Amazon says the expected arrival date is November 15th- are they just saying that as a precautionary guess of the latest possible arrival date to avoid angry customers? I would have thought retail outlets like Amazon would have the game before the 11th so they'd be able to ship it out by then.

Yes it is just pre cautionary I have never had anything later than release date when pre ordering from Amazon (UK)

I'm collecting from the store to avoid this, I hope they have my CE in on the 11th November or I will be forced to buy a normal copy while I wait a day or two! :X

Great, thanks Owain.

I'm not sure about Amazon, but some sites let you pay a little extra for guaranteed release day delivery (if not a day earlier). I've ordered books from Amazon and got them on the day they hit shelves, but maybe they weren't as in demand as games like Skyrim.

Depends of where you are. If you are from UK and pre-order in amazon.uk probably you will receive in day 1.

I figured out you can cancel your preorder before it ships without any negative penalties so there's that extra bit of insurance.