I went to a local Gamestop today and surprisingly found something I wanted - gasp! I also got something I didn't want... about a five minute rant about this promotion and that, that Game Informer Magazine they try to shove down everyone's throat, this card, blah, blah, blah, yada, yada, yada... fine. Can I just buy this game and leave? How about I tell you what I want and leave it at that.

At that moment I could help but think how much more I love that mom and pop shop that opened a year ago across town. They don't have all those fancy things like memberships but it feels a lot less soulless.

I'm really happy at my job just because I don't have the salesperson gene in me and I'm not forced to tack on add-on sales. I remember working at Electronics Boutique (seriously, 7 of the most miserable work months of my life) and discovering our sales were solely based on how many extended warranties and Game Doctors we sold...not games/systems/accessories (which I actually liked selling to people). Our manager was a complete dick and didn't realize we (the staff) didn't know this, so he just made life miserable for all of us (took away our "check-out" policy, cut our hours, set up "secret shoppers" pretty much each night to make sure we were doing our job). Good riddance that sorry company is gone. The thing I remember most about my employment there was our district manager making this argument to me: "You make $6 an hour and work four hours. Well, if you sell a Game Doctor and get a $2 commission, that's like making $6.50 an hour. Doesn't that sound good?" I SOOOOO wanted to say, "Great...selling a Game Doctor basically nets me a free pretzel from the pretzel stand in the mall. How about...oh I dunno...MORE THAN FOUR %&*#ing hours, so I can afford to buy some of the games we're selling to people!!!???"

I've always maintained something of a soft spot for Gamestop, both that they were never as bad as EB and I actually like Game Informer magazine, but depending on who's working...There have been more than a few times I stopped short of buying a game and just left because the salesperson was getting on my nerves.

I can't remember the last time I bought anything from a Gamestop that wasn't by proxy (my friend works there). With so many other options out there--especially online--I can't really fathom why anyone would; aside from the occasional store-exclusive edition or promo, many stores offer the same material at better prices without all the bull.

Actually, Gamestop is EB Games. The two merged awhile back and are pretty much identical apart from the names. Even before the merger, I remember malls with EB Games and Gamestop and Babbages and wondered why the mall felt the need to maintain three identical shops. Currently, one of those malls has... two Gamestops.

Yeah, both stores feel and look pretty simular. There are two of them near me; one town has a Gamestop and the other has an EB Games. I just think the one store is too cheap to change their sign but everyhing inside is Gamestop.

Before the merger I don't remember the customer service experience being this bogged down in an EB. Being younger I may have brushed it aside without a second thought but the feeling I get in those stores anymore really turns me off.

I feel kind of fortunate in this regard because I have a friend and former co-worker that took a job at one of the local GS shops and managed to get up to second-in-command, so when I stop by that store, I'm spared the soft soap and we usually just talk about games. The other GS in the area is very obviously populated by guys who don't know crap about games, but they're very amiable and I've never felt uncomfortable with them. There's also a Game Crazy that I like to support - manager's a nice down-to-earth guy, and even though our tastes are completely different it's never an issue - and I hope this branch survives the unfortunate bankruptcy closings I've heard are happening.

Don't get me wrong, I don't doubt that there's some bad shops out there - I was very underwhelmed with a branch I found in Taunton some years ago. But I'm fortunate enough not to be near any. In fact, the only irritating shopping experience I've had in the last year or so was at a Best Buy. They had a promotion with Crystal Bearers where they offered an exclusive music sampler with the game, and when I asked a sales rep to confirm, he went to check in the back and reappeared 15 minutes later talking with a friend I then asked his friend whether he knew if the CD was available, and 10 minutes later he returned to tell me no. At this point I was already late for work so I said 'hell with it' and went to grab a copy of the game by itself and leave...at which point the packaging revealed that the sampler was inside the game case. Couple of wizards, those guys were.

Amusing irony -- where I used to live, the mall that was closest had a Babbages. It got changed into an EB well before the merger, so it ended up going from one to the other and back again.

I love how EB Games / Gamestop tries to take opened and used games, and try to sell them as "New."

Otherwise, I just ignore all the salesman psycho-babble they try to rap at me. Maybe it's just the aura I give off, but salesmen don't try to tack on add-ons when they're talking to me...

Extended warranties are sometimes smart to get, like on big ticket electronics, which only last about 2-3 years, but getting an extended warranty on a GAME? Most R-tarded thing ever; those things have at least a manufacturer's 1 year warranty.

Some Gamestops I go to, I actually find people behind the counter who're amiable to talk to, not least of which about games, but I've also gotten into conversations about music, and even politics and philosophy; some places, I swear they ought to just add bar stools and fountain drinks, and make a pub out of it for gamers...I'm pretty much a regular at some of their stores, if only 'cuz it's the same guy minding the store.

It's pretty much not a problem for me so long as I can get my brand new game factory-sealed, with the factory-sealed white tape across the top of the case...which tells me that it has, in fact, never been opened or re-sealed...

Buying games online can be pretty iffy; you're expecting the seller to be honest, and you're expecting them to have functioning refund / return policy, which can also be pretty iffy, having to ship the thing back to get your money back. You hope they receive it, and you hope they actually give you your refund when they do.

I only buy games online when it's absolutely the only way to get them...

Gamestop, in general, does have its head up its own ass when dealing respectfully with video games.  I abhor the practice of opening new games, as well as the general condition of games that they do take it.  Honestly, it's like some people sand down the discs before coming in. 

That being said, I do frequent one Gamestop in town where the assistant manager knows me.  He always makes sure that the stuff I get is brand new, still in the original wrapping, and has come through quite often when I was looking for something special (see my story regarding Muramasa).  Hell, he checked the entire country to find me a copy of Phantasy Star Online I & II Plus!!  Had it special ordered from Maine!  So it's really the people who make it special, not the business itself.

Hate this as well. When the try and do that to me I just tell them to forget it and put the game back. Some of the glares I've gotten... but I don't care; if it isn't used I want a damn seal on it.

Of course the fact they often charge just $5 less for a used game doesn't help.

I must say, it's quite probably that the direct and indirect results of Gamestop's shenannigans is what's caused me to buy so few games the past few years.

Forgot about that. That's so pointless, if you can get it new you might as well buy it new. $5 is nothing anymore.

Now with the market becoming more and more focused on downloadable games, won't stores like that disappear after a while? I remember some of you claiming 80 % of their revenue came from their reselling business or something.

But honestly, they're only performing their duties towards their shareholders. If you can squeeze a penny more out of a customer, you are obliged to do it. Aren't you? Weren't you, goldfish? No wait, it's only the board that has such obligations? I don't know.

That's one of things I simply don't understand about this bonus thing. I don't understand how paying hundreds of millions in bonus to to officials is in the interest of shareholders. Like ever.

What are those Game Doctors exactly? I'm glad I weren't in your shoes, goldfish. It really sucks to push lame stuff on people. And it sucks to have stuff pushed at you. Especially if it is a hamburger. And especially if you would have gotten it for free if only the clerk hadn't attempted to push it at you.

That's what I said! Guy was like, "What, you like paying more for your games?!" And I was like, "Dude, $3-5 more just for a brand new, factory-sealed copy is worth it, and it's not that much more. Don't insult me. It's not like I'm completely impoverished and destitute, that I can't pay it!"

They just REALLY want to push out used games; they get good profits on them...IF they sell.

Penny Arcade actually had strip about this same point some time ago...

I actually bought one of those just to see if it lived up to the hype; one REALLY messed up disc later (it was a game I didn't like, and had gotten it for cheap), that is to say, it got more scratched from using the damn thing (Game Doctors are SUPPOSED to buff scratches OUT of discs) and they let me return it after I showed them what it did to it.

I wouldn't touch a game doctor with a ten foot pole. Does anyone after a certain age really have a hard time keeping their CD's in good condition? I know there are certain exceptions (bumped XBox 360, bumped XBox 360, bumped XBox 360...)?

The independent game store I mention above has a resurfacing machine, and they resurface all their used games - outside carts It's nice getting a used game and not having to wonder if it looks like it was used as a coster.

Game Doctor is a machine you slap a scratched CD in, turn a crank and it basically peels a layer off the CD (effectively removing the scratches). Probably is, it leaves an ugly stripped marking on the CD (so you can clearly tell discs that have been used in the thing) and after 2 or 3 rounds, it pretty much left the CD unreadable. It was maybe a $10 machine at best, but the ones we sold go for $30 or $50 (motorized). WAY overpriced and our performance was on how we pitched them mostly in add-on sales (like making up stories on how it saved our favorite games, etc). 

Also, at the time I worked, Dreamcast was in production and the thing destroyed GD-ROM's. THAT was fun explaining to customers as well.

Revivify....

OK, so when I was at a local Gamestop I ran into two "employees" that had some really demented and stupid things to say. What would you think of people who had the following conversations?

Emp1: "Yeah, in that game you can be a good guy or a bad guy."
Emp2: "Which should I do first?"
Emp1: "Be a bad guy, they're cooler"
Me: "Yeah, the bad guys are usually cooler but they usually don't get the women."
Emp1: "Well, they could always rape them."

Nice. Then there was this one I overheard:

Emp1: "You know, when I was younger I use to pick my nose all the time."
Emp2: "Yeah."
Emp1: "But then I grew up and quit doing it. I started again now that I'm older, only now I stop picking it when it starts to bleed."

Geez, the gene pool must be really shallow, eh?

I remember one experience in a game store (Funcoland). I was looking for the NES cartridge 'Elevator Action'.

Me: Do you have Elevator Action?
Store Manager (yes, the store manager): I'd like to get some elevator action.

He was anxiously waiting for me to laugh, which I did not. (I know this seems like a longhairmikeism, but I'm not making it up.)

^hahaha

Actually though, I was thinking about this earlier. I was at work the other day and this one dog toy reminded me of those anti-marijuana commercials where the kids are on the couch all deflated. They do a take of it on Family Guy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUGukt_EhqI

Anyway, I mentioned what it reminded me of to a co-worker and that was a mistake; next 15 minutes weed this, weed that, weed shouldn't be illegal, etc. I mean there aren't many customers in the store at midnight but still, bad on my part for bringing it up. Kind of hypocritical and not really good work place convo, although it's probably not as bad as the people in the break room wondering what a dime bag went for and asking everyone if they knew.

Note to gamestop and their in-store tv channel:

Halo Reach cannot be a Halo Killer because it is in itself a Halo game. A series cannot kill itself. A game within a series can severely outclass that which comes before or after it - something I doubt Reach will do - but again a series cannot self-terminate itself.

God, now I know where tumors come from.

Also, whoever mentioned "Zelda-killer" when Brave Fencer Musashi was in development needs to be tortured.

Well, considering I enjoyed BFM much more than any 3D Zelda in recent memory (from Ocarina of Time onward), I welcome a trip to the rack.

Don't get me wrong, I love BFM as well (it's much better than the sequel that followed on the PS2) but it would take a miracle to dethrone Zelda. I don't think for a minute Square thought they had a game that could do that.

Sure it can, if they make a horrible series installment!

If anything, it's unintentional insult. Or maybe that's what they were going for.

Dude, Xenosaga II was pretty dang wretched and we still got a third one, although II probably did so much damage it's one of the reasons the series was trimmed down. If it had ended a II, II would have been a killer.

It's a sad fact even when a there is a horrible game in a series developers usually try again, often times making a bad situation worse. A series killing itself is usually a slow thing that occurs though many games:

X4(great); X5(ok); X6(bad); X7(things are already bad, lets throw the problems that arise in going 3D into the equation as see if that'll fix things); X8(ok, it's decent)