Kmart to Put Community Game Reviews on Store Shelves

John Funk

U.N. Owen Was Him?
Dec 20, 2005
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Kmart to Put Community Game Reviews on Store Shelves



Want to have your amateur review of Red Dead Redemption sponsored by a major retailer? Better start making nice with Kmart.

The next time you visit Kmart, if you find yourself in the videogame aisles (and let's be honest here, people like us always gravitate to the videogame section in large stores), you might see the following blurb hanging in front of Red Dead Redemption: "'You'll hunt and search for treasure in a world teeming with danger. One of the best games of 2010."

Not inaccurate, sure, but who wrote it? Has Kmart partnered with one of the major reviewing sites on the internet? Does it have employees whose job is to play and review games? Nah - it's just taking review submissions from its community.

In a post MyKmart [http://blogs.mykmart.com/2010/07/kmart-video-game-reviews-now-on-store-shelves.html] community program. The blog's guidelines suggest that reviews should be well-written, informative, and "[written] for an audience that may be made up of non-gamers." In other words, don't start complaining about how Super Street Fighter IV "totally broke [your] wake-up game."

Kmart may be posting community reviews, but sorry, it won't be sending free games out for review - you'll have to buy those yourselves. That's a real shame, huh? I mean sure, it'd be horrible business practice, but "Kmart sends free games to anyone who wants to write a review" would be one hell of a publicity move.

(Via Wired Game|Life [http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2010/07/kmart-reviews/])

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Keava

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Mar 1, 2010
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John Funk said:
Kmart may be posting community reviews, but sorry, it won't be sending free games out for review - you'll have to buy those yourselves. That's a real shame, huh? I mean sure, it'd be horrible business practice, but "Kmart sends free games to anyone who wants to write a review" would be one hell of a publicity move.
I think they would end up with more half-arsed reviews than they have games in stock if they went that way. Then people could review empty shelves too!
Then again should be happy that they don't charge you additionally for the review either, after all things can always go both ways.

Im not really sure what is expected result of such action, maybe except the attention and free marketing, but hey, its a reason good enough from business point of view. Not only you get free promotion, but some idio-...emh, customers, out there will even do the work for you.
 

The Great JT

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Oct 6, 2008
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Wait, K-Mart still exists? I was under the assumption they went out of business in the early 2000s.

EDIT: Sorry, double-posted, didn't mean to.
 

BboyTeddyBear

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Mar 8, 2010
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duchaked said:
heh...I'm surprised K-Mart is still around
that's what i was thinking. I only know of one k-mart in about a 40 minute drive in any direction from my home. granted i haven't exactly hunted for them (it'd be odd if i did).
 

GodKlown

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Dec 16, 2009
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Actually, we still have a K-mart here in Ohio in my town. Granted, it's for the people who don't want to wait in the long lines at the Wal-Mart about two miles away, but it does still exist. No one is ever back in the electronics department, and if they are, they are busy trying to sell people on televisions or digital cameras.
I don't usually pay attention to the games in the case, I go over and browse the discounted games looking for a gem. I picked up Fight Night Round 3 for about $10 in the platinum hits box, which I thought was a decent score. They still have modern titles and consoles, but they don't service for PC games whatsoever.
Considering that I never see anyone younger than 60 working in that department, I'm guessing the stockboy in the back would writing the reviews, so I don't think I'll take much advantage of anything they have to say. That's what I watch Zero Punctuation for.
 

Weaver

Overcaffeinated
Apr 28, 2008
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I can see it now. In front of every game "BEST GAME EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 10/10!"
 

Notthatbright

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Apr 13, 2010
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If you think K-mart will be using anything other than the review that's going to sell the game, then you're very naive.