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Heh, do games still have save files in them anymore these days? I thought that only happened with cartridges, not discs.
Honestly I don't care if employees have played it, as long as there's NO scratches on the disc at all, then it's fine.
Food for thought, made me consider and think about where to buy my games next time. If i pay 40-50$ for a brand new game, i'd better get a never-before-touched-fingerprint-less UMD disk.
Well, just think of this then
here in the UK is a Game store that sells Pre-Owned games at just £5 pound from rrp (recommended retail price) for a new one
half the time these games are not in good condition, and they seem to think that saying "a psp game is in a protective case so it doesn't get scratched" as a viable excuse
the name of the company? GAME in the UK Boycott at all costs, there over priced as well
dunno bout you, but locally all the eb's only sell you games sans-shrinkwrap. Something to do regarding theft... dunno
Removing that plastic is part of the pleasure in buying a new game. But that's just me.
That's normal for game stores to do that. I've heard stories about that happening in my area. Sell a game back to the store, get money, shrink-wrap, store then sell back the game for more
Stores like EB and Gamestop always open one copy of the game up so that people can look at the case and fumble through the manual. They keep the disc behind the counter to prevent theft. Now when you bring the case to the counter they give you a fresh copy of the game, but when this is the last copy of the game you pay a new price for a case and manual that over 100 people have had their hands on (and never looks new). Why won't they sell this last copy as a store display and at a discount? Most people do not like buying new games with trashed manuals and cases. Maybe Gamestop and EB should put their games in anti theft cases ala Best Buy so that when the last copy is sold, it doesn't feel used.
It is definitely true, especially with launch titles or hardware which certain stores only receive a limited number of copies and get them in some days ahead of time.
In case you didnt know, most EB's also have a disc cleaner and a disc resurfacer along with a shrink wrapper in the back.
Because of the disc cleaner, you arent ever going to see fingerprints on those "new" played before disks that have been re-wrapped, and you can even get around the security seal tape by snagging the disk out the bottom without fully opening the case.
PS: how do you think many of these "groups" get the games to "leak" onto the internet some days before you can buy it in the store... simple: the manager let an employee take home a copy to "try"
As a former gamestop employee, I can confirm that you are indeed allowed to 'check-out' a game for a period of time. That was one of the perks of the job. I felt that it was good because it actually allowed us (the employees) to give our actual opinions on a game rather than rely on a review or word of mouth. But at the same time, when we checked out the games, we'd take used copies. If there were only new ones left, we'd only taqke them if there were at least 3 copies available, and about 5 for a new release. Most gamestop employees are game enthusiasts and take really good care of their property (I know I did), plus, if the game came back in less than stellar shape, we bought the game. Just part of the deal.
But yea, we'd put them back together nice and neat like, and then we'd shrinkwrap them.
gamestop won't let you return new games, yet when they open up a game and think that it sucks, they just shrink wrap it back up and sell it for full price.
I noticed at my gamestop the secuirty seal that has the game's name never comes in anymore. those bastards are selling used games as new.
So I was at my local Gamestop a couple of weeks ago and I wanted to buy two games they were Megaman something and Onimusha. So I grabbed the cases off the shelve and checked them out and they both had their booklets inside. So I did a 15 minute line and then it was my turn. As soon as I got to the cash register I got the usual are you interested in buying reserving crap that you don't want. So anyway she grabs the cases and looks for the discs. After I pay her she hands me a bag with the discs only inside and I kindly told her that she had forgotten to give me the cases with the booklets inside that I brought to the cash register. She tells me that she can't give me the cases. And I ask her why not and she goes like sorry but I can't give you the cases. Again I ask her why not, same answer. So I told her something she wasn't expecting I said give me my money back. And she gave me my money back and I left the store and I also filled out a complaint at the Gamestop Feedback site.
I think she is a retard or something because she lost a 30 dollar sale over something as insignificant as a couple of cases. Im going to be honest if she had told me that she couldn't give me the cases before she took my money there wouldn't have been a problem.
At the EBGames I have nearby pretty much all the games have been opened, no shrink wrapping, just the case you take off the shelf, and when you buy a game it's gots scratches and everyones greasy fingerprints all over the case. And you can't really tell whether they take a new or old disc from under the desk, and what it says on the case is what says whether it's new or old. So yea I try to go to other places for my games. o_o
Although, they did give me KH2 when I was buying KH1...
this is pointless.
I currently work at an EBGames and I do this all the time. All i do is take home w/e game(s) I want and bring them back the next time I work. I go in the the back and WALLA brand new shrink wrapped game and it looks like its never been opened. If your mad apply at an EBGames and do the same thing! Oh yeah btw, I love selling people the game that I'v already played lol i always laugh my ass off when im ringing it up. i get such a kick out of people who waste there money on used crappy games. AHAHHAH daym i love my job. Oh yeah and the sickest part about working there is that theres this draw behind the counter and its filled with tons of used headphones and controllers and all this ***** so if i ever need a replacement for anything its all free. godaym i must be the luckiest person cuz its always me and this one black chick and after we lock up and ***** we go in the backroom and hotbox it then we come out and hella ***** on the counter and all the used dvds then the next day we sell the used dvds with my jizz and sweat all over it. so heres the moral of the story...wash your hands when you purchase used DVDs cuz most likely one of my kids is smeared all of the front of the case.
yep, its true. i worked for gamestop a few years back and this was going on then. its not that hard to spot the difference between factory shrink wrap and theirs.
The only game I have ever bought at EB was Half-Life and they sold me one with a non-working CD key when it was supposed to be new. (Employees probably stole it since all game are removed from their packaging.) I asked them about their return policy and they said any game could be returned but when I said Half-Life, the guy instantly refused. I had to mail the CD to Vivendi/Sierra to get a new CD key just because of their lack of service. I know never to shop at EB again no matter how good their prices are. No point in going if you risk getting defective products that you can't return/exchange. Why they can get away with opening games and still selling them as if they are new, I don't understand...I now tell everyone I know to stop shopping there because it's a rip-off. Horrible store and no customer service.
When I got my DS Lite I opened it in the store to check it out while waiting for my friends to get theres and there was a finger print on the top. Then I checked the settings and someone had named the thing AAAAAA. I demanded an exchange and got it. I can understand games, But playing the systems before they sell is too much.
Yes we check out games and just return it and shrink wrap it cause we usually can't keep it that long but most eb games don't have a resurfacer like someone claim we just sell it is that right no but i neva seen anyone return a copy of the game that we use b4
Is this something people didn't know, then? I kinda assumed everyone realised this -- I know my closest friends are all aware of it. It's been going on for at least 10 years here in the UK... my sister used to work in a game store (was EB back then, now Game) and was able to "try" the games. Of course, back then, that meant she could copy most of them without too much hastle (she stuck to "trying" the PC games, back when there was little or no copy protection on floppies and only slightly more on CDs). It was pretty sweet for me, 'cos she'd occasionally send me copies of good games. I doubt it was so good for her customers, 'cos she wasn't (isn't) exactly the neatest person, and probably smudged and scratched up CDs like she still does to this day.
I've also had problems buying a sticky CD in a completly different shop. Yeah, I said "sticky", as in covered in something like a soft drink and left to dry. This was a supposedly new game, but in fairness to the staff, they were quick and happy to exchange it when I went back and pointed this out.
Longest comment evar.
A friend of mine explained this whole thing to me and here's the break down guys....
First off I want to start by saying, all of you OCD's out there that have to have it still in the wrapper don't have to shop at EB/GameStop. You all can go to Best Buy like all the other yuppies out in the world.
Second off, I want to inform you that my friend told me that Gamestop/EB have 2nd hand licenses and that is what they are registered as for taxes - a 2nd hand specialty retail store.
Now here's the main point my friend had, EBGames used to pay their part time employees very well, this way the part time employee would be able to afford the games they wanted to try out. EB never had a check out policy because of the reasons stated on this collector's rant.
Immediately after EB was acquired by GameStop the EB employees were given the opportunity to check out games at a 4 day grace period like their GameStop counterparts in exchange for this privelege, they had to hire new employees at minimum wage (in some areas as low as $5.15).
---The privelege of game rental was a contract that the game is to be returned in PERFECT condition. If a single scratch, smudge, and/or imperfection was on the disc/case/book the employee would have their check garnished for the product that was rented.----
My friend informs me that GameStop managers are also underpaid so the enforcement of the above policy is RARELY occuring because they just don't care about their job that much and all they want to do is play games and get paid to talk to other people about them.
Now I don't know about you guys but isn't how you feel about a company all about your experience? I've shopped at both EB and GameStop stores as well as Best Buy and Walmart. All the companies stated have given me defective merchandise one time or another and it's all about how they respond to it.
My overall opinoin, it sounds like to me that if your local EB or Gamestop had a management staff with half a brain, they wouldn't put the games damaged back for sale. If these people did their job it would look almost as if no one did anything at all!!!!
If you feel Best Buy is really the "BEST BUY" because they have wrapped games and all of their stores are over 6000 square footage than shop there but for stores with at average 700 square footage and triple the inventory on games than Best Buy (remember, games get discontinued and can only be found new), it's no wonder that they would be where you collector cry babies shop at.
First off to ikicksnails they only put up to box when its a used game and put away the cd in back of the counter. On to the next one it would take an expert to shrink wrap a box perfectly like the machines do when they come from the company, the dumbasses they got working there would make the box look like *****. Lets just say some pricks can shrink theyre own boxes when you buy a game open it there and look at it specially because some pricks that sell you a opened box used game forget to put the game in there. For the rest of you ignoramuses that say you had a job at one of these stores, tell me how do they give you an estimate for trading in your used games.
a friend of mine worked at radio rentals here in australia
she tried everything from games (every ps2,xbox game in the store) to actual consoles,laptops,desktops,projectors anything smaller than a fridge basically.. its pretty common practice.
same at car yards.. they drive a different car home every night and wind back the clock if they need to
try buying a mmorpg where the gamestop guy already used up your free month because he registered the game and played it and then rewrapped the game and put it back,Square's costumers service response was they couldn't do anything about it and my game was useless,i mean the guy even registered the 2 expansion packs along with the game...
anyways i got another copy a few days later after returning it,to a "ha ha,that must of been Mike,that guy" like it was some prank.
This is totally true. My best friend in high school worked at a Software Etc and we 'checked out' new games all the time to play them. Then he just shrink-wrapped them again and put them back on the shelves.
It's true, working at both Gamestop when it was still Babbage's & then at EB before and after they were purchased by Gamestop. It should be reurned perfect, but I can tell you that it wasn't. Some of the cases were opened for display purposes(1 to 2 in most cases, sometimes more if they were needed for a particular display), as well as some that were returned games or ones that cutomer's claimed were defective.
I bought Shadow of the Colossus at Gamestop the other day. The person handed me an open case and said it was the display case, but the game is new. The case had quite a few markings on it, but since the game was supposed to be great, I just dealt with it. Now would I of left Walmart, Toysrus, or Target with an open case? Nope.
I agree this isn't right but did that guy say there is nothing more horrifying than getting a game hime and finding somebodies elses save file already there? That aint right, as it would save to their memory card not the disk, so really you would never know anyway lol.
:S
I had a friend that worked at Business Depot (now Staples), and told me that if I ever needed anything shrink wrapped, just bring it on in. This was like 10 years ago!
Since that day, I now never trust anything from E-bay, or anywhere else that sells used items that claims to be "factory sealed".
I never took my friend up on the offer, because that's not the type of person that I am, but it makes you think!
Having two good friends that work at my local EB games, I am well aware of this "check out" procedure.
employees dont try every single game on the shelf (meaning multiple mopies of a single game). when i go to EB, i grab the cover off the shelf, go up to the front, and (usually only with newer games) i tell them to give me one from the glass cabinet. the majority of those ones are always originally sealed with the security devices all in tact, as well as the label running along the top of the case.
It's pretty common knowledge here in Australia about EB's shrink-wrapping of used games then selling them as new. I knew two guys who ran a games store so I just bought through them, they'd get them direct for a supplier still in the original shrink wrap.
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In the replies to an article over at NeoGAF, one of the commenters said that employees of a particular chain of stores can try the video games and then the store will still turn around and sell those games as brand new. The commenter said that 
