[quote name='midloo']Yeah you can bring it in and exchange it, but I always feel kind of embarassed having to run in and do that. My local GS always makes me feel guilty. You can tell it puts the GS employee out. And about 1/2 of what I have ordered from them online doesn't come with the manual or instructions.[/QUOTE]
I used to feel guilty until I realized they mark the ones that are defective as defective, get their payment/replacement from GS corporate, and lose nothing from the trade. Its become something of a joke at my local Gamestop's (I'd recommend spreading your swaps across more than one store if you order a lot online like me) because of how often I get a game that will not play (especially on 360, PS3 games are more resilient because of the diamond coating on the Blu-ray).
I agree with the half being poorly packaged. They went from, "We guarantee you get a manual and cover art" to "We can almost guarantee your game won't play." Its ridiculously bad, but the price is good and the swapout at the stores is good enough to go ahead and take advantage of the deals when they happen.
Just be prepared to throw on some gas money to the final total at checkout when they reach the bottom of the barrel and ship you a Halo ODST/Forza 3 bundle in a single disc case that's black, a case that has not a chance in hell of closing, has no instruction manual (for either game), none of whose discs will play, AND whose cover art is a picture of an anime character looking stupid with the title names typed in a computer font along the front. I was amused at that one.
As long as you have a Gamestop nearby, you should be fine as long as your Gamestop does the trade like they're supposed to.