We imagine the whole process is similar to the teddy synthesis featured in Build-a-Bear Workshops, only without all the haunting, ever-gurgling vats of stuffed animal guts featured prominently on the sales floor.
We imagine the whole process is similar to the teddy synthesis featured in Build-a-Bear Workshops, only without all the haunting, ever-gurgling vats of stuffed animal guts featured prominently on the sales floor.
Reader Comments (60)
Posted: Oct 23rd 2009 4:03PM (Unverified) said
is it just me or is the fake exit pictures above a little ominous?
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Posted: Oct 23rd 2009 5:58PM (Unverified) said
Yep. The last BSOD I got was a software issue with MacDrive not able to handle vhd unmounting correctly. The bug was reported and issue was resolved.
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Posted: Oct 23rd 2009 4:03PM (Unverified) said
Is Microsoft gonna open one of these stores in the UK?
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Posted: Oct 23rd 2009 4:42PM einhanderkiller said
It would be pretty cool if you could go to a store and get your Steam games printed.
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Posted: Oct 23rd 2009 4:55PM KeenCommander said
It would be pretty cool if you could resell your Steam games too, but...
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Posted: Oct 23rd 2009 10:49PM Ballistic H said
One big problem: internal theft. An employee could play around the system, print many games and resell them to benefit himself.
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Posted: Oct 24th 2009 3:09AM Optimaximal said
I'm sure they've thought of this - I doubt the 'printed' games are either resellable or true retail packages. They're more likely just a version of the game locked to a Microsoft Live account of your choice.
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Posted: Oct 23rd 2009 4:06PM StormEagle said
Will I be able to make non-color instruction manuals color?
Will I be able to remove non-essential Spanish, French, etc. translations from product?
Can I opt NOT to get annoying insets (postcards, leaflet ads, etc.) placed inside the box?
THESE are the important questions.
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Will I be able to remove non-essential Spanish, French, etc. translations from product?
Can I opt NOT to get annoying insets (postcards, leaflet ads, etc.) placed inside the box?
THESE are the important questions.
Posted: Oct 23rd 2009 5:29PM KeenCommander said
Don't make fun of people with OCD, please, especially when it's completely irrelevant.
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Posted: Oct 23rd 2009 5:36PM Extinction said
I agree with Storm. Those are important questions
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Posted: Oct 23rd 2009 4:08PM Gaming Expert said
Wait till Xbox games can be purchased this way.
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Posted: Oct 23rd 2009 4:25PM goopyshrey said
That would please me greatly, the whole experience it self seems pretty interesting
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Posted: Oct 23rd 2009 4:23PM Jayeffaar said
They should, but what they will do instead is increase the price since it's (supposedly) more convenient for you and they will never have a backstore full of old game boxes that they need to move. See all the downloadable stuff (games on demand and movies) on Xbox Live for reference.
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Posted: Oct 23rd 2009 4:40PM Funkmaster General said
That will probably never happen. The price will either stay the same, or increase slightly.
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Posted: Oct 23rd 2009 4:44PM Mach said
Not pointless, it saves money, resources, and the environment from printing and manufacturing boxes, cases, discs, etc that might not be sold, since it's basically on-demand. It's actually probably the best solution for selling software while being environmentally and financially conscious aside from digital distribution. And, we get to keep our game packages etc, which I'm a fan of. Seems like everyone wins.
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Posted: Oct 23rd 2009 4:17PM Professor Lario said
It starts becoming practical very quickly from a business perspective. No freight costs, no shortages, very little supply chain management, no stores selling your game for $15...
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Posted: Oct 23rd 2009 4:20PM Courtney said
It's very practical from a retail standpoint, you can free up space on the floor and in your backroom inventory. You don't have the shipping or handling costs, or the risk of products being damaged and the additional work of returning any merchandise to the distributor. You can have a virtually infinite variety. It saves the publishers costs, by cutting out a distributor and possible overproduction runs.
Unfortunately, I doubt that any of the savings that retailers and publishers get will be passed onto the consumer.
It also destroys the process of actually walking down an aisle and browsing through boxes, which I think would likely hurt the sales of some games. It seems like it would vastly cut down on impulse buys, which is bad for retailers, publishers and developers.
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Unfortunately, I doubt that any of the savings that retailers and publishers get will be passed onto the consumer.
It also destroys the process of actually walking down an aisle and browsing through boxes, which I think would likely hurt the sales of some games. It seems like it would vastly cut down on impulse buys, which is bad for retailers, publishers and developers.
Posted: Oct 23rd 2009 5:38PM Warlock said
There are problems with this though. The article says it takes about 4 minutes to print a game. Imagine this with several customers trying to use a limited number of kiosks - especially on heavy shopping days like Black Friday. It works for a small place like these Microsoft Stores where you'll only be getting a handful of customers at a time, but when you move to larger retail, it does create some queuing problems.
Still, there are a lot of advantages to this from a retailer's perspective. Once this kind of thing is perfected, I could see it taking off mainstream and replacing traditional stock.
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Still, there are a lot of advantages to this from a retailer's perspective. Once this kind of thing is perfected, I could see it taking off mainstream and replacing traditional stock.
Posted: Oct 23rd 2009 4:19PM LaughingTarget said
Makes sense for those who don't have broadband connections. Stores don't have to stock up on individual games and can make them on-demand, a consumer version of just in time manufacturing. It's a great business model, at least until super-fast broadband becomes the norm, not the $100/month FioS connection.
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Posted: Oct 23rd 2009 4:30PM EatMoreBread said
Wow. This seems like it could be a good idea.
You could have game labels/packaging customized just for you, perhaps a few different cover options to choose from (just like how different Guild Wars boxes have different characters on them), or you could make pretty awesome gift packaging. Throw your own photo(s) on there, maybe.
Microsoft might want to consider expanding this idea a bit. I think they could get away with charging a few extra bucks for people to get a copy of their "favorite" game customized with their name and other stuff. It could be huge on the larger releases like, say, BioShock 2.
To be honest, it's a waste of money for a consumer to pay extra for a customized game disc/packaging, but I'd bet more than a few people would try it at least once.
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You could have game labels/packaging customized just for you, perhaps a few different cover options to choose from (just like how different Guild Wars boxes have different characters on them), or you could make pretty awesome gift packaging. Throw your own photo(s) on there, maybe.
Microsoft might want to consider expanding this idea a bit. I think they could get away with charging a few extra bucks for people to get a copy of their "favorite" game customized with their name and other stuff. It could be huge on the larger releases like, say, BioShock 2.
To be honest, it's a waste of money for a consumer to pay extra for a customized game disc/packaging, but I'd bet more than a few people would try it at least once.
Posted: Oct 23rd 2009 5:42PM Starcade said
Have you been in an Apple store lately?
I can't believe how they ruined our local store.
It looks like a big open hall now. They got rid almost all the inventory and anything that divided up the space into sections. Instead, you walk in, and you see nothing but tables with hands-on displays for Mac and iPods. What little inventory they now have available resides a single shelf at the far end of each side of the room. One for Mac software (on the left side), and one for iPod accessories (on the right side). The check-out area was removed. The genius area is now at the end of the room, and also functions as check out. It's impossible to buy anything and check out because the geniuses are held up with user questions.
It's like walking into a school gym that has tables setup for computers in the middle and then concessions at the far end.
I was shocked at how drastically the store has changed.
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I can't believe how they ruined our local store.
It looks like a big open hall now. They got rid almost all the inventory and anything that divided up the space into sections. Instead, you walk in, and you see nothing but tables with hands-on displays for Mac and iPods. What little inventory they now have available resides a single shelf at the far end of each side of the room. One for Mac software (on the left side), and one for iPod accessories (on the right side). The check-out area was removed. The genius area is now at the end of the room, and also functions as check out. It's impossible to buy anything and check out because the geniuses are held up with user questions.
It's like walking into a school gym that has tables setup for computers in the middle and then concessions at the far end.
I was shocked at how drastically the store has changed.
Posted: Oct 23rd 2009 4:52PM (Unverified) said
To those complaining about costs not be reduced...consider the following:
There is a lot of costs that retailer absorb that you never see in the price of the game to being with....which includes none exclusively:
- Floor/Shelf space and the tax on the floor/shelf space
- Inventory management and the people to manage and maintain it
- Tax on the inventory itself
- Loss from theft/damage/returns
The costs that they still have kiosk or not:
- Someone to run the kiosk
- Consumables (ink, paper, CDs, maintenance on the kiosk)
- Additional IT infrastructure and support ot keep that Kiosk going
- Reporting to show that something was actually purchased so that the tax man can get his piece including required audits.
So, they are taking out expenses that the store was eating anyway that was never reflected in the price to begin with -- but the cost of getting that CD to your hand is just about the same but shifted so you pay about the same.
It is the same reason that grocery stores don't charge less for the self check-out. That Apple costs the same self check or using a person.
BUT, how is it that Blu-ray movies are often prices higher than DVD but nobody seems to care? Everyone here is happy to pay more to get soda or snacks from a vending machine, but you guys are ok with that? And we all pay more for a newspaper or magazine at a newstand or store -- but we are all ok with that --- but don't mess with our video games!
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There is a lot of costs that retailer absorb that you never see in the price of the game to being with....which includes none exclusively:
- Floor/Shelf space and the tax on the floor/shelf space
- Inventory management and the people to manage and maintain it
- Tax on the inventory itself
- Loss from theft/damage/returns
The costs that they still have kiosk or not:
- Someone to run the kiosk
- Consumables (ink, paper, CDs, maintenance on the kiosk)
- Additional IT infrastructure and support ot keep that Kiosk going
- Reporting to show that something was actually purchased so that the tax man can get his piece including required audits.
So, they are taking out expenses that the store was eating anyway that was never reflected in the price to begin with -- but the cost of getting that CD to your hand is just about the same but shifted so you pay about the same.
It is the same reason that grocery stores don't charge less for the self check-out. That Apple costs the same self check or using a person.
BUT, how is it that Blu-ray movies are often prices higher than DVD but nobody seems to care? Everyone here is happy to pay more to get soda or snacks from a vending machine, but you guys are ok with that? And we all pay more for a newspaper or magazine at a newstand or store -- but we are all ok with that --- but don't mess with our video games!
Posted: Oct 23rd 2009 5:09PM (Unverified) said
You make some good points. However, I'm okay with the higher prices on Blu-Ray's because A: The discs cost more to manufacture. B: They're higher quality, and the cases are sturdier. and C: The movie has generally been restored/had special features added that make it worth the extra cost. As for soda and newspapers; that's a 'convenience tax'. Because we want it now, instead of waiting, we're willing to spend more.
Games are different. There is no subscription model that allows us to acquire them cheaper. We can't join a fanclub for discounts. (EDGE card doesn't count). And the entire market moves up in price if one company does, as seen by the initial 'next-gen tax' on 360 titles. Not so with the consumer goods market.
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Games are different. There is no subscription model that allows us to acquire them cheaper. We can't join a fanclub for discounts. (EDGE card doesn't count). And the entire market moves up in price if one company does, as seen by the initial 'next-gen tax' on 360 titles. Not so with the consumer goods market.
Posted: Oct 23rd 2009 5:25PM LaughingTarget said
There is an advantage that should reflect in cost. Retailers won't have to stock up on games ahead of time, leading to potential mark-downs to clear stock to make room for more.
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Posted: Oct 23rd 2009 5:16PM ch3burashka said
I'm convinced that this wasn't decided out of convenience for the PC gamer, but rather to prevent shoplifting.
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Posted: Oct 23rd 2009 5:45PM (Unverified) said
This is stupid. What if 300 people come in to buy a game? Are they going to print 300 copies of the game? that would be 20 hours of non stop printing..... that being if they only got 1 machine..
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Posted: Oct 23rd 2009 6:03PM Kif said
I worked retail once. 300 video game sales a day is rare, much less all at once. At about 4 minutes a print and with the "leave your name and come back when it's done" service, I wouldn't expect this to be any more crowded than Wal-Mart's photo booths.
Maybe even less so.
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Maybe even less so.
Posted: Oct 23rd 2009 5:46PM shibathedog said
So if I don't want the fancy packaging can I save a couple bucks? A blank CD labeled with a sharpie is good enough for me.
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