gamers

Comcast hinted at adding streaming games to their X1 platform with a confused commercial last May.

Comcast Commercial Claims Their Fast In-Home WiFi Can Make Your Offline Game Work Better

By 5.28.14

Comcast’s been irking a large segment of the internet again this week. This time, though, it doesn’t have anything to do with their pro-merger mania, their stance on net neutrality, or the problems with their actual service. The latest kerfuffle is all about a thirty-second commercial — one that doesn’t even seem to get the basics of its own technology right. [More]

Xbox Assumes Women Contacting Them Must Be Doing It For Their "Sons"

Xbox Assumes Women Contacting Them Must Be Doing It For Their "Sons"

By Ben Popken 8.9.10

When a woman emailed Xbox support about downgrading her Xbox LIVE Gold account to Silver, they sent her back a form letter that assumed she was contacting them on behalf of her son, even though she doesn’t have a son and never made mention of one at all. Hey Microsoft! Ever hear of GIRL GAMERS? [More]

GameStop Buys Pre-Owned Website Kongregate

GameStop Buys Pre-Owned Website Kongregate

By cwalters 7.28.10

If you play games on the website Kongregate–its founders say 10 million players stop by every month–then congratulations, you’re about to become GameStop’s new BFF. There’s no word yet on how this will affect the Kongregate community; the site lets people play online games for free, and GameStop says that the its founders will continue to run things for now. If we start seeing offers to pre-order an upcoming online free game, I guess we’ll know the takeover is complete. [More]

Diablo 2 Scammer Inadvertently Shines Spotlight On Self

Diablo 2 Scammer Inadvertently Shines Spotlight On Self

By cwalters 12.3.09

Robert usually writes about energy and the environment on his blog. However, he recently ran into a scammer online, and surprised the scammer by fighting back: [More]

ECA Responds To Membership Controversy, But Doesn't Say Much

ECA Responds To Membership Controversy, But Doesn't Say Much

By cwalters 12.3.09

Yesterday, ECA President Hal Halpin emailed Consumerist and other blogs a formal statement addressing the charges that the ECA is deliberately making it hard for members to break free. I’m printing the letter below, along with a summary of the key points Halpin makes and the issues that remain unanswered. [More]

ECA Tries To Prevent Members From Canceling

ECA Tries To Prevent Members From Canceling

By cwalters 12.2.09

Some members of the Entertainment Consumers Association (ECA) are pretty upset that the consumer advocacy group for gamers removed the ability to turn off auto-renewal on member accounts. They’ve also removed the phone number you used to be able to call to cancel. In fact, the only way to cancel your ECA membership now is to mail them a letter–and if your request isn’t processed at least 30 days before your membership is due to renew, you can expect to be charged again. Update: The ECA has responded, but their formal statement leaves a lot of questions unanswered. [More]

Beanbag Chair Website May Actually Be Run By Beanbag Chairs

Beanbag Chair Website May Actually Be Run By Beanbag Chairs

By cwalters 6.18.09

Eric and his girlfriend are trying to acquire a beanbag chair from sumolounge.com, but there have been some hiccups. Eric is a former retail manager, so he’s actually pretty understanding about how things can go wrong with fulfillment. Now that Mindy is just flat out ignoring him, however, he may have lost his patience. Update: The founder of sumolounge.com has responded in the comments below.

HOWTO: Return an Opened Video Game

HOWTO: Return an Opened Video Game

By consumerist.com 4.19.06

Most stores won’t give you your money back for an opened video game box. Instead, they will give you the same title.