The beauty of living in a fairly large city is that Gamestop will reopen at 23:30. Everyone who wants to pick up their copy at midnight has to get there before 23:50, pay in full, and line up in front of the store, so they can send in five at a time. You show them your receipt, they hand you your copy of the game, and you're out the door.
I've seen them hand out over 300 copies of a game this way and be done by 00:05. It's a good system, and the best part is, I live three blocks away from the store, so I can be playing by 00:30. I've already taken the next day off of work, so it'll be on like Donkey Kong!