Overseas, American troops are sprinting from building to building, hiding behind walls and firing at their enemies. Here at home, people are finding themselves doing the same – just interactively.

‘Modern Warfare 2,’ the next installment in the ‘Call of Duty’ series of video games, was released this week, and took students by storm. Between classes, students can now gear up, grab their M4A1 Assault Rifle and control a war hero from a first-person perspective, all by using the series of buttons on a game system’s controller.

The game was finally released this week, after months of what has become the ‘biggest pre-order in GameStop’s history,’ according to Charles Hodges, who works with public relations for GameStop, a corporate-owned chain of gaming stores.

Owners of an XBOX 360 or PlayStation 3 gaming console were counting down to the release of the game, which was set for Tuesday, Nov. 10. Much to some gamers’ surprise, the game arrived a little earlier than expected, which has caused some controversy in Bowling Green.

The GameStop store on Main Street got the ball rolling when they unexpectedly began selling the game last weekend, prior to the Nov. 10 release date. Many people were excited to receive their games early, but the employees of their competition store C’amp;C Games, located closer to campus on Wooster St., were less than enthused.

According to owner of the Fremont C’amp;C Games, Kevin Canino, GameStop wrongly released the game, and it affected sales in their stores because they were unable to sell it any earlier than Nov. 10 due to not having their supply yet. The Bowling Green C’amp;C Games decided not to comment for the article.

Canino said that because GameStop is a bigger company, they get their supply of games directly from Activision, the company behind ‘Modern Warfare 2.’ The process of shipping for C’amp;C Games consists of more steps since they get their supply from a third party.

Because they get their stock directly from Activision, GameStop had to sign an agreement stating that they would wait until Nov. 10 to begin selling the games, Canino said. The game was predicted to be a huge hit, though, so GameStop pushed up the release date to the weekend before Nov. 10, which went against their contract, according to Canino.

But, representatives from GameStop have a different side to the story.

Hodges said the Bowling Green store, along with others across the country, received permission from Activision to sell the game early, and there was nothing illegal or contract-breaking about what GameStop did.

A statement from Chris Olivera, Vice President of GameStop’s Corporate Communications and Public Affairs, said, ‘GameStop made the decision to break street dates and sell reserved copies ‘hellip; in select markets where other retailers had broken street date.

‘Our decision followed many conversations with Activision and was an effort to protect our customer base.’

Hodges also said that a total of 4,250 stores that did not have the chance to sell the game early had midnight release parties in order to ensure fans got their copies sooner.

‘We were extremely pleased by [the] customer response to our 4,250 midnight launch events,’ Tony Bartel, executive vice president of merchandising and marketing, said in a statement for GameStop. ‘We’ve received numerous reports of packed stores and lines forming around blocks as customers waited to pick up their games.’

‘If it was illegal, we probably wouldn’t be here right now,’ a Bowling Green GameStop worker said.

One thing the two stores can agree with is the popularity of the game.

Canino predicted the game will beat the records previously set by Halo games, and Hodges said ‘each and every ‘Call Of Duty’ has been better than the previous.’

The hot sales for a game rated for only mature audiences (for blood, drug reference, intense violence and language) were not a surprise either, said Hodges.

‘I liked the first one, so I thought I’d pick it up,’ Brendan Coons said, who picked up a copy on Tuesday from GameStop. He said he hadn’t gotten any new games for a long time before Tuesday and knew it was coming out, so he made a trip to buy it.

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