how to polish a turd

Day five of the sunless sky, the rain continues... this morning it's subsided to a damp drizzle. It's unusual to go without the sun for this long in the fall. My mood has changed and I'm feeling truly unmotivated today.

Even though I successfully returned Failout: New Lost Wages yesterday, I'm still pissed off about the whole 'gaming industry/marketing machine'. People/gamers have this widespread acceptance that if it is only a game, it is okay to sell you a broken product and then tell you that they're going to fix it.

I know they have to really fix this and make it playable or future sales plummet. But this becomes the movie industry marketing plan at this point. I think the further out that they start showing off/hypeing a polished turd, the more the company is are relying on it's pre-orders to hide the epic fail they will be releasing. Movies are no different. If they start pumping it for a release date 6 months away, 95/100 of the time it's going to be shite.

Release day and the following 3 or 4 days are critical. But does it really matter. No. Because once you buy the product, the company in theory has your money. The risk is all yours at this point. To ensure it works properly, you have to open it. And once you open it, your options for being made whole diminish.

If it works.... awesome... Game On. If it doesn't too bad you opened it therefore you own it. Exchange for the equally defective unopened product, or trade it in for a pittance of the original purchase price.

The problem with Bethesda is trust and a clear lack of deadlines. Saying a patch will be forthcoming in upcoming weeks, is at best, vague. The return clock is usually 14 days on software, which games are, and once you open it... it's yours. Broken or not.

Although it took every shred of my willpower not to open it, it paid off. I got my $91.99 back. A full refund. Good luck to the rest of Betathesda's Beta Testers (aka the customer).

bestbuy.ca (aka Worst Buy Canada) pre-order backorder lying clusterfuckers for the Fallout: New Vegas Collectors Edition

So after much twisting in the wind, and anticipation as the impending October 19, 2010 release date of my Fallout: New Vegas Collectors Edition for Playstation 3, the day has finally arrived. No more sleeps. Everything is right with the world...

Until I log in to see that my item that I pre-ordered will be shipping today, aka release day.

OUT OF STOCK!

WHAT THE FUCK Best Buy Canada. What exactly does pre-order mean to you people. Back in the good old days of 2009 the Best Buy policy for pre-orders was that if you pre-ordered, you were guaranteed a game on the release date. This is from the glorious 2009 Best Buy Pre-Order Portal.

'Lining up for games is COOL. Not. When you pre-order online you're guaranteed a copy without the early morning drive. If you pre-order, you're getting your game; we don't oversell our pre-orders.'

Well apparently not any more. By the time I received a response from my very early morning email and phone call to their customer service departments, my local Best Buy store was also sold out.

So what was the advantage of 'pre-ordering' Fallout: New Vegas from bestbuy.ca? Besides the crushing disappointment of presuming I had ordered a game. NONE.

Except, instead of the expected confirmation email today saying it had shipped, I am instead stuck in some sort of twilight zone, submitted for your approval, you've pre-ordered and today is the day of release limbo where I supposedly have a pre-ordered game, that I don't have, or can't have, or can't get, because of some fatal cart flaw, and where no one can tell you if you will ever get the actual game you pre-ordered weeks ago for the sole purpose of avoiding all this 'Sold Out' , 'Out of Stock' and 'Back Ordered' on the day of release bullshit, because email queries and phone calls to BestBuy.ca customer service in Brampton, Ontario, are responded to our highly skilled blind deaf mute customer service representitives.

For a slow and vague response, please enter your question in the space provided below, then click submit. For an even less gratifying, but more immediate non answer, followed by cricket sounds and then a dial tone from an actual customer service representive, please press 1.

This call may be recorded for quality assurance purposes OR for the amusement of our staff during breaks and lunches.