Last night we posted an image of a copy of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 that a reader had purchased in a Tampa, Florida Kmart. Then it started popping up on eBay and Craigslist. Then videos from the game starting popping up. How was everyone getting copies of a game that wasn't supposed to go on sale until next week? Kmart.
A helpful reader and Kmart employee explains to us what happened and how you may be able to get your very own early copy of the game if you act quickly.
Turns out that the shipments of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 sent out to Kmart came in boxes that said to put the game out immediately. Typically when stores get games early they're marked with the date the games are meant to hit shelves. So in this case those boxes should have said to put the games out on Nov. 8.
Our reader tells us that since he's a gamer, and coincidentally has no spending cash right now, he's going to hold his copies until the official release date. But, he adds, if the store in your area has clueless, or cash ready electronics employees there's a good chance that the game will be on the shelves and ready to be purchased.
None of the Kmarts in my area have opened yet, so I haven't been able to see how many are selling the game early. We'll be checking on that later today. It also might be worth checking in with other big retail chains to see if they had the same shipments with the wrong dates on them.
I'd assume that this is going to be rectified very quickly, so if you want a chance at an early copy you might want to go shopping first thing this morning.
We've reached out to Kmart and Activision for comment about the early sales and to see if any action will be taken against people who play the game early and will update when we hear back.
Sack o' MW3s picture from _AGuNamedNick
Update: Intern Matt just finished calling a slew of Kmarts from around the midwest, south and east coast and none of them are selling the game early. Sounds like stores have been alerted. But let us know if you find out different in comments.
You can contact Brian Crecente, the author of this post, at brian@kotaku.com. You can also find him on Twitter, Facebook, and lurking around our #tips page.