I got Metroid Prime 2: Echoes for christmas and still have yet to play it, but that's probably because I still need to beat the first one.
When it comes to buying games right when they're released, that usually only happens at Christmas and my birthday.
Metroid Prime 2 completely destroys Metroid Prime 1.
I also got MP2 for Christmas and I beat it 100% in about a week (of close to non-stop play).
Truly a great game, I was not disappointed. (and this was when I stopped playing video games because they were wasting my time, thankfully I have relinquished that idea)
The last game I bought close to release was Zelda: The Minish Cap, although I bought MGS3 at Wal-Mart for $40 a few weeks ago.