So yeah, Gamestop sucks

Just wanted to point out that the software etc. policy is not “the same only changed from 14 days to 7” In fact you can only return a game now within the 7 if it is damaged… for example when I buy a pc game at my local gamestop the guy asks me every time… “are you sure this will run on your system?” because if it doesn’t and I open it, I’m shit out of luck. Just the day before yesterday I listend while a mother argued with the store manager about trying to return a game because her son didn’t like it and the manager only saying that they’d take it for the buyback price (read: nothing). So in fact, the policy has changed a lot.

Yeah, it was announced in the middle of 98 after Valve bought TF. So, 6 years. For some odd reason, I’m wishing it was 2008 instead of 2004.

I do maths gud.

I’m just a casual gamer. Sorry to disappoint. :(

Is it still coming out for Quake 2?

Shush, you’ll give them ideas. Pretty soon they’ll be like a Ferrari dealership. “Sorry sir, we couldn’t possibly let you buy a copy of Tony Hawk Heavens Above 8. Those invitations to pre-purchase only went out to those who pre-purchased versions six and seven.”

I stand corrected then.

Well technically speaking the company no longer operates as Software Etc., it merged with Babbages to eventually become the evil multi-tentacled monstrosity-on-every-corner we know as Gamestop today - and in the meanwhile the stores changed names quite a few times.

— Alan

No, stores are here to make a profit for their shareholders, if they can do that and not piss you off, then that’s fine. If it comes to a choice between maximising profits and pissing you off, then profit is going to win. It only becomes an issue if they piss off enough customers to have a negative impact on profits. I’m not saying this is right or good; just the way it is.

I don’t know why people keep pulling the cheapskate card on the people who don’t preorder. It’s just not a factor. I could walk into any given EB and buy every game on their shelves with little problem, but even if I did that, they still wouldn’t get any of my money in preorder form, because I don’t fucking buy thin air. If you do not have a product to give me, you do not get my money. And the argument that I’m putting $5 down for the “peace of mind” of having the game on release day is bullshit, because I can walk into any Best Buy or Fry’s on release day and buy it hassle-free. Granted, I live in Los Angeles, so the Best Buys near me are very well stocked. The West Hollywood Best Buy stocks just about every game imaginable on-time and in quantity. Even relatively obscure stuff like Katamari Damacy, Phantom Brave, and Dog’s Life has been there the day of.

The only time I consider preordering is when the “bonus” item is worth getting, which is exceedingly rare. I actually did preorder Star Wars: Battlefront at EB, because I wanted the Scout Trooper figure you got with it. However, when I went to Fry’s on the morning of September 21st to get the Trilogy on DVD, they had Battlefront for all systems for $36. So I snagged that, and at lunch I went back to EB and cancelled the preorder, because the Scout Trooper was cool, but not $14 cool. The manager was almost visibly angry I was doing this. He asked why I was doing this, he had the game right here and I could walk out with it right now. When I told him that I already had the game and paid $14 less for it at Fry’s, a guy behind me decided to cancel his preorder and go to Fry’s as well. Huzzah.

Yeah, I realize most people don’t have a Fry’s nearby, and that sucks. Fry’s does some amazing deals, has out-of-print games for cheap all the time, and is generally on-time with release dates and gets in a lot of each title. They had Mortal Kombat: Deception a day early. The first week Fable was out, they had it marked down to $38. More and more, I’m having trouble thinking of reasons to even bother setting foot in EB and Gamestop these days.

I agree with Matt. There’s only place I regularly do pre-orders (my local comic shop), and they (a) don’t require a deposit, (b) give me 10-15% off, and © are good about setting aside stuff for me that I haven’t pre-ordered, if it seems like stuff I’d like (and, they have no problem with my putting things back on the shelf if I don’t want them). I’ve occasionally done a pre-order at my video store, but they give somewhere between a 10-20% discount on pre-orders, depending on the movie.

All I get from EB from a pre-order would be the ability to walk into the store and buy the game on release day, which I can get by going to Circuit City down the road.

Gav

Fry’s must have made a pact with Satan, because they really do have some sweet deals from time to time. And their game selection is huge. Browsing through it can sometimes feel like an archaeological dig in recent gaming history.

Their ads are the only ones I actively look for because they often sell stuff at crazy prices. And not just any stuff, but stuff I actually want to possess.

Not trying to sound like a Fry’s shrill or anything…

I made a Gamestop refund me my money for Final Fantasy XI for the PC. You can make them do anything if you’re persistant enough (of course, I was unemployed and had spare time to burn).

I never know what review games I’m getting, Sean. Honestly, I’ve never run into this problem before. The reason I used to go to Gamestop for everything was that when the first one opened around here, they always had the crap I wanted that everywhere else was sold out of. The employees were civil if not nice and it was a quick transaction. Then there’s yesterday when they were outright rude and didn’t even remotely appear to want my business.

I may be a troll, but I’m not self-righteous enough to fuck myself out of something just to come “bleat” about it.

I don’t fucking buy thin air. If you do not have a product to give me, you do not get my money

Then don’t shop at Gamestop/EB Games on launch day. Easy. Go to target/BB/Walmart. Why do we keep having these topics every time a major game is realeased? Ok so maybe they’re losing some money but that’s not YOUR problem that’s THEIR problem.

Personally, I put down the five bucks and was guaranteed to play GTA the night before the other stores released it. Does that make me a bitch? I don’t think so.

Seeing as I’m neither since I bought the game at Best Buy directly after going to Gamestop, then I’m not sure. I assume it’s the guy who purchased a smile from the dullard behind the counter at Gamestop.

Why the hell aren’t you buying it at Toys R’ Us so that you can do the 3 for 2 deal?

So that I may inform of what I was saying, again:

I passed all of these places to go to the Gamestop because I liked them. I wasn’t mad that they wouldn’t sell it to me because they didn’t have a pre-order, I was mad because they were absolute dickheads about it. They were the ones seeming self-righteous.

I even HAVE a current pre-order with them for a DS and Mario 64 that I’ll be cancelling.

I used to go to church with THE manager of EB’s warehouse…the one they have at headquarters which is down the street from where I’m sitting. This is NOT a big warehouse we’re talking about here.

It’s likely that they have other warehouses or something but not many. The point here is this: I think it’s possible that EB simply does not have the ability to handle huge huge numbers of any release and that the whole pre-order thing is a way to mitigate the fact that they are so incredibly tiny compared to Walmart and Best Buy.

The way the warehouse manager talked, any big release meant working like fiends for days to get ready. I was not under the impression that adding another box of GTAs to every single shipment was something that they could easily handle with their current setup.

Ah… I missed the distinction. Yeah, there’s no excuse for any employees to ever be a dick to customers (unless the customers are a dick up front… and even then).

I suggest that you find a customer support number and call the manager too. It’s not a company policy that their employees be dicks, I’m sure, but it’s hard to fix these things if customers simply walk away instead of informing someone.

That’s the impression I recall from way back when I used to work at EB. They try to minimize warehouse space as much as possible, because it’s effectively a dead investment. Ideally if they could make games ship at FTL speed directly to the customer upon sale they would be happy. Past that you’re basically paying rent, maintenance, etc… on games that have zero possibility of generating revenue because they’re sitting in a building somewhere, from which they can’t be sold.

There’s a shortage of GTA:San Andreas here in Norway. It’s said that
not even all pre-orders will get a copy. I don’t think it’s a case of not
having enough pre-orders around these parts, at least.

Kind of like, say, Steam, TotalGaming.Net, or Direct2Drive, you mean?