Kotaku 
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Denver, 1:18 AM
Thu Dec 10
58 posts in the last 24 hours
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03/20/09
03/20/09
Oh, that's right. Once a year, sometime in Q1.
03/19/09
03/19/09
03/19/09
Anyway, I've seen these on the shelves for months now at Target, Wal-Mart, Best Buy, and Fry's Electronics. Plenty of them. Just because Gamestop chooses to spread out their inventory incredibly thin amongst their 800 million stores doesn't mean something isn't in good supply. It's easy for a store to artificially drive up demand by only shipping 1 or 2 of a product to a store and then shrug their shoulders saying "sorry, that's all Nintendo sends us" when they damn well know that's not true.
Do you want to know how many Gamestops are within 25 miles of my zip code? TWENTY SEVEN. The problem is not Wii supply. It's Gamestop overkill.
03/19/09
I can't think of a game we've sold where we haven't had copies for people who didn't preorder the game.
03/19/09
And if that's the case, why is it that EVERY SINGLE TIME I walk into a Gamestop and try to buy a game on its release date, the first question out of the guy who is "helping" me is "Did you pre-order it?" And then when my answer to that question is no, he gets this look on his face that makes it seem like I just asked him how to solve the economic crisis.
You know damn well what I'm talking about, so don't try to play Mr. Company Man by defending your companies desire to line their pockets w/ pre-order money while I can walk into any other store that carries video games and easily buy the game on release day.
03/19/09
Do you know why we ask if you preorder it?
So we know how to process your purchase.
Just because that guy gives you a look doesn't mean squat. 9/10 gamestops don't care whether you preordered it or not. Plenty of other folks did.
Any big game, we are going to have copies of for non preorders.
any middle of the road game, going to have copies.
The only things you need to really preorder are obscure games that won't see high production levels. Moon for DS for instance.
You need to relax more. Not everyone in retail is out to screw you. It's just a job.
03/19/09
If 9/10 Gamestops don't care whether or not I pre-order something, why am I CONSTANTLY asked about it when I come in the store. Why is it that whenever I call a Gamestop, I get the 5-10 second line about what game I can apparently pre-order there. Why is it that when I go to Gamestop and inquire about a game, the person behind the counter always asks me if I've pre-ordered it yet, and when my answer is no, I have to get the standard "I would pre-order it, we may not get enough copies in to sell to people."
See the funny thing is, every damn person who's reading this who DOESN'T work at Gamestop knows exactly what I'm talking about. You have a jaded view because you work there and you're following the company line. Good for you. But when Gamestop talks to me like I'm a child and makes it seem like it's impossible to buy a game on release date unless I pre-order it, all that makes me want to do is go to some other store and buy it there.
The RE5 Elite system is a good recent example. All they got in were the amount that people pre-ordered, and they cut off those pre-orders a week before the system was released. I've been to 3 Best Buys, 1 Fry's Electronics, and 1 Target since the release of that system, and they ALL had multiple systems in stock. So don't try and talk to me like I don't understand things here, because I damn well do.
03/19/09
"why am I CONSTANTLY asked about it when I come in the store."
Because if we don't ask, we can get in trouble.
"Why is it that whenever I call a Gamestop, I get the 5-10 second line about what game I can apparently pre-order there."
Because we are required to use specific greetings when answering a phone call, or we can get in trouble.
"Why is it that when I go to Gamestop and inquire about a game, the person behind the counter always asks me if I've pre-ordered it yet, and when my answer is no, I have to get the standard "I would pre-order it, we may not get enough copies in to sell to people.""
Because we have to at least try a little bit, otherwise, you guessed it, we can get in trouble.
Preorders are nice, but no one should be killing themselves to get one out of you.
As for the RE5 elite, it's very rare consoles are EVER up for preorder, and after the halo 3 special edition 360, which some stores still have sitting in the back, I wouldn't order more product than I was sure I was probably going to sell.
If you ever get a job at retail, you are going to look back at all your complaints and realize that you are taking things the wrong way.
03/19/09
Don't get me wrong-- I'm a big boy, I can tell a clerk 'no thanks' without getting either of our feathers ruffled. Just saying that it's not merely a retail thing.
Also, I think that Matt0505 isn't saying clerks are jerks for doing this, or that they should risk getting in trouble-- he's saying that they are ridiculous company policies.
I think any good salesperson has to push a little, but I think it stinks that you guys can get into trouble for not reading the spiel Every. Damn. Time.
03/19/09
Best Buy doesn't have a business model that relies more on preorders, though they do harass employees to push warranties, big time. Look up the best buy "Good customer bad customer" memo.
and gamecrazy, at least out here, is doing terrible.
Matt just needs to calm down. It's not as bad as he thinks.
03/19/09
Do you complain when every electronics retailer asks you 3-4 times every time you buy something if you want to buy the warranty? Same deal.
I am a very regular customer at my Gamestop and I am good friends with most of the employees there. They don't like hounding you about preorders just as much as you don't like being asked about it. They are doing their job. They are told to do that. Their performance is significantly rated by the number of preorders they rack up.
If they ask if you preordered the game or want to, simply say no thanks. They are going to ask you every time you go in so get used to it. They are REQUIRED to do so in order to keep their job. Better yet, become a regular customer or become friendly with the manager/staff. If you are on a first name basis, chances are they will remember that you hate it and will stop asking.
03/19/09
Did you completely miss the part of my reply where I assert that it's not the employees' fault?
Or the other part where I said:
"Don't get me wrong-- I'm a big boy, I can tell a clerk 'no thanks' without getting either of our feathers ruffled."
My point was that some retail outlets that do have add-ons or 'cheese' to try and sell, are less pushy about it than others. Please keep in mind that I also said that a little pushing is a part of any sales experience.
In my experience, Best Buy can be a little pushy but GameStop edges them out. By the way, I've never been hassled by the folks at Barnes and Noble.
I find it interesting that you suggest that I 'simply say no thanks', although I used those exact words in my earlier post.
03/19/09
I got a little ranty there and got excited with the typing. My bad.
03/19/09
My friend's Wii turned gray a few months ago.
03/19/09
03/19/09
A thick layer of neglect.
03/19/09
I've played the great 1st party games, there are maybe 5, but outside of those...absolutely nothing worth playing.
03/19/09
@MadExponent: Nintendo has explained many times they didn't want to ramp up production times a million, shove 10 million out the door for a holiday season, then be stuck with all this excess capacity that they then had to get rid of after the holiday season. Instead they kept up slowly ramping up production to match sales, and stockpiled systems for the holiday seasons (which explained the constricted supply for the first 9 months of the year in 07 and 08).
Now, if supply truly has caught up with demand, then Nintendo has the capacity they need, and no more.
Also, I think the US in general got less supply than other countries thanks to the dollar - Nintendo was getting less money for each system sold in the US than they were for Europe and Japan.
03/19/09
And when I talk about production I mean that Nintendo has the capacity to meet demand from day one, but they decided not to. I don't think Nintendo even needed to establish new facilities. What I think is they specifically created a production schedule that did not maximize production.
Smart move, but it's a monopolistic move. Not in the sense that they jacked up prices. The demand for Wii's is definitely high, but part of it I think is artificially high.
03/19/09
It's really funny how gamers still believe shortages are "deliberate" to create more demand. This is completely at odds with reality, but it just never goes away.
03/19/09
It's been more than 2 years. I'm pretty sure the demand is real.
03/19/09
There are many cases of this. Have you ever seen a monopolist's demand cycle? Go look it up on wikipedia. And Newsflash, shortages are bad for everyone but someone with a unique product. Nintendo is raking in the cash, and would have reached market saturation a lot faster had they met demand earlier. There is no other system like the Wii if you haven't noticed.
03/19/09
Unless you're one of those that doesn't think the Wii is actually competing with either the 360 or PS3.
03/19/09
03/19/09
03/19/09
And I defended the Game Cube!
03/19/09
03/19/09
for instance, I demand a game worth playing for more than 5 minutes.
03/19/09
Perhaps you are not familiar with one Super Mario Galaxy.
03/19/09
03/19/09
Yeah, but did it not keep your interest for more than 5 minutes? I believe that was question
03/19/09
For christ's sake there's already a list of them sitting in the replies to the first comment at the top of the page.
03/19/09
03/19/09
Sony headline:
"Kotaku hates Sony!", "Enemy crab!", "Ridge Racer!"
MS headline:
"M$", "RRoD", "Timed Exclusives!"
Nintendo headline:
"No good games!", "Dust!", "Waggle!"
03/19/09
03/19/09
03/19/09
Man I am glad I wasn't the only one to catch that!
November 19th, 2006. Check them facts, Fahey! :-)
03/19/09
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03/19/09
03/19/09
03/19/09
And these days a family of four going to the theater is just about the same cost as a game (depending on if you smuggle your own treats in).