Closest EB is about a 20 min drive, so I just go there when I want to pick up games, have a preorder for Alan Wake, so called them just now and asked to change the preorder from regular to the limited edition, and they told me that I had to come in and sign stuff..

Seriously? WTF...  Preordered 14 games from them this year, Alan Wake will be my last..

Not like I am saying I want to make a NEW preorder over the phone or switch my preorder from AW to another game...  Think I will just go across the street to the Future Shop when AW comes out, get the limited edition there, then drive across the street and cancel my preorder with them while holding my recently bought AW from across the street

They probably can't just change the order. They probably have to refund original and recharge you for the *technically* different game.

Granted, an intelligent cashier would just refund to a gift card and then recharge that gift card with all your same info, but, meh, they are minimum wage kids working there typically. Not the brightest.

(That is not a slam on ALL Gamestop employees, just a statement of observation that most are teens that generally aren't all that bright when it comes to real world problem solving)

Another reason to shop Amazon.

Or thinking I might just order it online, and choose the "Pickup in store" option, go there, grab it and then say "Oh and I had a preorder for the regular edition, give me my money back for that copy :P

Amazon > ebay > walmart > all

If Amazon got the game here on launch day and didn't charge for it. I would so order from them all the time.

I will only buy games from Gamestop on launch day, otherwise you face getting a used game when you purchase new ones. They are a crap company honestly.

Wow alright let's say they could do it. You reserve 14 games and they get a "call" from "you" to cancel all the reserves and put the money on a card for you to pick up later. Yea that's a much better idea.

That rule is in place to protect the investments of the actual person that makes the reserve and which is the reason why ID (or original receipt) needs to be presented to ensure no identity theft is occurring. Sorry that it is such an inconvenience to you, but it done to ensure your investments are protected. Not to mention to ensure that employees don't cancel your reserves themselves and take the money which is why they require signatures from the original customer.

So once again, if you don't like that rule, then that's just a loss on your part.

Actually it is just a quick cancellation and then new preorder and the prices cancel out.  Something that actually could be done over the phone quite easily.  Only issue is of course an in-store signature needs to occur and of course confirmation that the person on the phone is of course the person who reserved the title which is why it is required they be in the store.  If they would rather not be in the store, then I'd suggest reserving online and do the "pick up in store option" and then cancel the original order when you pick it up.  If really doing that is so inconvenient. 

That's what I said I would do..

Or I may just order from Amazon and have them ship it to my home, I work Sunday - Tuesday nights anyhow, so I can never play games on the release date regardless.

I understand the reasoning behind it, I just feel that the employee in question could have put this through, (And I even called customer support, there is no official company policy requiring you to come into the store for a signature - though the guy at customer support wasn't very helpful, he said if that's what the store says I need to do then I need to do it, so asked are EB/Gamestop a corporation or franchisee, and he told me it is a corporation, so I asked the corporate policy on this, and he said there was none) especially since I can do the above without having to go into a store, I can order it completely online and pick up instore and then just cancel my original order.  Just makes more work for EB, when companies are looking at ways to save costs, etc, just seems silly as I know it's only going to be like 5 minutes of time doing this but 5 minutes + 5 minutes + 5 minutes adds up, you get my point :)

Amazon.com has Release Date Delivery. So you can get stuff Day 1 from Amazon.

For Canadians, Amazon.ca doesn't have release date delivery though. You gotta wait an extra day or two to get it.

Seeing as how the TC is from Canada, his best option would be to go to that Futureshop to get the limited edition if he wants it Day 1. Especially when the Game Stop exclusive stuff for Alan Wake seems to suck (a free avatar item and a free theme I think) anyway.