Dmnkly

Look...

First, many here seem to ignore that time = money. If you delay a release, it hurts the bottom line in two ways. By lengthening your development time, it increases your budget. Also, it often hurts sales, since marketing is timed very carefully to maximize interest and sales at the point of release.

So with that as a given, this could've gone down one of two basic ways:

1) "Guys, we're up against a wall. We're out of time and we're out of budget, so we have to cut a couple of chapters. We could simply cut the content and not release 100% of what we originally planned [like almost every other video game ever made] and nobody will ever know the difference, but instead, why don't we release them as DLC and use those proceeds to fund development to finish the couple of chapters we're cutting? Everybody wins."

2) "Guys, we have a winner here. And it'll still be a winner if we cut a couple of chapters. So why don't we pull two chapters from the retail release, sell them as DLC and milk people for an extra $8?"

Here's the key part:

NOBODY COMMENTING HERE KNOWS WHICH OF THESE HAPPENED.

If you take Désilets at his word and believe it's scenario 1, they're taking an age old developer problem and turning it into a winning proposition for everybody involved, and criticism is stupid. That content wasn't ever going to see the light of day, because it was going to be cut just like content is ALWAYS cut due to time and/or budget constraints.

If you don't believe him and think it's scenario 2, they're cash-grabbing assholes.

But since nobody commenting here was in on the decision-making process and, thusly, can only guess at the motives behind the move, there's really only one way to look at it:

Was AC2 worth the $60 price tag? If yes, great, shut up. If no, forget about the DLC and instead, bitch and moan that the content in the retail release didn't justify the price. You'll be in a small minority, but at least you'll be in a minority with a rhetorical leg to stand on.

Am I the only one who just wants to know when they're going to release the preorder DLC to the general public so I can get 100%?

(Has that already been announced and am I making a complete fool of myself?)

Tank wars.

("800 power, any direction")

If it's half as fun as the original, it'll be my favorite XBLA game by a wide, wide margin.

Can't wait.

"I don't think Best Buy will honor the deal; I think they should."

I agree!

Mike, I believe you're the one missing the point. I'm not arguing whether or not it would be a smart business decision for Best Buy to honor the erroneous listing. On that, we're pretty much in agreement. I'm arguing with those who claim that if they don't, Best Buy is either:

A) Breaking the law.
B) Breaking some ethical code.
C) Screwing the little guy.

A is simply false.

B is too, but the people who are complaining about this are too blinded by their greed to see it. I'm sorry to rehash this example, but if a newspaper ad erroneously lists a brand new Lexus for $40 instead of $40,000, would anybody here claim that the Lexus dealership is ethically bound to sell that car for $40, and that it's somehow wrong for them to say, "We're really sorry, it was an error"? Of course not. It's a simple mistake that everybody involved was aware of. So how does the difference in price being about $140 rather than $39,960 change the ethics of the situation? Answer: it doesn't. It's just an excuse to yell and scream and try to get what you want.

C speaks more to the conduct of those complaining than to Best Buy. The people who cry injustice in a situation like this are whiney assholes with an overdeveloped sense of entitlement. Even if we agree that most businesses WOULD honor a mistake like this (a claim I take issue with, but that's another subject), and even if we agree that it would be smart business practice for Best Buy to do so, that doesn't change the fact that YOU ARE NOT ENTITLED TO IT. They're not screwing you. They're choosing not to give you a sizable GIFT. They don't owe you anything other than an apology and a quick resolution. Anything more than that is charity. And people who treat acts of charity like their god-given entitlements are, as I said above, the kind of whiney, opportunistic, self-centered assholes who make life miserable for the rest of us.

"Also, not honoring the ad is one thing, but I'm actually insulted that their compensation is a $5 coupon. Is that really the best they could do?"

No, I'm sure they could give each of you thousands if they wanted. But why should they? Because you WANT more? It can't be because you thought you were going to get all of the peripherals for $60. Not if you read Joystiq. It shouldn't be as compensation for your time and energy in placing the preorder because, really, you clicked a few buttons, and you took the risk anyway knowing full well that it was an error that would probably be corrected.

I don't care what face you put on it, in the end it boils down to "I want money, I should have money, give me money." I mean, listen to yourself. Nobody reached into your pocket and pulled out your hard-earned dollars. No one bamboozled you into driving across town in an insidious attempt to cheat you. You're the one who dove into this knowing full well you were asking for a fight. But you're insulted because they gave you $5 for being an asshole? Stick your five spot in your pocket (metaphorically speaking), consider yourself lucky and quit acting like you're a victim. There are enough people in the world who make up reasons why they should be given money. Do you really have to be another one?

"First, I don't see how you can call it a scam."

You're right, it's not a scam, it's just sleazy. It's one thing to think you might get a deal. It's another to jump in with the full knowledge that you're just picking a fight, which is what many if not most who are commenting here did.

"Second, a typo is a mistake, a mistake is not always a typo. I don't think anybody is going to believe, "Whoops, finger slipped, accidentally typed that the peripherals were all included."

Of course not, but it's not only plausible but seems probable that the descriptions for the bundled and non-bundled were simply mixed up somewhere. No, it's not a finger slip, but it's functionally the same.

"Third, people in my store make mistakes all the time. I once had to sell a $200 leather jacket for (I believe it was) $15 because of a incorrectly printed sign. It's our policy (and most stores' policies) to honor such advertising mistakes; the number of people who are taking advantage of Best Buy's is unfortunate but irrelevant."

Very true, many stores will honor pricing errors, but this is entirely at the store's discration. What's galling is that people act like this is an entitlement -- a god given right -- and that a store opting not to honor a pricing error is some great evil and a gross miscarriage of justice that requires mass revolt and reporting to the BBB. It's a courtesy, not an entitlement. And I agree that it's smart business practice, but that's not really germane to the discussion.

It's one thing to place the preorder and hope they give it to you. It's another entirely to scream and cry and stomp your feet and act like you've been victimized if they don't. This is like, as somebody mentioned earlier, the person who sees 100 pounds of meat advertised for three dollars, knows perfectly well it's a simple mistake, drives to the store and then screams and yells that they drove all this way because of the ad and how dare the store not honor it. I'm not suggesting these people are paragons of evil or criminals who deserve incarceration. I'm suggesting that they're whiney, opportunistic, self-centered assholes who deserve a swift kick in the ass.

Actually, Waldo, I'm currently in the middle of writing a complaint letter to Best Buy for delivery and customer service problems I'm having with a stove we just purchased. I have absolutely no love for Best Buy. When I criticize somebody for disingenuously trying to game a store for an honest mistake, you're free to assume that means I'm defending the store, but you'd be wrong. It isn't a zero-sum game. The forced bundles thing was ridiculous. The Geek Squad thing is horrible, taking advantage of people who don't know any better. Contrary to what you may think, it IS possible to criticize the people who tried to take advantage of this situation without defending Best Buy in the process. They aren't mutually exclusive.

Best Buy has done some pretty lousy things. And everybody who jumped on this preorder so they could pick a fight with Best Buy is no better.

Ryan, thanks for your definition. You can also call a car a banana, but that doesn't make it so. Tell yourself whatever you have to tell yourself, good luck with Best Buy, and try leaving the BBB to people with REAL complaints.

Ryan, you KNEW it was an error. Attempting to take advantage of such an error is the very definition of bad faith, so please don't pretend otherwise. If a brand new Lexus on a car lot prints incorrectly and says $400 rather than $40,000, do you indignantly scream to the BBB that they're trying to cheat you by not selling it to you at their advertised price? That it was "their mistake"? If a Mistubishi dealership accidentally prints "diamond" instead of "diamante", do you scream and stomp around demanding your diamond? Don't be an ass.

Furthermore, it's only bait and switch if there's intent. You may think there was intent here. You also may think that Barry Bonds just worked out really, really hard.

And lastly, the BBB DOESN'T DECIDE ANYTHING. The BBB has no authority to resolve anything! The BBB doesn't even make suggestions to businesses! They act as a mediator between businesses and customers in the event of a dispute, but they do nothing more than pass messages back and forth and keep records of those exchanges. They will never make any judgment as to whether or not Best Buy did anything wrong. They cannot force Best Buy to do anything, nor will they try. They will simply pass along your complaint to Best Buy, pass along any response Best Buy has to you, go back and forth, and keep public records saying that you complained.

Quit playing dumb. You knew EXACTLY what was going on, and you knew EXACTLY what you were doing. If you're going to try to badger Best Buy customer service into giving you what was posted on an obviously mistaken preorder (that they corrected in under 24 hours AND gave out freebies as apologies for the error... above and beyond by any business standard), at least be a man and be honest about it.