What is the big deal? So someone gets a copy of Metal Gear Solid 4 or Halo 3 a few days early, are they hurting anyone? Many argue about this often, so let’s see this from some different points of view.

The customer loves to find these Easter Eggs whenever possible. To find a pre-release copy of a game just sitting on a shelf is any video gamer’s dream come true. This has happened quite a bit, especially with anticipated titles like Mass Effect, Ninja Gaiden and Metal Gear Solid 4. Some stores do not realize it and put games on the shelves days earlier than they are supposed to. A game that is scheduled to be released sitting there ripe for the pickings; the thought of it makes many smile. Some game developers have even gone as far as putting stickers on the games themselves with a hard release date. Of course there are some leaks that occur that are much worse in nature, like streaming content of a pre-released game on the internet. This is a much more dastardly thing to do as you are broadcasting “stolen” content. In any event, any early tidbits of a game hitting the street before its proposed date brings the Internets to a furor of happiness.

The game developers hate to see their street dates broken as they are losing control of when and where their product is released and tracked. If it is only released by accident in a single retail store, they can live with this as it will bring them some early press and help fan the flames of curiosity. Now, if it is being copied and leaked early than they have a more serious problem as this will affect their revenue stream. Street dates that are broken because of an error and sold early actually help the cause of the game as they are quickly put up on websites across the nation and give that title even more publicity. It makes gamers even more jealous and curious how they too can get their hands on a phantom copy that has been pre-released.

As mentioned before, some stores do not heed the dates and end up placing product out early. This usually makes them the favorite shopping spot in the area for a limited time until a floor manager realizes what is going on and quickly rips them off the shelves. Most of the time these copies are purchased merrily and from the customer perspective they have done nothing wrong. The store, on the other hand, can potentially be in some hot water for breaking an agreement with the game studios and releasing something too soon to the public. The thing is, there are so many shipments around the world that Nintendo themselves could not monitor them all. UPS has even reported people being fired for leaking early copies of games.

The gaming community thrives on any sneak peaks of someone opening a package let alone playing the actual game. There have been many videos of people opening and unveiling their copies of GTA IV and MGS4 and gamers eat it up. Real or fake, it doesn’t matter. The thought of getting one over on a huge multi-millionaire game studio makes everyone giddy and for those hardcore fans, even a glimpse of something early is like taking a peak under a sexy woman’s skirt… naughty naughty.

So, is breaking the street date a horrible act of thievery or more like a gaming gift from the gods?