You might have thought you had to be a member of the fancy-pants press or an extremely lucky community blogger to get your hands on Crackdown before launch day. Not so, amigo.
A reader from south of the border sent us a note and some photos to declare that he and many friends have already scooped up copies of Crackdown and are busy jumping around while the rest of the world waits and twiddles thumbs.
Did the Xbox community team air drop copies of Crackdown as part of a marketing gimmick? Did Bill Gates donate 10,000 copies of the game as a diplomacy move with our southern neighbor? No, on both counts. Mexican gamers are walking into video game stores and buying Crackdown with hard-earned pesos.
As our friend explained, Mexican stores rarely honor street dates on games and sell them as soon as the shipment lands. It seems Crackdown is selling well, with initial shipments already sold out at some stores, over a week before the official release date. The photos below show copies of Crackdown in the hands of a consumer with the "don't sell before street date" warning stuck on the spine.
Street date is a way for publishers to control the marketing plan for their games and to ensure no ill-will with gamers, who could get hosed by local stores. They can issue stiff warnings, but can't control each and every retail location. In the case of Mexican shops, though, it seems there's no control at all.
Does anyone live at the US-Mexico border? Do you know of this issue and take advantage of it? If I lived in my dream home in San Diego, I'd drive out to Tijuana every time a new game was due out. I'd also come back with one of those awesome miniature guitars.
