Is Gamestop Evil? The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

[Jmustang1968]

Man the GameStop around here is doing a crappy job stocking the more "obscure" titles. They never had Muramasa Rebirth in stock (except for maybe pre-orders), nor do they have Time and Eternity.

I always like ordering the NISA stuff from their store. But most Gamestops that aren't the big regional one will only get 1 max of those obscure releases unless theybhave preorders.

I hear Time and Eternity is abysmal.

[hashiriya1]

I think I finally met the two most annoying GameStop employees ever.

Today I went to the Danville store to pick up Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon.

As I was browsing other games, this 20-something woman comes in and said she wants to reserve the Xbox One. The two employees berated her and asked her "Why would you want that piece of garbage?" I felt sorry for her. She looked kind of hurt and shocked. Then one of the guys said in a matter-of-fact tone: "I was at E3, OK, I saw the Xbox One, it's trash." She said "How is it trash?" and he then scoffed at her and said "Seriously? You don't know?" At this point the other employee kinda eased off, but Mr E3 continued to tell her what a stupid decision she is about to make. She was asking genuinely good questions about both the PS4 and Xbox One, but he kept cutting her off or correcting any misinformation she had with a very condescending tone.

About 5 minutes later the Sony rep comes in and drops off promotional posters, boxes, etc for the PS4. When he did, Mr E3 said to the Sony rep "This guy works for Sony. Hey Bob (not real name), tell this nice lady that the Xbox One is garbage and that she should get a PS4 instead." The Sony rep just said: "Do research on both and see which one fits your needs." Mr E3 wasn't happy that the Sony rep didn't back him up.

At that point I just brought the game to the counter and he said "You know there's a newer Fire Emblem game, right? But it's for 3DS, so it won't work on your DS, so would you like to trade your DS in for a 3DS? You can play DS games on 3DS" I then said in a not-so-nice tone "I'm going to play this on my 3DS, ass" After that he shut up.

The woman continued to ask questions about the Xbox One and the PS4, but this time to the Sony rep. The Sony rep was being really nice to her and telling her a lot about both systems. +1 for the East Bay Sony rep, -2 for Game Stop.

[Retrodude]

To be fair, the Gamestop employee is correct about the XB1. He shouldn't have been such a douche about it, though. A polite "are you sure?" would have been enough. If people want to invite Microsoft to spy on them, that's their business.

[dsheinem]

To be fair, the Gamestop employee is correct about the XB1. He shouldn't have been such a douche about it, though. A polite "are you sure?" would have been enough. If people want to invite Microsoft to spy on them, that's their business.

Fuck that. Stop spouting uninformed nonsense. The Xbox One is shaping up to be a fine console that has some compelling features, some of which are not going to be on PS4. You're no better than the asshole GS employee by perpetuating this bullshit.

[Retrodude]

I understand they removed the "no used games" and "always on" features that people complained about, but AFAIK they said nothing about being able to turn off the Kinect. The implication is that it will still be always on and always watching whether you know it or not. I don't know about you, but I'd rather not invite Big Brother into my house voluntarily. Regardless of any other good points, of which there might indeed be many, that one is a deal breaker for me. Sorry.

[dsheinem]

I understand they removed the "no used games" and "always on" features that people complained about, but AFAIK they said nothing about being able to turn off the Kinect. The implication is that it will still be always on and always watching whether you know it or not. I don't know about you, but I'd rather not invite Big Brother into my house voluntarily. Regardless of any other good points, of which there might indeed be many, that one is a deal breaker for me. Sorry.

if you are paranoid about the kinect spying on you:

-don't attach it or turn it off (my plan unless I see compelling games/uses for it)
-don't connect online
-turn it around/cover it except to game

"Big Brother" is not going to see you walking around your house nekkid, don't worry.

Edit: here-- http://news.softpedia.com/news/Xbox-One ... 9230.shtml

more recent reports also have speculated about a kinect free bundle. while MS has denied this, it makes me think disconnecting all together will be an option

[SNKnicotine]

Personally, I will probably hold off on getting the 1st gen release. When I bought my Xbox (on release day) it only lasted me 2 years before it died [costing me hundreds of dollars in the process]. I think I'm going to play it safe this time. Both consoles look good though (especially the region free Xbox1)

[CRTGAMER]

I think I finally met the two most annoying GameStop employees ever.

About 5 minutes later the Sony rep comes in and drops off promotional posters, boxes, etc for the PS4. When he did, Mr E3 said to the Sony rep "This guy works for Sony. Hey Bob (not real name), tell this nice lady that the Xbox One is garbage and that she should get a PS4 instead."

The Sony rep just said: "Do research on both and see which one fits your needs." Mr E3 wasn't happy that the Sony rep didn't back him up.

The woman continued to ask questions about the Xbox One and the PS4, but this time to the Sony rep. The Sony rep was being really nice to her and telling her a lot about both systems. +1 for the East Bay Sony rep, -2 for Game Stop.

That is shocking. Even if the Gamestop employees do not like a system, they are supposed to represent all the products they sale. The employee should have given the exact same answer as the Sony Rep, even taken further and discuss the features of each console without throwing in personal preferences.

The Good
Gamestop let me swap out an open Kirby Dream Collection for a new CIB sealed copy which was retagged as used. I really love their used game policy; seven days exchange or refund even if the game is not defective!

[MrPopo]

I understand they removed the "no used games" and "always on" features that people complained about, but AFAIK they said nothing about being able to turn off the Kinect. The implication is that it will still be always on and always watching whether you know it or not. I don't know about you, but I'd rather not invite Big Brother into my house voluntarily. Regardless of any other good points, of which there might indeed be many, that one is a deal breaker for me. Sorry.

if you are paranoid about the kinect spying on you:

-don't attach it or turn it off (my plan unless I see compelling games/uses for it)
-don't connect online
-turn it around/cover it except to game

"Big Brother" is not going to see you walking around your house nekkid, don't worry.

Edit: here-- http://news.softpedia.com/news/Xbox-One ... 9230.shtml

more recent reports also have speculated about a kinect free bundle. while MS has denied this, it makes me think disconnecting all together will be an option

What Retrodude doesn't know is I secretly installed a series of cameras throughout his living space a few years ago. I pipe the feed straight to the Pentagon.

[Fragems]

Had another good experience today.

Went to the South Point, OH gamestop again, but this time it was a different clerk. However the service was just as good as my last visit had a nice little chat about L.A.I.R. while he retrieved the 8 games I bought.

Best part was I had been looking to pick up L.A.I.R. for cheap for a while now but I could never find it for under $15 locally and gamestop only seemed to have loose copies. Well finally I broke down and was going to buy a loose copy since I highly doubt GS is going to keep them in stock for long at $3 a pop. Well the guy gets to digging in the draw for the loose game and low and behold he comes back with a CIB copy .

Spent $30 once again all CIB thanks to the clerk . An interesting bonus I didn't know about was "Power Gig" actually came with a pack of replacement guitar strings and a few picks they are cheapies that I wouldn't actually consider using, but it was cool to find them under the manual especially considering it was only $1.50 .