i had to do all that pre-order rubbish,but i did get it at launch.
I remeber the first morning that you could go in a pre-order,i was the second person in the store.
The one thing i was surprized at was that i phoned electronics boutique,many times and they didnt have a clue what was going on,i dont know if it was sony not telling them things,but i dont think that was the case,because i phoned sony and they said that EB,should have all the info that they needed,so i guess EB were being lazy.
Ans also i love my PS2,I loved it from the first game i play SSX.