My Videogame Shopping Experiences

We've all had them.  Either the ones where a retailer has gone above and beyond the call of duty to deliver a game a week early, or (more commonly) where the retailer seems to be sitting on their arse for hours as the package sits around in their depot.  And while we may talk about them in the games' separate threads, I think these are less a discussion point about the games themselves, and more a matter for a separate thread entirely.

So, your bests and worsts, either in the past, or as and when they occur!  


Amazon delaying my delivery of SSBU + GC adaptor to the 19th of sodding December wasn't a great one, but the worst still goes to ShopTo and Fire Emblem Awakening.  "Yes yes, here's the shipping e-mail, sent it out - what do you mean it's a month later and you haven't received it?  We definitely sent it, alright? Look, we'll go to our depot and... oh.  Hey, you'll never guess what we've found here!"

So of course, I'm relying on ShopTo to deliver SSBU now.


Watch Athrun monopolise this thread with tales of the Australian delivery services.

I'm having a rough time with ShopTo just now, but I'd prefer to focus on the positive ones.

My favourite was probably the time a couple of years ago I went into GAME and saw that they were having a massive pre-owned sale with everything really heavily reduced. I remember sticking a photo of my haul up on NGamer, it was about thirty games and I spent about sixty quid.

The time Blockbuster was closing down was good as well - they were selling their games at ten for a fiver (!!!). Unboxed, but I got loads of recent-at-the-time stuff, and it kept me going for ages.

Cash Convertors used to be great. The time they were selling Mega Drive games for 50p was class - I added so much to my collection that day. GameStation was the same - fond memories for '5 for £5' on N64 games, effectively landing me the likes of Rocket: Robot on Wheels, Duke Nukem Zero Hour and Mickey's Speedway USA for a quid each.

Probably loads more. I love going into a charity shop on the off-chance and coming out with loads of retro goodness. It's been a while since that's happened, but I'm always optimistic that another instance is just around the corner.

Kinda same as Cappa,

If it was the same time as I think in GAME I ended buying almost every GameCube game they had and a few time like that picking up Jet Set Radio on the dreamcast new in there for £2.99.

But best really has to be GAME opened just for me for the midnight launch for the Wii U.

The Cappuccino Kid wrote:

I'm having a rough time with ShopTo just now, but I'd prefer to focus on the positive ones.

I may join you on that shortly, Cappa, but for now I don't want to stem the avalanche of positivity.

Seeing this made me think about when the last time I went in to a physical store to buy a game was, and I literally cannot remember. I just order everything through the mail from various online stores such as ozgameshop and occasionally nowadays EB Games, the last game I remember buying at a store was the Final Fantasy XIII-2 Crystal edition back in 2012.

Today's GAME promo on double value trade-ins was quite a good videogame shopping experience for me, actually. I moved away from where the majority of my videogame collection is, so I only had to hand about ten games I could (or would want to) punt. I got some brilliant offers on a few of them - Sonic Boom for £36! - but best of all was the sorry sales assistant's move to scan several of them through twice. In essence, I got £24 each for Tekken 3D and Animal Crossing Wild World!

Shame the stock was absolutely bollocks, mind.

I couldn't believe my luck when it coincided with actually having a game I wanted to trade in (2nd copy of AC Unity as done with Co-op) however I quickly found out they had halved their buy for price and therefore I was getting nothing out of "double" trade ins. Bollocks.

So did you price match CEX, so you got £37 for it Andy.

I didn't bother, not in that much of a rush to trade, just thought I'd seize the chance to get a good deal.

How is getting £37 for it a rush or you not in store yet, just checking the price on GAMEs app or something.

I meant I didn't go in because I wasn't going to get some special one day only price.

Balladeer wrote:

The Cappuccino Kid wrote:

I'm having a rough time with ShopTo just now, but I'd prefer to focus on the positive ones.

I may join you on that shortly, Cappa, but for now I don't want to stem the avalanche of positivity.

Never mind, package just arrived. Happy parcel experience! Still a bit slower than it should ha' been, though.

I've often had good experiences with ShopTo, the only downer being when Skyward Sword came a day late although my Fox Amiibo came a day late too but that was apparently down to the postie not even turning up to send the stuff out.

I've often had bad experiences with Tesco, I've never got a pre order on time with them and when I ordered Tomodachi Life I just got nothing whatsoever, had to email them to ask for another about 2 weeks later.

In store I tend to have some good staff in local game stores, most recently was a pleasant young lady who I had a good chat about Smash Bros with. My visit on Friday managed to get me Smash Bros with the Cube adapter for £25 thanks to a scanning error from a member of staff, I suppose that should go down as a bad experience because it was a mistake but a very pleasant mistake for me.

Athrun888 wrote:

Seeing this made me think about when the last time I went in to a physical store to buy a game was, and I literally cannot remember.  I just order everything through the mail from various online stores such as ozgameshop and occasionally nowadays EB Games, the last game I remember buying at a store was the Final Fantasy XIII-2 Crystal edition back in 2012.  

I miss going out to a proper game shop as with ordering online you don't get that excited feeling on your trip back, sure the excitement is there when a parcel arrives but it's just not the same as bringing the game back yourself.

The_Jaster wrote:

Athrun888 wrote:

Seeing this made me think about when the last time I went in to a physical store to buy a game was, and I literally cannot remember.  I just order everything through the mail from various online stores such as ozgameshop and occasionally nowadays EB Games, the last game I remember buying at a store was the Final Fantasy XIII-2 Crystal edition back in 2012.  

I miss going out to a proper game shop as with ordering online you don't get that excited feeling on your trip back, sure the excitement is there when a parcel arrives but it's just not the same as bringing the game back yourself.

True, very true. I actually have a po box so I still have to collect my parcels and bring them home, but nothing really beats that experience of picking up a game from the store.

I don't know if it was just because it was Smash Bros or because I went in store for it but last week was the most excited I'd felt getting a new release in a long time.

I suppose the same can be said for when I got my 3DS instore compared to when I got my Wii U delivered at launch, the 3DS on definitely felt that bit more special.

I still go to my local GAME to pick things up, when I can.  Whether the extra £10 I sometimes pay is worthwhile for the experience of being in a games shop and bringing the thing home, I'm not sure, but it's a good experience.

In other shopping news, shortly after Amazon delayed the GC adapters' releases to December 19th, they are now cancelling them entirely. Glad I got out when I did!

My last big one was Smash/ORAS day, which didn't start well when I handed over my Nectar card instead of my GAME card! They were very patient with me (always remember your pre-order receipts, team) and there was even some banter (necessarily, given the Nectar card affair). I still like going to a shop to buy things, even though I know it's cheaper to buy online, and that's why, really.

I've not been in my local Game since that time a couple (?) years ago when it looked like they were going to close down. Used full advantage of that to rinse them of their stock for pennies. Then did the same at Blockbusters not long after.

The joke is on me though because I now have shelves full of unplayed games that I could probably get even cheaper if I were to by now instead.

What you should have done was take advantage of the trade in offers they did when they "recovered" and gave them all those unplayed games back, I seem to recall they gave an extra £10 for every 3 games traded, very generous for a company that had no money just a couple of months earlier.

In sleepy Wells, the [score]village[/score] city where I live, we have a game shop called Insane Games which is pretty much the only show in town, apart from the few bits and bobs that end up in Tesco or WH Smith. The prices are reasonable and I like going in there because I love getting a game over the counter rather than online. I've been shopping there as long as I've been earning money and the staff all know me by name at this point. If any Nintendo tat comes in, it's earmarked for me. I really like those guys and, to answer Balla's question, I'd say the service is well worth paying an extra couple of quid. �if they eve

I had a local game shop like that once!

*Remembers local indie shop (G force) that is now closed down*

Yup, that sort of personalised service can really make the difference. Don't think I've ever had something like that, though.

Went to GAME recently to pick up CTTT. £35 is a bit steep, but the label said £45. Who in their right mind would be paying £45? GAAAAAAAME!

In more amusing game selling news, I've worked a few midnight launches in Tesco. I have to stay behind the front desk for a full hour even though people stop arriving after 10/ 15 minutes. And last year for COD, we did two; Sunday night for people who pre ordered and Monday night for everyone else. On the first night I had 3 customers but on the second I had 0. Luckily I brought a book.

I can categorically say I will never buy anything from GAME ever again. I can't remember the last thing I bought from there, and even the sale prices are much dearer that anything you can find online. I'd much more happily pay a tiny bit extra and support Grainger Games instead.