My day began in a sleepy stupor, being asked by my sister to accompany her to the Gateway Center Mall in The Bronx. At first I refused since I was tired. But when I became fully awake, I decided to go with her. So I’m thinking that maybe I should try to see if the Gamestop there would probably have Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga. I’ve been searching quite a bit for that game. Yeah, I could get it online, but I still don’t have the means to buy stuff online (and by “means” I mean a method of instant payment via debit or PayPal). So I go to the Gamestop and look around. From the looks of things, the small Gamestop has an even smaller PS2 section, and nary an old used game in sight. While passing by the Wii section for the hell of it, I see the case for Sin & Punishment: Star Successor on the shelf. The price: $19.99! I’m like “Whuh! Shit, if they don’t have DDS, I’ll go ahead and get Sin & Punishment.” So, after waiting for some hood lookin’ chick to finally sell all her games, I as the clerk if they have Digital Devil Saga. Since it’s a pretty old PS2 game, I told her exactly that. She looks in the drawer of used PS2 games. “No, we don’t have it.”
Okay then, so I ask her if they have Sin & Punishment: Star Successor. I told her that I saw the case and it said that they had it new. She opens three drawers this time. After looking for two minutes…”Nope, we don’t have it either.” And so, I let out a “d’ooh” and walk out the Gamestop, saddened that I missed my chance on a sweet deal on a good Wii game. What irked me was that they still had the case on the shelf as if they were still selling it. It they sell out, they should remove it. It’s a relatively small store too, with everything within 4 steps from the counter. So removing an out-of-stock game from the shelf should be no hassle. So, My sis and I hit up the Toys R Us to shop for things there. I decide to head to the games section to see what they have. No PS2 section, so off to the Wii section. I wondered if Toys R Us had Sin & Punishment. And they did… FOR FUCKING $44.99!! Not willing to go home empty handed, I go ahead and by Sin & Punishment for that price and head home.
Now I’m mad. Not at Toys R Us for charging that price, but at GameStop for putting my hopes up so high. I’m here thinking that they have it (and at a great price too), only to be told that they don’t. I really feel like a sucker here, nearly getting caught in a Bait & Switch scheme. I ended up paying more for the damned game because of my never-give-up way of buying certain games (and especially if things are just within reach). So for future reference Gamestop: If your game is out of stock, take the damn game case off the shelf! I don’t care how long you’re out of stock (a day, several weeks, whatever), take the thing off the shelf. While yeah, I should ask at the counter instead, looking at the shelf reminds me of what games are still around long after it is released. I’ve given Gamestop the benefit of the doubt for a while. If I experience this shit one more time, you can go suck a German sausage! GameChamp all the way, baby!
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Yeah they have been selling that game for that price since about the beginning of april….All gamestops will be selling that game at that price, I also saw that metroid other m is also 20 dollars new as well if you were looking for a bargain as well
It only they learned to stock right…
This happened to me once with a copy of Ico waaaay back when. It was already absurdly rare, and I found it on the used games shelf for 17 bucks. “The indy darling of the current game generation, a rare pearl among all this trash, for less than 20 dollars? Gods, why do you bless me so!”. So I get it, go up to the counter, and, well, exactly like your story. They didn’t have it. What twists the knife the most is that, no joke, I saw them placing the box back on the shelf as I left! What. The. Hell!?
That…that’s cruel, especially since it’s Ico. In all honesty, that’s why I prefer the smaller game stores and the way they do things. No bullshit. The games you see on the shelf are games, not cases. If the game sells out, it’s not on the wall (since, well, it was sold!)
Oh, I have another little story I forgot! So I buy FFXIII and head home, and I open the box. And with the 360 version, the put the discs one on top of the other (yeah, about that: Really? I mean, even “Lost Odyssey” had those little pouches!) But something seems weird, and I look closely at the disc. And it says “Disc 2”. Well that’s weird. So I look under it and find…another disc 2. Huh. And under that, you know what there was? ANOTHER DISC 2! What the hell, man? I got it exchanged, but would you believe that the guy who came initially insinuated that we were trying to jip him? How? With my evil plan to spend 180 dollars to get a free copy of one game, while dooming the other three? Dumbass that was…
You want to hear a bad Gamestop story?
A couple of years ago, my sister and I went to a local Gamestop because she wanted to buy The Sims for her computer. We go in and see a bundle pack that includes The Sims and one of its expansion packs. So she buys the game and we head home. However, when she opens the box she finds a CD missing. Mind you, it wasn’t even the expansion missing, but the actual game.
So we decide to head back to Gamestop, where I explain the situation to an employee. The employee opens the box, looks inside, reads the back, and says that the game is supposed to come that way. I mention that the back of the box clearly states that the game comes with both The Sims and the expansion, and point to the fact that the box can hold TWO CDs, but only had ONE. The employee didn’t change his stance, so we got our refund, left the place, and I forever lost trust in Gamestop.
Gamestop has increasing become pointless in recent years! The hot breath smell of the store, the absurd customer to cashier ratio, the disorganized array of games…My little pony, imagine designer next to Grand Theft Auto 4…I prefer playing video game tag with my local small stores and losing as opposed to putting up with a clueless clerk who can’t tell their ass from their face unless it involves that edge card and a Game Informer subscription…
I avoid Gamestop at all cost, unless that is I’m itching for a shitty day and need a masochistic fix!
Smaller game stores are the shit as of late, and way better than Gamestop. The store near my house had Eternal Sonata…. For the PS3. That game is hard to find in a regular brick & mortar store. Just two weeks ago, I snagged me a copy of Shadow of the Colossus for $19 exactly (no tax) at a game store in NYC Chinatown.
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