We were told at Gamestop that they weren't taking any more special edition pre-orders. The game's 35 days away, yet I couldn't order it. Instead, they told me, I could reserve a copy of the standard version, and then if whoever else ordered the special edition didn't show up to claim theirs at Midnight on the 18th/19th, I could have theirs.
Lemme sidestep here for a moment to say this: I'm a huge "Fallout" geek. I've been a fan for a long time, and I've been looking forward to "New Vegas" in the way that Christians are looking forward to the Rapture. I'm also an online writer-- I write for a few sites that you've probably heard of, but at the risk of revealing my identity, I won't share them here (if someone from Bethesda contacts me, however, I'll be glad to spill the beans)-- and recently drove across the state of Texas just so I could play "New Vegas" at QuakeCon and write about it. I've written a handful of stories promoting "New Vegas" over the past month or two, and I've been a die-hard supporter of everything Bethesda's done in the past. In other words, I'm not just a casual gamer/fan, I'm a professional who's a freak when it comes to "Fallout", and I push it on my readers whenever I get the chance.
I'm not about to step in and take some other dude's copy of "New Vegas" because he was unable to get to Gamestop in the middle of the night. If someone did that to me, I'd be furious, and I'd make sure that everyone I knew was made aware that Gamestop has some epically sh-tty business practices. Secondly, I find it hard to believe that any other true "Fallout" fan would take the time to pre-order the special edition and then NOT show up to pick it up at midnight. Who does that? In any event, it meant that I couldn't order the special edition, and I was unamused. Another word to describe my mood would be "lethal".
So, I called Gamestop and attempted to sweet-talk them into allowing me to order the game. I explained that I had two priorities: One, to be playing "New Vegas" on the night of the 18th, at 12:05, as soon as possible; and two, to get the special edition pre-ordered. I don't want the special edition two days, three days, or even one day after it releases: I'm a diehard "Fallout" geek-- I want it on the night that every other geek's going to be slaving away at it. Gamestop told me that Bethesda was no longer allowing for pre-orders on that title for in-store pickups. Say what?
This means that no matter where I go, I won't be able to find a place that will accomodate my two needs: "Playing 'New Vegas' at midnight" and "Getting the special edition". Why? Why would you guys limit a diehard fan like that? Surely there are other people that were waiting to put down their money, people who didn't realize that 35 days in advance wasn't enough time (maybe some of them are realizing their error as they read this). Surely I'm not the only diehard "Fallout" geek left out in the cold.
As a longtime fan of the franchise, and as someone that's been very vocal about supporting Bethesda and the "Fallout" brand in the press, I'm begging someone from Bethesda to change this. Not just for me, but for anyone else that might want to be playing the special edition on Midnight of the 18th. Every day I comb through the same four or five websites looking for "Fallout: New Vegas"-related stuff, looking for new tidbits of information. I've never seen a single thing saying that I'd be SOL if I didn't order by...whenever you guys stopped taking in-store-pick-up pre-orders for the special edition. I had no idea my time was running out, and now I'm heartbroken.
Would someone from Bethesda help the poor, unfortunate geeks like myself? My email address is attached to my account here. Please, help a brother out.
Cheers,
AFOF
