Gears of War 3 Midnight Openings not guaranteed

Just when you thought it was safe to go into the big box stores again, Future Shop goes and takes the fail to a whole 'nother level.

Having thoroughly documented the Gears of War 3 pre-order goodies and then Best Buy's and Future Shop's subsequent bungling of the whole affair, I had given up on the prospect of even trying to acquire any goodies myself, let alone expecting anyone else I know to have success. So it was with a substantial amount of surprise that I awoke to find an email from a certain clan member that began: "Reasons I hate you...", and it kind of went downhill from there.

Now in all fairness, it might have been me that mentioned to Blackwalt that some FS stores in some cities might be opening a couple hours early with limited quantities of Steelbooks, if they weren't part of the Midnight Launch Fiasco.

It turns out that said nameless clan member did exactly that, and lined up early at the Merivale Road location, which according to the website was not one of the 3 participating stores in town.

So you can imagine his frustration to learn, upon opening, that they were SOLD OUT of the limited bonus Gears of War 3 Steelbook, SOLD OUT of the Gears of War 3 Epic Edition, and SOLD OUT of the Gears of War 3 Limited Edition! In fact, they are now saying that the Steelbooks were reserved for pre-orders only, which contradicts their own contradiction!

And the reason Merivale Road was all sold out first thing in the morning? It was because of their MIDNIGHT OPENING. You know, the one that wasn't advertised on their own website when I first posted about it just 5 days ago. But then was quietly added afterwards.

That's strike three, Future Shop.