I'll say this - this rant has been a long time coming. It's very rare that I run out and buy a game the first day it comes out, and it's even rarer that I actually pre-order a game. The reasons for these are numerous, but mostly it goes like this:

1) I'm not too often excited enough by a game to want it the first day
2) There's hardly any incentive to pre-order

But when I do get excited about a game, I want it on the date that it's released (which almost entirely axes ordering online, especially since I live in an apartment complex where the UPS and FEDEX employees just leave a nice little yellow slip telling me to drive 500 miles to pick up my package if the office is closed). If it's a smaller game, a game that I'm worried about selling out, or a game that has a nice pre-order offer I'll try to obtain it by pre-ordering or run out release day to get it. I learned the latter is a horrible, horrible idea.

But let me back this up a little and indulge in a little story. Prince of Persia for the Gamecube was just released on the 18th. Well, that's what IGN and Ubisoft said, and what I thought. I learned a long time ago never to assume a story has anything in stock, so I made a few phone calls to all of the shops around me that sells games. Here's the jist of my phone conversations:

peccaui: Hi, do you have Prince of Persia for the Gamecube in?
Coconuts (a nationwide chain that sells games, CDs, DVDs, etc.): Lemme check ... we haven't gotten it in yet, try back later this week.

peccaui: Hi, do you have Prince of Persia for the Gamecube in?
Gamestop: That's a good question. Let me check ... nope. We'll have it in tomorrow.

peccaui: Hi, do you have Prince of Persia for the Gamecube in?
EBGames: No, try tomorrow.

peccaui: Hi, do you have Prince of Persia for the Gamecube in?
BestBuy (after wading through their phone tree and being put on hold for fifteen minutes): I'm sorry, we don't. We'll have it on the 20th.

peccaui: Hi, do you have Prince of Persia for the Gamecube in?
unitdaisy: You're not on the phone anymore dumbass.
peccaui: Screw this, I'll just order it online.

That's nothing compared to what I had to go through to find out if stores had Viewtiful Joe in. I'd either end up spending half an hour spelling 'V, Victor-I-E-W, Waldo-T-I-F, Frank-U-L JOE ... no, VIEWTIFUL! NOT BEAUTIFUL!' or immediately have the employee hang up on me. Or the worst offender, when I was calling around concerning Vice City's release some employee at a local, non-franchise game seller actually told me 'No, no one is getting their copies until November 4th' (when in reality the release date was October 27th). Regardless, buying a game when it comes out should not be this hard, especially when these are games that actually have a decent amount of money backing their promotion.

Case in point, I also went out to buy the The Two Towers superdeluxeplatniumstatuewithanimatedappendages box set today. The day that it was released, the day that everyone knew. Did I have any problem buying it? No. It was there, in stock and everything. When I went to see Two Towers, I didn't get turned away from the theater with the words 'sorry, we haven't received the print yet.' But no, when I pre-order Soul Calibur 2 for the Gamecube and spend $4 taking four buses to get to Gamestop because they say they have it in, I'm met with 'Nope, sorry - truck didn't arrive. Want it for the Xbox?' and I'm out another $4 and an hour of my time the next day.

Quite simply, if the gaming industry wants to get recognized as a form of entertainment to wrangle with the big boys, it has to start playing like one. When you hype your products for launch, make sure it actually meets that date. Now, I'm not saying 'NEVER DELAY YOUR GAMES SLACKERS!!!', just give us a concrete date that it will be in stores by. I don't care if that date is advertised a week or a month before it's released (although, I'm sure the stores care), all I want to know is when I can get my game. I don't care when it's shipped, all I need to know is when I can hand my money to the employee at my local store. If this means selling the game a few days after a store receives it, fine - I'm okay with that. Just make sure that the date is enforced. Penalize shops that sell it early, whatever. I don't care. Just keep me from wasting my time calling around town to find out that no one in Chicago has it on a daily basis, hoping that it's finally arrived while some forum goon spouts off ten spoilers about my eagerly anticipated game in a thread about contemporary French Film.