I went to EBGames two days ago with my fat wallet. I sez to the clerk "Metroid Prime 3 or Bioshock. I'm buying one. Which one do you think I should get?". "Well, this might make your choice easier," he said. "We got one copy of Bioshock, and Metroid is sold out."

Not being able to buy Metroid set off a fire inside of me. I went from store to store trying to find it. It was like trying to buy a Wii. Everyone was sold out. I've NEVER wanted to buy a game, and not be able to find it. Not since the "Great PS2 shortage of '01." Soon I noticed, not only was MP3 sold out everywhere, so was Bioshock! I went back to that first store to try and get that one copy he had left. It was still there! .....And so was Prime 3! They had gotten a shipment while I was gone, and were already down to 3. I didn't hesitate. I BOUGHT THEM BOTH. Long story short: It's hard to find Metroid.....and it's worth it.

 Just a quick piece of info: they always fucking say that.  Usually right after they say that it's followed by if you reserved it you would have guaranteed yourself a copy.  I really hate Gamestop sometimes.

 When I got my copy of MP3 Tuesday and ask for a copy, the guy said he had one left and had to go grab the copy off the shelves.  He picked one of the random eight empty boxes on the shelves, then went behind the counter and got the actual copy where I could see what was easily 10 more copies.  After that he proceeded to give me the reserving lecture but I left.

 I thought about coming back five minutes later and pointing out the box he had taken down and more than likely replaced after I left but sadly I was in a hurry.

It looks like amazon has problem to meed up with preorders:

http://www.nintendowiifanboy.com/2007/08/28/amazon-delays-shipping-copies-of-metroid-prime-3/

If gamestop told you that, I wouldn't trust it. They like to make up numbers to convince people that preordering is normal and they were very lucky to get away without preordering this time, but next time they should preorder. They probably had 50 copies sitting back there and told you that you got the last one in a bid to get you to preorder next time.

Gamestop loves to lie to people to increase profits. Avoid shopping there forever.  Also, I got Metroid Prime on Monday (the 27th) -- a day earlier than if I would have had a gamestop preorder.  There's no reason to preorder software.  It's all over the place.

I was supposed to get my copy through amazon, but they didn't let me know about the delay in shipment until the Metroid relese date. I cancelled my order in a heart beat and drove to a nearby gamestop to get the last copy of MP3 they had.

I'm never ordering games through amazon again. I don't know why I did it in the first place.

Oh, look, another last copy of Metroid from Gamestop.  Did they tell you that 90% of the copies they got were dedicated to preorders because that's what all of the cool kids do these days?  It seems like everyone gets the last copy from gamestop.

He didn't mention being sold out until after the sale was completed. I already said thanks and was about to walk away when I thought to ask how the game was selling. Could he have been lying? I guess, but the subject didn't come up while he was trying to sell me stuff. 

I usually don't buy at Gamestop, but the Wal-mart and Target didn't have any in stock at the time.  

Most Walmarts nationwide are open 24/7. The majority of the ones that actually close for the night do so for crime reasons.

Additionally, most close on Christmas around 6PM and open again at 6AM.

I haven't kept up with MP3 sales, myself. I just stopped in my GameStop in the morning Tuesday, picked up my reserved copy, and left. Ba-boom.

 I'm in Cincinnati.

 It doesn't really matter when they tell you as long as they tell you that at some point.  They want you to think you got lucky that time and might not be so lucky next time.  The more preorders Gamestop takes the more managers make so they are going to do everything within their power to get as many preorders as possible.

That's why I don't like going to Gamestop amongst other reasons. However I wouldn't have gone there had I found it elsewhere first. It was Wednesday when I checked, so I'm not sure if Target and Wal-mart were sold out or slow to stock since I didn't ask.