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Thread: Article says Gamestop to close 500-600 stores this year

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    Insert Coin (Level 0) danawhitaker's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Griking View Post
    I've been saying for a few years now that Nintendo is in trouble. not that many people want to carry both a portable gaming system AND a cell phone with them. Especially when one of them can do both. Now, if Nintendo were smart they would design a Nintendo smart phone of their own that's essentially a DS in a phone. (Actually, if they were smart they would have done this a few years ago now.) And I don't mean a hand held that can make calls, I mean an actually smart phone that can play DS games.
    My daughter's the 3DS owner in my household. She's seven. There's a snowball's chance in Hades I'd hand over a cell phone for her to use in lieu of a handheld gaming device. She doesn't need a phone. I don't want her to have a phone at this age. She has an iPod Touch, which can do all of the things pretty much that an iPhone can do, without a 2 year contract and data plan.

    Plus, as an adult, I'd rather have a separate device for gaming. If my cell phone rings, I don't want my game auto-pausing so I have to stop and answer a call. If Nintendo makes a device that doubles as a cell phone, they'll have to market it primarily toward adults, and I'm sure it would be stuck into some contract with a cell provider everyone would loathe (or at least that some budget-conscious people like myself would loathe).

    Don't get me wrong, I play my daughter's 3DS. But I don't have or want a smartphone right now because I can't justify $50+ a month for the calling and required data plan. Plus look at the n-gage picture above. That thing is an abomination. It doesn't do either function well. Where would you stick all the buttons that are on a 3DS on a smartphone and have it still be comfortable to use as a phone too? If you make all the game controls rely on the touchscreen then you're going to end up severely limit game options because not all types of games are conducive to that control setup.

    I do not want my gaming world and non-gaming device world to merge - not to that degree. I don't think it's inevitable. Sure, some consoles have some overlap with PC functions or other home entertainment functions, but in the end, my 360 is designed to play 360 games.

    And to the person who asked about digital vs. physical media, I know my choice, 9 out of 10 times I'm going to buy a physical copy of a game. I've only had a few exceptions, and those were because I didn't want to stand in line at midnight launches for World of Warcraft expansions but I wanted to be able to play with my friends immediately when the servers went live. In the end, I decided I trusted Blizzard enough to pay for a digital copy. I still don't trust a lot of other companies to handle digital products well. I don't want to risk losing my entire collection of games that way. I refuse to buy a game for a console or handheld that's digital-only. If you can't be bothered to put it out on physical media, it's not worth ponying up for (for me).

    A lot of people are also stuck with broadband connections that have monthly data caps, or worse, live on college campuses where they're prohibited from connecting any device but a computer to the network (my former school has a very strict policy about this, they do not allow game consoles to be connected at all, not even through a router). Ultimately, the first console or handheld that makes a switch to all digital will be the first console or handheld I don't even consider purchasing. I'm already sick of the PP (perpetual purchase) model. I'd rather dig out my SNES and play one of my old games rather than buy it again from Nintendo's eShop.

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    Kirby (Level 13) Griking's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by danawhitaker View Post
    My daughter's the 3DS owner in my household. She's seven. There's a snowball's chance in Hades I'd hand over a cell phone for her to use in lieu of a handheld gaming device. She doesn't need a phone. I don't want her to have a phone at this age. She has an iPod Touch, which can do all of the things pretty much that an iPhone can do, without a 2 year contract and data plan.

    Plus, as an adult, I'd rather have a separate device for gaming. If my cell phone rings, I don't want my game auto-pausing so I have to stop and answer a call. If Nintendo makes a device that doubles as a cell phone, they'll have to market it primarily toward adults, and I'm sure it would be stuck into some contract with a cell provider everyone would loathe (or at least that some budget-conscious people like myself would loathe).
    Well as I said earlier, there's still a (shrinking) audience out there who prefers to carry two devices with them. A Nintendo phone wouldn't be for everyone but Nintendo can't just ignore the fact that more and more people don't bother with portable game devices because they can just game on their phone.


    I do not want my gaming world and non-gaming device world to merge - not to that degree. I don't think it's inevitable. Sure, some consoles have some overlap with PC functions or other home entertainment functions, but in the end, my 360 is designed to play 360 games.
    Unfortunately it's been happening for a few years now already and shows no signs of slowing down.

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    Quote Originally Posted by BricatSegaFan View Post
    Good I hope gamestop closes. Maybe then they would actually make an effort to retain customers. Quit gutting games and hire knowledgeable employees, overall be consistent. Why do some people have one gamestop they go to because all the others are bad or had bad experiences?
    Quote Originally Posted by IHatedSega View Post
    I too hope Gamestop goes out of business.
    Try not to interpret this as an attack but are either of you employed full time? Both of you strike me as younger and more impulsive with your opinions; the type that "shoot first and ask questions later." I know firsthand how crappy GS is because I worked for them for just shy of 10 years but their poor service/practices/polices notwithstanding, how is it ever a good thing for a company that has 4.7-6.6K locations worldwide and employs between 17-20K people to go belly up? Regardless of what the politicians and pundits say, to me it feels like we're still one foot in the water regarding a recession. There's like 3M+ currently on unemployment and I read another 38K first time claims were reported just this past week so who in their right mind would want that number to grow bigger?

    Hostess employed roughly the same number of people and for the most part their brand was revered by many; should we ask their workforce of approx. 18K-ish people how they feel about being now unemployed?
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    Quote Originally Posted by Griking View Post
    I think that you're missing the point though. As I said earlier, most casual gamers don't want to carry two devices with them. A hardcore gamer may but a casual gamer will generally be just as happy playing a casual game on their phone while they're on the bus or waiting for something. People on the go didn't have an option before. Now they do. And besides, its not like Apple or Samsung are claiming that their phones are game consoles or marketing them that way. People just know that they can do games.
    Gamestop didn't get that large by casual gamers. Whether it's a 10 year old kid or a 30 year old, if you play several hours a week or more, you're hardcore. Casual gamers are people who like playing simplistic facebook games or Solitaire. They never shopped much at Gamestop. Digital media won't work unless it's client-server, where you don't have to download a ton of data. I could be wrong, but I don't think you can get the performance/graphics of the current games in that scenario.
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    Insert Coin (Level 0) danawhitaker's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Greg2600 View Post
    Gamestop didn't get that large by casual gamers. Whether it's a 10 year old kid or a 30 year old, if you play several hours a week or more, you're hardcore. Casual gamers are people who like playing simplistic facebook games or Solitaire. They never shopped much at Gamestop. Digital media won't work unless it's client-server, where you don't have to download a ton of data. I could be wrong, but I don't think you can get the performance/graphics of the current games in that scenario.
    Exactly. I don't know many "casual" gamers who game on anything other than an iOS/Android device or a PC. They game because a device they use happens to have gaming capabilities - they don't go out and buy devices that are dedicated to gaming, and they generally don't custom build their PC with gaming in mind. I don't know any casual gamers (and by casual, I mean the Angry Birds/solitaire-playing types of people, not casual as in "I don't have a lot of time to play") who go out and buy anything like a 3DS or Vita or a console of any kind.

    I've been down this road with the "casual" gamer distinction in World of Warcraft. Casual gets applied to people who don't have a lot of time to spend on the game, implying they're just inherently worse than other gamers or don't have their priorities straight when it comes to their hobbies. I think that's an incorrect application of the term. I believe the term casual should be applied more to gamers who don't really invest (time-wise or monetarily) in games the same way almost anyone posting on this forum does. Heck, even though I cited Angry Birds above, I have the 360 version, and I've probably put about 30-40 hours into it already. That's considerably more time than anyone who downloads it to their iPhone and fiddles around with it while they're waiting to pick their kid up from school or on the commute to work, etc.

    Can anyone here honestly say that they've shifted their gaming from consoles and handhelds to their phone now that smartphones are so prevalent? I'd find that hard to believe. What's happened instead is that the gaming industry has picked up an entirely new group of players that was sort of left out before. I guess the only scenario I can see someone viably saying that is if they shun all modern consoles and play a lot of older emulator type stuff. That's not to say there's no overlap between those groups - I play games on my daughter's iPod when I'm bored and she's not using it too - but I'd never consider it a replacement for the 3DS or 360 or Wii U or even my older consoles.

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    Quote Originally Posted by danawhitaker View Post
    Can anyone here honestly say that they've shifted their gaming from consoles and handhelds to their phone now that smartphones are so prevalent? I'd find that hard to believe.
    Believe it.

    Gamer of 30+ years. Collector, enthusiast, historian, very easily categorized as "hardcore".

    I play all manner of mobile games daily without fail, probably only fire up the consoles a few times a week and pick up the Vita and 3DS once a week, sometimes less.

    The phone is with me all day long wherever I go all day long. The consoles and portables are not.

    While there is a strong concentration of gaming traditionalists rallying against the concept and spreading the gospel of anti-moblie gaming every chance that they get, I'm not some kind of bizarre outlier.

    Logic and reason states that if the install rate of mobile gamers is in the millions that you're going to get a high percentage of core gamers exposed to it and a portion of that percentage that doesn't have any kind of "too cool for school" turned-up nose at the prospect of enjoying mobile gaming alongside any and all other aspects of the world of gaming that they love.
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    Great!



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    Why would anyone be sad that Gamestop is closing considering you can get anything online for cheaper? eBay, newegg and Amazon are your friends.

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    i'm hoping one of our gamestop locations close, its become corrupt any way

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    Quote Originally Posted by Flashback2012 View Post
    Try not to interpret this as an attack but are either of you employed full time? Both of you strike me as younger and more impulsive with your opinions; the type that "shoot first and ask questions later." I know firsthand how crappy GS is because I worked for them for just shy of 10 years but their poor service/practices/polices notwithstanding, how is it ever a good thing for a company that has 4.7-6.6K locations worldwide and employs between 17-20K people to go belly up? Regardless of what the politicians and pundits say, to me it feels like we're still one foot in the water regarding a recession. There's like 3M+ currently on unemployment and I read another 38K first time claims were reported just this past week so who in their right mind would want that number to grow bigger?

    Hostess employed roughly the same number of people and for the most part their brand was revered by many; should we ask their workforce of approx. 18K-ish people how they feel about being now unemployed?
    If Gamestop goes under it would just allow other opportunities for new businesses to take it's place. Maybe we'll see a rise of independent stores again since most of the previous existing ones were forced out due to Gamestop's competition. Plenty of big businesses go under when they become redundant or make poor decisions, not just recently due to the current economy problems. Plus there's no localized culture anymore, why travel anywhere when it's all the same? You can travel across the country to see what's there, you can visit their Walmart or Target, eat at their McDonalds or Starbucks, all of which have practically identical product to any other location. What's worse now is that most of the big box stores carry the same products as their competitors, all that varies is the pricing between them. It's pretty boring shopping in new stores, at least shopping in used stores the items carried vary and change all the time. Nowadays I'd rather visit a thrift store or flea market than a shopping mall. I know Gamestop carries used goods which can vary, but current consoles don't really interest me so I don't see much point to visit these stores too often anyway.

    That being said I don't think Gamestop will go out of business so soon, cutting back some locations doesn't mean they're about to go under.

    Quote Originally Posted by retroguy View Post
    Aside from it just being a good story in and of itself, I think Pixar made WALL-E as a warning. They were trying to tell people exactly what you just said.
    While I liked the movie it was pretty hypocritical. They showed everyone being bombarded with advertising and propaganda promoting a giant corporation as their best friend, all part of cold big business. How do the makers of WALL-E choose to spread their warning of consumerism? They commercialize the movie as much as possible, creating as much merchandise as they can(including licensed video games) and integrating the characters into theme parks. They made the movie to make money, not just to tell a good story.

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    Really for current gen used stuff they get a lot of my business as they are one of the only gigs in town. If the game in question looks spotty when I got check out, I tell them no thanks and leave. If the case looks crappy I don't even make it to the register. Reall I used to go to them for the pre orders but in recent times I've switched to Amazon. Hard to beat their offers and release day delivery gurantee. Fr example I had Dead Space 3 on pre order. It dropped to 57.00 at one point and now I get it for 3 bucks less PLUS 20.00 in store credit as that is the extra incentive now. GameStop would never do that. Really other than Amazon most of my game buying is from Best Buy for the reward points mainly. I don't wish to see any business lose stores as that does put people out of work but the company and the spotty customer service are things all industries face.

    I have had far more good experiences in GameStop than a lot seem to have so my opinion is colored with that. But still price wise amazon is hard to beat.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Greg2600 View Post
    Gamestop didn't get that large by casual gamers. Whether it's a 10 year old kid or a 30 year old, if you play several hours a week or more, you're hardcore. Casual gamers are people who like playing simplistic facebook games or Solitaire. They never shopped much at Gamestop. Digital media won't work unless it's client-server, where you don't have to download a ton of data. I could be wrong, but I don't think you can get the performance/graphics of the current games in that scenario.
    If you're correct then I suppose we'll be seeing Gamestop and Nintendo DS sales continue to thrive over the years then.

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    I take no responsibility for the business of Gamestop! They have issues beyond the existence of consoles. If you mean 3DS, I would agree with Frankie that I think their time has come and gone. With TV's that can accept tablet data, the tablet can run the game, while you play on the TV using the tab screen touch or bluetooth controller. And there, you have a console. I would argue that powerful enough tablets, TV's like I describe, etc., do not have enough homes to eliminate the need for consoles quite yet. I mean, can an iPad run 1080p graphics that you get on 360/PS3?
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    Actually the new iPads are capable of 1080p. Most 360 and PS3 games have a 720p resolution. I can't think of any 360 games that have a higher than 720p native resolution and very few PS3 titles that do.
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    Don't misunderstand my position, I'm sure that GameStop will subsist just fine, and I also don't see consoles and portables going away anytime soon (nor do I want to see that), but I do see a gaming landscape undeniably altered by new platforms.

    The status quo has been shaken up and the traditions have been disrupted.

    But, this is a good thing. People who follow iOS and Android game development know that there hasn't been this volume and quality of creative independent game design/publication since the 8 bit computer era.

    I'm all for a landscape that supports and enables that, even if it causes some fallout in the bigger commercial avenues.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Griking View Post
    I've been saying for a few years now that Nintendo is in trouble. not that many people want to carry both a portable gaming system AND a cell phone with them. Especially when one of them can do both. Now, if Nintendo were smart they would design a Nintendo smart phone of their own that's essentially a DS in a phone. (Actually, if they were smart they would have done this a few years ago now.) And I don't mean a hand held that can make calls, I mean an actually smart phone that can play DS games.
    Yet 3DS sales are outpacing the DS which was the second highest selling system of all time by a very slim margin



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    Quote Originally Posted by Griking View Post
    I've been saying for a few years now that Nintendo is in trouble. not that many people want to carry both a portable gaming system AND a cell phone with them. Especially when one of them can do both. Now, if Nintendo were smart they would design a Nintendo smart phone of their own that's essentially a DS in a phone. (Actually, if they were smart they would have done this a few years ago now.) And I don't mean a hand held that can make calls, I mean an actually smart phone that can play DS games.
    I know that personally I just bought a 3DS specifically because I as unsatisfied with the gaming experience my iPhone and my iPad provided. Turns out buttons and directional pads/sticks are still pretty nice in their tactile feedback. Where touch screen mobile devices just can't replicate.
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    As stated in earlier in the thread GameStop is mostly unprofitable mall stores because, well, permanent leasing locations for malls are very expensive. It's cheaper per square foot to be outside of a mall. The name itself is all the traffic they need....

    So based on that, a lot of people in the thread are taking stabs at things that have nothing to do with the actual situation at hand.

    This is nothing new, we lost two mall GameStops here in the past 2-3 years just in my area and that's specifically because of high rent. A lot of the 5-7-10 year leases are up right now.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Gameguy View Post
    How do the makers of WALL-E choose to spread their warning of consumerism? They commercialize the movie as much as possible

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    Quote Originally Posted by Ryudo View Post
    Yet 3DS sales are outpacing the DS which was the second highest selling system of all time by a very slim margin
    Nintendo also had to drop the price of the 3DS only a few months after it's launch to accomplish this.

    I'm not suggesting that phones can do anything that dedicated portables can do but at this stage they seem to be able to do enough to satisfy a lot of people and they're still getting more and more advanced.
    Last edited by Griking; 02-05-2013 at 11:51 AM.

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