RIP Game?

Or at least game as we know it now?

I've never really liked game, over the time they've employed enough dodgy practises and sales techniques that I dislike to push them into 'only if I have too' territory. E.g. going to supermarkets and buying their special offers to then sell on in their own store, apparently to give the customers 'choice', I'm pretty sure the customers would rather pay the lower price to be honest...

Buying competitors instead of competing with them, in essence they turned gamestation into a game with a different colour scheme. But left the occasionally questionable for public music.

They're also great users of the sell you extra stuff at checkout and send staff to ambush you in the aisles to offer 'assistance', both piss me off. One visit to the Merthyr Tydfil Retail Park Game resulted in every member of staff bar one in the store approaching me, not a big store. When the last one asked, 'anything in particular you're looking for?' I just shook my head and left.

They can't compete with larger stores (supermarkets, argos etc) on prices and that's not shocking due to the buying power they have. But then mostly miss the chance to offer a specialist service that the supermarket couldn't. Game staff are a split between people who generally think they know all there is to know, and some of them get ratty when you contradict them, e.g. one of them was blabbing about Gears of War and how it was an 360 exclusive, a pointless sale attempt as I had it already! But playing along I pointed out it's not, there's also a windows version at which point I  was told in a nicer worded manner, don't be so daft, I work in game so I know. So I wandered over to the PC section, picked it up and showed him...

While some are clueless and they've taken the job as 'shop assistant' and didn't mind where it was. Which is fine, but I do find it quite amusing when they go into pre rehearsed slightly awkward sales patter about games they'll never play.

I've heard them sell over age games to parents of kids as 'all his friends will have it', I've heard them loudly bad mouth other stores, games companies etc loudly in store (Unsurprisingly EA was the latest I heard last weekend where the checkout staff proclaimed, 'No EA are just greedy'. Nothing to do with you're credit rating then and maybe EA realising they may not get paid here? Dick. What's the line now 'EA, Activision, Nintendo, Microsoft, yeah they're all just greedy'?)

They've given me crap deals on trade ins to then resell them at (one extreme) ten times the value. Blockbuster, HMV or CEX are the place to trade.

But they're not all bad, they did have reasonable special offers on times, and I must admit to visiting their 'let's pay the rent' fire sale that's currently going on and when they have an admin stock clearance I'll visit again. Some of the staff are ok, annoying, but that's following orders, plus I'd never wish anyone to lose their job regardless of skill level at it, but administration is looking inevitable.

But going forward, it may become a better shop as a result, Walmart apparently fancy it, with ASDA buying power, it may well be able to complete with the other supermarkets and give itself a chance, even though the ASDA preowned section is rubbish!

I'll miss Game in a way, it was a good place to look at what was out before going to Tesco to get it a fiver cheaper!

Advertising age restricted games

As anyone who follows my twitter (that'll be nobody then) would have saw yesterday,. I was stood in Merthyr Tydfil Tesco overlooking a display for last nights midnight shipping of Black Ops. The display had a short section of the game (looked like every other COD to me) running and then a display where the games would be at midnight and a poster.

Quite normal you'd think.

However, a quick glance around to check all the people mesmerised by this display and there was a large compliment of kids, the oldest I'd imagine about 14 or 15 down to one boy of no more than 7. No adults present at all. Now thinking about it, that kind of display is absolutely perfect for catching the attention of... kids. The loud bangs, the running video, and of course... no price, not the kind of thing to perfectly grab an adults attention.

Earlier on yesterday I was listening to the Richard Bacon show on 5, the man is surprisingly good! One of this points of discussion was COD and the effect it has on children playing it. The game is sweary, violent, obviously due to the genre it has to be aggressive, all points we don't really want to bring out in sprogs, and a good percentage of the calls basically said it should fall to parental control to stop under-age playing it. But give the parents a break, this was blatantly being marketed at the kids, it's easy to say well don't let them play it, but get them hooked and they'll find a way.

I'm not having a go at just Tesco, over my days of weekend/lunchtime browsing in Game stores I've heard some of the worst advice mankind has ever given. The amount of times I've seen parents being given truly awful advice by incentive crazy (I assume) staff members just so they sell them the 360. Mothers of 8 year olds ho know no better being handed over GTA4, Modern Warfare 2 and being told, 'well it is 18 but....'

As much as the parents have of course a duty of care, sure to god there should be a duty of responsibility with the advertising of age restricted products. You wouldn't show an advert for it before the watershed (not that I've noticed anyway) so why leave it running, even if it was a fairly innocuous section of the game, there was still shooting and killing, 24/7 for kids to watch, and watch they did.

Saying that, it is the same game store when a staff member of about 17 refused to sell 27 year old me Manhunt 2 (not a great game anyway) because I looked so young... moron.

I haven't yet picked up a copy of COD:BO but I probably will, but I have Fable 3 to play and I've barely even started that yet, but it's on me list.