Flashback2012
12-02-2009, 10:02 PM
Actually, a bunch of people as well as myself were talking about Game Stop's shady(hidden) practices over at the ATLUS forums, and this game was used as an example(as to it being insanely hard to find, due to Game Stop's BS).
Yes, yes....it's ALL Gamestop's fault. JUST Gamestop and Gamestop alone and NO ONE else! Not Target, not Wal-Mart, not Best Buy, not Toys "R" Us, Game Crazy, Meijer, Fry's, Costco, Microcenter, or Sears/K-Mart. NO...JUST GAMESTOP! :angry:
No offense, but the only "BS" here is what rattled off your keyboard. I'm well aware that Gamestop's craptacular reputation is self inflicted but let's put the bottle of Haterade down for a bit and see if we can see the forest from the trees. ;)
Well evently GS has an internal rating system, and depending how good "they" think the game will be, they may or not allow pre-orders(aka order the shipment so it arrives on day one) or GS may not order any shipments at all(seeing how 80% of the retail gaming stores in the USA are either GS or owned by the same people, this is a rather big problem, and makes no sense for GS to do this, but that's what they do).
Evidently you are correct, there is indeed an internal division that decides whether or not a game gets added to the pre-order list. There are plenty of titles that don't make the pre-order list that Gamestop still carries. I remember quite clearly buying Bomberman Jetters new for Gamecube from them and never being allowed to pre-order it. I'm sure if I did a once over on my collection, I could find a few more titles I bought that way.
What I'm having a hard time with is this "it makes no sense for GS to do this." comment. Umm...well, what is GS? It's a business right? Not every game they stock is going to be a CoD: MW, Madden 20XX, World of Warcraft, or "Hero/Band" game that sells like hotcakes. Gamestop IS interested in having a diversified inventory of titles, after all, they ARE a speciality retailer and it's one their advantages over companies like Wal-Mart and the like who stock the more mainstream titles and discount shovelware.
The reality of the situation however is that some of the games they only order 1-2 copies of per store almost never sell at the original MSRP they are brought in at. It usually takes discounting and selling at a loss or moving it to used inventory for the title to sell. I can go into any number of GS locations and have no trouble picking out the titles that have come in new and just sat, and sat, and sat, and sat some more on the shelves collecting dust ever since they came in on the initial shipment.
I do sympathize with the gamers though. I mean, it's all about having it now, Now, NOW amirite? I mean I would have loved to have had my Bomberman Jetters a week earlier than I did but I DID get it when it eventually came in. I mean how dare GS make me wait like that so they could save some money on shipping costs! Why should I care that they have fixed costs they have to worry about like lease payments and utilities, payroll, insurance, and whatever else that companies have to worry about...it's all about ME and how I needed my game a week ago!!
Now that I think about it...I could swear I was the only one that bought one of the two copies of that game when it came in and I maybe played it once or twice at most. ^^;
Now I don't know what that game is actually worth(it may be fair or it could very well be a rip-off), but that's what is going on here, and such actions would surely drive the price well above the standard for fairly new games(unluss the game is like utter crap, thus no demand).
Okay I get it. GS rubbed you the wrong way with their offering pennies for your trade-in only to turn around and put the game on the shelf at $5 less than the new price. Like I said above, a lot of Gamestop's unfavorable reputation is self inflicted. However, how I read your reply is that it's Gamestop, and ONLY Gamestop that is responsible for the out of whack prices on the PS2 version. I've already conceded they ARE a major player in the gaming retail world but they are NOT the only player.
If you look at this thread, you can see the game could be had at some of Gamestop's biggest competitors for new titles, namely Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart decided to carry it but Gamestop did not. What about Best Buy? Target? Costco? Sears? Where's the outrage for them? Where's the speculation on their internal departments determining not whether a game is able to be pre-ordered or not, but carried at all? Are the Haterade cannons aimed at those retailers as well who like GS opted to not carry the title? Don't their copycat actions just light a fire under your arse for doing what GS did?! :angry:
C'mon now...I need more anger!! Gimme some :angry:
That's it! Let's see some more! :angry: :angry: :onfire:
Whoa! A :onfire: Time to calm down! Deep breaths! Slowly....in...then out....
Okay then...oh wait, crap....I forgot about the publisher! What kind of print run did they put on this game? Surely they KNEW it was going to rocket in value on Ebay....right? Wait, wait...I got it! Because Gamestop, and ONLY Gamestop (never mind those small timers like Best Buy, Target, etc) chose not to carry the PS2 version of the game then the publisher was FORCED to only print what they did. SEE?! We CAN blame GS! Who cares that the PS2 is nearing the end of it's life cycle and the fact that it's a niche title, we figured it ALL out.
Well...this is an open and shut case Johnson! Gamestop is GUILTY as charged! They would've gotten away with it too if it wasn't for you meddling kids and that dog! Don't worry about those other retailers, they were just towing the line that Gamestop had the lead to. I think our work is done here, at least until the next episode when we can blame the carnival closing down and global warming on GS as well!
Maybe I should give up drinking.....:drinking:
Yes, yes....it's ALL Gamestop's fault. JUST Gamestop and Gamestop alone and NO ONE else! Not Target, not Wal-Mart, not Best Buy, not Toys "R" Us, Game Crazy, Meijer, Fry's, Costco, Microcenter, or Sears/K-Mart. NO...JUST GAMESTOP! :angry:
No offense, but the only "BS" here is what rattled off your keyboard. I'm well aware that Gamestop's craptacular reputation is self inflicted but let's put the bottle of Haterade down for a bit and see if we can see the forest from the trees. ;)
Well evently GS has an internal rating system, and depending how good "they" think the game will be, they may or not allow pre-orders(aka order the shipment so it arrives on day one) or GS may not order any shipments at all(seeing how 80% of the retail gaming stores in the USA are either GS or owned by the same people, this is a rather big problem, and makes no sense for GS to do this, but that's what they do).
Evidently you are correct, there is indeed an internal division that decides whether or not a game gets added to the pre-order list. There are plenty of titles that don't make the pre-order list that Gamestop still carries. I remember quite clearly buying Bomberman Jetters new for Gamecube from them and never being allowed to pre-order it. I'm sure if I did a once over on my collection, I could find a few more titles I bought that way.
What I'm having a hard time with is this "it makes no sense for GS to do this." comment. Umm...well, what is GS? It's a business right? Not every game they stock is going to be a CoD: MW, Madden 20XX, World of Warcraft, or "Hero/Band" game that sells like hotcakes. Gamestop IS interested in having a diversified inventory of titles, after all, they ARE a speciality retailer and it's one their advantages over companies like Wal-Mart and the like who stock the more mainstream titles and discount shovelware.
The reality of the situation however is that some of the games they only order 1-2 copies of per store almost never sell at the original MSRP they are brought in at. It usually takes discounting and selling at a loss or moving it to used inventory for the title to sell. I can go into any number of GS locations and have no trouble picking out the titles that have come in new and just sat, and sat, and sat, and sat some more on the shelves collecting dust ever since they came in on the initial shipment.
I do sympathize with the gamers though. I mean, it's all about having it now, Now, NOW amirite? I mean I would have loved to have had my Bomberman Jetters a week earlier than I did but I DID get it when it eventually came in. I mean how dare GS make me wait like that so they could save some money on shipping costs! Why should I care that they have fixed costs they have to worry about like lease payments and utilities, payroll, insurance, and whatever else that companies have to worry about...it's all about ME and how I needed my game a week ago!!
Now that I think about it...I could swear I was the only one that bought one of the two copies of that game when it came in and I maybe played it once or twice at most. ^^;
Now I don't know what that game is actually worth(it may be fair or it could very well be a rip-off), but that's what is going on here, and such actions would surely drive the price well above the standard for fairly new games(unluss the game is like utter crap, thus no demand).
Okay I get it. GS rubbed you the wrong way with their offering pennies for your trade-in only to turn around and put the game on the shelf at $5 less than the new price. Like I said above, a lot of Gamestop's unfavorable reputation is self inflicted. However, how I read your reply is that it's Gamestop, and ONLY Gamestop that is responsible for the out of whack prices on the PS2 version. I've already conceded they ARE a major player in the gaming retail world but they are NOT the only player.
If you look at this thread, you can see the game could be had at some of Gamestop's biggest competitors for new titles, namely Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart decided to carry it but Gamestop did not. What about Best Buy? Target? Costco? Sears? Where's the outrage for them? Where's the speculation on their internal departments determining not whether a game is able to be pre-ordered or not, but carried at all? Are the Haterade cannons aimed at those retailers as well who like GS opted to not carry the title? Don't their copycat actions just light a fire under your arse for doing what GS did?! :angry:
C'mon now...I need more anger!! Gimme some :angry:
That's it! Let's see some more! :angry: :angry: :onfire:
Whoa! A :onfire: Time to calm down! Deep breaths! Slowly....in...then out....
Okay then...oh wait, crap....I forgot about the publisher! What kind of print run did they put on this game? Surely they KNEW it was going to rocket in value on Ebay....right? Wait, wait...I got it! Because Gamestop, and ONLY Gamestop (never mind those small timers like Best Buy, Target, etc) chose not to carry the PS2 version of the game then the publisher was FORCED to only print what they did. SEE?! We CAN blame GS! Who cares that the PS2 is nearing the end of it's life cycle and the fact that it's a niche title, we figured it ALL out.
Well...this is an open and shut case Johnson! Gamestop is GUILTY as charged! They would've gotten away with it too if it wasn't for you meddling kids and that dog! Don't worry about those other retailers, they were just towing the line that Gamestop had the lead to. I think our work is done here, at least until the next episode when we can blame the carnival closing down and global warming on GS as well!
Maybe I should give up drinking.....:drinking: