Retailer Rage!

[Wardi Boi]

I've never been as obsessed to get my hands on a game other than Dark Souls, it just looks so intriguing but that's not the point. Over the weekend, I decided that I was going to buy it from GAME while I was in town as it's my first choice for buying games but when I got there, it was all sold out. This surprised me to say the least but I shrugged it off and went to another GAME close by but they didn't have it either.

After two failed attempts, I finally decided to try HMV and and the extremely desperate option, Tescos, and guess what... THEY DIDN'T HAVE IT EITHER! However, the strange thing was that they had plenty of copies for PS3 but not for the 360.

Needless to say, I was annoyed and my Dark Souls lust has only been building up while I wait for the next weekend. Has anything similar happened to you folks with regards to gaming shops or anything of the like.

 

[Cowabungaa]

And that's why I almost never buy from stores, and always order my games at webshops. I mean really, why would anyone still shop at a regular gameshop? They're so much more expensive than webshops.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

All the time. EB and Gamestop basically require a pre-order before they'll stock anything. All they ever seem to have on the shelf is wildly overpriced copies of ancient games. After numerous failed attempts to support the local brick and mortar merchant and coming up empty handed, I just buy 98% of my stuff on Steam now.

 

[EHKOS]

Yeah, I chased Jak 3 everywhere. All of a sudden I see 2 copies at Gamestop. Take it up to the counter, and the guy says they don't have any copies, and that it was a mistake. Fucking. RAGE.

 

[spartandude]

I had a similar problem, but then i went to BlockBusters and they had the limited edition for £30m Fuck yeah!

 

[Palademon]

And that's why I almost never buy from stores, and always order my games at webshops. I mean really, why would anyone still shop at a regular gameshop? They're so much more expensive than webshops.

To get it immediately...and act out the vague hope of meeting anyone since game shops are practically the closest thing I have to clubs for finding people of similar interest.

Spoiler: Forever alone

Ok, that second part was a joke...kinda. Well you can't rule it out...hopefully.

OT: Yeah, we've all had our moments of failing to find things. I was recently looking for Lego Star Wars: The Complete saga. Couldn't believe it took me months to find a 4 year old game. Then I found it on the platform I wanted in Argos of all places, then it was suddenly everywhere!

 

[twistedmic]

And that's why I almost never buy from stores, and always order my games at webshops. I mean really, why would anyone still shop at a regular gameshop? They're so much more expensive than webshops.

Are you factoring in shipping and handling costs when you say that games online (provided they are not downloadable games) are cheaper? Or are you just going by the price listed on the site?

Because if the game itself is five or six dollars cheaper online but I have to pay an extra three or four dollars for shipping and handling, I might as well just go on up to the nearest game store or Big Box Store (Wal-Mart, Target, Best Buy etc.) to buy the game and be home playing it in under an hour (most certainly by the end of the day).

 

[Cowabungaa]

To get it immediately...and act out the vague hope of meeting anyone since game shops are practically the closest thing I have to clubs for finding people of similar interest.

You mean you don't have webshops that deliver on launch day? Hell, I often order at webshops that ship before launch day. I get plenty of games a day early.

The meeting spiel...well yeah, I've long since given up on that anyway. I use the comic book store for that, and my RPG/boardgame club.

Are you factoring in shipping and handling costs when you say that games online (provided they are not downloadable games) are cheaper? Or are you just going by the price listed on the site?

Eeyup, though I've never heard of handling costs. I know some webshops that ship for free, and even if they don't I usually manage to get my games at least ?10 cheaper.

 

[UNHchabo]

Follow Bob's advice:
http://www.screwattack.com/shows/partners/game-overthinker/game-overthinker-episode-41-revolution

Get your local games stores to start stocking "obscure" titles, so that other people will have the opportunity to impulse buy. This will also hopefully improve the overall quality of games that people receive as presents.

 

[Rad Party God]

Heh, something like that happened to me early last year, but ironically, it was a compilation of older games and nobody had that freaking game, it was Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection for the Xbox 360 and, just like your story, they had plenty of PS3 copies, but not for the 360. I don't know why, but I suddendly got obsessed with owning a copy of that game. I literally went through a storm on foot just to get to a rather obscure store and they had the very last copy of the game, all new, tidy and wrapped up. "Shut up and take my money!" I said.

It was completely worth it.

 

[Jamash]

I've never been as obsessed to get my hands on a game other than Dark Souls, it just looks so intriguing but that's not the point. Over the weekend, I decided that I was going to buy it from GAME while I was in town as it's my first choice for buying games but when I got there, it was all sold out. This surprised me to say the least but I shrugged it off and went to another GAME close by but they didn't have it either.

After two failed attempts, I finally decided to try HMV and and the extremely desperate option, Tescos, and guess what... THEY DIDN'T HAVE IT EITHER! However, the strange thing was that they had plenty of copies for PS3 but not for the 360.

Needless to say, I was annoyed and my Dark Souls lust has only been building up while I wait for the next weekend. Has anything similar happened to you folks with regards to gaming shops or anything of the like.

Why don't you buy Dark Souls from GAME.co.uk?

They have the Limited Edition in stock and it'll probably be delivered to you before next weekend.

http://www.game.co.uk/en/dark-souls-limited-edition-131463?pageSize=20&searchTerm=Dark%20souls

I'm sure other online retailers will have it too.

 

[Wardi Boi]

I've never been as obsessed to get my hands on a game other than Dark Souls, it just looks so intriguing but that's not the point. Over the weekend, I decided that I was going to buy it from GAME while I was in town as it's my first choice for buying games but when I got there, it was all sold out. This surprised me to say the least but I shrugged it off and went to another GAME close by but they didn't have it either.

After two failed attempts, I finally decided to try HMV and and the extremely desperate option, Tescos, and guess what... THEY DIDN'T HAVE IT EITHER! However, the strange thing was that they had plenty of copies for PS3 but not for the 360.

Needless to say, I was annoyed and my Dark Souls lust has only been building up while I wait for the next weekend. Has anything similar happened to you folks with regards to gaming shops or anything of the like.

Why don't you buy Dark Souls from GAME.co.uk?

They have the Limited Edition in stock and it'll probably be delivered to you before next weekend.

http://www.game.co.uk/en/dark-souls-limited-edition-131463?pageSize=20&searchTerm=Dark%20souls

I'm sure other online retailers will have it too.

I've never bought online before, is it better than just lugging it down to the store because I just fear that it'll be damaged or something by the time I get my hands on it.

 

[Aeriath]

This is more a case of narrowly averted rage, but the occasion is when I went to collect my preorder of the Fallout NV collectors edition. When I got to the store the guy told me that they had none left, which was all the more annoying because I discovered that day that stores don't have to honour the preorder agreement. Fortunately another employee reminded the the guy that they did have one left, but that it was for the PC, which was fine because that's what I had ordered.

I do wonder how many people ordered the collectors edition on the 360 and PS3 and were turned away, if that were me I'd be angry enough to do something extreme, like write a harshly worded letter or something. [/britishstereotype]

 

[Jamash]

I've never been as obsessed to get my hands on a game other than Dark Souls, it just looks so intriguing but that's not the point. Over the weekend, I decided that I was going to buy it from GAME while I was in town as it's my first choice for buying games but when I got there, it was all sold out. This surprised me to say the least but I shrugged it off and went to another GAME close by but they didn't have it either.

After two failed attempts, I finally decided to try HMV and and the extremely desperate option, Tescos, and guess what... THEY DIDN'T HAVE IT EITHER! However, the strange thing was that they had plenty of copies for PS3 but not for the 360.

Needless to say, I was annoyed and my Dark Souls lust has only been building up while I wait for the next weekend. Has anything similar happened to you folks with regards to gaming shops or anything of the like.

Why don't you buy Dark Souls from GAME.co.uk?

They have the Limited Edition in stock and it'll probably be delivered to you before next weekend.

http://www.game.co.uk/en/dark-souls-limited-edition-131463?pageSize=20&searchTerm=Dark%20souls

I'm sure other online retailers will have it too.

I've never bought online before, is it better than just lugging it down to the store because I just fear that it'll be damaged or something by the time I get my hands on it.

In my experience, it's much better than buying from the actual stores (so much so that I haven't bough a game from a shop in over 3 years).

Often it's about £5-£10 than the store price, it gets delivered to your door in 2 working days (or the day before the release date if you preorder) at no additional cost, and it's just much more convenient for me (as travelling to and from the store would cost me £5+ in bus fares).

I've never had any delayed, lost or damaged packages. The games are well packaged in a padded bag, air-cushioned box or protective cardboard sleeve (tougher than it sounds) and because GAME are an important business customer of Royal Mail, all packages are officially logged and trackable, so the chances of them getting lost, purloined or damaged are slim (and even then the onus is on GAME to replace it and seek compensation from Royal Mail, the customer shouldn't get charged for an undelivered game).