Circling the drain - The use of this title (ITT Best Buy trying to rape EBStop)

[Stormwaltz]

You know, it's funny. I'm primarily a PC gamer. I've got consoles now, I just don't use 'em all that much. I thought the stock situation of Gamestop and Best Buy I've experienced the last few years was unique to Edmonton, or Canada -- but no.

Every GS I've entered here in Maryland (and they're thick as flies -- I know of four within a 20 minutes of the office) has the same thing - PC games on one side of a chest-high, free-standing shelf. Usually they're battered and dusty. Very few new games at all.

The two Best Buys I've entered, by comparison, have 3-4 times the rack space of the Gamestops, with a good selection of games (don't even bother trying to find City of Abandoned Ships or HoI3 at Gamestop).

It's pretty clear to me who's going to be getting all my money now.

EDIT: Oh, this is my 1001st post. I bet the thousandth was even less consequential...

[Rasix]

I haven't bought a boxed PC game since WOLK.  Steam usually covers my needs.

Best Buy still has a long shelf.  GS has this ugly little cramped thing jammed with a hodgepodge games (mostly MMOs).  It looks foul.

[HaemishM]

I must be an anomaly then - I've never had anything but good luck with both new and used purchases from my local Gamestop. 

I've never gotten an unworking game at EBStop, and I buy almost exclusively used because I am both a cheap and broke bastard. However, I've found that the amount of desire I have to stab the employees in the face is highly variable based on location. We have 5 stores within a 30 minute driving distance. The two nearest me are full of annoying fuckwits that I wouldn't piss on if they were on fire. They make me want to slap kittens in their presence. Whether it's completely ignoring me EVEN AS I'M CHECKING OUT just to talk shit with their friends in the store or humping my leg like a dog in heat for preorders, they fill me with rage. Two others are mediocre. Friendly, but the stores are disorganized. The last is in the posh section of the posh suburb where I went to high school (posh for Mississippi that is). Those guys have their shit together. I went in one night specifically to get Rugby 2006 for the PS2 used because the web site said they had one in stock. Not only did they have it, the guys behind the counter knew exactly where it was because all the used games were in alpha order. And I don't just mean the used games on the wall, I mean in the motherfucking chock full bargain bins on the floor, where they shove all the $10 or less used games. Best experience I've had at a Gamestop since they shit all over the EB Games name.

[Sky]

What really annoyed me is that ever since EB turned into pawn shop, and there is no market in used PC games, they eliminated nearly all PC games from offered selection altogether. Not having anything but used console games made shopping for a new game a prorder-agonizing experience where you have to keep track of release dates and such. Now I personally order from Amazon, despite in the past enjoying stopping by the game store and browsing selection of new PC releases.

Bought this last night. Walked into EB Gamestop and the doofus working there asked if he could help me before he saw it was me. I gave my normal "I highly doubt it, I'm a pc gamer" answer. He actually apologized and said "That rack is all we have". "I know, and it's fucking pathetic" They of course don't have Anno 1404, but I had to try since I still have that $10 or whatever worth of console tradeins that's been sitting on a card for over a year, since they never have anything I actually want to buy. I go next door to walmart and buy Anno 1404, and hey there's Sacred 2 for $20. Fucking EB Gamestop.

I also usually buy online, I got lucky with walmart in this story, usually the trip ends in me mumbling incoherently about being utterly incapable of impulse purchasing.

The staff at the Gamestop here make me want to go all Schwarzenegger on them and drive my truck through the window, pinning them behind the desk. YA, DIS IS WHAT I THINK OF YOUR USED CONSOLE CRAP UND ALL OF DESE THINGS!

[AutomaticZen]

You know, it's funny. I'm primarily a PC gamer. I've got consoles now, I just don't use 'em all that much. I thought the stock situation of Gamestop and Best Buy I've experienced the last few years was unique to Edmonton, or Canada -- but no.

Every GS I've entered here in Maryland (and they're thick as flies -- I know of four within a 20 minutes of the office) has the same thing - PC games on one side of a chest-high, free-standing shelf. Usually they're battered and dusty. Very few new games at all.

The two Best Buys I've entered, by comparison, have 3-4 times the rack space of the Gamestops, with a good selection of games (don't even bother trying to find City of Abandoned Ships or HoI3 at Gamestop).

It's pretty clear to me who's going to be getting all my money now.

EDIT: Oh, this is my 1001st post. I bet the thousandth was even less consequential...

Gamestop stopped caring about PC games long ago.

ZeniMax is Bethesda Softworks, right?  You'd actually be well off going to MicroCenter in Rockville.  It opened last year in the old husk of where CompUSA used to be.  I went there this weekend, and found DAI-FUCKING-KATANA brand-new in box.  Why?  No freaking clue.  It was $6 though, which is still more than Daikatana is worth.

[Strazos]

I remember finding a copy of Asheron's Call 2, new, in a CompUSA. They were trying to sell it for $20.

The same month the game was slated to shut down. 



Also, Haemish - That nice store you liked is probably the District Manager's home base store. That's how it is near me anyway, and that store is Very busy.

[Hindenburg]

It was $6 though, which is still more than Daikatana is worth.

The somewhat surprising part is that you are correct. I thought the game would have some sort of niche value nowadays, and, well...

[Hawkbit]

Micro Center is based out of Columbus, Ohio here; I actually worked at their home office for 10+ years before going into the library system in Columbus.  Their prices are high compared to internet sites, but they rarely junk stuff so you can find really obscure games there usually. 

For example, the broadsheet I got this past weekend had Nox on sale for like $10.     Not a joke.  Hell, nobody even played that game when it was released, let alone 10 years from then.

I could make nerds cream their pants if I went into detail on the employee sales we had.  Nothing over a dollar.  That server rack?  $1.00.  That 20# box of CDrs?  $1.00.  Demo PCs given to us for testing?  $1.00.  God damn those quarterly sales were    Stacks and stacks of software, all $1.00, as much as you could carry in your arms to your car.  Then back again.  and again.

[Strazos]

HEY, I played Nox when it came out. I even liked it.

I still have it! 

[Merusk]

Micro Center is based out of Columbus, Ohio here;

I love that place. I'm willing to pay the 'slightly higher than internet' prices for objects I can see and fiddle with.  Microcenter hits that very well.

[Tannhauser]

You know, it's funny. I'm primarily a PC gamer. I've got consoles now, I just don't use 'em all that much. I thought the stock situation of Gamestop and Best Buy I've experienced the last few years was unique to Edmonton, or Canada -- but no.

Every GS I've entered here in Maryland (and they're thick as flies -- I know of four within a 20 minutes of the office) has the same thing - PC games on one side of a chest-high, free-standing shelf. Usually they're battered and dusty. Very few new games at all.

The two Best Buys I've entered, by comparison, have 3-4 times the rack space of the Gamestops, with a good selection of games (don't even bother trying to find City of Abandoned Ships or HoI3 at Gamestop).

It's pretty clear to me who's going to be getting all my money now.

EDIT: Oh, this is my 1001st post. I bet the thousandth was even less consequential...

Same experience.  I went into GS looking for HOI3 and the guy says "PC games aren't really our thing".  Needless to say he didn't have it.  So I went next door to Wal-Mart and they had several copies.  I hate buying at Wal-Mart, but it's the only other place in town that sells games.  I wanted to help out GS, but now they "aren't really my thing."

(My god, the crawling, swarming mass of disease-ridden vermin at Wal-Mart.  They were  as thick as bloated flies around the $1 bins)

[ghost]

There's this thing called Amazon........

Seriously, I haven't bought a game at a walk in store in years.  Plus, if you wait around long enough for Steam, everything will eventually go on a good sale.

[Phire]

soccer moms

Ah yes my MILF club how I miss thee!

I really wish we could have operated that store under our own name without EBs corporate shenanigans, it was an awesome store with awesome people. I guess it was a good thing I never communicated with the DMs as it kept them out of our store for the most part.

Although you have to admit we...or I...am guilty of installing games and playing them on my laptop. Remember Half Life 2: Episode 1? I killed that game in one shift.

[NiX]

Yeah, but we defected that bitch before we left... didn't we?

[Hayduke]

Gamefly is nice for used games since you know what you're getting beforehand, but can't say I've ever had a problem with used games from other places.  But yeah, it's Newegg, Amazon or Steam for me now.  Not really for any fault from Gamestop either as I've never had a bad experience there.

[Sky]

Newegg's software delivery != Newegg's hardware delivery.

I'm so used to getting newegg stuff the morning after I order it (with their free shipping), I was disappointed when Drakensang took over a week to arrive.

And though I gripe about the inability to make impulse buys, it really only bites me twice a year at most. I generally plan way ahead for purchases, whether release date or my list of game I watch to hit the bin. My newer gripe is about amazon making it so easy for bin clearinghouses to step in and keep prices of games high. 1701 Gold should've been $20 at most by now, but it's still $30. So I bought the new one instead. My buying of bin games has gone way down since the pricing slowdowns. I've bought more through Steam sales than online bin boxes this year.

[rattran]

I buy all games through Amazon or Steam anymore. The only thing I kinda miss impulse buying is books, but the shit selection at the local Borders, and hovering annoying shits at B&N here make Amazon all that sweeter.

There are 3 EBGamestops here. They had 1 helpful, knowledgeable employee between them, and he's in prison now for terrorism.

[Segoris]

I almost always go to Steam for PC and Amazon for console. The GS closest to me is trash, same as the one described above  where the employees ignore you even when paying for an item. The other one is a 20min drive and it depends on who's working if service is acceptable or not. The store itself is normally clean and usually pretty well maintained, so that's a bonus.

For the Newegg thing, since I've never had a part arrive before the 5th business day and Amazon is normally a faster arrival for me, I don't even think of ordering games from Newegg.

[sinij]

For me, buying through Steam is unclean. I will never buy anything from fuckers that fagged-up my CS.

[schild]

For me, buying through Steam is unclean. I will never buy anything from fuckers that fagged-up my CS.

That makes you a retard.

[ghost]

I impulse buy on the internet all the time.  I have, what, 40 Steam games to prove that.  This Newegg 1 day software thing intrigues me........

Really, the last time I went to Best Buy to pick up a game they didn't have it in stock, however they did have Hellgate London in stock (post shut down).  I can wait 2-3 days.

[ghost]

For me, buying through Steam is unclean. I will never buy anything from fuckers that fagged-up my CS.

Do you bury all your money in your back yard in Mason Jars? 

[Triforcer]

Oh, lay off him.  I seem to recall that when Steam was first introduced, it was trendy for some obscure nerd-politics reason to be dead set against it around here.  For politeness's sake, I won't name names. 

[schild]

Oh, lay off him.  I seem to recall that when Steam was first introduced, it was trendy for some obscure nerd-politics reason to be dead set against it around here.  For politeness's sake, I won't name names.

Back when it was buggy and unbearably slow? Sure. And when Nintendo packages a regular controller on a high-def unit that isn't a couple gamecubes strapped together and a pack-in game that isn't made for mouthbreathers, we'll get off their ass too.

[Paelos]

Steam has taken more of my money in the last 6 months than any other gaming outlet. The reason is specials, the $19.99 factor, and Mount and Blade.

[Trippy]

Oh, lay off him.  I seem to recall that when Steam was first introduced, it was trendy for some obscure nerd-politics reason to be dead set against it around here.  For politeness's sake, I won't name names. 

I'm one of those people and I still think that way. Unfortunately I'm a weak-willed lazy bum and I actually have a real Internet connection now so some of their sales have been too good to pass up.

[gryeyes]

Despised steam when it first launched but they have redeemed themselves a million times over. Steam is now mandatory for PC gamers. LIVE IN THE NOW!

[Azazel]

I'm fine with steam for sale products, and obviously, Valve products.

Otherwise I prefer the packaged versions. Though even then unless it's something I MUST play immediately I often wait for it to get cheap locally, or get it from these guys. http://www.startupmedia.co.uk/ which is hugely cheaper than buying locally.

At the moment, Borderlands and Modern Warfare 2 strike my interest..

Really though, most of my buying for the last year or so has been cheap-ass 360 games on sale. Sometimes I even get what I pay for. 

For me, buying through Steam is unclean. I will never buy anything from fuckers that fagged-up my CS.

That makes you a retard.

It took that? 

[NiX]

Triforcer has a point. () When Steam was released everyone here was shitting all over it like it was the bubonic plague and predicted it wouldn't get anywhere as a digital distribution method.

[Sky]

This Newegg 1 day software thing intrigues me........

Newegg's software delivery != Newegg's hardware delivery.

Hardware I generally get next day, software is slow.

[Stormwaltz]

When Steam was released everyone here was shitting all over it like it was the bubonic plague and predicted it wouldn't get anywhere as a digital distribution method.

I still prefer boxes I can see on my shelf. Steam is good for sales on my "second tier" games I wouldn't have tried at full price (Dawn of War), indies ( Dangerous High School Girls in Trouble), and games whose boxed versions come with draconian DRM that I refuse to allow on my PC (X3, Mass Effect -- oh yeah, I went there).

[Rishathra]

Triforcer has a point. () When Steam was released everyone here was shitting all over it like it was the bubonic plague and predicted it wouldn't get anywhere as a digital distribution method.

That's because it was a complete piece of shit when it was released.  It's cleaned up a bit since then.

[schild]

Triforcer has a point. () When Steam was released everyone here was shitting all over it like it was the bubonic plague and predicted it wouldn't get anywhere as a digital distribution method.

They fixed their problems.

As compared to Mythic with Warhammer, where problems weren't fixed. Sinij is just being a stupid, idiot, retard troll with his THEY HURT MAH COUNTERSTRIKE bullshit. GTFO with that crap and Triforcer's white knighting.

He doesn't have a point, he's just being a troll. No one here has ever had any quarrel with products that actually go through and fix their shit. Hell, look at Eve (and EQII to varying degrees).

I still think the former is Not a Good Game (TM), but I'd be a fool to say it wasn't 10x better.

[HaemishM]

With the vast amount of just crazy good bargains they have just about every goddamn week, shitting on Steam for being a buggy POS when it was released is the height of idiocy. But, you know... Sinji.

[WindupAtheist]

For me, buying through Steam is unclean. I will never buy anything from fuckers that fagged-up my CS.

Did they add Trammel?