Preowned Games ate my baby.

[Flood]

From reading Schild's post I can divine that he has some personal knowledge of how an EB/GS works behind the scenes. 
For myself, as a former star on the parabolic career arc of the EBGames management team, I can attest to the fact that what Schild's saying is correct.


Every day, the loyal and well-drssed staff at your local EB/GS is brow beat with their sales numbers for the previous day, then threatened bystaple remover to the jugular with termination if they don't sell XXX numbers of used games the following shift.  The XXX usually equates to a target figure of 3/4 of daily total sales.

Where I live (in southern/central California) the majority of my day was spent processing used games for credit.  I'd say... 70%?... of these games were stolen from another retail store, bought for 5 bucks a stack at the local swap meet, or used as beaver pelts when trading for big wampum (a.k.a crank, or whatever flavor of meth you like) with the bag whore that lives next to your mobile home.  Nothing like processing 17 "used" games so that the fine young gentleman with the tear drop tattoo and bulging backpack can buy a 30$ pre-paid cell phone card which EBGames just happens to place right next to the register.   
Those cards are handy.  If you don't have a phone it lets you hook it up via 3 way calling to your homey up in County so he can tell you about the lyrics he's been writing, while talking to his babies momma about his release date.  (Bonus Question: There's only one way to generate a land line phone bill of over 1000$ in a months time, can you guess what it is?)


To recap: the retail outlets are in the process of marginalizing the sale of new games.  Especially new PC games.  The profit margin (when compared to the trade-in system scam) is much too small.  Plus, the big brains in the Star Chamber know that the "average American" doesn't have the means to buy a computer powerful enough to run the caliber of game being released today.  Actually they don't have the means to own a PC at all.  Hence rise of the console, and the parallel evolution of the consoles to be more and more PC like.


Should we be concerned?  Hell yes we should.  We as PC gamers are riding an inner tube down the slope of our niche market, and at the bottom of our crevass it will be very dark indeed.         


P.S. - As much as I lurk here I only have a handful (3?) of posts on this board.  My very first post in these hallowed halls earned me a PM from Schild asking if I could see my way clear to, you know, give him a free copy or three of Windwaker.  For my polite denial I didn't even get a "thanks anyway" response.  /sadf. 
Point being I don't work for EB/GS or anything related to the video game industry any longer so requests for free products need not be submitted. kk

[schild]

P.S. - As much as I lurk here I only have a handful (3?) of posts on this board.  My very first post in these hallowed halls earned me a PM from Schild asking if I could see my way clear to, you know, give him a free copy or three of Windwaker.  For my polite denial I didn't even get a "thanks anyway" response.  /sadf. 
Point being I don't work for EB/GS or anything related to the video game industry any longer so requests for free products need not be submitted. kk

I don't remember and I apologize. Those people don't give so much as oxygen.

Cheddar just pointed out I might have been drunk. It's entirely possible.

[Paelos]

My money is on drunk too.

Usually, schild is good on the PMs. That post count doesn't come from the forums.

[schild]

HEAYEARGH. It was for the promotional copies of the Windwaker remake from the april fools joke in EGM (because I'm a tool).

Considering when that was though, there's a good chance I was drunk.

[HaemishM]

Considering when that was though, there's a good chance I was drunk.

When was it, when you were awake?

[schild]

Considering when that was though, there's a good chance I was drunk.

When was it, when you were awake?

Yarrrr, you've got a quick tongue on you.

That'll be $2 for the roleplaying show. Which you could have saved if you had an f13.edge card.

[WayAbvPar]

So, did you actually assault any of the Madden fanbois last night? We had speculation during our football draft that you might attempt to insert a Madden box into one of the more unruly types.

[Merusk]

I don't do pre-owned, except with automobiles. And porn. Hand me down porn is like Christmas.

Glad to hear it.  I've got a few builders you can talk to next time you're buying a house. ;)

[WayAbvPar]

I am resigned to the fact that I will never be able to afford a house in this lifetime, so I don't bother considering whether to purchase new or used. The housing market in this area is fucking insane.

[Merusk]

It's getting to be that way all over, so don't be blue.  The median price of a house was just announced as being $260k-ish.

Around here that gets you ~2800 sq ft from a 'mid range' builder on a 1/2 acre with a few nice upgrades.  I'd hate to see the shack you'd buy on the coasts.

[Samwise]

It's getting to be that way all over, so don't be blue.  The median price of a house was just announced as being $260k-ish.

Around here that gets you ~2800 sq ft from a 'mid range' builder on a 1/2 acre with a few nice upgrades.  I'd hate to see the shack you'd buy on the coasts.

In San Francisco that might get you a condemned house in a bad neighborhood.  Even where I live (other side of the bay) it's more like $500k for anything you'd want to live in.

[Flood]

Schild that post came off a little more shit-tay then I meant to sound, sorry.

Thanks for apologizing.  And obviously it didn't stop me from coming here and reading the forums.


Anyway.  Yea buying homes.  Holy shit.  The current insano value of realestate and such is the unspoken .com boom of this decade.  One of my best buddies bought a house for 350k four years ago.  Just appraised at 800k-ish he tells me this weekend.  Caveat this is in California, and near the coast too boot, where everything is insano.

[Sky]

I make the average for my region and can't afford to buy anything but a ghetto house. Hell, just renting is way too expensive, in my town with no industry or job base outside walmart. It leads to folks having so many roommates it's like being back in college again. The housing bubble is insane.

My girlfriend was weeding her book section, which has real-estate stuff in it. At one point she had a cart of books that made me physically ill: "How to Flip Properties for Quick Cash" "How to Get More Than Your House is Worth", etc. It's become (or has been for some time, more accurately), a market for sellers to assrape buyers. I have no idea why the market bears it, though, unless it's just so pervasive nobody has a choice (folks do need a place to live, after all, and renting is wastefull as all hell).

That's why I'm looking for undeveloped land, in the long run it's cheaper to do it myself. Lots of work involved with that, though.

[Viin]

Undeveloped land is certainly the way to go if you can either a) work at home, b) don't mind commuting 1-2 hours to work, or c) you are already retired.

I'd love to buy some land somewhere here in Colorado, but since I work in downtown Denver it'd be a hell of a drive every day. Any affordable land around here is quite a distance away. Right now I live 15 mins away from work (on back roads) so I don't feel like I spend the vast majority of my day either working or driving.

[Sky]

I live in the middle of NY state, tons of undeveloped, or at least agricultural, land. That's why I'm going that route. Right now it's all about saving for a fat downpayment to avoid insurance and bad rates. The rub is the amount of hard work involved in building a house, because I don't make shit for money (I'm not really complaining, though, I love where I work). I'm also looking for something situated on bedrock with lodgepole pines, that might put it out to an hour commute in a worst case scenario. But for my own private acreage that rivals the best adirondack camps...it's worth it imo.

I so don't want to live in the city I work in, which has no real positive benefits outside cable and food delivery, two things I can definitely live without just fine, given the upsides.

[Yegolev]

I'd guess that the low interest rates are what drive up real estate prices.  More people are looking at getting fixed-rate mortgages for really good rates and are willing to bite the bullet and move out of that ratty apartment or older/smaller home.  Demand goes up, prices go up... and more homes are built.  Of course they are all shitty, two-story rubber-stamp floorplans on 1/4 acre in a subdivision, but a new house can be had in my area for $100k if you are not too picky.

From someone who had a custom home built: don't do it.  If you have the free time and like hard work, you might be fine building it yourself.  At least do your research first.

[Sky]

Yes and yes. I don't make much money, but I also only work 35 hrs/wk with decent vacation/holidays. Also used to do a lot of manual labor, road construction, unloading trucks, roofing, etc. I'm looking at a half-stone, half-timber cabin as the main idea, details depending on the plot of land.

I really don't want to, but there's no alternative. I have no interest in living on a 1/4 acre of land surrounded by suburbanites.

Low interest rates may be a factor, but I still feel it's mostly real estate speculators and flippers. Can't even rent a shoddy apartment in the slum I live in for less than $500/mo, which is why I'm staying in my crappy $400/mo apartment. And just to head it off - I don't want to hear how cheap that is compared to LA or Frisco or whatever. I lived in both those cities, paying at least $1200/mo in rent, I know what fair rent should be for the economy of where I live. I'd also make 3x as much salary in a large metro ;)

[schild]

Used games. Devil. All that.

[Yegolev]

Sounds like you have your football tucked.  Good luck.  My dad built his new house in his spare time, got some help from friends.  Turned out pretty good, really.

I hate used games and the undead leeches that push them on an unsuspecting public.  I should go to EB and shove several used games, and a service plan, up the employees' asses... but not the big-tit one with the thong.

[Rasix]

Used games. Devil. All that.

You're much nicer about rerailing than I am.

Anyhow, I buy new just about always.  Maybe it's just because I make enough money or am superficial enough but I'd rather pay 5-10 dollars more for something that I know hasn't been abused by some greasy handed 13 year old.  Part of me also, if I know I'm going to like the game, wants to pay the developers.   I want them to make more of these games.  I want them to know that I voted with my wallet and picked their product.  If I'm going in with the mindset to buy used, I might as well just warez it.  Because I know I really don't give a shit about the game in that instance.  Sometimes, I know I got hoodwinked.  But that's just me bemoaning the fact I yet again bought something in a genre I know I don't like or got coerced into playing another bad MMORPG with my friends.

But really, most of it comes to I don't want to pay for something someone else has befouled.  I will not buy a used car.  I don't care about the $6K I just lost driving it off the lot.   No one's ass has been in my car seat for the past 3 years, and I like knowing that. I did buy a used house, but mainly because any new housing developments would have me living halfway to either Phoenix or the Mexican border.  I like living where there's available broadband and a mall nearby.

Of course, there's times when you just can't avoid used.  Some games are just impossible to find new. Then I don't feel bad and I don't mind that what I'm getting is someone's leftovers.

[WayAbvPar]

Maybe it's just because I make enough money or am superficial enough but I'd rather pay 5-10 dollars more for something that I know hasn't been abused by some greasy handed 13 year old.

Heh. That describes me to a T.

[Bunk]

I won't buy a used game unless I'm saving at least $20. I also refuse to bring in old games to trade in unless they are giving me $15 - $20 for it. If all they want to offer me is $5, it can sit on my shelf and collect dust.

A good example of what pisses me off: I like console wrestling games, I admit it. They are great for multiplayer hillarity when friends are over. The latest one from THQ came out last November. The reviews weren't great so I rented it. It wasn't good enough to warrent paying full price for, so I decided I'd wait and get it used down the road. Last I checked (EBGames) - they are still trying to get $55+ Cdn for a used copy. Fuck that shit.

What pisses me off the most, is that I know it will stay $55 till the day they release the next version.

Oh, and unless it's a quarter the price or has a hell of a warranty included, buying a used console = dumb.

[Margalis]

Pre-owned consoles come with good warranties. But, they are barely any cheaper, and if they do fail the aggravation just isn't worth it. The ONLY reason I got a pre-owned XBox was that all the normal ones were out of stock at the time.

[WayAbvPar]

A good example of what pisses me off: I like console wrestling games, I admit it. They are great for multiplayer hillarity when friends are over.

Heh- I spent a very entertaining New Year's Eve with some friends playing rasslin' games on the X-Box. My wife and I had an epic battle that would have been over MUCH sooner if either of us knew WTF the controls did  :-D

[schild]

The last New Years eve I played a game, it was Serious Sam. We played from start to finish in one sitting. I Bought a brand new copy just for that evening. Afterwards, I think it was thrown away with the liquor. Moral: If you don't buy used liquor, don't buy used games.

[Polysorbate80]

I rarely get to buy console games; $50 a pop for something that keeps me busy for at *most* a week is a bit pricey.  That's why I like renting--$6 for a 5-day rental, and that's probably all the gameplay I'll ever get out of it anyway.

I will buy a used game every now, usually something disposable.  Case in point:  I picked up "Celebrity Deathmatch" for a few bucks, got a few hours of brainless chuckles out of it, gave it away to somene else. $10 is my limit for used; if it's more than that it's not worth it.

"God of War" is actually the only new game I've purchased since Christmas, come to think of it...

[Roac]

I'll disagree with $50 for 3 days of fun being worth it.  There's nothing fundamentally different from games a year old that cost $20 to the ones that are brand new.  The graphics are only marginally better, and the gameplay pretty much the same.  Resident Evil 4 is the most I've paid for a game in a long time, but even then I waited until it came down some (I bought it at < $40).  Aside from that, there are plenty of other games I can play for far less; I enjoy playing poker with my friends, and the poker set cost something like $10.  I assure you I get more than 3 days of fun out of that set.

There are people who can't stand not having things day of release of course, and more power to them.  I am happy that their money is funding the advancement of the industry for my benefit.  If the margin is there to keep prices up high, I guess go for it; that's just good business.  The reselling market has got to be hitting them in the pocket though, since almost all the console games I buy are used.  There's no reason not to; they're cheaper, and they work 95% of the time.  Whenever they don't, I just take them back.  When they often cost half as much as a new title... what's the point?  Give me a reason not to.

[Hanzii]

Yes and yes. I don't make much money, but I also only work 35 hrs/wk with decent vacation/holidays. Also used to do a lot of manual labor, road construction, unloading trucks, roofing, etc. I'm looking at a half-stone, half-timber cabin as the main idea, details depending on the plot of land.

I really don't want to, but there's no alternative. I have no interest in living on a 1/4 acre of land surrounded by suburbanites.

Low interest rates may be a factor, but I still feel it's mostly real estate speculators and flippers. Can't even rent a shoddy apartment in the slum I live in for less than $500/mo, which is why I'm staying in my crappy $400/mo apartment. And just to head it off - I don't want to hear how cheap that is compared to LA or Frisco or whatever. I lived in both those cities, paying at least $1200/mo in rent, I know what fair rent should be for the economy of where I live. I'd also make 3x as much salary in a large metro ;)

I just bought a very small house for $288K. That is, without going into technical details I can't translate the terminology to, I sealed the deal, set the loan and interest, but won't move in/start paying before the 1st of october. In the months I've been a houseowner, without technically owning a house (and thus not paying) the value of my house has risen $32K...
Crazy.


Used games? Won't have 'em. I only buy new stuff.

[MrHat]

Crazy Hanzii, you should look into that for a business :p

I paid 1250/mo to live in fucking Boulder, CO.  I wish it had been Frisco.

[Sky]

I wish it had been Frisco.

Frisco in the early 90's, in my example. And not 'Frisco, but a small suburb in East Bay, close to scenic and crime-free Oakland. Behind a row of warehouses.

I can't imagine what rent in the city was like.

[schild]

Madden sold 1.7million copies.




Sigh.

[Margalis]

Damn, that's pathetic. The new Madden this year is by all accounts almost the same as last year.

I own one version of Madden, GC 2002 (?), I got on EBay. If there was ever a game you don't have to get on the day it comes out, Madden is it. They change so little from version to version, being 3 years behind barely matters unless you are a nut who has to have the latest roster or you'll just die.

[Sky]

Madden sold 1.7million copies.

[HaemishM]

unless you are a nut who has to have the latest roster or you'll just die.

Unfortunately, there really isn't much of an option. If you want to play today's football, you have to buy one with the latest roster updates. In the days when buying a sports game on the PC was a good thing, you could usually get updated rosters from some sites for the previous year's game. But on consoles? No luv. About the only thing you can do is find somebody who is insane enough to rate all the new players, print out their roster ratings, and input every new player and roster move into the custom rosters on new games. Yes, that's patentedly ridiculous, something I used to do for baseball games back in the day, but on a console... /shudder.

Most people play sports games to play through the current season. Thus EA has them by the balls.

[MrHat]

unless you are a nut who has to have the latest roster or you'll just die.

Unfortunately, there really isn't much of an option. If you want to play today's football, you have to buy one with the latest roster updates. In the days when buying a sports game on the PC was a good thing, you could usually get updated rosters from some sites for the previous year's game. But on consoles? No luv. About the only thing you can do is find somebody who is insane enough to rate all the new players, print out their roster ratings, and input every new player and roster move into the custom rosters on new games. Yes, that's patentedly ridiculous, something I used to do for baseball games back in the day, but on a console... /shudder.

Most people play sports games to play through the current season. Thus EA has them by the balls.

Bet that was a big reason that EA went afer the NFL.  The next big madden killer was going to be NFL 2k6 where you can just DL new rosters.