And it really doesn't matter hardware wise- to make the device a reasonable purchase, you have to add Amazon Prime for $79/year, and I'm sure you'll manage to buy a book or two. Hardware selling at a loss to sell software/add-ons is hardly a new concept- If they could really build them for close to cost, I'm surprised they didn't either low the price more to drive buyers towards it or include a year of amazon prime in the price to make it more attractive to buyers.

There are a few games a year I look forward to, whether console or PC, that I will buy on release date, and purchase for $50-$60. Many other purchases are games that may be recommended later by friends, or games that looked interesting, but not interesting enough to pay the asking price for, so I'll wait until the price comes down.

http://games.slashdot.org/story/09/02/20/0750203/Do-Video-Games-Cost-Too-Much/

We've discussed this before, and the consensus is easy to spot: many games are not worth the asking price. You'll sell more games if at 1-3 months after launch, you simply drop the price point to an appropriate range, depending on the total units you sold at launch and the total expected units. It's been proven- some games sell well years and years after release for a discounted price.

Of course, this has two impacts- if you enjoy selling games back to places like gamestop, their resell value will be diminished, as the retail price will be lowered quickly. Also, unless you have a strong opening for your game, you simply won't sell them at full retail if you have created the expectation of lowered prices shortly in the future.

I'm willing to pay $20 for new games giving the developers and publishers the profit, rather than pay $15-18 for a used copy.

Actually, no, they don't. I own a cellular phone store. Since early 2008, you cannot use your last 4 of your SSN for identification, you have to create a separate 6-10 digit PIN to access your account with Sprint. Contracts that must be retained by both the carrier and the store must be held on file for the length of your contract, which is typically 2 years. This contains no personal information aside from name/address. The application which contains information must be held for 30 days, and then destroyed. Sprint is one of the better carriers for this, actually. They will audit locations about once a month to check that the proper documents are stored and shredded.

Also, should you wish to get a cellular account without supplying your social security number, the individual at the store should have been able to do it for you. It is not a difficult process, but will require you to place the carrier's maximum deposit limit, typically $400-$500. You were simply at the wrong store, with uninformed people.

I have been in a similar situation- and there is no simple answer. You have to talk to your HR department, simply because you have no other recourse that could come with a positive outcome for you. The only other option with a positive outcome is to contact your new employer and ask for an extension, but in this job market, I would definitely seek out a response from the HR department first. Did this statement come from your boss or higher up the chain? How large a company is this?

In my situation, it was a smaller company (50 employees, give or take), and it came from the top. I ended up pulling my contract and backing the employer down, simply by pointing out that my contract required 30 days of notice, and I provided more than that. I had also let them know I was looking before I found a new employer, and already had a glowing letter of recommendation from the company, so I had proof that any negative feedback was biased and silly compared to the official recommendation. Did you provide your notice in written format, and keep a copy? Did you sign a contract when you started?