You know, every time I have preordered a console in Ireland, I've just been absolutely amazed at how easy and reliable it is.

Consider this: last week, I wandered down to GAME on Dawson Street in Dublin and asked if they were accepting pre-orders. "No," they replied, "We're registering interest."

I still have no idea what the hell that means, but I registered my interest and was told I'd get a call on Monday, which would basically allow me to upgrade my interest to a pre-order. They're offering bundles, mostly, which is fair enough: Zelda is one of them, and that (along with Red Steel) is one of the only couple of launch titles I actually care about.

Monday afternoon? I get a call from the manager of GAME and for about thirty euros down payment, he upgrades me to a pre-order. As I did when the DS Lite came out, I ask him if there's any chance I won't get a Wii on launch day. His response: "I flat out guarantee you'll get one. We'll have tons."

I find this fascinating because it completely flies in the face of similar attempts to pre-order consoles in the States. Of course, Ireland doesn't have many specialty game stores, and it only has 3 million people. Even so, I just find it amazing to live in a country where a pre-order isn't some nebulous half-promise, but a 100% guarantee of satisfaction.

Of course, then again, it's not like I'm trying to pre-order the PS3 here. Florian Eckhardt

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