Mok

I was just wondering since this is my first time pre-ordering with them. What do they do, do they pull the games and put them aside for you ? Or do they just pull them from the shelf when you come to pick them up. I just wanted to know since I have some games fully paid for that I need to pick up this week, and may not be able to make it in on release day. I don't want to walk in and find out they were sold out even though I pre-ordered. I only asks this question because I remember when Oblivion came out the guy working there refused to sell me the game, and told me all the games in the showcase were for pre-orders. Then he caved in, and mentioned that not all people who pre-ordered show up on release day to pick up there games. So I really hope they don't sell peoples pre-orders if they don't come in on release day.

PalmerJoss

I don't work for the chain and I know a couple people here do, but this is what I've been told - when games come out the number of copies of a title that they receive is determined by the # of preorders they have for that title. So when the game comes out they will have enough games to fulfill all preorders with some left over for anyone who didn't preorder. The catch is this - they only hold the game for you for 48 hours and then they can sell it after that, which I find absolutely ridiculous. It's also one of the reasons I rarely ever preorder a title from gamestop or ebgames. Hope this helps you.

Mok

Thanks for the feedback, well they better hold my games I paid in full for them.

kaze0

48 hours is the official time for holding games. These aren't the most well managed stored though and although it's never happened to me, I remember a friend bitching to high heaven about how they sold his preorder for some whacky ps2 game that they only got one copy in (his preorder).

PalmerJoss

A couple years ago my local gamestop sold my preorder when I came in the week after it came out. I actually got into an argument with the manager at the time about how the game was paid for, they should have held it, etc etc. That incident really turned me off to the whole idea of preordering games at my local stores - online preorders, though, are another story.

pinata242

I'm the type that if I'm going to go out of my way to pre-order something, much less pay in full, it's for a title that I'm going to pick up as soon as I can. I've never come close to hitting 48 hours "late", so I have never experienced this dark side of preordering.

When I go in, they just open a drawer behind the counter and pull a copy out and hand it to me. Never had any issues getting what I want exactly when I expect it.

taffer

Why preorder in the first place? 99.9% of games never sell out. Yes console systems are a different matter, but I have never had trouble walking in on release day and picking up the latest games.

PalmerJoss

And that's the other reason why I don't do preorders. Unless it's a very limited run game(Electroplankton, Trauma Center, etc) then I see no need to preorder. If it's a game that only has a limited run I've been ordering it online instead - much easier that way.

mrglass

If I have a small amount of store credit ($5-$10), sometimes I'll pre-order a game. I hate it when stores try to cram them down your throat, though. When I traded in some stuff because I wanted Ultimate Alliance, the employees went into this whole spiel about how I was like the sixth person to ask about it that day and that they were sold out. If only I had pre-ordered!

I went to the Target across the street and bought the game there.

Mok

Well I pre-ordered because I traded in a bunch of games, and I do find it hard to find games on release day in my area. With Tuesday being Election day kids will be off of school. I just wanted to make sure I got my copies of GOW,COD3 & GH 2.