Shipping Dates vs. Release Dates

Why are video game companies the only ones allowed to promote a game's date as the date they're going to start shipping it? DVDs for instance always say "Buy it Tuesday" and it comes out on that Tuesday. However, recently for both Silent Hill: Shattered Memories and White Knight Chronicles, neither of them released on the date they said they would. The date for Shattered Memories on PS2 and PSP was on 1/19/10. It did not come out that day, because that was the shipping date.

Today, I just tried to go out and pick up White Knight Chronicles, because every trailer for it clearly had it stated as being on release for 2/2/10. Despite Best Buy's website saying it was available today, they did not have it on the store shelves. I went to three other stores, none of them had it on the shelves, because again, it was a shipping date.

I don't care if the game comes out on Wednesday, I just wish they'd tell us -that- date so that I don't get all prepared to go buy something and end up wasting gas. I mean the whole reason I was checking Best Buy's website before going in was so that I wouldn't have to waste the trip. So I'm also not too happy about them clearly lying about their stock either, when I checked their site for Shattered Memories on the 19th, they didn't say they had it then!

Why are video game companies allowed to get away with this though? Again, if a TV ad said you could get a DVD on Tuesday, but then you went to the store and they were all "Oh, I'm sorry that was actually the shipping date, we probably won't get it til tomorrow." That just wouldn't fly. It's just ridiculous. Give the date that it will be in the store, not the date you're going to start sending it out, no one cares about when you ship it. I'm pretty sure MAG and Mass Effect 2 were both available on Jan 26, when they said they'd be out.