Holiday Shopping: Beat the GameStop System

For all the last minute shoppers, here are some quick tips on how to beat the Gamstop System:

“That’s all I get back for my game?” “Is that really the best you can do?” “This used game is almost as expensive as a new one!” These are just a few of the many questions I received as a GameStop employee and still hear as a customer. I feel like these questions stem more from ignorance rather than from sincere disbelief. The average person has no core concept of how the economy actually works, causing consumers to question simple, everyday transactions like trading in a video game at their local GS. Had they known and/or taken advantage of various discounts and rewards the store offers, maybe they wouldn’t feel so slighted. Not that I am an authority on economic sciences, but allow me to help any and all who may stumble across my words.

First of all, the game you’re bringing in is old. I don’t care if it’s only ten seconds old, it’s old. There is no way any sane person—let alone a multimillion-dollar corporation—is going to give you back what they charge for a product. It’s just not good business. So let’s say you receive $30 in store credit for a game you spent $60 on a week ago; that’s not bad. One, store credit is tax free; if you purchase something that’s $29.99, it will be just that. Small consolation, I know, but dammit, it’s something. That’s half your money back. Try that with almost any other product on the face of the planet. No, seriously. Go grab your blender, take it to a pawn shop and see what you get for it. Better yet, call a moving crew, have them lug your refrigerator to any store and see what you get for that—exactly.

Two, understand that GS makes the bulk of its profits off of used sales. Look at it like this, they pay you $30 for your used game, then they sell it for $54 as opposed to the new price of $60. They stand to make a profit of $14 on a game they initially made nothing on. They can do it because they own the games. If you imagine GS is just one guy who owns a ton of games, it’s far easier to see where the profit concept comes in. If you bought a game from your friend and then sold it for more than you paid, you’d make money. That’s how simple this concept is. Good for them I say. The bottom line is, they’re here to make money. It’s how businesses grow and stay operational.

Finally, the employees in the store control nothing. They do not set trade-in values, they do not set used prices, they do not determine the value of anything within those four walls outside of their own self worth. Asking for a “better deal” only works on car lots. The prices are what they are like in any other retail location. You do not go into Wal-Mart and haggle with the employees over the price of an oven mitt, and if you do—really? Telling GS employees that you can get a game $2 cheaper at Costco is not going to break their hearts. Actually, it is more to the average buyers’ detriment to go to another location. Unless you are a seasoned gamer or have received very specific directions from someone, you might not even know what you’re purchasing. Getting 50 Cent: Bulletproof for $2 instead of $5 means nothing because the game is trash, which no K-Mart employee is going to bother telling you. This is not to say that every GS has socially functional workers—because that would be a lie—but typically, you can find at least one person with a pulse and social skills who can save you from a bad purchase.

Now that we’ve seen everything you can’t control, let’s get into what you can. You know that annoying card they always try to push on you that comes with that lame magazine and it’s like $15 for the year? GET IT!! That card is the basis for all that is great about GS. That 10% off used games and accessories means that $55 used game is now $50, so that’s $10 saved right there. Considering you can return used games to any GS for a full refund within seven days, you might not end up paying anything at all if you just need it for some weekend fun. On top of the percent bonuses, you earn points for transactions, which you can turn into merchandise (posters, dog tags, styluses) or coupons for anywhere between 10 to $50 off any in-store purchase. You probably didn’t know that. You’re welcome. Also, they recently started giving buy 1 get 1 free codes for used games to customers who pick up reserved games within 48 hours of release. Yes, your 10% off STILL stacks with the B1G1 free. The system is trying to work with you, you just have to pay attention people.

Getting 10% more on trade-ins for games and accessories means you get a boost on every single game you trade in. The trick to that is stacking. For future purchases, keep this little trick in mind: You want to buy Watch DogsThe Crew, Destiny or whatever other upcoming title, right? Check this: reserve the game for $5—which is basically layaway because the $5 goes towards the cost of the game—then any games you trade in towards it gets you 30% more on each game. Add the 10% from your new handy, dandy card and you get 40% more on every game you trade in towards shiny newness! How is this not great?

For those of you who just don’t want to trade in your games, that’s fine. I respect people who make such solid gaming choices, never feeling the need to relinquish a single title—I’m serious. For those of you who only buy new games, I envy you for never needing to decide which new game to get or having to wait for a used copy. For the GameFly guys and gals out there who don’t buy anything, I applaud you for gaming on a budget. For the rest of us, we have to work within the system to get our money’s worth. If you understand the game and play your cards right, GS can make their money and we can get fairly priced awesomeness. I think that’s pretty damn fair.

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Indie Game Alert: Keipr Online

p8c I am officially addicted to learning about new and upcoming indie games. They always have pieces of what makes video games great, then builds on them with new and great ideas. When I was introduced to Keipr (pronounced kai.per) Online, I was excited to see what new concepts this game would introduce. My first thought when I visited the Indie DB site was “I NEED this game.” The team at Goon Studios promises Keipr Online will be a completely open world where players can become and do pretty much anything they want.

This will be a MMO sandbox game: No mini map, no way point, just you and thousands of other players trying to create an adventure. Players start off as a planetary colonist whose star ship (Keipr) has crashed. After waking up from a cryo sleep, what you do with your life is completely your choice. You can start a business, become a criminal, or run your own town. If you like to live dangerously, you can become a bounty hunter and travel the world on your ship; it’s all up to the you. Keipr_City Players will also have some creative control by voting on what the developers should add into the game next. Submarines, space ships, castle sieges (yes, you can build a castle and be a king if you want), and alien invasions can all be a part of Keipr Online, if players want the tools to create them. Modders will also be able to contribute their skills.

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The world looks beautiful and the potential for this much freedom makes me so very happy, but I need to know more: How far will the Goons take it? Will players be able to start a family? If players decide to be shop owners, is that all they will do the entire game or will they have objectives also? How much freedom will modders have? Creating a completely open world is always tough—especially when there is a wide range of gamers developers have to to appeal to—and not everyone can pull it off (*cough* Rockstar *cough*). I really hope Goon Studios can keep its promise. If they do, this game will be epic. I can’t wait.

Keipr Online: Making of 3D Creature

Keipr Online is set to be released sometime in 2014. Unfortunately, there is no demo yet, but you can watch videos and see pictures of the game on Indie DB. On the Goon Studios website, you can get some tips on the indie process, learn about the team, and get up-to-date news on their blog. Make sure to show your support on Steam, Twitter, and Facebook.

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The VGX Awards Show was a Fail, Again

After watching the revamped VGX awards show and witnessing every tweet rip the show apart, I can’t help but wonder why Spike can’t get it right. This attempt to make the show and video games just as relevant as movies and music is unnecessary. If Spike does decide to take another shot at the awards thing, at least hire people who know a lot of something (we’ve seen what a little something gets us) about video games, to put the show together. Is that too much to ask?

Ever since Spike first aired the Video Game Awards show in 2003, the gaming community has, understandably, torn it down. Video games always took a back seat to the glitz and glamour, celebrity appearances, and musical performances. The VGX was supposed to be Spike’s attempt at finally making their awards show about the games and the people who make them. The intimate setting and one-on-one interviews were supposed to give developers a chance to talk about their creations and give gamers a sneak peek of what is to come. Instead, the interviews felt like a rushed and sloppy E3. The developers would talk for five minutes, Joel McHale would make an awkward joke, and then Geoff Keighley would cut the interview short, announcing time was running out. It’s like Keighley’s sole purpose as co-host was to make sure everything stayed on time. Honestly, I didn’t really care for the interviews. I just wanted to see the world premiere trailers and demos. Directors aren’t interviewed during the Oscars, so why do interviews during an awards show? That is what E3, comic con, and other conventions are for.

Other awards shows enlist a celebrity for the hosting gig, and Spike has followed this tradition every year: David Spade, Snoop Dogg, Samuel Jackson (four times), Jack Black, Neil Patrick Harris, Zachary Levi, and now Geoff Keighley and comedian Joel McHale. I’m sure all of these hosts have played video games, and I’m sure some of them enjoy video games very much, but what is wrong with getting someone within the gaming industry—preferably someone who talks to an audience about video games on a daily basis—to host the show? There are a number of people with podcasts and websites where their sole purpose is to talk about video games and feel comfortable doing it. Keighley and McHale made it feel awkward.

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Watching Joel force jokes and Geoff chuckle uncomfortably and quickly move on to the next thing made it painful to watch. The hosts also made sure to constantly comment on how much they love and play video games. They don’t have a real passion for video games and it showed. The sarcasm, disinterest, and constant berating of gamers were just too much.

Video games are a unique form of entertainment. Dousing it with the same formalities as any other awards show does not work. The gaming community is strong enough to stand on its own without needing to force its relevance. The funny skits, the secret trailers, and the gameplay demos are what kept me watching. I was even excited about the concert at the end of the show because I knew the music would be from a video game. These things should be kept for the next show.

Go ahead, have the awards take place at the Galen Center in Los Angeles, but fill it with real fans. Have musical performances as long as the music is from video games. Don’t even worry about making it a star studded affair; for once, it’s not about the celebrities. Hire hosts who love video games and would genuinely be excited. Put the show back on television—a marathon of Cops aired on the Spike channel during the VGX stream. Take elements of other awards shows and make them relevant to video games, instead of trying to force it into this traditional pattern. Gamers may have their disagreements (PS4 vs. Xbox One) and temper tantrums (Mass Effect 3 ending), but there is one thing we can all agree on: Spike failed again. Will it be able to gain back our trust or even our attention? At this point, I really don’t know. Maybe Spike should just give up and let someone else give it a try.

Indie Game Alert: A Clumsy Adventure

Take a little running, add some well timed jumps with a dash of simple physics, and you have Excamedia’s A Clumsy Adventure. Planned as a PS Vita title, Excamedia looks to bring back some classic gaming difficulty on the go. There is definitely no attempt to reinvent the wheel here, but the simplicity is endearing.

Players will control Zack, an ex-Marine; sounds awesome, right? Well, unfortunately, Zack is the only person who thinks Zack is awesome, and his clumsiness gets him kicked out of the military. He stumbles upon this adventure and must set off to avoid various platforming pitfalls and enemies, including end level bosses.

At this point in development, the game is not a graphic marvel, but that’s not really the main focus. The gameplay is where A Clumsy Adventure will hook gamers. For the PC demo I played, the controls were very responsive, which leads me to believe speed-runs will be a major pastime. I am also very interested to see if and how the Vita’s touch capabilities will be utilized. There are definitely opportunities within the side scrolling 3D world to weave in touch functions. I envision it being somewhat like Escape Plan, but I digress.
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There are still a lot of questions to be answered here, but I think the outlook is positive. It will be interesting to see how the game carries over from this initial PC demo to the Vita universe when the time comes.

For more information and the demo, visit Excamedia’s Game Jolt profile page. If you enjoy the game, don’t forget to show your support for Excamedia and A Clumsy Adventure.

Indie Game Alert: Super Cool Kids: Dungeon Dash

Survive as long as you can. Escape is just out of reach. Rescue all the cute kittens. These are your only instructions. Who is this character? How did he get stuck in a dungeon? Why did he go into a dungeon? None of these questions will be answered and they won’t matter when the lava and water are catching up to you. Super Cool Kids: Dungeon Dash is a simple, pixel-art game, but it will provide you with hours of fun frustration (i.e. me screaming at my computer screen and jamming on the directional buttons).

You control a little boy (or maybe a man) who is trapped in a dungeon filled with pools of lava and water. To reach the exit, you must dig through dirt and rock. There are two different types of rock you must break through: a soft rock, which doesn’t take much effort to break through, and a harder, gold-speckled rock, which takes an extra two seconds to break through. Avoid the pools of lava and water; digging too close will release a flood into the path you’ve created. You will have little time to react and dig in a different direction, but if you stop it’s game over—one life, no extra chances. Every few seconds, an earthquake rattles the dungeon, which breaks up some of the dirt and rock. This can be a good thing (one less block to break) or a bad thing (lava and water have more space to flood). The farther you advance, the faster the earthquakes occur. The intervals start off every 10 seconds, then 5 seconds, then 2 seconds.

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Because each room is randomly generated, sometimes the game will spawn you in an area that immediately floods and you die. The same thing can happen to kittens and the other items. This can be annoying—especially when you’re really far into the game and have become a kitten-rescuing pro—but it doesn’t happen too often. There are also some small glitches like being able to walk on lava and water for a split second (which is more of an advantage than a problem) and sometimes a block of lava or water will flow into the exit, but it wont keep you from escaping.

This game makes me feel like a kid again: playing Gauntlet 2 for hours, moving through infinite rooms, looking for the final door to let me out. I really like this game because it is so simple—straight to the point without any unnecessary gimmicks. It may be difficult or even impossible, but I would love to see a leaderboard for the game. It would really add to the fun and challenge players to really take a risk when collecting items. I can’t wait to see more from Super Cool Kids. Play the game on the Super Cool Kids website and see for yourself.