After all of the drama over the release street dates being broken for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, we expected that stores would be keeping a low profile. It appears that this isn’t the case; at least in Jersey City, New Jersey it would appear that both Left 4 Dead 2 and Assassin’s Creed II are being sold by independent retailers, causing GameStop stores in the area to respond by calling customers to let them know that they can pick up their pre-orders early.

Sources tell us that the move by GameStop locations close to the independent retailers who were already selling copies of both titles early was authorized by the corporate office. According to our sources, this was the only area in which GameStop was reported to have started selling copies ahead of the Tuesday release.

With all of the previous discussions of street dates being broken, it is likely that publishers are going to have to rethink their policies and make decisions surrounding the street dates of titles and what enforcement actions will be taken to prevent early sales. We suspect that companies will have to change their approach and how they handle these situations; but right now we expect that the early release street date theater is going to continue until some stiff penalties are put in place to stop it.