Yeah, there''s seriously still like 130 copies of the regular edition in the storeroom at Toys R Us, and a guy that works at Circuit City said they''re still loaded too.

Everybody does seem to be sold out of the Limited Edition, but I suppose that was expected.

The only two games that I''m aware of that were limited for some time was the Silver Box edition of Unreal Tournament 2004 and Goldeneye.

Yeah, all the hype was just that- hype. Getting halo 2 at midnight without a pre-order just reaffirms my stance that pre-orders are for the birds.

Does your Costco have the Limited Edition, or only the standard.

As an aside, I preordered from EB, but it is taking forever to arrive -- anybody know about availability at the Venice, CA Costco?

Yeah, in retrospect me pre-ordering Halo 2 was just feeding into the Microsoft & EB machine. It was still an interesting, albeit irritating experience to line up at midnight.

at job #2 we got a new shipment today of Special Editions, our store had over 165 SE reservations and 140 regular, and we had 12 SE left to sell to walk-ins. the thing we have trouble keeping in stock is the soundtrack.

we also received 90 more regular editions. sort of like the GTA ''shortage,'' now we have 80 copies of San Andreas in stock. and how about them KillZones. might sell one soon. right after Ratchet and Clank.

go figure.

You know what? Getting Halo 2 at midnight was fun. It''s not something I''d do for every game release, but this was a fun event to take part in.

And yes, it''s not like the limited edition is an incredibly rare item, but that''s not the point. The point is that it represents a minority of all the copies out there, has a cool case and bonus DVD, and cost $5 more. What''s the harm?

Yeah EB Games over here had two shelf full of regular edition which i would guess is around 100 copies. And one full shelf of collectors which is about 50. Pre-ordering is such a scam but I know why companies do it. I miss the days a game was released and you could just walk in that day and buy it with no hassles.

I couldn''t wait. I picked up the standard edition at Costco. I guess I''ll return the LE unopened. Last time I preorder (excluding my current preorder for Pirates!).

When I went into EB games to pick up my preorder on tuesday, I was utterly shocked to see how many copies they had on the shelves. Based upon the hype, I expected to see a line wrapping around the mall in a ""First McDonald''s in Moscow""-type fashion. Instead, I walked right up to the counter, where they had stockpiles of the game all around, and felt incredibly dumb for preordering at all. Last time for me as well. The only reason I did this time was that it was hard as hell to find ESPN NFL 2k5 when it first came out. Note to self: bigger hype == easier to find game. Preorder baaaaad.

My concern with getting the game at midnight was being able to play it as early as possible with the various illegal street-date breaking gaffs. That''s the only reason I pre-ordered. I didn''t even realize that my local Best Buy was doing a midnight sale for it or I may not have have pre-ordered it.

The only reason I want a copy of the Collector''s Edition of Half-Life 2 and WoW is the DVD''s of the game. I''ve come to hate CD installs just because I''m so lazy. LAZY, I SAY!

What''s the realease date on that gem?

http://www.steampowered.com/

I understand that hype is what literally sells games. Hype sells everything but if you were gonna buy it anyway for a price everyone else is gonna sell it for anyway may as well preorder. I however disagree with sales tactics of using fear to preorder a game, but as an EB Gnome I must say the fear is generated by the crowds of people who come up to us asking when a game is coming in and then asking how many we will get in and why was it pushed back and will it be the greatest thing ever and if you should preorder you never know but its safe to say yes every time because if we say no that one time you will be on that phone giving me the biggest ass reaming about how you cant find that damn game anywhere. ok I feel better now...dont hurt me cause I have no grammar...

Bottom line...it seems like a standard policy at all game stores to encourage pre-orders on anything..

When I go there now.. they just make blanket statements...What would you like to preorder today?

I think some employees get a little power happy with the whole preorder thing though..

I pre-ordered a copy of Halo 2 LE from ebgames for instore pickup thinking I would be able to stay up until midnight...well that didnt work and I had no problems getting my copy the next afternoon..

What was odd though was that ebgames additionally shipped me another copy to my house the next day..so I returned that since they charged me for that copy also.

When I was returning it and buying the strategy guide (which is well done..btw and worth $17) The sales guy at first was confused why I was returning an unopened Halo 2 LE when I explained what happened he got it and had a chuckle.. in the process of the return and new purchase of the Guide and the new Headset another sales droid walked by and looked at the guy ringing up my purchase and spotted the Halo2 LE box.. he immediatlysaid almost shouting ""Did you preorder that??! Cause if not you cant buy it!!!""

Despite it being 2 days later and that they had a nice inventory of both regular and LE editions right behind the counter..