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Switch on the news and you’ll see frenzied “Grand Theft Auto” fans snaking around the block, all clamoring to buy the latest GTA epic. But, as I’d suspected, I managed to walk into an empty store this morning and leave five minutes later, GTA IV in hand. So, what’s the point of pre-orders again?

At about 10:30 a.m. this morning—which happens to be launch day for perhaps the biggest gaming title this year—I sauntered into my local GameStop here in downtown Brooklyn, where I found a line of about eight middle-aged, professional-looking gamers, all clearly making a pit stop on their way to work. From the looks of things, plenty of copies of GTA IV were on hand, and no one was going home unhappy.

But as quickly as the line was moving, I wasn’t quite satisfied, so I went next door to Radio Shack—completely empty, and no shortage of Grand Theft Auto IV. In about five minutes, I was all rung up and out the door. And bear in mind, this is what some news outlets are calling the biggest gaming release ever.

Even better, I got an unexpected bonus: a $10 gift card for each GTA game I bought (I got both the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions). No, you can’t apply the gift cards to the cost of the game—drats—but hey, I’ll take it.

Anyway, my buying experience today just reinforced my belief that video game pre-orders are pointless—well, pointless for everyone except the retailers, who get to pocket a few of our dollars months in advance. The next time a clerk at GameStop tries to push a pre-order on me, I plan on unapologetically laughing in his or her face.

So, I’m curious—anyone here having trouble getting a copy of GTA IV? Who out there pre-ordered the game, and how long ago? Anyone else ready to join me in my pre-order boycott?

P.S. Stay tuned for my side-by-side comparisons of the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game.