Dude... enunciate.

I spent 90 minutes watching this whole thing last night.

whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy.

it made quite the comment storm on kotaku. most gamers know not to shop at gamestop anyways, im assuming the consumerist crowd knows this too. better deals/stores are everywhere

Nothing new, but it's delightfully animated.

He sounds like the talking machine Stephen Hawking uses.

I'd rather spend 5 minutes at Gamestop, trade in an Old Xbox360 game for $20, and buy a used one $20, after the trade-in discount, than trying to advertise my old game for $35+ on Craigslist or eBay, having to spend far too much time reading through bullshit emails, managing illegal bids, dealing with potential returns, shipping items, or meeting people I don't know in person.
And as far as reserves go; I fail to understand how anyone has anything negative to say about game reservations. Last time I went into Gamestop to reserve a game, the employee told me I had $5 down on a game from a year ago, and he simply transferred the reservation for me, and gave me a receipt for it.

Wow this guy missed a crucial point as to why Yahtzee is funny: Delivery.

Ha nice job and so true :/

@MercuryPDX: I agree. Nothing new but fairly entertaining to watch. I bought an original XBOX and was looking at a place to buy a cheap copy of a game I wanted and realized that at the price the used game places charge (and I called more than just Game Stop) I would be better served buying it new because I already knew I liked it, wanted to keep it, and would rather know what I'm getting and save myself hassle.

@Jeneni: You nailed it.

Never really understood the hate for gamestop...I guess it's the:

- shitty trade-in values
- "bad" customer service

Nearly every time I've been into a GS, it's been a enjoyable experience, well at the my normal one anyways.

@exkon: I agree, I've never had a bad experience at Gamestop. They never want to give me very much money for my trade-ins, but I also usually bring in games that are 8 years old.

I guess the worst part is that when you go in, it always seems like a bunch of high school aged kids just standing around talking to people... but then again, it is a video game store. It's not like I expect guys in suits.

SPEAK SLOWER!

TALK SLOWER.

On his last point tho... I bought a used Guitar for Guitar Hero from Gamestop, and the strap smelled like weed so bad that I had to wash it... it was pretty gross.

@Subliminal0182: Damn, hit the enter button..

Anyway, Gamestop (and most trade-stores like it) are only good for buying oldskool games under $10.00. It's horrible for trading in your console/games, as you can get substantially more through Ebay, Amazon, CL, etc.

Yah, I pretty much just go to gamestop when I know what I want and don't need much in the way of customer service. As far as prices go, saving $4 on a $55 game is not an overriding necessity in my life.

Plus, it's someplace to go when my wife goes into victoria's secret at the mall.

Did my beloved Consumerist really pass on an opportunity to print a list of things? Anyone feel like doing the bullet points (or a link to the points)? Thanks in advance!

Here's a question though... is it company policy for GS to collect a bunch of personal information about you prior to trade in? They wanted name, address, phone number etc. I ended up leaving after they couldn't show me proof that 1) It was necessary and 2) There was even a written company policy about it. They even called corporate and they couldn't read one line from any manual/rulebook saying that its GS policy to collect personal information on all trade ins.

@exkon: agreed, my experience has always been good. of course the workers were fellow college kids, so that helps. i always waited to sell games back until they had one of their specials where you get an extra $10 for trading in 4 games. hmm, let's see, a giant pain in my ass trying to get rid of 20 games on ebay or waltzing into gamestop and having them give me $50 on top of what the games are "worth" to them. seems like a no brainer to me when the games were old and wouldn't go for shit on ebay anyway.

My worse experience at a Gamestop was when I (a 19-year-old girl at the time) went in to purchase Madden 07 and the employee ringing me up asked if it was for a brother or boyfriend and I said "no, it's for me" and he started laughing loudly and telling his coworker this super-hilarious story (I was not amused) loud enough for anybody in the store to hear. After he said something to the effect of "don't worry, you don't have to say it's for you to look cool, we like ALL girls that come in here", I decided not to go back.

Creep.

I used to work at a GameStop, and there are some pretty shady stuff going on. People doing whatever they could to sell reservations and subscriptions. The used games are basically a scam, you trade a brand new game in for $35, and they resell it for about $54.99, and you get an excellent 10% discount for the little card you bought, great.

@knyghtryda: I think there are legal requirements to take in "trade-ins" in a lot (if not all) localities. It's like a pawn shop in that respect. If someone's trying to fence some stolen games and they don't have to provide ID, it makes it impossible to trace them if the police find out the games have been sold to GameStop (or wherever).

On another note, I've never had a bad experience at the GameStops I've gone to. The guys working there are polite, they don't bother me when I'm just browsing, and if I have questions, they're more than willing to help.

@knyghtryda: I believe they do that to cover their asses in case the games you're selling them turn out to be stolen. (don't ask me how one would identify a stolen video game.)

@exkon: Bad customer service. I dislike places that do not stock new product, instead "reserving" all of it. I realize it is their business model, but it is not one that works for me. I really dislike "reserving" a copy for purchase, i rarely pre-pay, pre-buy anything.

Enunciation is key to people grasping the message. What I could understand was passably funny though.

ajlei: Interesting story. Not to defend the creep/guy at all, but most gaming males are too cynical to believe that there are any real, living women who actually play video games. Most really would like more females to be involved in gaming -- but they don't believe it's the norm for a young woman to be into gaming for her own reason. At the average GS, there's definitely a "comic book store guy" vibe about the places.

But at the GS I occasionally stop by in, they have female employees who sound to be quite personally knowledgeable in the latest games.

I haven't had much problem with their subsidiary "EB games." Their workers are inconsistent in the amount they know about the things they sell but generally returns, purchases, reservations etc... have been alright. They do have the widest selection of games. They carry stuff many other shops wouldn't as well as carrying a decent variety of used games. Pawn shops tend to have stacks of MaddenXX and little else.

Where I live there are few other options. Amazon keeps being unable to mail me games (I get a refund though) and I'm not aware of a Canadian online game seller. Even the major chains only carry a very restricted set of titles if I want an atlus game I have to go to EB.

I bought two old school games for my PSP (Activision Hits and Midway Arcade Treasures) from two different GameStop stores - no problems whatsoever, and the prices were reasonable for used ($10 and $13, if memory serves me correctly).

Last time I went Best Buy, however, I got the scratch protection upsell pitch and magazine offers. Declined both offers - and from all the stories proffered about BB, I won't buy from them.

@Quatre707:

If your time is worth that much to you then I guess GS is perfect for you. For me, I'd rather wait a few days to sell my 360 for $300 dollars in cash then get 100 dollars in store credit at Gamestop.

Also I have mixed feelings about pre orders. I hate to hand $5 to some random joe in hopes that (after many delays) I'll get my game on launch date but then alot of developers have bonuses to their games that make you reserve there if you like the game. Im on the fence now if I want to pre order Resistance 2 since you can get in the beta that way.

A few comments suggest that the author of the video clip should speak slower. Are they missing the fact that he's purposely speaking fast to imitate Yahtzee's Zero Punctuation? I agree though that he ought to enunciate better. If you're going to speak that fast you better make sure your enunciation is impeccable.

Still, all the enunciation in the world won't make his clip funny. Every now and then people post in the Escapist forums that Yahtzee is not funny, blah blah. They should watch this guy's clip. He has demonstrated how it is possible to take Yahtzee's concept and run it squarely into the ground.

@Bauer22: A new elite is $400. I find it hard to believe someone will buy a used one for $300.

Somebody get that guy some speech therapy.

I like to buy used DVDs and gameboy advance games at gamestop.

They usually have good deals on the DVDs. Buy 2 get the third one free. Big savings if you can find 3 box sets you like.

The gameboy advance games are usually around the price on ebay and no waiting for the mail.

I watched the entire 9 part series at work, and during my lunch, I went to Gamestop and canceled 100.00 worth of preorders... So his message hit one person

the only part i felt where gamestop is really wrong is in video 5 when he says that employees are paid onto a card instead of a check and/or cash. that can't be legal. if what the video says is true, and employees end up having to spend money just to get the money they are owed then gamestop needs to be sued into submission for that.

Pre-orders are only worth bullcrap when by doing so you get something extra like a crappy artbook or something.

Anyways, as much as I hate the practices of Gamestop the Corporation, my local Gamestops and EBs are preferred over just about any other retailer. We all know we're getting reamed on used games. But the time and effort wasted on squeezing out a little more on a game from 5 years ago isn't worth it. Certainly getting $1.50 on a trade in is more then goodwill will give me. Plus when they do the trade in bonus plus the edge card deal, you can seriously come out on top.

I should know. I'm a CAG.

@Nationalcoholic: I wish you could get 2 stars. I have never heard a person speak with so many marbles in their mouth.

@ajlei: i guess you could say they really put the "game" in gamestop.

They also put the stop in gamestop, though...

Haven't gone to gamestop in a long time. I'll horde my old electronics that aren't worth a dime and use online retailers to buy new stuff, thank you very much.

I always feel ripped off going to Gamestop. That being said, I always buy games from Gamestop. Why? Because the games I trade in are basically crap and no one will take them, and I never buy new games (with a few rare exceptions). I never trade in good games because well, they're good, and I want to keep them. What's the point of letting go one of your favorite games and getting 50 cents for it? Sounds stupid; may as well just throw it in the back of the closet.
My friends and I have made it a habit to pick up old games rather than new. I'll often go there and buy a used game for $5, and we'll play that for a few months. It's a good deal for a whole crapload of long-lasting, good entertainment, and I don't feel as ripped off if I go back in and trade it.

I also wanted to add that just because a game is new doesn't mean it's good, and just because a game is old doesn't mean it's bad.
The worst offenders and automatic money wasters are the EA sports/any sports series of games. You buy a title for $60, and 2 months later it's worth $0, because the next iteration is coming out. Your best bet is to buy last year's game or any year before that. I just bought FIFA 2002 PS2 for $6 for a friend, and it's by far the best iteration of the game I've played (except for 2002 World Cup, which is not available for PS2). He just picked up College Football 2007 for $7. Why buy the newest one for college anyway when they use generic names and numbers?

As a new fan to ZP, I have to say this little bit was well done. Quite funny, and contrary to others' opinions I think the brilliance of the ZP animation concept shines here even with less than stellar source material. This guy could have a great youtube career just doing ZP like parody skits if he would just talk normally.

But, the moral of the story is nothing more than what David Hannum said over 100 years ago ("There's a sucker born every minute.") If WhistleBlowerZero's stories are true, then this isn't a GameStop issue. GameStop is just providing a service akin to pawn shops and payday lending. It's the critical failure of humanity that is behind everyone allowing themselves to be fleeced like this. Everyone who has two brain cells already knows or can figure out the horrible value GS's services provide, so I can't see who these videos are going to help.

I'd rather be concerned about what's going on that allows companies like GameStop and Countrywide to be profitable in the first place.

Yeah, I haven't really had an unpleasant experience dealing with GameStop/EBgames at all. Last time I bought something from a GameStop (a few weeks ago), it was a new DS. I get home, and any contact with the top area of the touch screen causes the screen to move back a bit and click. I can't find the receipt, but a day later (after I decide that the clicking is going to be an issue for me) do call and ask if they can process an exchange from the units serial number. They say sure, I go in, walk out with a perfectly functioning DS.

I liked the animations but damn he mumbled too much.

p.s. He said "man-flower", huh huh...

Recently I bought a Wii bundle and Wii Fit bundle from GameStop online. Even with the dang "Handling Fees" the purchase was a lot cheaper than eBay and/or trolling bricks and mortar stores (as if!).

Both bundles came brand new and packed well. The Wii bundle was particularly good since it contained everything I wanted to get (thankfully).

I'd probably never go into one of their stores... and will probably never buy a game from them (Amazon Prime is better)... That said, I appreciate the good service and price I got on hard to find items.

There are two reasons why GameStop no longer gets my money:

1) They open their first copy of a game so they can have a display case. When they have sold all their copies of a game, they will sell the display game, but claim it as new.

2) They will not stock what has not pre-ordered. Twice I tried to buy a new release at one of their stores and was told that if I did not preorder, I was out of luck, and they wouldn't have any copies for at least a week. In both cases, I went to my local box store and picked up a copy with no hassle.

So, if you like to shop there, that's fine. But I want to buy product that they don't sell, so they don't get a dime from me.

lol, I love this guys graphics.

"RIP Funcoland" Ha!

I buy used games. I rarely buy anything new. I wait until I read reviews and see what people have to say about it.
As such, I do stop in the suburban Gamestop stores. The stores located in most bigger malls aren't worth it. The employees have bad attitudes. The managers don't care. The selection is terrible at in the mall stores.

Find a Gamestop in a neighborhood strip mall, preferably one that has a high school or college within a few miles.

The last point... if you run into bad employees, it's usually a direct reflection of the management. Good management will hire (and keep) good employees, and they won't tolerate bad employees.

EB Games and blockbuster are the only stores that I can get used games from here. Now, for the most part, I only buy used games when they are >$10 off the price of a new one. Yes, I can use ebay and get a game for $35, and pay $15 in shipping to Canada. Amazon will not ship games to Canada. When I'm buying a game, I generally want to play it right then, if I don't, I'll wait till I can grab a good auction on ebay and snag it there.

Of course, EB Games shafts you for trade-ins. I'm lucky to get $5 for a game I'd trade in (Granted, they are mostly shit games as I keep the ones I like!), but I find Blockbuster is very reasonable, and often times they will give you a minimum of $7 or so when EB Games was going to give you $1.50.
---

But yes, the local EB Games here has a habit of selling games that run for $59.99 new, for $54.99 used, without the case or the manuals. Whereas blockbuster took the art, manuals, and disk out of one of the 360 games I traded in, and put the game I was wanting in it, so I'd have an actual case. I realize this is down to the person at the register, but I will probably do a lot more shopping there.

@yikz: Very true! There is an EB Games in the mall, and it sucks - like, really bad. There is one across the street from the mall in a strip-mall setting, and it is pretty good. Less people, better employees, more games, etc.