GAME (UK) and Steam

JasonKaotic

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...Seriously? Well, I'm sure as hell not buying from Game anymore. GameStop and GameStation it is!
 

Treblaine

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JordanMillward_1 said:
Treblaine said:
The_root_of_all_evil said:
Edge did something on this as well.

http://www.next-gen.biz/news/game-denies-steam-blackmail-claims
Of course they would deny it, they would get into a dickload of trouble with Trading standards if anyone found out and at the moment an emphatic denial can be all that is needed.
No they wouldn't, because even if they did do it, it's entirely legal.

Damn, I wish people would only give opinions on stuff like this if they actually know what the hell they're talking about.
Surely with all the laws we have against price fixing there are some sort of industry regulations against this sort of anti-competitive practice?

PS: I said "dickload of trouble" which isn't technically illegal.
 

WolfLordAndy

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The PC gaming secion in my local GAME is pretty poor, it has the top 10 (which I agree, includes the latest WoW expansion, and whatever the latest Sims expansion is 99% of the time).

They have a single middle rack for old games (the only thing I've bought in game for a long time are copies of LoL for the riot points) at 2/3 for £10.

But the staff are usually a bit rude and pushy, and the selection of games isn't all that great. Price wise I'm better off buying from Asda or Tesco, or one of the cheaper indy DVD/Music/Game shops that are about and sell really old games and trade ins, next to relatively new stuff, they often have a hugely superior PC section!
 

Richardplex

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So, Skyrim, which otherwise I would get for my birthday (being 2 days later) I'd have to wait for xmas to get, because my little brother likes eating discs so I'd only get digital copies of them. I believe the following states my opinion of this: D=
 

Mike Laserbeam

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I've been a pretty good customer at GAME for ages, but recently I've had enough of their shit. Only within the last year or two have I realised that GAME is run by people that have no interest in actual games.

Half their store's employees are morons who couldn't even tell you a game that has come out in the past 5 years unless its title contains the words "Call", "of" or "Duty".
Their prices are often ridiculous, they have no respect for long-time customers and they are clearly only in the business for making huge amounts of profit.

This story doesn't surprise me one bit, whether it's true or not, it is exactly what I would expect from GAME. Screw you GAME and all you stand for.
 

Farther than stars

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It's not blackmailing. If Game doesn't want to sell customers its products, there's nobody who can force them to do so; it's just their loss really.
In fact, this is the same reason I stopped shopping at Game all together. It's funny the article mentioned Brink, because that's the one that finally broke the camel's back.
So a while back I was shopping at Game, right? Now being a diehard TF2 fan, I thought I'd see how Brink held up and seeing it there in Game I thought I'd take it to the checkout counter and buy it. Sadly, however, I was shopping with my 15-year-old cousin at the time and since those friendly people at the counter *snort* thought I might be buying it for him, they flat out refused to sell it to me.
And since I think it's ridiculous that all the people I'm with have to be the legal age for me to buy a product in a shop for myself, I stopped shopping there, since, like I said, it was their loss anyway.
On top of that, in market in which they're losing from digital distribution venues (like Steam) which offer better prices at more conveniece, I only used to go there for the personality of the experience. Ironic huh?
 

Stalydan

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Rawne1980 said:
But this is an outrage.

How will I get my games now.

Oh wait.... I don't use Steam anyway.... In fact I buy from GAME if i'm in town (or Amazon if i'm feeling lazy).

I find a bit of bullshit in the quoted section though. The GAME in our town has quite a large selection of PC games and the top 20 chart it has are the ones that are charted everywhere.

WoW hasn't been on it's shelves for 2 years (it may be shoved in a corner but the last time I saw it was when my wife had to hunt it down).
You want to come down to the three nearest GAME stores near me. On the "Top 10" lists are WoW and expansions and The Sims 3/2. No kidding, they're really that bad.
 

MarsProbe

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Dec 13, 2008
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Good heavens, never actually realised there was so much hate for Game out there! I've never had a problem with them myself...in fact, unless there's a very good reason for me to do otherwise, I tend to buy all my games from Game. The staff I've spoken to have always been okay with me and contrary to what has been said here, do seem to know of games that aren't military FPSs. One even knew what Ouedan was! Granted, I don't exactly look at the PC games section, only going there to pick up games for my 360.

Gamestation on the other hand...Don't get me started on Gamestation. At least I can go into a branch of Game without being badmouthed by one of their staff for having a quick look at a strategy guide. Either they forgot to train that guy to actually be initially courteous to potential customers, or it's not something that's included in the Gamestation training program.

To me, Gamestation will always share that awkward middleground, where it's not quite as shiny as Game, but not as charmingly obscure as G-Force. Shame, that.
 

SoulSalmon

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Wierd how many people are saying GAMEs UK stores have bad instore practices...
The Australian GAME stores I know of are quite easily the best physical game stores I know of...
Great flying spaghetti that sentence makes NO sense outside this context

*Later* Bleh, 3rd Captcha try, this is getting rediculous
 

Rawne1980

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Stalydan said:
You want to come down to the three nearest GAME stores near me. On the "Top 10" lists are WoW and expansions and The Sims 3/2. No kidding, they're really that bad.
I can believe it.

The one we have here isn't so bad but i've just been chatting to a friend a couple of towns away and he says the one there is crap for pc games.

They have a tiny section in the corner with a top 10 from the past 10 years and a small selection of 3 for £20 games.

I'm not going to complain about my town anymore at least the games are semi decent.

I think GAME do digital downloads on seome releases though don't they?

Not much use I know but it would explain a little bit why they have a shit selection in most of their shops.
 

yuval152

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Jul 6, 2011
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No,Motherfucking,NO,GAME aren't the only gaming store they don't deserve it,just because steam is better dosen't mean that they can just give exlusivety for them.This should shouldn't ever been agreed.
 

Jake Lewis Clayton

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Apr 22, 2010
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I've had stuff be rude, horrid and accuse me of lieing in both game and gamestation.

Infact game refused to take back a disc I couldn't even run because of the type of DvD it was burn't on.(a semi transparant disc, back when i had a terrible dvd drive)

The thing is this was WOTLK release, and WOTLK was only the 2nd title to be released for the pc with this kind of semi transparant disc, which didn't work in older drives (the first being a sims game around the same time).

I pointed out that it didn't state it was semi transparant on the back and finally someone saw sense and refunded it. (yes I know i could of digitally downloaded it, or just patched my client, but it's quicker to go, vanilla, tbc, wotlk, cata discs than it is to patch from vanilla to cata).


I've had a few run in's with gamestation aswell I admit.


But one girl at gamestation re-buffed my modern warfare 2 disc free of charge when it recieved an unexpected lazy burn and became unplayable, which fixed it.
 

Jake Lewis Clayton

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Apr 22, 2010
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Also just as a note.

In the largest city center manchester store (the one in the arndale).

They have about 25 games in total, with the top 10 still containing world of warcraft vanilla.

and Sims 2 + 3.
 

Total LOLige

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SomeBrianDude said:
ToTaL LoLiGe said:
I hate GAME they refuse to sell me 16+ games unless I have an I.D. Gamestation on the the hand will without an I.D, except if I get served by a guy that used to work at GAME. "Ummmmm.....I'm gonna have to see some I.D dude."
Steam goers I will hate GAME twice as much just for you.
You know that staff can get fined (I think it's up to a grand, might be more), and most likely sacked for failing a test purchase? The penalties are the same as selling booze to someone under 18. They're just doing their job. Can you really blame them for valuing their own employment and income more than you getting the game you want?
It's different with games rated pegi 16, it's up to whoever is selling the game to decide whether they should sell you it. But with the BBFC ratings they have to I.D the buyer. BBFC is the same rating system used on movies. BBFC rates games either as a 12, 15 or 18.

And no I can't blame them.
 

effilctar

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And nothing of value is lost from my perspective. I buy the collectors edition versions from Game because of the little trinkets and I'm not clumsy enough with discs to properly benefit from totally digital installing.
 

SoulSalmon

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doggie015 said:
SoulSalmon said:
...The Australian GAME stores I know of are quite easily the best physical game stores I know of...
Not true over on the western side of the Nullarbor mate... They stock an APPALLING range of PC games hidden behind the console games!

I'd suggest you start going to places like Gametraders and EB Games where the people there actually acknowledge that PC games still exist rather than trying to hide them! If you are a PC gamer then EB games quite easily has the largest selection of games for you. And if you want to get rid of that old console collecting dust in storage you can trade it in at Gametraders for quite a bit of store credit (I traded in an SNES and a couple of games for about $90 store credit. WAY more than I would have gotten anywhere else!)
Very strange, west of Adelaide over here in the Seaton area EB is actually the terrible store, with people working there who haven't the foggiest what they're doing, and it's GAME that have the quality staff and stuff o.0

Spose, they are still seperate stores :/

And yeah... when I was younger I wanted to trade in my Xbox and the 24 games I had for it... but at EB and GAME I was offered $11 for the whole lot and never bothered >.> looking back I coulda gotten a more decent amount at Gametraders...

Edit: To clarify, I haven't gone to a physical games shop for years, so my experience is outdated
 

dimensional

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MarsProbe said:
One even knew what Ouedan was! Granted, I don't exactly look at the PC games section, only going there to pick up games for my 360.
Ouedan? do you mean ossu!tatakae!Ouendan!? anyway I have found the staffs knowledge on games to be very mixed there have been a few who know their stuff but most havent a clue outside the next big FPS. I recently stopped going to the local Game store and usually buy online these days anyway (much cheaper than the store and digital services, ok not sure about steam but the xbox and PS DDL store is a rip off).
Last time I went in was just to ask about some release dates unfortunately I got stuck with the useless manager who had never heard of Xenoblade Chronicles or Disgaea 4 and apparently Catherine is a girlfriend simulator and sounds rubbish also I should preorder MW3 because its going to be the best MW ever. I was tempted to tell him he should shut the fuck up and serve me, I am the customer you do not tell me what is good and bad or try and dictate what I order.(damn sales pushing really pisses me off)
As for this allegation of malpractice I certainly would not be surprised if it was true its a big business they have only one goal make money everything else is secondary. Including customer care and trading standards