Gaming Shop Staff

[Guest Kou]

I buy all my games at Wal-Mart because I loathe EB Games.

[Captain Eo]

Having worked at en EB Games for ages before my current gig I have come to loathe the place, but I can't get over the hit or miss staff. Most times we either hired someone simply on the fact that they had been in a sales driven position before, or they were a huge nerd. The nerds would stand around all day lets bins grow disorganized and chat with every single person that came in which had it's upsides but nothing ever got done.

The way to tell the difference if the staff you're dealing with knows wat they are talking about, or are just there for the money is in one question.

"Do you guys have any more copies of Kingdom Hearts for Xbox?"

[PkmnTrainerJ]

"Do you guys have any more copies of Kingdom Hearts for Xbox?"

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

I'm angry cos our PS2 game trade prices have gone through the floor over the weekend.

It would seem it's for two reasons - one GAME are levelling the playing field as our prices are generally better and two we seem to be trying to seriously drop the amount of PS2 stock in stores - which isn't so good.

Anyway, 2 for £20 games used to trade in at £5/£6 and now £3.50 while 4 for £20 games (or £7.99 on their own) used to trade for £3 and now £1.50! Disgusting!

So boycott Gamestation for your PS2 trade-ins cos we appear to be taking the mick. I already disuaded one lad and told him to trade in all his stuff at the local CEX instead. He thanked me for my honesty and good advice and is coming back another day to spend the money he makes in CEX.

[CQI13]

When I lived in Jacksonville, there were two EB/Gamestops basically across the street (one inside the mall, the other in a small plaza across from the mall).

I mostly went to the one that wasn't in the mall (quicker to park/get out), but man those guys should have been selling cars instead of video games. Very knowledgeable, very courteous, but from the moment you walked in the door they were trying to make a sale. And if you didn't happen to buy anything that time, they'd let you know about upcoming promotions they'd be having to make sure you'd come back. Pretty intense experience.

[Mattman]

I'll write about my recent bad Cex experience here.

I wanted to get:

Destroy All Humans

Rayman Revolution

Metal Gear Solid 2 Sons of Liberty

Bully

Simpsons Road Rage

Devil May Cry

I found RR, Bully, DMC and Road Rage on the shelf.

I went to ask about the other 2, I was told that if I couldn't find them they're not there. I asked if he could check because it said they had them online, he told me they were probably sent off.

So I went and got MGS 2: Subsistance/Substance instead. I went to pay and he said he couldn't find the disk for RR. So I went and got Rayman: Raving Rabbids instead.

Then when I finally got round to buying them he told me he couldn't sell them to me because I wasn't old enough. Which is fair enough but why wait until then to tell me?

So I got Simpsons, Rayman and DMC (which has the same age as the others!) So I called my older sister and got Bully, but MGS was behind the till and I couldn't explain to this different guy why it was there. So I ended up with DMC, R RR, RR and Bully.

[Kaney]

The nerdier the better, really. This leads to them actually knowing what you're talking about. I'm only usually there to pick something up and get out of there but occasionally I want to know when the new Football Manager or Pro Evolution is coming out.

I'm generally the opposite. I know it's nice to be able to go in and chat with people about games, but the people around here are REALLY big nerds, the ones who act as though they're automaticaly l33t because they work in a video games store, and it's really irritating at times. I mean, in this day and age you should be able to check stuff online to see when games come out, or whats new or whatever, so 99% of the time I just want to go in, pick up my stuff and leave.

I went to get R6: Vegas 2, Army of Two and Bully the other day, all on 360. Gamestation only had Vegas 2, no copies of the others at all and the guy working the till was more interested reading his gaming mag than checking, so I went to the local independant shop to pick up the other two. Conversation went like this:

"Army of Two? When Vegas just came out? Really?"

"Yeah, I just got Vegas earlier."

"Oh, two shooters in one day? OH SHIT WAIT. Did you get Vegas from us?"

"uh...no. Gamestation."

"Hahaha, we sell it for £7 cheaper, those losers. You should really buy from us next time. Why go to Gamestation? They suck."

Gamestation staff might be a bit lazy here, might only be interested helping the regulars, but at least you don't get a fucking lecture everytime you go in.

[Dan]

Gamestation have it for £24.99 when you buy ANY other 360 game.

So somehow I think he's wrong.

[Kaney]

They were also doing it for a tenner when you trade in Turning Point, so yeah. But it's the fact that you have to listen to the high and mighty bullshit if you're to get what you're looking for.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

We won't have Army Of Two cos GAME have fallen out with EA over the push, or lack of it, of Fifa Street 3 in the stores. So it's the execs falling out that means there aren't enough copies for the customer. We had 10 Army Of Two for the 360 and 8 for PS3. Nowhere near enough.

We sold out of Vegas on the 360 yesterday too....80 copies sold and that's the kind of numbers you need for a "bigger" release in our store.

Still, by Tuesday or Wednesday I'll have my hands on GT5: Prologue, Everybody's Golf, Viking and God Of War PSP. Lovely.

[lanky316]

I'm surprised at that fallout. In our GAME it was impossible to walk in there without getting racks dedicated to it and video footage of the game on the monitors just inaside the door. Was annoying since you couldn't find anything else for the PS3 but the chart games they'd taken up so much space. Mind you t'other day when we went in there were still plenty of copies of Fifa Street on the shelf... in preowned.