If anyone actually tuned into Spike's VGA's last night, you would have witnessed quiet the show. From the very beginning you knew it was going to rock, seeing as how the show wasted no time on announcing Arkham Asylum 2. It's most likely the Mark Hamill fan in me is telling me how awesome that was. I won't go into too much detail on who won what, but I will link to the results, as well as the World Premiers game websites. There was only one little, itsy, bitsy, teeny, tiny thing that I do not agree with;
Best Voice, the nominees were:
-Arleen Sorkin as Harley Quinn (Arkham Asylum)
-Claudia Black as Chloe Frazer (Uncharted 2)
-Jack Black as Eddie Riggs (Brutal Legend)
-Mark Hamill as The Joker (Arkham Asylum)
-Nolan North as Nathan Drake (Uncharted 2)
The winner was Jack Black, and even though I like Jack Black and everything about Brutal Legend, I honestly thought Mark Hamill should have won. And while I talk about Brutal Legend, why wasn't Tim Curry nominated for Best Voice, I mean, it would have been a tough call for me, but still, Tim Curry would have been a better representative for Brutal Legend.
And while I am at it;
Best Soundtrack:
-Brutal Legend
-DJ Hero
-Rock Band Beatles
-Guitar Hero 5
The way I see it, agree or disagree, Brutal Legend should have won, not because I love the game to death, just because it was not a Music Game. DJ Hero should suck my left sack for not only violating Queen, but for the fact that even Guitar Hero 5's music was better (and GH5 has jack on Brutal Legend)
Now that I have my rant out of the way, I will hold up my end of the bargain, here are all of the World Premiers:
Medal of Honor: http://www.spike.com/video/medal-of-honor/3305002
UFC Undisputed 2010: http://www.spike.com/video/ufc-undisputed-2010/3305877
Deadliest Warrior: http://www.spike.com/video/deadliest-warrior/3305003
Crackdown 2: http://www.spike.com/video/crackdown-2/3305905
Star Wars The Force Unleashed 2: http://www.spike.com/video/star-wars-force/3305313
Prince of Persia the Forgotten Sands: http://www.spike.com/video/prince-of-persia/3305314
Rock Band: Green Day: http://www.spike.com/video/green-day-rock-band/3305001
Spec Ops: the Line: http://www.spike.com/video/spec-ops-line/3305898
Tron: Evolution: http://www.spike.com/video/tron-evolution/3305312
True Crime: http://www.spike.com/video/true-crime-exclusive/3305000
Halo Reach: http://www.spike.com/video/halo-reach-exclusive/3305902
Arkham Asylum 2: http://www.spike.com/video/batman-arkham-asylum/3305908
Here are the winners:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kl4jkFy4rxQ
If you want to see who else was nominated then go here and check out each individual category.
http://www.spike.com/event/vga2009
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Saturday, November 21, 2009
FIELDRUNNERS (PSP minis): A full and frank review.
COST: $6.99
SIZE: 24Mb
GENRE: Tower Defense
Fieldrunners is a well-known tower defence game from the iPhone that helped launch the PSP minis line. Though more expensive on the PSP, it claims to offer more content than its iPhone counterpart. It performs quite well for a casual tower defence game, though it has a number of flaws that prevent it from being a must-buy.
For those unfamiliar with with Fieldrunners, it is a typical tower defence game wherein you purchase towers and place them on the map in order to destroy waves of oncoming enemies before they reach their goal (if you have never played a tower defence game before, go try the demo of Pixeljunk Monsters Deluxe or one of several free Flash-based offerings available online). In Fieldrunners, the majority of maps are wide open and enemies will automatically take the shortest path possible to reach their goal. It is up to the player to build towers in such a way to force them into longer paths, exposing them to fire from as many paths as possible. The game wisely prevents you from simply blocking all paths to the goal, which is the first thing I attempted to do. There are a good variety of enemy units, from simple cannon fodder to fast-moving bikers, slow damage-absorbing tanks, and aircraft that circumvent the ground paths. To counter these, you wield up to eight different types of towers. Six of these do damage in a variety of ways, though in practice they never seem differ greatly beyond how MUCH damage they do. Thankfully the game does not segregate certain towers to only deal damage to certain units; Gun Turrets and Missile Towers do equal damage to ground and air units (though someone will have to explain to me how the Mortar can damage air units). The other two, the Goo and Ice towers, do no damage but slow enemies down. These are essential, and any Fieldrunners player who ignore these towers will find their games ending quickly. Each tower can be upgraded to level 2 and 3 versions. I honestly saw no overall effect to this other than a different sprite for the tower.
For a game that originated on a touchscreen, the controls on the PSP work beautifully. The d-pad controls the cursor, the X button builds towers on empty squares or opens the sell/upgrade menu when highlighting a tower, the L and R buttons select which tower to build, and the analog nub zooms the view in or out. I rarely had issue with the controls as such. Select can be pressed at any time to pause the game, allowing you to build, sell, and upgrade towers freely without worrying about units on-screen. The Start button lets you quit the game and save it, an essential feature for a game meant to be played on the go. There is also a generous autosave, something I discovered when I dropped my PSP while playing; even though the battery had dislodged, I did not lose much progress at all. The whole map can be seen at once at the highest zoom level, and I didn't feel the need to zoom in closer at any point. If your cursor ever overlaps the tower selection screen at the bottom, the tower icons fade out to give you an unobstructed view of the battlefield. I found this very frustrating: while I could see what was going on, I could not see which tower I had selected, leading to an incorrect build more than once.
While the game touts an impressive list of features, it starts with only one map and one game mode unlocked. There are five maps in total, each with very little variation between them. Some feature multiple entrances for enemy units (PRO TIP: for every entrance on the map, there is a corresponding "exit" on the opposite side, which are the points you have to defend. The game does NOT make this obvious and you will likely only find out about them when a unit emerges from an entrance and marches straight into an undefended exit) while others throw a few token obstacles into the terrain to break up the wide open arena design. For a short-order game, completing an actual level can take upwards of half an hour even on the easiest difficulty. The default modes throw 100 enemy waves at you, and surviving at least 50 of them unlocks the next map. You'll have to survive up to the final wave to unlock all modes for the current map. Extended mode is the same 100-wave survival game with the ability to use more than the four basic towers. Endless mode is exactly what it sounds like. After putting so much time into beating a level on just the basic mode, I couldn't convince myself to go back to it for the other modes; they just didn't change things enough to offset the level fatigue that sets in.
The game's difficulty is punishing even on Easy. That difficulty is inherent to structure of the game itself. You start each map with enough funds for two or three towers, and you earn a small amount of money each time an enemy unit is killed. Fail to kill an enemy, and it depletes one of your 20 hit points. Of course, the rub here is that any enemy you don't kill is also cash you don't get. Failure to plan your tower placement from the very first wave can lead to a very quick spiral of defeat. Several maps I had to start multiple times as I recognized my poor choices were bound to end my game early. By around the 40th wave, if you survive to that point, the map should have become an enemy-destroying machine. At this point Fieldrunners becomes less a game and more a show. You're typically watching the current wave run your gauntlet, racking up the funds you will need for better towers to take on the stronger waves that are inevitably coming. Fieldrunners becomes very hands-off as you progress through the waves and it leads me to question just how much of a "game" it actually is.
For a game you will be staring at for quite a while, it looks decent. All sprites look good both when fully zoomed in and fully zoomed out. The tower sprites are distinguishable for the most part, and they change with each upgrade, though it is sometimes difficult to tell which upgrade level they are at by sprite alone (the only other way is to select the tower and see if an upgrade is still available). The enemy units are varied beyond anything I would have expected. There are three or four different types of footsoldiers, and any of these types can be found driving motorcycles or jeeps. There are a number of tank types as well, in addition to helicopters, aeroplanes, and even zeppelins. Don't expect much in the way of animation on these sprites; vehicles turn corners by simply changing directions 90 degrees with no animation whatsoever. Some units have a quick "dying" animation that is typically lost in the chaos. Speaking of chaos, Fieldrunners can become visual overload at times. With multiple units, towers, explosions, missiles, goo shots, electricity arcs, lasers, flames, and more on the screen at once, it can be hard to tell exactly what is going on and how effective, if at all, your towers are at eliminating the enemy. There were several moments where the graphics chugged; you read that right, a PSP minis game caused my PSP-2000 to literally CHUG under the strain of the graphics. There is really no good reason for this.
If the visuals weren't chaotic enough, the sound effects during gameplay are just as bad. Each tower has a unique sound effect associated with it; they don't sound terrible, and they fit what each tower does. Most of the units also have associated sounds, such as the motorcycle's rumble or the helicopter's thwop-thwop-thwop. They all work well for what they represent, but with dozens of units on-screen and multiple towers firing at once, it can get a bit much. I would have preferred a little more variety in the sound effects for each object, but this is a PSP minis title, so I can understand being sparse in that regard. The game features a musical score of whimsical, quasi-militaristic tunes reminiscent of games like Worms. The tracks aren't bad for a casual listen, but there is only one track per map that continually loops as you play it. Since the shortest round I played was around thirty minutes, I found the music wearing on me. A bit more variety in this regard would have been appreciated, even just to play more than one of the included tracks on any given map.
Fieldrunners is a competent but frustrating tower defence title and not the best start for PSP minis in general. I cannot justify it for the price of $6.99, though I might have cut it more slack if it were priced at $4.99.
FINAL GRADE: C-
SIZE: 24Mb
GENRE: Tower Defense
Fieldrunners is a well-known tower defence game from the iPhone that helped launch the PSP minis line. Though more expensive on the PSP, it claims to offer more content than its iPhone counterpart. It performs quite well for a casual tower defence game, though it has a number of flaws that prevent it from being a must-buy.
For those unfamiliar with with Fieldrunners, it is a typical tower defence game wherein you purchase towers and place them on the map in order to destroy waves of oncoming enemies before they reach their goal (if you have never played a tower defence game before, go try the demo of Pixeljunk Monsters Deluxe or one of several free Flash-based offerings available online). In Fieldrunners, the majority of maps are wide open and enemies will automatically take the shortest path possible to reach their goal. It is up to the player to build towers in such a way to force them into longer paths, exposing them to fire from as many paths as possible. The game wisely prevents you from simply blocking all paths to the goal, which is the first thing I attempted to do. There are a good variety of enemy units, from simple cannon fodder to fast-moving bikers, slow damage-absorbing tanks, and aircraft that circumvent the ground paths. To counter these, you wield up to eight different types of towers. Six of these do damage in a variety of ways, though in practice they never seem differ greatly beyond how MUCH damage they do. Thankfully the game does not segregate certain towers to only deal damage to certain units; Gun Turrets and Missile Towers do equal damage to ground and air units (though someone will have to explain to me how the Mortar can damage air units). The other two, the Goo and Ice towers, do no damage but slow enemies down. These are essential, and any Fieldrunners player who ignore these towers will find their games ending quickly. Each tower can be upgraded to level 2 and 3 versions. I honestly saw no overall effect to this other than a different sprite for the tower.
For a game that originated on a touchscreen, the controls on the PSP work beautifully. The d-pad controls the cursor, the X button builds towers on empty squares or opens the sell/upgrade menu when highlighting a tower, the L and R buttons select which tower to build, and the analog nub zooms the view in or out. I rarely had issue with the controls as such. Select can be pressed at any time to pause the game, allowing you to build, sell, and upgrade towers freely without worrying about units on-screen. The Start button lets you quit the game and save it, an essential feature for a game meant to be played on the go. There is also a generous autosave, something I discovered when I dropped my PSP while playing; even though the battery had dislodged, I did not lose much progress at all. The whole map can be seen at once at the highest zoom level, and I didn't feel the need to zoom in closer at any point. If your cursor ever overlaps the tower selection screen at the bottom, the tower icons fade out to give you an unobstructed view of the battlefield. I found this very frustrating: while I could see what was going on, I could not see which tower I had selected, leading to an incorrect build more than once.
While the game touts an impressive list of features, it starts with only one map and one game mode unlocked. There are five maps in total, each with very little variation between them. Some feature multiple entrances for enemy units (PRO TIP: for every entrance on the map, there is a corresponding "exit" on the opposite side, which are the points you have to defend. The game does NOT make this obvious and you will likely only find out about them when a unit emerges from an entrance and marches straight into an undefended exit) while others throw a few token obstacles into the terrain to break up the wide open arena design. For a short-order game, completing an actual level can take upwards of half an hour even on the easiest difficulty. The default modes throw 100 enemy waves at you, and surviving at least 50 of them unlocks the next map. You'll have to survive up to the final wave to unlock all modes for the current map. Extended mode is the same 100-wave survival game with the ability to use more than the four basic towers. Endless mode is exactly what it sounds like. After putting so much time into beating a level on just the basic mode, I couldn't convince myself to go back to it for the other modes; they just didn't change things enough to offset the level fatigue that sets in.
The game's difficulty is punishing even on Easy. That difficulty is inherent to structure of the game itself. You start each map with enough funds for two or three towers, and you earn a small amount of money each time an enemy unit is killed. Fail to kill an enemy, and it depletes one of your 20 hit points. Of course, the rub here is that any enemy you don't kill is also cash you don't get. Failure to plan your tower placement from the very first wave can lead to a very quick spiral of defeat. Several maps I had to start multiple times as I recognized my poor choices were bound to end my game early. By around the 40th wave, if you survive to that point, the map should have become an enemy-destroying machine. At this point Fieldrunners becomes less a game and more a show. You're typically watching the current wave run your gauntlet, racking up the funds you will need for better towers to take on the stronger waves that are inevitably coming. Fieldrunners becomes very hands-off as you progress through the waves and it leads me to question just how much of a "game" it actually is.
For a game you will be staring at for quite a while, it looks decent. All sprites look good both when fully zoomed in and fully zoomed out. The tower sprites are distinguishable for the most part, and they change with each upgrade, though it is sometimes difficult to tell which upgrade level they are at by sprite alone (the only other way is to select the tower and see if an upgrade is still available). The enemy units are varied beyond anything I would have expected. There are three or four different types of footsoldiers, and any of these types can be found driving motorcycles or jeeps. There are a number of tank types as well, in addition to helicopters, aeroplanes, and even zeppelins. Don't expect much in the way of animation on these sprites; vehicles turn corners by simply changing directions 90 degrees with no animation whatsoever. Some units have a quick "dying" animation that is typically lost in the chaos. Speaking of chaos, Fieldrunners can become visual overload at times. With multiple units, towers, explosions, missiles, goo shots, electricity arcs, lasers, flames, and more on the screen at once, it can be hard to tell exactly what is going on and how effective, if at all, your towers are at eliminating the enemy. There were several moments where the graphics chugged; you read that right, a PSP minis game caused my PSP-2000 to literally CHUG under the strain of the graphics. There is really no good reason for this.
If the visuals weren't chaotic enough, the sound effects during gameplay are just as bad. Each tower has a unique sound effect associated with it; they don't sound terrible, and they fit what each tower does. Most of the units also have associated sounds, such as the motorcycle's rumble or the helicopter's thwop-thwop-thwop. They all work well for what they represent, but with dozens of units on-screen and multiple towers firing at once, it can get a bit much. I would have preferred a little more variety in the sound effects for each object, but this is a PSP minis title, so I can understand being sparse in that regard. The game features a musical score of whimsical, quasi-militaristic tunes reminiscent of games like Worms. The tracks aren't bad for a casual listen, but there is only one track per map that continually loops as you play it. Since the shortest round I played was around thirty minutes, I found the music wearing on me. A bit more variety in this regard would have been appreciated, even just to play more than one of the included tracks on any given map.
Fieldrunners is a competent but frustrating tower defence title and not the best start for PSP minis in general. I cannot justify it for the price of $6.99, though I might have cut it more slack if it were priced at $4.99.
FINAL GRADE: C-
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Just My Opinion Reviews - Brutal Legend (XBOX 360)
This was one of those games that I was waiting a while to play, why? Because it is truly awesome!
Brutal Legend is a game developed by the legendary Tim Schafer, you might remember him from the classic game Grim Fandango, as he brings you into a heavy metal fans wet dream. The story follows the roadie Eddie Riggs(voiced by Jack Black) as he is transported into the past by a demonic belt buckle he wears. The belt from hell takes Eddie into a past where demons and heavy metal control everything, including his guitar. I could go on about the story, but there is just too much to get into. All you really need to know is that the demons are lead by Emperor Doviculus(voiced by the godly Tim Curry) while helping Eddie is the resistance of humans (all voiced by metal legends - Ozzy Osbourne, Rob Halford, Lita Ford, and Lemmy Kilmister). Kyle Gass even makes an appearance, but that is only because he is friends with Jack Black and is a no talent asstard, so who really cares.
Gameplay is something that was kept almost entirely in the dark to me and a lot of the people I know. Even when the demo came out, I honestly thought that it was a hack and slash adventure, however, it was also an RTS in disguise. I have no problem with RTS games, one of my favourite games of all time is Warcraft II and is a RTS, but one thing that the consoles can’t do is a proper RTS. Mind you the RTS elements are not bad, but they are not perfect either. I think the game would have functioned a lot better as a hack and slash.
The Audio and Video are spectacular, environments that look like a Iron Maiden album cover, over 108 Metal Tracks, and Tim Curry...........need I say more.
The Multiplayer is exactly as I expected..........RTS, if you can’t stand a full RTS game, then do not, I repeat, DO NOT play the multiplayer in Brutal Legend.
Overall, the game is EPIC. Aside from the RTS elements, there is nothing bad about Brutal Legend. If you don’t agree with my review, just remember that this is just my opinion.
Brutal Legend is a game developed by the legendary Tim Schafer, you might remember him from the classic game Grim Fandango, as he brings you into a heavy metal fans wet dream. The story follows the roadie Eddie Riggs(voiced by Jack Black) as he is transported into the past by a demonic belt buckle he wears. The belt from hell takes Eddie into a past where demons and heavy metal control everything, including his guitar. I could go on about the story, but there is just too much to get into. All you really need to know is that the demons are lead by Emperor Doviculus(voiced by the godly Tim Curry) while helping Eddie is the resistance of humans (all voiced by metal legends - Ozzy Osbourne, Rob Halford, Lita Ford, and Lemmy Kilmister). Kyle Gass even makes an appearance, but that is only because he is friends with Jack Black and is a no talent asstard, so who really cares.
Gameplay is something that was kept almost entirely in the dark to me and a lot of the people I know. Even when the demo came out, I honestly thought that it was a hack and slash adventure, however, it was also an RTS in disguise. I have no problem with RTS games, one of my favourite games of all time is Warcraft II and is a RTS, but one thing that the consoles can’t do is a proper RTS. Mind you the RTS elements are not bad, but they are not perfect either. I think the game would have functioned a lot better as a hack and slash.
The Audio and Video are spectacular, environments that look like a Iron Maiden album cover, over 108 Metal Tracks, and Tim Curry...........need I say more.
The Multiplayer is exactly as I expected..........RTS, if you can’t stand a full RTS game, then do not, I repeat, DO NOT play the multiplayer in Brutal Legend.
Overall, the game is EPIC. Aside from the RTS elements, there is nothing bad about Brutal Legend. If you don’t agree with my review, just remember that this is just my opinion.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
In The News
- Borderlands will be sold for $39.96 by most Canadian retailers. Most, not all.
- There will be no Hardened edition of Modern Warfare 2 for the PC. If you preordered it, better call the store.
- A new PS3 Slim model with a 250Gb hard drive will be available as of November 3rd. US price is $349.99, Canadian price is expected to be the same.
- I have had way too much coffee and way too little sleep over the past two weeks.
- The sky is blue, water is wet, new games are expensive.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
I Know Things
I'm a gamer. That means I know a few things about video games. That doesn't mean that I know everything about all video games, which is what a lot of customers expect from you when you work in a video game store. I suppose that's the same for any type of retail: I bet cashiers at Wal-Mart get asked how to work the cell phone they just bought there as often as I get asked how to sync an XBox 360 controller. However, I tend to know more about games than some of my co-workers, not because I play a lot of games (which I don't), but because I'm an information sponge and I following gaming news on my free time. Most times when I'm asked if a particular game is good or not, I can recall how well or poorly it was reviewed. I can explain to customers the details of "that NATAL thing" they heard about on Jimmy Fallon. In general, I can bullshit having real knowledge about something by recalling what I've read about it and delivering it in a way that makes me sound like I know what I'm talking about. It's what I've always done, in every job.
Then there are the things I've picked up from working at the store itself. Things such as:
Then there are the things I've picked up from working at the store itself. Things such as:
- The NBA 2K series is typically the better basketball game, but the EA NHL series is almost always the better hockey game.
- If someone is new to a console and wants a good shooting game, "Call of Duy 4: Modern Warfare" is the best one to recommend.
- It doesn't matter if the game sells for $250 on eBay, odds are if you trade it in it will be worth $3 or less.
- Have patience, like a year's worth or more of patience, and eventually that awesome game you want can be had for a bargain price.
- Blu-Ray discs are harder to scratch than DVDs, and even harder to repair.
- Where to look on most major consoles and handheld systems to tell if they've been tampered with (hacked).
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
People are wierd 3
As everyone knows, every business deals with cash transactions, and no matter what condition the cash is in it is still legal tender (of course, if the bill is fake no one will take it). I had a customer come into my store yesterday asking to purchase a game, she paid in cash. When I gave her change, the $5 that I gave her was a little ripped, she was unhappy with the condition of the bill. And because I had already shut the till I could not open the till without the manager's say so (and my manager was gone for the day). So I tried my best to repair the bill by taping the rip shut, she still would not accept the bill, saying that "no one would accept this bill".
I tried (keyword being tried) to explain that the bill was still legal tender and she would have no problems using the bill at another store. She continued on her rant telling us that "we don't know what we are talking about" and that "we are bulling her" I then tried to calm her down but she then dropped the F-bomb and I told her to leave, of course she didn't listen so my colleague left to store to find security to make her leave, during which time, I was as she put it "bulling her". At this moment, I still don't know what happened.
I tried (keyword being tried) to explain that the bill was still legal tender and she would have no problems using the bill at another store. She continued on her rant telling us that "we don't know what we are talking about" and that "we are bulling her" I then tried to calm her down but she then dropped the F-bomb and I told her to leave, of course she didn't listen so my colleague left to store to find security to make her leave, during which time, I was as she put it "bulling her". At this moment, I still don't know what happened.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
people can fail.....BIG TIME
Alright, if there is one thing I can look forward to at work, is the hope that someone will show up and epically fail for you. First, let us go over something real quick, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). Other than being one of my favourite systems of all time, it is also one of the more sought after systems from a previous generation (if only for it's nostalgic appeal). If you don't know what the SNES is.......than I fell bad for you, if you do......enjoy this epic fail that happened today.
A customer walked into the store today and was wondering if we carried any memory cards for the SNES, do I even have to correct someone on this? The SNES never had memory card slots, let alone memory cards themselves. And if that wasn't enough fail for you, the customer than went on to say that not only does the SNES have memory cards, but it doesn't even play cartridges. That's right, the SNES we all grew up with and loved was a lie, it did not play cartridges, instead it played discs. I spent a total of 30 minutes trying to convince the "customer of fail" of the real SNES' existence. He got so pissed that I would tell such (and I dare) quote "uniformed lies" that he wanted to get me written up by my manager for not helping him. Well, I got my manager (who had Internet access on his blackberry) to FINALLY show the customer what a SNES is.
After all of that was over, it turned out that the guy was as high as a kite and the system he was really looking for was the PS3. That customer left feeling really stupid about himself, but he really did make my day.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
PSP Go Away...
I don't have high hopes for the PSP Go. Ever since it's showing at E3 this past summer, it seems as though Sony has been trying to piss off as much of the gaming industry as possible with their little venture into handheld gaming. Retailers, consumers and developers alike. No one seems particularly psyched for the "Go" and I can tell you why. Let's start with retail, this is after all a blog about selling games. The irony in that statement is that no one buys PSP games. Piracy is ridiculously rampant on Sony's portable. Despite an arguable plethora of quality software on the platform the PSP section is always the smallest in your local Best Buy or Gamestop. Which is what presents the most difficulty to retailers because stores make a bulk of their profit off of software (games) as opposed to hardware (consoles). Stores don't make a penny off any console they sell. Essentially the PSP has been living in stores for free while retailers cover the rent. Retailers carry consoles as a sort of quid pro quo, they make no money on the console but make up for it in substantially larger software sales. See where this is going? The PSP doesn't sell (why is a whole other story) and it's software even less so. The announcement of the PSP Go being a purely digital (no physical disks here) platform is the kicker here. Now that the PSP's software library will begin to have an even weaker presence in stores, what incentive is there for retailers to stock this expensive freeloader ($249.99, "Go" fuck yourself Sony)? Some editorial sources have implied that perhaps the sale of PSN Cards would help subsidize the PSP Go's presence in stores, which is doubtful. I however can't say with any confidence how much profit any retailer makes on PSN Cards, if any at all. On top of that, nobody is really interested in buying the PSP Go and if you are... well, I doubt you can read anyway. The PSP redesign does very little next to nothing to correct the flaws apparent in it's predecessors design. Obviously not having held one for myself I can't say much about it's ergonomic value but the return of the analog "nub" has not instilled me with any confidence. I really wish Sony would hold an event or something and tell us all what’s so new and exciting about the PSP Go. But y'know, something that my iPhone doesn’t do better already. Also, the average customer is often taken aback at the idea that they will have no physical manifestation of their property. There is nothing tangible in downloadable games, which makes many weary when forced to pay for a full-priced game and why shouldn’t they? Unfortunately, Sony hasn't done a very good job of telling customers why having all your games on a memory stick is better then a UMD. Battery life? Environmentally friendly? Quicker load times? Having to buy your games all over again when draconian DRM fucks you over? Yeah, no thanks. These same issues have brought concern to the development community, notably Atlus and Square Enix. Both developers have been reluctant to rerelease any of their PSP titles as downloadable. Lack of developer support is the first bullet in any “Why it died” list. That and piracy, oh hey, did I mention piracy is rampant on the PSP? I think you can see where this is going... Either way, this is getting long-winded. Buy a DS or an iPhone (I will fight anyone who rips on iPhone games) and you’ll be set. Stop buying PSP’s!
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
People can lack Responsibility
Alright, it takes a lot to piss me off, but this one customer I had to deal with yesterday didn't even have to try. I'll try to summarize this in as little words as possible.
The customer came into the store looking to make some trades, every single game he gave me was scratched beyond repair, but it was only when I reached his one PSP game that he actually had a comment. I attempted to remove the game, but realized that the casing was split, so I didn't bother, I explained that the game was already broken and the customer took back the game and removed the game from the case. Obviously, the game broke in his hand and the first thing that comes out of his mouth
"Why did YOU break my game?!"
Honestly, I didn't even take the game out of it's case, and he has the balls to say that I broke his game? I really hate being called out like that, take some responsibility for YOUR actions.
The customer came into the store looking to make some trades, every single game he gave me was scratched beyond repair, but it was only when I reached his one PSP game that he actually had a comment. I attempted to remove the game, but realized that the casing was split, so I didn't bother, I explained that the game was already broken and the customer took back the game and removed the game from the case. Obviously, the game broke in his hand and the first thing that comes out of his mouth
"Why did YOU break my game?!"
Honestly, I didn't even take the game out of it's case, and he has the balls to say that I broke his game? I really hate being called out like that, take some responsibility for YOUR actions.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Realization
Today I was at a bridal shower for my fiancee, meeting relatives from her side of the family whom none of us have ever met before. There were plenty of introductions, and among them came the inevitable question of "what do you do for a living?"
Do you know how embarrassing it was to have to tell people that I make a living selling video games to people? I have a university education. I have a Bachelor's Degree in English. All this really means is that I can correct people on their uses of "there" and "they're," as well as tell you who wrote Animal Farm and 1984. I took this job to pay the bills until I could find a better one; that was almost a year ago.
It's time for me to expand my skill set. After the wedding, when I can afford it, I'm going to start taking night classes or correspondence courses so I can start a career in either software development or information management. Don't get me wrong: I love working around video games, and my job is actually the most positive work environment I've ever had. It's just so damned humiliating to look at myself now and realize that selling video games is all I really do with my life.
Do you know how embarrassing it was to have to tell people that I make a living selling video games to people? I have a university education. I have a Bachelor's Degree in English. All this really means is that I can correct people on their uses of "there" and "they're," as well as tell you who wrote Animal Farm and 1984. I took this job to pay the bills until I could find a better one; that was almost a year ago.
It's time for me to expand my skill set. After the wedding, when I can afford it, I'm going to start taking night classes or correspondence courses so I can start a career in either software development or information management. Don't get me wrong: I love working around video games, and my job is actually the most positive work environment I've ever had. It's just so damned humiliating to look at myself now and realize that selling video games is all I really do with my life.
Friday, September 11, 2009
Just My Opinion Reviews - The Darkness (XBOX 360)
The Darkness is a game I hold near and dear to my heart, not only is it my favorite comic book series, but it was also the first game I ever got for my 360.
The game is somewhat parallel to the comic book where you play as Jackie Estacado, a hit man for the Franchetti Crime Family. The game starts on Jackie’s iconic 21st birthday where he receives the living power of the Darkness (voiced by Mike Patton, lead singer of Faith No More......applause) whose goal seems to be to take over the world......now, it’s cool that they have the Darkness constantly speaking to you and guiding you down the grey path, but, the Darkness never really talked all that much in the comic book, let alone had it’s own agenda to take over the world. From the moment the Darkness takes you it’s pretty much it’s own story, that being said I had hoped to see the Angelus in a boss fight or even a nod to it’s existence. However, even though the story completely takes it’s own direction, I respect it for putting it’s own spin on the comic.
Gameplay is something I was originally worried about. I really did not know how the game was going to blend gunplay and all out anal rape with the darkness powers like in the comic. I was happy to actually feel as though I was wielding the powers of darkness while still maintaining my badass hit man status. The only problem I had with the gameplay was the fact that you really are not as powerful as your comic book counterpart.
The Audio and Video in this game are truly spectacular, the Darkness itself looks scary as hell, the environments are believable, even the sound of your dark snake manifestation eating someone's heart is disgustingly realistic. Although I kind of wished that New York (for it being the city that never sleeps) to have more than 10 people in each area.
Multiplayer is where The Darkness falls flat on it’s ass, if you go online there are about 20 people that ever play it, and if you manage to get inside a match, good luck with the massive lag.......just good luck.
Overall, The Darkness is a very enjoyable game. Even though it is far from perfection, I highly praise The Darkness for making a true horror game where YOU are the horror. If you don’t agree with my review, just remember that this is just my opinion.
The game is somewhat parallel to the comic book where you play as Jackie Estacado, a hit man for the Franchetti Crime Family. The game starts on Jackie’s iconic 21st birthday where he receives the living power of the Darkness (voiced by Mike Patton, lead singer of Faith No More......applause) whose goal seems to be to take over the world......now, it’s cool that they have the Darkness constantly speaking to you and guiding you down the grey path, but, the Darkness never really talked all that much in the comic book, let alone had it’s own agenda to take over the world. From the moment the Darkness takes you it’s pretty much it’s own story, that being said I had hoped to see the Angelus in a boss fight or even a nod to it’s existence. However, even though the story completely takes it’s own direction, I respect it for putting it’s own spin on the comic.
Gameplay is something I was originally worried about. I really did not know how the game was going to blend gunplay and all out anal rape with the darkness powers like in the comic. I was happy to actually feel as though I was wielding the powers of darkness while still maintaining my badass hit man status. The only problem I had with the gameplay was the fact that you really are not as powerful as your comic book counterpart.
The Audio and Video in this game are truly spectacular, the Darkness itself looks scary as hell, the environments are believable, even the sound of your dark snake manifestation eating someone's heart is disgustingly realistic. Although I kind of wished that New York (for it being the city that never sleeps) to have more than 10 people in each area.
Multiplayer is where The Darkness falls flat on it’s ass, if you go online there are about 20 people that ever play it, and if you manage to get inside a match, good luck with the massive lag.......just good luck.
Overall, The Darkness is a very enjoyable game. Even though it is far from perfection, I highly praise The Darkness for making a true horror game where YOU are the horror. If you don’t agree with my review, just remember that this is just my opinion.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
People Are Weird 2
A customer came in today and very enthusiastically proclaimed "I have some games to trade, and they are worth top dollar!" I thought he was being sarcastic, especially when they only ended up being worth $2.27. This didn't phase him as he picked out a $2.99 Gameboy Advance cartridge and handed me eighty-five cents to pay for the difference. When I asked for his ID (a requirement for trading in games) he gleefully skipped out to his car to get it. Then he came back and told me that he had forgotten his wallet (meaning he was driving around without a driver's license) and handed me his business card and credit card. His business card was very nice, since it had a fairly large full-colour picture of him, but neither cards were government-issued ID. When I told him I could accept his cards, he stormed out of the store. My boss shouted to him "Hey! You forgot your games!" to which he replied "Whatever, just keep them." He never came back, never took the game he bought, and didn't even get a refund.
One guy came in asking if the Dissidia game was in, and refused to refer to it or any other game in the series as anything other than "Fag Fantasy." Also, he was a huge fan of those games.
Finally, I was instructed by my boss to call back a customer who had called us earlier. He had a backwards-compatible PS3 and wanted to know how to upload his PS2 save games from his memory card to his console. I wasn't even sure if it could be done, though I had a theory about how to do it. For some reason, my boss instructed me to "not overtalk him" and that he was the type of person who "thought he knew everything." What I can't understand is why he would call a retail store for something that Sony's official support line would be more qualified to answer.
I know normalcy is a lot to ask for these days, so can I at least ask for less than this level of weird? The above image is how I feel about these customers and their inanity. Thanks to Paco for the .gif and Giant Bomb for teh funy.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
I am here now
I guess I should announce that I am the third author for "We Take Trades". I have a lot of experience working in retail, and also dealing with very wierd customers. I will be happy to share my horror stories with you guys, at least, for those who want to hear them.
Monday, September 7, 2009
Introductions...
Hello Readers!
As I'm sure most of you already may have figured, I am the other author. I'm already working on my first story for you guys but if anyone has any questions or queries about specific facets of games retail, drop us a line in the comments section!
Opening Our Doors
We Take Trades is expanding. We'll be adding at least one more author to the blog, and possibly more, all with their own stories to share from the front lines of video games retail. Plans are also in the works for a podcast. The blog may even migrate to another service. Stay tuned, folks.
Monday, August 31, 2009
People Are Weird 1
Yesterday there was a guy waiting outside the store an hour before it opened. It was kind of creepy, because yesterday was Sunday; no new games had launched, there weren't any real hot ticket items available to wait for, and our hours were posted right where he was standing (so unless he was illiterate, it was unlikely that he had our hours of operation confused).
He came into the store when we opened and asked if we had Call of Duty 4 on PS3. I told him we only had new copies, which cost $49.99. Disgusted, he told me he could find it for $28 and left, peeling out in the parking lot as he did.
Let's recap: he waited outside my store for a whole hour to find a game he claims he could have bought cheaper elsewhere, and leaves empty-handed. As the title says, people are weird.
He came into the store when we opened and asked if we had Call of Duty 4 on PS3. I told him we only had new copies, which cost $49.99. Disgusted, he told me he could find it for $28 and left, peeling out in the parking lot as he did.
Let's recap: he waited outside my store for a whole hour to find a game he claims he could have bought cheaper elsewhere, and leaves empty-handed. As the title says, people are weird.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Wal-Mart is PISSED
Before this post begins, I've realized that eventually I will give away which retailer I work for simply by discussing the other retailers I don't work for and leaving it to a simple process of elimination. I won't explicitly call out my employer in the interest of not being "douced" (read: fired for comments made on one's blog). If folks dig a little, it won't be too hard to figure out where I work. I'm not encouraging you to do so, but if you're curious, the information isn't hard to find.
So, Wal-Mart is pissed at the company I work for. Royally pissed. It does help explain one of my earlier posts a little better; after all, it would seem silly for Wal-Mart to match a Best Buy pricing error and advertise it so vigorously if it wasn't for the fact that they were trying to screw us over. Wondering what is going on here? Ready to find out? Read on, freaky followers, read on.
It all started with Madden 2010. Wal-Mart, purveyor of all things American (even in Canada), is used to dominating the market in sports video games around this time of year. Sports game reach a market that aren't always regular gamers; there are fair share of console owners who only buy sports games. They aren't part of our typical customer base, but they do cross over into Wal-Mart's customer base a fair bit. Wal-Mart expected to dominate Madden sales this year, until we threw a curveball. It was a simple trade promotion: trade two games (conditions apply) and get Madden for $10. Or get the Wii version for free, but only one person did that, and he later returned it. Despite it's slow launch at my store, Madden sales were high for our company nationwide, with many thousands taking advantage of our two-for-$10 deal. We must have eaten into Wal-Mart's sales, because this is what started their fury towards us.
Apparently it was this fury that caused them to commit so fully to selling Batman: Arkham Asylum at $38.89. It was not a price they expected us to match. We did (and we're selling it for that price until the end of today). Needless to say, this has made them even more angry. I can just imagine how furious they'll become when they discover that we are also the first Canadian retailer able to sell the PS3 Slim, well before the September 1st street date that applies to all other retailers. I sold my first one on Tuesday.
All this comes from conversation with one of the Vice Presidents of our company, who came in to inspect our store (and reminds me somewhat of a land shark).
There's a Wal-Mart just across the street from my store. I keep expecting to have to open up one day, just to find a Wal-Mart-brand brick thrown through the window. How long before this devolves into gang warfare? I guess we'll see what happens with the NHL 2010 launch.
So, Wal-Mart is pissed at the company I work for. Royally pissed. It does help explain one of my earlier posts a little better; after all, it would seem silly for Wal-Mart to match a Best Buy pricing error and advertise it so vigorously if it wasn't for the fact that they were trying to screw us over. Wondering what is going on here? Ready to find out? Read on, freaky followers, read on.
It all started with Madden 2010. Wal-Mart, purveyor of all things American (even in Canada), is used to dominating the market in sports video games around this time of year. Sports game reach a market that aren't always regular gamers; there are fair share of console owners who only buy sports games. They aren't part of our typical customer base, but they do cross over into Wal-Mart's customer base a fair bit. Wal-Mart expected to dominate Madden sales this year, until we threw a curveball. It was a simple trade promotion: trade two games (conditions apply) and get Madden for $10. Or get the Wii version for free, but only one person did that, and he later returned it. Despite it's slow launch at my store, Madden sales were high for our company nationwide, with many thousands taking advantage of our two-for-$10 deal. We must have eaten into Wal-Mart's sales, because this is what started their fury towards us.
Apparently it was this fury that caused them to commit so fully to selling Batman: Arkham Asylum at $38.89. It was not a price they expected us to match. We did (and we're selling it for that price until the end of today). Needless to say, this has made them even more angry. I can just imagine how furious they'll become when they discover that we are also the first Canadian retailer able to sell the PS3 Slim, well before the September 1st street date that applies to all other retailers. I sold my first one on Tuesday.
All this comes from conversation with one of the Vice Presidents of our company, who came in to inspect our store (and reminds me somewhat of a land shark).
There's a Wal-Mart just across the street from my store. I keep expecting to have to open up one day, just to find a Wal-Mart-brand brick thrown through the window. How long before this devolves into gang warfare? I guess we'll see what happens with the NHL 2010 launch.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Three Things I Never Thought I'd Learn Selling Video Games
1) Used Games Are Where The Money Is.
Our store makes anywhere between $1-$2 on the sale of a new game, and maybe $10-$20 on new systems. With margins like that, if we only sold new product, we'd be out of business. In contrast, a used game tends to have 33% to 50% margin, sometimes even higher. For example, inFamous trades in for roughly $40. That's $40 of credit we give to the person trading in the game towards any other purchase in our store. We then turn around and sell the used inFamous for $64.99, making $25. The best are the old PS2 games. Most of them trade in for $1, and we sell them used for $14.99. The profit margin from used games keeps us in business, period.
2. The XBox 360 Failure Rate Is As Bad As They Say It Is.
We sell refurbished XBox 360 units in my store for cheap. Every time I get one in stock, it is almost always set aside for a customer (or employee) in desparate need of a replacement unit for a defective 360. Almost always.
3. There Are A Lot Of Bad Parents Out There.
I've seen parents tell their kids that they are not buying them an M-rated game, only to have that kid argue, plead, or convince them to buy it for them. My favourite was one mother who refused to buy Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas for her twelve-year-old son after I told her that it contained violence, blood & gore, bad language, use of drugs, sexual themes, and partial nudity. The kid looked at her and said "if you don't buy it for me, I'll buy it somewhere else." The mother caved instantly and bought him the game. Never mind the parents who leave their kids unattended in the store for hours, never mind the parents who let their kids tear my store apart; the ones who let their children dictate their purchases absolutely disgust me. You cannot expect anyone to respect you if you cave in to pressure so easily, especially your own children.
Our store makes anywhere between $1-$2 on the sale of a new game, and maybe $10-$20 on new systems. With margins like that, if we only sold new product, we'd be out of business. In contrast, a used game tends to have 33% to 50% margin, sometimes even higher. For example, inFamous trades in for roughly $40. That's $40 of credit we give to the person trading in the game towards any other purchase in our store. We then turn around and sell the used inFamous for $64.99, making $25. The best are the old PS2 games. Most of them trade in for $1, and we sell them used for $14.99. The profit margin from used games keeps us in business, period.
2. The XBox 360 Failure Rate Is As Bad As They Say It Is.
We sell refurbished XBox 360 units in my store for cheap. Every time I get one in stock, it is almost always set aside for a customer (or employee) in desparate need of a replacement unit for a defective 360. Almost always.
3. There Are A Lot Of Bad Parents Out There.
I've seen parents tell their kids that they are not buying them an M-rated game, only to have that kid argue, plead, or convince them to buy it for them. My favourite was one mother who refused to buy Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas for her twelve-year-old son after I told her that it contained violence, blood & gore, bad language, use of drugs, sexual themes, and partial nudity. The kid looked at her and said "if you don't buy it for me, I'll buy it somewhere else." The mother caved instantly and bought him the game. Never mind the parents who leave their kids unattended in the store for hours, never mind the parents who let their kids tear my store apart; the ones who let their children dictate their purchases absolutely disgust me. You cannot expect anyone to respect you if you cave in to pressure so easily, especially your own children.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Bruce Wayne Goes For Cheap
Some interesting details have developed for Batman: Arkham Asylum due to be released next Tuesday. The short and long of it is, it should be priced at $38.83 when it launches 8/25/2009. How does a standard $69.99 game experience such a drastic price drop? There's the interesting story.
The rumour is that this whole thing started with a Best Buy pricing error. From there, it moved to Wal-Mart. They may have started with a mistake, but Wal-Mart seems to have decided to run with it in order to compete with the trade deals offered by my store. Wal-Mart has since started heavily advertising the new price in-store, and one customer has even told me the ads have shown up on XBox Live. Our store has to follow suit.
Why? Won't my store, and the company that owns it, be taking a huge loss? HELL YES. All stores make a minimal margin on new games (and by marginal I mean within the margin of $1 to $2). Selling Batman for $30 less than suggested retail price means a literal $30 loss on every copy sold. The problem is perception. The company I work for deems that if it is seen to not provide deals at least as good, if not better, than the competition at any given time, it may lose future customers. Take a loss now, keep a customer forever (or at least for another week; consumers are justifiably fickle).
So, Batman: Arkham Asylum will be pretty damn cheap when it comes out, thanks to pricing errors and anti-competitive practices. Reap the rewards, folks! And seriously, get Batman. It looks freaking sweeeeeeeeeeeeeet.
The rumour is that this whole thing started with a Best Buy pricing error. From there, it moved to Wal-Mart. They may have started with a mistake, but Wal-Mart seems to have decided to run with it in order to compete with the trade deals offered by my store. Wal-Mart has since started heavily advertising the new price in-store, and one customer has even told me the ads have shown up on XBox Live. Our store has to follow suit.
Why? Won't my store, and the company that owns it, be taking a huge loss? HELL YES. All stores make a minimal margin on new games (and by marginal I mean within the margin of $1 to $2). Selling Batman for $30 less than suggested retail price means a literal $30 loss on every copy sold. The problem is perception. The company I work for deems that if it is seen to not provide deals at least as good, if not better, than the competition at any given time, it may lose future customers. Take a loss now, keep a customer forever (or at least for another week; consumers are justifiably fickle).
So, Batman: Arkham Asylum will be pretty damn cheap when it comes out, thanks to pricing errors and anti-competitive practices. Reap the rewards, folks! And seriously, get Batman. It looks freaking sweeeeeeeeeeeeeet.
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Maddenocalypse Lost
Last Friday was Launch Day for Madden 2010. This is, as they say, a "Very Big Deal." Sports games are among the top-selling video games every year, and Madden has the benefit of almost zero competition (EA owns exclusive rights to the NFL).
For some reason, it was pretty tame. Maybe less people are buying new video games this year. Maybe more people are refusing to spend another $70 for incremental upgrades to last year's game. Or maybe Canadians are more apt to turn out in droves for NHL 2010 instead. Either way, the Madden launch was surprisingly calm.
For some reason, it was pretty tame. Maybe less people are buying new video games this year. Maybe more people are refusing to spend another $70 for incremental upgrades to last year's game. Or maybe Canadians are more apt to turn out in droves for NHL 2010 instead. Either way, the Madden launch was surprisingly calm.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Responsibility
This entry will be less informative than my previous posts and more of a rant. See, where I work, I'm what you call a "keyholder." I'm technically a part-timer, but I hold a key to the store and am able to open or close the store if scheduled to (which I often am). It's a pretty big responsibility, because both opening and closing duties involve important business like counting items in inventory and making cash deposits. There's a lot one can do during an open or a close to seriously screw up my store's business.
The most important keyholder responsibilities during a closing shift (in my manager's eyes) are to leave the store in absolute perfect condition and be finished and clocked out on the hour you were scheduled to do so. See, this company runs tight with hours. Every business does, but this company chooses to manage its time by alloting each store a certain number of hours per week it can distribute amongst all employees. When I'm scheduled to close by 9:30pm, it means that if I finish later than 9:30pm, I have added additional time to our weekly hours and possibly caused the store to exceed its weekly allotment. This is bad.
I've been getting a lot of closing shifts lately. I've also been getting a lot of stern words from my boss each afternoon about the previous night's close. Some days, it's because there was a flaw in the store's perfect appearance. Some days, it's because we finished too late. Yesterday it was both. It doesn't help that she uses the maternal "why was this place left a mess?" approach. I really hate being spoken to like that. It's not professional at all.
Closes are frantic things where I work. We take trades. I think I've established this. We're also a busy store; we take more trades than most stores in our district. We get a lot of these at night, especially within our last hour. As the keyholder, I have certain reports to fill out and cash tills to count, as well as a deposit to prepare. This takes roughly 30 minutes, less if I can prepare some of it prior to the time when we lock our doors. I typically have another part-timer closing with me, who takes care of re-arranging the store so it doesn't look like it was trampled by a ravenous herd of wildebeast toddlers. The store itself closes at 9:00pm (6:00pm Saturdays, 5:00pm Sundays), giving me and my co-worker just enough time to accomplish all our closing tasks before we have to clock out. This is assuming that all things go well. They never do.
Two common obstacles invariably emerge: we get too busy for me to prep any of the closing materials beforehand, and there are customers still in the store after we have locked the doors (often browsing the shelves, unsure of what to fucking buy). Over the past seven consecutive closing shifts I have worked this week, five of them ended with the last customer leaving the store 15-20 minutes after the doors had been locked. That left me with TEN GODDAMNED MINUTES to complete a half-hour's work, which I naturally failed to accomplish in that timeframe. Hence, the stern words from the boss the next day.
My other problem (and we are finally coming to the crux of this post, "responsibility") is that while I am performing the "important" closing tasks, my co-woker is supposed to be putting the store back in tip-top shape. I have a lot of respect for my co-workers, even the ones I don't like very much, and I put my faith in them that they will do at least an adequate job of tidying the store. Turns out my faith is misplaced.
The first time I got the "why was this store left in a mess?" speech, I vowed that I would not leave the store until I had conducted a personal inspection of every shelf, gondola, display, and standee on the floor. This is a great thing to promise during a peaceful and quiet afternoon shift, but come closing time, when we are already running fifteen minutes late and the deposit isn't balancing and I have to triple-count it, the idea of taking more time to inspect the store kind of flies right out the damn window. Yes, that was a run-on sentence, and yes, I do have a Bachelor's degree in English. Blow me. Back to the point, it doesn't help that I have some co-workers who intentionally try to do as little as possible while I am occupied with "closing duties" and who also put pressure on me to be done as fast as possible. Because of certain reporting requirements, both the keyholder and the other part-timer need to be present in the store until the very end. I couldn't let the co-worker go early even if I wanted to. Basically, to ensure I don't get any more stern speeches, I have to play babysitter, keeping an eye on the part-timers to make sure they aren't slacking off during the close or forgetting to tidy any sections.
Tonight was the worst. A giant trade came half an hour before closing time, with a line of other customers behind it, so neither me nor my co-worker had any time to put it away (BTW, I ended up throwing almost the entire batch of games into the defective bin because they were in shit shape, so if you're reading this, co-worker, thanks a fucking lot and go suck a cock). I basically had to ask one customer politely to wait as I raced to lock the doors and turn off the open sign, just to keep more customers from waltzing in. I flew through my reports and managed to get everything done by 9:37pm (thank the gods our timeclock rounded down to 9:30pm). During those 40 minutes, I asked my co-worker to ignore the trades sitting on the counter and just tidy the store itself. That's all he did, and even after getting him to quadruple-check his work, I still found obvious things I needed to clean up once he was gone. I let him go home after we were clocked out. Then I stayed and dealt with all the trades myself. It was 10:40pm by the time I had finished putting everything away and locking the store up for the night. I don't intend to tell my boss about this, because if she hears of it, she'll have stern words for me about being in the store when not clocked it.
I obviously have a lot of frustration about the situation I'm in. I just can't win here; I either screw up one way or I screw up another. Normally I'd have no problem letting my boss know how I feel, except that right now, there's a slim chance that I might get promoted. I'll be 100% honest: I could care less about the added responsibility. It's my current responsibilities that have left me in these no-win scenarios, so I don't relish taking on more. I just need the pay increase. I'm living paycheck-to-paycheck and trying to get married next month.
Sorry for the vent session. It's been a frustrating day, and the back room has a few more fist-shaped dents in the walls to show for it.
The most important keyholder responsibilities during a closing shift (in my manager's eyes) are to leave the store in absolute perfect condition and be finished and clocked out on the hour you were scheduled to do so. See, this company runs tight with hours. Every business does, but this company chooses to manage its time by alloting each store a certain number of hours per week it can distribute amongst all employees. When I'm scheduled to close by 9:30pm, it means that if I finish later than 9:30pm, I have added additional time to our weekly hours and possibly caused the store to exceed its weekly allotment. This is bad.
I've been getting a lot of closing shifts lately. I've also been getting a lot of stern words from my boss each afternoon about the previous night's close. Some days, it's because there was a flaw in the store's perfect appearance. Some days, it's because we finished too late. Yesterday it was both. It doesn't help that she uses the maternal "why was this place left a mess?" approach. I really hate being spoken to like that. It's not professional at all.
Closes are frantic things where I work. We take trades. I think I've established this. We're also a busy store; we take more trades than most stores in our district. We get a lot of these at night, especially within our last hour. As the keyholder, I have certain reports to fill out and cash tills to count, as well as a deposit to prepare. This takes roughly 30 minutes, less if I can prepare some of it prior to the time when we lock our doors. I typically have another part-timer closing with me, who takes care of re-arranging the store so it doesn't look like it was trampled by a ravenous herd of wildebeast toddlers. The store itself closes at 9:00pm (6:00pm Saturdays, 5:00pm Sundays), giving me and my co-worker just enough time to accomplish all our closing tasks before we have to clock out. This is assuming that all things go well. They never do.
Two common obstacles invariably emerge: we get too busy for me to prep any of the closing materials beforehand, and there are customers still in the store after we have locked the doors (often browsing the shelves, unsure of what to fucking buy). Over the past seven consecutive closing shifts I have worked this week, five of them ended with the last customer leaving the store 15-20 minutes after the doors had been locked. That left me with TEN GODDAMNED MINUTES to complete a half-hour's work, which I naturally failed to accomplish in that timeframe. Hence, the stern words from the boss the next day.
My other problem (and we are finally coming to the crux of this post, "responsibility") is that while I am performing the "important" closing tasks, my co-woker is supposed to be putting the store back in tip-top shape. I have a lot of respect for my co-workers, even the ones I don't like very much, and I put my faith in them that they will do at least an adequate job of tidying the store. Turns out my faith is misplaced.
The first time I got the "why was this store left in a mess?" speech, I vowed that I would not leave the store until I had conducted a personal inspection of every shelf, gondola, display, and standee on the floor. This is a great thing to promise during a peaceful and quiet afternoon shift, but come closing time, when we are already running fifteen minutes late and the deposit isn't balancing and I have to triple-count it, the idea of taking more time to inspect the store kind of flies right out the damn window. Yes, that was a run-on sentence, and yes, I do have a Bachelor's degree in English. Blow me. Back to the point, it doesn't help that I have some co-workers who intentionally try to do as little as possible while I am occupied with "closing duties" and who also put pressure on me to be done as fast as possible. Because of certain reporting requirements, both the keyholder and the other part-timer need to be present in the store until the very end. I couldn't let the co-worker go early even if I wanted to. Basically, to ensure I don't get any more stern speeches, I have to play babysitter, keeping an eye on the part-timers to make sure they aren't slacking off during the close or forgetting to tidy any sections.
Tonight was the worst. A giant trade came half an hour before closing time, with a line of other customers behind it, so neither me nor my co-worker had any time to put it away (BTW, I ended up throwing almost the entire batch of games into the defective bin because they were in shit shape, so if you're reading this, co-worker, thanks a fucking lot and go suck a cock). I basically had to ask one customer politely to wait as I raced to lock the doors and turn off the open sign, just to keep more customers from waltzing in. I flew through my reports and managed to get everything done by 9:37pm (thank the gods our timeclock rounded down to 9:30pm). During those 40 minutes, I asked my co-worker to ignore the trades sitting on the counter and just tidy the store itself. That's all he did, and even after getting him to quadruple-check his work, I still found obvious things I needed to clean up once he was gone. I let him go home after we were clocked out. Then I stayed and dealt with all the trades myself. It was 10:40pm by the time I had finished putting everything away and locking the store up for the night. I don't intend to tell my boss about this, because if she hears of it, she'll have stern words for me about being in the store when not clocked it.
I obviously have a lot of frustration about the situation I'm in. I just can't win here; I either screw up one way or I screw up another. Normally I'd have no problem letting my boss know how I feel, except that right now, there's a slim chance that I might get promoted. I'll be 100% honest: I could care less about the added responsibility. It's my current responsibilities that have left me in these no-win scenarios, so I don't relish taking on more. I just need the pay increase. I'm living paycheck-to-paycheck and trying to get married next month.
Sorry for the vent session. It's been a frustrating day, and the back room has a few more fist-shaped dents in the walls to show for it.
Monday, August 10, 2009
The Dumbest Question
In retail, you get asked a lot of stupid questions. It's something you learn to deal with; you try not to laugh and you help the customer as best you can. However, it's not always easy to help customers with some of their dumbest, least thought out questions. Case in point (and a question I hear at least once, if not ten, times a day):
"What's the best game?"
This question infuriates me. It's like the people who ask me have no concept of subjective opinion. "Best" in video games is not an objective quality. If it were, my store's product presentation would make it blindingly obvious which games were best to buy, with a pricing scheme to match. In retail, when something is objectively the best, it costs more than the stuff like it that is not as good. When quality can be measured, price reflects that measurement.
If someone asks me "which is the best shooter?" I can at least produce an easy answer. When comparing similar types of games, one can make an objective statement of quality (or at least reflect my own subjective assessment as well as subjective reviews). But I am not often asked "what's the best shooter?" or "what's the best racing game?" This is retail, after all, and you can't expect to get off easy. Ever.
When I'm asked the dumbest question, "what is the best game?" I usually try to narrow down the kind of games the customer enjoys playing. This invariably fails. I get answers like "I don't know, action games" or "good graphics" or "with the animals." The problem is that most people who ask me the dumbest question are almost always buying the game for someone else. A word of advice: if you are buying games for someone and they didn't tell you what game they wanted, or you're buying it as a gift, buy them a damn gift card and save the both of us the unnecessary hassle of trying to figure out what game to get. Seriously, if you buy them a game you think they like, the odds are good that you're just going to have to return it when it turns out they either don't like it or already have it. Of course, if they open the game first... good luck returning it, sucker.
I think next time I'm asked "what's the best game?" I'm just going to ask how much they'd like to load on a gift card. See how that goes.
"What's the best game?"
This question infuriates me. It's like the people who ask me have no concept of subjective opinion. "Best" in video games is not an objective quality. If it were, my store's product presentation would make it blindingly obvious which games were best to buy, with a pricing scheme to match. In retail, when something is objectively the best, it costs more than the stuff like it that is not as good. When quality can be measured, price reflects that measurement.
If someone asks me "which is the best shooter?" I can at least produce an easy answer. When comparing similar types of games, one can make an objective statement of quality (or at least reflect my own subjective assessment as well as subjective reviews). But I am not often asked "what's the best shooter?" or "what's the best racing game?" This is retail, after all, and you can't expect to get off easy. Ever.
When I'm asked the dumbest question, "what is the best game?" I usually try to narrow down the kind of games the customer enjoys playing. This invariably fails. I get answers like "I don't know, action games" or "good graphics" or "with the animals." The problem is that most people who ask me the dumbest question are almost always buying the game for someone else. A word of advice: if you are buying games for someone and they didn't tell you what game they wanted, or you're buying it as a gift, buy them a damn gift card and save the both of us the unnecessary hassle of trying to figure out what game to get. Seriously, if you buy them a game you think they like, the odds are good that you're just going to have to return it when it turns out they either don't like it or already have it. Of course, if they open the game first... good luck returning it, sucker.
I think next time I'm asked "what's the best game?" I'm just going to ask how much they'd like to load on a gift card. See how that goes.
Friday, August 7, 2009
The Digital Divide
The other day a guy came into my store looking for a Wii game. "I've been to three stores already," he told me, "and no one can find it."
"What's the game?" I asked.
He responded "World of Goo."
Internally, I rolled my eyes. "You won't find it here," I said matter-of-factly. Disappointment covered his face.
"So you don't have it either?"
"Nope," I replied, "and no other store will. World of Goo is only available as a downloadable game."
I went on to explain that it was only available on WiiWare, and thank the gods he knew what the internet was. His Wii was already online and he was familiar with purchasing games from the Wii Shop Channel, so I sold him a Nintendo Points card and he went on his merry way. He was lucky; with many customers I still have to explain the process of getting their consoles online, even to customers who already have internet in their homes.
What troubles me is that this customer went to three other stores like mine (same company) and three different clerks had no idea that World of Goo was a downloadable title. According to the customer, they each searched their inventories for it and couldn't find a listing for the game (pro tip: if a game is never released for boxed retail, then it never has a SKU). Frankly, I was embarrassed to work for the same company as those clerks for being completely ignorant about one of the most critically lauded and awarded games of 2008.
I can't really fault them. Unless you're like me, whose homepage is set to Kotaku, salespeople can really only rely on their employers and peers for information about video games. Downloadable titles & expansions are rarely sold at retail, so information about them is rarely readily available. There is no box I can look at to tell me the features of World of Goo (and honestly, most of what I know about 360 games comes from reading their boxes) or most other digital-only games. Unfortunately, we are being asked more and more questions from customers pertaining to these types of games. A week ago, a customer over the phone asked me the trade value of Patapon 2 (pro tip: even though it's sold as a retail box, Patapon 2 is a digital-only game; the box contains only a download code). Once again, I had to stifle laughter as I told him it had no trade value as it was not a physical game. The customer was actually surprised to hear this, which makes me wonder if he had even opened the box for the game.
Will a time come when digital games can be trades as easily as physical media? With the wealth of awesome games available on XBLA, PSN, Wii Shop, and Steam, and with digital games driving the focus of new gaming hardware (like the upcoming PSPgo), I think it's just a matter of time before I have to start sticking virtual yellow stickers to used copies of Braid.
"What's the game?" I asked.
He responded "World of Goo."
Internally, I rolled my eyes. "You won't find it here," I said matter-of-factly. Disappointment covered his face.
"So you don't have it either?"
"Nope," I replied, "and no other store will. World of Goo is only available as a downloadable game."
I went on to explain that it was only available on WiiWare, and thank the gods he knew what the internet was. His Wii was already online and he was familiar with purchasing games from the Wii Shop Channel, so I sold him a Nintendo Points card and he went on his merry way. He was lucky; with many customers I still have to explain the process of getting their consoles online, even to customers who already have internet in their homes.
What troubles me is that this customer went to three other stores like mine (same company) and three different clerks had no idea that World of Goo was a downloadable title. According to the customer, they each searched their inventories for it and couldn't find a listing for the game (pro tip: if a game is never released for boxed retail, then it never has a SKU). Frankly, I was embarrassed to work for the same company as those clerks for being completely ignorant about one of the most critically lauded and awarded games of 2008.
I can't really fault them. Unless you're like me, whose homepage is set to Kotaku, salespeople can really only rely on their employers and peers for information about video games. Downloadable titles & expansions are rarely sold at retail, so information about them is rarely readily available. There is no box I can look at to tell me the features of World of Goo (and honestly, most of what I know about 360 games comes from reading their boxes) or most other digital-only games. Unfortunately, we are being asked more and more questions from customers pertaining to these types of games. A week ago, a customer over the phone asked me the trade value of Patapon 2 (pro tip: even though it's sold as a retail box, Patapon 2 is a digital-only game; the box contains only a download code). Once again, I had to stifle laughter as I told him it had no trade value as it was not a physical game. The customer was actually surprised to hear this, which makes me wonder if he had even opened the box for the game.
Will a time come when digital games can be trades as easily as physical media? With the wealth of awesome games available on XBLA, PSN, Wii Shop, and Steam, and with digital games driving the focus of new gaming hardware (like the upcoming PSPgo), I think it's just a matter of time before I have to start sticking virtual yellow stickers to used copies of Braid.
Monday, July 27, 2009
So what's this here then?
If you didn't know already, I work in video games retail. For our mutual benefit, my employer shall remain unidentified, but it really won't matter who I work for. This blog is a place for me to share my stories from the retail floor, for your amusement (when things are funny) or in the hope you might sympathize (when things are frustrating). Sometimes they are both funny and frustrating at once.
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