Broken Street Date Or Not, Don’t Play DQIX Just Yet!

I can see it, Huh?! was there a note with the game?

Aw! That sounds fun though! Just like Christmas! :D Wait till midnight or the next morning to open the present up! :3

@excaliburps: You could do that, yes, but you risk lawsuits from the providing company and at the very least they'll stop dealing with you, and it would kind of suck if your store could never sell another Square Enix game.

@Takamofo: A Man Chooses, a Slave Obeys!

Jonathan Luke Barrett

@Witzbold: I think the most important thing about the note is that they're not just CYA, they're shifting the blame to the postal system. If they did like we do in the states and put a note on the packages that says something to the effect of "Postmaster, sensitive material, please deliver no earlier than xx/xx/xx" then it's the postal system's fault for breaking the street date, not the retailer. I'm rather completely unfamiliar with Japanese post and shipping options though, so it's just an educated guess of sorts.

@Witzbold: Those are probably pirates playing the leaked version. A friend of mine is playing it right now as well :|

I wonder if my preorder will ship today...

Doesn't really make much a difference if they play it now or later. Considering they already have the damn thing in their hands.

Also judging by youtube seems like a bunch of folks already have it in their hands.

Pretty Please?

Even as obident as the Japanese, highly unlikely they will listen esp when it comes to DQ !

jellyfish

OK, I won't... *Tears plastic off*

@DigitalHero: Honestly, as silly as it sounds... I think I might do that if it happened to me. If there were no such note (or if it were any other game even WITH a note), I would tear into the game immediately, but... Dragon Quest games are always just so damn FRIENDLY, y'know? They're friggin' hard, yes, but they're friendly and pleasant and, above all, always very very good games. With such a humble request as that, why the hell not? If nothing else, I'd wait until the street date just so I'd feel good about being so nice to... whomever didn't want me opening it! And IT'D BE LIKE CHRISTMAS! Is that all so terribly weird? I don't really think so. Though yeah, MOST people will ignore the note, I think some people will heed it just for kicks.

@bangbangblah: That's what makes him awesome. =)

I love that they don't give a shit about the street date. They could have shipped it and risked customers getting it late. They COULD have but they didn't because in reality, they don't give a rat's ass. I hate it when stores break street dates. It's a really dirty way of trying to get the jump on the competition.

You have got to be kidding me. Even if that note was put in there as a CYA its borderline silly.

@PeteyCoco: Those darn Koreans! What are you gonna do?

Isn't this like getting a Christmas present from your brother in the mail with a "don't open 'til Xmas" sticker on it?

@CEI: If you seriously have a cat named Burger&Fries, then you, my friend, are awesome.

Oh well, this way they can say that they've tried... The seal has already been broken. I really hope they didn't play it after SUCH a nice message! When I received my US version of Mass Effect back in the day, it had a sticker on top of the game case where it read "Don't sell (or was it don't open?) before 11/20/2007". But this is a lot better :D Oh and I liked the "Hey Squenix-san, squenix-san, is that all right" ASCII Art on that blog ;)

@Jawmuncher:
／￣￣￣＼
　 ／　─　 　 ─ ＼
／　 （●） 　（●）　 ＼.
|　　　（__人__）　　 |
＼　　　 ｀ ⌒´　　　 ／　
　　n ￣　　 　 　　　　　　＼.　 　 （ E）ﾌ 　　　
　　　　　　/ヽ ヽ_／／

Ok I tried. I failed. T___T

Esper mind tricks

I love how only 10 comments are shown but theres like 70 responses, kotaku, you guys might want to get on your shit and let the non starred people have a voice and this game looks awesome

anduin1

Riiiiiight buddy, lol.

@DigitalHero: i wouldn't do it

InconspicuouslyConspicuous

@Takamofo: Nice reference there!

Trowble (XBL/PSN)

Ok, no problem, OOOOPS!! Dang my cat started slashing at the plastic and the seal broke, just gonna pop the game in and make sure Burger&Fries didn't damage it.

Pfft. Like that's ever stopped anybody. Unless you were those poor bastards that played Halo 3 before the release date and got banned till the year 9999.

@landonkun: Starred? Unstarred? Promoted? Confused :S

Masonvrocks: I hate star commentors

Well, you do catch more flies with honey than vinegar, I suppose...

VC-Junkie

@Deaf Mute: I know I promoted it early.

Well, you got to hand it to them at least they're trying to make them NOT to play it. I always wondered how street dates worked for store owners themselves. I mean if I owned a store and got stock early for a game I really,really like, then damn the street date and let me cavort early no?! =D

excaliburps

Because everyone's a calm, honest individual and will happily wait until everyone else gets the game before they play their early copy. Riiiiight.

frank0127

I can just see some kid rolling on the floor going "ooh! ! ! ! I can't wait to play this game hurry up and reach the date! ! ! " having the actual game still neatly wrapped on the table

@landonkun: Annnnd now apparently I'm starred. Tried to edit my last comment, but it told me I took longer than 15 min, even though I did it in only 1 min. And now I just look silly for triple posting :(

landonkun

　　 ／￣￣￣＼ 　 ／　─　 　 ─ ＼ ／　 （●） 　（●）　 ＼. |　　　（__人__）　　 | ＼　　　 ｀ ⌒´　　　 ／　 　　n ￣　　 　 　　　　　　＼.　 　 （ E） ﾌ 　　　　　　　　　/ヽ ヽ_／／ Thumbs Up Courtesy of Website Link (This will probably end up just being a mess) Anyways thats a pretty funny message since I don't think any gamer who received there payed for copy early wouldn't at least open it

@landonkun: I was starred and then unstarred for this comment? I feel sad, but I'm laughing about it. Why, Brian?

landonkun

LAWL

Ok I'm going to stereotype the Japanese and say:
That might actually work!

Esper mind tricks

@spannu: I still think that is one of the creepiest animated film characters ever.

bangbangblah

@Takamofo: I only finished "it" a short while ago, otherwise I would have no idea what you were referring to. :)

Ichidou

@DigitalHero: haha. I don't know what it was but that just cracked me up. The request is a complete why bother because no one will heed it.

Id rather get that type of notice (not that I would, in any way/shape or form listen) and get the game On-time than a day or two late.

We here at "insert retailer here" would like to personally thank the three of you who honored our request with a 5 dollar coupon good for any item in shop.

@Go Go Gadget: Gizmo: Technically, every time we do a midnight sale, we break the street date. We "pre-ring" out all of the customers that show up early, so that once midnight hits, it's a much smoother and quick experience.

-[[CHoZO]]-

@Aerobie: lmao! that was epic! +1 kotaku readership.

Pah, nuts to that. You gotta threaten in order to make them not do something like... "You break this seal and I'll come over to your house and kill every family member inside, eat your dogs intestines like spegetti and use you as my personal toilet for the rest of your life. I think you know what to NOT do." Yeah, thats protection with gusto.

GreatNocturn357

@-[[CHoZO]]-: Really? My Wal-Mart's a real **** then because they program the street date in then put the game right on display just to see you ask for it only to receive a big no can do with a smug smile.

@starmor: Actually, the way it's said in Japanese is extremely polite and does add a form of "please" at the end ;)

landonkun

@-[[CHoZO]]-: At Best Buy, there's usually an associated fine with breaking a street date. From what I've heard it's about $10,000 per unit of whatever product it is sold. That's what I hear about CD's anyway, I don't know how/if it differs between movies and video games and how/if it differs from publisher to publisher.

I can see it now. A person gets the game early, reads the note. Puts it in a drawer, pats the game twice and smiles, closes the drawer and waits patiently until the street date arrives. Yeah right! XD

@starmor: yea i was wondering why my comment was darker than everyone elses

@PeteyCoco: That's a *facefist* right there.

@NitroAML: Well, even at GameStop, the computer prompts you with a street date warning. You can simply bypass it with a little press of the [Y] button.

-[[CHoZO]]-

@Deaf Mute: Empowering the firsters? *shrugs* I have seen some weirdness since it's gone live. more likely bugness.

Is the game box in the picture open or not? I can make out a plastic gleam, but that's probably just the case. Then again, you can always open a game and not play it - I managed to do that with GT Chinatown Wars before a giant road trip. Still, I can just feel the anticipation from Japan on this release. Is there any equivalent game (series) in the West that garners this much deserved love?

Gortexfogg

That's like saying "please don't eat this moist, delicious, homebaked, chocolate-chip cookie before it expires."

Or alternatively, asking a Halo fanboy to not touch the life-sized Master Chief statue standing in front of them.

Got another one...Or asking Ben Stiller not to touch priceless artifacts.

@PeteyCoco: Uh, people with a gold star by their name are more inclined to have a more interesting comment than us lowly none-star people. /sarcasm.

-[[CHoZO]]-

Better early than late.

@Takamofo: Damn! And I was about to open my copy of DQIX. Now I don't feel like it anymore.

puresewas1de

Gotta get a head start on grinding!

UsernameOfTheDead

@Takamofo: This comment deserves high priority why?

@Aerobie: Damn, you thought the same thing I did XD

@NitroAML: I remember going to pick up LBP at my Wal-Mart because I knew they had it, but it got delayed a week. When I went to ask them if they had it, the woman said "It got pushed back because of the Koreans." /facepalm

I'll honor the piece of paper's request.

@spannu: Kind of reminds me of this:

spannu

@starmor: how rude! some spanking and tentacle rape is needed as a punishment .

WorldGreatest is in Misato's Bra

Would you kindly?

@puresewas1de: What if you pirate the game, but wait until release to play it? Does square hold you on the same level as people who break street dates?

If you play it before street date, it gives you porn and bricks your DS. Square Enix put this in instead of another save file.

Aerobie

YOU HAVE MY WORD. For realz. Jesus they probably wasted A TON of paper to write those.

@Deaf Mute: Kotaku staff can always override the system.

spannu

@-[[CHoZO]]-: Really? never knew Wal*Mart was a street date breaker. I had assumed their computers had the dates programmed in or something. I usually go to FYE and ask some random girl that works there for the game.

They should have added "Thank you for at least not pirating the game."

puresewas1de

Haha, that's awesome. Good ol' scouts' honor.

bangbangblah

How come you didn't mention the article's wonderful art response?

spannu

Haha, really?

Somehow, I doubt that's going to be listened to. *plays DQ9, gets DS bricked* Uh.. maybe that ROM was legit after all, if this happens before street date :x

Well, it is an honorable request. An honorable request to not play one of the most wanted games this gen in Japan. Hmm...this won't end well in that case. It will end well for the new owner, though!

@starmor: Why can I see your comment? You're not a star commentor, nor were you promoted. I should probably re-read the new rules.

It's all a test! It's the herald of the apocalypse... Those that open the box before the street date will be cast into the fiery-fires of hell... While those that do not play until properly sanctioned to do so.... are wankers.

@NitroAML: I'm actually guessing that if you open the case, a countdown clock appears.

Okay, you got it man.

Strife Fox †

They should do this for every pre-ordered game, of course I won't play it before the street date, trust me!

Walmart breaks street dates ,EVERY TIME a games is released. I don't think there is any backlash/punishment for doing so.

-[[CHoZO]]-

They probably rigged it with a bomb that will asplode if opened before release date.

Ah Square, you sure know how to make a joke.

Hahaha, idealism is always so funny.

Kyle Robichaud

Ok...that is just silly. Haha

they didn't even say please!

Yeah. Of course. Who do you think I am? I'm not *that* criminal... *fingers crossed behind back*