So its really pointless to have a midnight release when you get home you can't even play it

I think it's supposed to unlock at 10 AM on the 19th. However, in reality it'll probably unlock at between 2 PM to 6 PM.

7PM in region 2, think yourself lucky.

Yeah, I'm really interested in seeing how this will play out, because there is the same rampant speculation on the Steam forums as well.

If Steam hasn't unlocked the game yet, because all PC versions use Steamworks, no one will be able to play New Vegas at midnight, even if they just got their copy from a midnight release party. Either Steam is going to have to unlock the game before 1 PM EST, or all PC users, regardless of whether they bought the Steam version, are going to have to wait until that afternoon to play the game in their hands. I expect a lot of forum rage to be forth coming if this is not addressed.

Maybe Gstaff can make inquiries?

Steam game unlock =/= Steam online activation. I baught Modern Warfare 2 at a midnight release and played it as soon as I got home. The Steam download version however wasnt 'unlocked' until midday.

Gstaff is already looking into it, it ben mentioned here http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1120665-steam-download-access/

That's a separate issue. GStaff was finding out when we would be able to Pre-load the game (or if) and when the game would be unlocked for Steam users.

This specific question is different, namely - "Is activation of PC copies through Steam tied to the same unlock time as Steam versions of the game?"

And quite an important question to. If it is tied to the Steam unlock time, then people may as well not bother camping out Monday night and just go to bed.

EDIT:
Not to mention that topic has been locked and Gstaff can't reply to it.

That svcks. Hooray for console for once.

"According to some folks I spoke to today, you should be able to preload soon (if not already) -- same goes for Direct2Drive.

As for when you'll be able to unlock and play the game, I'm working on getting those details. I hope to have that info to you by Monday, if not earlier. "

Quote from Gstaff,

If you read the hole thing he says "As for when you'll be able to unlock and play the game, I'm working on getting those details. I hope to have that info to you by Monday, if not earlier. "

He was working on both issues

We have plenty of threads on this already.