I went out to Best Buy to pick up Prototype today and was expecting to see the conventional game in hard plastic cover which the clerk takes off when you pay. So I'm walking through and noticed their games looking mighty thing. I discredited it thinking maybe they were moving stuff around, but as I looked closer, every PS3 and 360 game was just a piece of paper with the cover and back of the game on it.
I just stood there for a few minutes trying to wrap my head around this concept. Isn't this 2009 we're living in? I had flashbacks to when I was a little kid at Toys R Us walking up to a wall of video games that just had box art, taking a ticket and going up to a window that was surrounded in like...bullet proof glass to get the game. I never did figure out what I was supposed to do as I got the game w/ t-shirt that I'll never wear (it was the same price). But still...it blew my mind.
Anyone else's Best Buy do this - is mine just late to the party?
WTF is Best Buy doing?1?!
I've seen this at some best buy's in phoenix before. This was a few years ago and it was only for some games. I think it was mainly the new ones, but i could be wrong.
I guess I understand why they do it, but it seems so old school and inefficient. And this was EVERY 360 and PS3 game (no Wii games, but maybe thats next?)
Part of the reason I like Best Buy is because I can just grab my game and go. I don't like retailers like Target or Wal Mart as I dont like having to track down someone with a key. I dont like GameStop because no, I don't want to preorder Game X, no I don't want a guide.
" I guess I understand why they do it, but it seems so old school and inefficient. And this was EVERY 360 and PS3 game (no Wii games, but maybe thats next?)Part of the reason I like Best Buy is because I can just grab my game and go. I don't like retailers like Target or Wal Mart as I dont like having to track down someone with a key. I dont like GameStop because no, I don't want to preorder Game X, no I don't want a guide. "
clerk: "do you want our card thing? you will save 10% on all used games!"
me: "no i dont feel like having another card that i'll never use."
clerk: " oh, so you like paying the extra 10% then?"
me " just shut the fuck up and give me my game jackass"
and, yes, i did actually say that to the clerk =P
"@C0V3RT said:i vowed never to go into a gamestop again when the clerk tried to make me seem like an idiot in front of my friends and everyone in the store...clerk: "do you want our card thing? you will save 10% on all used games!"me: "no i dont feel like having another card that i'll never use."clerk: " oh, so you like paying the extra 10% then?"me " just shut the fuck up and give me my game jackass"and, yes, i did actually say that to the clerk =P "" I guess I understand why they do it, but it seems so old school and inefficient. And this was EVERY 360 and PS3 game (no Wii games, but maybe thats next?)Part of the reason I like Best Buy is because I can just grab my game and go. I don't like retailers like Target or Wal Mart as I dont like having to track down someone with a key. I dont like GameStop because no, I don't want to preorder Game X, no I don't want a guide. "
"@End_Boss said:Yes, Bizarro world. Superman's black and lives underwater. Best Buy uses paper tickets. Seriously though, my local Best Buy hasn't started doing this yet. Is there a lot of theft in your town?"" Not mine, and therefore you live in Bizarro world. "
It's Omaha, Nebraska and the Best Buy in the good part of town. I guess theft is a possiblity anywhere.
One near me does this, but not with EVERY game. Only more newer games. They have the games up in a locked metal basket at the front of the store. Its strange, as the others around me don't do that but I guess it is in an area that has more crime than the others. *shrug*
I don't find it THAT bad. Sure it may not be as efficient, but it seems to work decently.
" Man, being abrasive to a guy trying to do his job is so extreme. I know it's annoying, but jeez, calm down a little bit. Maybe he was trying to make a joke. Do all the GameStops I've never visited have someone outside that punches people in the face before they go in? Is that why everyone sounds like they have a stick up their ass when they speak of one?OK, onto the topic. I've noticed that all the Sam's Clubs that I've been in do this. LIke many people have said, they might have a lot of theft at the store."
oh and if you would have been there, you would have known he was definitely not trying to make a joke
"@NickL said:Man, being abrasive to a guy trying to do his job is so extreme. I know it's annoying, but jeez, calm down a little bit. Maybe he was trying to make a joke. Do all the GameStops I've never visited have someone outside that punches people in the face before they go in? Is that why everyone sounds like they have a stick up their ass when they speak of one?"@C0V3RT said:i vowed never to go into a gamestop again when the clerk tried to make me seem like an idiot in front of my friends and everyone in the store...clerk: "do you want our card thing? you will save 10% on all used games!"me: "no i dont feel like having another card that i'll never use."clerk: " oh, so you like paying the extra 10% then?"me " just shut the fuck up and give me my game jackass"and, yes, i did actually say that to the clerk =P "" I guess I understand why they do it, but it seems so old school and inefficient. And this was EVERY 360 and PS3 game (no Wii games, but maybe thats next?)Part of the reason I like Best Buy is because I can just grab my game and go. I don't like retailers like Target or Wal Mart as I dont like having to track down someone with a key. I dont like GameStop because no, I don't want to preorder Game X, no I don't want a guide. "OK, onto the topic. I've noticed that all the Sam's Clubs that I've been in do this. LIke many people have said, they might have a lot of theft at the store."
I just don't go there because when I went in to pre-order Fable II - the guy asked me if I wanted it for the 360 or the PS3. FAIL!
Yeah the best buy I saw that did this was in the rich part of town so it seemed out of place. I also had to ask some dude that was back there to get it for me, who then handed it to me. It kinda made no sense seeing as I now had it in my hand and could easly rip it off. Crazy
"Yeah the best buy I saw that did this was in the rich part of town so it seemed out of place. I also had to ask some dude that was back there to get it for me, who then handed it to me. It kinda made no sense seeing as I now had it in my hand and could easly rip it off. Crazy "
Did he hand you a game in or outside of a plastic case?
I've only seen the whole ticket thing at Toys R Us (which they still do here). At Christmas I went to get some stuff that was on sale and it was ridiculous. They didn't know what they had, where they had it, it was just a damn nightmare.
Honestly, this is a good system and stores should go back to doing it permanently. Ok, maybe not the glass wall of ass. But putting out photocopied cases in favor of gutting games means they are all sealy fresh and people don't have to get fucked off about getting what is essentially a second hand product. It also alleviates arguments about whether or not those products are indeed second hand (as sometimes, you never can tell, and i've worked in the UK variants of these stores, so I know what i'm talking about)
Personally, it's sealed, or no sale (unless i'm desperate and it's definately the last copy) so going back to keeping them behind the counter is imo, the future.
last time i went to a best buy was probibly a month ago, to get Sonic's Ultimate Sega Collection, and i saw none of this...probibly something they are testing out.
I really have no problem with this practice mostly for the reasons that A_Drain mentioned...I'm cool with it as long as it dosent involve employees that need to scour the electronics section to find the key to the glass wall, or employees that dont know where they keep the games that havent been gutted yet. (i went to a gamestop go get infamous the day it came out..and they hadn't gutted the ones that werent reserved, SO I ACTUALLY GOT A GAME IN A SEALED CASE FROM GAMESTOP WOOOO!!)
Thats pretty lame but, when you think about it, its basically the same system blockbusters or any other game rental store uses, and I bet they get almost no games stolen because they are all behind the counter, its more inconvenient but it makes sense.
Also as for proof of why they would need to do this, I was working at Future Shop over Christmas (futureshop is basically bestbuy in Canada, although we have bestbuy too, same company though.) Anyways! So this guy pulls his truck up in front of the double sliding doors that is the main enterence, Casually walks in starts looking at the PS3s, Picks 2 up, walks out the doors and puts them in his truck, AND THEN, comes back in gets 2 more puts those in his truck and drives away. By the time anyone noticed he was already gone. thats like $2000 in stuff stolen in 5 minutes. And we would always find empty boxes of stuff that people had exactoknifed open and taken. So I can understand them wanting to cut down on stolen product.
But honestly, Videogames have magnetic cases that are tricky as shit to open, Except for the older ones which can be smacked open haha. Videogames aren't really the ones that get stolen, they should concentrate on getting better security on their high cost products.
As others have said, this is probably to eliminate theft of games. Yes, its annoying and is an extra step for you, but I suspect it is also annoying for the employees at the Best Buy; games are probably among their most popular individual items, so they have to go through the stack that is somewhere secure to get you your copy of whatever game. Still, for the person who has to explain the wonky inventory every week, this probably seems like the best solution to games that just "walk away."
"The only solution to this is a boycott. "
Funny you mention that. I actually stopped going to Best Buy for a short period of time when they tried to sell magazine subscriptions. I don't know how many people are weird about this kind of stuff like me - but will be interested to see if this causes a decline in game sales. We'll have no way of knowing, but would anticipate if it does, they'll change format again.
So, what's the problem here? How is giving a ticket to a person who then rings up the game any different than just bringing the game up in a theft resistant plastic case and having them ring it up?
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