Pre-Order Pushers

http://www.preorderpushers.com

Go there for all pre-order pushin’ from now on - this wordpress blog will not be updated anymore.

Rusteen, from Pleasanton, California, has a question:

Hi. I have been reading your website for a couple months now and, after doing some research myself, have decided that GameStop is not where I want to work. As a gamer, I was kinda disappointed when I realized there weren’t many other places that I would like to work at. As a teenage gamer in the US, do you know of any places where a gamer such as myself can get a job that I would enjoy? Thank you.

Anyone?

WFAA-TV:

Brandon Scott says he started a unique new policy in his store to promote good grades in school but now his employer has sent him to detention for speaking out of turn.

No good deed shall go un-punished

Gamasutra:
They have their own Gamestop Expo!

Reuters.com:
They’re planning on opening 300 new stores a year for the next couple years!

TheStreet.com:
Stock is up!

The company crushed analysts’ expectations for the second quarter and raised its guidance for the fiscal year sending its shares soaring more than 8%.

Filefront:

“If you give me straight As with your teachers signature, endorsing it and your parent up here, I’ll buy you a brand new game,”

This is truly a GameStop employee we can all agree, is doing the right thing.  But how long will corporate tolerate it?

RATED-M.COM:

GameStop has decided to impose strict penalties for employees who open the shipping cartons before the midnight launch. If you break the tape, even if by accident, you will be fired on the spot. It doesn’t matter if you are an hourly peon or the store manager…or even the district manager. If you break the tape, you will be fired.

Store: GameStop
Location: Coors Blvd., Albuquerque, NM
Employee Description: Spiked Hair with Dark Glasses, Name tag says “Store Manager”
Submitted By: Ryan

So I walked into the store the other day for the first time in a long time. I had refused to go back after becoming fed up with all the pre-order pushing that had been going around, but thought I’d give it one last go. Big mistake.

The manager, we’ll call him “Spikey Specs,” immediately asks me if I have reserved Halo 3. That’s right, no “Hello,” no “Welcome to GameStop,” just right to the schtick. I politely tell him that I’m not here for that, just that I want to pick up a copy of Stranglehold for 360. Naturally, he asks me if I reserved it. I say that I haven’t, just that I wanna buy one today. Now, keep in mind, that glass case behind him has a row of this exact game, maybe 50 copies.

He gives me a line about how he “can’t believe I didn’t reserve such a big game” and pretends to check the computer to see if he “has any extra copies available.” While “checking” he asks me again if I want to reserve Halo, because “nobody’s going to have it in stock on the big day.” I say no, a little more impatient this time and let him know that I’m just here for Stranglehold. He then tells me that they have no copies of the game available, that they’re all reserved. I point to the row behind him and tell him that at least one of those has to be available, there’s no way they only ordered enough to fill the reserves. He looks me in the eye, without even turning to see how many he’s got, and says that they are all indeed reserved.

I then say, “Fine, I’ll reserve Halo 3. Any copies of Stranglehold available now?” Without doing anything, he looks me dead in the face and says “Yep, a reserve just cancelled.”

Enraged, I tell this jerk that I’ll never shop in his store again and exit in anger, kicking over the Halo 3 standee near the front door.

This story is completely true and I beg all people in the Albuquerque area (and anywhere that poor customer service like this is encouraged) to pick a different store for all their future purchases. Hastings opens at midnight for Halo 3 and Wal-Mart never closes. Don’t fall for their crap and certainly don’t think that they care about you as a customer.

Incidentally, I ran into that same jerk at the Radio Shack inside the mall the next evening and when I walked in and spotted him, he ran from the store, embarrassingly leaving his girlfriend in the dust behind him. Hopefully she dumped that loser.

Acts of Gord:

This is kind of old, but anyone working retail at a videogame store needs to visit Acts of Gord.  This is the true account of life behind the lines of owning a videogame store, as told by Gord himself.

And when I travelled from the hallowed halls of my Game Store and visited the Game Store of The Gord, the truth became apparent. I have no cause to disbelieve the veracity of the tales told here. The truth, it would certainly seem, is contained herein. Go now, and read of The Gord, and know that he has walked the path of the Game Store Owner, and that he has suffered for all of us.

I’ve read the site from the first page to the last and you should too!

Store: GameStop
Location: St. Louis, MO
Employee Description: Surfer Dude and Older Woman
Submitted By: Ed Button

I walked into my local GameStop today to snag Stranglehold on release day (what can I say, I wanted the faceplate), and asked Surfer Dude at the counter if I could get a copy.

“Oh, we haven’t got that yet. Our computer says it’s been delayed until the 17th.”

“…the 17th,” I asked. I keep up with gaming news all the time and had heard nothing of this delay.

Older Woman chimed with: “Yeah, we’re horribly sorry. It turns out Midway wanted something to compete with Halo 3.”

I was stunned. No way could something like Stranglehold compete with the Halo 3, possibly the most anticipated game of the year. “Sooooooooooooo do you wanna pre-order a copy of Halo 3,” Surfer Dude asked. I said no, and that I’d be back. Then I left. I’ve never had an issue with EBuncolandStop. All the people that have worked at them have been nice and polite, and dare I say it, knowledgeable, so I was quite shocked by this statement.

I called the EB about a mile down the road and asked if they had it.

“No,” the guy says, “our computers say its been delayed until the 17th. From what I heard from corporate, it’s been pushed back because Midway had some issues with the shipping.”

A 13-day delay because of shipping?

“Well, your website says its out now, and so does everywhere else,” I said.

“Well, I checked Best Buy before I came in today, and they don’t have it,” he said.

After getting off of the phone with him, I call Best Buy.

“Yeah do you guys have Stranglehold for the 360?”

“Yes sir, we have it.”

www.1pstart.com:

“I only need one more pre-order for this month. If I don’t get one, then I’ll lose my job. Seriously.” LOSE his job? Is this the mafia? This guy has to be in his 30s. Does he have a family? Is he going to not be able to feed his children and wife just because I don’t pre-order Halo?

“Listen, I’ll give you this awesome new Transformers poster, this CD of Square-Enix music, and, a $10 gift card that you could USE to pre-order whatever game you want.”