So here I am, after two frantic weeks at work, trying out the games I bought at TRU some weeks back. The first game was a blast. And I now I get to open Freedom Fighter, which I've been waiting to play for some time now. After removing all the packaging, I opened the case, and there is no game inside!!! Wow, I can't believe it, it has never happened to me before! So I'll be off to TRU tomorrow to deal with this.
But has this ever happened to you guys before? I don't know if I'll be getting a tough time tomorrow, because its hard to believe a sealed game without anything inside. It certainly ruined a perfect day for my gaming!

Yeah, what happens is people will buy a game then take the disc out. Then they get the case shrinkwrapped somehow, either buy a friend or themselves, and return it(this happens alot at Targets and Wal-Marts). You'll be getting a hard time for sure, sorry man.

Not precisely the same situation, but when I bought the Die Hard Trilogy on DVD, one of the discs was missing from Die Hard 1. I just brought it back, explained what happened, and they replaced it. I bought it on the release date, so I'm guessing that it's just a mistake that doesn't occur too often, but does occur

I'm sure you will have an easier time since you are just trying to get the same thing.. If you asked for something else then it would seem fishy (at least to me) i mean why would you need another copy if you were lying and took the other one out.

Happened to me at Target. I had to actually call corporate and they finally authorized the store to accept the return. A lot of hassle though. Good luck.

When I buy games and DVDs, I try to gently shake the case to see if I can hear a disc inside. I know that I'm not the only one who does this and it really can help.

More likely than the buying and re-shrinkwrapping scam is that there was a glitch at the (automated?) assembly line... This sort of thing happens all the time... I've gotten 2 discs before on some stuff... sometimes I get multiple inserts even - my Cowboy Bebop first disc had 3 inserts all the same. I've gotten cassette tapes with multiple inserts too. I've also gotten the no disc. Factory shrinkwrap is different than homemade shrink and you can tell the difference. Factory shrink is done by a machine.

The same thing happened to me when I particpated in the TRU sale. I opened Crimson Skies only to find an AOL disc and a chopped up sales flyer. I think I stared at it for a good thirty seconds before I realized what happened. I took it back to the TRU in Times Square and told them what happened. They said that it was the second one that day and gave me no difficulty in exchanging the game.

And that's a bad thing?

No seriously, yeah I'd be pissed if that happened. I know the people at my local stores would probably tell me to call the game manufacturer to get a new disc. I am almost positive they wouldn't give me a new one.

OMG, AOL for $50!! Dude, you got a killer deal.

It sounds like someone was opening and rewrapping, definitely. You'd think they'd have enough class to at least include a free Earthlink disc, too.

I had a similiar situation when I bought Wild Arms 3, except there was a disc in there and it was a PIRATED copy of the game. You could totally tell it was pirated just from the looks of the disc. Poorly printed, low DPI scan of the cover art with fake PS2 logos around. I bought it at Walmart and had no problems exchanging for another copy

I know gamecube games don't have them, but I always look for the sticker (the one at the top of PS2 games and the one on the side for Xbox games) that have the name or barcode. usually people will break the sticker unless they're really careful. This also helps avoid getting a "used" game at places like EB that repackage games returned within a few days...

Well, this one has a happy ending. Went to TRU, told the lady about the missing disk. She approached her supervisor, who thought about it for a minute, and then approved and told her to grab another copy. When the lady came back, she actually brought several copies as she was told its happened twice before already, apparently for the same game. Opened one box, game was inside, and gave it to me. Took all of less than 10 minutes! So I'm a TRU fan and will buy more games from them. If there is a good sale, of course! : )

The game did have the sticker! That's what was so strange about it. Whoever did it was a real professional.

I had the same thing happen with a copy of Tony Hawk for the Dreamcast. I had to argue for half an hour with the return clerk at Wal-mart before I finally got another copy of the game.

As mentioned before, this is always due to scams..sometimes the manafacturer is at fault. It happened to me with a Blue Streak DVD.

Whenever I buy a game, DVD, or CD I always open it outside the store and inspect everything to make sure it's ok before taking it home. The only problem I've ever had was with a scratched DVD that I promptly took back in the store and exchanged for another copy.

It's called 'vaporware'!

If it is a manufacturing error why don't they weigh them before releasing them.

I remember some inside article for Nintendo and they said that they weighed them and could tell if there was even an insert missing.

I had this happen with a GameBoy Advance game. Somebody had removed the cartridge, replaced the game with one of those handheld erasers that are the same size as a GBA game, and re-shrinkwrapped it.

I'd already lost my receipt by the time this happened, too. Wal-Mart was really good about it though.

Yeah I remember reading that article too, interesting stuff.

I also saw on TV that other companies, like ones that make bags of candy, or kraft mac & cheese also weight their boxes to know exactly how much of what is in there. The sensitivity is quite remarkable, just a little below or above the threshhold and it gets blasted out of line by a big shot of compresssed air. Its all done at lightning speed at the end of the assembly line. Really neat! I wonder who designs these machines.

I got a Tony Hawk game for playstation that didn't quite work right. The packaging and the disc both had the Tony Hawk logos on them, but the game that was actually on the disc was some Bass Fishing game. Not sure if it was a manufacturing screw up or what, but they did end up allowing me to exchange it for a good copy.