We know that a vast majority of the gaming media consumers out there have a fairly negative outlook when it comes to pre-orders for popular titles (did anyone really have a hard time finding Halo 3 last September?), but that's not why we're writing about the recent pre-order listings on Amazon and Gamestop for the next (Barlog-less) installment in the well-received God of War franchise. What we find intriguing is the March 2 release date listed on both websites -- three quarters earlier than the last rumored launch window for the title. Is this wishful thinking from these two gaming retailers, or could the further adventures of everyone's favorite ashy Spartan hit shelves much sooner than expected?

If you're a PSP owner who wasn't planning on buying Patapon, you're out of your mind and you need to seriously evaluate your priorities. If you weren't planning on pre-ordering it though, we can't exactly say we blame you. (When was the last time you had trouble getting a PSP game you wanted?) But after some considerable pot sweetening on Sony's part, this is one pre-order we don't think you'll want to miss.

If you pre-order at your local GameStop, not only will you get a demo for the game, but you'll get also get the demo-only item the "Spear of Protection." The bad news? Demos aren't in stock yet, but are due this week or next, so you'll need to keep calling your local GameStop every 20 minutes until they arrive or your phone number is blocked, whichever comes first.

The Wiicast says GameStop had a little "management" convention in Las Vegas this weekend where they discussed changes coming to the company. Will D'Angelo, who runs the Wiicast, says that information was gathered through "sources" and eavesdropping by a security guard. Overheard was GameStop will be overhauling the "look, design, logos" of the brand and changing the slogan to "Power to the Players." They'll also be tracking "random games'" pre-order sales to see if the standard pre-order deposit should be $10.

Allegedly, If these things are true, we'll start seeing signs in the coming weeks leading into the holiday season. Despite GameStop having a record quarter, there's no denying it has an image problem. The question becomes if the changes will actually make a difference, or if it's just dressing up the same old nasty beast in new cloths. We still want to know how much of GameStop's fortunes have to do with being a glorified pawn shop and the interest they make from all that pre-order money just sitting in an account somewhere.

[Update: Best Buy has sent an e-mail to all Rock Band pre-orderers admitting to the mistaken listing and cancelling the existing pre-orders. "We apologize for any inconvenience this has caused you. Because you are a valued customer, we would like to offer you a $5 Digital Coupon* toward a future purchase at www.BestBuy.com," the note reads, in part. Hey, it was always a long shot, but at least we get a coupon for our trouble.]

If you've been reading the updates to our story on the $60 Rock Band package with included controllers offered by BestBuy.com, you know that the site stopped taking pre-orders some time Monday night and took down the product entirely on Tuesday morning. Well, this morning things started getting really interesting.

BestBuy.com re-posted the product description pages for Rock Band this morning with a few key changes. The product description now clearly states that the drum, guitar and microphone accessories are "sold separately" and "optional" (Optional? We'd like to see them play the game without 'em!). These notes were not on the version available on the site from at least last Thursday through Monday night, as the above scanned printout clearly shows. Pre-orders are no longer being offered for the item, which has the same SKU and Best Buy ID number as the original posting.

So what about those of us that pre-ordered before the bait-and-switch. We called Best Buy and talked to a customer service representative who seemed just as confused as we were. First she checked to see if she could simply add the peripherals to the order but, unfortunately, BestBuy.com does not yet have the Rock Band controllers in its system (unlike Amazon and GameStop). She then checked to see if other orders placed on Monday had received any special consideration, but none showed any change from the original order. At one point she tried to argue that the original description may have just meant that the game merely supported the peripherals, but the printout we have clearly states that the peripherals were included (that one little word is key here).

We were then forwarded on to a BestBuy.com floor supervisor, Chris, who we walked through the whole situation once again. Chris asked us to fax the printout we made of the earlier version of the page and said he would forward the matter to their corporate headquarters. Chris said in situations like these the corporate HQ has to decide whether to amend the orders already placed or provide some other form of restitution to those affected.

Chris said he expected to have some sort of answer by tomorrow, and you'll be sure to hear about it as soon as we do. In short, don't cancel those pre-orders just yet. Joystiq is on the case!

Get a Slurpee and pick up your copy of Halo 3 at the same time? One reader sent us this shot from his local 7-Eleven where you can apparently "reserve your copy today" for the return of Master Chief this September. We don't know if this is a national offer, but if there is some way to avoid the GameStop madness and possibility of the title being sold out at logical retail locations, we'll take the three-day-old hot dog and Halo 3 to go from the corner store for sure.

One of our own writers here at Joystiq remembers seeing PS2s for sale at his local 7-Eleven when they first came out. We're still trying to find out if this a national thing, but if you see this sign at your local 7-Eleven leave a comment below. Despite how convenient it would be to pick up Halo 3 from our local convenience super-chain, there's still that nagging awkward feeling of pre-ordering your video games from the same place you pick up emergency condoms and munchie satiating chips at 3AM.

Update: It does appear to be a national 7-Eleven promotion. Replaced old pic found after the break with very official looking pic from Sunnyvale, CA. The reservation price seems to be in question, some people don't have to put any money down for a reserve and others are being charged. Most tragically, the game will apparently not be coming with a free Slurpee.

[Thanks Pat, Brian and everyone else who contributed]

Amazon.com pulled some shenanigans with the Wii on Sunday, angering a lot of gamers who had camped out on Amazon's Wii order page from Saturday night until Sunday afternoon, hitting refresh every couple of seconds. Amazon had previously touted (via the order page) that the Wii would be available for purchase on the site, sometime on Sunday, and that news spread like wildfire, especially amongst those who wanted to wait in the comfort of their own home, not on a curb somewhere.

However, by failing to provide a time they left a lot of buyers in the lurch, strike one. If you had previously registered on the page, you were told that you would receive an email as soon as they had more information about when the Wii would go on sale. Did anyone ever get that email? We sure didn't. Strike two. They eventually put up a notice that states, "We are currently out of stock: We sold out of our initial supply of the Wii on Sunday morning, November 19, in less than one minute." Yer out.

First came the debacle over "accidental" pre-orders in October, and now this. While folks were waiting on Sunday, the "user reviews" section became a forum of sorts, with people swapping alternatives for scoring a Wii, like brick and mortar stores and other websites. It grew to over 700 comments before Amazon finally shut it down and scaled it back to just reviews about the system.

Anyone actually able to score one during the one minute sale? We hope that with lightning fast gamer reflexes, you'd have the drop on regular Amazon shoppers.

[Update: Not three minutes after this post went up, the site listed the systems as out of stock. Hope some of you were lucky enough to get in there.]

We just got a tip that Walmart.com is taking pre-orders for the Nintendo Wii, as long as you choose eight launch games to go along with it. The $648.38 bundle is likely to go fast, as the similar, 12-game $1421.98 PS3 bundle is already sold out. We're not trying to whip anyone into a state of consumer-oriented frenzy or anything, but if you're still looking to guarantee a launch day Wii, this might be a good opportunity.

[Thanks Kevin Whipps]

Although there are still questions regarding whether this is regional, The Boston Globe certainly had the flyer (photo at right) with the Toys R Us Wii pre-order offer in it. The Toys R Us flyer's online version does not have the dark purple reserve graphic on it.

If your experience ends up being anything like this reporter's, most people were unaware of this second round of pre-orders. This was actually a very nice casual experience. We were at the Toys R Us in Dedham, MA and by 9AM there were still only approximately 10 people in line. Unlike the PS3/Wii pre-order from a few weeks before, there was also a very nice demographic spread; a couple wives, two kids with their parents and a nice melting-pot mix of people under 35.

This is certainly looking like the last chance to guarantee a Wii for launch. We are still getting very mixed reports about this second round of pre-orders, but make sure to check your local newspaper. If it's in there, then it should be happening in your region.

Those unlucky souls who missed out on getting their next-gen system pre-orders at Gamestop will have another chance to throw money at a large, multinational corporation this weekend. Toys "R" Us will be taking pre-orders for the PS3 and Wii for $50 down starting on Sunday, Oct. 29.

Stores contacted by Joystiq said they didn't know exactly how many pre-orders they would be taking, but a poster on the Gaming-Age forums estimates 12 to 25 Wiis and five to 14 PS3s per store (take these estimates with an unconfirmed grain of salt). The offer will be well-publicized in the Toys "R" Us "big book" (see pp. 64, 66) due in this weekend's newspapers, so be sure to get to the store early if you want to beat out little Billy's kindly old grandmother and others like her.

After reading about the PS3 pre-order debacle at the local GameStop, I decided to drive the extra five miles to the Athens, GA EB Games inside the local mall. At 8:30 a.m., 90 minutes before the store opened, seven people were waiting in a broken circle. Most people had shown up 7:30 or later, but one gentleman, Hasan, arrived at 5:30 a.m. (one of the perks of being a mall employee is that you can show up before the mall even opens).

Fifteen minutes pass and the crowd nearly doubles to 12 people and two DS phats. No one seems worried about getting a Wii; the general consensus is that every store gets about 14 Wii consoles, with maybe two going to EB Games employees. We all decide to form a line. "Just because it seems right," notes one college student.

A rather boastful security guard walks up, shakes his gun holster and asks, "y'all got tickets?" We all look at each other inquisitively until he announces, "well that sucks, I got to get my Wii first." As he walks to the end of the line, one heckler calls out, "I got speeding tickets if you want those!"

At 8 a.m., these four hearty souls waited with me in the near-freezing weather for the Wii preorders to open up at the EBGames on Route 198 in Laurel, MD. University of Maryland students Adam McClure (second from left) and Tristan Edmondston (far left) had been driving by the store to check for potential lines since midnight, finally parking to stake out the location at 5 a.m. Their main motivation for coming out: There was nothing better to do. "It's more of an adventure than anything," McClure said.

Wii news site The Wiire is reporting that an unnamed contact at Gamestop/EBGames says the retailer will start taking pre-orders for the Wii in North America on Friday, Oct. 13 (spooky!) for a $25 to $50 down payment.

A representative at Gamestop's corporate office refused to comment on pre-order plans, but a local Gamestop employee told Joystiq he was "being told to tell you to call back every morning" and that pre-orders would be available "some time this week." This echoes previous rumblings from around the internet that Gamestop would begin taking pre-orders this week.

The official word on Gamestop's PS3 pre-orders came less than 24 hours before the doors opened on Tuesday morning, so be sure to keep checking Joystiq for confirmation as soon as we get it.

The line to fork over $100 to reserve a Playstation 3 started at 6 a.m. at the Gamestop on Route 1 in Laurel, MD. Mike (the red-shirted gentleman in the picture above, who refused to give a last name) lined up at the early hour to ensure he got a system for himself and said he planned to go to another local store to reserve a system "for eBay." By 9 a.m. the line had grown to the seven hearty souls above, who still had an hour to wait before the store would open and take their money.

Continuing our Joystiq World Team PS3 Launch Pre-order Coverage, I headed to San Francisco's Mission district and its EB Games. I usually think of suburban malls as game-store habitat, but this EB Games is nestled in a busy neighborhood of taquerias, thrift stores, clubs, and bars.

The line of about thirty passed a few shops, including a boot store, terminating in front of a seafood market. (My favorite part of this fish store is the laminated dive-cards in the window, identifying how the fish would look if encountered underwater.) As I was shooting photos, a man in a white jumpsuit -- maybe on his way to repair a refrigerator -- stopped next to me. He asked, "What are they waiting for?"

"PlayStation 3," I said.

"Why?" he replied and kept walking.

Certain portions of the Internet were all atwitter last Friday when word broke that Amazon.com was taking pre-orders for the Wii. Then the buzz got even louder when word broke that the offer had been pulled after only a few hours. Had Amazon sold out of their allotment that quickly?

Not quite. According to Amazon Video Game Editor Jon G., the offer was pulled from the site because the rate of pre-orders "dramatically outpaced what we had anticipated." The popular web store doesn't yet know how many systems they'll be getting from Nintendo, so they temporarily stopped pre-orders to avoid over-promising the system.

The company has pledged to honor pre-orders from those that were lucky enough to get them in, and has fixed their e-mail alert system so that those who sign up will be told about further pre-orders beforehand.

[Thanks randomengine]