GameStop To Honor Ancient Duke Nukem Pre-Orders

doug141 writes "GameStop encourages customers who pre-ordered more than a year ago to verify their reservation with their local store. 'Provided the customer has a receipt, we will honor even those pre-orders taken long ago. At this time, we expect that all pre-order customers will receive Duke's Big Package at time of purchase, regardless of when the reservation was made.'" If you have an especially old order, though, you might want to visit the store with your original punchcard, or a daguerreotype of it.

Comments

So if the order was for Sega Saturn 20 years ago?

[elucido]

What then? Most of us don't even have the Saturn anymore and probably misplaced the receipt.

I'm surprised they didn't wait until 2012 to release this game. Maybe it should be called Duke Nukem Ancient.

Uhh, why wouldn't they?

[Eric(b0mb)Dennis]

Why is it news that they are honoring these pre-orders? To pre-order, don't you have to actually, uh, pay for the game? Whenever I've pre-ordered something at my local gamestop I usually pay full price and just pick up on release.

Now, maybe they have some sort of 'down payment' thing, and then on release date you pay the remainder... but still.. why wouldn't they honor them? I can't see any reason why they wouldn't.

Case in point, I ordered Team Fortress 2 a long, LONG time ago. I'm talking about when they were releasing the videos of the army guys and the turrets, looked 'realistic' (for tech back then) etc etc.. the game that never came out.

I pre-ordered this game because it was on Game Stop's 'RELEASES' board. I was an avid player of Quakeworld TF and MegaTF.

Know what? I only got one call, asking if I wanted to change my order to The Oranage Box because it was learned tf2 was being shipped with it. Of course, I did.. and TF2 was a totally different game at this point.. but at no time did I lose my pre-order.

Re:Uhh, why wouldn't they?

[gman003]

It's news because some of these pre-orders are nearly a decade old. TF2 was announced, un-announced, went through it's own epic development hell, was released, had over a hundred patches released, all in the time between some of these preorders being made and the game finally coming out.

Not only that, but some of those pre-orders may be for ports that no longer exist - can you transfer a Saturn edition pre-order into an XBox360 preorder? A PS1 preorder into a PS3 preorder?

Re:Uhh, why wouldn't they?

[Lord Byron II]

The real question is why would anyone pre-order any big title. They are going to have hundreds of them on launch day. The only time I've ever pre-ordered anything is if the bonus is particularly good, or if the game is particularly obscure, where they might not carry it all on launch day.

Re:Uhh, why wouldn't they?

[Hognoxious]

Why would they even consider not selling them the game?

There is no game. The game is a lie. And even if it wasn't, the only way to win would be to not play.

Re:Uhh, why wouldn't they?

[FSWKU]

The real question is why would anyone pre-order any big title.

Not necessarily. This IS GameStop we're talking about, here. A friend of mine in SF went in to pickup a copy of LA Noire on launch day. The salesdroid rather rudely stated, "We don't have any copies for non-preorders. If you wanted to play this game, then you should have preordered it." At which point he promptly went 5 minutes down the street to the pit of hell known as Best Buy and picked up one of the hundred or so copies on the shelf. He then returned to GameStop to give them a hearty "fuck you".

The lesson here is that a LOT of GameStop managers will ONLY order enough stock to cover preorders. They do this in a misguided attempt to coerce people into preordering future titles so they can artificially inflate the metrics for their store. This is also the same company that likes to sell used copies on launch day, and shove strategy guides down your throat like a Geek Squad goon pitches dubious service plans.

tl;dr - fuck GameStop.

Re:Uhh, why wouldn't they?

[flimflammer]

...what? Where on earth do you get games 40% cheaper by preordering?

Re:Uhh, why wouldn't they?

[Bacon Bits]

And people wonder why brick & mortar stores are struggling so much.

If I go to Best Buy, I expect the store to be poorly laid out, I expect the cashier to harass me to buy some extra I don't want ($30 "insurance" on a $50 item? WTF is the point of that?), and I expect the asshole at the door to ask to see my receipt. I don't expect informed salespersons. I don't expect competitive prices.

I expect the same thing at GameStop, except I don't expect the level of politeness that I get at Best Buy (which is passable) and I expect GameStop to actively try to sucker me out of my money at every opportunity while simultaneously trying to not get me what I actually want.

Or I can go to Amazon or Newegg, where I can get a better price, better product reviews, more convenience, and far less irritation.

I don't shop at Best Buy except under duress, and I haven't walked into a GameStop voluntarily or otherwise since about 2004.

Re:Uhh, why wouldn't they?

[flimflammer]

Portal 2 had a 10% preorder discount, and the game retailed for $50. It brought the game down about ~$5.

However that sort of deal is few and far in between anyway, especially for mainsteam titles. Indie stuff tends to carry discounts and what have you. It is fairly unusual to get a price discount on preordering anymore. The "perks" these days for preorders usually revolve around some unlockable of no real value like an extra skin for a character, flavor item, etc.

Re:I pre-ordered First Post.

[imamac]

Me too, but my receipt is chiseled on a stone tablet.

Re:Ceremony

[AceCaseOR]

Totally. Actually, Gearbox should have gotten in touch with Gamestop, and put the names of the people with the longest active pre-orders in the credits under "Thanks" or "True Believers" or "You can stop holding your breath now" or something.

Well... there's at least one guy with a receipt...

[denzacar]

...somewhere out there.

Re:I pre-ordered First Post.

[Farmer Tim]

Pfft, newb. Mine is imprinted on the cosmic background radiation.

Re:Huh?

[gman003]

Check the dates. DNF was opened for pre-orders back in 2001 (before being delayed, and delayed more, and delayed longer than any game in history). Some people kept those pre-orders.

Re:Ceremony

[MobileTatsu-NJG]

You think they were refunded the difference in inflation?

Re:I pre-ordered First Post.

[LynnwoodRooster]

:( I already lost mine during the last universe collapse and new big bang...

Re:So if the order was for Sega Saturn 20 years ag

[pushing-robot]

I'm surprised they didn't wait until 2012 to release this game.

They were really trying to release it before the world ended. In the words of the lead developer, "Er, how are we for time? Have I just got a min-"

Re:Huh?

[osu-neko]

I don't get it. Why would this be open to doubt? If I've understood correctly, Gamestop offered it for sale and these people paid for it... so now it's available Gamestop are going to honour the contract. Is that not what they would normally do?

If you strip away from the description everything that makes it unique, yes, it sounds unremarkable. Let's not to do and try again. Gamestop is fulfilling preorders that are over a decade old. Isn't that what they normally do? No, in fact they normally fulfill preorders that are only a few months or at most a year or two old. What makes this news is not that their fulfilling preorders, it's that they're fulfilling ancient ones. It isn't news because there was some doubt that they would, it's news because it's something happening that has never happened before. When something happens that has never happened before, it's often considered news, even if everyone in the situation reacts exactly as you would expect they would in the situation, despite it never happening before.

Re:So if the order was for Sega Saturn 20 years ag

[Stormwatch]

Duke Nukem 3D could barley run on a saturn

Barely is the wrong word: to port the Build engine wasn't feasible, and it was never done. Instead, Duke Nukem 3D for the Saturn was rebuilt from scratch using Lobotomy's SlaveDriver -- in fact a more advanced engine, capable of actual 3D levels.

Also, if you think a Saturn is underpowered for this game... ahem.

Re:Huh?

[Kalriath]

What are you talking about? The retail store always keeps the deposits - why would they be eating anything?

If anything, the people who pre-ordered should have the ten years interest that Gamestop's been earning on their deposit credited to the purchase!

Re:So if the order was for Sega Saturn 20 years ag

[RivenAleem]

Why do you think the rapture has been delayed 5 months? Even God is waiting for this to be released.