A video game has broken street date! Wow, it is like this has never happened before. I mean, stores literally never sell any video games before the day they are meant to sell them, right? So imagine the outrage we felt when a Kotaku reader sent in this receipt!
It appears that Target in Tuggeranong (that’s in Canberra, folks) is now selling Mario Kart 7, even though the game’s official release date is December 3. So for those who have been itching for little cars and banana peels on roads, GO TO CANBERRA RIGHT NOW! For everyone else, perhaps your local video game retailer will sell the game to you today. Perhaps they will not!
How are you all enjoying Skyrim?
[UPDATE]
We’ve just received a copy of a receipt as proof of purchase of Mario Kart 7 at EB Games on George St. in Sydney.
Being the guy who took the photo; ignore the ‘staff price’ on the receipt. I work under Wesfarmers, so I have a staff card that works for Target, among others.
The game was sitting on the counter, the guy said he was even a Mario Kart fan, which led me to believe the game was already street broken.
$50? not bad, i’m still waiting for the magical $40 mark. That’s when ill pick up games for my 3ds
$49 is their normal sell price at the moment, so I had the discount off that. It’s in their catalogue, I think.
Woo Tuggerannong, Monash pride :P, Might go grab this after work
$49 is pretty decent for a game bought at retail. It cost me $40 to get the american copy imported, and I have to wait for the damn thing to show up.
EB had preorders at 79.99 for this game lol.
Try $69 with a Mario hat. Or if you don’t want the bonus, just price match it, join up to EBWorld and return it bu the 15th of Jan if you don’t want it anymore.
How do people not understand…
Why would I go to the effort to price match? when i could just get it from the store who is doing the right thing. Why would i want to return it? if it is a game I love.
What’s is there to understand? Besides buying a $20 Mario hat?
People who demand price matches are just tight arses who cant be arsed to walk past the food court to JB or K Mart, or wanna make some rubbish up and ghost match for an iminginary price. Believe me, I work in electronics and get so many pms. It’s always that one demographic of people that do it too..haha. I work in Bankstown.
Oh Target… /sigh
this makes me want too destroy the place cause I can buy this now, gym ftw!!
Guess I’ll have to see if the Brisbane stores follow suit during my lunch break tomorrow.
If only I’d seen this sooner, then I could have tried today.
Target’s ‘racing’ to get the game out.
Ho ho!
Target are going ‘bananas’, getting people to ‘shell’ out money for the game early.
That deserves a Gold Star!
Pro: Get Mario Kart early
Con: Have to live in or near Canberra.
I actually thought the release was today. Sadly though I don’t care enough to go pick it up until Saturday from my local Big W anyway (same damn price as ozgameshop FTW!)… Gotta finish my book first, so I won’t be playing it on the train until that happens.
Skyrim is okay. I’m pretty burned out on it, at 55+ hours playtime in the 3 weeks it’s been out. Looking forward to other games now…
OT: Mario Kart street date break is lame, but then again, Nintendo are the single most frustrating company in the industry for messing with Aussies, so I’m ambivalent, I guess.
Looks like EB broke first.
http://i.imgur.com/KQJJC.jpg
yeah but that poor bastard paid an extra $20 for it!
They can always return it and price match it later.
$68 at EB? Wow. Not sure if JB has started selling it yet but it’s $49.
Ha, knew that Saturday release date wouldn’t hold.
THIS ISN’T AN EARLY RELEASE, IT IS ON-TIME.
What’s a street date?
No one in Melbourne is selling it yet. It should break here tomorrow.
EB are the only ones with stock it seems in Melbourne. But i am not touching this game for $68. Idiots.
Ooo.. I was going to check at Chaddy in Melbourne. Disappointing!
Sorry when i said Melbourne i meant CBD. Your more than welcome to check there…
EB Swanston st told me that while they do have the game, they have not heard from head office. They said if they hear of more breaks (which i am sure they will) they will sell it tomorrow.
I am holding out for Target though.
What the F**K does Skyrim have to do with any of this?
This is just one Target so far, and looks like it was bought by a staff member. Not convinced yet. Time to invade the streets, brave warriors.
The Skyrim thing is a joke, Chris Tansley. And the first comment clarifies that the buyer works for Wesfarmers and thus has a staff card that also works for Target.
I used to be clueless like you. But then I took an arrow to the knee.
Off-target with the street date there folks. Will Nintendo now set release date targets later for Australia? Will retailers continue to target each other by beating each other at breaking street dates?
Okay, I’ll stop now.
You know, this whole argument about whether games are too expensive in Australia doesn’t hold much water in the “pro” side on the ring when everyone’s flocking to buy games a day or two before official release.
We’re the ones continuing to buy games at these prices. The only way to send a message that we don’t like the high prices is to not buy them.
I know it’s not really related to this story, but it was just a random thought I had while reading this and thinking back to the “Objection” article the other day.
I spent an extra $20 to play Uncharted 3 a day early and boy was THAT a mistake.
Don’t expect EB Games to sell another Mario Kart 7 copy, their stores just got ‘reminded’ that its out Saturday. Woopsy!
I called up EB games on George Street, and they said they still aren’t selling it until Wednesday…
sorry, I mean saturday lmao
Fair enough. Well that, plus the guy behind the counter being a “Mario Kart fan”, seems like a really huge coincidence and extremely good luck. At least we know stores have the game, but i’ll wait for more reports before rushing out. It’s quite exciting still I admit.
Woo Kambah represent!
Just to inform you guys, eb Karratha, WA will not sell you a copy haha
Just to inform you guys, eb Karratha, WA will not sell you a copy haha.
EB Canberra Centre wouldn’t sell it to me fyi 🙁
I guess 2 copies nationwide classifies a broken st date, then. If that’s how it works, every game in history has broken street date….
I’ve been phoning JB Hifi, EB Games and Target in Parramatta trying to get a copy but they’re all stone walling me.
Surely since they EB Game and Target have breached in other areas it should be good to go by now.
But they’re all saying tomorrow that it should be on sale.
Target, stop doing this right now. Its getting bloody annoying.
haha, just got an email from Nintendo saying “Get Mario Kart 7 this Saturday!!!”
Brisbane City EB Games and JB Hifi refusing to sell until official word from Nintendo.
Brisbane stores dont want a bar about an early release
So GameTraders have been in the news a lot recently for selling grey imports and using them to break street dates.
What was Target’s excuse for breaking the release date? And what will Nintendo’s response be? Hold back shipments?
Enquiring minds would like to know!
I was wondering the same thing myself.
DAMN! just after i pre-ordered it!
Wow, the guy who sold it from EB was the manager as well.
Hey if you go to the Nintendo eshop on the 3DS you will see that it says “out in shops” can we pick up the game now???
JB Hi-Fi will be selling MarioKart 7 for $49, but ONLY on Saturday and Sunday, after that I believe it’s meant to be going up to $59, so you will want to get in quick.
thanks for that.
So why isn’t Kotaku roasting these guys like they did Gametraders when they broke street date for Zelda? Just another case of the big internationals winning? If Aussies want lower prices for games they need to support the businesses trying to do it for them and Gametraders is one of them. Plus, with only one official Australian distributor of video games, the cost prices are fixed higher for maximum profits before they even get to the stores. But still seems a little unfair that Kotaku didn’t bring the hate for Target like they did for Gametraders.
Big W will be doing it for $48, and if you know a friend with a woolworths discount card (woolworths, dick smith, big w, a few other companies) they can buy it for you and get a further 5% off.
I’m about to drop in to Big W, JB and EB in the Melbourne CBD in that order, to see if any have it lying around to buy. Hopefully there’s some success to be had saving me a trip to the shops tomorrow.
Any luck?
I didn’t even have to leave the house to get mine, I ordered it from GAME and I got it in the mail today.