I've noticed a trend recently with big name http://www.kotaku.com.au/2011/10/battlefield-3-has-broken-street-date/ being sold early at big name retailers. http://www.kotaku.com.au/2011/10/why-street-date-breaks-are-bad-for-the-games-industry-as-a-whole/ raised an interesting point in relation to healthy this is for the industry. However, what do you think as a gamer? Is getting a game 24-hours early a good thing? More and more games are becoming linked with online services such as steam, and thus are locked until the release date. Consoles don't have this restriction.
Thoughts?