No sir, you wouldn't want this game, naaahhhhhh.....
 

So has there ever been a situation where you walk into a gaming or electronics store (ie EB Games/Gamestop/Best Buy etc) and go and pick up a game and/or gaming equipment, go to the counter to pay for it, and the guy either says "oh of all the games you decided to pick this game? Why oh god..." or just gives you the look like "holy shit, do you play games? Do you read reviews? This game got 26%, how the hell would you be paying for this?"

I think the only time I got such a glance was when I was picking up (oh shit, confession time) FFX-2, because, by god, I basically needed an FF fix since FFX, and wanted something on the PS2 that didn't require monthly fees (so no FFXI, duh), and wanted to settle once and for all this wish wash of reviews for FFX-2 and see for myself what this would be. The guy basically doesn't say anything, but gives me the look.

I just shrugged it off, but later walking back to my car it rubs on me, like I want to go back to the clerk and say "Hey buddy, if you've got something to say about your merchandise, then I'd like to hear it." But I didn't bother, who the hell cares anyways what they think. Well, I can sort of understand if he gave me that look, so I can't blame him too much.

Also, if you've worked in retail and someone wanted a, I don't know, let's say an N-Gage for example, what would you have done when talking to the customers?

I would sell customers what they want and not even ask a question. Barbie's Adventures? Why not? I don't care nor judge.

The only time I thought an employee would give me a stare about buying a game was Mario Party 7 because I'm in my 20's and was buying it...

turns out the employee completely approved and has a lot of memories playing Mario Party 5 and some others.

Nope, can't say that has ever happened to me. I just buy whatever and the person just takes it and rings it through without even looking at the cover much.

I wouldn't care what people bought if I was working in a game store. If someone came up with a N-Gage, I wouldn't do anything at all.

Heh, if I was working and someone walked up to the counter with an N-Gage it'd end up being my civic duty to warn them ahead of time.

"SIR, YOU DO REALIZE THAT WHAT YOU'RE ABOUT TO PURCHASE IS ABOUT AS FUN AS WATCHING PARKED CARS ALL DAY LONG, RIGHT?"
"BUT I WORK AT A JUNKYARD"
"OH OKAY, CARRY ON THEN"

Yes.

When I bought DW4E. After I played Samurai Warriors, I tried out DW4 and it was just as awesome, so I went back the same day and bought DW3, DW3XL, DW4XL and DW4E. The guy was like "Why are you buying Empires? It's the same game". I told him that isn't and that I wanted to collect the series(can't find DW2, but I found DWT).

IMO they should just keep thier opinion to thierself. You learn this when you work in a Grocery Store. Unless a customer is wary about a product, don't say shit. That's turning away money.

Y U BUY MA SPINACH! THEY HAVE E-CO-, oh nevermind. Just give me your money, thank you come again.

I remember I was on something of an Olympic kick and I picked up a copy of Bode Miller Alpine Skiing. Both me and the seller agreed I was buying a crap game, but it wasn't like there were any other (good) options for an Olympic fix. Plus it was only $10. Basically, the guy just warned me I couldn't return it. Truth be told, it isn't THAT bad...Not like I can figure out the physics, but the slaloms were satisfying to play at least. And the commentary is lethargic gold.

There was the time I went to buy Atelier Iris 1 and the guy kept trying to get me to preorder Kingdom Hearts 2 and Zelda: Twilight Princess (back when it was supposed to come out in 2005) because Atelier Iris 1 was just a stopgap product before they came out (so said Game Informer...I could readily tell the guy basically paraphrased the write-up the game had gotten, that it WAS a stopgap product). I just had to cut his sales pitch off midway, told him I couldn't give a fuck about Kingdom Hearts, didn't like the last Zelda game (WW) and I had been waiting for AI1 for a good nine months. I probably got the dumbest looking "NU...UNGH!" ever from that comment. Pretty cool, because there was something of a line and I could tell the guy was just trying to show off his knowledge by talking at me with his sales pitch, so it was good to throw it back at him. He shut up after that. That kind of put into perspective why some games sell so well in the end (pushy salesmen trying for preorders on high profile titles only), while others kind of languish, no matter how good they are...You really only need to know maybe a total of 10 games or so to work at a game store.

Seems like it.

Spatty: "Can I preorder Metal Gear Solid 3 Subsistence"
Fag: "duuuuuuuuuunnnnnhhhhhhhhhhh for what system."

Spatty: "Can I preorder Final Fantasy XII"
Fag: "duuuuuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhhhh for what system."

Jesus Christ sometimes.

Haha.

Fliers about the Ecoli possibility in Spinach are put up on the freezers and cases. They can read and they can ask about it :P. Nice try though. :)

Moving on to GAMES now.

I do this to customers occassionally, but only if I've developed that sort of rapport with them. I do have customers that rather frequently ask me "Does this game suck?" and if it does, I nod my head and point them in the direction of a better game.

Now, if a...say, 24 year old guy comes up to the counter and wants to pick up his pre-order for Pokemon Blue Mystery Dungeon, I give him the look in my mind but not necessarily to him. Rather, I give the look to the game.

Me: "Why the fuck are you being picked up by this guy?"
Pokemon game: "I dunno man. Dude's got some weird obsessions."

This example's a little off due to the fact that Mystery Dungeon is a Rogue-Like game and barely a Pokemon game.

While a lot of "little Timmy"s who "gotta catch'em all!" want the game, I don't think they know what they're getting into. It's a completely different genre, one that leans towards the older gamer.

In my own experiences, my local EB has been perfect (in terms of never giving attitude about what games I buy), but I did have some mouth-breather at a mall-based EB completely insult me for getting The Bouncer a few months after it came out (I was buying it used for cheap!). He went on about how much it sucked and how the PS2 scratches discs and makes them melt.

I don't think I've ever had someone selling me a game give me trouble... maybe I have, I just don't remember. The idea of it is annoying enough though. Mostly because it should be obvious that's not how you treat customers. When retailers forget this it comes down to, "Why am I buying this from you then?"

Actually, mentioning something like Pokemon, I worry a lot about retailers giving me weird looks for buying kiddish stuff. I just hope that either a) they don't care or b) pass it off as me buying a gift for a kid. So far I have been LUCKY.

Answer: Furry Porn.

Bad images go away please. D=


Actually, ever since after high school, I've met more people who think Pokemon is awesome while I was just playing the game on elevator rides at the college I went to. It rather mystified me.

I don't think that's happened to me yet. I've certainly received reactions of shock when I went up to purchase certain games in general (Metal Gear Solid 3, Halo), but I don't recall any employee trying to get me to change my mind on anything.

I have a very simple rule of thumb. I've learned from experience that just because a review says a game is awful doesn't mean someone won't have fun with it. If someone walks up with 3 games and asks me no questions about them, it's easier and less time-consuming to just let them buy their game rather than trying to talk them out of it. And to my knowledge I have never given anyone the look. Really, when I deal with kids and parents buying for kids most of the time, a lot of people forget that kids are very easily amused. What may pass for a horrible derivative game to an adult will entertain a kid for days.

One time I walked into a GameStop where two employees were mooning so damn much about how awesome the 360 press conference that was playing over and over in their kiosk was, and as I was browsing the shelves the topic turned to how Nintendo was dead in the water and who would punish themselves by playing GameCube anyways. Cue my approaching the counter with a GC version of Alien Hominid. Shut them right the hell up.

Other experiences with cashier-folk for the most part have been rather uneventful, even when I bought a used Wiggles DVD for my nephew's birthday. But the two biggest instances of idiotry have to be the guy who spoiled a major plot point of Chrono Trigger AS I WAS BUYING THE GAME, and the guy in '97 who, when I asked if they had Saturn (that is, a section for Saturn games), asked me, "what system is it on?" So very sad.

I rarely ever buy games from EB anymore, it's all Target, Kmart or whatever, where the people who work at the sound and vision departments barely seem alive, let enough enough to care about what I'm buying.

Though often I have no choice, as EB are the only ones dumb enough to stock the obscure shit that only I'll buy. And even with this exciting fact, of me being the only one who will buy these games, I'll get that look! Once I told to not buy the $15 game and instead put it towards the $110 Devil May Cry 3. I said oh.

http://505gamestreet.com/IMG/locandi...litiongirl.jpg
Too bad I thought this was a lot more entertaining. :]

If I worked at a game store/section/third option goes here, I wouldn't care what on Earth people bring on up. Wanna buy Aquaman on GameCube? Big Rigs on PC? Sure fine, you're gonna be stuffed when you open the case because you won't be able to get your money back, see you tomorrow! Hopefully you have a cry!

On the other hand, one time I asked if my local EB Games had, by the devils luck, a copy of Valkyrie Profile (the PSX version) kicking around or hiding somewhere, and out comes the Holy shit you're basically asking for one of the Holy Grails of RPGs, you sure ain't as hell gonna get it from this store response of the "pssssssssshhhhhhhhhh" lip movement and an eye roll, then followed by a chuckle from the guy stocking other RPGs on the shelves.

That hurt my feelings.... ;___;

It felt like a pretty dumb question, which in a way it is, but hey, I've seen Lunar 1: SSSC there used, so how far off could VP1 be right? The stupid thing about that though, is I DIDN'T BUY LUNAR 1 WHEN IT WAS SITTING RIGHT THERE.

That price there, Monkeydude, is unacceptable. :(

I got that kind of look when I bought Grandia Xtreme from the local EB. I remember I was deciding between it and some pretty popular game that was a bit more money (Dark Cloud 2?) and I decided to go with Xtreme since the best part of Grandia is it's battle system.

After now playing pretty much all the way through both games (heh, halfway through the mega-dungeons after the end of the game in each) I can safely say I made the right choice back then.

Nope. Either the mundanity of work has frozen their brains or they compliment my choice. I get most of my games from Gameware, which is basically the only video game store that I don't hate with the very essence of my soul. The guy who works there is incredibly cool, and all of my friends and I know him, so I never really have this problem.

When I went and bought my Dreamcast a few years ago (forgot which store) but the employee who was watching me look at it and wanting to get it thought I was completely ridiculous for wanting one, then came over to me and told me to wait for the PS2 as it would be smarter, even though it was coming out a few months later.

I loved Dreamcast at the time after renting one and playing it for a few days. I was glad with my purchase at the time.

Amen. I don't go around telling people what they should and shouldn't buy, unless it's something of a trap. Most games are fairly average to great, so it isn't like the gaming industry is pissing out a bunch of horrible games every five seconds.

I haven't worked at a gaming store before but I wouldn't give advice unless I was asked. Sure, I would imagine there's alot of parents coming into stores asking for recommendations for their kids, but that isn't a complicated question to answer unless you haven't a clue what kids would like. Just recommend them some Gamecube game.

Actually, what I don't enjoy about gaming stores is how they point out how rare a game is, but only if they don't have it in stock. At the beginning of this year I was looking for a specific game and browsed around every EB in town, only to have almost all of them tell me I was shit out of luck and I'd have better luck finding gold inside my anus. Well, that wasn't their exact words, but still.

I happen to enjoy listening to gaming stores and their logic. They tell you that Platinum/Greatest Hits/Best Price editions are better because they're cheaper, but they don't tell you that they're worthless because they aren't original; they don't have any picture on the disc nor do they have a proper cover. But hey, cheap sale, so let's sell this cheap game to some guy who's clueless about games and wants fun.

Although I did purchase platinum games when I first bought my PS2, that was because I was broke from purchasing the PS2 in the first place. I was lucky enough to find a copy of Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy X in their original versions back in November of 2002. They let me have them for the platinum price (which was great) because they were essentially the same game.

ACE COMBAT WITH GIRLS

Considering the full-price latest crap EB and other stores are so happy to push at every customer, I don't think their employee's have any right to be giving any kind of looks at their customers, as if they somehow know better what someone else should try.

I've never had this happen to me at any store, but then I very rarely buy games that are universally considered crap. They're either completely unknown or well regarded in general. The guys at Savepoint have a policy of not to comment negatively on any game someone is buying, unless they specifically ask for their opinion on it. In those kinds of situations they've never hesitated to say if a game is pretty crappy. There's been more than one occasion when someone's asked if Catwoman is any good and they've been told it's unbelievably bad.

I personally think it's a good, honest policy. Enough to make business, but honest enough to be worth listening to. If I ever should even go to stores where mere clerks feel the need to spout dribble like "I personally don't think you should buy that Pokemon game because all pokemon games are crap even though I've never even played one, but anyway you should really preorder this Digimon Portable Battle Arena for PSP instead!", I don't even pay attention. I tend to go to a store for a certain title, and not listen to what someone else thinks, but that's just me.

You do realize that 99% of people that buy games do it to play them and not to masturbate to cover art or delude themselves into thinking it's a good investment, right? I'd hardly say they're clueless.

The more accurate percentage would be 50%, and they would be mainstream gamers. I wouldn't bother telling some random customer that the box art is better in america or something like that unless they were actually a hardcore nerd that would enjoy listening.

I just like how they're all supportive of platinum titles. If a game doesn't have a picture on it, it's more likely to get scratched on the top of the disc as well as the front. It's extremely annoying because the printed picture acts as a shield, like AzuraGuard does.

Like I also said in the thread, I picked up Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy X which were originals, but sold at the platinum price. This isn't the first time I've seen this happen, but I've also seen stores reject sales "just because it isn't platinum" which is rather stupid. It doesn't really matter to a mainstream gamer but if someone's collecting games they might as well avoid.

My platinum Gran Turismo 3 happens to have a few scratches on the top of it which really pisses me off because if the printed picture was placed there, it wouldn't have happened. These "Playstation 2 the Best" games aren't "best" at all, they're actually a downgrade in quality.

I don't know about in america but I'm pretty sure Greatest Hits titles also have black and white manuals, pictureless discs, etc. You pay for what you get.

Heh, if the cover bugs you that much, then just go to cdcovers website and print off the generally MUCH more aethestically pleasing Japanese covers. I did that for ICO (used the PAL cover, actually).

We can't do that here. The PS2 PAL cases are blue and having a japanese cover in a blue PAL case is a clear sign it's different. See, this is why I import my games. Not only are the american ones usually much better, but they have black cases. Black.

So 3 downsides to owning a PAL game. 1, the box art's usually butchered, 2, the spine's formatted and boring, and 3, the case is blue. Now I know these are only minor issues, but I find them annoying. Why the hell are the cases blue? And why are the spines changed? It doesn't make sense.

Actually this reminds me of a person who buys games based on box art. Moronic, I know, because he bought SSX On Tour just because he'd played SSX Tricky before and just because he liked the box art on On Tour. Funny thing was, he was an eb worker.

If you are that annoyed by the ugly boxes, why can't you keep them all separated from the game and buy a CD wallet or something to place the DVDs in? I do that with my PS2 games and the CD wallet doesn't harm them or anything like that.

Sorry if that upset you. ={

Ahh this rarely happens to me. However, i've been tempted to buy Rumble Roses on PS2 a few times, but when I look at the game, I can feel the clerks eyes on me, they burn, they know. I fear them.

When I went to buy Road Avenger a few weeks ago, the guy was all "Ahh, why are you getting this, it's one of the worst Mega CD titles!" As if I cared, it was £3 and he clearly knew nothing as Road Avenger is all kinds of awesome!

I'm actually wondering how you manage to scratch all of your CDs up. If they're not in my console or drive they're sitting comfortably in my cd-binder.

http://image.compusa.com/prodimages/...805fe6e270.jpg

These pages rule.

Because I'm sure all those frat boys all you 'hardcore' gamers hate are whacking it to the latest coverboy for Madden 2007.

I need to invest in a CD book like RR, as all my games sit on my blank spool as I don't care much for cases.

I think 25 pages is something like $20, so you can store 100 of your most-used DVDs that way in a $2 three ring binder from Staples (just be sure to give one with a pretty big spine, otherwise it's going to be blowing out the sides before you know it). I've only had good luck finding them at CompUSA, but that was a few years ago, so they might be at more places now.

I haven't had that particular experience yet, thankfully. Though one time at Gamestop, I was buying Shadow Hearts: From the New World, Call of Duty, and Fatal Frame 2 and the guy at the register told me "wow, you have an interesting range of taste for a girl!" I wasn't really sure how to respond so I just said thanks and we chatted a bit about the three games in the 15 years it took him to sell me the damn stuff.

Uh, what? This doesn't even make sense. You have mainstream gamers, collectors, non-mainstream gamers and casual gamers. It really isn't hard to tell which is which.

It's even more annoying when lousy PAL publishers ('sup Sega, Midway) use the boring PS2 spine design for their Xbox and GC games too. :(

And who's going to care about the value of a cover of a game's box fifteen years down the road other than a collector? I doubt they make up 50% of the gaming population.

I don't consider myself quite a "collector", but if I buy a game used, I expect the instruction manual included, minimal scratches if not none, and at the very least for the box to be in good condition.

Anyway, during my time at Rhino I rarely ever told anyone that a game absolutely sucked and they shouldn't buy it except for special situations like Catwoman and Dragonball Z Sagas. Especially Sagas. I used to imagine someone bringing it to the counter to buy it and I would take an epic dive out from the back in slow motion with an explosion behind me shouting "Nooo~!" and smack it out of their hands. And if I was asked for my opinion I'd tell them that it wasn't my cup of tea, but they might find some enjoyment in it, and then tell them about the 7-day return policy. Just in case.

Then your retail store would almost turn into a rental store. I'm not familiar if Rhino's is primarily a retail or rental, because I never stepped in one.

This was one of the things that EB was trying to combat, turning into another Blockbusters or Rogers, hence the newer, more stringent return policies, according to one of the managers that I chatted with.

Ive never had the employees give me the look, nor have they said anything... they don;t seem to like it when i give my full-length hatred reviews to other customers asking about a game though...

Yes it was one of the things EB tried to combat. Unfortunately (and to the sheer anger of numerous EB employees) Gamestop effectively ended that.

I'm not too sure what you're saying here. Are the EB employees not happy with the current return policies to combat "buying for the weekend-return it Monday?"

I can only speak for myself, but I know I wasn't. For over a year, I was used to one, cover-all return policy that was in all actuality a fair one. Then, I get switched over to one that's completely different. My first thought was "We're not fucking Blockbuster here. You buy, not rent. Not sure whether you'll like it? Go rent it. From Blockbuster."

It was a mindset thing, and getting adjusted to a such a change kinda sucked. I'm over it now for the most part, but I still don't like the attitude of some of the people who make a regular habit out of it.

Actually, there was a 2 game limit for the returns. If after the 2nd time you didn't like the game, you were stuck with the 3rd. It could be traded, but not for full credit like the last 2, provided you had the receipt.

I've never been given the look or anything like that from a clerk at EB or whatever.

I have given them the look before, though.

Clerk: "Would you be interested in the N-Gage?"

Me: *Gives "the look"*

Clerk: "Sir, would yo-"

Me: "No."

But only the power of N-Gage can make Puzzle Bobble completely unplayable!

http://ngagemedia.ign.com/ngage/imag...lebobble_2.jpg

How can you not be interested!

Me and EB go together like water and oil... So many bad experiences that I'm not going to bother writing all of it.

So what if I buy a DS? Is it weird that I bought the DS rather than PSP? I like my Zelda, so WHAT? I'm buying Katamari SO WHAT? I'm buying Xbox games instead of X360 games. SO WHAT????!!!

And some of the employees have NO KNOWLEDGE of games whatsoever (well, out of all the Australia, Victorian stores I've been in). Resident Evil 4 for Xbox? Katamari for GBA? WTF?

Come to think of it...

"Hey, I'm just wondering if you'll have any special deals with the Wii launch..."
"Oh, er we don't know the launch date yet, duh!!!"
"FU! The date was revealed last week!!!"
"Look, don't bother. Get the PS3. It's coming out in November 16th..."
"Idiot, it's been delayed for Europe, including Australia."
"Nuh uh!"

Why do I bother with EB???!!!

Now hey, id rather spend the money on something a bit more then the box cover like a doujin or something :biggrin:

Only time i ever had someone give me "The Look" was when i bought "ManHunt" he was possibly thinking i wasnt ready to play a game like that at the age of 15... He stopped, looked at the box and then at me and lucky my bro was with me or he woulda stopped me from buying the game and giving me some stupid lecture on getting a game more like "Elmo's World" or something!