Very interesting day.
I went to my local BB in Emeryville/Oakland at 10am and the shelf was still empty from the weekend. There was one other guy looking for them as well, but he was anti social and just kinda floated around me while I was asking around. Anywho, that BB said they had 20 copies on order, but not in transit, which apparently means that they will be getting them in at an unknown date. I guess that since it's not actually being shipped to them they have no way in telling when it would actually show up from their distribution center. The employee I asked even went to the store manager who seemed to think they'd get in copies by September 1st and that I should check back then. He noted that the regular release was September 25th and that these pre-orders not being here was pretty late by BB standards.
I then had that employee check the other local stores and it said that the only one with all 20 copies in stock was in Dublin/Pleasanton. I called their store and I had to give them the SKU number (fortunately I took a pic of it with my phone) before they could look it up. Turns out that they have them, but it's still boxed up in the back area and that it's not out on the floor yet. They offered to take down my name and phone number and said they'd call me/put one on hold for me once they find them (which I seriously doubt will happen).
So, while debating going 28 miles South out to the middle of nowhere to get a copy, I went North instead to my other local BB. With a lot of good karma on my side, they had 15 copies out on the shelf and there was only one other guy there grabbing a few. He said "I think it's limit 1 per person," and we both looked at the sign to confirm it. Once we found the fine print, he put down five of the six copes he had in hand, but I still took three to the register. More karma was on my side as I was waiting in line and a store manager who was standing there saw me with all of them and said "We can only sell you one copy." I talked to him about it, saying that I was (and am) buying one copy for myself and two more for two of my friends who were looking all over every other BB in the Bay Area for their own. He was cool and gave me the ok, and when I got to the register he popped his head over and told the guy it was okay to ring me up for three. It even turns out that those copies had only just showed up on its own special delivery truck 30 minutes before I got there (about one hour after the store had opened).
So, for those that want the short version of my post:
-Best Buy stores all are getting between 15-20 copies
-If your Best Buy doesn't have them on the shelf by now, expect that they can show up at any time on their own special delivery.
-You're supposed to be limited to one copy per person, but the system has no lockout and they can sell you as many as they want to.
EDIT: Here's a picture of the back of the case
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