Quote Originally Posted by TRM View Post
A few noteworthy things.
To those who claim that a "new" game without shrinkwrap but never played is technically not new: I disagree with this opinion. Let's say that I go to Barnes and Noble and purchase a book which is for sale. Chances are, that someone had leafed through the pages previously, and maybe they even sat down to read parts of the book before buying it!?!? However, I am pretty sure that most people consider the books being sold at Barnes and Noble as new, despite the fact that they may technically have been fingered through (and thus potentially briefly used). On the other hand, if the disc at Gamestop was removed from the case but NEVER used, I really do not see how that alone makes the game used. If one tries to sell it later on eBay for instance stating that it was never used, yet is missing the shrink, there may be a problem because there really is no evidence supporting the fact that the game is indeed new. But the act of having the game removed from the shrinkwrap does not make it used, if it never was used.

On a further note, I believe that Gamestop employees should not be able to take the new games home or play with the new games. That would make the games used, and then selling them as new in this case seems a bit deceitful. However, if this was not allowed to happen, and the games were opened but never used, then they should be sold as new, because after all...they were never used!
You can't compare items that generally come sealed in plastic to those that don't.
Most books are released and priced accordingly. If any get messed up during their time on the shelf, they are taken care of most of the time.
This is not the same with games.

Also, to quote a GS employee: "If you buy a sealed game from us and open it, the game is now used whether or not you even opened up the case."
To this I said: "Why can you all open a game, do whatever you want with it, and call it new?"
His answer: "Sorry, there's a grey area there."

Gamestop absolutely makes me sick sometimes. :P