Buying Games in your country: What's it like?

[Ophiuchus]

I'm also British and have somewhat pushed the GAME/Gamestation places into 3rd place behind HMV in 2nd place and ordering online in 1st.

...

The site I use for pre-orders nowdays is GamePlay, due to the fact that games arrive before the release (usually the day before) plus free delivery and the price of the games is fair, never overpriced.

Pretty much this, at least in terms of pre-ordering... which, to be fair, I don't really do much these days 'cos I don't like to get stuff delivered when I'm at uni, I don't trust my flatmates and the others in our block as far as I could throw 'em. But really, the fact that I'm within half an hour of the biggest HMV and Zavvi stores in the country somewhat makes up for it.

The 'GAME vs Gamestation' thing is pretty much a non-argument for me: my brother's friend works in Gamestation and buys stuff for us on his staff discount... 'nuff said.

(By the way: hi, first post, etc.)

 

[nightfish]

Firstly we only have two major chains that everyone knows about and they're GameStation and GAME,

Owned by the same overall company

Both are rubbish to be honest, overpriced when compared to Gameplay or Amazon. There use to be a shop called Electronics Boutique - now EB in my town but they pulled out - although I don't know whether they are still going in other towns or cities.

 

[rougeknife]

Australia.
I pretty much order online or through digital distribution. Case in point, Mate of mine ordered a copy of the PC COD4 from the USA, cost him a THIRD, including postage and handling, of the price he would have paid from his local EB.

 

[Eyclonus]

In Australia, it's a pretty big rip for games. Games are priced at around AUD$110, which is actually quite close to the American $100.

Its only like that with the exchange rate sitting at roughly $1 aus for 96.6 US cents.
THQ has withdrawn everything from Steam at the moment and other companies are starting to limit theirs in the Australian section because of the massive boom in Oz/current pre-recession shrinkage in America. Give it some time(2-3 years) and games in Oz may be as high as $150 compared to a US $80. It only seems good because Oz has had a major boom throughout the late 90s and wasn't so badly affected by the .com bubble phenomena.

As for the stores well we have an EB right next to a GAME, within walking distance of a JB Hi-Fi (JB will cut their prices to 75% of the cheapest competitor for the same product).
Apart from the JB store all 3 EBs and the single GAME are all stuffed by weird Uni students. When the Wii had its first Oz shipment in 2008 only 2 EB employees turned up to the only open store.
The GAME store is new here and its entire staff are all embittered ex-eb games staff. its fricking hilarious when one store sets up a spruiker (tout for the very british and Solicitor for the Americans(which is funny 'coz lawyers in Oz are called Solicitors, they both try to take all your money )and the other store copies to keep competition/sucking more innocent souls.

 

[Frybird]

I'm from Germany and I share the OP's overall opinion. The only thing here I'd label as a rip-off is EB Games selling used games for about 1 to 5? less than the new ones. That's just hilarious, sry. Why would I buy those used games if the new ones are basically the same price?

Is that the same for all EB Games?

Oh, yeah, renting games is my primary source for gaming currently. Cheap, and sufficient for most games I'm interested in (single-player games).

 

[stompy]

Its only like that with the exchange rate sitting at roughly $1 aus for 96.6 US cents.
THQ has withdrawn everything from Steam at the moment and other companies are starting to limit theirs in the Australian section because of the massive boom in Oz/current pre-recession shrinkage in America. Give it some time(2-3 years) and games in Oz may be as high as $150 compared to a US $80. It only seems good because Oz has had a major boom throughout the late 90s and wasn't so badly affected by the .com bubble phenomena.

As for the stores well we have an EB right next to a GAME, within walking distance of a JB Hi-Fi (JB will cut their prices to 75% of the cheapest competitor for the same product).
Apart from the JB store all 3 EBs and the single GAME are all stuffed by weird Uni students. When the Wii had its first Oz shipment in 2008 only 2 EB employees turned up to the only open store.
The GAME store is new here and its entire staff are all embittered ex-eb games staff. its fricking hilarious when one store sets up a spruiker (tout for the very british and Solicitor for the Americans(which is funny 'coz lawyers in Oz are called Solicitors, they both try to take all your money )and the other store copies to keep competition/sucking more innocent souls.

Great... This sucks. I don't want to pay $150 for games, while the Yanks get 'em for $80. Really, I should start getting into PC gaming or something...

- A procrastinator

 

[Iffypop]

Owned by the same overall company

Both are rubbish to be honest, overpriced when compared to Gameplay or Amazon. There use to be a shop called Electronics Boutique - now EB in my town but they pulled out - although I don't know whether they are still going in other towns or cities.

Electronics Boutique got bought out by GAME if I remember correctly, a tad annoying because the only competition the UK highstreet has now is between HMV and GAME/Gamestation. I won't even go into CEX, because their prices are often a ripoff, sometimes their preowned stuff sells for more than new, I mean what, was it owned by Steve Vai or something?

 

[Mr.Expendable]

Iceland:
Expensive...
And Pre-ordering is not any cheaper thanks to import taxes...

 

[tiredinnuendo]

My experience with East Coast American shopping (read: No Fry's) has led me to a state where I do everything I can to order online or from Steam. I will go to Best Buy if I must go to a store.

I would rather not have a new game than set foot in another Gamestop/EB after the experiences I've had there. They aren't just a bad chain of stores, but rather they are good game shopping's complete and total opposite.

- J

 

[Rolling Thunder]

I personally loathe having to buy any videogames in this country because the only ones that get released are fucking super-marketed ones like HALO 3 and COD4 rather than, say, a decent strategy game. There is literally a two motherfucking week window of oppurtunity to grab any game in the shops, after which if you want to buy a game without the whole tiresome process of having nobjockey hackers steal your credit card number (Why in the name of HOLY MOTHERFUCKING CO- removed by brain- can't online stores accept debit cards!?).

As you can see, I am mildly irritated by this state of affairs. Sorry for the rant.

On the plus side, this country is so lawless you can practice piracy, cracking and various other reprehensible acts with literal impunity. Mainly because the police here don't give a shit because they've got murders and carjackings to solve, rather than attending to the whinging of corporate lobbies (which I realise now is a good thing, the police in all countries should ignore all small/medium scale piracy unless its funding REAL crimes).

So basically any gamer in SA becomes forced to commit illegal acts due to the acts of the distributors. So in essence, they bring this upon themselves. Damn right.

 

[aussiesniper]

Australia:

The newer games at EB often sell at $125 (as said previously) and I sometimes just wait 6 months for the price to fall. Or use steam, which I often do to avoid the 6-month wait.

I don't mail-order, because whenever I do that, It seems to get bogged down somewhere and arrives 2 weeks later, with the stench of burnt plastic covering the disc for some reason.

 

[Credge]

I usually walk into a store and look for the game. If it is there, I purchase it. If it is not, I walk out. There's no real difficulty.

No, I take that back. If I go to a store, such as Gamestop, I'll be annoyed to no end. "Can we help you with anything today?"

"Yeah, I'm looking for Shadow of the Colossus. Do you guys have it in stock?"

"Hmm... let me go check..."

And he disappears for an hour while I walk over to the S section of the PS2 quadrant of the store to see that they, clearly, do not have it. So I'll wait to see if, maybe, by some stroke of luck they have this rare gem. When they return, which is usually 30 minutes later, they say "No sorry, we sold our last copy yesterday (always yesterday mind you)... we have a few games that are similar to that. Would you be interested?"

"Sure, what ya got?"

"What console are you shopping for?"

"PS2, PS3, PC, Wii."

"Well, we have Lair..."

And then I walk out.

This conversation has happened more times than I can count. Please, don't try to sell me the games that you have piled up in the back. Please.

 

[CosmicStorms]

Britain:

If you're gonna pre-order a game and want a hope in hells chance of getting it the day it comes out, don't order from Game or Gamestation, countless times i've been told that they're no longer taking pre-orders even though the games still yet to come out for 3 months you're best bet is Blockbuster or HMV, don't know why, but no one bothers to go there for some reason. Or if you dont feel like going out of the house, either Play.com or Amazon as you're guaranteed either to get it the day before or on the day it comes out.

 

[wtftrauma]

Stompy,

Many Xbox360 games are not region locked (no PS3 game is region locked). If a 360 game is region locked then we can still purchase the europe PAL version.

Recently I came back from holiday via Singapore and noticed that new xbox360 games are around $70AUS. I purchase most of my 360, PS3 and PC games from an Asian online store now, much cheaper then Aus prices. Not sure if i'm allowed to post urls on this forum? It's quite handy as it lists if a game is region locked etc.

EDIT: Just checked and GTA IV is AUS$64.03, bit more reasonable then $120 or whatever the hell EB games is selling it for. (Sadly GTA IV is region locked though and they only have the NTSC version so far). Rainbow Six Vegas 2 is AUS$53 no region lock. Amazing what oz video game stores can get a way with.

Can't see anything in the post guidelines about listing urls so: www.play-asia.com

 

[cleverlymadeup]

I'm Canadian, and Retail Gaming Stores are really my only option. My roomies have ordered games online only to have them arrive horribly later than told (As in WEEKS horribly), nevermind the cost to get anything over the US/Canada border seems illogically high.

that's the us postal service for you, it takes 2-3 weeks if not more to get from the us to canada but canada to the us is a LOT faster

if you pay the extra to get it shipped via ups or something, i honestly hate that eb went to ups, they are a real pain in the ass to deal with and even worse if you have to work and can't be home during the day and calling them to send it to the depot for pick up is even worse. at least purolator will send it right to the depot and attempt delivery the next day and fedex will allow you to sign a box saying "leave it here"

ups will try to get your neighbours to pay for your package and sign for it, i'm half tempted to say "no this wasn't delivered to me" if they get my neighbour to sign and then say "we don't get along at all" when they say they gave it to my neighbour

My Younger Sister has regailed me with tales of going in knowing what she wanted and, if her clerk were a man, would try to heap every virtual puppy/kitty/horse game on her (She's TWENTY, by the way). I've also found it difficult to get what I want at any store I don't frequent, as clerks try to hawk the FPS/RTS of the moment on me at every opportunity. (I despise both genres, with rare exceptions).

The one I frequent is a Godsend as they have a diverse staff from which I can get more than one honest opinion with ease, long as they aren't swamped.

that's rather common for them to recommend girlie games for girls, cause well that's what a lot do play and want for themselves, girls who want fps' and rts games are few and far between. my annoyance is with clerks talking out their ass to give you an answer so they seem smart, sad part is i probly know more about games and computers and tech than they do and i will often correct them on the spot.

that whole just giving you and answer to satisfy you and try and get the sale is rather common, futureshop, rogers, bestbuy and ebgames all do that. granted some of their customers are REALLY stupid and don't know jack about computers or tech. but you should realize it won't work when someone comes in and asks you a highly technical question in the correct terms that bullshitting your way thru the answer is the wrong thing. i now ask to speak to a manager when they give me a bullshit line. rogers is horrible for giving you the wrong answer and blaming their issues on you.

now to answer the original poster's question

i don't find an issue ordering games or preordering, i only preorder if there's some good loot with a game i want or the game will be hard to get if i don't, such as the collector's version of gta 4. but for the most part i can usually go into my local ebgames and say "hey do you have any extra preorder stuff around?" when i get the game and the clerk will give me it.

tho now my friend is a manager at the local ebgames it kinda helps getting free crap cause i just ask him to set something aside for me. it also helps for preordering stuff cause i don't have to show my bill or id cause he knows me

tho with the extra money we canadians do spend it does have something to do with extra taxes and such but could also be a money gouge

 

[ayoama]

In Italy we have a similar situation, except for the violence issue (sellers just don't care, neither do the majority of parents :|).
I usually buy my games online (I looove play.com), but I also found that browsing in the electonic section of the biggest malls often leads to good bargains (Killer7 for 16?, three months after release ). It's a pity they have tremendously narrow selections of titles to choose from.
Electronic stores offer more games and you can also find limited editions, accessories, a variety of bundles etc., but prices are high. Also, their offer is still far from varied: I always had problems finding Gamecube games because the console wasn't as popular as the PS2.
Game stores are a rarity; they're more specialised in used games and imports, I guess (I never went into one of those personally).

 

[Anton P. Nym]

Canadian here, and I strongly advise against using UPS for cross-border purchases. The last time I did so they billed me $20 in brokerage fees for a CD. A plain-old music CD, retail value $16. "Brown" can just crawl back up its poop chute so far as I'm concerned.

I tend to buy my games from retailers, sadly the big-box ones these days like Future Shop (now owned by Best Buy) and Walmart as we're running out of small game stores. The selection is pretty good and the prices end up the same as anywhere else.

-- Steve

 

[Dragonclaw]

While I have heard plenty of horror stories about Gamestop/EB that is pretty much a regional thing depending on their DM. In my store, and other stores in my district, yes, you WILL be greeted with the "Anything I can help you find?" If the answer is "no" my team is instructed to simply say "well, if you do have any questions I'll be over here, feel free to ask". End of story...there is no need to brow beat a customer that wants to shop in peace And there is absolutely NO POINT in asking someone who's just walking in if they brought anything to trade in when they are obviously empty handed!

Once you get to the register, yeah, we are going to try to pitch a reservation, politely, if you don't want one...well that's OK too, I see no need to go all "high pressure" in my store and in the end I think we still get good results My staff has fanboys like any other store but the rule is "Leave your bias at the door" I wont have my team spouting how much they hate the 360 to a loyal Microsoft customer....ditto for PS3, Nintendo or PC.

As for pre-orders, yeah, if it's a really hyped game it may be a good idea, especially if you are going to buy the game anyway...I'd say it's much more important for those obscure titles that the store is likely to get 3-4 copies in and then maybe never again...especially if the Targets & Walmarts aren't going to carry it at all...

 

[cleverlymadeup]

Canadian here, and I strongly advise against using UPS for cross-border purchases. The last time I did so they billed me $20 in brokerage fees for a CD. A plain-old music CD, retail value $16. "Brown" can just crawl back up its poop chute so far as I'm concerned.

yeah ups is a pain, i had it once where they messed up the shipping on 2 items i had ordered from different companies with different tracking numbers, gave them the tracking number for one item, they changed the other order

i even asked for them to deliver it to a different location, a rather large financial company, they were like "we need a postal code" i'm like "look just say this address, it's in , the drivers come here at least twice a day they will know it by street address alone", wouldn't ship it

best buy sux for game selection up here and futureshop isn't much better and i refuse to support walmart, they hurt the economy and the environment more than any other company.

tho i remember going to best buy to get a dvd player cause it was easily region hackable, the guy asked me why i was getting it, i told him and he was like "wow i should get one myself", the dvd player also happens to be one of the best ones i've had, plays any disc i put in it AND it's region free now

futureshop i don't ask for help from the ppl in the store ever, i usually know more about stuff than them. so i go in there look for the game i want and if i don't see it leave again, same goes for bestbuy