Ok, here is my problem with certain video game stores. I go into the EB i the mall today to look for some games and I notice that the in store PS2 and GBA are off. I ignore this for now but I was hoping to show my friend the GBA. Anyways, a little kid walks up to a clerk and asks if the PS2 can be turned on. He is told it is broken. After he leaves my friend and I approach the guy and ask if he can turn on the GBA. He explains to us that the employes (sp?) decided to turn off the systems because "it was too busy today". Mind you this is hours before closing time. Now, I can not see any reason for this. I have walked into so many video game stores since PS2 came out and have seen the systems off, or the people working there are playing it (which is fine unless they are not letting the customers check it out, and I have see this too). The only possible reason I can see for this is that the store is worried about the system breaking but I don't know how this could happen when everything is secured. Does this bother anyone else?

(As a side question, has anyone noticed how the smaller gane stores takes the discs out of the new games. I know they do this for theft reasons but they also take out a piece of the jewl case (on PS1 games at least). Do they put this back?)

What they do is snap out the tray portion of the jewel case. This way they aren't removing the cd off the spindle and risking scratching it. They just snap the tray portion back into the case in event of a purchase.

I typically avoid Babbage's, EB, etc. because most of the employees are pretentious a-holes.

Ahhh. Ok. That makes sense.

I also dislike the stores above but they are the only places around that sell used games. There is a place called Video Game Stop that I like but recently they have been doing the "turn off the in-store systems thing" as well. But they are much nicer than most of the folks at EB. Although there are some exceptions. Also, I'll add that Best Buy has been pretty sucky for me recently in their selection of playstation games.

I worked at EB for a long time and can't disagree with you on the pretentious a-holes observation. Not all of them are like this though. There were a couple of cool stores in my district, and when I got my own store I fired most of the people who weren't nice to customers.

As for the system being shut down, most EB stores are very small and it becomes a problem on the weekends when there are just tons of people around. Plus, people leave their kids there to be babysat, especially when there is a system, which is a serious problem. A really crowded store, especially with lots of kids, usually turns away browsers walking through the mall, which is horrible for business. Hence, the systems are occasionally shut down.

most of the EBs around here have horrible customer service. They're so bad I won't even shop there unless I can't find what I want anywhere else. The other day I wanted to buy chu-chu rocket for the DC, since a lot of people here recommended it as a fun multiplayer game. It's an older game, and as EB often does, for the last one they have they had the case on the shelf and the game in their drawer. So I asked for the game, and they took it out of their preowned drawer and tried to sell it to me as new. I would have given them the benefit of the doubt that it really was a new game and just in the wrong drawer, except the case was all cracked and the disc was severely scratched up. When I asked them to sell me a preowned one instead (since the one they gave me was obviously preowned) all of a sudden they didn't have any and all they had was the one they gave me. They were really rude about it too - big mistake for EB since I buy an awful lot of video games.

I've never had any problems with EB where I'm at. I do admit there was a brief stint where a new manager came in and everyone that work there sucked. Needless to say all of them, including the manager were gone in less than 6 months. Since then CS has been great and the manager actually gives me some pretty good deals. For instance, they had a promotion where you traded in 3 or 4 playstation games and got a free gameboy color. Well he let me trade in the games and then let me return the gameboy color for $69.99 where I then in turn bought a used dreamcast for $20 more. The whole transaction was cheating, but he knew I was a good customer and he let me do it anyway.

I work at Old Navy in Barton Creek Mall and the EB right across from my work has the coolest employees. It's the only EB i have been to with nice, knowledgable employees. I used buy all my video game stuff at Best Buy but they are a-holes so I just go to EB and pricematch (I wish their prices were lower )

Well, The EB's by me are both very cool. They have had the same employees at each for over 2 years now, and these guys are good. I can walk into either store (both of which are in big, busy malls), and at least two employees there will actually know me by name, as well as most customers in the store.

However both stores do turn off their systems occasionally. This is done for several reasons at these store. One store is located directly across from the Mall's movie theatre. They will turn off their systems on weekends because kids will come over from the theatre just to play games while they wait, without ever looking at items to purchase (in other words they are loitering). The other store does it for a reason mentioned above. Parents love to leave their kids in there to be baby sat by the demo systems. This causes problems when possible customers want to play the demos, and when these kids start becoming loud and obnoxious, sometimes even hasseling other customers. Personally I agree with this and would do the same if I was an employee there.

I usually go to GameStop, it used to be Babbages. The employees are always helpful and are always nive to me (well, that could be because I'm a woman). But they always know what pre-order goodies are supposed to come with certain games, which was my gripe with EB. EB never gave me the free pre-order goodies, they sold them instead!

As much as I know most people will disagree is to leave the system off and only turn them on for potential customers and even take a security deposit on them (if you have some kids breaking the machine by abusing it or something). A store around here used to have machine where you could pay to play for an hour but even then when I went in, the store was always full of annoying little kids who loitered there every day and it was way annoying so near the end, they were mostly always turned off unless you paid.

I can see why they want to turn the games off. They really are just a substitute for babysitters. Target, Kmart, Wal-mart, Best Buy and other retailers are a hassle to shop in after 3pm weekdays and all day on the weekend in the video game area. Plus the place is so trashed when the kids are there. But that's how it goes:You have to give up one to get the other.

Besides, if I want to try a game out before I buy it, there's always Blockbuster.

ACtually for me my EB is actually pretty decent. The employees are pretty cool..and they *USUALLY* have the machines turned on. The thing is, I don't shop there. I frequent another store called Microplay(2 stores in PA) and I love them. They beat EB by abou $6 -$10 usually, and the employees are GREAT. They have better selection, and carry imports. I'll always shop ther.

Up by me (bangor maine), there is only one video game store and thats EB. I really like the guys that work there, they are cool, they all know me by name and what kinda games i like. When i trade in stuff they don't even check it cause they know it's in good shape if i'm trading it in . I might be moving in a few months so I am gonna loose this EB as my source.

Todd

maybe theyre tired of having 20 9 year old kids screaming and playing the system for 6 hours straight. I used to see this all the time (because im guilty of it) when REAL games were out, now theres no real point since every game now can be beaten in half an hour now, but who knows.

People at my EB are jerks too, I refuse to go there anymore.

~Scheherazade