Cleaning up the Streets!

So like so many others, my local store had copies of Crackdown yesterday, a full day ahead of the scheduled release date, and complete with a nice "Do not sell before February 20th" sticker on the top. The sticker is sort of amusing. I've never seen anything like it and it was 'inside" the packaging, which made me think that it was almost intended for the buyer to see.

It almost feels like MS was trying to do one of the following:

A: experiment with the idea of advance shipping and just didn't expect such rampant street date breaking.

B: knew it would be broken, but wanted to see what sort of hype that would generate. After all, people love to think they are getting away with something! perhaps this was an experiment in a new type of Viral Marketing.

I'm not sure, but I was certainly happy to have a copy in hand yesterday. So far i'm having a blast with it. Crackdown really is just a pure sandbox game. No real plot to speak of, no narrative, just you, a big city, and criminals who need to be taken out.

More impressions later...