Game Store Awesome

[Jay 2K Winger]

Now, a certain video game retail outlet, the Stop of Games, if you will, gets a lot of flack from people. Sometimes rightfully so, though my experiences with them have generally been positive.

I don't always pre-order the games I want, because the bonuses aren't always worth it in my view. A skin for my character that affords no benefits? No thank you. A multiplayer bonus? I generally don't do multiplayer, so no thank you. If the bonus will give me a tangible benefit in some way in the game, then I'll probably get it. (Or if the bonus is something cool like the Dishonored Tarot card deck, then we'll talk.)

"Bioshock Infinite" dropped this week, and while I was interested in it, I wasn't sold enough to pre-order. But I saw enough positive reviews and opinions of the game online that I decided to go pick it up at the local Stop of Games.

Bryan was the guy manning the counter, and as required by corporate, he asked if I'd pre-ordered it, and asked why not. I told him, "I wasn't sold on the game enough to justify it, but I read a lot of great stuff about it online the last couple of days, so..." I asked for the game and the strategy guide (gotta find all those collectibles!).

This is where Bryan shines. He said, "Since I like you, I'm going to give you the pre-order bonus anyway." So he did.

In gratitude, knowing that Stop of Games corporate likes their drones to get pre-orders, I put one in for Assassin's Creed 4-- a game I was planning to get anyway-- and walked out with "Bioshock Infinite," the strat guide, the pre-order bonus code, and an AC4 pirate map poster.

Kudos to you, Bryan.

[TechieGirl87]

I've always had a good experience at Gamestop. I've been there so much that they know me by name and even smile when I come in. I have Star Trek, The Last of Us, AC4 and Deadpool all pre-ordered

[EricKei]

I don't always pre-order the games I want

...But when I do, I pre-order Dos Equis: The Game

He said, "Since I like you, I'm going to give you the pre-order bonus anyway." So he did.

We used to do that when I worked at GameStore if we had enough extra Tchotchkes (often plushies or posters, et al -- one of the ones I loved was a poster for Scarface. It depicted Pacino in a scene like this one, but the entire image was made up of the text of the complete movie script). Since then, most games have gone to either having digital-only preorder bonuses, or none at all x.x

[Sarlon]

when I got a good amount of money for Christmas a few years ago, I decieded I wanted to buy an xbox 360.

I went to the store (after clearing the check with my bank...almost $1500), and went straight to the counter (I was the only other person in the store), and politely said I'd like to buy a new xbox, look at some games, and maybe talk accessories. She talked with me over the different features, then invited me to look at the games while she went into the back to check to make sure they had what I wanted...this being the week after Christmas.

as we were checking out, I preordered some games that I knew I wanted but just didn't have, and she tried to upsell me to the premium pre order of god of war. I didn't really want the Pandora's box that came with it but she hooked me up with several preordered codes for the games I was buying even though some of them were from higher ticket pre orders.

I ended up dropping $600 or so, and made that girls day ^^

[Jay 2K Winger]

I forgot I left out a bit from the OP.

Bryan not only hooked me up with the pre-order bonus for free, but also the Season Pass for free. So I got a lot more for my money.

[KhirasHY]

I wish the stores of that chain near me had people who did that...every single pre-order I've made from my local stores have either not come in, or not had the pre-order bonus with them Before I moved up here, they were all fine every time. Oh well...I don't pre-order often anyway

[wolfie]

I wish the stores of that chain near me had people who did that...every single pre-order I've made from my local stores have either not come in, or not had the pre-order bonus with them

I'd suspect that there was "insider" action - friends of the staff didn't bother to pre-order, and wanted the "goodies" (or the game itself, if the publisher only shipped pre-orders). You're not one of their friends, so your pre-order gets pillaged to satisfy their friends.

[EricKei]

Wolfie - Yup. That did happen from time to time (tho there were some exceptions; for some games, we were specifically warned against it more or less on penalty of death)...On the other hand, for some games, especially those whose "bonus" was a card with a code on it, we would get 20 copies of the game (due to weak preorders) and 500 of the damn cards. We would throw them into people's bags after a while just to get rid of them. Note that, if a game had been out for a couple of weeks and we still had preoder goodies left, they became fair game UNLESS they were a mandatory part of the package that people had paid extra for (in which case, there was a 99% chance that they were inside the sealed package anyway)...Note that GameStore only guarantees availability of pre-ordered games for 48 hours after release; meaning, they can sell the copies that have not been picked up after that time. That is a Corporate mandate, not a store-level one, so many stores do their best to stretch that out by a week or two.

And for those unfamiliar with how these work...yes, the publishers really do base the number of copies they send on pre-order volume unless it's a pre-planned "blockbuster"/guaranteed sales like Madden every year. Up until a few years ago, if you wanted the latest NIS release (Disgaea, et al), you had to make damn sure you preordered it. There were some games along those lines where we'd be lucky to see more than five copies. No preorders? We'd be happy to get two.

[PepperElf]

oo and speaking of bioshock - i just saw a review bout it over on cracked.com

However DO NOT READ PAGE 2 of the review. Unless you don't mind spoilers.

thhe author was pretty adamant about that... to the point where he said everyone's been warned enough, so if anyone complains to him about spoilers he's going to go "lawnmower man" and slap them through the computer.

[Teskeria]

I never pre-order thru them. have never received my pre-order goodies. AND at least twice they never called us as they were supposed to when it came in (they always called to say it was in and indeed on the pre-order receipt they gave us, it specified to wait for the call) and even though we called to check the day of, they would say it wasn't in the shipment. Then we call a couple days later and the same person (yes I take names) says ' well it came in on date and you didn't pick it up so we sold it'