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Video game industry thread: Trogdor commands you to use the new thread
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good times and good memories.
Yeah, no.
I think they're trying to beat MW3.
Heh. I wonder if Activision will try to rush MW3 to market to beat GoW3, even with all the hell that game's development has been through?
Are you kidding? Mention FF9 on the Internet anywhere these days and it turns into a circlejerk like if the game was the second coming. These days liking FF9 and hating FF7 is the 'cool' thing to do. Personally never liked it. I just found it very hard to care about any of the characters, yes even Vivi.
From what I understand US BB went back on it eventually as well. I don't know exactly what they did as I haven't been there in a while, but I just assume whatever they did it was too little too late. I wasn't sure if they would ever be able to go back, but the fact that they tried takes balls at least...
[Steam][TF2 Backpack]
Lego really knows what its doing.
It should do quite well as a 3DS launch game, and especially at Christmas when everyone starts buying them as presents - there won't be a huge glut of games by then and it should still be available.
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I can't speak for other parts of the US, but in my area BB quietly went from "no late fees, ever" to "keep it too long, and you've bought it."
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Why would they need to? Gears is tiny compared to CoD and despite all its troubles, will still probably be more stable online (unless Epic suddenly remembered how to do it properly over the last few years).
As for the actual release date, the only thing that's remotely interesting about it (to me at least) is that that's usually when Microsoft times their Halo releases. Makes some sense I guess, since it's just outside the two craziest months of the year but I somehow doubt that'd have much effect on sales anyway. They've already got established fanbases for both series, who I'd bet would buy both Halo/Gears and Call of Duty (or whatever other big game is out at the time) anyway.
That's pretty much what happened across the country, yeah.
Really, I think a lot of things contributed to Blockbuster's (impending) death... shaky finances with "no late fees," eroding customer confidence due to poor customer service and how they handled the end of no late fees, the recession and, of course, failing to do anything to counter Netflix and Redbox until it was far, far too late. I mean, both companies were around for a friggin' long time, and Blockbuster never even acknowledged them.
Nah those were both the same thing. They'd advertise no late fees but the deal was this: Rent it for certain amount, get the same due date it would have had before the change. However now you had an extra week past the due date to return it without any new charges. Keep it after that additional week and they charged your account for the movie/game. You still had a month to return it and get your money back but then you'd pay a 1.25 restocking fee (this was the worst, because people thought no late fees was literal and they'd keep something for like four weeks, return it, then get all in a huff for having to pay a dollar).
Keep it even longer than that extra month and it would be removed from the inventory altogether and they wouldn't take it back.
This whole deal was too complicated for a lot of people. Realistically it shouldn't have been much of a problem but when let people think they can keep something for nearly forever they will, even if they already watched it and don't plan on doing so again. It just makes them procrastinate on the return even more.
I mean you'd think people would realize that there was some sort of catch; That it made no sense to let people keep movies/games for literally forever with no consequence, but they thought that's what it meant. That's never what it meant.
[Steam][TF2 Backpack]
One of the biggest selling points for BO was the ability to bring the mailers into the store and rent something for free. Mind, this was even during the no-late-fees era, so that contributed even more to stuff never being on the shelf.
Fast forward a bit later, a new CEO comes in, and doesn't like that we've been essentially telling people not to spend money in the stores, so he all but ditches the in-store pushing of the Online product, and reintroduces a new, strong focus on getting people to rent in store again, by having us push the Blockbuster Rewards product instead. We literally were expected to push this on the Online people even, trying to convince them why they should spend this money, on top of what they spend monthly for BO.
Shortly after was when I stopped working for the company, so my knowledge on what went on was limited to hearsay from former co-workers. This was also around the time that the no-late-fees era was ending, and blockbuster entered this terrible flux of late-fee rules that seemed to last for 3-4 years before finally settling on what they have now. This was especially the case with games, which went through numerous rule changes almost on a bi-monthly basis, it felt.
Basically, their problem mostly seems to stem from terribly poor business decisions, an inability to market properly, and the overall inability to stick with a single business idea long enough for it to truly get successful. I really am not surprised that they are nearing an end, honestly.
But no late fee means no fear means no rush to return means no product means why am I in the store when there's nothing worth renting.
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Tiny is not at all how I would describe Gears. It's still a multi-million copy sellar, and a guaranteed cash cow for MS and Epic.
There's a reason Gears3 is switching to "dedicated servers" and is having a player beta.
I have Secret Clearance now. I'll find work.
This was largely due to the fact that pre-merger many malls contained EBGames stores and Gamestops. After the merger there were still contracts for the locations though, so you ended up with multiple stores in the same location.
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Don't forget Babbages, Software Etc., and all the other competitors GameStop bought up/merged with in the name of Mr. Monopoly.
(though technically speaking I think Gamespot came out of those two, but they did still operate as seperate names for a long while)
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I love hearing Blockbuster employee stories though, the whole operation has always seemed like such a clusterfuck on every level.
The biggest videostores that still operate around here are a chain that are owned and operated locally and run on a "1 dollar a day, and you pay when you return the movie/game" model. That and HUGE porno sections that are sectioned off and run separately from the regular game and movie section so as not to alienate people.
GameFly and Red Box basically killed their business model here.
Hmm...that "hold" sounds like a franchise thing. The corporate stores never did anything like that, that I can recall. We would run the credit card for a $1 pre-authorization, basically to make sure there was at least $1 available on the card, to make sure people weren't using cancelled cards or anything, but never a $50 hold.
Honestly, I laughed out loud the first time I saw one of those boxes. Not that it wasn't a decent idea, but it just made me realize how desperate blockbuster had become by this point.
Blockbuster kiosks just use the Blockbuster name. They are owned by NCR, a producer of ATMs.
In fact, when Blockbuster filed for bankruptcy, NCR put out a hilarious press release to the effect of "don't think these kiosks labeled "Blockbuster" are actually Blockbuster's. They're actually NCR's, and we're doing fine, thanks.
There's actually a used game/music/dvd/cool stuff store in my area that will let you rent any game for sale, even stuff as old as NES stuff. Pretty neat.
During the "no late fees, we promise!" days they used to beg you to bring stuff back; now they just put on the receipt "own it on XX/XX/XXXX for $59.99." That date is usually about two weeks from the day you rented it. The only time I go into Blockbuster anymore, is when I have BB Online movies to exchange for free. When you do that, there really are "no late fees, ever." They just won't send the next movie in your queue until you bring it back.
Wow, I worked there since 2002 and we never did that. required a credit card go, and stay, on the account so that if it never came back the 59.99 went straight on the credit card. Significantly more reasonable than the deposits they would do on renting consoles.
The deposit thing is OLD. Very old. Rent-a-Dreamcast old.
There used to be a store like that in my town. Games from NES/SMS to Dreamcast/PS1. Even had a mini-museum of all the consoles (Famicom and CDX were my favorites). You could rent games by the hour there. After I came back from bootcamp it was gone.
Found out later the dude that owned/ran it was a convicted sex offender.
I read the last line of this then looked at your avatar.
In my mall this phenomenon has resulted in a GameStop on the upper floor and an "EBX" directly underneath it on the lower floor. I guess they thought it would look strange to put the GameStop name on both of them? Although we have another mall which has a Macy's at both ends...
I have to say I'll miss Blockbuster a little bit. There was a kind of fun and romance in going out to rent a movie for movie night.
[Steam][TF2 Backpack]
And because of Blockbuster, I'll bet there are fewer Mom and Pop video stores, too.
I won't miss 'em. Fuck that noise.
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There haven't been any Mom and Pop video stores as long as I can remember. I guess Blockbuster had already killed them by that point, so I do not mourn their loss.
Yup, my favorite video store in the area was a mom and pop operation, and was closed due to Blockbuster moving in. They were awesome, had a great game selection, and had all older movies all rentable for 99 cents. They had a fantastic indie movie and foreign section too.
Of course they also still carried all the PS1 titles that they've had forever....so you could still rent them. They were a bit behind in removing old stock.
But they were great and blockbuster killed them.
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JP sales for the week.
Catherine rules with an iron fist.
PS3's was the top selling game period, 360's topped the console.
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Also, Catherine was projected to sell 150k in its span. It almost hit that in one week.
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I still remember when people used to call Amazon the 'World's Largest Killer of Small Bookstores'. You don't see many of them, either.
You're muckin' with a G!
Now Amazon is working on killing them. Borders is emitting its death rattle as we speak.