onionkid
02-16-2007, 02:54 PM
Surely, many of you have fallen victim to it. An uncomfortable sense of deja vu is swelling within the guts of those of us who are old enough to remember the days when NES games were being printed. Release date ambiguity is back.
Anyone who tried to lock up a copy of Capcom Classics Volume 2, or any other "C-Grade title (their term, not mine)" in the past year or so has asked themselves the same questions: Why can't EBGames find any of the last five games I tried to reserve (Culdcept Saga, Monster Kingdom: Jewel Summoner, Persona 3, Radio Allergy, Capcom Classics Collection Volume 2) in their computers? Why is it that I have more success at Wal-Mart on release days than gaming specialty stores like EB and Gamestop? What incentive do I have to buy from gaming specialty stores anymore?
Well, why should we? They don't seem to care about games whose titles don't end with the upcoming year or start with "Grand Theft." Ironically, the only games you actually need to reserve to secure, limited-print titles like Radio Allergy, are the only games you can't reserve. Meanwhile, Target had Hotel Dusk for sale three days before my local EB...and for $5 cheaper, no less. So, to recap, department stores are getting more games, getting them faster, and selling them cheaper. Again, what incentive do we have?
Is this the future of gaming retail? Are we forever condemned to support our hobby and feed our sweet addiction in a cold, tiled, fluorescent-lit isle somewhere between the Sanyo televisions and the feminine products? Should we be forced to Beware of Falling Prices! while buying O3, Atlus, and Mastiff titles? I, for one, am mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore.
Why start on shoryuken.com? Well, I'm at work, and this is one of the few sites my IT department hasn't got around to blocking yet. And SF players are an affable bunch with whom I enjoy conversing; this is a good litmus test to see how many people have or will stop buying from EB/Gamestop because of the reasons above. I implore you to post a list of the games you haven't been able to find or reserve at EB/Gamestop and where you eventually found/reserved them. Ultimately, I'd like to compile and submit them not as an irate complaint, but as a legitimate suggestion for their sake and ours.
-rich.
Anyone who tried to lock up a copy of Capcom Classics Volume 2, or any other "C-Grade title (their term, not mine)" in the past year or so has asked themselves the same questions: Why can't EBGames find any of the last five games I tried to reserve (Culdcept Saga, Monster Kingdom: Jewel Summoner, Persona 3, Radio Allergy, Capcom Classics Collection Volume 2) in their computers? Why is it that I have more success at Wal-Mart on release days than gaming specialty stores like EB and Gamestop? What incentive do I have to buy from gaming specialty stores anymore?
Well, why should we? They don't seem to care about games whose titles don't end with the upcoming year or start with "Grand Theft." Ironically, the only games you actually need to reserve to secure, limited-print titles like Radio Allergy, are the only games you can't reserve. Meanwhile, Target had Hotel Dusk for sale three days before my local EB...and for $5 cheaper, no less. So, to recap, department stores are getting more games, getting them faster, and selling them cheaper. Again, what incentive do we have?
Is this the future of gaming retail? Are we forever condemned to support our hobby and feed our sweet addiction in a cold, tiled, fluorescent-lit isle somewhere between the Sanyo televisions and the feminine products? Should we be forced to Beware of Falling Prices! while buying O3, Atlus, and Mastiff titles? I, for one, am mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore.
Why start on shoryuken.com? Well, I'm at work, and this is one of the few sites my IT department hasn't got around to blocking yet. And SF players are an affable bunch with whom I enjoy conversing; this is a good litmus test to see how many people have or will stop buying from EB/Gamestop because of the reasons above. I implore you to post a list of the games you haven't been able to find or reserve at EB/Gamestop and where you eventually found/reserved them. Ultimately, I'd like to compile and submit them not as an irate complaint, but as a legitimate suggestion for their sake and ours.
-rich.