As most probably know, game stop has a highly controversial policy of opening new games, and still selling them as new.

I was just checking out my game collection when I came across one of gamestop's "new" games which I bought from them, but never bothered to "open" (remove their stupid clear plastic seal) and god damn, it really bugs me looking at it now, the case is rather worn down, with tons of scratches from rubbing on other cases, dents in the plastic, gunk from stickers and that seal they put on is obviously going to warp and stretch the thin clear plastic of the case when removed.
This almost makes me want to spit on the people that defend their practices.
I mean, I was charged for a new game here.

but more importantly, Something I've been thinking about ever since I learned that they are required to recognise games with that seal as being new..
Would it be possable to go to one gamestop, buy a cheap used game, place a store bought identical seal on the game, then sell it for more at another gamestop?
How do their buying polices work in regards to buying "new" games?

>>4671
You will never be able to make a profit selling video games, used or new.

I live in a state in america where I get charged 10% sales tax for everything that I buy. It is often times cheaper (and hassle free) to buy through the internet.

I condemn gamestop practices because they basically cheat developers out of money. The game company only makes money off the fist sale that gamestop makes. But gamestop, instead of buying more stock from the game company when they run out, buys the same used game (for less) from people. They keep circulating it for full price, over and over and over. A single game could circulate through 10 different owners and game devs won't see a single penny from it. That's pretty much stealing profit.

>>4671
are you buying the game, or are you buying the packaging?

I've heard a lot of shit about Gamestop, but the Gamestop near where I live is staffed entirely by fellow Nippon Ichi and Atlusfags, so that's pretty nice. Sometimes I go to look around and talk a bit, but I never buy very much. I've gotten defective games from Gamestop before, though. "Tested" my ass.

>>4674
I'm a little bit of a collector, what can I say?

Brick an mortar stores aren't going anywhere.
Digital distribution is nice, but has some very serious problems. First not everyone has broadband; second, not having a physical copy of a game you buy is not a good thing.

That game you bought years ago? It is old and you can't play it anymore unless you pay for it again on a new system! Hey, it could happen.

That said, I fucking hate Gamestop. They truly are a horrible company. They open every game, take out shit they don't like, charge damn near full price for a used game, and give those that sell games pennies. Why they are successful is beyond me. They are fucking over both consumers and developers in one fell swoop.

The only reason to ever go there is to load up on games for old systems. I got a bunch of ps2 games for pretty cheap a year or two ago. Thing is I don't know that they even carry stuff like that anymore cause it is too old or something.

>>4677
They stopped carrying games older then ps2/xbox/gamecube a few years ago, and I think they're even starting to phase those out also.

>>4678
needed more room for the yearly madden and CoD games

>>4677
they can stick shitty DRM on a game regardless of weather you buy it on a store or download it online.
If you buy a game at a store, or buy it on steam, either way you're going to have a physical copy of the game on your computer

1. I haven't been in one in probably 15 years. After they went corporate I stopped going, because it was over priced crap.

2. Remember when they said books were dead, and bookstores would all shut down?

3. No, not at all. Unless you're something like Best Buy or Walmart and have an equal amount of money to piss away, you're going to fail hard. Though, there are SOME special cases. I know a lot of independent game stores around my city, but they still suck.

Digital distribution is pretty retarded too. You never actually own the software you buy, you just license it for your system/account. They can revoke this access at any given time for no reasons. I just pirate it, or buy a physical copy off random websites. I prefer to actually own a game, since that's how I grew up since they were on 5 inch floppies.

>>4679
If digital distribution is the future, then why are these still sold? Buy a base Madden or CoD and get the yearly update. For lots of money of course. Hell there already are system requirements for console game now. Needing hard disk space is already a non-issue.

I wouldn't care if it happen to these games. They are for Ford Drivers that only got into games for the social media facebook horseshit thing.

I need more quirky Japanese games dammit...

>>4681
>They can revoke this access at any given time for no reasons
So very true, xbox (ps3/wii also I'm guessing) does this all the time when they ban people's accounts, you lose any game you don't have a hard copy of.

This is seriously what they really need to do with sports games, why the fuck aren't they doing this?
yearly sports games only update rosters and menus anyway, and only have noticeable changes when they jump generation/systems.

But most of the stupid jocks that keep buying them probably don't even know how to connect to the Internet.

Post edited on 13th Sep 2011, 11:17pm

Games are moving toward being treated as a service rather than a product, so I can totally see a day where you pay a subscription of sorts to play a company's games instead of buying them from a store. Luckily video game quality is getting worse and worse so by the time that happens I doubt I will even care

>>4674

Both. If all I wanted was the game I'd use Steam. I pay for the physical components (instruction booklet, case, disc), too.

I know one GameStop in my city (Hamburg, Germany), and it sucks. Even their used games are often more expensive than what you'd pay for new games on Amazon or at a large electronics discounter like Saturn or Media Markt (which is where most people buy their games over here). Yet when you sell them your own games, they pay you almost nothing.
Unlike most of the many small corner game stores, they also don't have many rarities, and don't have any imported games. But to me, the whole point of visiting a specialized game store is because they might have some untranslated JRPG I'm looking for, or the uncut US versions of games that were crippled by Germany's censorship laws.
So yeah, I hate GameStop. Dunno if they're better in the US.

>>4762
They're not.

>>4762

Atleast german home electronics is cheap ,I have to pay 25% worth in taxes for games..

Games? STOP!
http://www.pixelpoppers.com/2011/08/gamestoponlive-debacle-how-i-like-to.html