i don't think some places take pre-orders tho, for example im 99% sure amazon doesn;t, same with best buy. ur best bet would be to show up at best buy early. or heres a trick for u. go into best buy a lot, buying things and such, and be-friend one of the employes (or i guess u could pay him/her). then what u do is ask them to not reserve but "put a side" a 360 and like 2 games (i think u have to buy at least 2 at bestbuy, but u may wanna ask about that part cuz u said u don't want any bundles, but it usually ok cuz u can chose). Thats how i got my psp first day. my dad goes into best-buy every tuesday at like the same time for dvd's/cd's and so he knew the guy. so when my dad asked about reserving one for me he said he could "put 1 aside" as long as he got there like in the first hour of the opening, after that he would put it on the shelves. it worked great. thats how i got mine the first day and how i was 1 of only ~10 ppl who got ridge racer that day at best buy (they had like no stock of that game).