Pre-Order Hell: Got game? I don’t.

I pre-ordered Rock Band 3 with the Keyboard a few days ago.  I was all excited that it would ship and (hopefully) be in my hot little hands yesterday on release.  Nope.  Bear in mind, there was no option on the website to go and pick up the bundle from my local store, nor any kind of expedited shipping option…just a standard “you give us your credit card, we’ll give you the pre-order” deal.

Well, game was released yesterday.  Finally got a tracking number just before noon – it won’t pull up on the shipper’s website for tracking; I needed to give them a call (and even then the nice customer service drone had trouble finding reference to it).  Looks like I may get my game tomorrow, or I may get my game on Monday.

They call it a pre-order so you don’t have to wait.

Monday.  A whole week (minus a day) after the game launch.  I pre-ordered because I wanted to be one of the first to get the game…isn’t that the reason why you pre-order?  Instead, I’m sitting at home, recovering from a trip to the dentist that included fillings, and wishing I could play my game.  I’m not even watching TV and knitting because then I might miss the knock on the door, heralding the arrival of said game (doorbell doesn’t work).  I’m also a little pissed off at this turn of events.

I don’t buy a lot of video games.  Video games are usually the domain of the testosterone-bearing-mammal* in the household, just as insulating the house with a yarn stash is mine. I play precious few games, and aside from my few workout games, I play Rock Band.  Having been a pianist, I was looking forward to playing around with the little keyboard.  I was also looking forward to getting the pre-order content (3 extra songs), and I’m starting to get a little worried that I won’t be able to download them due to the amount of time involved.

Thanks, Gamestop, for taking a perfectly good Wednesday and turning it into a painful, boring experience.  Seriously, I could have queued for the game at a local store with the rest of the musical zombies and brought it home yesterday…and probably next time I will.

And if you *are* going to send your shipping droid here, please do it soon.  My teeth hurt.  My house is chilly, and all I want to do is get into a nice hot bath, which I can’t do if I’m waiting in vain for the delivery.  I’ve already been into the Crown Royal once for medicinal purposes.  Can I stress how much this is just the icing on the cake?  *sigh*.

*yes, yes, yes, I know that both genders have *some* level of testosterone, but he gets the noticeable amount, being male and all.   And that’s a GOOD thing…