Topic: Toys R Us starts used game trade ins

[idolminds]

Interesting.

Unlike Gamestop, they seem to care about cases with artwork. And in an even more interesting move they accept games from 25 systems going back to the Atari 2600 and Intellivision. Thats part of the reason I dont like Gamestop, you can't find any games for classic systems there. Wheres their PS1 and Dreamcast section? SNES and Genesis? Come on!

So if TRU starts selling those games I'd be way more likely to drop in and see what they've got.

[idolminds]

Well, thats odd. The local news reported on this and said TRU doesn't have plans to resell the games people trade in. WTF? Why would they give you money/gift card for the things if they aren't going to turn around and make money off them?

[MysterD]

Well, thats odd. The local news reported on this and said TRU doesn't have plans to resell the games people trade in. WTF? Why would they give you money/gift card for the things if they aren't going to turn around and make money off them?

Maybe TRU will sell them off to GameStop so GS can re-sell 'em?

[idolminds]

That would work for the current batch of consoles, but whats TRU going to do with the Atari, NES, SNES, Dreamcast, etc games that Gamestop doesnt deal with?

[MysterD]

...but whats TRU going to do with the Atari, NES, SNES, Dreamcast, etc games that Gamestop doesnt deal with?

Any other big corps sell used games from those systems?

[idolminds]

CAG has some more info. TRU is going to indeed sell the games to a 3rd party reseller, Gamers Factory. Never heard of them before and unfortunately their site is down at the moment so I cant actually get any more info.

[Quemaqua]

That's weird.

[W7RE]

Are they planning on ripping people off like Gamestop? You know, buy a used game off you for $10 when a sealed new copy costs $60.

[idolminds]

Oh most definitely.

It seems they pay:

50 cents per game for
Atari 2600
Nintendo 64
N.E.S.
Sega Genesis
Sega Saturn
Super Nintendo

and 25 cents a game for:
Dreamcast
Gameboy Color
Gameboy
Playstation 1

Holy shit, I've got a container where I keep my spare change. I should just stand in front of TRU and build a massive game collection.

[Cobra951]

Really.  Just tell kids about to walk in with old carts that you'll give them twice what TRU is offering.

I wouldn't spit for 50 cents, let alone part with a classic rare game cart.  Ripoff sounds like a euphemism here.

The real Gamestop ripoff is reselling those games they got for $10 or worse for $5 below the price of new games.  I imagine TRU would do the same thing, if they decided to sell the used games themselves.  The blame rests squarely on the idiot consumers who'll pay those prices for used, and accept pennies on the dollar for their game collections.

[Quemaqua]

Agreed.  As with most of the problems in today's gaming scene, the problem lies with idiot consumers who'll pay any price for anything, and sell anything for any price.

[MysterD]

Bingo, Q.

Really, though -- screw TRU and GameStop, when it comes to selling old stuff to them. I'd rather hold onto them -- especially since some of these old games, me and/or my parents paid some good dollars for, back in the day.

[Pugnate]

Agreed.  As with most of the problems in today's gaming scene, the problem lies with idiot consumers who'll pay any price for anything, and sell anything for any price.

As long as these 'idiots' aren't he norm., there isn't anything to worry about. Speaking from experience, businesses realize that certain customers will pay higher than market prices, but it is the average customer that dictates business policy.

Unfortunately, the average customer has shown himself to be inept at making reasonable decisions, and is distorting the average for the rest of us. Case in point: Paid DLC content on Xbox Live.

[MysterD]

Unfortunately, the average customer has shown himself to be inept at making reasonable decisions, and is distorting the average for the rest of us. Case in point: Paid DLC content on Xbox Live.

Can't argue w/ that one.

[Quemaqua]

Yeah, that's the problem.  Gaming was fine until it got popular and opened itself up to a world full of people too fucking stupid to understand the concepts of patience or credit card debt.  Then the next couple generations of kids grew up on gaming, but on the popularity-twisted versions of it, and now all kinds of stuff that would have never been able to get off the ground before is common practice and totally acceptable, even by the semi-educated morons in the gaming press.

[Cobra951]

My reaction so far is to stop patronizing places that buy & sell used games.  I will only go to Gamestop if they're the only ones with something I want.  I've opted for Best Buy more than anywhere else in the last few years.  New games on the shelves, no pushing overpriced used crap on me.

[MysterD]

My reaction so far is to stop patronizing places that buy & sell used games.  I will only go to Gamestop if they're the only ones with something I want.  I've opted for Best Buy more than anywhere else in the last few years.  New games on the shelves, no pushing overpriced used crap on me.

I probably buy mostly from Gogamer and Best Buy, these days and age.

Sure, every now and then, I buy from Amazon, Newegg, Steam, Impulse, GOG, GameStop, and other places -- but the two I listed above are my main two places.

[W7RE]

In the past 4-5 years I think I've bought like 3 games at retail. CoD4 and Assassin's Creed were impulse buys at Walmart. WoW: Wrath of the Lich king I wanted in on the midnight release so I preordered from Gamestop. Everything else has been Amazon, Newegg, GOG.com, or Steam. I even bought my Xbox 360 from Newegg.

My brother did get me Dead Space for Xbox last Christmas from gamestop. He said it was the last copy they had, and was a "display copy" that had been previously used. It and the case are in perfect condition, but they still charged him $60 for it.

[K-man]

used game stores are still a decent place to shop provided you know what you're looking for and what it is worth.  Especially classic games.

Those prices are complete bullshit though.

[Ghandi]

used game stores are still a decent place to shop provided you know what you're looking for and what it is worth.  Especially classic games.

Those prices are complete bullshit though.

I grew up with a bunch of local game stores that were great for used games. Family owned, great prices, etc. But Gamestop and other big chains took them all out of business in the past 5 years or so. God Bless America...

[gpw11]

Games have 0 value to me once I'm finished playing them.  In fact, they probably have a negative value to me because I hate shit that just sits there taking up space. It's very very rare that I'll actually go back to play a game, let alone near enough in the future that I'll still have the hardware needed to run it.  Right now my game collection for anything over a year old basically consists of Okami, Disgaea, both PS2 Persona games,  probably 5 PC games that are all less than 3 years old, a couple of DS games I never really got around to, and anything bought through digital distribution. Everything else has been binned or given away. If I want to play, say If I was less lazy and played more games it would certainly be worth it to me to trade in most games I've owned for $10 dollars and buy a used copy of whatever I wanted instead of a new one. Especially since the utility based value of a used copy is exactly equal to that of a new one.  There, $20 in the pocket.  I can't really blame anyone for getting rid of something they'll never use again, even if they resort to selling it for less than it's worth.

[Cobra951]

I grew up with a bunch of local game stores that were great for used games. Family owned, great prices, etc. But Gamestop and other big chains took them all out of business in the past 5 years or so. God Bless America...

I could have posted that, except for the growing up with them part.  (I'm way older than videogames.)  There was one store I used to go to all the time.  You could buy or rent used carts.  I'm talking SNES era.  Prices were usually in the $15-30 range, depending on popularity and condition of the packaging and manual.  Yes, box & manual were actually worth something then.  That place is long gone, of course.  I blame gpw.

[Quemaqua]

Me too.  My library of games is probably well over 600 titles or something sick now.

[MysterD]

Me too.  My library of games is probably well over 600 titles or something sick now.

My PC library must be over 400 games by now.

The rest of my library -- gotta be at least 200 or more (Atari 7800, NES, Genesis, Game Gear, Playstation 1).

[gpw11]

No no no, don't blame me.   I should make it clear that I don't buy games at places like Gamestop or EB. I'm just saying that to me games are pretty much disposable goods once I play through them and as such I can see why some people would support places that buy and sell them used.  I just don't collect anything and live a lean lifestyle, that's all.

[K-man]

I envy that lifestyle sometimes...especially when it's time to move

[Quemaqua]

You are not alone.

[gpw11]

Well, that's the thing - I move a lot.  It does suck sometimes and I've ended up rebuying things occasionally (very very occasionally), but 99.9% of the time I never miss whatever it was that I got rid of/gave away. Plus, with certain things like games, I know where to find them again and don't find it morally questionable to do so should I ever feel like playing through Unreal II again even though I got rid of the disk years ago.

[Pugnate]

It seems they pay:

50 cents per game for
Atari 2600
Nintendo 64
N.E.S.
Sega Genesis
Sega Saturn
Super Nintendo

and 25 cents a game for:
Dreamcast
Gameboy Color
Gameboy
Playstation 1

That has to be a joke.

[Pugnate]

In the past 4-5 years I think I've bought like 3 games at retail. CoD4 and Assassin's Creed were impulse buys at Walmart. WoW: Wrath of the Lich king I wanted in on the midnight release so I preordered from Gamestop. Everything else has been Amazon, Newegg, GOG.com, or Steam. I even bought my Xbox 360 from Newegg.

My brother did get me Dead Space for Xbox last Christmas from gamestop. He said it was the last copy they had, and was a "display copy" that had been previously used. It and the case are in perfect condition, but they still charged him $60 for it.

Wow. I buy a lot of stuff online because I have little choice where I live. But given the choice, I'd never buy something online unless it wasn't available at a brick&mortar, or was significantly cheaper on the net. Maybe I am still a big baby at heart, but I still feel some excitement buying something I want from a brick&mortar. The feeling evoked from the process of money exchanging hands, receiving the purchase in a large shiny bag, and then the impatience of returning home is all part of the experience for me.

I have to admit that I have felt similar excitement for a couple of my online purchases, during delivery day. Hearing the bell, and rushing to receive the mail man, only to see that it is the fucking electricity bill or something is part of the fun heh.

But while I purchase physical stuff online, I am just not attracted to downloaded purchases. The only games I have bought on STEAM have either been box copies that required STEAM registration, significantly cheaper, or gifts (thanks Pyro!).

[Quemaqua]

Yeah, I feel the same.  I don't mind ordering something online occasionally, because then at least I have the shiny box to put on the shelf, but downloads just do nothing for me, and I have no peace of mind as to the security of those things that I paid good money for.

[MysterD]

Maybe I am still a big baby at heart, but I still feel some excitement buying something I want from a brick&mortar. The feeling evoked from the process of money exchanging hands, receiving the purchase in a large shiny bag, and then the impatience of returning home is all part of the experience for me.

....

I have to admit that I have felt similar excitement for a couple of my online purchases, during delivery day. Hearing the bell, and rushing to receive the mail man, only to see that it is the fucking electricity bill or something is part of the fun heh.

Agreed.

But while I purchase physical stuff online, I am just not attracted to downloaded purchases. The only games I have bought on STEAM have either been box copies that required STEAM registration, significantly cheaper, or gifts (thanks Pyro!).

As long as I have some sort of EXE installer files or say a bunch of BIN files w/ an attached EXE file (usually for much bigger games -- GOG does these methods); or have a utility where I can back the file up easily (see Impulse and Steam) so I can burn it to disc -- yeah, I can do the buy-to-download thing.

Also, since I have no written manual, no game already on disc -- you can expect me to only do the buy-to-download thing if the game's much cheaper through that digital channel, as well. For example -- Download-to-buy Dawn of War: Dark Crusade from Impulse for $3.99 or whatever it during that special sale was was just a no brainer...

Well, the above is true, as long as the game ain't HUGE in size. I really don't wanna take a lot of time waiting for the thing to finish its DL. I'd rather have the game in my hand on disc(s), really to install and rock and roll -- especially if it's a big game that's on say multiple DVD's like Sacred 2: CE (which is 2 DVD's; and there's a third if you want to install Elite Textures).

[gpw11]

Yeah, as much as I don't like having the clutter of disks and boxes, I'm also not a big fan of digital distribution purchases...Mainly because I think the price point is bullshit. Less for the same price?  Fuck you.  For some stuff it's good...smaller or independent games like World of Goo, Aquaria, or the Bionic Commando: Re-Armed NES remake, but for full size games I have to wait to download ~6GB, constantly store it, and don't get anything physical and you want me to pay the same price?  That's a fucking joke.  I mean, considering I don't like having the stuff around, it's not like there's a big disadvantage to me, but I just find it wrong on principle.

One thing I have noticed is that DRM has kind of hampered my ability to give stuff away.  Last time I purged about a week ago I just ended up throwing a bunch of games out just because I thought they may have DRM that would stop people from installing if I gave the disks to them.  I don't know what the deal is with Company of Heroes but for some reason the game won't even work on my PC anymore.  Like it gets into the menu but won't let me load a game because of some DRM violation or account violation...which is bullshit since I've only installed the game on one PC and have never gone online to do anything to get my account banned.  That's unacceptable...so I threw the fucking disk out.  I'd give it to someone else, but who knows if they can even use it?  I don't know what games have DRM or not these days.

[Quemaqua]

Don't throw games out just because of that!  Any resourceful individual can always find a crack or something.

[gpw11]

Yeah, a lot of it is just that I feel kind of bad giving away something that may or may not work...although that is an excellent point.  Most people I'd even give a PC game to would easily be able to work around it.