Showing posts with label gamestation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gamestation. Show all posts

Friday, 16 March 2012

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!

Tuesday, 12 July 2011

Cash Generator Vs Good Service

Give an opinionated introvert with basic writing skills a public forum such as this and you should be expecting... opinions! Particularly when something makes a real impression, whether that impression be great, or rubbish.

On Friday, among other things (and far more important things at that) that happened, I was also privy to service at complete opposite ends of the scale. For me 'n' the wife's wedding night, after everyone else had buggered off home we stayed in the Dragon Hotel in the centre of Swansea and in general it was an excellent experience. The staff were very helpful, nothing was too much trouble, the room was nice, clean and everything that was required and I acquired quite nice shower gel etc from the room (ahem). They did ID me (29 and lets face it pretty damn weather beaten) and Brandy (28, yes... petite, but still doesn't look young) at the bar, which I suppose is a compliment, or an annoyance!

The taxi that took us to the service was from Yellow Cabs and was fabulous, and to show service gets repeat custom, thanks to that 1 good journey, we booked 3 of them to get from the registry office to TGIs for the grub. If she'd been crap or shitty, the bookings would have gone elsewhere! If you're ever in Jackland for any reason and need a taxi, I heartily recommend Yellow Cabs.

On the other end of the scale was Cash Generator Merthyr Tydfil. Yes I know Cash Generator is probably the pikiest 'shop' around, designed to sell broken second hand stuff to chavs, morons and skint people (which I know now technically would include me) at a huge mark up than the 45p they paid Bob for his 32" flatscreen TV. I knew all this but they had a copy of Kinect Sports I wanted and they were like a tenner cheaper than anywhere else I could find.

I got the disk home and due to my newfound fandom of all things Call of Duty I didn't play it from purchase date (2/7) to the pre wedding Thursday (8/7). I stuck it in and, chug chug, nothing... hmmm try again, same, check disk and believe me this thing has had a hard life, more scratches than a Merthyr girl bitch fight and more burn than a bald bloke with fair skin on his holidays.

So, receipt in hand I marched in the following day, prior to departure for Swansea obviously, and asked for my cash back. The none-too-quick shop assistant looked at it, admitted it was proverbially shagged to buggery and phoned her manager (who was a full 12 yards away, so the call was necessary) and declined the refund as 'media' items must be returned within 48 hours. I pointed out that firstly I wasn't made aware of this and 2 I'm pretty sure that encroaches on an odd consumer right. She essentially said, "Tough"

I asked to speak to the hidden distant manager who trundled across, being sure to bring something with her, to give herself focus on apart from me, who essentially repeated "Tough" and confirmed they feel that their self created company rules take precedence over consumer rights. She said all this without ever staying still to address me or indeed looking me in the eye. Shocker. I asked who owns the franchise, they declined to tell me. (Didn't take a genius to find out it was Dave Elwood, I love the quote, "Cash Generator has allowed me to purchase a yacht and sail around the world in my spare time – a hobby not many business men are privileged to do.") yeah - allowed by exploiting whoever you can!

Riled by this, but holding in the language as little Gracie was with me, I left and called Consumer Direct who pretty much said their actions were shady and I should complain to the store. So back I rang complete with advice on the 1979 Sale of Goods Act (as amended) ringing in my ears, and was once again told, "Tough" and worst of all the advice that Cash Generator feel their goods do not need to be of satisfactory quality as they are 2nd hand. Manager Sarah's words not mine!

I actually wanted to play the damn thing so I took it to gamestation a few days later and had a disk repair done. Once again top notch service received, the guy behind the counter actually seemed to know about Cash Generator from other customers and didn't think it was legit either. This spurred me on.

So in line with the Consumer Direct advice, I complained in writing saying:


From: yeah - I'm going to leave my email address here... d'uh

Sent: 11 July 2011 12:14
Subject: Customer Complaint


Dear Sir/Madam,

Sale of Goods Act 1979 (as amended)

On 02/07/11, I bought a second hand XBOX 360 game - Kinect Sports from your Merthyr Tydfil franchise for £25.00 which is not of satisfactory quality.

The problems are:
·       The disk damaged beyond possible use, both scratches and disk burn was present. This rendered the disk unusable.

I attempted to return this faulty item on 09/07/11 (after first attempting to use it on 08/07/11) complete with original proof of purchase, but this was rejected, despite the staff present agreeing the item was faulty, as your company own rules dictate you may only return ‘media’ products within 48 hours.

The Sale of Goods Act 1979 makes it an implied term of the contract that goods be as described, fit for purpose and of satisfactory quality, which this item was not. It also states you need to give reasonable time to allow such returns, which I believe 48 hours is not. Also, at the point of purchase this extreme limitation was not mentioned to me and I was unaware of this until I attempted to return the item, otherwise I clearly would have tested the item much sooner.

I have since had the disk repaired (10/07/11) at my own cost and am seeking a return of this outlay, plus reasonable costs for this inconvenience.

Please respond to my complaint within 7 days from receipt of this email.

Yours faithfully


Andrew Driscoll

It's not even I care about the pitiful amount it cost me to fix, but through being sarcastic, rude and the like to me in the shop, they made it into a big issue, and one I've decided to follow up. Plus you never know, maybe I'll save some kid from blowing his birthday money in there and being bent over in the same way. Since last week I've heard horror stories of TVs blowing up and them washing their hands of it, defective products being happily sold.

It's not on.

Wednesday, 29 June 2011

Kinect - now I finally have one

It took 8 months and a price decrease in excess of 50% (well for what I paid anyway, they still full price shiny new and in a box) but I relented and purchased myself a lovely motion sensor-tastic Kinect for me XBOX.

Gamestation did me a deal on a PSU'd up one for around £60, bargain and I was away. Set up did require a reshuffle of my 2nd living room, but I've set myself up with plenty of room now and usually, after some framing issues it seems to be all ok.

As I've said before I had concerns, not with the technology, it's a clever little thing and does it's job for the most part well. I of course got Kinect Adventures for nada which is enjoyable enough, but not exactly awe inspiring, bringing me back to an initial concern that it could get strangled by shovelware, and looking at the carnival games, biggest loser, cloned sports games etc games that have already shown up, it is creeping up, so I had a go an Kinect Adventures, which is a reasonable tutorial on how to use the gadget, not exactly engaging gamewise though.

So I popped in my vehicle and slid my arse down to blockbuster to acquire more software.

Firstly, one of the biggest draws to Kinect was Yoostar 2. Yes shallow, but lets face it, my pretty little face(!) combined with my outgoing nature and acting skills are never ever going to get me on TV. So this is as close as I'm ever gonna get. I'll be honest, I felt a little self concious, even in an empty room, acting out these scenes, but it was fun, and it's gone on the 'to buy' list. I also think I did a fooking awesome Ben Stiller monologue from the end of Meet the Parents... Sure. I got one question for you. It's can you deal with that!?! Class!

I also got myself a bit of Kinect Sports which is bordering on shovelware, but at times I really enjoyed. The track and field in particular was fun, and quite energetic! The football aspect is pretty dreadful, and doesn't know when I'm kicking the thing much of the time.

I do want an exercise game for it as I'm starting to get properly fat again, when I should be losing!! I am told that Your Shape is the best and EA is a bit pants. So I'll pick that up in the next few days maybe! Or the The other games return to their blockbuster home Friday.

In general use, it was quickly intuitive moving menus and the 'minority report' style moving stuff around menus is good. Voice commands are responsive and accurate, and considering my accent makes me sound like a backwards camp sheep loving villager, but Kinect is down with that. XBOX... Dashboard indeed. 

In general I'm happy with my knockdown purchase, but still feel it needs more, I'm sure more will come, maybe in Star Wars Kinect. I don't think it will ever replace traditional controller, nor would I want it too, standing up to play every game doesn't sound appealing, plus the feeling of a controller is one I like, the feedback and vibration from something physical would suit many games better than air shooting etc.

It also takes photos of you in game, that means no more naked gaming, could you imagine if I accidentally published a pic of me doing javelin with my wang out, doesn't bear thinking about. But then again, unless it's on zoom, would anyone notice....

Wednesday, 20 October 2010

Kinect - a gaming revolution?

The time is quickly approaching that Microsft will be releasing their XBOX 360 peripheral, Kinect.

Aint it perdy?

Now Kinect (I preferred Natal) is billed as something that will fully revolutionise the way everyone games, removing controllers from the mix. I have a mate who managed to get is backside on the Beta testing program (jammy b*stard) and he can't stop raving about how good it is, how responsive how accurate etc. This is a guy who as a rule knows his stuff and his opinion can be very much trusted.

However, I'm far from convinced.

I've been through this 'new way of gaming stuff before' I picked up a Wii on launch day and was memorised by the way things played. Wii Sports was accurate, responsive and all those things, but after not a hell of a lot of time, it felt gimmicky. Third party titles came out that the developers had either not grasped how to program for the Wii, leading to difficult to play games, or were just lazily adding motion controls to existing titles to shift a few dozen more units.

I have a horrible feeling Kinect will do the same for me. For the first 3 or 4 weeks, it'll be amazing. I wont be able to believe I ever had to push a button to play stuff, what a fool was I! But then I wont feel like standing up, or some new games will arrive, as immense cost and be plainly rubbish and I'll long for my 360 pad again.

Plus there's the cost, these 'controllers' will not be cheap, in fact they will laugh in the face of cheap and mock just how cheap it is. Weighing in at £130 (you can get them cheaper but this is the RRP so Game/Gamestation will charge that at least, and probably a little more just cos people will pay it) you can actually guy an 360 for less. For your £130 you get the controller (at least you only need one) and 1 piece of software, Kinect Adventures. Any further games are full price, pocket destroying.

I have a preorder in place in Game in Swansea. It's not mine but when my (same) mate (I have more than one, I'm just only referring to him at the mo) found out his Beta testing kit was his, I inherited his preorder, but the closer I get to the day, the more I'm thinking, do I really want it? Can I really justify the outlay for something which seems to gimmicky? The more I think about the the more I'm thinking not.

Now, at this point I can add I've never actually played using it. It could be what I've been looking for all these years, I just don't know it yet. But chances are it's not, it'll be fun for a bi then gather dust. Actually I think writing this has just made my mind up!!

I read something perfect on the GamesTM forum yesterday, it basically said what will people prefer in the long run, playing with a invisible steering wheel, or feeling the rumble and feedback from a real one/controller. Well when you say it like that... (sorry can't find post again to link too!)

Microsoft know one thing, Kinect will be a success, it will sell millions and be impossible to get hold of (now thinks about keeping preorder and selling for Christmas... hmmm <evil laugh>) but it may not be one with people like me (I'm pretty sure there's not many people wanting to be put into that category) but the Wii inspired casual market and kids, and after all kids are the future. The Wii captured a market, that very market and it's understandable Microsoft want a chunk of it I suppose. I just hope it doesn't become compulsory on too many games.

I think I'll get Fable 3 instead, wait that's Kinect compatible... here we go again...

Tuesday, 28 September 2010

Pay Day!

Woo hoo it's pay day! This signals a very special time of the month, there's a gap, not a huge one but a gap nonetheless, between the 28th (Pay Day) and the 1st (Bill Day)

During this little period it's like living in a whole new financial bracket, the bank looks healthy, you don't feel a sense of intrepidation on approach to a cashpoint. The bank itself saves a fortune on red ink, but it's not all environmentally friendly as they tend to use more black.

Then the first comes round... Direct Debits shrink the balance back to where I belong and things return to normality and instead of marching into <insert generic game shop here> and demanding a latest release, it's back to hanging round in the preowned section or gazing through the window longingly like Charlie Bucket in the Roald Dahl classic. Gamestation have asked me not to, apparently my saliva running down the window doesn't help their sales.

Now don't get me wrong I'm not on the breadline, work doesn't exactly pay me money I have to carry home in my diamond encrusted wheelbarrow, but it's enough (Anyone wanting to offer me megabucks leave a comment, I'll have my people call your people... OK I have no people but if it creates the right image I'll get my mum to call and pretend she's my PA).

Speaking of stuff I can't afford, has anyone seen the new keyboard add on for Rock Band? Looks mighty classy, but is weighing in at £110 with the game. Looks like it's going to be a choice between that and Natal/Kinect (£120). I'll prob go for the rock band, Kinect still seems slightly gimmicky to me, despite a wise mate singing its praises. Plus the other half (an accomplished guitar hero player herself will love it, as she's also a piano player!) The clincher would be releasing some Ben Folds for it. Do it harmonix, do it now!

Anyway, I better be off, it's getting to the busy part of the train route and some stinking hobo will sit next to me at any moment doubtless.

Catch ya later!