One reason why I don't shop at those stores anymore. I just hit Target, or Amazon (free shipping ftw) and be done with it. I'm sick of the pushing for securing reservations on upcoming games.

Heh. Here in Holland it's common practice in almost all game and mediastores. Actually, almost nobody thinks it's a bad thing. Usually the discs are behind the counter. You grab the game, which has nothing in it except for a booklet or so and then bring it to the counter and then the shopclerk get's the disc from the back.
You know the Starcatalogue thing? Nintendo points? It's only in Europe and Japan. They should be inside the case. They're usually gone in these kind of stores. Other people, or the shop clerks, nick them out.
Since a few years I try to get all my games, cd's and dvd's in the original seal at (mostly) online retailers. Or if there is a new AAA game out like Gears Of War they usually have extra sealed copies in the back. So I just ask one of those.

Speaking as someone who worked for EB Games for 3 weeks once (before Gamestop bought them), you can always just ask for a shrink-wrapped one. The ones behind the counter haven't been opened.

Wanna know why I got fired? I switched shifts with a girl (the manager okayed it) and when it came time for her to cover my shift, at the last minute she called and said she couldn't make it. My *** manager told the regional manager that *I* was the one who did it, not her. I called him and complained but apparently he was buddy-buddy with the store manager, and didn't believe me.

Opening new games? That's just scummy beyond belief. And there's a whole generation of new gamers who won't know any better and get nailed by it.

They must really not want to be in business anymore. These days I always find better pricing from a big box retailer and have absolutely no reason to buy from them except for the occasional very rare, collectible used game, and even then when it's very cheap.

Do I feel guilty at shopping at an online or big box retailer? Not when the pull crap like that.

This is common practice in Australia too, the difference being that here they will still let you return the game for full price as long as you keep the receipt. No shrinkwrap required

Particularly at EB Games, who have a 7-day return policy... I had time to finish Red Steel before I exchanged it for a copy of Marvel:Ultimate Alliance

I'm also from Holland and but here the cases are completely empty, no booklet nothing. I really don't care just give them the case and they fill it with everything, the game, the booklet even the Nintendo points and by the receipt they can tell or you bought the game new or used. It never been a problem.

I've had it happen to me a variety of times, and I've just given up on caring for the most part. The only thing I hate is when they say how they *MUST* seal the thing with ultra-sticky tape, causing my nice game case to end up sticky or ruined.

This happened to me once too. I understand they can't keep the media in the show floor cases, but to try to squeeze you by selling you an opened copy? Thats pure horseshit. Pardon my french.

I was pissed at first. Then the next time they tried this stunt, I very politely asked if I could get a sealed copy and surprisingly, they very politely agreed. They got me a sealed copy from behind the register. No sweat. Ever since then, when I buy a new game at GS or EB (which is rare) I don't bring up the empty case, or they try to fill it with and opened copy. One time they gave me some guff when I asked for a sealed copy and I said it was for a gift and that shut them up pretty quick.

To get the best out of gamestop you really have to know how to handle yourself. Their practices take advantage of uninformed consumers. If you know what you're doing, they are great resource. If you are a typical customer not looking over your shoulder you can get burned. It used to piss me off but now that I'm so used to it, it doesn't bother me so much.

I have experienced this many a times as well. I want a new copy but apparently they are out except for the couple copies that they took out of the display cases and just pop the game in thinking it's all good.

I don't like the practice either and only pre-order games from Gamestop now because I come back with my receipt asking for a new copy and they ask you what is wrong with the disc? WTF? this is a brand new game I'm pretty sure the policy on the back of the receipt reads that an exchange will be offered for 14 days after the purchase for the exchange of the same game but you get grilled for a good 10 minutes before anything even happens.

But what can you do except buy games from Best Buy and Target instead which is what I've started doing.

idk this i think is very strange if those assholes at my game stop pull that shit on me there is gona be a fight and i would want to see the manger and all that shit but its never happened to me maby its cuz i usually buy games on the first day that they come out
P.S is it just me or is every GS/EB employee's just asshole's the guy at my GS takes advatage of every suker that dont really know much about what they want to get there kids

This is why it's sad that Rhino was bought out by EB (or whoever bought it). They would let you exchange any game for 7 days after you bought it, for full price, even open. Something about a happyness guarantee.

The reason why America won't let you exchange open games is the DMCA. Blame the Sony's and RIAA for crap like this.

I worked at these stores, eb before they were bought out by the evil corp of gamestop was not allowed to open items.....
They can "check out" games and then re-wrap them and sell as new. company policy.
I think we should invest in a shrink-wrap machine...all my games are new according to eb/gs! Returns FTW

I've been reading over this again and again but I just can't figure out what the fuss is about. Surely if you buy a game retail you ARE going to open it anyway, right? I mean if there was something missing or damaged inside, then sure, but otherwise what difference does the plastic seal make - it's not like you'd ever want to buy a game retail and then resell it on ebay without playing it, would you?

as Bob said, EbGames and Gamestop allow employees to check out, and play games, and then turnaround and sell them as a "new" game. I can understand your frustration and it's why I avoid shopping there whenever possible. silly me, if I am paying money for a game that is assured to me to be unplayed to ensure no damage and/or loss of battery life (for battery backed cartridges) and contain everything it was shipped with, I don't want a previously opened copy. there are plenty of other shady business practices that encourage me to not shop there as well.

What do you suggest them to do? It's new as in, it's never been sold to or played by anyone else before. When they run out of stock of a game, they are free to sell the display copy as new because, well, it is new. The way I see it, you can easily walk out and buy it somewhere else, or wait for the game to be restocked.

I worked at EB Games and we did the same.

However, when we put the new games in their cases we apply a seal on the case so that we can know if it was opened or not. If the seal is still in place and not broken then the game is considered new. Also, we only emptied cases when we needed to have them on the floor, otherwise the cases were kept unopened.

FINALLY someone is bringing this issue to the foreground. I am really sick of the game store (singular because there is only one big company left doing only game stores) opening copies of games and selling them as new.

I argue that if I bought a BRAND NEW SEALED copy of a game they have a lot of, like Madden 2007, and then proceeded to open it right in front of them in the store, they would NOT give me full credit if I tried to return it. But they feel that it is OK to sell us an opened copy for full price. The SOLUTION is to take 10% off, at LEAST. Please acknowledge that it is a reduced quality, we are not dumb.

I believe that this is hurting certain niche title sales as well. An example would be Every Extend Extra. Sure, it's a niche title, so they only bring in 1 copy at a time, and that's fine , I understand. Now, I love music games, and I buy games new and sealed ONLY, as well as a lot of other game collectors I know. I can imagine that Gamesop CAN'T figure out why that one copy of EEE can't sell, so they order less and less of niche titles.

I went to many different Gamestops and EB Games (same company) and all only had that one open copy on the shelf. I figured, no wonder they think they can't afford to bring in more copies, they think they can't even sell ONE copy. So I try Toys 'R Us, and they have 6 copies, all sealed and ready to go. I bet they get more sales of niche titles because Gamestop does it so stupidly.

And that leads me into how FEW games they actually ORDER! If they don't get preorders for a game, they won't bring it in AT ALL sometimes, usually getting it LATE. Their store name is GAMEstop. If I can't get a new game on release day at GAMEstop, THEY ARE DOING SOMETHING WRONG. They will give you a story about how the game maker doesn't make enough copies, but THIS IS A LIE. Walk to any other store and they will have a shelf full of the game.

It is ridiculous that I would have to preorder a game from them. They need to order what they want to sell. IT'S THE ONLY THING THEY CARRY - GAMES! I am going to game-only stores less and less. Best Buy will have a hundred or more copies of Halo 3, why deal with preordering it from a game store that will only get enough for the suckers, IF that many at all!

There is no reason to have to pre-order every game you want to buy. It's ridiculous and bad management on their part. People need to start boycotting these policies. STOP PRE-ORDERING! Make them do their own buying and ordering, it should be THEIR JOB - not ours. No other store is run this way. Imagine having to pre-order a DVD movie you want, or a call phone or camera. It is the company being lazy.

Wow, I don't shop at EB and gamestop because of other reasons but this just makes me even more glad I don't. I can't believe this. What if you want to buy the game as a gift for a friend? I've bought plenty of games that I don't open right away. Who's to say I don't have the right to return it whenever I feel like if its still in it's "new" condition. Such bullshit. I'll stick with Target, ToysRUS and Best Buy thank you.

A lot of people don't realize that EB Games employees can borrow new games to try them out without paying. They just open up a new one and take it home. Then they return it and still sell it as new. So your "new" game has potentially been played before.

I agree about the issue. This happened to me at EB Games before, and it felt like I was buying a used copy. I like to open my boxes, smell the fresh ink, etc. Ever since then, I went to Best Buy to get my games. They have the games upfront sealed in boxes. I just hand them a slip showing what game I want, and they grab a fresh new box from the cage. That's how it should be done - not by ripping the box and telling me that it's still the same game experience.

Hey there. I appreciate your position here, and you're duly even-handed about individual employees. But as an employee of a retailer with similar policies, I will say that our branch's profitability would be significantly damaged if it wasn't for the trusty old heat gun.

That said, Viva la Palahniuk!

I worked at Gamestop for about three years, but that was almost four years ago now. I can honestly say that I am an avid video game collector and pretty anal about certain things when it comes to games. The thing is that I never had a problem re-shrink wrapping returned video games (or borrowed through the employee check-out policy) because we were the only ones that offered any sort of a return policy on opened, used games which was great I thought, because it eliminated the need to go rent a game and find out that you could complete it in the given time period, so it saved me and my customers a few bucks any time we bought a game like that (such as Wario for the GameCube, I remember buying that, beating it that day, then returning it the next because there just wasn't enough content to warrant a 50$ purchase). That return policy was great and I didn't have a problem getting pre-opened, new games because I knew everyone in the store cared about it, and if you brought back a disk and tried to return it as new, we scrutinized it and if there were smudges, or any marrings of the disk/manual/case whatsoever, we would offer to take it as a trade in and would refuse to return it. So, I saw it as a trade off, you risk the chance of getting a pre-opened game (in brand new condition still, not sealed) for the chance that you would want to return the game over the course of that week. So that's my take on the situation. If it's a game that you know you want to keep and you want it sealed, sure, go somewhere else to get it. But if it's a game you're not sure of, head to GameStop/EB/Funcoland/etc. for their return policy which is pretty much exclusive to them. And if you want to trade in, well that's a whole different can of worms, I refuse to trade in my games to these places because they completely rip you off. I know it's a business, but the markup on these items is friggin ridiculous. I've seen games with a trade-in value of somewhere around 3$ go for over 30$ the moment they're put up on the shelf as used. Also, buying a game (that just came out) for 50$, finding out I can beat it, then trying to trade it in for 20$ seems ridiculous to me too when they'll turn around and sell it for 45$. I can't bring myself to support that kind of practice...

You do realize that its the Game..IE the Cd, Cardridge or whatever is still NEW..it has never been inside a system or anything like that..they just need to make a display case so that they can show they actually have the game in stock. So stop pissing a moaning.... the game is new, it hasnt ever been in a system, ergo NEW!

This is not a "shady practice", as this occurs in every one of their 4,000 stores. Companies do not send display boxes, so therefore, if the game store has ONE copy of the game, they open it, take the game out in order to have something to put on the wall for you to look at. It usually goes into a baggie or envelope and sits behind the counter until you buy it. It is STILL "new", as it's never played, only opened. It's not like they're selling you an opened jar of baby food or something. The stores are supposed to place a sticker on the opened new game, so that you CAN return it for full value within the 7 days. The alternative is, they can stop taking games out of the box, place them on the wall where they can be stolen, and you can pay even HIGHER prices for games.

Sorry - can't work out why that would be a problem to anyone here. Could be that its an American thing, as the Europeans don't seem to bother. You buy a game for the contents of the disk - not generally for the state of the shrinkwrap on the outside (or the quantity of ink smell).

I used to work in UK-EB (before it became Game, and it wasn't the same as US-EB) and we simply never had enough 'dummy/fake' boxes to put on the shelves - so unless you didn't want to see any boxes on the shelves, at least some of the disks would have to be gutted and put out. Also, it was against your training to fill a gutted box if there was a shrinkwrapped box behind the counter - simply because you'd then have to spend time to gut another one to make up the numbers on the shelf display. I really can't work out why that would be such a big problem to anyone. (We did have the 7-day returns policy, mind you.)