Question for gamers...

[thistlechaser]

I decided to reserve my copy of the Wings expansion pack in person this time instead of ordering it through Amazon. I hate shopping, and I hate shopping around Christmas even more, but I figured it would be less worry to get it in person.

The release date is 11/20, but they said to come in on the 21st to pick it up.

Is that normal? I figured they'd ship it to stores ahead of time so they'd be able to sell it on the release date. The guy said SE ships out the game on the 20th so no store would get it before the 21st.

Comments

[kamalloy.livejournal.com]

Yeah, nowadays "release date" is equivalent to shipping date, so usually you'll get a game the day after the release date. Major titles like Halo 3 will have their "release date" actually *be* the release date so stores can have launch parties and whatnot.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Oh, that sucks, but thanks for letting me know. I thought maybe the clerk was being less than honest because I wouldn't know better. :P

I hope SE does the "we're releasing on 11/20 but content doesn't go live until the 25th" (or whatever date) thing again. Less pressure that way!

[niffy.livejournal.com]

Yep, what Cyd said. Some games break that rule and ship early with a set street date, but for most games it's the day after. If you're going in person, you should still pre-order it. I didn't for TAU, and they only had two copies in that weren't pre-ordered. I got the second one. I don't think they expect to sell many in stores like EB.

[kamalloy.livejournal.com]

They are. I think the content's being unlocked on the 22nd, though, so there's not that much of a delay. The US is getting their copies of the game first because of Thanksgiving.

I am a horrible person and am going to be spending Thanksgiving dinner at my relatives' place being completely distracted by thoughts of WotG. ;p

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I handed over my $5 and got a copy reserved for me! Yay!

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

*snerks* Awww~. :)

[firebyrd.livejournal.com]

Yes, that's normal, and it seriously pisses me off. Movies, books, and CDs can all be found the date of release, so why not games?

[reynardstruan.livejournal.com]

Pity you're not in Canada, Amazon does really well up here. I pre-ordered Fatal Revenant (newest book in Stephen R. Donaldson's Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever) about 2 weeks before the release date, and it was in my mailbox on the release date. I expected them to get the first batch of books in their warehouse in Mississauga on the release date and then ship via Canada Post, which would mean I should have got it about 2 weeks after the release date, but nope...I woke up on October 10th and it was sitting in the mailbox.

On the other hand, maybe hardcover books have priority or something.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Interesting! But no chance of moving to Canada before release. ;)

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Yeah. :/

Thanks for the tip

[draymor.livejournal.com]

Ooooh that's interesting. I've never done any shopping through Amazon.ca before, maybe I'll give them a try with WoTG.

Re: Thanks for the tip

[reynardstruan.livejournal.com]

I doubt they'll ship to the 'states for something available on the .com. For that matter, there's a few things on the .com I've tried to get (caffeinated gum that I can recall atm) that weren't available on the .ca that they still wouldn't ship.

[iniadelphinae.livejournal.com]

Loki and I had ToAU reserved at our local Gamestop. We were there less than half an hour after the store opened on the day the game was released, and they didn't have it yet.

If you want to go in person and get a copy, you may want to talk to the manager of the store and find out what time deliveries are made during the day.

Also, open it at the store and make sure the registration codes are there. A bunch of the PS2 copies of ToAU, including Loki's, were missing the page of the booklet that included that tidbit of info, and it was weeks before Squeenix acknowledged the problem and was willing to give codes over the phone.

As it stands, I'm still undecided on which way to go with WoG.

[calandra.livejournal.com]

They used to be.

But too many stores let things leak out as soon as they got them. So now, the 'release date' is when they're released from the warehouse to be shipped, not when they're released to the public.

Re: Thanks for the tip

[draymor.livejournal.com]

Good thing I'm in Canada then isn't it. :P

[firebyrd.livejournal.com]

True, but I'd rather get things early than late!

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm a little worried about both things. (Not that the code couldn't vanish if you're ordering from Amazon, too...) I wish there was an easier way to deal with this, like being able to download it for the week before the content goes live...

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Oh, that makes sense, sadly. :/

Re: Thanks for the tip

[reynardstruan.livejournal.com]

Holy shit, I assumed you were American without looking into it.

Does this mean I'm going to turn into an American myself?

Noooooooooo!