It appears that certain retailers in America are flatly ignoring Sega’s release date for the Xbox 360 version of Sonic Unleashed, with images from NeoGAF and other community websites of retail copies in their homes. The Wii and PlayStation 2 versions of the game were released on Tuesday, but the Xbox 360’s was to be held back until the 24th or 25th  November (depending on who you believe; North American retailers usually put new stock on shelves every Tuesday).

So, what happened? If it’s true, it’s possible that various GameStop stores are confused in thinking that the 360 version of Unleashed is to be on sale with the Wii and PS2 ones. Regardless, if Sega were able to get the 360 stock to stores early in the first place, it would make the original staggered release date somewhat pointless.

In any case, it reminds us of the good old Dreamcast days in Europe, where retailers completely disregarded Sega Europe’s release dates and put games on shelves a whole week before official sale. Ah, Shenmue, how perfect the extra week I had with you was.

Good luck in getting a copy early though, all you American readers – if Sega start slapping retailer’s wrists for this release date break, you may soon find yourself at a store reluctant to sell you one.

Official NA Release Date: Broken! It’s out – SSMB (Image from NeoGAF)