While not always 100% accurate, retailer release lists often contain gems of information on game delays or unannounced releases. As the premiere videogame specialty retailer in the United States, keeping an eye on their release lists is at least worth the giggles.
Obtaining GameStop retail release lists doesn't require top-secret espionage tactics. As reserves are one of the companies key indicators of performance, employees are more than happy to waste reams of paper on providing customers with lists of upcoming releases.
Don't want to leave your house? We hear you. We don't like getting up off of the couch either, but we'll do it for you. Introducing our new monthly feature, "Sorted by Release," where we take a monthly look at any changes or oddities on GameStop's retail release list.
Hit the jump for our initial observations. Feel free to peruse the scans on your own, and let us know if you see anything that we might have missed. Oh boy -- this should be fun!
[These lists are "accurate" as of December 22, 2007 -- all dates represent ship dates from a warehouse, and not actual releases, unless otherwise noted]
ACCESSORIES
For the most part, we'll skip over the accessory SKUs, but we're going to make an exception here. According to this list, the ship date for all of the individual Rock Band instruments (both PlayStation 3/PlayStation 2 and Xbox 360) is February 2, 2007. Given the cost of shipping such products, you're likely to see the accessories in stores a few days to a week after this date.
NINTENDO DS
Besides a mid-March release of Petz: Bunnies, the most interesting thing to note on this release list is the February 10 street date of Professor Layton and the Curious Village. Note that this is two days after the ship date; retailers with less scruples (and fewer prying corporate eyes) may sell the game earlier.
PC ENTERTAINMENT
According to this, Blizzard is hard at work next fall, with Starcraft 2 dated for October (the 10/1/07 usually indicates a very loose, very unconfirmed date for that month only) and the World of Warcraft expansion, Wrath of the Lich King, shipping on November 3. It's likely that Lich King will eventually get a street dated release (as with the previous expansion), and even more likely it'll be delayed once ... or twice.
Zombie fans should be disappointed by the June 18 ship date of Turtle Rock Studios' Left 4 Dead -- wasn't this game supposed to be out this year?
PLAYSTATION 2
We've already seen the listing online, but here it is again -- it looks like someone has told GameStop that Secret Agent Clank (the PlayStation Portable title) is coming to the PS2, as well. We guess the question remains: do you want to play it on or off the toilet?
It looks like more of the Buzz! games are coming to the States, with Buzz Jr. Robo Jam and Buzz! The Hollywood Quiz dropping in March. You can purchase them with or without buzzer peripherals. Thank God.
PLAYSTATION 3
Xbox 360 and PC owners have already been subjected to it, so why let PS3 owners off the hook? The "not-so-much like Oblivion" role-playing game, Two Worlds (not yet officially announced for the PS3), finds a September release date on this list. We wonder if it'll contain any more content than the versions already on the market; bundling it with all of the upcoming The Temptations expansion content seems like a no-brainer, though.
Sony's Killzone 2 and Little Big Planet both have April 7 release dates, but we'll believe it when we see it. And what's up with Singstar not shipping until May 5? Come on, Sony -- we want to sing along to high-definition Britney Spears videos.
[The previously unannounced, as far as we know] Rapala Fishing Frenzy is set to represent the PS3 in 2009. Can we get a SIXAXIS fishing peripheral, please?
SONY PSP
Can we please mention that Gran Turismo has been on this list since the PSP launched in 2005? Apparently it's coming out in July of 2008 now.
Does this list seem a bit short to anyone else?
NINTENDO WII
At first glance, we're not seeing too much out of the ordinary here, save for the fact that My Horse and Me and No More Heroes will be release on the same day (with February 5 ship date). Why is Ubisoft sending Suda 51's game to die? There's no competing with your hourse ... and you.
Rapala Fishing Frenzy is also in the house for a 2009 release. Represent.
XBOX 360
It's interesting to note that this is the longest release list of all of the SKUs, although not by much.
Ninja Gaiden 2 and Grand Theft Auto IV both have April release dates, according to this list. Unreal Tournament III (May 2008), Too Human (July 2008), and Halo Wars (July 2008) are also some noticeable releases that are probably incorrect. Place bets now.
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That's all of this month's release lists. Feel free to pick apart the lists and let us know what we might have missed. Check back next month, when we'll take a look at what (if anything) has been added, and what date changes have been made.
Oh, and ... RESERVE NOW, OMG! What, did you think we were going to let you off the hook without getting the full GameStop experience?
Contest:
7:30 AM on 12.27.2007
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But oh well, I'm just glad that Wild ARMs XF is actually coming out here. Hex-based tactics with a sci-fi/Western flavor? Yes please.
Should also note that most 'expected' titles for the 360 are also being released on the PS3 at the same time, including GTA IV.
Boy, you guys are really making the PS3 look like crap today for some reason.
Good point...
I didn't know anyone had a to-do list that included giving the PS3 a handjob on a daily basis, but you're welcome to the task.
Destructoid: "Constatntly Biased Against Your Favorite Console since 2006|
I didn't know anyone had a to-do list that included giving the PS3 a handjob on a daily basis, but you're welcome to the task.
Destructoid: "Constatntly Biased Against Your Favorite Console since 2006|"
Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law (PS2/Wii) is an instant buy, since it's based on the Phoenix Wright formula and stars the original cast. Ships on Jan. 8th according to the list.
Kingdom Under Fire: Circle of Doom (360) ships on the same day, and I will be one of two people who purchase it.
Culdcept Saga (360) marks the first release of the series in the US since the PS1, and is probably the best Magic the Gathering/Monopoly hybrid you're likely to find this side of the ocean. Ships out Feb. 5th along with...
Devil May Cry 4 (360/PS3) which I'm surprised you didn't mention, along with uh....
SUPER SMASH BROS. BRAWL (Wii) which is street dated for February 10th and of course, the favorite of Jim Sterling, myself, and quite a few other devotees...
Dynasty Warriors 6 (360/PS3) on Feb. 19th.
All those in like the next two months? My wallet aches again. Oh well, gotta use those giftcards on something. :)
I don't think he mentioned most of those because they have real release dates that they will probably meet. He was pointing out games that didn't previously have a release date and any weird anomalies on the list. I don't think you read what Nick wrote...
For DS: Advance Wars, N+, Nanostray 2, Professor Layton, Insecticide, Ninja Gaiden, Sega Superstars Tennis, Shiren the Wanderer, Final Fantasy CC: Ring of Fates, Drone Tactics
For Wii: One Piece, Endless Ocean, No More Heroes, Blast Works, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Dragon Quest Swords, Bully, House of the Dead 2 & 3
Gladly, the PSP is being nice to me.
I hate pre-ordering, and speculation, over hyping bad games to try and get you to cough up money you may forget about. What a scam. Nice thing about Best Buy is they always get enough to cover demand. So many retailers out there, I guess if you live in the sticks and all you have is 1 lousy Gamestop then pre-ordering makes sense, but not when you live in the burbs or the city.
People just need to stop purposefully bashing and playing down the PS3 in all the usual ways. Mention GTA IV for the 360... but skip it on the PS3? Oh, and skip all of the exclusives for the PS3? That's just below the belt.
(ducks)
Also, I think what's throwing a lot of people off here are the quotes throughout the article, like the one at the beginning of the 360 section: "It's interesting to note that this is the longest release list of all of the SKUs." That quote makes it sound like 360 just has more big games COMING OUT and not more games with changed or added release dates.
Oh, and you also said, "Does this list seem a bit short to anyone else?" of the PSP section which means only a few games have NEW information. Who cares if it's short?
If you want to talk 2008 games for the PSP, here's a few:
-Patapon on 2/12/08
-Wipeout Pulse on 2/12/08
-God of War: CoO on 3/4/08
-FF7: Crisis Core on 3/25/08
You've also got a new Pursuit Force, Wild Arms, and Destroy all Humans in there for the more "niche" people. Also, this is only what's releasing in the first three months of '08 for PSP.
Basically, the system by system commentary is what's causing all these people to be upset or think you're excluding other titles. The next time you do a list like this, it should just be a whole "upcoming release" list with the "changes and oddities" pointed out or bolded.
PS: GIVE ME MORE CULDCEPT!!!
"Oh, and you also said, "Does this list seem a bit short to anyone else?" of the PSP section which means only a few games have NEW information. Who cares if it's short?"
That's not the case. This is not a list of NEW information on game releases. These are GameStop's internal lists of ALL upcoming game releases. I felt that the PSP list looked pretty short, which struck me as odd for a handheld that has been on the market for such a long time. I didn't say "Wow, the PSP really sucks ... look at how short this list is," or "Wow, there are no quality games coming out for the PSP." That's clearly not the case, and you proved that by listing some (hopefully) amazing upcoming titles.
Same goes for my comment that the Xbox 360 had the longest release list of the lot. It was simply something I noticed while combing over the release lists. What does it mean? Perhaps it doesn't mean a damn thing; draw your own conclusions.
As for leaving out certain games (and I think people already mentioned this), this isn't us gushing over what awesome games are coming out. There are quite literally dozens. The goal was to point out particularly interesting release dates or unannounced titles. I fully encourage you guys to get excited about some of the titles on this list, even if we didn't mention them in the article ... that's the fun part.
This has absolutely nothing to do with what console's releases are better, or any such crap like that. Stop trying to make this into something it's not. I could post the lists without any text whatsoever, if you'd like, but I thought (and hoped) that making a few notes might be interesting to people.
@ liqideos:
I must have missed the part where anyone stated that GameStop was an evil company. You're invited to skip over this feature each month.
I understand what you're saying, and I honestly didn't think you were trying to bash any systems, but if this is INDEED taken from GS's list of all upcoming game releases then you should have easily been able to see those same PSP games I mentioned there as all I did was go to the "coming soon" section at gamestop.com.
And, to be honest, I think ALL the systems are lacking this upcoming year. Series that I once cared about (GTA and DMC), I now find to be kind of boring looking and just rehashing old ideas.
I truly think that the downloadable games are what are really going to set the systems apart this upcoming year. The downloadable games are where innovation and new ideas seem to shine. And in this respect, the Wii is going to lose out BIG TIME by only having classic games available.
I have twice as many downloaded games for my systems as I do physical disc games, and they STILL cost way less than those few disc games. I spend more time playing them as well.
Those releases were also on the hard copies I scanned. I just didn't mention them. These release lists are definitely taken from GameStop.