Of course, how far we are off from that mythical day when no one buys games at retail anymore is still an unanswered question (assuming we'll ever even get there!), and cloud computing and streaming services on the horizon put an extra smudge on our crystal ball.
But much of the response to my article from Gamasutra commenters is aimed at GameStop, and how so many people hope it'll just disappear.
Do you have any GameStop horror stories? Everyone does, but I mean... I go there anyway. 'Cause I'm lazy. If you're a hater, do you have experiential reasons for disliking the retailer, or is it just a Big Evil Corporation, which is Mean?
And how do you buy your games? I've started a new sidebar poll to gauge how prevalent certain distro methods are for you all, because my attempt to stage a massively-attended Metroid-versus-Vania supremacy poll fell pretty flat. Not even 300 votes? Y'all have let me down.
The final result was 176 votes for Super Metroid, 119 for SotN, but you don't care, do you. You don't care at all! Excuse me, I've got a pillow to sob into for a while.
Okay, I'm all right now. Bonus digital distro material from our network: GamerBytes' Ryan Langley shrewdly points out ten things PlayStation Network needs to clean up before it can compete with XBLA from a storefront perspective. My usage of both services, personally, is pretty equal, but I've still gotta agree with him.
39 comments:
Damn Metroid winning, voted SOTN then my partner goes and votes Metroid to cancel out my vote! Harsh words exchanged, she can't convince me metroid is best!
So we care, maybe a little too much!
Totally agree with you. I did my dissertation/thesis on digital distribution and my research revealed some fascinating figures.
At the moment I'm kinda leaning on the retail side when it comes to buying games (mainly cause I buy limited/collectors editions. But I can totally see digital distribution taking over. However with the prices for the 360's Games on Demand and PSP Go's, I'd say the roadmap has gotten a bit longer as people would rather choose cheaper games>connivence (especially with the economy and trade-ins).
I horror story I do have was with GAME (the equivalent of GameStop in the UK). I was buying a copy of Uncharted as a thank you present, when I took it to the counter the sales assistant kept on pestering me to sell a second-hand copy. I ended up telling him to **** himself. Asking me, or twice, fair enough, they're sales people. But going to the point where he asked me 'why' I wanted to buy a brand new copy was crossing the line.
I try and avoid buying in the store and buy from their online store instead and get them mailed to me. Much more convenient for me.
For console games, for the longest time I almost exclusively bought my games at Best Buy. I was a slave to my Reward Zone card. Recently though I game that Amazon Prime thing a try and the free guaranteed release day shipping is really nice. It's nice not to have to go to the store to buy a game.
For the PC, I try to buy all of my games through Steam. Otherwise it's usually Best Buy.
I usually only go to Gamestop when I'm looking for an older classic that I missed out on from previous console generations (there are a lot of those). Even that, though, has become a rarer occurrence. I haven't had the stereotypical bad Gamestop experience where they try to sell you magazine subscriptions, preorders, and all that other fluff. What does bug me though is how they seem to be deliberately trying to devalue games.
Every game has tons of price stickers on it. They're usually on the front, back, and spine. There are also usually multiple layers from when they update the prices. These aren't the nice stickers like at Barnes and Noble, either, that easily come right off. These are the kind of stickers that seem impossible to remove without leaving a sticky film behind. They rip easily. Not only are they on used games, but they're also on new games. Even more galling to me is that many times the stickers aren't on the flexible plastic on the outside of the case, they're often on the paper inserts themselves. It's basically impossible to remove these things without making your copy of the game look bad.
It may sound like a weird petty thing to complain about, but the reason they do it is because they know their customers are just going to trade the game in in two weeks anyway, so why bother with taking care of the packaging? If you're essentially just renting your games from Gamestop, you're probably the kind of person who throws your discs wherever, sets your drinks on the manual, etc.
I guess it's like opening an album for the first time. Looking through the liner notes and artwork is as much a part of the experience for me as listening to the music itself. I like having nice copies of music, movies, games, and books on my shelf. I guess it's a packrat thing. So, yeah, that's why I really don't like Gamestop. They treat games as a product and as an idea as if they're worthless to consumers, even though they make tons of money selling them.
I RSS you so I don't know there's a poll unless you say there's a poll, sorry!
I buy games online almost exclusively if they're available online when I want them, which usually excludes console games. When brick and mortar retail dies, you won't see me shedding any tears.
I remember trying to buy an older Castlevania for Gameboy Advance, it was for $30 used. I asked what was the trade-in value for that same game... $4 dollars. So yeah, I pretty much stopped going there.
I can't really answer the poll without it being somewhat misleading. It depends on the system: I haven't bought a physical copy of a PC game in years, but I don't really have that option on consoles. When a PSP game releases on both UMD and digitally, I tend to go for the digital copy if the file is relatively small or these is a good deal. Most PS3/360/Wii games are not available digitally.
You might say that I generally prefer digital distribution even though I spend more money per year on physical discs. I will only buy a digital copy if it's significantly cheaper, I waited for L4D and Demigod to drop to $20 before I took the plunge. Numbers of games purchased probably comes out in favor of digital, but is it really fair to count Rock Band and Audiosurf the same? When I bought Riddick, Neverwinter Nights 2, and STALKER for $15 from D2D, is that really the same as when I bought ODST, Brutal Legend and inFamous for $120?
I stopped shopping at Gamestop after I had to have a fifteen minute conversation about why I didn't want a magazine subscription with a manager before being allowed to pay for my Wii. This sort of enduring negative experience, along with my asocial tendencies and the manner in which the business model of Game Stop specifically targets the wallets of the "creatives" who support their industry all contributed to my decision to just wait a little longer for my games to come from Amazon.
Jaffe does a great (if coarse) job of outlining the biggest issues I have with Game Stop and their practices - it's not their size, it's the way they try to increase revenues by finding ways to keep developers and publishers from earning cash off of game purchases. I'm not realy against retail as a concept, but it's getting harder and harder to justify retail purchases when digital distribution services are just more convenient in general. Not having to patch games anymore is pretty fucking sweet, and building a viable delivery method for smaller developers like 2D Boy and Tale of Tales with my purchases makes me feel like I'm contributing something, even when I'm just consuming.
This is kind of funny. Just yesterday I went to Toys R Us to buy Uncharted 2 (and a couple others for the buy-2-get-1-free sale) and they were sold out. So I went over to gamestop only half-expecting them to have it, and expecting either way to get a speech about how I pre-ordered it and I need to pre-order this game or that game.
Instead, I got a guy simple sell me the game. While he was ringing it up, he did say, "Just P.S. while you're here, is there anything you'd like to pre-order?" I said, "no thanks" and he simply replied, "fair enough."
I was amazed by this. It's almost like they're (or at least this guy is) becoming mindful of the critiques and realizing that they must change or die.
I have a feeling they can get away with frustrating publishers with used game sales, but they certainly can't afford to piss off their customers.
I think the experience varies wildly from location to location. I live equidistant to two Gamestops, and there's one that I refuse to go to. The staff are complete tools, push the preorders too hard, push for used games too hard, etc. I've received the disc for the wrong system on multiple occasions when buying used games. The other one, the people are helpful, relaxed, and pleasantly chatty. I still don't sell them my games because they give you peanuts, but I'd go to that one just to shop.
Price and conveniance is king. I buy or rent all my games almost exclusively through online retailers. Generally they deliver fast, and it allows me to get the best deal everytime.
On occasion I do buy games through Steam but it will always be because they have a sale on. Otherwise I find most of their products on offer comparatively more expensive.
P.S. I didn't vote in your poll because I haven't really played Metroid, though I have played Symphony of the Night. On priciple, I didn't feel I could vote for a game based mostly on the fact that I'd played one and not the other.
Your experience will depend entirely on who is behind the counter. But they ARE encouraged to up-sell if they want to keep their job.
Look, I know a LOT about how GameStop operates (for certain reasons.) They are bad to their employees. That's the main reason I try to avoid them.
Amazon is pretty awesome though. I dunno how they operate, but man they sure are nice to me.
PC games on Steam, PSP/DS/PS2 games through Amazon.
Incidentally, Amazon's recommendation system is good enough that I've been able to stop reading videogame news sites period, because it suggests everything I want to play anyway.
GameStop has a lot of problems.
First, the store is a mess. A wall-to-wall, unorganized, faceless mass of games. From LA, to Dallas, to Orlando, to Puerto Rico, they're all the same. Like a three page article with no paragraph breaks, or a dinner plate where all the food is literally sloshed on top of each other - no presentation, no logic. Just an overwhelming barage of WTF am I looking at!?
Second, the sales people. For a specialty store, they often lack specific or helpful information. Why is it, that with 10-20 mins of surfing a day, I can be more informed than these guys? The end result is sales people that aren't worth talking to, because they know next to nothing, or are easily trumped by a quick google search.
Third, the used games issue. Every single time I go there... not once, not just on occasion, but every single time... they try to sell me a used game. I ask for a brand new copy of Batman, they pitch me on buying it used. I ask for a brand new copy of Halo: ODST, they pitch me on buying it used. Day 1. Not 30 days later. Not 60 days later. Day 1. I don't even know how that's possible, but they do. All the time. As a game maker, it troubles me. As a consumer, it annoys the hell out of me.
Fourth, once they've finished trying to sell you a used game, they also want to sell you a strategy guide, an insurance policy, pitch you on pre-orders, recommend you purchase similar games, ask you if you'd like to buy a magazine, etc. Christ, it feels like I just walked onto a used car lot and I'm dealing with some shady mob-type that's willing to run over my kids to make a deal.
Fifth, I don't think I've ever seen a GameStop employee that was over 40. Maybe 32 tops. Because they don't exist. This place is a stop-gap before you move on to McDonalds or some other type of entry-level labor, and it shows. They're often loud, unprofessional, bothered that they have to work, and just stink of that "I'm so cool because I work in a video game store!" vibe. No, you're not cool, you're just annoying because you can't even be bothered to call me "sir" instead of "dude".
For all these reasons, I've come to avoid GameStop the same way I avoid those cell phone kiosks in the mall. You know, the ones with the tweens in ties, trying their best to get your attention as you walk by, the ones you can't even look at or they'll try to sell you a damn phone!? Yep, GameStop has become like one of those!
I have a much better experience going to Best Buy, or Target, or even WalMart. No, their employees are no more knowledgable, but given that the largest trade store in NA is next to useless in this regard, the bar doesn't even really exist (let alone being set high), so there's no loss there. BUT, I do get to browse new games that are well organized, buy them without the hassle of a desperate sell on shit I don't want, and the price is no different.
I suppose if you buy used, or prefer to buy used, GameStop is a really convenient, immediate resource. But I don't, so for me, it's more like slamming my finger in a door. I hate the place.
Much like your survey, I'm horribly torn by this issue. I love having my games on my shelf. Really! It's nice to have that crisp packaging and the little notes you might leave in inside the cover.
But as someone who works for a 3rd party developer? Digital distribution means we can put out more games and make a larger cut. Digital distribution means we're not tied to a specific publisher. It means that all the sales are OUR sales.
And yes, as a consumer, not having that second hand market is going to be annoying. But really, something had to give there. I know retailers are going to say that it's the only way they make real money from games but we MADE these games. One game, resold a couple of times by the retailer, will net them the price of the full game and more! No cuts to anyone.
Back to that survey though! HOW COULD YOU MAKE ME CHOOSE?!! That's like saying "Pick your favourite child, parent". Very cruel. I almost didn't choose.
Then I remembered running through the levels backwards at the end. It had to be Samus.
Know what I love about Quebec, the guys at EBgames(gamestop canada) don't try to sell us magazines subscription because they'd get too much "I don't speak english" from the customers. So I don't have any trouble shopping there. I don't have too much options anyway. Where am I gonna get my games, Wal-Mart?
I knew some friends that worked together at the same Gamestop store. This store had a bad recent-history streak of break-ins (the Xbox 360 demo console was stolen twice in the same month, etc).
One night, my friend was the only one closing the store, and he was physically assaulted and robbed (store merch was also stolen).
The assaulted friend did the smart thing and resigned after this incident - realizing that a min wage job wasn't worth a risk to his personal safety. However, my other friends remained on staff at this location.
They raised the issue of store security to their manager and also confronted the district manager about it. They highlighted the fact that their store location was one of the few in the district that did not have a closed circuit security camera system installed. The manager and district manager claimed that they would do everything they could to see a camera system was installed as soon as possible.
Flash forward to five months later. No camera system installed. No extra security measures installed at all. My friends made a habit of bothering the district manager and store manager about this on at least a weekly basis which garnered only a "pass-the-buck" response and corporate double-speak.
What was learned?
Despite their hundreds of millions of reported profits each year, Gamestop could not be bothered with the expense or effort to protect its employees. Gamestop is a corporation that simply does not care about the safety or working conditions of its employees. Like many modern companies, they exploit young workers by placing them in danger each day without adequate training or security systems (also, a 30 min repeating marketing DVD that must be on repeat play during working hours = a cruel form of torture). Gamestop corporate is concerned only with how to maximize profit and naturally this philosophy trickles down to the rest of 'management'. This causes the disposable mid-level managers to be blinded by fear of getting 'let go' for 'making waves'. So why would they bother to stick up for some silly moral issue like worker safety?
After this incident, I have had a very hard time spending my dollars at Gamestop and you should too. Sadly, the above story is all true.
When I was working at an EB Games in 2007, we had a guy come in and plop a 14" dildo on the counter. He simply said "How much will you give me for this?"
No matter how bad your experiences with GameStop/EB may have been, rest assured that the people who work there have been through worse.
For me the safest bet it Amazon
The PC game selection at these stores is horrid so I have no need to go in there. Steam, Impulse, or Amazon are where most of my games come from.
The last time I was in one, years ago, I walked up to the counter with a copy of Galactic Civilizations II Gold Ed. and was asked if I wanted to pre-order Madden NFL 2000whatever.
I seriously doubt the existence of a gamer that enjoys both of these titles.
Pushy sales reps, a lack of knowledgeable staff, bad shelf space organization, and no PC game support makes me sad this place ate the majority of the independent game shops.
Mixed bad for me. DS games I pretty much exclusively buy online via import sites, local prices are a joke.
For Wii I get some at retail, new or used depending, and I also import some too.
I shop at various retails stores, usually not game-specific ones as those always rip you off.
I did dabble with the Nintendo Shop and Steam, and I can kinda see the appeal but I don't really plan on becoming a regular customer.
As for the last poll, its kinda like choosing your favourite sibling, a bit of an unfair question.
Yes, I shop at Gamestop rather than giant chain stores / digital distribution. Why?
1. I like having physical media. Many of my favorite retro games no longer have official servers and even the publisher is out of business; plus there's always a hard drive failure possibility.
2. I am price-sensitive. If the used version is $10 less, that's a free ten bucks. If I buy a new game and flip it after a month, I've lowered the effective cost from $60 to $30. (This means I actually get my money's worth out of their magazine subscription!)
3. I value my time highly. I can stop by Gamestop on my lunch break and trade in a game for $20, or I can sell it on Ebay for $30 at the cost of an hour or two of my life. I make a lot more than $10 an hour.
I prefer digital distribution whenever possible, simply for convenience, and this would be enough reason even if I didn't have a couple other reasons to avoid gamestop to begin with. what's worth mentioning is that their trade-in policy is not one of them. as far as I'm concerned, gamestop's trade policy is win-win. I get new games cheaper, unload old games with the maximum ease, and buy old games on the super cheap. perhaps ebay is a better deal, but it's horrifically inconvenient and the trust factor on ebay is so low that gamestop's higher price point and lower trade-in price is worth the security and convenience, to my mind.
but I do have reasons for avoiding gamestop in favor of digital distribution:
I don't know if your own experiences as an NYC gamer are comparable, but shopping in a gamestop in NYC has been a pain in the ass for me. it's not worth it to look on the shelves. nothing is there but boxes, and the boxes tell you nothing you don't already know. gamestop stores are basically airport security lines with extra space around you to house screaming children and their shouty parents. I couldn't possibly claim to speak for other locations, but in nyc these lines move so slowly you could design, code and release your own game while you're waiting on them. which brings me to my next reason for avoiding the stores when possible: the problem customer.
the problem customer always fits this description: one or more children, looking for a game that is either a)too expensive, b)not out yet or c)sold out, who then refuses to get off the line to figure his dilemma out and instead has an argument with his mother about what to do for 10 minutes while the clerk waits for them to figure it out.
compounded on this problem is the problem of poor staff organization. I don't mean the individual employees are each characteristically disorganized, though they may be that, too. I mean the shift supervisor or whoever has no idea how to organize his employees so that there aren't 2 people sitting chatting behind the counter while a line builds. I'm sure there are reasons why only one register is open or whatever. anyone with retail experience knows there's always some bureaucratic reason that is as frustrating for the employee as it is for the customer. but keep the bastards out of my sight while I'm standing on line for half an hour, then. fuhrealz, dawg. nothing infuriates even the most reasonable person more than knowing that there's a dude in a gamestop badge texting right in front of you while you could be getting rung up instead.
I'd rather wait 4 hours for a huge download to finish than take a half hour subway to a gamestop and sit through another half hour of that in order to get my game.
Maybe it's just me, but I don't have any Gamestop horror stories. I use them all the time and have never had a problem. Even the one or two midnight releases I went to went pretty smoothly!
I do like digital distribution too, though, and would like to see more of it in the future. No discs or packaging is always nice and I like how a service like Steam will let you carry your games over from one computer to another.
I have had the unfortunate experience of having worked at a Gamestop while I was still in college for computer science. There are multiple problems with how Gamestop corporate policy works:
1) I am unsure if this is still the case, but when I was working there we could NOT refuse a trade-in. This included games that were beat to shit, had no packaging, were obviously stolen ( still in their shrink wrap along with seven other titles in the exact same condition ). We were also always short-staffed. Imagine yourself in this situation: due to your employer being cheap-as-fuck, you are the only employee in the store from open to close. You receive hundreds of trade-ins. You are expected to process all of these and put them on the shelves despite the fact that you have no shelf space. All the while, you have to help customers...if you can't do all of these things at once for a pittance, you get reamed out by upper management.
2) Yes, employees were allowed to "sign out" new games which were then put out again and sold as new.
3) Relating to point #1: how is it possible to keep up the appearance of the store if the company is too cheap to have adequate staff?
4) Hiring practices are far too loose. While many of my co-workers at the time definitely were somewhat knowledgeable gamers, they weren't exactly great at customer service. Hell, neither was I. This is why I'm a programmer now.
5) As an employee of Gamestop, you are constantly pressured to pressure customers. This sucks. No one likes overly aggressive sales staff. Thankfully, my local Brooklyn store is laid back. I've never been badgered when I've decided to shop there.
Regarding digital distribution: I'm all for it, and I frequently make purchases via XBL and Steam, but there is something to be said for having a copy in my hands. I like being able to resell to someone else when I'm done with it ( I rarely, if ever, trade with retailers ). I also find the idea of cloud-driven services like OnLive somewhat troubling. What happens to my gamesaves if their whole network gets fried? The recent T-Mobile debacle makes me extremely apprehensive toward any sort of remotely executed gaming platform. I am also highly skeptical of the ability of my very shitty TWC connection to stream HD gaming content.
I guess I am on the fence: I certainly don't like, or trust, Gamestop ( and similar "specialty retailers" ) but I don't know if I am comfortable with the industry going entirely digital, either.
The main problem with direct 2 drive gaming in the country thwat I live in (Australia) is that the average user only has about 15-20 gigbytes of data per month and a download speed of 1.5mbits.
This means it is fairly easy for the user to be double dipped in charges for downloading a game.
Maybe one day it will change, but for now most Australians just use Steam and 3rd party applications to limit Steam to download off quota free ISP steam servers.
I would love to see quota free internet here, it would cause a major change in many different business models (Video on Demand, Direct2Drive game) to become more common.
Gamestop is just too obviously the most convenient option for me to not use it. Lately I've only bought games that are more than two years old, so buying them used is 1) easier just in terms of availability and 2) cheaper. There's a Gamestop on my way home, so I don't have to go out of my way at all.
Then again, it would be horrendous if I went there without a clear idea of what I wanted to buy. I do all my browsing at home on the computer. I put together a list of games to buy (usually older ones) then go out and find them. Gamestop doesn't always have what I'm looking for, but it usually does. I might also go to Best Buy, depending on which one is easier to get to. Used Amazon a couple times, too, I just prefer going to an actual store to get the games for some reason. Probably because I usually get more than one at a time. Mostly, though, it's because the games I'm looking for wouldn't be available if I went to, say, Best Buy.
However! With regard to digital distribution, my copy of Psychonauts for PS2 is broken, and I recently got an overwhelming urge to play that game. What do you know? It was available for download on Xbox Live Marketplace. I might have gotten it a bit cheaper elsewhere, but the convenience was more than worth it.
Like most, I'm a Steam loyalist when it comes to PC games. It has its downsides, but the convenience outweighs them.
As far as console games, if you're willing to game the system a bit, you can get INSANE deals on brand new games with Gamefly's "keep it" feature. Honestly I think it's totally broken and sooner or later they'll have to fix it-- too many people "keeping it" is almost certainly a big contributing factor to it being impossible to rent new games through them unless you get the first batch mailed out on launch day-- but in the meantime, I'm not ashamed to say I'm milking them for all they're worth.
I think sometimes people are a little unfair to Gamestop - I wrote an article on that topic if you want to check it out: http://www.backhandofjustice.com/why-does-everybody-hate-gamestop/
I've never had any trouble with my local Gamestops. Yes, that's plural; there are three Gamestop stores within easy bicycling distance from my house. There's an indoor mall about a mile from my house that has a Gamestop that was an Electronics Boutique and an EB Games before becoming a Gamestop, and a strip mall about a mile in the other direction has TWO separate Gamespot stores, one of which used to be a Funcoland.
I like going through the shelves at Gamestop and looking for old games I can pick up on the cheap. I sort of collect old RPGs...
The lamest GameStop adventure I've had was back when I was trying to buy a copy of Resident Evil 3 for Dreamcast. (I was late in the game for a DC. By the time I got one, it had just been discontinued, and they weren't making any more games for it.)
I go to buy it and the guy at the register yells to the SA on the floor and tells him to try & find the disc for it, then they proceed to have a conversation amongst themselves, yet RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME along the lines of "Dreamcast? Really?" to "This game isn't even scary." and "I don't even know why they even made this game for Dreamcast."
So not only did they insult what game I was buying, but the console I chose to play it on. And I'm really glad they decided to throw in the fact that I must be a huge coward because I was buying the "least scariest game in the world ever."
Dudes, STFU and get me my game. Also, fuck you two, I still love my Dreamcast.
Also, I will NEVER EVER buy used consoles from there! Ever! Twice I've been screwed with. The Xbox I bought (It was before the huge price drop, so I thought buying used was better...) was filled with SAND and the PS2's disc drive slot wouldn't even eject.
It is sad if in the future we can no longer give the gift of a videogame because distribution moved to digital downloads only.
Usually I buy from the internet, sites like gameplay and amazon are usually cheaper, and often quicker than buying on release day.
Unless there's an inconvenient postal strike this weekend I should have borderlands on thursday... Oh wait, there IS a postal strike.
I buy my stuff from a local indy retailer. They know what they have and they have games back as far as the NES. As someone who is more inclined to fill out their portfolio of games made before he was born than to buy the latest shiny thing, that is invaluable to me. Plus, they're always willing to throwdown at SFIII on a slow day.
The way I look at it, Gamestop just gives a range of services which you can take or leave. For new retail, they're in the same boat as any other store - their availability depends on location and demand, whereas pricing sticks to MSRP. For used games, sometimes you can find a good deal or two, but mostly its a paltry $5 off the enw price. As far as selling goes - yes, we all know you get gypped. Yet I know myself (and probably a few of the commenters) still go there because, hey, it's easier than putting it up online, dealing with shipping, etc. Again though, if you don't like their buyback rates, don't sell to them. Pick and choose the services they offer that best suits you. If that means you find no value in GameStop, so be it. But it is a consumer choice, not The All Seeing Badguy mucking up your pure and chaste pursuits.
Now, for digital distro I hope the day never comes where its the sole way to get games. Look at PSN - it's an example of how a one-stop shop and controlled environment (PSPgo) chokes consumer choice, not expands upon or benefits it. If the day ever does come, it's a long way off - as it is ISPs are considering capping bandwidth usage or metering it much like public utilities. Given that, I don't think $60 + the ISP charging for a 6GB download would be more cost effective than $60+tax.
@ I live in a metal box
Prepare to have your world rocked my friend! I have owned - and enjoyed - the last three editions of Madden and GalCiv II still gets a play every now and then. I'd play it more often but I get sucked into the "just one more turn" syndrome and I don't have the six hour sessions to spare :)
Back to the article though, I tend to stick with digital distros for my PC gaming unless the title is quite a large one (Empire: Total War for example), and even then I'll probably go to some online retailer simply because the price will be better.
Console titles I tend to stick to phyical media but that's really just because most of the games I want aren't available any other way.
And no, I didn't vote in the last poll because I'm a heathen and have never played either of them!
SotN vs Super Metroid? Don't make me choose! That's like picking one of my chilluns.
GameStop is also in Germany now, but I never bought something in the stores.
I get most games from Amazon.de and Amazon.co.uk, they are still cheaper over there and I can't get some uncut versions from Amazon.de.
'Gamestop' proper only just showed up in Toronto, it's essentially EBGames (previously Electronics Boutique, but Boutique sounded too femme or something) but Toronto has a plethora of independent video game stores so usually I'm trading in old games for discounts or just buying new from indie stores. Mostly because they have the best customer service to price ratio.
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