I ordered my CE directly minutes after they went live with the orders at 1 and did so via phone because their website had a glitch and you couldn't actually put any machine in your cart at the time. The glitch was fixed less than an hour later and you can still go to the site and add the CE to your cart now. When I ordered mine and went through the unavailable CE numbers with JJP, the lowest then available was in the 30s and some other higher numbers were also gone. Since my order, I have seen dozens of others claim they ordered a CE as well. So maybe they aren't all gone, but it wouldn't surprise me if far fewer than half of them are left. Also, I was charged not charged the full amount for the order.

I recognize the benefits of going through a distributor, and those are great for the typical buyer - but I had my reasons for ordering directly, so please don't bash me for that.

As I couldn't order mine through the website, I cannot confirm what it will charge you - but when I was on the phone with JJP and they pulled up my account and said they were charging my cc, they only put a charge of $1,000 through and then immediately emailed me my order confirmation, which included the number requested and confirmed during the call. I didn't ask to only pay that much now and wasn't given the option to pay anything different. They were, as always, very pleasant to speak with even though I know they were crazy busy. I had no problem getting through today even right after the release, so I don't see why you couldn't call tomorrow.

You hit the nail on the head, LTG. I have always looked at it from the perspective that the enjoyment of the game itself is worth the price of admission. That you can recover some or maybe even all of that cost down the road when you sell is simply a bonus. Many years down the road, my experience is that good games are likely to sell for more than the original cost- not less.