Pre-Order Pushers explores retailer fibs

by Justin McElroy on Jun 6th 2007 8:01AM

You're reading Joystiq, so you're probably used to knowing more than the guy on the other side of the counter at your local game store. You may have noticed a few times when they haven't been strictly honest with their spiel ... or strictly intelligent. Now instead of cursing the darkness you can allow yourself to vent at Pre-Order Pushers, created by Nathan Smart of The Game Rag fame with help from our own Kyle Orland (or Ky-Ky Baby as he's known in the office.)

There are already some real gems here. We're particularly smitten with the manager who, in the quest to get a Spider-Man 2 pre-order, told customers that the game was like a hybrid of GTA and KOTOR that allows you to punch pedestrians, fill up your evil meter, transform into Venom and infect people with your symbiote to have them fight for you. Yeah, Spider-Man 2.

If you're a game store clerk you may be tempted to get your dander up -- don't. They're not talking about you, they're talking about the bad ones. Just think of this as the spiritual counterbalance to Acts of Gord.

Source

Tags: ebgames, gamestop, gta, kotor, retail

Reader Comments (53)

@polly

I work 8:30 to 5:00. Good luck finding me in a GameStop, because, surprise, surprise, I am not an employee. I am just a satisfied customer who is disappointed that a few minor incidents has exploded into some broad generalization that the whole company is corrupt and backwards.

"Agree, the only reason to pre-order anything anymore is because it's a console that won't be available until 9 months after launch (coughWII) or because of an awesome preorder bonus: "See Castelvania DS.""

Tell that to the 20-30 people that came into my store last week looking to get Forza 2/Shadowrun only to find that we were all out.

Big releases are usually worth pre-ordering. I always love it when the guys come in a week before a game comes out and refuse a pre-order, claiming that "they'll have it everywhere, I don't need a copy reserved for me" only to return a week later to find that no one in town has anymore in stock, at least not for people that didn't pre-order it (we have to save all pre-orders for 48 hours) these are always the customers that I can't help but say "you should have pre-ordered it" to.

I really don't see why people are so against pre-ordering a game. With expensive as gas prices are, is $5 down really not worth the convenience of:

A. Getting a phone call to let you know your game has arrived

B. saving you the headache of having to drive/call around to every store in town to find the game in stock somewhere.

That simple pre-order grants you the peace of mind of knowing that the game is there, for you, at an exact location on the day it is released. Forget about all the "gamestop is just stealing your money" BS that elitist arrogant gamers peddle around.

I am a nice guy, and I am not condescending to customers unless they are to me. If there is one thing I can't stand it is elitist gamers that act as if they know everything in the world. We have one guy that comes in and stands by the Wii section and preaches to people shopping as if the Wii is the messiah "it's so revolutionary" he always proclaims. It's guys like that that come into the store and troll around spouting there fanboy BS at customers that get on my nerves.

For instance, the Wii guy will but into conversations that I am having with customers interested in PS3 or 360 and try and persuade them into getting a Wii instead. It's sad, annoying, rude, and it pisses me off.

Then there are the people that come in and blatantly lie to my face. For instance, there is one guy that is a 100% Sony fanboy that comes in and does nothing but tell everyone how much MS sucks all day. According to him, he has owned and paid for, in full, 4 XBOX 360's since launch. He claims that MS won't fix any of them, even if he pays and none have been opened, and all are out of warranty.

I call bullshit. When you deal with guys like this on a regular basis, the job can turn someone a bit bitter.