Just getting tired of it all.

[hex65000]

Perhaps I've become progressively more disenchanted with the gaming industry as a whole. So I want to pose this question to the masses:
The FTC has approved the merger of EB games and GameStop. (Old news really) The real consumer side policy changes will probably start taking effect either near or post christmas season. Now, here's my problem. I don't really like either chain in that they are an immense rip-off, but I like GameStop less than EB so when I have a hankerin' I goto EB; when I have to. Occasionally they will have some items tolerably priced and the 'discount card' at least helps offset the damage. For the most part, I raid some non-traditional sources for my stuff, the prices are typically more acceptable, but milage may vary in selection.

I like to be more concious about who gets my money and just how much they truly care about my business. If done properly, a smaller business can supply a better product than a big chain. I've had a recent experience with hardware stores because of a plumbing project I had to do. The disparity in service was incredible. If I have a choice I'll be going to the little hardware store for my stuf instead of Home Despot.

Essentially, I really don't want to support GameStop. While I'm sure they don't care terribly about some looney college student. since they have scads of folks tripping over themselves there every day to buy their overpriced stuff and sell them other stuff for pennies on the dollar. The question is, where do I go now? And perhaps the answer really is 'nowhere'.

This 'industry' has felt progressively more greed driven as time goes on. Guides magically become 'bibles', and anything remotely worth buying in the wild typically gets scooped up for Ebay. People smell money and with it comes questionable tactics on all fronts. I'd rather put my money where the business is more on the up and up than just jonesing to make a quota, sales target, or an extra $15 from padding out the shipping price. I also tend to not support the 'professional' ebay resellers very often. I see no reason to encourage what is essentially a scalper behavior. I saw it during the big action figure boom in the '90s and there's no reason I can think of to regularly support them.

So where do you go when it looks like everything is just not worth it?

There was more, but I'm just not feeling coherent enough to get it properly organized.

Hex.
[ "Where will you run to when it all falls down; who's gonna pick you up off of the ground?" --Heart ]

[Zing]

Where will I go? Ebay. It has been my primary source of buying and selling games for years. Why hate on Ebay just because you can no longer go to a retail store and "steal" Suikoden 2 for $20? Ebay allows me to buy and sell games for fair market value (usually).

When I was first gathering the PS1/PS2 games I wanted, the US retail store I preferred was Gamestop. Their games are always in great shape and not vandalized with stickers, etc like EB's games are. Now that I am in Canada, I prefer Microplay for the same reason that I preferred Gamestop.
However, now that I have almost every game I would want for those two systems, I very rarely even step into a retail game store.

PS: I worked at Home Depot for almost 2 years and I can tell you that a few people there have experience in home improvement, but most were hired with zero experience in the field. Hell, I worked in the lumber department and I not only had never worked with wood or building/fixing stuff, but I have absolutely no interest in ever doing anything like that. Most people working there are the same way.

[Mr.FoodMonster]

This is why I buy new games at places like Best Buy, and Media Play. If their whole buisness isn't based on videogames, then they probably wont try to rip me off, but they also wont try and give me a deal, and I'm alright with that. As for used games, I feel that the only real place to do that in person is a Mom & Pop shop, or Funcoland when I was younger (hell, they could have been just as bad as EB and GS, I just dont remember). So, used games now, realisticly, can only depend on eBay and collector groups such as this. Its a shame that we have to find an alternative to a USED GAMING STORE, but its the case, and its something that we'll all have to deal with, sadly.

[mezrabad]

There's a new place in Austin called Planet Replay. It's not as easy for me to get to as Game Crazy (which I can stand) or Gamestop (which I can't stand), but it's a local yokle store so I want to support it.

The other place is a tiny little chain called Gamefellas, though I'm certain their games are overpriced I still find it less painful to go there than to Gamestop. It is also owned locally, so it's kinda "mom and pop"-like. I think the prices are high because they're not backed by a hunomorous corporate entity.

These store are only for when I feel like "browsing" and have the compulsive urge to pick up a game I don't have "today".

When I shop with a more "directed" intent, (ie I know what I want to get), I do ebay. With patience there are good deals.

(Like Intellivision's Truckin' for $2.60, woo-whee!)

[Damaramu]

I used to work at Gamefellas, circa 96-98.

That's exactly why prices at GF were higher, we couldn't order directly form the major companies.

I heard from friends that the Barton Creek Mall location (my old store) is gone and they've moved down to Brodie Ln. @ William Cannon (I think).

Now I hear Paul's store (Northcross Mall) is the only location left. I think branching out to San Antonio and opening that Pokemaniacs store really hurt them.

What kind of store is this Planet Replay? Where's it located? I might have to venture back to Austin (my hometown, btw) to check it out.

THere are NO mom n pop shops here in Houston that I know of. Just Gamecrazy, EB, and Gamestop. Luckily, one EB near me still carries NES, SNES, and Genesis games, not to mention N64 and DC. Hell, last week I found Final Fantasy 3 and Secret of Mana there!

[swlovinist]

First of all I want to say that I share your concern of not wanting to support something that you dont believe in. As retrogamers, we are limited to the stores that really support our hobby, and that is sad. I agree with many others on this forum by trying to find a local game store, thrift store, or pawn shop that carries older games. You also have flea marts. I know that the suggestions I recommended can very alot of miss and not alot of hit, but at least sometimes they will have good stuff. As for where I go, I would have to say ebay is where I shop the most. As much as I hate thier business practices, they still come through with the rarest game stuff that was ever produced.

[Sailorneorune]

In the face of this merger, the local store that gets the most of my money (The Book Broker in Evansville, IN) will still get most of my money, especially when pertaining to classic games. (NES games always $5, SNES, Genesis, PSX games always $10. sometimes you get lucky, sometimes you don't, but getting a game that's worth more than $10 eases the pain)

At another local store, the Book & Music Exchange (Evansville, IN and Henderson, KY), every remotely good SNES game is $25+, so they can eat me. Former rental copies of games that I KNOW were bought for $8-12 were flipped and now sell for $40 and $50 (Earthbound and Secret of Mana, respectively). The Henderson store no longer carries Dreamcast games or accessories due to poor sales. On the up side, their sales are decent, and they have the cheapest copy of DOA Xtreme Beach Volleyball in the area.

EB and GameCrazy have been good to me, but not as good as the Book Broker. They'll get my cash for the newer niche titles. And ebay... don't get me started. The double standards exhibited on that site make me violently ill.

Sailorneorune

[mezrabad]

I heard from friends that the Barton Creek Mall location (my old store) is gone and they've moved down to Brodie Ln. @ William Cannon (I think).

Now I hear Paul's store (Northcross Mall) is the only location left. I think branching out to San Antonio and opening that Pokemaniacs store really hurt them.

What kind of store is this Planet Replay? Where's it located? I might have to venture back to Austin (my hometown, btw) to check it out.

THere are NO mom n pop shops here in Houston that I know of. Just Gamecrazy, EB, and Gamestop. Luckily, one EB near me still carries NES, SNES, and Genesis games, not to mention N64 and DC. Hell, last week I found Final Fantasy 3 and Secret of Mana there!

Firstly, damn nice finds.

I have yet to find the "South" Gamefellas. I'll check on Brodie Lane someday. The Lakeline Mall edition closed within the last 18 months. Northcross Mall is a freakin' ghost town, though getting the ice rink back is helping, I think. Gamefellas is still there, hell it's almost an anchor store the length of time it's been there.

Planet Replay is on 183 and . .. Balcones Woods? Duval? Around there somewhere. I'd have to describe it as a larger Blockbuster sized store and deals mostly in DVDs and CDs. They've got an okay videogame selection and I never felt the prices were as high as Gamefellas, though I'm not seeing any Japanese imports at Planet Replay either (Gamefellas still has a nice selection of those, though, again, priced pretty high. I don't understand $85 for Sakura Wars 3 for the DC. Of course, I got mine for $25 while in Korea, so I may not be the best of judges.)

Frankly, I need to be hitting P.Replay more. The Game Crazy around the corner from me (at Lake Creek and 183) is just too darn close to not go to it but more and more they annoy me. (at least I can't remember them ever telling me to trade in my games like it's the best thing I can do for myself. They bug me because of the whole, "wouldn't you rather have a used version for $3 less? You don't really need the manual." and "since you don't have the manual with this used copy, why don't you pick up a strategy guide? Everybody needs one at some point!")

[shoes23]

Start scoping out pawn shops. I live in South Dakota with one EBGames store 100 miles to the south. Surprisingly, I've found some great deals in pawn shops. God of War for $12.95 about three weeks after release was a great deal, as well as many moderatly priced retrogames. Retro consoles are always a flat $20 here with hookups. Pawn shops are the only way to go around these parts and I scope them out in whatever city/state I go to.

[GameSlaveGaz]

The GameStop near me isn't too bad. Their prices are decent, nothing to rave about but not outrageous. Must be a regional thing. I don't like EB because their selection sucks compared to GameStop (again must be all about location) although there is ONE EB that I know of that still sells NES, SNES and Genesis carts, so I gotta give them credit there. I usually do GameStop for more common PS1, PS2, XB and GC titles and for GB and GBC games. Anything else I usually trek to Game Zone for or try to find a good deal on eBay. I also take advantage of my own store's sales and my employee discount (although Toys R Us is going down the shitter faster than last nights taco dinner)
But yeah, while my local GameStop is pretty decent (and my boyfriend works there) they do have some crazy prices sometimes so I know where you guys are coming from (hell, once in a while a USED game will be more expensive then a NEW one at my store!). But not all GameStops suck price wise. So :P LOL

[zektor]

I will not purchase from EBGames or Gamestop, unless I have to that is. I recently purchased some N-Gage QD's from Gamestop's website because I cannot get them around my area, don't want to go to ebay, and they were $100 new, plus $3 shipping. But aside the rare purchase, I stay away.

If it is a new game/system I am purchasing, I go to the place I have gone since my Atari/Master System/NES...etc purchases. Toys R US. They are not a "Games Only" chain, and I am sure they are not re-shrinking videogames for resale, like some game stores I know. If the said game is not there, well there's Best Buy or Circuit City. If neither of those, well of course Ebay is that last resort.

As for older titles, well unfortunately for me Ebay is pretty much my only resort. NJ has been picked bone dry (Thanks to Joe! J/K!) and other than the common garbage at said garage sale, you aren't going to find much around here...unless you are very lucky. Didn't used to be that way...

I got pretty sick of the whole mess myself. I actually am quite sick of the slew of un-original titles that come out these days anyway. This is why I started exploring other games. Games created by the little guy for Palm and Symbian. I found a whole bunch of great titles there, and it actually kind of reminds me of the good ol' Amiga days. Just weird, not widely known games that are awesome.

[MrSmiley381]

I like EB, since they tend to have old stuff, and there's almost always a buy two/get one or 50% off deal. Like my Megaman X3 which was sold for a delicious profit. However, stuff just isn't affordable at regular price. FF3 and Secret of Mana an EB I know has; at $40, mind you. I have to wait for a sale.

[mills]

I was disappointed when i heard of this merger because of the fact that Gamestop has pretty much phased out all pre-ps1 games. But I spoke to an EB games manager who told me that ebgames stores will remain intact after the merger and nothing will really change :)

[Promophile]

I only preorder games for promo crap and, rarely, buy a game at Gamestop/EB, and the merger won't change that. When they started throwing out their Gameboy/GBA boxes I pretty much gave up on getting used games at EB.