fail me.

Unless there's a bonus I'd really want, preordering now is totally useless. I picked up Halo 2 two days after its release and they still had a good 50-60 copies on the shelf just waiting there.

I'm on my way out to go get Metroid Prime 2 and they must have 100 copies of it still there.

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Originally Posted by kuro

As far as Halo 2 goes, some places you'll be able to walk in and pick it up on 11-9. When I went to Cleveland, I asked a local GS how the Halo 2 reserves are going, they said shitty, cause they mostly get reserves for GTA and sports games. I should have known, because Cleveland is mostly composed of blacks.

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It's funny because it's true. Seriously, don't ever go near a game store around here when a sports game comes out, they all have at least one cop at the door to maintain control.

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Originally Posted by Rumpy

I haven't been called about a pre-order in I don't know how long. Everytime I do, I've never been called to say it came in. I always call the day before or the day it's due in.

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They call me if I have something pre-ordered, I'm just usually not around when they call. I check GS' website to see what stores have games in stock and if I don't feel like trusting that I just call them.

Well, here's the theory behind preordering:

http://p211.ezboard.com/fatlususadis...icID=171.topic

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Originally Posted by Gail Salamanca, Atlus USA

Just a little bit on the importance of pre-ordering of games and on why you should...especially for games like Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne and pretty much any game released by Atlus since they don't flood the market with games like some other publishers do. Stores like EB and GameStop and anywhere else that accept preorders base how many pieces of game they will take in. If a particular store has 1 or even no preorders of a certain game that store will only get maybe 1 or 2 copies. This pretty much leaves 1 or even none on the shelf after the one person who was interested enough in the game to pick it up on launch day. What happens to the casual gamers who walk into the store the next day? No copies of the game to be found anywhere which in turn limits the visibility of the title and someone who might have checked out the game is unaware of it's existence and they've either moved on or bought another game.

A prime example of this is Atlus' sleeper hit of 2003, Disgaea. When the game came out on launch day, people quickly caught on to the fact that it was a really cool game after the hardcore said it was. (the power of word of mouth) But, when they got around to purchasing the game, most stores were already sold out which means a lost sale or even worse a sale to another game. The turn around time to get more product on to the shelves is about 2 weeks, but in that time Mr. Consumer may have spent that money on another game, DVD, toilet paper etc. They might also figure if they dont have it in plenitful stock it might not be that good a game anyway. In the end, it all boils down to a lost sale which would not have happened if the store carried enough copies, which is directly related to how many preorders of the game there were prior to the game's launch. That my friend's is the importance of pre-ordering especially to companies like Atlus who play it conservative.

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Originally Posted by DjRocca

Unless there's a bonus I'd really want, preordering now is totally useless. I picked up Halo 2 two days after its release and they still had a good 50-60 copies on the shelf just waiting there.

I'm on my way out to go get Metroid Prime 2 and they must have 100 copies of it still there.

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Same thing here. When pre-ordering gets you some cool stuff (t-shirt, soundtrack, etc) than I would pre-order it. Otherwise, I can wait few more days till BB, or TRU get ton of them in, or they alway have enough copies left.

What RedCoKid and Atlus said. It's important to the small companies, valueless to the big ones. Any EA title ever is easy to get but I reserved Mr Driller DS today because rumor says it'll be a short production run. I honestly don't think I'd have had trouble getting it if I hadn't but it's not like the $5 is all that big a deal.

I admit, it helps that my game stores seem a bit better run than Roufuss'. That's some pretty crap customer service there, especially seeing as the full copies need to be sold first. The whole point of gutting a copy for the shelf is that it goes last and represents the full inventory of sealed copies behind the counter.

James

Like they said about Atlus, I usually pre-order for the obscure games, new systems launches (Like the PSP) , or for the swag.

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Originally Posted by James

I admit, it helps that my game stores seem a bit better run than Roufuss'. That's some pretty crap customer service there, especially seeing as the full copies need to be sold first. The whole point of gutting a copy for the shelf is that it goes last and represents the full inventory of sealed copies behind the counter.
James

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Oh James, you know what was awesome, is that the Gamestop that told me Viewtiful Joe 2 wasn't coming until Monday... well, I went back there today to cancel my other preorder for a game, and there it was sitting in the case, VJ 2.

After I drove 25 minutes to a different Gamestop to get it, after I was lied too and told that they weren't getting any copies until Monday, that all their shipments had come, that I was SOL. Oh yeah, and that the phone call saying the game was coming was a mistake, so it was my own fault for beliving the company and driving to see if they had it. (His exact words).

Oh believe me, I was fucking pissed. And the dude that lied to me was the assitant manager, too. When I confronted the manager, he basacially told me "well, maybe he just didn't know, because our second shipment was late". Great, maybe he should have said that instead of insisting there was no second shipment and calling ME a liar for having said I got the phone call

Fuck Gamestop, fuck EB, and fuck preordering.

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Originally Posted by Frogacuda

I pre-order when I get stuff. There is absolutely no point otherwise. Stores don't even really hold copies half the time

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Fucking word. Gamestop has almost never held my pre-ordered copy long enough for me to pick it up; they tell me 48-hours, I go in within three hours of the store opening and my copy is GONE. Nearly everytime that has happened, and it's incredibly frustrating.

Thank god EB opened a store just down the street, because they're a hell of a lot better.

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Originally Posted by Interpol

Fucking word. Gamestop has almost never held my pre-ordered copy long enough for me to pick it up; they tell me 48-hours, I go in within three hours of the store opening and my copy is GONE. Nearly everytime that has happened, and it's incredibly frustrating.

Thank god EB opened a store just down the street, because they're a hell of a lot better.

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you all shop at some of the WORST Gamestops and EBs in the country

where the hell do you guys shop

I have never had a Pre-order sold at the GS I shop at. Half the time if I forget to get it the first or second day they personally call me, even after the machine does.

Preordering is worthless. I've never had much difficulty finding games.

A lot of it is due to the fact that stores like EB and Gamestop want you to preorder games because it guarantees that they will get more copies of the game into the store.

The get 90 preorders, and their store gets 150 copies of the game. Thus the store makes more money, and the supervisors and the managers make bonuses based on how many of the units they can presell. I worked at EB for four years, so I can definately confirm this.

I can go to any locally owned gamestore and get the games without any problems.

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Originally Posted by Interpol

Fucking word. Gamestop has almost never held my pre-ordered copy long enough for me to pick it up; they tell me 48-hours, I go in within three hours of the store opening and my copy is GONE. Nearly everytime that has happened, and it's incredibly frustrating.

Thank god EB opened a store just down the street, because they're a hell of a lot better.

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It'd be understandable if they didn't make you put money down, but the fact that you do really makes the whole thing sick. Corporate pushes preorders like the company's financial future depends on them, and then doesn't even follow through.

I think they push preorders because a certain number of people put money down and then forget about it, and for EB or GS this is free money. I'm not really going to buy into that business model.

i waltzed in and got a copy of San Andreas no prob.

Funny thing is, if you preorder the game from the store, arent you guaranteed the product you preordered within the time limit alloted?

Reason i say this is a friend from my math class was all crazy up the ass for Halo 2, he preordered the platinum edition or whatever the special edition thing was. He ended up walking away with just a regular copy, as the EB employees said they ran out of the special editions, and more copies would not arrive for another week.

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Originally Posted by FatalError

Preordering is worthless. I've never had much difficulty finding games.

A lot of it is due to the fact that stores like EB and Gamestop want you to preorder games because it guarantees that they will get more copies of the game into the store.

The get 90 preorders, and their store gets 150 copies of the game. Thus the store makes more money, and the supervisors and the managers make bonuses based on how many of the units they can presell. I worked at EB for four years, so I can definately confirm this.

I can go to any locally owned gamestore and get the games without any problems.

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100% true. My store was within the top 5 EBs for preorders on Halo 2 so we got a shitload of extras. We still have 300 copies in the store.

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Originally Posted by Tragic

100% true. My store was within the top 5 EBs for preorders on Halo 2 so we got a shitload of extras. We still have 300 copies in the store.

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Then I wonder why I preordered Alien Hominid, and the EB near here only got in one extra copy =/

There probably just aren't that many AHs around period. On the other hand there were a TON of Halos produced so they used preorders as a way to decide where the extras go.

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Originally Posted by Roufuss

Then I wonder why I preordered Alien Hominid, and the EB near here only got in one extra copy =/

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Same here for Phantom Brave, one left. In other news, Metroid Prime 2 came with a T-shirt, that sealed the deal about me not caring about pre-orders anymore.