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F'in PREORDERS!

NotMSRP

Member
levious said:
ok, not true, I hardly ever preorder without some kind of bonus... I don't know who told you this or if you just drew your own conclusion, but it's simply not true.

Again, if you think going to an EB or a Gamestop is jumping through a hoop, then fine.

Reread again. Carefully. There is an error in your reading; hence, drawing incorrect conclusions. Your reply is even irrelevant to want I posted. My point is clear and valid. I do not want to reword my words just because you misread and misinterpret.
 

DJ_Tet

Banned
Hey, got the game a day early without a pre-order. Even for a limited system like XBox. I'd hate to be one of those kids who preordered the game when the store only got six copies and sold two while I was in there.

The system sucks, it is better than nothing, but that means little.

I can't believe the vitriol I got in this topic, actually I'm shocked. I'll get over it though, I suspect some/a lot has to do with it being an EA Sports title.
 

levious

That throwing stick stunt of yours has boomeranged on us.
NotMSRP said:
Reread again. Carefully. There is an error in your reading; hence, drawing incorrect conclusions. Your reply is even irrelevant to want I posted. My point is clear and valid. I do not want to reword my words just because you misread and misinterpret.

What did I miss, the fact that you said usually? I disagree with that as well.

I understood your point being that wednesday is the "official" release day for the public of video games... and I disagree.


Maybe you could clarify what you mean by jumping through hoops or hassle. There's no reason to talk down to me.
 

NotMSRP

Member
Jumping through hoops: a special arrangement or requirement, which is commonly a preorder or having people connections; a special binding to a particular place(s) or person(s)

Not jumping through hoops: just a walk-in and purchase; no special binding to a particular place

Can Joe, the average consumer, buy the newest title on Sunday? No.
Can Joe, the average consumer, buy the newest title on Monday? No.
Can Joe, the average consumer, buy the newest title on Tuesday? No.
Can Joe, the average consumer, buy the newest title on Wednesday? Yes.

Wednesday is the earliest day that an arbitrary consumer is able to buy an arbitrary newest title. There are a few, few expections.

Wednesday is dubbed the official day from empirical observation.
 

levious

That throwing stick stunt of yours has boomeranged on us.
ok then, you're wrong, and I'll be sure to post a new topic everytime I walk into a store on tuesday or monday and purchase a newly released game - hassle free.
 

NotMSRP

Member
Please do name your stores where you can get every or nearly every newest game on Mondays or Tuesdays. Even with preorders, this is uncommon.
 

dark10x

Digital Foundry pixel pusher
levious said:
ok then, you're wrong, and I'll be sure to post a new topic everytime I walk into a store on tuesday or monday and purchase a newly released game - hassle free.

You better share that information because it is EXTREMELY rare to run into that situation in MOST AREAS. If you can indeed pull that off, you must live extremely near one of the production facilities or something.
 

levious

That throwing stick stunt of yours has boomeranged on us.
DC Metropolitan area... and I experience similar purchasing ability in south Texas some years ago... stores I'm referring to are any videogame store whether they're a chain or a local store.

edit - and my point is not that you can buy a game on it's ship date, I was more contesting the notion that all games release on a certain day... for instance Crimson Tears ships on 7/21, a Wednesday. So surely it won't be in stores on that same day... but don't try to tell me that it won't be officially released until the following Wednesday.

And Friday official release days are occasional too. Games just don't work the same way as movies and music... maybe the industry is trying to push it that way, and maybe we're moving towards that, but it hasn't been that way traditionally.
 

NotMSRP

Member
Do you have a scanner and your receipts? Early days may be regional.

No matter how you put it, Wednesday is the first day that a game becomes accessible nationwide.
 

dark10x

Digital Foundry pixel pusher
levious said:
DC Metropolitan area... and I experience similar purchasing ability in south Texas some years ago... stores I'm referring to are any videogame store whether they're a chain or a local store.

edit - and my point is not that you can buy a game on it's ship date, I was more contesting the notion that all games release on a certain day... for instance Crimson Tears ships on 7/21, a Wednesday. So surely it won't be in stores on that same day... but don't try to tell me that it won't be officially released until the following Wednesday.

If you glance at release lists, you will see that 90% of the games released ship on Tuesday. Most exceptions I've encountered were with Nintendo published titles. Go on, take a look.

Of the 98 PS2 titles I have, I've purchased upwards of 60-70% of them on release day. I KNOW the typical release date schedules because I always deal with them.
 

levious

That throwing stick stunt of yours has boomeranged on us.
and that's the only point I was trying to make, that not ALL ship dates are universal.

And funny you should mention nintendo... the ones off the top of my head that I purchased recently on a monday or tuesday were Mario Party 5 and Mario Kart DD.
 

dark10x

Digital Foundry pixel pusher
levious said:
and that's the only point I was trying to make, that not ALL ship dates are universal.

And funny you should mention nintendo... the ones off the top of my head that I purchased recently on a monday or tuesday were Mario Party 5 and Mario Kart DD.

I wasn't suggesting that ALL were (dunno about MSRP). I was simply noting that 90% of the games released today (perhaps more even) ship on a Tuesday. Anything other than Tuesday is considered an exception...

Some of your posts indicated that it was extremely common for games to ship on days other than Tuesday, but that isn't true.
 

levious

That throwing stick stunt of yours has boomeranged on us.
NotMSRP said:
You didn't noticed the "usually" to cover my ass?

no, I disputed that too, I was talking more towards dark... really though, in my experience, I purchase new releases prior to wednesday, and I hardly preorder. Often it involves going to the store at like 7 at night... if that's a hoop to jump through.

But in the end, I'd like to end this discussion so that this doesn't turn into gamefaqs with all their "WHO HAS THIS GAME AND WHERE DID YOU PURCHASE IT" -- "TODAY IS THE SHIP DATE, NOT THE RELEASE DATE FOOL" -- "THE SHIP DATE IS THE RELEASE DATE FOOL" topics.
 
Since Nintendo was mentioned... I don't know about currently, but for Pikmin, Eternal Darkness and SSBM, they actually listed a Monday as their date of release.

Every store I went to (other than retail, which usually wait till Wednesday or Thursday even if they got the game in), told me they'd have these games on Tuesday. Since then, I've picked up probably 95% of my games on Tuesday. The only recent exception I can think of was Viewtiful Joe.
 

NotMSRP

Member
As I implied before, majority of the nation won't be able to get games until Wednesdays. There's no point to talk about games released on Thursdays or Fridays since they are later than Wednesdays and they are very uncommon.

Even in the pirate scene, if a game is a store pickup, it is usually a Wednesday.

Also, there are two EBs near my campus, so I can easily check the availability of the newest releases. From experience, there's no point in even visiting the stores on Mondays and Tuesdays.
 

dark10x

Digital Foundry pixel pusher
levious said:
no, I disputed that too, I was talking more towards dark... really though, in my experience, I purchase new releases prior to wednesday, and I hardly preorder. Often it involves going to the store at like 7 at night... if that's a hoop to jump through.

This is also an exception based on store location and game popularity. It is true that most games ship on Tuesday, however, when a game is highly anticipated, employees from various game stores will actually DRIVE to the airport personally in order to retrieve those games. If a game ships Tuesday and arrives late Tuesday, you can bet that someone did some leg work.

The shipping companies have specific routes and times, and they aren't going to be visiting any game stores in the evening (I suppose there might be a couple exceptions, of course...but that's rare).

So, the point still stands. Tuesday is THE shipdate for games and only certain exceptions exist. Any game purchased on the shipdate is also an excecption, as that requires more work from the employees.

Semjaza Azazel said:
Since Nintendo was mentioned... I don't know about currently, but for Pikmin, Eternal Darkness and SSBM, they actually listed a Monday as their date of release.

Every store I went to (other than retail, which usually wait till Wednesday or Thursday even if they got the game in), told me they'd have these games on Tuesday. Since then, I've picked up probably 95% of my games on Tuesday. The only recent exception I can think of was Viewtiful Joe.

I did mention Nintendo. Nintendo is one of the only companies who ships their games on Monday. Based on that statement, the majority of the games you purchase are either Nintendo made or published. Viewtiful Joe was created and published by Capcom, not Nintendo. That's why I say "90%"+ of the games released have shipdates of Tuesday.
 

NotMSRP

Member
Obviously there would be exceptions, and exceptions are extremely low in numbers that we can disregard them without consequence. That's why we can just consider only the majority release pattern, and that's why Wednesday is the "official" release day; the day you're "promised" to have a reserved copy just for you.
 

levious

That throwing stick stunt of yours has boomeranged on us.
so when does Tales of Symphonia release? Did you order it online or something?
 

dark10x

Digital Foundry pixel pusher
levious said:
so when does Tales of Symphonia release? Did you order it online or something?

Tales of Symphonia has shipped today. Therefore, it will be in stores tomorrow. Depending on the demand and/or the location of the store, you might be able to find it today. The official ship date, however, WAS today.
 

levious

That throwing stick stunt of yours has boomeranged on us.
no, I meant it seemed from his other topic that he already had it yesterday, or someone did.
 

dark10x

Digital Foundry pixel pusher
levious said:
no, I meant it seemed from his other topic that he already had it yesterday, or someone did.

It could not have been purchased through normal means, then.
 
Nintendo is a special case because of their different ship date. They're getting smart. Consuemrs expect (in general) that new media incluidng both music and DVDs are released on Tuesdays. The same goes for theatrical releases and Fridays (with the exception being the upcoming holiday weekend Wednesday release such as Spider-Man 2). Nintendo has cought on to this consumer thred. They realize that most people go shopping for new media on Tuesdays when it comes out. So, why not have their games avaliable on the same Tuesday? To do this Nintendo sets their ship dates on Monday. This ensures the games have an extra day to get there and will be ready to sell on time. For their super huge releases they will often ship them even earlier (usually the Friday beforehand). I'm positive this happened with Metroid Prime because I got my copy from EBgames.com on the "release date" of Monday. There's no way that could have happened if Nintendo sent EBgames.com the games on that same Monday.

The big difference here between the DVD/music/book industries and the games industry is that videogames (99% of the time) do not carry street dates. I've noticed every now and then Microsoft will release an Xbox game (Midtown Madness 3 comes to mind) which states specifically only the box "Do Not Sell Before MM/DD/YYYY."

The other industires ship their product out in advance and the stores have them in their backrooms usually a few days before the street date. This is to ensure that every store gets them and they all sell them at the same time. Breaking a street date is a seriously bad thing to do. It can heavily sour relations with the publisher.

As I stated above, games don't have street dates. Their "release dates" are the same as the shipping date. So, if a game ships on Tuesday the 13th then it is also going to become avaliable to the public to buy on Tuesday the 13th. The problem is that most stores have no chance of getting the games on Tuesday the 13th because they just left the publisher that same day. Some stores in areas very close to shipping centers will get them the same day, but like I said that's a regional thing. For the most part botique stores such as EB and GameStop will get them the next day. Stores like Wal-Mart, Best Buy, and Circuit City get the games sent to their central warehouses, and re-sent out to their individual stores from there. This is why they get games later (on Wednesday or Thursday).

So, really, the first day that a game is widely avaliable to anybody in the nation at any store is more like Thursday (especially when you factor in that Wal-Mart, which ships stuff to their stores slower than Best Buy, is sometimes the ONLY place somebody can buy videogames).
 
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