Soul Calibur Four (probably the only place spelling it out)

Check out my stance against the arbitrary use of “Roman numerals” in sequels! Wooooo!

All right. Enough of that. I picked up Soul Calibur IV yesterday at my local Game Stop which I admit was a gamble considering my past with the chain. Way back when, I pre-ordered Final Fantasy XII; this was before it was delayed the first time–during the wait, I had to replace my receipt once because it was starting to fade. When the day finally came and Final Fantasy XII was available, I went to the Game Stop where I had placed the pre-order and found out that the store was sold out. I’ve heard stories of people paying for a game in full and Game Stop “losing” that customer’s information, but the Game Stop had my information intact and acknowledged that I had pre-ordered Final Fantasy XII (collector’s edition, btw ;p ), yet the store was sold out. Just to make it clear: I had given the store money for a game over a year in advance with the understanding (and legally binding agreement) that when Final Fantasy XII was available the store would set aside a copy especially for me–look, the store sold what I had already paid for. If I did have the receipt with me that day, I’m sure they would have tried to pretend to have “lost” my information. I demanded my money back, went to a rival store in the same mall, and bought the collector’s edition of Final Fantasy XII, and the nifty collector’s guidebook, for less than it was at Game Stop. On the way out of the mall, I slowed my walk past that Game Stop, gave them an old-fashioned crotch chop, and haven’t entered that store since.

Fortunately, I had no problems getting my copy of Soul Calibur IV. Then again, I also had a receipt; the store had already lost my information last week when I was trying to use my Edge card benefits without having the card on me. I will probably continue to visit Game Stop except on days when either dipstick, jackass, or dipstick #2 isn’t working–you know the guys. As for pre-ordering: unless the pre-order actually came with some kind of incentive (I’d take a keychain), then I’m through with pre-orders. To Hell with this giving stores money ahead of time so they can “forget” all about it. Game Stop, as Stephen Colbert would say, you’re on notice!