Game Crazy's going out of business sooner than later

[boatofcar]

Well shit.

There goes one of the last stores that sells Dreamcast games and accessories.

Do they still carry Dreamcast games at your GC? They phased out all of that stuff at my GC with the last sale.

[hbkprm]

i guess that gamestop/eb games has no compotition

[MarioMania]

I'll bet in a couple weeks they have close out sale

[Eternal Tune]

The only story I have to share is more about females working in game stores. This one just happens to work at Gamecrazy.

I reserved Persona 3 from Gamecrazy, because Gamestop told me they weren't taking pre-orders on it. This was months before its release....so don't ask me. I think the employee couldn't spell it or find it in the system. So anyways, I reserved it at Gamecrazy. I wanted to pick it up yesterday and I called. No one ever called me and it came out on Wednesday. Some girl named Becky answered and I told her I was looking to see if they had Persona 3. She puts me on hold for a few minutes then comes back and asks what system it is for. I say PS2 and she says "no, we don't carry that." A few hours later I have Oobgarm call the same store. Same girl answers and says they got them in but sold out. He informs her we reserved it. She quickly says something along the lines of oh I mean we didn't get it in.

Soooo...we head over to another Gamecrazy store after work. Hoping I can transfer my reserve credit. The guy working calls the store and no one answers. He tries several times after. Nothing. I went ahead and bought it without my transferred credit, figuring I would eventually buy something at the original store I reserved it from. Still I wanted to choke that girl.

Keep in mind I'm female and worked at Gamestop for many years. Girls who play games make excellent employees. Hiring chicks based on their looks, who have zero interest in what they are selling pisses me off to no end.

[Oobgarm]

I'll bet in a couple weeks they have close out sale

No way. Someone will buy the assets. Maybe even GameStop-and just absorb the inventory.

[heybtbm]

Gamecrazy is (was) great for having hard to find items months (and sometimes years) after they stopped being available everywhere else. Hori controllers, Messiah items, new Dreamcast accessories, etc.

Unfortunately, my local Gamecrazy stopped getting in new titles about two months ago. They're now just essentially selling what stock they have left. It's too bad and a net negative for gamers.

[cyberfluxor]

Well this somewhat stinks. I discovered a few of their locations last year and made a few good N64, GBC and NES purchases from them. I wouldn't be suprised if Game Stop did buy them out and put it into their inventory, especially with their new Movie Stop locations.

[diskoboy]

Do they still carry Dreamcast games at your GC? They phased out all of that stuff at my GC with the last sale.

Yeah. But you have to ask them. They never have the DC games on the shelves, for some strange reason.

[Aussie2B]

Well, it's a shame, but I can't say I'll miss them much. For years I didn't even have a nearby location, so seeing people talk about Game Crazy was kind of a mystery to me. But then I found one, and I've visited once or twice a year for the last two or three years. Their selection for both old and new has never been impressive, but I've bought maybe 10 or so games there over the years. This summer they really helped me out because I bought a Super Scope (elsewhere) but had no games for it. Their SNES selection is completely picked over (like everything else at this point), but, because they required a special accessory that most people don't have, the Super Scope games remained sitting among the sports titles. There's absolutely nothing left that I would want at this point, unless they got something decent for a relatively modern system. I have made a couple decent PS2 purchases in the past, but when I looked through everything this summer, I couldn't find a single thing worth getting. I'm also trying to repair one of the first games I ever bought there. Thanks to GameCrazy I've ended up with my very first dead battery in a cart (I assume it was dead all along because I never played the game enough previously to know one way or another).

So all in all, my experience with them wasn't necessarily bad, but it sure wasn't remarkable. The employees have always been pretty friendly, though, and they seem relatively knowledgeable.

[GarrettCRW]

Hiring chicks based on their looks, who have zero interest in what they are selling pisses me off to no end.

If the rationale for hiring these girls is what I think it is, then you probably have a good reason to be pissed.

[Steven]

Well, it's a shame, but I can't say I'll miss them much. Their SNES selection is completely picked over (like everything else at this point)

QFT. I raided a bunch of Game Crazy's in the earlier part of 2006. Got some great deals, Mega Man X2 $10, Kirby SuperStar $5 etc. Then suddenly, summer '06 it got completely drained. All that was left were crappy old sport games. Before you could walk in and find Equinox, ActRaiser, Combatribes, Clay Fighter, etc. So, this bit of news really doesn't affect me. I've long stop visiting them.

[Vinnysdad]

I like shopping at my local Game Crazy and hope they dont go under. Its the only game store with employees who know what theyre talking about. What is funny is the people in this thread bitching about not getting the freebies. Especially the one guy who harrased the manager at home. Its a FREEBIE!

[Trebuken]

They deserve this for throwing away all those game boxes and ps1 cases....payback...finally.

[DigitalSpace]

(Excuse the Anthony1 sized post here, but I have a lot to say, so...)

As I've said before, GameCrazy is the lesser of two evils. They always came off as just a little better than GameStop/EB, but not quite.

I haven't had any major problems at the stores I've visited. Then again, I've never preordered a thing at GameCrazy. Most of the employees I've encountered are knowledgeable and helpful. One time, I was telling an employee about how GameStop refused to let my friend renew her discount card because the computer said her card hadn't expired yet (it had). The employee said that she used to work at a GameStop herself. This was followed by "let's just say there's a reason I'm here instead of there." Also, I have yet to see a female employee at any of the local GameCrazies that didn't come off as a gamer. The girl I just mentioned wound up talking with me about her Super Nintendo collection. One time I went to another store on a pretty dead evening, and the girl working there was playing an RPG on a Super NES. I've never had anyone try anything shady to get me to buy an MVP card or preorder something.

Then again, the Hollywood video headquarters in Wilsonville is right in the Portland area, so that could be why the stores here are so good. In fact, several GameCrazy stores in the Portland area (including the one near my house) were originally test stores. In fact, most of the local stores kept the boxes and instructions to whatever classic plastic/GBA carts they got in.

The MVP card was mostly a joke. I had it for one year (between mid-2004 and mid-2005), and at that time, they did have a few monthly "MVP only" sales. Nothing too big though. The last one I remember was a B2G1 on used sports games. Lame. I don't remember any MVP exclusive tournaments and they didn't even offer magazine subs with the MVP card until right before my card expired.

In fact, the only reason I got the card was because I had decided to look around the Gresham store, and it turned out that Mark Wattles (who owned Hollywood Video before they were sold to Movie Gallery) and a few other people from corporate were in there. Mark introduced himself to me and asked me a few questions about the store, and then offered me a free MVP card. I couldn't turn it down. It was great but during that year I didn't see a thing that offered me any incentive to renew it. Instead, I went with the $5 EB Edge card (man, I miss that card).

Also, GameCrazy did sell opened games as new, but at my stores, it was limited to those "sale" games you see on a rack in the middle of the store (some were sealed, though).

The classic plastic was a great thing. It's a shame that they decided to stop carrying them and taking them in. For those who hadn't heard, any store with classic plastic left should be running a 2 for $5 sale to get rid of them. A couple months ago I hit up several of the local stores, buying the best of whatever they had left.

It's really too bad that GameCrazy started adopting GameStop's policies in an attempt to keep going, because their best benefit was that they weren't GameStop. I hope Play N' Trade gets big in the next few years. I'm glad that there are other options in the Portland area, though.

[Nirvana]

Dammit. Game Crazy is an amazing store. I've gotten a good portion of my game collection from there.

We need another place to rise up!

[intvsama]

I like shopping at my local Game Crazy and hope they dont go under. Its the only game store with employees who know what theyre talking about. What is funny is the people in this thread bitching about not getting the freebies. Especially the one guy who harrased the manager at home. Its a FREEBIE!

It absolutely was not a freebie. I paid them $35 for my copy of PoR with the bonus pack. I could have just as easily (and much more happily) given my local indie shop the $35, but I was promised the bonus because I was buying the game there.

[Niku-Sama]

crap in a hat!

one store opens and another closes, evewry god damn time in this forsaken town!
Game Crazy here is decent, they dont have much in the way of old stuff but when they get it i know about it, i have also got many a games there because there more a local company than EB or Software Ect. is (yes its still software Ect. and both EB and Software are in the same mall, go fig) Play n' Trade is opening up soon but theres no guraentes theyre gonna have classic stuff and game crazys old stuff was growing. i have got some major deals there with NES and SNES games. our store was doing 2 for $ classic plastic and i managed Doom and Secret of Mana on SNES both for $5.

whatta pain in the ass, i hope they just sell everything off if this does happen.

[Trumpman]

There are no GameCrazies in my area. Luckily I have the DigitalPress store relatively close by. I need to pay that a visit soon!

[Push Upstairs]

Game Crazy will forever leave me two memories in my life:

1. Buying my complete Saturn there for $9 (after my $10 store credit).

2. Being the place where that "knowledgeable" father went on about wanting to play Halo on his son's GC and declaring that all game systems run on DOS after being told why it wouldn't work.

Generally the employee's there have been decent and in many cases knowledgeable beyond the typical new game releases.

[RCM]

I wouldn't be so quick to jump and say that all GCs are going under. It's no secret that they along with MG and HV have problems, but it's too quick to say they're all going to close. I wouldn't be shocked if GC survived.