Before I begin, let me say that I know fully well about the stupid practices done in the US at Gamestop and how unfair there prices for trade ins and selling "new" games, but if you think you have serious problems over there then you are dead wrong.
Now I do like buying games from Gamestation or GAME from time to time, especially preowned games and the occasional Retro title that gets traded in (Thanks Gamestation for Ninja Gaiden and Truxton
), but sometimes it just concerns me how stupid buying in person could be. I know the economy isn't improving greatly but you can't just annoy hardcore gamers and collectors like this.
First part of my rant is preorders, now to be fair, they aren't terrible ideas. Unlike Gamestops reserving policy, you don't pay anything for preordering a game at either place until the game actually launches. GAME is better with preorders for two reasons.
1. There are benefits, if you have a GAME Reward card (which costs 3) then preordering a game will mean you get double points which equals money off your next purchase. Gamestation has to my knowledge no benefits except you have a copy waiting for you. Except when the DSi was ready for preorders where both shops you had to pay a small amount towards it (so basically that's only when they follow Gamestop), but Gamestation was 10 while Game was 25 and you can pay the same price at launch from both stores.
2. The people have better knowledge of upcoming games. I will say that my local Gamestation may be an exception to this fault but it still doesn't mean I can't talk about it. You see, I was wondering what prices for Punch Out for the Wii were so I asked the guy and he had no idea the game existed, let me tell you that this was about two days after the EU launch and there were reviews and advertisements from websites, magazines and TV. Another guy said that they only had two copies which were sold which is just...ridiculous beyond words. About a couple of weeks later preorders were opened for The Conduit. And would you believe, after being presented at E3 for two years in a row and being shown in magazines and online, just about two weeks before launch, the guy never knew the game existed. You have no idea how awkward it is to try and explain to a gaming retailer employee what a certain game is when they don't know it at all, I was trying to resist asking where he got his details from in a pissed off manner. GAME however on both hands instantly knew what I was talking about.
Now the second part of the rant, the prices. I think everyone on this website, including me, know what is a good price and a bad price for a game is, whether it is new or used. However, all the gaming retailers in my town go off the spectrum when compared to prices online. You see, I went into GAME to collect The Conduit which I preordered, I was planning on paying 30 since that's what the price online is, I walk through the entrance and the display cases say 37.99. Why would I pay 8 extra for a game in person compared to online? Even if I used my reward card, I would still pay 5.50 more. I went to Gamestation and HMV, and they had it at the same price. Whatever happened to competing prices?
Well I went home with my money, went online and found that Play.com was selling it 29.99 (free postage) while Amazon was selling it for 22.70 NEW with 4.99 postage so I saved a grand total 10.30 for a Brand New game released yesterday, and if I saved that much then I don't care if I have to wait around a week to get it.
So what are your views on this? Have you experianced what I have? Have you had worse?
COMMENT!!!
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You make some good points. A lot of game shop clerks here don't know much/anything about games either. They just happen to work in a game store. 
And the prices, well, I see that a lot here too. I think a lot of stores don't do the effort of really comparing prices with other (online ) stores. Maybe they do that because they hope that the people buying in their stores won't look online or are people that don't buy online.
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I dont live in Europe so I dunno what the hiring practices are there, but here in British Columbia Canada I tried 3 times to get a job at different EBgames when I was in my teens and all 3 told me that they didnt want to hire people that "loved" games. They all told me that was the quickest way to end the interview. So up here there is usually one gamer working there that stuck in under their radar and a bunch of idiots. If you can find that one guy its a great experience, but most of the time your stuck with someone who could care less.
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Game stores hire their salespeople based on business background over gaming knowledge. Basically, they are looking for people who know how to sell stuff over people who know what the hell they are talking about. I hate it. I have had several questions left unanswered due to clueless salespeople in game stores. Even in Denver, Colorado where I am originally from, of the hundreds of stores selling games, I have yet to find one person who knows gaming any more than Gears of War and Halo talk. It is irritating and I am totally with you 100% on this one.
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@Crabmaster2000: What are they smoking over there? Why would they refuse people that love games? If a seller loves the product he/she is selling, he'll be more enthusiastic about it and will be able to pursuade customers much easier to buy a certain game than people who have no idea what a video game is.
@Boshamp: That's equally stupid. I'm willing to bet that a person who knows about games can sell more units than people who "know how to sell stuff". Hell, how can you be good at selling an item when you don't know anything about that item?
Completely rediculous.
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@Crabmaster2000:Yeah, that is kinda stupid. I can see that any kind of retailer would go with someone who has that retail experience. But I agree with Sirgin that people with a gaming interest would be a better seller in that market. @Boshamp:Funnily enough, when I first said "The Conduit", he thought I said COD (Call Of Duty). This was the one guy who I knew didn't know what games I was talking about, and I've been visiting and buying games there for years, seeing a dozen different employees.
But last time I check, gaming retailers do have a list/database of upcoming games, GAME has I think 5 binders which has lists of upcoming games for each current gaming system (7th Gen) that is updated once every 2 - 3 months, last time I checked, Gamestation didn't even have one!
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I can agree with the not hiring gamers idea. I think out of the zillion Gamestops and play n trades in the Orlando area. Every store might have one person that actually knows something. You can tell the rest of the employees just quote what they where told to say about a game.
Except WOW it seems like everybody and they're brother knows everything about it. (nope I never played it)
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I can understand why game store chains don't want video game lovers as employees. It's simply for the fact that there is a good chance that they'll spend more time chatting with customers or their friends about games than selling games to customers. I think the ideal employee for a game store would be someone who likes video games but doesn't love them; just someone who is willing to keep up on the newest (i.e. most profitable) games the store has to offer.
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