I was all geared up to play GTA 4 on my PC today. Went to the store with her after dinner. Decided to take advantage of the DBS/POSB Debit Mastercard promotion. Happily took the game from the shelf and proceeded to pay for it.
I was on the bus on the way to send her home. Excited, I decided to rip off the plastic seal and take a look inside. Imagine my utter surprise and horror when I saw this.
It was empty.
(Of course, this picture was taken once I got home.)
Lucky, she was there too, so she could corroborate my story, in case no one believed me. She was just as surprised as me.
“Where’s the CD?”
I could’ve corrected her by saying that CDs are so passé. GTA 4 comes in 2 DVDs. But I was too shocked to give my usual smart-alec quip.
“Don’t know! Check the box.”
She flipped the box around, poking here and there, getting a super-tiny paper-cut in the process. Zip. Zilch. Nada.
I didn’t want to make a big hooha (although I really wanted to!) so we dropped at her stop, where I immediately called up the store, since the number is on the receipt. Lucky me, I didn’t immediately throw it away. Lesson no 1. Again, luckily, the store assistant believed me and allowed me to exchange. By then, it was already 9.30pm. I told them I could reach their store in 10 minutes, but they were already packing up.
“You can come down tomorrow.” Arrrggghhhh! I have to wait until the next day!?
Is this the new fangled SecuROM I’ve been hearing about? “You can’t get the discs because we are afraid once you get hold of them, you will make copies, and/or upload it. Sorry, but we are only protecting our IP. Thanks for buying GTA 4!” 
After hearing all the horror stories about sluggish performance, hellish installation procedures and irritating 3rd-party programs to sign on to, I’m still stubborn enough to go and buy. I guess I can add “Ensure discs are in the sealed box” to the list.
My fiancée had to add, “Next time you buy a game, I want you to open and check it at the store before leaving.” Sound advice indeed!
Update @ 6th Dec 08:
Managed to get my game finally. The shop assistant explained that the game boxes on the shelves are empty to prevent people from stealing them. Yes, it’s a huge huge problem in that store I guess. Some departmental stores also do that actually, but the game boxes aren’t sealed and there will be a huge notification sticker on the box itself. “Please redeem full game at counter”. Too bad, that will be the last time I’ll be getting any game from them.
Another note, GTA 4 takes the crown as the most irritating games I’ve played. More to come soon.
Tags: GTA 4
most irritating abih asal kau belik?
Because I’m a huge fan of the GTA series, since the first iteration. This current release really makes it bigger and better, but with a certain cost.