Haha. Get Bass at EB...

Kendrick Kerwin Chua wrote:
>
> In article <YK-dnTNfyLb_jvXfRVn-pg DeleteThis @io.com>,
> Kendrick Kerwin Chua <kendrick DeleteThis @eris.io.com> wrote:
> >
> >In retrospect, it's probably unfair of me to accuse EB or any retail chain
> >of manipulating the appearance of their available stock to affect sales.
> >But just once, I'd like to be able to go online and find what I want to
> >buy, instead of being sold to. That's all I hae to say on that subject.
>
> Actually, after my experiences this past week I'm starting to thing that
> EB actually does manipulate the appearance of their stock. For the last
> three days now, Pocket Kingdom has appeared on the web site for $4.99 new,
> even though it doesn't add the item to your cart when you try to buy it.
> It doesn't say that it's out of stock, the web site just doesn't let you
> buy it. Retail stores claim to know nothing about the price change,
> although they're all very willing to sell you the used copy for $14.99, as
> is the 1-800 sales number.

I can't find a link for a new copy of the game from EB's site, and I
can't find a Google search that will pull up any valid pages for the
game new (and the cached pages all seem to list it at $35). What link
are you using?
snip
> -KKC, who bought a used VMU and spent twenty minutes cleaning barbecue
> sauce out of it. What are you people doing with your memory cards? :/

Um, are you sure it's BBQ sauce? I hope you didn't taste it to find out...
 >> Stay informed about: Haha. Get Bass at EB... 

In article <42A731E2.DAA0EEED RemoveThis @nospam.com>,
Ted <nospamforted RemoveThis @nospam.com> wrote:
>Kendrick Kerwin Chua wrote:
>>
>> Actually, after my experiences this past week I'm starting to thing that
>> EB actually does manipulate the appearance of their stock. For the last
>> three days now, Pocket Kingdom has appeared on the web site for $4.99 new,
>> even though it doesn't add the item to your cart when you try to buy it.
>> It doesn't say that it's out of stock, the web site just doesn't let you
>> buy it. Retail stores claim to know nothing about the price change,
>> although they're all very willing to sell you the used copy for $14.99, as
>> is the 1-800 sales number.
>
>I can't find a link for a new copy of the game from EB's site, and I
>can't find a Google search that will pull up any valid pages for the
>game new (and the cached pages all seem to list it at $35). What link
>are you using?

Check the pre-played link. It's a double-SKU number, with the new item
listed directly underneath the used item on the single product page. Of
course, the new item might have been removed already.

>> -KKC, who bought a used VMU and spent twenty minutes cleaning barbecue
>> sauce out of it. What are you people doing with your memory cards? :/
>
>Um, are you sure it's BBQ sauce? I hope you didn't taste it to find out...

I guess it could be salsa. It's red, not brown. And now I'll cheerfully
choose not to expend any further thought on that topic... All that matters
is that the VMU is clean and actually works. And has a Jet Grind Radio
save file on it with porn for grafitti tag images. :/

-KKC, looking at old Xboxes to modify...
--
--S.S.B. is the code name for America's daring, highly | kendrick @io .com
trained special mission force. Its purpose: to |
defend human freedom against al-Qaeda, a ruthless | Please don't use
terrorist organization determined to rule the world! | eBay. Ask me why.
 >> Stay informed about: Haha. Get Bass at EB... 

In article <-dWdnVHJ9sJ6oDrfRVn-hQ RemoveThis @io.com>,
Kendrick Kerwin Chua <kendrick RemoveThis @fnord.io.com> wrote:
>In article <42A731E2.DAA0EEED RemoveThis @nospam.com>,
>Ted <nospamforted RemoveThis @nospam.com> wrote:
>>
>>I can't find a link for a new copy of the game from EB's site, and I
>>can't find a Google search that will pull up any valid pages for the
>>game new (and the cached pages all seem to list it at $35). What link
>>are you using?
>
>Check the pre-played link. It's a double-SKU number, with the new item
>listed directly underneath the used item on the single product page. Of
>course, the new item might have been removed already.

Nope, the link is gone. I complained to EB's online customer service, and
they gave me the standard boilerplate about inconsistent pricing. I guess
I'm done with them now.

You'd think that as big as they are and in as much trouble as they're in,
EB would want to keep as many of their customers as possible. What's
worse, the fact that local stores can modify their pricing means that this
is a case of store managers or district managers being either lazy or
greedy. I gotta quit thinking about this, otherwise I'll just get
grumpier.

-KKC, who wonders where the hardcore shop if they don't shop at EB and
Gamestop. Not Amazon, and you know how I feel about eBay cheating me out
of $150. Is there a Fry's in Florida yet?
--
--S.S.B. is the code name for America's daring, highly | kendrick @io .com
trained special mission force. Its purpose: to |
defend human freedom against al-Qaeda, a ruthless | Please don't use
terrorist organization determined to rule the world! | eBay. Ask me why.
 >> Stay informed about: Haha. Get Bass at EB... 

Kendrick Kerwin Chua wrote:
> In article <-dWdnVHJ9sJ6oDrfRVn-hQ.DeleteThis@io.com>,
> Kendrick Kerwin Chua <kendrick.DeleteThis@fnord.io.com> wrote:
>
> Nope, the link is gone. I complained to EB's online customer service, and
> they gave me the standard boilerplate about inconsistent pricing. I guess
> I'm done with them now.
>
> You'd think that as big as they are and in as much trouble as they're in,
> EB would want to keep as many of their customers as possible. What's
> worse, the fact that local stores can modify their pricing means that this
> is a case of store managers or district managers being either lazy or
> greedy. I gotta quit thinking about this, otherwise I'll just get
> grumpier.
>
> -KKC, who wonders where the hardcore shop if they don't shop at EB and
> Gamestop. Not Amazon, and you know how I feel about eBay cheating me out
> of $150. Is there a Fry's in Florida yet?

I pretty much only buy from a local gamestore that's locally owned and
opperated. I know a guy here in town who's a hardcore collector, and as
slim as the pickings here in nowhere Texas are, he manages to buy fairly
rare finds almost daily just checking pawn shops, the local gamer
grapevine, and the afore mentioned local game store.


--
Scott

http://www.gamepilgrimage.com
 >> Stay informed about: Haha. Get Bass at EB... 

In article <ZiJpe.17621$ld3.15034@trnddc04>,
Scott H <sheathx013.RemoveThis@yahoo.com> wrote:
>Kendrick Kerwin Chua wrote:
>> In article <-dWdnVHJ9sJ6oDrfRVn-hQ.RemoveThis@io.com>,
>> Kendrick Kerwin Chua <kendrick.RemoveThis@fnord.io.com> wrote:
>>
>> -KKC, who wonders where the hardcore shop if they don't shop at EB and
>> Gamestop. Not Amazon, and you know how I feel about eBay cheating me out
>> of $150. Is there a Fry's in Florida yet?
>
> I pretty much only buy from a local gamestore that's locally owned and
>opperated. I know a guy here in town who's a hardcore collector, and as
>slim as the pickings here in nowhere Texas are, he manages to buy fairly
>rare finds almost daily just checking pawn shops, the local gamer
>grapevine, and the afore mentioned local game store.

I used to have one of those. Guy in town my age, understood the industry,
owned three stores on different sides of town and always priced stuff
competitively. Knew how to get imports and knew to save the niche stuff
(like RPG's and strange peripherals) for obsessive clowns like me. Then he
sold all his stock and his storefronts to some state conglomerate. I can't
fault him for the business decision he made, but I hardly go to his old
stores anymore.

The current employees of the store are about the same caliber of people
who are typically found in a mall game shop. Feel free to make your own
judgement of the information in that statement.

-KKC, who firmly believes in voting with his wallet. Which means the last
guy who got my vote was Fred Gallagher.
--
--S.S.B. is the code name for America's daring, highly | kendrick @io .com
trained special mission force. Its purpose: to |
defend human freedom against al-Qaeda, a ruthless | Please don't use
terrorist organization determined to rule the world! | eBay. Ask me why.
 >> Stay informed about: Haha. Get Bass at EB... 

Kendrick Kerwin Chua wrote:
> In article <ZiJpe.17621$ld3.15034@trnddc04>,
> Scott H <sheathx013.DeleteThis@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>>Kendrick Kerwin Chua wrote:
>>
>>>In article <-dWdnVHJ9sJ6oDrfRVn-hQ.DeleteThis@io.com>,
>>>Kendrick Kerwin Chua <kendrick.DeleteThis@fnord.io.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>-KKC, who wonders where the hardcore shop if they don't shop at EB and
>>>Gamestop. Not Amazon, and you know how I feel about eBay cheating me out
>>>of $150. Is there a Fry's in Florida yet?
>>
>> I pretty much only buy from a local gamestore that's locally owned and
>>opperated. I know a guy here in town who's a hardcore collector, and as
>>slim as the pickings here in nowhere Texas are, he manages to buy fairly
>>rare finds almost daily just checking pawn shops, the local gamer
>>grapevine, and the afore mentioned local game store.
>
>
> I used to have one of those. Guy in town my age, understood the industry,
> owned three stores on different sides of town and always priced stuff
> competitively. Knew how to get imports and knew to save the niche stuff
> (like RPG's and strange peripherals) for obsessive clowns like me. Then he
> sold all his stock and his storefronts to some state conglomerate. I can't
> fault him for the business decision he made, but I hardly go to his old
> stores anymore.
>
> The current employees of the store are about the same caliber of people
> who are typically found in a mall game shop. Feel free to make your own
> judgement of the information in that statement.


The same was true of the store in town until the franchise owner got
rid of the previous management and employees and got an actual game
enthusiast in there. I actually enjoy going there now, though I hardly
ever see anything particularly rare in an Internet sense, thanks to the
collector(s) in town. If that's the situation in yours, I don't know
what to say, maybe some sort of online collector's message board could
tie you in to something you'd like to be a part of.


> -KKC, who firmly believes in voting with his wallet. Which means the last
> guy who got my vote was Fred Gallagher.

In some ways, I consider taking advantage of certain companies, through
thrifty purchasing, almost as gratifying.

--
Scott

http://www.gamepilgrimage.com
 >> Stay informed about: Haha. Get Bass at EB... 

Kendrick Kerwin Chua wrote:
>
snip
> -KKC, who wonders where the hardcore shop if they don't shop at EB and
> Gamestop. Not Amazon, and you know how I feel about eBay cheating me out
> of $150. Is there a Fry's in Florida yet?

There's more to the internet than eBay... NCS now stocks at least some
domestic stuff, and I'd guess they'll order naything domestic that's
available that you ask them to. And then there's Lik Sang...
And Amazon Z-Shops are probably the best place to find deals on unopened
big name games a few months after release (outside of eBay).Under $35
before shipping for the deluxe Halo 2 in early January...
 >> Stay informed about: Haha. Get Bass at EB... 

Kendrick Kerwin Chua wrote:
snip
> >> -KKC, who bought a used VMU and spent twenty minutes cleaning barbecue
> >> sauce out of it. What are you people doing with your memory cards? :/
> >
> >Um, are you sure it's BBQ sauce? I hope you didn't taste it to find out...
>
> I guess it could be salsa. It's red, not brown.

Anyone here know what color blood appears when it dries on a VMU?

And now I'll cheerfully
> choose not to expend any further thought on that topic... All that matters
> is that the VMU is clean and actually works. And has a Jet Grind Radio
> save file on it with porn for grafitti tag images. :/

More games should allow people to apply their own personal obscenity to
games instead of having to deal with the obscenely ugly images game
companies think should go in there...


>
> -KKC, looking at old Xboxes to modify...

Report back on useful FAQs and such; I want to examine all those sweet
files on Shenmue II...
 >> Stay informed about: Haha. Get Bass at EB... 

In article <42A87AD7.33E75582.TakeThisOut@nospam.com>,
Ted <nospamforted.TakeThisOut@nospam.com> wrote:
>Kendrick Kerwin Chua wrote:
>>
>> -KKC, looking at old Xboxes to modify...
>
>Report back on useful FAQs and such; I want to examine all those sweet
>files on Shenmue II...

Actually, as I understand it the Xbox version of Shenmue II has a pretty
high-level game engine that's cross-compatible with the data files from
the Dreamcast version. At least one hacker extracted the Japanese voice
tracks from the Dreamcast discs and inserted them into the American Xbox
game. If you're interested just in viewing Xbox disc data, the file format
is known as XISO and there are some Windows and Linux viewers for it.

Too tired to get into a deep deiscussion of the morality of console
modification, so I'll leave it alone for now.

-KKC, cutting up his EB discount card and mailing it to Pennsylvania, just
to make the point clearly.
--
--S.S.B. is the code name for America's daring, highly | kendrick @io .com
trained special mission force. Its purpose: to |
defend human freedom against al-Qaeda, a ruthless | Please don't use
terrorist organization determined to rule the world! | eBay. Ask me why.
 >> Stay informed about: Haha. Get Bass at EB... 

In article <42A879A3.5F32792B.DeleteThis@nospam.com>,
Ted <nospamforted.DeleteThis@nospam.com> wrote:
>Kendrick Kerwin Chua wrote:
>>
>> -KKC, who wonders where the hardcore shop if they don't shop at EB and
>> Gamestop. Not Amazon, and you know how I feel about eBay cheating me out
>> of $150. Is there a Fry's in Florida yet?
>
>There's more to the internet than eBay... NCS now stocks at least some
>domestic stuff, and I'd guess they'll order naything domestic that's
>available that you ask them to. And then there's Lik Sang...

You beat me to it, Ted. I'll be buying Stella Deus and the new Ys game
from NCS next pay day. NCS has never, ever let me down and they always do
everything to keep me happy.

>And Amazon Z-Shops are probably the best place to find deals on unopened
>big name games a few months after release (outside of eBay).Under $35
>before shipping for the deluxe Halo 2 in early January...

I have an inherent distrust of anything associated with Amazon, just
because of the way that they're partnered with Target and Toys R Us. It's
a stone's throw away from fraud the way they represent what's in stock,
even with the Z shop mechanism. But unlike eBay, they haven't actually
screwed me yet. That's only because I haven't bought from them yet, but
that's no reason not to nurse a grudge.

Back on topic? Which web storefront would you rather the combined EB and
Gamestop entity use, once the merger is complete? The one nice thing I'll
say about Gamestop is that they list every possible game they might have
in stock on their page. Just because their web warehouse doesn't stock it
doesn't mean you can't see if it's stock at a real retail store. Compare
this to EB, where jacked up prices for previously-owned copies of games
aren't uncommon. If they omit the lower price for the new copy, you can't
make a comparison.

On the other hand, the EB storefront uses pretty blue colors. Which is
only important if you're performing in a Tennessee Williams play. :/

-KKC, who should really stay away from the theatre jokes on this group.
--
--S.S.B. is the code name for America's daring, highly | kendrick @io .com
trained special mission force. Its purpose: to |
defend human freedom against al-Qaeda, a ruthless | Please don't use
terrorist organization determined to rule the world! | eBay. Ask me why.
 >> Stay informed about: Haha. Get Bass at EB... 

Kendrick Kerwin Chua wrote:
>
> In article <42A87AD7.33E75582 DeleteThis @nospam.com>,
> Ted <nospamforted DeleteThis @nospam.com> wrote:
> >Kendrick Kerwin Chua wrote:
> >>
> >> -KKC, looking at old Xboxes to modify...
> >
> >Report back on useful FAQs and such; I want to examine all those sweet
> >files on Shenmue II...
>
> Actually, as I understand it the Xbox version of Shenmue II has a pretty
> high-level game engine that's cross-compatible with the data files from
> the Dreamcast version. At least one hacker extracted the Japanese voice
> tracks from the Dreamcast discs and inserted them into the American Xbox
> game. If you're interested just in viewing Xbox disc data, the file format
> is known as XISO and there are some Windows and Linux viewers for it.
snip

I meant more playing as Lan Di or the other Ryo; and I don't have a
Linux boot sector on my Mac, or a Windows emulator of any power...
 >> Stay informed about: Haha. Get Bass at EB... 

Kendrick Kerwin Chua wrote:
snip
>
> Back on topic? Which web storefront would you rather the combined EB and
> Gamestop entity use, once the merger is complete? The one nice thing I'll
> say about Gamestop is that they list every possible game they might have
> in stock on their page. Just because their web warehouse doesn't stock it
> doesn't mean you can't see if it's stock at a real retail store. Compare
> this to EB, where jacked up prices for previously-owned copies of games
> aren't uncommon. If they omit the lower price for the new copy, you can't
> make a comparison.
>
> On the other hand, the EB storefront uses pretty blue colors. Which is
> only important if you're performing in a Tennessee Williams play. :/

One big plus for EB is the free shipping for an order if you buy a
previously played item using "SAVER" as your coupon code... any
previously played item... including 99¢ Genesis and SNES games. This
means anytime I'm buying a new game through the site (it doesn't happen
terribly often, but I did get Spikeout from them when it was
quesitonable that it was going to be a regular release or not, and I did
buy DOA Ultimate when it was $20 new), I end up with 99¢ shipping and a
16 bit game I've never owned before.
I also did that with the $4.99 N-Gage accessory pack (which came with
the $0 or $50 original price tag still on it). They're all gone now; did
you get the last one?

But keeping GameStop's inventory checker would be nice, even if it's
wrong a bunch of the time.
 >> Stay informed about: Haha. Get Bass at EB... 

In article <42A8D27F.7D0D3BDB.RemoveThis@nospam.com>,
Ted <nospamforted.RemoveThis@nospam.com> wrote:
<snip>
>But keeping GameStop's inventory checker would be nice, even if it's
>wrong a bunch of the time.

This is the fault of the local store more than it is of the database,
since individual stores are responsible for keeping their stock
information up to date. EBGames online takes responsibility for the
accuracy (or lack thereof) in their retail stock locator. Therefore I have
no problem criticizing them or their shoddy storefront.

The likely scenario? The worst faults of both websites will be combined
into a single unusable moster. I say this after having days to calm down
and rationally consider whether or not to keep buying from EB Games. I
still don't want to.

-KKC, who wonders when the hell Warner Brothers got into publishing...
--
--S.S.B. is the code name for America's daring, highly | kendrick @io .com
trained special mission force. Its purpose: to |
defend human freedom against al-Qaeda, a ruthless | Please don't use
terrorist organization determined to rule the world! | eBay. Ask me why.
 >> Stay informed about: Haha. Get Bass at EB...