I gave up on pre-ordering anything years ago - I was one of those in on the Duke Nukem Forever pre-orders from the last century. Sadly, I did not keep my receipt (it was like a $5 down payment) so I was out of luck when the game actually released.
I am not saying the VCS will fail, or I want it to (more platforms means more games and we all win then) but it is concerning how they are handling the situation so far.
I am like you though, I am a fan of Atari and will definitely go through whatever hoops I have to in order to secure some Atari Token. You never know.