Troubles with Retailers

Xbox Evolved finds out some interesting tidbits of information about some of the top game sellers in U.S. including Wal-Mart, GameStop and Blockbuster.

[shotty]

Sony is the dirtiest marketer. I'm sure if MS tried it they would get sued by Sony.

[Siesser]

I wouldn't necessarily call it dirty, per se. Underhanded . . yeah. But:

A: it's not like Microsoft can't afford to shell out some cash; I mean, what Sony's essentially doing is paying for more floorspace, it sounds like

B: I remember when there was the rumor that Halo 3 would launch whenever PS3 did, just to hurt its sales. I said the same thing then; it's underhanded, but not really "dirty."

C: this is WAL-MART we're talking about here. The largest employer in the US outside of the government itself. The number one grocer in the country. The number one seller of clothing in the ocuntry. And I don't doubt they're up there in electronics. The food and the textile industry are at their beck and call. Whatever they want from the industry, they get; not the other way around. I can't envision any way that Sony can "pressure" them into doing anything they don't want to do. I'd always assumed I saw more PS2 games out because . . . well, there were more PS2s and PS2 games; period.

If they're in fact just paying more to have more games displayed, then I can't really condemn them for that. The industry's long past the "play fair" days. I remember when consoles never even acknowledged one another. Then Microsoft comes along, and suddenly you've got mudslinging back and forth for years to come.

[PS360PCROCKS]

Lol yeah but we all knew they did this...and it's Wal-mart, that's like the red-neck store, any deals they can cut and get stuff cheaper they will.

[specialguest]

.

[specialguest]

i don't see anything wrong with what Sony's doing as far as Wal-mart goes. if you have the money and it's not illegal, then go for it.
if you wanna talk about dirty, MS in general is the dirtiest.
1)Lock customers' data in proprietary formats (unethical and should be illegal)
2)monopolize the industry
3)control and/or influence Government Officials
4)Spread FUD(Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt) in media
5)False TCO studies and advertisements

loving your Xbox360 is A-ok, but just know that MS isn't that clean and innocent too.

[ACE]

sony are worse mate this is fact look at there marketing lies etc i wont waist my time here later

[BOOSTIN]

sony is dirty. they are trying to monopolize the market. they weeded out the dreamcast with this same strategy. its dirty cheap moves like this that make sony the scum of the gaming industry.

[shotty]

D0 you know how much times Sony has tried to create a monopoly and failed, you honestly don't know what your talking about. They are trying again with Blu-ray, if blu-ray wins then they get a steady stream of money for licensing from everyone that buys blu-ray disc. If you are talking about monopoly that Apple is the company they tried it and it worked in the 80's then they lost in in the early 90's. Now they kinda have in on the MP3 market with the iPod and iTunes. People need to buy an iPod to listen to music from iTunes. I hope microsoft breaks this DRM curse that Apple has on everyone. Mircosoft in my view is the company that breaks the monopoly, they are breaking away the Playstation monopoly (helping out Nintendo) and they broke apples computer monopoly.

[achira]

shotty are you on crack ? where has sony a monopoly ? i can say you that ms has monopoly in the OS market. and i can tell you when they win the console war, that nintendo is the next, and ms has its monopol. i am sure you dont believe the things you said yourself. ms is the biggest monopoly in the world, so stop twisting facts.

[Islandkiwi]

If Sony does decide to prevent sales of used or pre-owned games, do you feel it will have an impact on their sales?

As a consumer I love pre-owned games, not because I save 5 dollars on the purchase, but because if I dislike a game I have an outlet for it. You can't return a game because you think it sucks, which is horrible. But this would also preclude renting ps3 games, which I consider inexcusable.

PS3 fans may view this differently, but not being able to rent or purchase used games would certainly weigh in on my decision to get a game console.

[specialguest]

i agree. to not be able to rent or buy used games really sucks. people will do it illegally anyway, but that's not the point.

i'll wait for an official confirmation first before getting all worked up over this issue.

[Mikey_Gee]

Dude, we are on the same page and props for your comment.

If I cannot return a game when it sucks, then I should at least be able to trade it on something else (even taking the hit/loss on what I paid) But I also use renting as a avenue to see if a game is worth my $$$ or not.

To not allow renting of games is just fk'n dirty. That is reason enough for me to flip the bird to the console involved and go elsewhere.

Renting is the only saving grace we gamers have to try and not waste our money.

I really want my PS3 sitting next to my 360, but if turns out to be true (I am sure it is not) ... well .... I guess I will find something else to sit in that spot.

[ironwolf]

In order to keep a rental or borrowed disk from working in the PS3 Sony would have to do one of two things.

1. When a new disk is first inserted in a PS3, an ID code would have to be written to it. We know the PS3s drive is a low end read only.

2. The disk woud have to have a code that was reported to Sony via the internet. Too many of Sony's customers will either have no internet connection or no broadband, so they will not be able to report the code. (can you imagine trying to use a modem with one of these consoles?)

No, Sony won't due anything to alienate the customers they are counting on selling to.

[ddcab]

That isn't true or you wouldn't be able to rent from gamefly which is already gearing up for the ps3 launch!!! http://www.gamefly.com/prod...

[dikturbo]

Rental stores like BB and Gamefly dont pay $69.99 for a game like you and I. They are subjected to a heavy license fee that renumerates the publisher for revenues earned by another party other than themselves. I dont think it would be difficult for SONY to develop a separate series of discs that are coded directly onto the disc to identify it as a 'rental'.

The real question will be if these games have to be recorded as a finished rental back to SONY or the distributer for verification of a rental return to be resold, or simply returned for destruction.

[Mikey_Gee]

The way I so things is as follows:
Let's say I know a game is coming out for my console but I am not 100% I want it.

STEP 1:
Call BB and reserve the copy on the release date.

STEP 2:
Rent it at BB for $10 Cdn

STEP 3:
Play game for two weeks to see if I like it. (must be two weeks, you will see why soon)

STEP 4:
If I "DO NOT" like it, return and all I am out is my $10 rental fee.
or
If I "DO LIKE IT", after waiting the mandatory two weeks, I call BB up (or go in)and tell them I am not returning the game. Then I go in a they take the price of the game new, minus the $10 rental fee, I pay the rest off and keep the game.
=============
I ALWAYS MAKE SURE I AM THE FIRST RENTER OF THE GAME when it first is released. That way I know I am the only one to ever have used it and by doing so I know the game (although a rental) is NEW.
I did this with BF2, OBLIVION and FN 3

[THE TRUTH]

I have no idea where this RUMOR came from about not being able to rent or buy used games for PS3. I can assure you it's a lie and nothing like this has been confirmed. I challenge anyone to show me a creditable link to support this outrageous claim.

[The Real Deal]

I told yall this weeks ago and sony fanboys bashed me. I told yall I was the Real Deal. Sony gives extra rebates and incentives for all their other sony products to Best buy and walmart if they show their playstaion brand more love with more space, ect. Its not good business because it tricks the average joe who is uninformed that sony must be the best if walmart and best buy premiers their products. Places like Best Buy and Circuit city gets incentives and bonuses from sony when they sell and push their products. When I went to buy an hd dvd player at best buy the sales man argued with me about how I should wait for blu ray. lol....when i brought up facts about hd dvd he would repsond by saying that blu ray is the best format and he is waiting for it. Now if I was just the average consumer that didn't do my homework I would have been convinced by him and his push for sony. He kept telling me he doens't get commission but I got the clear impression that he was trying to deter me from getting the hd dvd player. Well I came back when blu ray was release and the hd dvd player was in the back not hooked up to a monitor at all. I made them hook it up for me on the same tv that was playing the blu ray player and He and all the people standing around were amazed that hd dvd looked a tad better for 500 dollars less. So then the salesman starts making excuses for this 1000 dollar blu ray player. He started saying that its the movies. lol...One thing that hurts sony this time around is the high price points for blu ray and the ps3. They will get the die hard sony fans but the regular joe consumers will be hesitant and maybe...just maybe they will do their homework before they think about spending over 600 dollars or 1000 dollars.

[THE TRUTH]

I told yall this weeks ago and sony fanboys bashed me. I told yall I was the Real Deal. Sony gives extra rebates and incentives for all their other sony products to Best buy and walmart if they show their playstaion brand more love with more space, ect. Its not good business because it tricks the average joe who is uninformed that sony must be the best if walmart and best buy premiers their products.

Not only are you an idiot but it seems you way slow. I won't even have to shut you up on my own, instead I will copy and paste replies already given.

............................. ..............

1.1 -
Kevmac83 - 10 Hours ago
I wouldn't necessarily call it dirty, per se. Underhanded . . yeah. But:

A: it's not like Microsoft can't afford to shell out some cash; I mean, what Sony's essentially doing is paying for more floorspace, it sounds like

B: I remember when there was the rumor that Halo 3 would launch whenever PS3 did, just to hurt its sales. I said the same thing then; it's underhanded, but not really "dirty."

C: this is WAL-MART we're talking about here. The largest employer in the US outside of the government itself. The number one grocer in the country. The number one seller of clothing in the ocuntry. And I don't doubt they're up there in electronics. The food and the textile industry are at their beck and call. Whatever they want from the industry, they get; not the other way around. I can't envision any way that Sony can "pressure" them into doing anything they don't want to do. I'd always assumed I saw more PS2 games out because . . . well, there were more PS2s and PS2 games; period.

If they're in fact just paying more to have more games displayed, then I can't really condemn them for that. The industry's long past the "play fair" days. I remember when consoles never even acknowledged one another. Then Microsoft comes along, and suddenly you've got mudslinging back and forth for years to come.

............................. ...............

i don't see anything wrong with what Sony's doing as far as Wal-mart goes. if you have the money and it's not illegal, then go for it.
if you wanna talk about dirty, MS in general is the dirtiest.
1)Lock customers' data in proprietary formats (unethical and should be illegal)
2)monopolize the industry
3)control and/or influence Government Officials
4)Spread FUD(Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt) in media
5)False TCO studies and advertisements

loving your Xbox360 is A-ok, but just know that MS isn't that clean and innocent too.

............................. ..............

You ain't sh$t!!! Stop showing up on every news article with that BS "I told yall I was the Real Deal" line. You ain't anything but a gamer just like the rest of us

[The Real Deal]

Won't make m stoop to your level. Instead I will say this. "I'm the Real Deal"...When i told people this exact thing weeks ago sony fanboys called me a liar and said sony doesn't do that. Now you come along calling me names and saying that its ok that sony does that. My point is "Smart Guy"...lol...lol...lol... .that I told sony fanboys this is what goes on and hey didn't believe it. Get it? Got it? Good....And it won't work this time for Sony. lol...they can take as much space as they want...with blu ray costing twice as much a dvd with no real benifit to the walmart shopper it will sit on the shelf all alone looking pretty...lol...and same with the ps3. It will sell out through 2006 at maybe 3 or 4 million and thats really pushing it. They might not even get that many out to the public with low yields with the cell. But once the dust settles...the walmart generation most likely won't choose a more expensive ps3 over a less expensive 360 with more must have games and the same 3rd party games. 150 games by christmas. lol...by the way....I'm the Real Deal...you should have known. Now go ahead and call me names...lol...lol..lol...