Hi McWhertor the original link on the main page with this story takes you to the Team Fortress 2 GoldRush map story?

I had to click on the "More" link from within your profile on this story to get to the jump.

Someday I can see Gamestop and EA joining forces to become the most evil corporation in video entertainment.

...i'm glad i preordered through Amazon. they had that sucker at the Post Office before it even launched.

Well, this certainly reinforces my paranoia and justifies my staying up and standing outside of a Best Buy until midnight with about ~50 other Dallas schmucks last night.

I dunno.. I think that if you've reserved a copy and aren't at the store the morning of release, you kind of deserve to lose your game. (Or, because of work commitments and etc, at least that *evening*.)

Who freaking cares. It's a video game reservation.

If you don't like it go to one of the other bazillion stores that carry it and buy it there. It's not like this is a console where there are actually production limitations in the beginning.

I would like to point out that I attempted to walk-in and purchase one of these copies without a reservation and it didn't work.

what they fail to mention is the fact that if a store runs out, you call another store to send more copies to your store. Way to be a one-side story teller.

Sorry, we're having some issues, with these two posts. Everything should be cleared up in a sec!

I was on the fence about pre-ordering, but I'm glad I didn't now. I bought it on Best Buy's website today, chose in-store pickup, and picked it up on the way home from work. No fuss, no muss, just a "PS3 or Xbox?" from the girl behind the counter and one happy gamer.

We have a Gamestop Manager who after the release takes your money from your reserve and reserves something else for you. Talk about against company policy!

@MrBionic: I would agree with that, except they took your money and issued you a 48-hour guarantee. If they pulled something like that on me, I'd be gone.

Companies could care less where the money is coming from as long as it's coming in. The best way to insure you get the games is to build a relationship with the employees - treat them with a little respect, reward them with some pre-orders, and they will generally take care of you.

sucks, here in toronto, our EB Games had a lot of GTA IV for both PS3 and 360. Wal*Mart literally had DOZENS of Special Editions for 360 but got sold out of the PS3 Version.

Although I got mine at EB Games because I traded in 3 and got the game Free!!!

Yeah luckily i was there at 12 with my preorder, they had a seperate line for people who didnt and they had to wait for all of us to get our copies before they could even get in line.

@MrBionic: Well, I think give them a week, after that, then you can sell the thing. Some people don't have reliable travel, or may be using the pre-order to make sure that they don't need to be there at launch so they could, say, go on a date with their significant other, or visit a sick grand parent.

While the in company promotion is kind of in bad taste, the fact remains that there is no shortage of this game. This isn't a Wii or any other rare item. Every store has tons of copies of the regular edition of GTA4. There are no customers doing without their copy of GTA. They collectors edition on the other hand has been adhered to pre-orders.

@jayntampa: Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name. And they're always glad you came.

@MrBionic: Some of us gamers have real lives, jobs, kids... you know, responsibility. We Pre-order games so when life doesn't allow us 15 extra minutes to run past Gamestop the second it opens, we have 48 hours to go pick it up. I didn't pick up my pre-order copy (paid in full on Feb 2nd) until about two hours ago. Had they been out you better believe there would be some hell to be paid.

AH well, I'm not buying it anyway.

@Marooner: Well I just did a walk in and got the regular version after trading in 3 PSP Games.

I love EB GAMES PROMOTIONS sometimes!! :D...

and yes EB Games is a subsidiary of Gamestop

@Marooner: i walked into one this morning without a reservation and got one just fine, dont know why they didnt give one to you

Funny, my wife works at Gamestop and they were told the exact opposite today.

@Proto_Man:

I honestly don't get why anyone would go to a GameStop instead of a big box retailer like Wal Mart or Best Buy. They're all heartless corporations, so there isn't any moral imperative to shop at any specific store. Also, I have never seen the big stores sell out of a major release video game. I say it serves people right for continuing to shop at GameStop.

I wish i could say "x" store was better but thats not the case. Granted Gamecrazy is down to just reserve copies only in my city, people are rabid for this thing.

Which kind of hurts console sales as well. Think about it, you don't own a console (360/ps3) and you want to buy GTAIV and the console, well obviously you won't pre-order the game on a console you don't own, so you want to walk in, get the console and game

no bueno. (hence why pre-made bundles are good by the by)

@MrBionic: That's stupid. You reserve the game to avoid that hassle. What's the point of reserving if you're going to pick it up first thing that morning?

The only reason why I'd ever reserve a game or a console is if there's a legitimate chance it will sell out at all major retailers. It's not worth it to put five dollars down for a "chance" to get one of the initial shipments at GameStop when I can go to Best Buy and pick up a copy there any time after the game is released.

Regardless, if I were to reserve a game, I'd like to be able to pick it up at my leisure within a reasonable amount of time, and "midnight launch" is not a reasonable amount of time. One day isn't a reasonable amount of time. Maybe two, but to me, that's pushing it, even.

It happened to me today sadly. I went to the store to pick up my copy and they said "sorry, all of our copies have been sold". I sat there and bitched saying, "what good is a pre-order then?" Then I received a bunch of lip service after that. "Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah", sums it up. I then got my money back, and I drove out to Best Buy (another company I can't stand) and bought myself a copy, knowing that they would have shitloads of them available.

Normally I wouldn't say such things ... but FUCK GameStop. It's fucking ridiculous that my pre-ordered copy was sold. What really sucks is that it was the first game that I ever pre-ordered. I will never ever give them my business again.

That is wonderful
Do I have to be concerned
about Metal Gear?

Fewer than 15 copies? That just doesn't make any sense.

I do not envy the guys actually working at the GameStops right now (or most of the time actually...) They weren't even told explicitly to drop them so they can't fall back on that. Just heavily incentivized *wink wink nudge nudge*

Damned if you do, damned if you don't...

....RAGE!

More reason for me to continue using ebay, online trading sites and amazon for my game fixes.

I've worked there for nearly 9 years. They have done this before, but every time that we did it was based on the amount of traffic flow and reserve pick up rate that we had. It was also put into place at night when we knew we had a big shipment coming in the next day. How on Earth did they only get 15 copies for 50 people??? For a game like GTA I have never seen a store that didn't have a pretty big surplus of non reserved game. Smells a little fishy to me. I've just never seen that happen in 9 years. At least not for a monster title.

The only thing I can think of is the store told them to sell the regular copies of GTA (Which they should have an abundance of) and they had 15 reserves of the collectors edition.

And if the story is true then who the heck is their DM and why is he not calling the stores in the area that has a surplus.

I just don't really believe most of the story on this. I'm not saying that all are policies are good, but seriously this is GTA. They should have a bunch.

I experienced this as I walked in today to get an unreserved copy of the game. I didn't think that I would have had a chance to buy it today from a gamestop because of the games being reserved, but I had a lot of games to trade in (with them giving you an extra 20% trade in for GTA IV). So, I called them up to see if they had any and they said they had plenty of copies and were receiving a "shipment" in an hour. I thought myself fortunate and headed down there.

I arrive to find many people in line and waiting for their copy. The cashier then informs the whole store that they don't have any extra copies for people who haven't reserved and none for the the people there who had reserved it either. See, the "shipment" the employee told me about was actually his coworker going to a different gamestop and picking up some of their "extra copies". He was pleading with the reserved customers to just wait about fifteen minutes for his cowerker to arrive so they can get their reserved copies. Of course most of them stormed out saying "Well this ruined my day". The employee then informed us of how he told the district manager and general manager how stupid this idea (selling a copy to any walk-in) was and how much they were going to piss of customers, and the managers just responded with "we'll get more copies soon."

LOL and some of you figured this out just now? This is how pre-orders have always worked; it only guarantees you a copy of a game IF it is in STOCK. Thats why I never bother to pre-order to begin with.....kinda pointless......

This isn't anything new. The GameStops I live near have always done this. I got screwed years ago reserving MGS: Twin Snakes on Game Cube and going to GameStop after school around 3 in the afternoon the day it came out. When I got there they informed me that they had already sold out and had only held reserve copies until noon before selling them to walk in customers. They could care less that they have a copy for you as long as the game is selling. I hardly ever shop with them anymore aside from when they have really good deals (I just picked up Sega Superstar Tennis to play with my cousins).

Now, I get most of my games through Amazon. I may not always get games on the exact day of release (tracking shows my GTA IV copy coming early tomorrow morning) but at least I'm sure to get a copy (not to mention I don't have to pay tax which in my area is like adding another $6 to each game you buy).

It's problems like this regarding pre-orders that have resulted in my never going to GameStop unless I can't find my game ANYWHERE else.

If you reserve a game by paying in full then there is absolutely no reason that that store should not keep your copy until you get there. They are not sacrificing anything, except for the space it takes to keep, what, 100 games tops in their back room?

If you want to have games on hand to sell to walk-ins, then don't all your copies in advance! It's that simple.

The only reason to preorder is to get a bonus, usually.

@mva5580: Because they're shitting all over the customer which is, eventually, you. It's not about getting a game, ultimately; it's about holding companies to their promises.

@xrobx: Except that kind of backfires when people want their copy now, or your other stores sell out because it's GTA f***ing IV.

I worked there when Gears of War came out, and we were ordered by our district manager to sell pre-order copies to walk-in customers. The idea was that since not all people who pre-ordered would pick it up on day one, they would just get a copy from the second shipment when they eventually came to get it.

However, GameStop severely underestimated the number of people who'd pick up their pre-order on the first day of release and, as a result, we on the front lines had to lie to customers about why their copy wasn't there (I believe we were told to say that there was a missing shipment).

Absolutely disgusting. If I didn't have friends who still worked there, I'd never shop there again.

This happened to me with Oblivion, and I nearly killed the ass hole behind the counter who gloated that I would not find the Collectors Edition any where. It was early after noon on the day of release and I had a receipt paid in full. I had to fight tooth and nail (cause a scene) to get my money back. I walked across the lot to Best Buy and found one. I had to go back to the store to rub it in his face..... I no longer will shop at Game Stop. Amazon all the way I have GTA right here special edition and all complete with "N1KO" liberty City license plate. Free shipping and no sales tax.

@Deebo's Bike: This would be true if it weren't for the fact that GameStop does not order the same way that stores like Wal-Mart orders. Rather than ordering an excessive amount of the game and hoping that the game sells, GameStops only order a few copies beyond the amount they pre-order. From my understanding of the email, the execs at GameStop want stores to try to predict how many copies will not be picked up and sell all of those copies. Because of this, if for this particular release, more people than usual pick up the game the day it comes out, someone is going to get shafted. The fact of the matter is that they are selling a copy of a game that they have already sold.

This boils my blood

That is the problem with preorders, even though people preorder they assume the store will just order that many, instead the store will order that many,but they COULD get half of that shipment.

I work in a gamestore and customers got pissed that i dont take preorders. Usual bs excuse they say, how they dont want to wait on lines.
1)YOU WILL WAIT ON A LINE EVEN WITH A PRE ORDER
2)WE DONT KNOW HOW MANY WE WILL BE GETTING.
Thats why the system of first come ,first serve. if you want it. you can just come and get it. thats all it is.

I pre-ordered through Future Shop, only to be told when I went to pick it up that they were "Out of Stock". Interestingly enough, I thought of that exact Seinfeld scene!

Anyway I called the nearby Best Buy and they had a whole bunch of copies in stock, so I just grabbed one there.

I usually pre-order at EBGames, I can't remember why I didn't this time...It was a few months ago.

Gamestop Reserve Policy is that the "reservation" is only good for 48 hrs. after that the reservist that did not pick up his/her game is SOL. So says the Gamestop mgt. @ 85st and Broadway in NYC.

Sometimes it's not the big titles I would worry about something like this. There is going to be a ton of GTA, everywhere. That's not the story when I go to find an Atlus title however. Out of the nine GameStops in my local area, a total of nine copies of Rondo of Swords were received on release day. It was the same with Odin Sphere, where GameStop actually called me at 2pm on release day asking me to pick up my game or it would be sold. Titles that Best Buy or Target may just not have. Taking my pre-orders online...

@Dorphat the Insomniac: I see what you did there. :)

dude, go anywhere besides gamestop and they will have it. i went shopping today at target, meijer (grocery store), and circuit city. they all had copies in stock. i picked up the ps3 one at CC, but i havent had a chance to play it yet.

i dont get why a specialty gaming store only gets 15 (maybe 30 total). shouldnt they have the most copies out of any store? this doesnt make any sense to me, why would a niche video game store have the least amount of copies of one of the biggest releases of the year? who is fuck running gamestop?

Honestly, I hate to say it but this is the policy they should have.

I mean, look. Some dumbass put $10 on the game and he hasn't shown up yet and may or may not at some point during the day (or ever). I, meanwhile, am standing there with $60 in my hand ready to hand it over. What do *you* think is the sound business decision here?

Pre-orders are bullshit and always have been, both for the retailer and for the consumer. The retail-consumer relationship is that stores stock items that people can buy, and in turn people can walk in and buy those things. That's the extent of it, and that's how it works in every other industry. There's no "pre-ordering" at a retail store. Can I go to Williams-Sonoma and "pre-order" a set of steak knives? Can I go to Nordstrom's and "pre-order" a set of golf shoes? I mean, it's just not the way retail works.

If somebody's got the money and the game is there in the store, that person should walk out of the store with the game in their hands. That's all there is to it.

I walked into GameStop after work today to pick up GTA IV for the PS3 and a new Dualshock3. Employee said "Did you pre-order?" I told him "No" and he said "We don't have any." Apparently these marching orders have yet to reach Colorado. No worries though, I picked it up at Target and got a free skin for my PS3.

@Dorphat the Insomniac: I hope we don't have to worry about this with MGS4. I know for a fact that I won't be able to make the midnight launch and won't be able to make it to the store 'til at least 3:00 in the afternoon to pick it up. If it's sold out, there will be hell to pay.

the story is kind of scary. makes me not want to pre-order anymore. but when i went to pick up my gta (which i pre-ordered) an employee started to say "if you did not pre-order the game, there are no more copies"

but there are other places to find gta besides gamestop anyways

There's something that most people don't realize about pre-orders. Only about 50% of the people who do it pick up the game within the 24 hour period that they are required to hold it, so there probably aren't a whole lot of people who are getting screwed here. I know that the Game Crazy I work at had over 80 copies left after last night's launch, and when I checked again at 4 we still had around 30. Thats after selling to anyone who wanted one.

If airlines can overbook then why can't game stores? Its the same thing. Every once in a while someone gets screwed.

Uh, is this a surprise to someone?

I stopped "pre-ordering" from Gamestop a couple of years ago when they sold my copy of Gears after I called and verified that I could swing by and pick it up. Douche-nozzle bastards.

Conveniently, Target had plenty of copies of GTAIV for me to pick from on my lunch today.