Only problem with that Pyrex is that when the shipment arriving at your local / pre-order store is delayed are you going to be happy going home from that midnight launch empty handed and waiting a few more days to get your copy?

I know i wouldn't.

Games, Movies and Music all have street dates, they should be stuck to by everyone! I think the best idea would be to heavily fine the smaller retailers that are letting it go. So much so that it would be crippling to their business to break a street date on a major title if breaking a street date could ruin your small games shop you certainly wouldn't do it.

A simple, "we sent you X amount, now our rep will come and check you still have x amount as we've had reports of people buying it at your store" check could work.

Submitted reply before I even had anything to write.

Nice Activision wants to make a little drama out of this, but I very much doubt it had anything to do with Gamestop slipping up and more about the backlash they're already facing and to avoid the inevitable negative press on launch day.

But the real important question is, did they break the release date on Modern Warfare Reflex Edition.

OMG J/K LOL

"I'm a bit surprised you didn't receive your review copy yet Jim. Sometimes I wonder what the hell those boys are thinkin'."

It's no accident. I believe I'm not due the game until Wednesday, the day after it launches. I have a feeling I'm on their "do not trust" list. :-)

Watch every single one of those schmucks get their Xbox Live accounts disabled.

@Excel

They won't do that. It's not the consumers fault the retailers broke street date. They already have ways to catch pirates, and it's totally different than just banning people who pop up with MW2 in their game list.

@Holmes

Exactly. If they broke street on that, I would be livid.

@SakBee

Couldn't agree more, but this is something that all publishers in all industries care about. I don't get it, never have, never will. I think street dates have become this arbitrary industry standard for all manner of shit to let manufacturers/publishers feel important to the artists process somehow. As if seeing a game/book/movie/album a day early would diminish that enjoyment, but whatever publishers, have your little pee-parade.

Part of the issue is that Activision can't afford not to have GameStop as a partner on major product ships. If they could, GameStop wouldn't break date. Having work with another major publisher, I know that breaking street date is a cardinal sin, particularly if the game involved has a number of community elements involved (such as online play, stat tracking, etc) as the developer may be working to finalize those things all the way up until launch (for instance, a major stress test of the game servers to ensure online stability). The primary reason why games are shipped so early (upwards to two weeks) is to ensure that retailers and distributors have the games they've projected they would need to meet demand -- it's done as a courtesy to those groups and can, as you see, cause more trouble than it is worth to the publisher. The fact that GameStop is attempting to use the SODDI (Some Other Dude Did It) defense is a bit lame and insulting to Activision and to their customer base. Also, if I were another major publisher, I'd have to really consider if GameStop would be a good business partner for launching my major titles as well (after all, if they did this to Activision, why wouldn't they do this to us)? All in all, it's a bad scene and it's one of the reasons why I rarely buy anything from GameStop (for the most part the majority of their store people aren't as knowledgeable as they play at being and their corporate store practices are shady) unless it's used and I can't find it anywhere else...

Look I am going to get it today at midnight so there I going to kill some terrorist soon so leave me alone. Boom!

My question: Why the fuck to publishers still insist on Hard Street Dates? All it does is piss customers off that the game is done and in stores, but they can't have it until a magical date for no reason at all.

i have a dilema.

I have a pre-order at Blockbuster for £44.99 which i can pick up at midnight, however British Supermarkets (some of them 24 hour) are having a price war and have it down to £26! But this will be limited supply.

Do I go for the definite midnight launch of £44.99, get a few hours in before bed tonight?

or

Do i check out some supermarkets at midnight and possibly risk it being out of stock tomorrow morning for a cheaper copy?

hmmmmm

Go to the supermarket and get it there. If hey run out then go to the Blockbuster.

If you get a copy, cancel the order tomorrow. It's not like you would be stuck with it it's a preorder. Cancel it and get the money back.

In either case I would go with getting the supermarket copy first. The savings seem like it would be worth the trouble.

Blockbusters copy will still be there tomorrow waiting on you either way.

And the tragi-fanstical journey of MW2 continues...

what a circus

this is funny I have like 3-4 people on my friends list on XBL playing this game and I have heard others just buying in stores I geuss release dates just don't matter to people anymore

This is a joke right? Are people seriously getting upset that Gamestop is losing out to mom and pop stores? The whole reason mom and pop stores sell the games early is to be able to compete with Gamestop in the first place! The very idea that Gamestops defense is “we need to do this to compete with the little guy” is some sort of bizarro version of reality. I buy 99% of my games early release for years now and not just games, music and film as well. Mom and pop stores have no mandatory contract with the game publishers that binds them to sell a game on a certain date and if Gamestop does it’s because some sort of arrangement has been made that benefits both parties. As a retail consumer the only reason anyone should be upset at this is strictly based on jealousy. Throwing out arguments based on morality and what’s right and wrong for a video games release date is ludicrous.
None of us owe Gamestop anything, I managed to get my games before Gamestop existed and will manage to do the same if it ever does not exist.

i believe that this type of hold could be quasi-legal similar to marp pricing schemes (which are illegal now in maryland); if consumer protection groups get involved this type of hold could go away...

Hard call for Gamestop. I mean, everyone has had a really tough year in retail, and holiday season looks like it'll be a bust. Desperate times. And when you start losing sales because others aren't playing by the rules, then there really isn't much else to do in this economic climate, other than to release it as well.

It's not like Gamestop released it early so they could make extra profit. It was simply to give them a chance to survive. It's not like the decision was made so a regional manager could take a month vacation in Hawaii from the extra profit. It was so they didn't have to let go of lots of people and close stores. So they could pay their mortgage and put food on the table for the family.

Same goes for the small stores that released early. They are in a tough spot as well. But, a few small stores ruined it for all the other small stores. And hopefully someone will find out who was responsible, and either fine them, or blacklist them.

I dont think the sell it when it ships idea is right but at the same time it was asking for trouble shipping it to small retailers a week before launch. Large specialist retailers are used to holding on street dates while smaller stores and department stores arent and ALWAYS break on street date in my experience.

Street dates are so mom and pop stores can stay competitive, right? So if they break the street date doesn't that hurt them more in the long run?

Most smaller stores might not get their stock as quickly as big stores like BBY/GS, so if everyone just starts selling asap, that's probably gonna screw them over, isn't it? /shrug.