Kmart reportedly breaks Mass Effect street date

by Griffin McElroy { Nov 10th 2007 at 2:45PM }

It's official - 2007 will henceforth be known as the "Year of Broken Street Dates." First, BioShock was sold a week in advance by Toys R' Us, then there were the reports of number of early sales of Halo 3 throughout Europe, then the recent Rock Band mix-up at Best Buy, and to top it all off, a number of lucky gamers have apparently gotten their hot little hands on copies of Mass Effect from Kmart - a full ten days before the game's official release date.

As with every instance of broken street dates, there's no guarantee that your local Kmart will be selling the game early, or that they will have any in stock. But if you're as anxious as we are to board the SSV Normandy to explore the Milky Way (while making some sweet, sweet, FCC-approved love), then you'll make the trip to your local Kmart, braving the Saturday shopping crowd, and sightings of terrifying anthropomorphic light bulbs.

[Thanks, Alex]

Tags: K-Mart, Mass Effect, MassEffect, Street Date, StreetDate

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

gonk @ Nov 10th 2007 2:50PM

i think all the kmarts around me went outta business

Negativecool @ Nov 10th 2007 4:17PM

No kidding...
Who the hell shops at KMart anyway? Even the trash spilling out of WalMart have too much pride to shop there.

ruibing @ Nov 10th 2007 4:58PM

Same here, they were all replaced by Target.

Cash @ Nov 10th 2007 7:55PM

Our local Kmart had the highest sales numbers in the chain until it lost it's distribution line from Washington and had to close.

I didn't really give a damn until I read this story... been waiting since spring to play this game.

carlos @ Nov 10th 2007 2:51PM

I went into my local (Washington,PA) Target yesterday and saw they had Mass Effect in the display case. I asked the clerk to get the game out for me, and when he did he just happen to notice the orange "do not sell before this date" stick along the top, and told me I couldn't have it. I was so damned close, almost in hand!

Noshino @ Nov 10th 2007 2:51PM

How come all the titles that were sold breaking the street date are only for the 360....

gonk @ Nov 10th 2007 2:56PM

because the ps3 games were delayed to next year?

Nick the Hero of Canton @ Nov 10th 2007 3:09PM

There was Mario Galaxy at Best Buy, but the article didn't mention it.

Neebs @ Nov 10th 2007 4:15PM

@gonk

owch.

Jamie @ Nov 10th 2007 3:13PM

I need to know if it's region free, cause I can save myself some monies by getting it while I'm in the US.

Yuccadude @ Nov 10th 2007 3:34PM

I believe all 360 games are region-free, but I should really look into that too...

Kazi @ Nov 10th 2007 4:00PM

360 isn't region free.

skunkworks @ Nov 10th 2007 4:03PM

some titles are, some aren't

aimee @ Nov 10th 2007 3:32PM

All our K-marts went out of business two or three years ago. Can't believe I'm saying it, but bummer...

Undead Priest @ Nov 10th 2007 3:35PM

My K-Mart is a ghost town. It's open still, but there's rarely anyone shopping. Not to mention there's only about 5 or 6 workers on the floor at any given moment. Not one in electronics. Ever.

Doesn't help that the building is falling apart. There's potholes on the floors, even.

ColossalHat @ Nov 10th 2007 3:42PM

Wish I could care about the game, but as I've no 360 I'll just be sitting here waiting for Assassin's Creed.

Though I would like to take this moment to reiterate that I disapprove of stores breaking release dates. The game industry should really start slapping fines on those that do, refuse to sell future games at that location, or something to discourage this kind of thing.

mike @ Nov 10th 2007 4:01PM

thats a shame as mass effect is the more valued of the two games. mass effect is for purchase and AC is just rental.

Undead Priest @ Nov 10th 2007 4:12PM

@mike

Opinion is not fact.

Anticrawl @ Nov 11th 2007 5:52PM

@Undead Priest

Except in this case, and he never stated it as fact or opinion, which means it should be taken as an opinion. You're an overzealous jackass.

Bring on the Mass Effect, and I'll rent Assassin's Creed, doesn't seem like the type of game I'll be playing for over a week.

skunkworks @ Nov 10th 2007 3:57PM

here's to hoping one of those copies got into the hands of a scene releaser!

Joe @ Nov 10th 2007 4:00PM

Here's hoping you get banned for such a retarded comment!

skunkworks @ Nov 10th 2007 4:01PM

don't cry lil man. you can pay for it soon enough.

ant @ Nov 10th 2007 4:03PM

here's to hoping you get gonorrhea

Neebs @ Nov 10th 2007 4:16PM

Now In This Thread: 3 People. 1 Life.

Negativecool @ Nov 10th 2007 4:18PM

Here's hoping you get more compliments for your sweet avatar.

skunkworks @ Nov 10th 2007 4:20PM

the majority of these kids don't know the man in black.

Synner @ Nov 10th 2007 4:52PM

I carry off a little darkness on my back
till things are brighter, I'm the man in black.

mac @ Nov 11th 2007 9:43AM

Assassin's creed was released by the scene last night. Mass effect will be arriving shortly ^_^

Double Diz @ Nov 10th 2007 4:00PM

Went to Kmart in Acton, MA and got the last one in the glass case. Don't know if they have any more. Why am I posting on this site and not playing it!?!

SoulBlade @ Nov 10th 2007 4:17PM

already bored?

rdj75 @ Nov 10th 2007 4:15PM

I am very much familiar with the whole kmart thing, anyway as far as actual copies go, each store nation wide got an average of three copies of mass effect each. Now usually the people that know anything about games usually work in the day time in the electronics department so the best thing to do is to call or visit in the evening to see if you can get that one part-timer that don't know jack about videogames to see if you can catch them slipping.

Foggy Bottoms @ Nov 10th 2007 4:27PM

or slip the daytime guy a fiver. maybe more than he makes in an hour, depending on his state's minimum wage.

rdj75 @ Nov 10th 2007 4:32PM

Employees can actually get in trouble for selling anything early with a street date(games, dvd's etc..) and it probably wont be worth a few extra dollars since it can be traced right back to that person that sold it to begin with.

horngreen @ Nov 10th 2007 4:25PM

I didn't think too many Kmarts were still around and of the ones that are I figured they were just selling of old stuff before going out of business. I'm shocked to hear they still get new stock. I just can't bring myself to go to one as you're sure to step on a loaded diaper in the parking lot or store.

Korova @ Nov 10th 2007 4:40PM

Offtopic:

Griffin McElroy?! Did I miss something?

Dahk @ Nov 10th 2007 7:35PM

Justin obviously wanted to become legendary =).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Griffin

Ray P @ Nov 10th 2007 4:48PM

Sweet merciful God! I got a copy! Thank you K-mart!

elmersglue @ Nov 10th 2007 4:58PM

hows the game?

Synner @ Nov 10th 2007 4:46PM

Why do all these stores in my area have to be the ones with savvy salespeople or slow shipments?

carg0 @ Nov 10th 2007 5:21PM

wish Gamefly broke street dates...

wayneabe @ Nov 10th 2007 5:37PM

i read somewhere that kmart and sears merged...so they should be back in business...we still have kmart here in los angeles.

The 84th @ Nov 10th 2007 5:47PM

i work at a k, and most likely it was just an oversight, it is next to impossible to stay on top of things as we are supposed to with the limited budgets they impose on the stores. and yes, a few years ago kmart bought sears and there are actually still one of the top 5 retailers in the country (even though they've done everything to shoot themselves in the foot).

the_game_master @ Nov 10th 2007 5:48PM

There's a K-Mart around where I live too, but I'm not feeling the urge to get this game yet.

imo K-Mart is no different than Wal-Mart and Target. Do anyone remember Ventures from the 90s. Or when K-Mart was actually hitting it big with "Big K-mart" & "Super K-Mart" before the dot-com burst in 2000.

Jules @ Nov 10th 2007 5:54PM

I don't get how any shop is able to break street dates on goods. When i used to work in a music/DVD store, if anything was put out early by accident and somebody tried to buy it, the computer would not let it go through. It'd need a manager's password to override it. I'd have thought that these kind of things were basic to any store that used electronic tills!