Gamestop dumping DS cases now???

[8bitgamer]

I recently picked up a DS and was at the Gamestop by my house the other day looking for their used DS games. They weren't in their usual spot, so I had to ask the store clerk. The tiny little games were all put under glass, sans manuals and cases (which had been thrown away!) to save space for a new display of larger items (Rock Band and the like). Ugghh!

Any of you have any other Gamestop (or other store) stories that show complete disregard for the collector?

[DigitalSpace]

Damn. I'm glad none of my local GameStops do that, and I hope that your post isn't a sign of what's about to come.

[FxMercenary]

wait a sec, youre telling me that they threw away cases, cover art and instructions on complete copies and kept just the carts? My god man, burn down that gamestop!

[savageone]

I doubt they threw them away, more like they were given to one of the employees to hawk on eBay at a later date and time. They did the same thing with GB/GBA games years back.

Hopefully this doesn't become common practice nationwide though, cardboard boxes you can sort of understand.. But DS cases? Thats a joke. They might as well strip every case off every used game then.

[Mobius]

I doubt they threw them away, more like they were given to one of the employees to hawk on eBay at a later date and time. They did the same thing with GB/GBA games years back.

Hopefully this doesn't become common practice nationwide though, cardboard boxes you can sort of understand.. But DS cases? Thats a joke. They might as well strip every case off every used game then.

I wouldn't put it past them to do that.

[dsullo]

I seriously have not bought anything at GS for about 2-3 years. There prices are ridiculous. 29.99 for some used old DS titles, and like you said they never have a complete game. The management at GS is poor and they obviously have no respect for gamers or gamemakers.

[jeffg]

i have one that does this too,

[Tupin]

You know, maybe if they cut back on PS2 space, they would have more space for DS games.

It's stupid, but it's the only place I can find DS games that are out of print outside of eBay.

[Clownzilla]

I wouldn't put it past them to do that.

The Gamestop stores in my town do that. It makes me sick:(

[Poofta!]

i dont understand this... ive never come across a GS that does this, and i frequent many of them a lot. in fact it makes no sense since when they get a DS game without a case, they give you a case w/ generic artwork, every gamestop here in NYC (and trust me, space is TIGHT here) makes a replacement case for every loose DS game.

are you SURE he wasnt fucking w/ you or the employee was misinformed/stupid?

i second the idea that some employee probably took them.

[Coldguy]

See Zero Origionality.

[darkslime]

Sounds like you should check the dumpster before they pick up the trash. ^_^

[PapaStu]

Unfortunately, this is nothing new.

Go take a look through the remaining Cube and Xbox games, you'll see plenty in cases sans inserts. Most likely they were tossed a long while back to make space. Before the current stuff, they did this with N64/GBA/GBC/GB/SNES/NES/Genny/Saturn/PlayStation and any other systems they sold as space and stock forced them too.

One of my favorite GS stores when I was still in Chicagoland (in Schaumburg, just off of Barrington & Schaumburg) started to do that as well, but they kept 'most' of the DS case/insert/manuals in one of the lock drawers and would pull them when someone would buy a game.

Since this is going to end up being about modern games, thats where this will be going.

[otaku]

thats truly disgusting! I mean its one thing if they were used and bought without those things but to throw away the manuals and boxes is awful

[fuchikoma]

Fortunately, only one of my local gamestops does this. Unfortunately, they tossed a mint Electroplankton box and manual the day before I show up to buy it.

[RPG_Fanatic]

I know I would never buy used DS games from them.

[Xian042]

oh yes...

I worked at an EB/Gamestop for a few years, the psycho bitch manager would pull stuff like that all the time. She had no respect for the collector or completionist. She had no problems stickering up the labels with those old EB price stickers that wouldn't come off. And at the time we still sold Genesis and SNES games, if I wasn't there to argue with her, she would have thrown away ALL of the 16 bit cases and manuals. She would still pull this anyway and I would go broke trying to buy them up before she canned them.

We also had a great selection of PS1 games, a whole wall spined in fact.
Well, one day after I hadn't been working there for some time, she threw out EVERY SINGLE CASE to all the PS1 games and put the disks in sleeves to save room. Friggin moron. Yeah, GREAT way to sell those! She just tossed hundreds of dollars into the trash. On top of that, one of the other employees told me that while she was doing this, she told everyone that she knew that if I knew what she was doing I'd be flipping out right now. If she knew that, she could have at least told me first and given me a chance to buy some up before she destroyed them.

so yeah, of course they do the same thing with Game Boy games, Its frightening to think of how many games were ruined because of lazy ass employees.

[Oobgarm]

Am I surprised? Nope.

Will GameStop eventually be disc/cart only? You bet.

I don't like it, but, then again, I don't really shop there anymore unless it's an exclusive. I would suggest the same if you have other alternatives for game puchases.

[eskobar]

Fortunately, only one of my local gamestops does this. Unfortunately, they tossed a mint Electroplankton box and manual the day before I show up to buy it.

hehehe, cool avatar :D

I hate gamestop, they do incredible stupidities .... i hate to buy games from gamestop that do not have the manual or the disc is "skipdoctored" ... hate that they sell "new" games opened :S

Damn them !!!

[icest0rm]

I seriously have not bought anything at GS for about 2-3 years. There prices are ridiculous. 29.99 for some used old DS titles, and like you said they never have a complete game. The management at GS is poor and they obviously have no respect for gamers or gamemakers.

Same here. If I buy anything retail, it will never be at Gamestop.

[kupomogli]

Whats worse is that Gamestop used prices are 5.00 less than new. Then there's the fact that because they're used, people think they're getting a good deal and still buy them. Some people have no common sense.

[fpbrush]

It's sad that Gamestop only sees sqft as $$$. Always thinking just how much can they pack into those small outlets.

Throwing out DS cases isn't a total surprise, as it's what they've done with pretty much any box/cart based games in the past. Though this is the first I've heard of cases being thrown out to make more room. (and I might ask, for what? Last I heard DS was selling well, not to mention its a current-gen system!)

My pet peeve with the current GS situation is not only the general poor condition everything is in--but that employees basically treat it as if it's no big deal. On the rare occassion I do find a game there I've been looking for, it's either: stickered up all over the place (INCLUDING the insert), disc only with that fugly generic case, or if it is complete it is jammed up against the end of the shelf so that IF you can manage to get it out, you find out the case has been scratched to hell, in some situations with tears in the plastic.

I realize I might be a little more anal about condition than your average sticky-fingered 8 year-old, but when nearly your whole business is selling USED games, shouldn't there be some standards?

So when I buy a game and the clerk asks me if i'm sure I don't want to buy more games because they have a b2g1 free going on (as they did on black fri weekend), I just have to hang my head and say no... not because I like passing up good deals, but because I couldn't find 3 games in GS that I would want to buy to save my life.

I'm going to stop myself here, but I could go on...and on...

[Overbite]

my gamestop doesn't do this, all of the DS games are in their cases on the shelves. Even the gamecube and xbox still have their cases in bins in the middle of the store.

[SegaAges]

It's sad that Gamestop only sees sqft as $$$. Always thinking just how much can they pack into those small outlets.

Throwing out DS cases isn't a total surprise, as it's what they've done with pretty much any box/cart based games in the past. Though this is the first I've heard of cases being thrown out to make more room. (and I might ask, for what? Last I heard DS was selling well, not to mention its a current-gen system!)

My pet peeve with the current GS situation is not only the general poor condition everything is in--but that employees basically treat it as if it's no big deal. On the rare occassion I do find a game there I've been looking for, it's either: stickered up all over the place (INCLUDING the insert), disc only with that fugly generic case, or if it is complete it is jammed up against the end of the shelf so that IF you can manage to get it out, you find out the case has been scratched to hell, in some situations with tears in the plastic.

I realize I might be a little more anal about condition than your average sticky-fingered 8 year-old, but when nearly your whole business is selling USED games, shouldn't there be some standards?

So when I buy a game and the clerk asks me if i'm sure I don't want to buy more games because they have a b2g1 free going on (as they did on black fri weekend), I just have to hang my head and say no... not because I like passing up good deals, but because I couldn't find 3 games in GS that I would want to buy to save my life.

I'm going to stop myself here, but I could go on...and on...

What is bad, is one time I went in to try and score a deal on some Sega 360 Games, told them what I was looking for, they tried to get me to pre-order EA Crapball 2025 and I just walked out.

I do like messing with the clerks. Screw it. If they try to get me to pre-order, they better sell it to me. When they ask me to pre-order a game, I ask them for details about the game, and then I get super specific. If they can't answer my questions, then I tell them I am going to a GameStop who cares to pre-order since I am excited about the game. Messed up? Yes. Do I care? No. Get a better job if you don't like it. Gamestop sucks anyway.

I love when they try to get me to pre-order a EA football game. I drill em with questions. Normally I don't walk out, but ask them, "dude, why the hell should I pre-order a game you are super jazzed about but know nothing about."

Hey there kiddies, sell it. I have jad to sell over the phone. That crap is hard and nearly impossible, but I pulled it off. Put some effort into your sales. I used to sell Norton Anti-virus to people, even if they had McAffee. It was a special Earthlink edition that everybody knew blew goats, but I sold it anyway.

[Famidrive-16]

What is bad, is one time I went in to try and score a deal on some Sega 360 Games, told them what I was looking for, they tried to get me to pre-order EA Crapball 2025 and I just walked out.


One time when I was buying a game an employee said "Hey, if you like this game, you'd love God of War II. It's coming out soon and you can preorder it now!"

I was buying a Kirby game.

[rbudrick]

I don't even remember the last time I bought something at Gamestop. Their practices make me ill.

Just goes to show...Joe needs to franchise and as soon as he wants to run a DP store in Milford, NH, I'm there to run it.

Joe, can we please start putting GS out of business now? Please? ROFL

-Rob

[scooterb23]

I see a thread like this, and just wonder if the poster has been completely oblivious to the Gamestop business model for the past 15 years. This is what they do sometimes, don't like it? Don't shop there. Leave me the halfway decent games at the cheap prices for once...

[SegaAges]

I don't even remember the last time I bought something at Gamestop. Their practices make me ill.

Just goes to show...Joe needs to franchise and as soon as he wants to run a DP store in Milford, NH, I'm there to run it.

Joe, can we please start putting GS out of business now? Please? ROFL

-Rob

You know Joe, if you want to branch out to Omaha, you could easily make bank in what I like to call "Gaming Alley"

Within about a half a mile radius, there is a GS, EB Games, Gamers (Local Game place that is seriously a half step away from being as crappy as GS and EB), Family Fun Center (Huge Arcade), Best Buy, Toys R Us.

Throw a DP in there and it would dominate all easily.

[Oobgarm]

What is bad, is one time I went in to try and score a deal on some Sega 360 Games, told them what I was looking for, they tried to get me to pre-order EA Crapball 2025 and I just walked out.

I do like messing with the clerks. Screw it. If they try to get me to pre-order, they better sell it to me. When they ask me to pre-order a game, I ask them for details about the game, and then I get super specific. If they can't answer my questions, then I tell them I am going to a GameStop who cares to pre-order since I am excited about the game. Messed up? Yes. Do I care? No. Get a better job if you don't like it. Gamestop sucks anyway.

I love when they try to get me to pre-order a EA football game. I drill em with questions. Normally I don't walk out, but ask them, "dude, why the hell should I pre-order a game you are super jazzed about but know nothing about."

Hey there kiddies, sell it. I have jad to sell over the phone. That crap is hard and nearly impossible, but I pulled it off. Put some effort into your sales. I used to sell Norton Anti-virus to people, even if they had McAffee. It was a special Earthlink edition that everybody knew blew goats, but I sold it anyway.

If I ever come to Omaha or you to Cincinnati, we are going to a GameStop. LOL

[DJ Daishi]

I don't even remember the last time I bought something at Gamestop. Their practices make me ill.

lol, the only time I buy something at GS is when I buy the game on Amazon or Ebay and have to wait for the game to be shipped to me...and then when I finally receive the game I just turn in that copy to GS and get my money back...oh, don't forget the added pre-order bonuses they always seem to get (Mirror's Edge bag).

[josekortez]

One time when I was buying a game an employee said "Hey, if you like this game, you'd love God of War II. It's coming out soon and you can preorder it now!"

I was buying a Kirby game.

ROTFLMAO!

[neist]

I know I would never buy used DS games from them.

Sometimes its just reasonable too. I was looking for a copy of Nervous Brickdown and they had one for under 20 bucks. Complete with everything.

At any rate, a lot of the local GS stores have been doing this too. I'm not sure if they are indeed throwing away the cases, but its been a lingering suspicion of mine.

[namzep]

As far as I can tell the Gamestop in my town never throws away cases/boxes. Which is weird, since it's a pretty small store. I've picked up a bunch of used DS games there when they do the B2G1F and have picked up a few that I had been having a hard time finding (Phoenix Wright series, Luminous Arc, etc..).

[SegaAges]

If I ever come to Omaha or you to Cincinnati, we are going to a GameStop. LOL

hehehe, everytime i go to a game store here in omaha, if they ever talk to me, i just tear into them. Leave me alone and let me walk away, but I didn't pre-order some new game, meh (don't worry Joe, if I ever come up to Jersey, I will play nice with your employees bro).

they shoulda stopped while i was on my way out the door. Plus, I like the fact that when I ask them questions, they get confused. Nothing is better than seeing a game store clerk cry on the inside because they weren't expecting me to ask questions about gameplay and improvements in a pre-order they are firmly promoting.