I wanted to share my own personal negative experience of purchasing Grand Theft Auto 4 at Gamestop this week. The following is almost the exact letter that I wrote to Gamestop via their website, slightly paraphrased so that it reads better in a blog post:

 I went to pick up my pre-ordered and, supposedly, “guaranteed” copy of Grand Theft Auto 4 at my local Gamestop store this past Wednesday. (I live on Long Island.) When I got there, the clerks, who were very friendly, sympathetically told me that they had sold out of copies of the game as I had pre-ordered it for the XBOX 360 console - I wanted the promised downloadable content that will be available this autumn. I have pre-ordered many games through Gamestop and, especially in the case of a game like Grand Theft Auto 4, I like that Gamestop has the option to guarantee something I want on day of release. I was totally and completely baffled by how something like this could have occurred and how a major retailer that relies on loyal customers and their repeat business could have such a misleading policy. The clerks then told me that they had the “Special Edition” in stock but, when I asked them if I could buy a copy of that, they told me that, “no, unfortunately, those copies are reserved.” “But you guys sold off MY copy to someone else,” I said. “What’s the difference?” They then told me it wasn’t a case of selling my copy to someone else, but that UPS “screwed up” the product shipment and they didn’t recieve enough copies. One last copy of the game for the Playstation 3 system was available and – as I happen to have both systems, though preferred the XBOX 360 version for the DC - the clerks transferred my reservation from one console to the other available copy. I have Grand Theft Auto 4 now, but won’t have the XBOX’s DC, which supposedly adds up to an additional 20 hours of game play in the form of GTA missions.

What did I learn from this experience? I learned that pre-ordering games from Gamestop does NOT guarantee my product on day of release. Gamestop’s pre-order policy is misleading and I will not be pre-ordering games through them again. I also be recommend that those of you reading this blog to consider my experience and be aware that, no matter what a Gamestop rep tells you, their pre-order service does NOT guarantee a copy of the game on date and release. I should also note that, much like a previous post on this blog, on my way to Gamestop, I, too, stopped by Best Buy and noticed that they had shelves and shelves of copies available for purchase for both console systems.

The President is someone who represents me, as well as every other American.  I don’t want a President who lies, deceives, manipulates, and fearmongers, because that is not who I am.  That is not I believe who we Americans are.

Hillary Clinton has attacked Barack Obama repeatedly about Rev. Wright, but this is a non-issue. Rev. Wright has said some things that appeared out-of-context to be quite un-American.  He recently said more things which insult me as an American, and Obama has called him out on it and distanced himself from the man.  I do not expect to see Rev. Wright visiting the White House when Obama is President.

Hillary Clinton has attacked Barack Obama repeatedly about Tony Rezko, but this is a non-issue.  Tony Rezko has given money to past Obama campaigns, and Obama has made matching charitable donations to offset this.  Tony Rezko is on trial for his crimes, and Obama is not even under investigation in connection with anything.  I do not expect to see Tony Rezko getting pardoned when Obama is President.

Barack Obama’s attacks on Hillary have all been about her policies.  He hasn’t gone through her past digging up unsavory figures and paraded them around.  He hasn’t piled on when others have done this.  Instead, he tries to change the subject back to the important issues.

I trust someone like this to run the country and represent me.