There's No "L"

I have decided that it is finally time to take the plunge and buy a game for my PS3, which has been functioning basically as a glorified PS2 since I bought it. This arrangement has been just fine with me because, after upgrading the firmware and over HDMI cables, I don't notice any image degradation when playing PS2 games on PS3---in fact, the picture looks better than it does on my PS2, which is connected via composite cable, which, for the uninitiated, is pretty much just a shoelace and a couple of paperclips.

There haven't been any games that have been worth my $60 just yet. My husband almost broke down and bought Sonic the Hedgehog, but I stopped him just in the nick of time. Most of what is out there so far is racing, real sports, or trash. Since I, personally, am not particularly interested in any of those fine genres, I've taken a pass on the offerings thus far. The lack of substance in the current catalog is also the main reason I've found myself interested in Virtua Fighter 5. I wholeheartedly prefer Soul Caliber, and Killa is a Tekken man through and through. Although I don't have any dislike of Virtua Fighter, it is definitely a distant third for me, falling well behind the Namco/Bandai contenders. I would like to take this opportunity to review Virtua Fighter 5, but I can't, because I haven't played it yet.

At this point I should interject that Killa warned me against airing this tirade. "Don't pick on EB Games/Gamestop," he says, "It's too easy, and anyway it's kind of ripping off Penny Arcade."

On Tuesday, misinformed about the street date of VF5, Killa and I went to down to Ye Olde Game Shoppe. Not the closest location, though. In addition to VF5, I wanted to pick up La Pucelle Tactics for my hubby, and an inventory search of their website showed that only a more distant location had this particular used item in stock. Once we arrived, La Pucelle was procured in short order; I then asked for Virtua Fighter 5.

"That's not out 'til tomorrow," I was told. That’s alright. I realized I had my dates mixed up, or read the website wrong, but it was no biggie. The real prize, La Pucelle, was in hand. Then, the clerk added, "Did you preorder it?" I said I had not.

"Mmmm. Then you won’t be able to get it," chimed in the manager.

"What? Why?" I asked.

"Because it’s going to be sold out," she said.

"Sold out here, you mean?"

"No. . . . everywhere. Nobody is going to have this game. Trust me," she said, with the same sort of ominous tone that is usually reserved for warning one about the dangers of blu-ray lasers. I found that very hard to believe, since Best Buy and the other "big box" retailers usually have scads of these games on hand when they come out---scads, that is, that haven’t already been presold.

"Why don’t you preorder it now?" offered the clerk. "It's just five dollars down and you can come pick it up tomorrow." Now, remember, I’m at the location that is not nearest to my home. That’s part of the reason I don’t preorder to begin with---it necessitates two trips to the store, whereas I really feel that one trip should be sufficient to, you know, buy the thing I came in for. Before I could answer, the manager piped up as well:

"They only send me as many copies as I've presold, plus maybe one extra copy, so if you don’t preorder it, I won’t have one for you." At this, I became incensed. Since the game was to come out the next day, it must have already been shipped. So all the copies she was going to receive were already in the store, or on the way. Yet, they were still trying to take my preorder money on something I was just told would not be available for me the next day.

"So what you’re telling me," I reasoned aloud, "Is that I should not come here tomorrow to try to buy this game?"

"Right."

"In fact, I should never come to your store to buy a new game, unless I've preordered it?"

"Right." And that was all I needed to hear.

The cardinal rule of sales is the ABC rule, to always be closing. I would add a prerequisite to that: For brick-and-mortar retail stores, before you can even begin to close, you have to have the customer in your store; that is, physically in your presence. If the customer is in your store, then you can sell her something. Or at least try to. If the customer is not in your store, then your opportunity for sales is totally null. Telling the customer not to come to your store is the opposite of everything you are endeavoring to do by running a store that sells items.

Although, in fact, this store seems not to sell items.

I understand this phenomenon of scarcity. In the electronic game industry, unsold stock is a huge liability. Price cuts happen all the time, and unsold stock can't be returned to its manufacturer. Moreover, there is no accurate advance predictor of how well a given game will sell. In the movie industry, one can analyze the box office grosses to estimate how many DVDs are going to sell, but there's no such preview for games. It only makes sense for EB Games/Gamestop to stock only as many copies of a game as they are guaranteed to sell. The difficulty in buying a new game on release day from this store is not at issue.

The issue is this: When I do preorder a game, even if I pay in full for it up front at the time of the order, I must pick the game up within 48 hours of its release date, lest it be sold to someone else. Now, in my experience, when I have paid for something in full, it is mine and belongs to me, but the policies at this establishment disagree, which makes me uneasy. In addition---the primary reason that I do not preorder games---I frequently change my mind and my plans. I don’t want to have to drive to Shelbyville to pick up my game when I'm hanging out in Springfield all day. Or if I happen to be at a mall in Capitol City, it’s easier for me to pick the game up there rather than making a stop back in Springfield after my shopping spree.

I left with La Pucelle and a heavy heart, but this tale has a happy ending. On my way home from work this afternoon I stopped by the Gamestop that is nearest to my home. I strolled in and enquired as to whether there might be a copy of Virtua Fighter 5 on hand that I could readily purchase. The clerk looked at me like I had three heads---but only briefly, before handing me my game.

"I didn't preorder this," I said, "Is it really OK for me to buy? I heard this was going to be sold out everywhere?"

The clerk only snorted, and asked "Who told you that?"