I went to buy TH2 at EB today...they wouldn't let me get it unless I had pre-ordered a GBA from them. F that. I don't even understand why they're selling the damn games yet when the system isn't even out.

that's stupid. i wonder if they were only able to get enough to cover their preorders. maybe that's the case. i'd call management over their head and see what they say.

I'm not mad enough to get a manager involved or anything, I just thought it was odd. There was no mention of that when I called. I know you run a store Deftones, why is it that they're selling the games before the system's even out? Have they ever done that before with any other systems?

Well there are a lot of us who have imported a GBA from Japan (since they are identical units). So the games while out before the official US release are still coming out for us early adopters

They sold me one no problem, and I was happily playing it on my Limited Pokemon Gameboy Advance about 20 minutes later!

Did you just say "Limited Pokemon GameBoy Advance"

I think I know what happened cuz the same thing happened to me. When I went to one EB, they asked me the same thing about if I had pre-ordered it. After pointing out how I know others who have picked it up, they said they were low on extra copies and had to keep the remaining for the reserved people. They said I could come back tomorrow and get it if nobody picked it up because they need to keep it at least for 24 hours for the reserved people. They then checked another EB for me to see if they had extras and they did, so I drove over there and got it without a problem.

I got tony hawk today and the guy asked me if I had one pre-ordered and I said no, i have an import. He still sold it to me.

Yes... I'm so ashamed... but it's the color I wanted (and I did NOT pay some exuberant amount for it)!

I'm almost afraid to ask how much, cause my wife did pay an exorbinant amount for hers.

Since you didn't ask, I won't tell .

Well I went to the mom and pop where I pre-ordered the system and pre-ordered TH2, Mario Advance and Super Dodgeball. So I'm happy that I'll at least have them on release day.

So? Just because the system came out in Japan doesn't mean the US should be selling games. PS2 came out over there first and I don't remember stores selling PS2 games early, before the system was out. Oh well.

I bought my PS2 games a week before the system came out

I went in today, but they are not selling any games until the launch. They tried to talk me into their amazing bundle. $199 and I get the GBA, any two games I want, and that battery. I told the guy that it must be one hell of a battery to cost $40. With Walmart and Target selling systems and games so cheap I can't believe anyone is falling for the bundle rip off at EB. The battery is only a $10 value according to the sales guy, so they are ripping people big time. I can't believe this doesn't break some kind of law. At Walmart you can get a GBA with 3 games and still be around $200.

Actually, stores can set whatever prices they want. If you don't like it, don't buy it there. At my store, since we are "mom and pop" we have to do these bundle types all the time. We hardly make any money on new products, so in order to even make enough to keep the doors open, we sell the stuff that gives us the most profit. In retail game sales, hardware = no profit and games = profit.

I frequent the local mom and pop quite a bit and have never minded paying a little extra because they usually have stuff that can't be found anywhere else and they actually know something about the games and hardware they sell. My Neo Geo Pocket purchases alone payed a months rent at the mom and pop. I guess it just iritates me for a national chain to pull this. I expect them to charge full retail, but for a national chain to go over MSRP and force cheap accessories (or warranties with the PS2) that people don't want is sickening to me. The two clerks I talked to really have no knowledge of what they are trying to sell people.

hey man, I am totally in 100% of agreement with you there.

Can anyone figure out the $200 amazon GBA bundles? You get an extra game, but that would only account for a $40 increase over the $150 bundles. Where is that extra $10 going?

I'm pretty sure that's illegal... if the folks who made the game got wind of something like that and they hadn't given EB the go to do it, then there would be some pretty swift retribution. A local K-B did something similar with PS2 and Sony came down on them hard.

~Scheherazade

it's not illegal. people can sell stuff for as much as they want to. there's no law saying you have to sell something for a certain price. it's supply and demand, people, plain and simple.

You are right. They are charging $50 for an extra game they sell for $39.99 by itself. These bundle packs are very confusing.

I worked at EB for about 4 years, and one of their big things is getting people to preorder products. The more people that preorder, the more people will be coming back to the store. Simple concept.

Most likely the reason (s)he wouldn't sell it to you is just as they said, it needed to be kept for preorders. How would YOU like it if you preordered a game or a system or whatever and when you go to pick it up, they were sold out?

A lot of it depends store to store though. Our store, we were adamant about only holding preorders for the minimum time. None of that "oh we'll hold it until whenever you show up" BS. The actual policy for EB preorders is that it will be held for 24 hours from the release for you, and that guarentees that you will get a copy on the first day. After 24 hours, if you don't show up, then we'd sell it to the first person to ask for it. No reason screwing our sales because you were too lazy to pick up your preorder

One thing we used to do at our store, which is against EB policy (but oh well), was that we'd pad our preorder lists. If we had say 30 people preorder TH2 for GBA, we'd put in some fake preorders (well, reserves, no money down) and say we had like 50 preorder/reserves. That way we'd get enough for preorders, and to sell to anyone that walked in. One of the major problems we used to have was that if we had 30 preorders, we'd receive like 32 copies. I don't know if it's the distrobution companies that would do that or if it was EB trying to make a point about preordering, but we (my store) thought it was BS.

Another thing we did (which wasnt exactly policy) was that we didn't hold reserves. EB policy is that you hold a copy for people that reserved or preorder an item. Well, whats the point of preordering if you can get the same service with a reserve? We made it clear to our customer base that if they wanted it HELD for the first 24 hours, they needed to put the minimum 10$ down, otherwise a reserve would just get you a phone call that said "hey, x item you reserved is out, if you are still interested you better get your ass down here and buy it" . We used to have a LOT of people that would "reserve" tons of items and never buy any of them. So why lose sales on items that are held for people with no intention of buying them?

Well maybe not 'illegal' but it can certainly be against the rules set forth by the company selling the game. If this was your game and you wanted the sales and all that other mess that comes with them then wouldn't you want folks refusing to sell it in an effort to try to force people to buy another product by another company would you?

I know I'd be mad, and I know that Sony has indeed smacked KayBee around for doing something similar with their PS2s, and it wasn't even as bad as this. They were doing PS2 preorders but you had to buy it in a package with 2 games and the system for $500. Sony called up and told them in no uncertain terms to stop doing it immediately or there would be hell to pay.

~Scheherazade

There are no rules in retail. There is only an MSRP. A Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price. If Sony wants to set the PS2 MSRP at $299 but I sell them for $399, there is nothing they can do. It's called making a profit. While I don't necessarily agree with it, there's nothing illegal about it.