I took two more trips to my local Wal-Mart today, at the same times I did before. In the afternoon, I found a cart loaded with Electronics boxes, the kind housing software, movies, and music. Amongst the opened cases, I found copies of EA's Playground, but no Zack and Wiki. Still, the sight of two employees quickly working to empty the freight provided some pleasure. Apparently, none of yesterday's new arrivals hit shelves on time, and now the department rushed to fix the problem.

Amongst the unopened boxes, only a few with street dates for next Tuesday appeared to possibly contain Wii games. My night visit confirmed my suspicions: Zack and Wiki would not appear in my store this week. The slightly reworked Wii case only freshly sported the aforementioned Playground.

I'll live, though, since I just learned Circuit City offers free shipping on orders over $24. If my experience with them goes well, I'll likely ignore my local Wal-Mart for most non-major releases, trading instant gratification for reliability.

. . .Zack and Wiki.

Before I went to work today, I checked out Gamespot and IGN's reviews of the title, excited at its release today. Wow, I thought. Today's Tuesday, Wal-Mart's new release day! Certainly, I can walk into my store shortly before 2 PM and find a nice stack of games.

Of course, the store disappointed me within moments of arrival. With years as both a consumer and past employee to my name, I'm ususally ready for such. This occasion, though, unnerved me. I ask the most competent-looking individual in the Electronics Department if their new game shipment had arrived. He informed me it had, but wasn't out yet. I prodded further, asking if it was in the back right now, then. It was. . .

. . .but it hadn't been checked in yet.

Now as I mentioned, I spent several years working in this very store, so this knowledge especially annoyed me. In my heyday, the Directs associate could usually handle a shipment within 20 minutes of its arrival. Lunch breaks weren't an issue, either, as at least one or two others could do the job in her absence. Apparently, things had changed. . .

I went to work miffed, but at least expectant I could pick up Zack and Wiki afterwards, as certainly by then the new releases would be on the shelf. I've done this quite often recently; usually my pre-work game hunts end with the shipment not having arrived at all at that time, as opposed to tangled in someone's ineptitude. In case this post's title didn't spoil the ending, here it is:

The game wasn't there. Not sold out; no empty slot with accompanying price tag comforted me that the game had at least been there at some time between my last visit and this one, like when I tried to procure Metroid Prime: Corruption shortly after release. Zack and Wiki had simply never arrived. The Electronics night stocker, a kindly old woman from my "heyday," wanted to make sure I had the date right, and checked a new release pamphlet. This did nothing, as it contained no game section. I suggested cracking open the Nintendo vendor's product binder, but of course only found information on Nintendo titles. Before leaving, I checked Wal-Mart.com on the nearby terminal, and while it indicated the game would ship from the site today, it made no mention of an in-store street date.

And as if to add to my ire, cruising IGN just a few hours ago I saw an ad proclaiming Namco Museum for the Wii was now available in stores. . .

. . .A quick scan of my memory did not recall that title at my Wal-Mart either.