Damnit! Like I said before, the only good thing that can come out of piracy is that Rockstar just lets everyone start selling the game early.

lol, but did it work?

Hopes and dreams: SMASHED

I offered the guy at Gamestop $50 to let me come pick mine up.

He said no. What an idiot!

Really I don't even think these pirated games would even put a tiny dimple in sales.

From what I know, most pirates will buy the actual game if they like it enough.

i think its the signature that put me off of this being real, it just looks, odd.

@3inst3in: That's what I wondered. Worth a shot walking in a store with, heh.

Right down to the watermark. Why do they insist with such elaborate methods?
Well... we will have to play the waiting game, regardles of our wish not to.

I saw this on Digg and was gonna submit it as a tip, until I looked at it and thought, "what am I, retarded?"

If only I lived in Holland....Just present this and then give the manager the whole
"You didn't get the memo?"

@rochec: I don't think they can even scan it to sell it to you, the machine will reject it. So he'd have to be accepting $50 to let you steal the game, which is probably a bad move for continued employment :-P.

no executive writes like that, and that 'letterhead' is just garish...

@NateN: Agreed. But, dreaming never hurt anyone, unless it means you fall off whatever your sleeping on.

@mentalboy11: You're right, you can actually make out letters, most signatures seem to be statements of modern art - but not readable.

Oh the huge manatee!

I'm going to come home after work Monday, take a nap, pick my Collector's Edition up at midnight and play until 2 or 3 in the morning then go back to sleep and go to work the next day.

@NateN:

Details my friend.

Ones I'm not interested in.

My heart. Not that it was realistic to believe it in the first place. But still, it's like painful shards of glass. Dissapointment glass.

@Maximus9:

I agree with the letterhead... but as for no executive writing like that?

I'd have to disagree.

I don't think it was made to give buyers hope, but rather to confuse managers into selling the game. In which case, it's pretty hilarious if it worked on anyone.

@rochec: Yeah what an idiot. I'd have sold it to you, if you paid my wages until I got a new job, and paid off my fine.

lol, just forwarded it to my EB games....Hope they fall for it.

How about the fact that "separate" is misspelled?

The thing just does not have the air of legalese that one would expect. It reads like something some idiotic gamer forumite might have written.

"Right after this," "seperate," and the overuse of "decided to" should've been a tip-off. This reads like junior high writing.

It has to be more of a ploy to get GTA IV early from stupid, pock-faced cabana boys at retail chains, not enrage the fans.

The grammar and spelling is atrocious... It screams "I R TEH FAKE!"

I like how they typoed "Internet."

The quality of writing is so poor I'm surprised anyone even thought about believing it.

The double salutations (To: and Dear,) really tickled my inner English teacher's funny bone.

Hmmmmm....CHOCOLATE RAIN!!!

@Mikazukinoyaiba:

Everyone else pointed out the grammatical errors in the letter.

I take back what I previously said.

Anyone who looked at that letter and even considered that it could be real is dumber than the person who created it.

Common Sense: The most endangered specie on Earth.

The grammar in that letter was so bad you'd be an idiot to believe it.

The creator probably figured this would work as a form of a viral attack. If some GM at a Gamestop saw this, started selling, and then another GM heard about it and started selling as well...

Well, the hoaxer probably figured he would be able to snag a copy before Rockstar put the kibosh on the situation. A win for him.

It's like how people hear an urban legend on the internet, and believe it to be real. There are still people citing all sorts of obvious fakes as fact out there, and it's not hard to do.

Good effort on his part, I suppose, though he could probably get in trouble for forging a signature here in the States.

I guarantee that someone will take this into a retailer and get the game out of them. It may only happen once, but it will fool someone.

The bad grammar and spelling didn't clue anyone in?

@3inst3in:

*Looks in his mailbox*

Nope.

But will it blend?

Also, I have a very good friend that works at EB and they have a standing order from the company president that any employee caught selling the game before 12:01am on Tuesday will be immediately fired and "may face further disciplinary action"

Who'd be fooled by this? It's something I could have photoshopped together at 14 years old - with more professional grammar.

Thanks for addressing my tip. As I thought though, tis but a joke.

@ZeroBlitz: Have you seen some of the people that work in retail?

*sees all the replies condemning anyone who didn't notice the errors*

:(

I'm tired and skimmed the letter, it seemed believable as I didn't really bother to scrutinize it. Especially seeing how I already knew it was fake.

The game comes out in five days...just wait a little while longer.

There are only two things I can't stand in this world: People who are intolerant of other peoples cultures, and the Dutch.

On topic, has anyone tried bringing this letter into a store to get the game early yet?

@Mikazukinoyaiba: It puts enough of a dent in sales that copyright holders are willing to engage in expensive litigation to enforce their rights. That's just basic economics -- why would they pay their lawyers more than they can recover from stopping piracy?

It's just cruel.

Link-o-tron

I claim no credit for the image, but it seems appropriate given the circumstances.

@Throtex:

What I have a problem with is the way they enforce anti-piracy laws.

Not everyone who burns a disc is stealing, some people simply want backups and companies tend to ignore this.

I don't have a chart or any source to back it up, but I don't believe pirates are hurting sales. This is because I know pirates that do go out of their way to purchase the actual game if they deem it good enough and want to support the company.

its real trust me

I won't point out the obvious problems here, but I do have a question. Perhaps this is just something done elsewhere that I am unaware of, but who signs their name UNDER the printed name and title?

@Mikazukinoyaiba:

That doesn't sound very pirate like!

LeChuck would be sorely disappointed.

"... has been leaked onto the internet yesterday."

Fake? Really? you don't say!
Something tells me Ben Feder has a better grasp of the English language than that!

3inst3in: Of course it's fake, the guy's name is spelled Ben Feder in the print and signed as "Ben Feiler" Look at the dotted 'i' in the signature...

Kinda funny how the letter is signed below the name that is typed, isn't it usually above the typed name?

Rockstar should concern just releasing earlier, but retailers already have shipments available?