Did a game come out?
 

I'd like to inform you of a conversation I had today. My non-gaming grandmother lives with us. That's all the setup you need.

*I walk in room* Me: Hello.

Grandma: Hi.

Me: Can't wait till Tuesday. The Xbox 360 comes out!

Her: Is that a video game thing?

Me: Yeah.

Her: That reminds me! Someone called yesterday. They said some game came out.

Me: Really? What game did they say?

Her: I don't remember. It was something 'fantasy'. 'Fantasy' something. I can't remember for the life of me.

Me: *consults reserve tickets* Well, it could be either Final Fantasy Advent Children or Phantasy Star Universe. Either of those ring a bell?

Her: Not really. Just fantasy.

Me: *sighs, picks up phone to call GameStop, hears cackling sound, like the phone is off the hook and someone's playing a movie in the background, then it clicks; I try again*

Tard: Thank you for calling GameStop, we buy used games, my name's *Tard*, how may I help you?

Me: Yeah, I was wondering if you could give me some release dates for a couple games.

Tard: Sure. What games are they?

Me: The first one is Phantasy Star Universe.

Tard: Let me write that down. Galaxy Star Universe?

Me: *rolls eyes, understands what he's dealing with* Phantasy Star Universe.

Tard: Okay. What's the other game?

Me: Final Fantasy Advent Children.

Tard: Final Fantasy XII?

Me: No. That's twelve. This is the movie. Off of VII.

Tard: Okay. Let me check.

*Puts me on hold, leaving me there for 15 minutes, during which I surf the web, answer another phone call, and orchestrate a musical about how long I've been on hold*

Tard: *Comes back* Okay, Advent Children is coming out in Febuary.

Me: *rolls eyes about how no one on earth knows when it's coming out* Okay. How about Phantasy Star Universe?

Tard: What's that?

Me: Phantasy. Star. Universe.

Tard: I'm sorry, I can't hear you.

Me: Grah! Phantasy Star Universe. Okay?

Tard: Um...let me talk to my manager.

Me: CROM!

*Tard talks to the manager. I catch snippets like "Ph, not F?" and such.

Tard: I can't find it.

Me: I dunno! Sega made it.

Tard: Let me look again...okay, it says May.

Me: Grah! *Hangs up*

So have either of those games come out or is GameStop playing a cruel joke on me?

Phantasy Star Universe: 5/1/2006

Advent Children is prerelease 4/3/2006

I sure as hell wouldn't have put up with that for 15 minutes, hahah. Then again, my co-workers know well enough to refer to me to field all of the questions they can't answer (which is a staggering majority).

JC is right on the money as to the current listings at Gamestop. Never take those as concrete though, as they're very early estimates provided by the publishers of when they think the game *might* be ready.

There was a shit-ton of stuff that came out today anyway, I spent all five hours of my shift sitting in the back room checking in new releases.

Hmm...still doesn't explain the call I got saying something had come out. If not either of those two, what was it?

Other games I've got reserved are:

Zelda: Twilight Princess, which I'm pretty sure I would know about it if came out.

Kingdom Hearts 2; ditto.

Perfect Dark Zero with my 360; hell no.

I can't believe KH2 isn't coming out until March 2. Last Christmas they said it'd be ready by June 05, then by June they said December 05, and now March 06. Squaresoft is slowly draining the life from me. It'd better be a really really REALLY awesome game for all the wait time they've put us through. Because if it's going to follow the path of Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness, I'm going to scream. Loudly. You'll probably be able to hear me.

Well, let's see, what came out yesterday...

Xbox 360 Premium Bundle (Street-dated for 11/22. As a side note, the heft of this package by far puts the existing Xbox to shame)
Dragon Quest VIII (PS2, Including playable Final Fantasy XII demo... hmmm)
Need for Speed: Most Wanted (All systems sans X360)
True Crime: NY (PS2/XB/GC)
Flow: Urban Uprising (I would be genuinely astounded if anyone anywhere at any store in the entire country pre-ordered this)
Legend of Heroes (PSP)
Infected (PSP)
Kingdom of Paradise (PSP)
Shadow the Hedgehog (PS2/XB/GC)
Sonic Rush (DS)
Dance Dance Revolution Ultramix3 (XB)
Aeon Flux (PS2/XB)
Half-Life 2 (XB)
Magna Carta: Tears of Blood (PS2)
Madden NFL 2006 (X360)
America's Army (PS2/XB)
Pac Man World 3 (PS2/XB/GC)
Dynasty Warriors 5: Xtreme Legends (PS2)
EyeToy: Spy (PS2)
From Russia with Love (GC)
Neopets (PS2)


That's everything I remember coming w/ the next-day air shipment yesterday, there's a few more rather insignificant titles that I can't recall offhand. That covers at least all the major stuff, I think. PDZ isn't supposed to ship 'til Friday so you can expect to have that in-store Monday probably. It's possible you recieved a call confirming your 360 was going to be available on launch day too, those calls should be going around this week I think.

The 360 calls are going around this week, that is true. My friend got his yesterday. (Unfortunately for him, his isn't in the first shipment.) I haven't gotten one yet, but riddle me this: Are the 360 calls automated or does a live person talk to you? Because upon further questioning, my grandmother revealed that it was an automated recording saying that "My game was in". Doesn't sound like a 360 call.

At any rate, I'm gonna go around to the GameStops I shop at and ask them about what's going on, including the fate of my 360.

All of the reservation calls are typically automated (Just listen for the really insincere sounding female recording). I'm not sure if they're doing something different with the 360, but they haven't had the stores do manual calls in close to two years.

Got my call today; I'm not getting one, but I've got a contingency plan. They didn't have any answers either. Meh, whatever. No big deal.

That's...just Squaresoft, really. That's in their BLOOD to delay games for eons, keep the suspense up, and when it's about to die, ZOMG, a gold release date!

Final Fantasy 12: What's Taking So Goddamn Long?