Chad Lakkis, writing over at Ripten, did. For Gears of War — so, not some highly anticipated sequel, but an altogether new IP. But that's how rock-solid certain he was that Gears would rule his life. And when Gamestop did its usual not-honoring-reservations garbage, Chad refused to take no for an answer.
I got on the horn and started calling every GameStop that I could find until I found one that was willing to help me out. That was the good news. The bad news was that it was about three hours away in Connecticut. So I gathered up some food and drink, hopped into my car, drove from Massachusetts to Connecticut, purchased the game, shared my story with a few Gears fans in-store, exchanged gamertags, got back in my car, and drove back ...
Here's the punchline. When he got home, he didn't even play through the intro tutorial. He set it down and didn't play it for five days afterward. Only when he got into multiplayer was his sense of disappointment washed away. The anecdote part of a retrospective on the original game. Gears of War 2 drops for Xbox 360 on Nov. 7. If you're getting it, I hope you don't have to drive six hours for it. Gears of War Roadie Run Retrospective [Ripten]