There's no shortage of ways to get your hands on a copy of Red Dead Redemption 2 when it launches on October 26 for PS4 and Xbox One (you can check out our Red Dead Redemption 2 pre-order guide for details). The only problem is, you'll have to wait until October 26 before you can play it. If you want to get it a little earlier, it turns out there's a way to do so. Both Best Buy and GameStop have announced they'll begin selling copies of the game at 9 PM local time on October 25--the day before it launches elsewhere.

That gives you a three-hour head start on everyone who ordered it digitally. You'll still have to go home and install the game to your console's hard drive before you can play it, of course--and it's an enormous game. But because the data is installed on your hard drive from the disc instead of downloaded from the internet, it's quite possible you'll be up and running before midnight. (Then again, it's also possible there will be a download on top of the disc install).

You can pre-order Red Dead Redemption 2 from GameStop here or from Best Buy here. All pre-orders come with a download code for the Ardennes War Horse and Outlaw Survival Kit.

Red Dead Redemption 2 takes place in 1899, at the tale end of the era when outlaw gangs were running amuck in the Wild West. Rather than taking control of John Marston like in the previous game, you play as Arthur Morgan, another member of Dutch Van der Linde's gang. To refresh your memory about the story of the previous game, you can take a look at our Red Dead Redemption recap or watch the video above. Also be sure to check out our Red Dead Redemption 2 impressions for more information.