Game/Gamestation get kicked in the balls.

[=sw=warlord]

GAME Group will not be stocking any EA games past SSX in March, including Mass Effect 3, Eurogamer has discovered. This encompasses all GAME and Gamestation stores.Various GAME and Gamestation staff alerted Eurogamer to this situation after a company-wide memo was sent out at around 10.30am this morning.Eurogamer has secured an image of this memo (http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-02-29-revealed-games-memo-to-staff-on-mass-effect-3-cancellation), which also reveals that FIFA Street 3, Tiger Woods 13 and Sims 3 Showtime will also not be stocked by GAME Group.Eurogamer has corroborated this information with individual GAME Group stores. The last stocked EA game will be SSX, we were told.If you have a pre-order, GAME will refund you via in-store credit, rather than with cash.


http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-02-29-game-not-stocking-mass-effect-3-or-ea-games-past-ssx (http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-02-29-game-not-stocking-mass-effect-3-or-ea-games-past-ssx)

[Limited]

Bout time someone sticks up to EA. For those of you who don't know what Game/Gamestation is. Its one of, if not the largest video game retailers of games in the UK. They are basically the same company, which is slightly weird I dont see why they don't just consolidate them into all either only Game stores, or only Gamestation stores.

[NullZero]

From N4G:

It's not that GAME are p'ed off... it's that publishers are p'ed off with GAME.

GAME were getting their stock on credit but weren't able to pay it back, so now publishers are refusing to send them stock unless it's paid up front.

That's why they weren't stocking Ubisoft's PSVita titles and why they won't be stocking EA's titles. Nothing to do with Origin or discs preventing resale, simply, GAME can't afford to buy games...

People are pretty much getting their games from amazon or through digital distribution which is greatly eating into GAME's finance. Wouldn't be surprised if they looked towards digital distribution themselves.

[Amit]

Bout time someone sticks up to EA. For those of you who don't know what Game/Gamestation is. Its one of, if not the largest video game retailers of games in the UK. They are basically the same company, which is slightly weird I dont see why they don't just consolidate them into all either only Game stores, or only Gamestation stores.

Are you fucking kidding me? There's really nothing wrong with EA when compared to Activision.

[=sw=warlord]

Are you fucking kidding me? There's really nothing wrong with EA when compared to Activision.
Origin.
Online passes.

[Warsaw]

People need to get over Origin, it's not that bad. While I agree that the pricing disparity between the USA and Europe is terrible, online passes themselves are fine. What really sucks is on-disc DLC, which is not something that EA alone has done.

[TVTyrant]

What the hell is game group?

[NullZero]

What the hell is game group?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_(retailer)

Brick and mortar stores found predominantely in the UK

[Mr Buckshot]

Are you fucking kidding me? There's really nothing wrong with EA when compared to Activision.

planned-in-advance DLC that isn't any better than what a good team of modders could do
console online passes (activision wins on this one)
refusal to have split screen in console games - this really pissed me off for the racing titles. Again activision wins here.
banning people from the games they legally bought just for saying something slightly annoying but otherwise harmless on the FORUMS.

I don't have a problem with the Origin software - experienced way worse before. But it's the above that makes EA as bad as Activision if not worse.

as for GAME, what's their service like compared to EB/Gamestop in North America? I avoid EB/Gamestop like the plague nowadays except maybe to buy last-gen console accessories that the big-box department stores don't have. Seriously, selling a used game for $5 less than the new game, and not even giving a manual or even the real box art? Not to mention how they let their employees open new games before release and play them early, then sell those opened games as brand new.

[Amit]

Origin.
Online passes.

What don't you like about Origin? And EA isn't the only one that does online passes, at least I don't think they do it exclusively.


planned-in-advance DLC that isn't any better than what a good team of modders could do

You're going to fault them for that when every other major publisher has done the same thing except Bethesda? Also, Crytek and Epic Games release free SDK tools. Btw, remember when MW2 has DLC on the disc and then you had to buy the stupid DLC even though you already had it physically and digitally.


console online passes (activision wins on this one)

If you buy the game new this is not something that affects you.


refusal to have split screen in console games - this really pissed me off for the racing titles. Again activision wins here.

EA is the only one that does this? Activision is the next biggest culprit. Not to mention that Activision doesn't publish any racing games that are notable or even worth playing. NASCAR? You like to drive in circles? Good for you. Blur is probably the only good racing game Activision published and it's not even that fun, but the 4-player splitscreen is intense if you have a large TV.


banning people from the games they legally bought just for saying something slightly annoying but otherwise harmless on the FORUMS.

Well now you're just looking for something to bash EA on. If you went through and read up on what actually happened, you'd see that EA had no part in those bannings. It was all those fucktards up at Bioware who were dishing out the banhammer based on bullshit.


But it's the above that makes EA as bad as Activision if not worse.

Is this some sort of ridiculous joke? The major difference between the two is that EA publishes good games and Activision pumps out mainly rubbish (that's not to say they don't have some pretty good games; it's the same deal with Ubisoft and their draconian DRM).

All Activision has going for it right now is the Call of Duty mania that it's trying to brainwash everyone to fall for. They want you to invest hundreds of dollars into that mindless bullshit every year to make them even more impossibly rich than they already are. Granted they are a large company and others like EA and Ubisoft would love to take lots of your money as well, but the point is that the other guys aren't unreasonable with their strategies. What Activision has been doing for 2 or so years now is mindbogglingly ludicrous!

[Bodzilla]

I dont support trash period.

[NullZero]

Never thought that GAME was any good tbh. Their prices were just way too high over competition (read:amazon). I've only been in the actual store a few times, and I personally didn't find anything else that much wrong. Apparently the staff are appalling though.

[=sw=warlord]

What don't you like about Origin?

I'll start off from the beginning for this.

the first thing that happens on my pc when Origin loads up is my entire system freezes until Origin is loaded and then resumes to normal.
Nothing else on my system locks my system in such a way, processing usage doesn't increase nor does anything else which might give reason for such behavior.

The second thing is certain games are tied to origin in order to function, I do not wish to waste memory and processing power running a application just to play the games I've purchased.
Game overlay chat doesn't interest me so that's been disabled, but the fact that I am required this software just to run my games is comparable to me having to see an adviser at the bank every time I want to use any portion of my money.
Once a game is activated on Origin you cannot use the activation code again, if I for what ever reason were to require a new account, those games I have on disk cannot be activated again on a new account.




[online passes]
If you buy the game new this is not something that affects you.

Actually it does affect me, if for instance I were to want to use a new gametag on the xbox for some reason, perhaps my account was stolen then I would not be able to transfer my online pass to my new account, I would effectively be paying a fee to play a portion of the game I have already paid for.

[Zeph]

What don't you like about Origin?

It invokes explorer.exe to scan files outside of directories related to any game published by EA? The Origin EULA says it won't do that? It's unknown just what, how, or when Origin does anything about things it has invoked explorer.exe to scan?

[Mr Buckshot]

Once a game is activated on Origin you cannot use the activation code again, if I for what ever reason were to require a new account, those games I have on disk cannot be activated again on a new account.


Isn't this a "problem" with Steam too? Although to be fair, Steam's more secure and its frequent deals make rebuying less painful on the wallet.


You're going to fault them for that when every other major publisher has done the same thing except Bethesda? Also, Crytek and Epic Games release free SDK tools. Btw, remember when MW2 has DLC on the disc and then you had to buy the stupid DLC even though you already had it physically and digitally.


Fair enough, you could say I had my hopes up when BC2 on PC received free maps, and then suddenly it's map-pack DLC galore afterwards. And yeah, Activision is the worst at this kind of DLC stuff (THQ is a runner-up with their saints row crap), but I did think EA would be better than that especially when they were claiming BF3 to be a PC-first game.



EA is the only one that does this? Activision is the next biggest culprit. Not to mention that Activision doesn't publish any racing games that are notable or even worth playing. NASCAR? You like to drive in circles? Good for you. Blur is probably the only good racing game Activision published and it's not even that fun, but the 4-player splitscreen is intense if you have a large TV.


While EA isn't the only one, it's still one of the more prominent in a minority of anti-splitscreen publishers. One of the things my friends like about COD on consoles, however shitty/rehashed it is, is that the co-op can be played in split screen, and that guests can join in split screen to play a full online match. It's not about "buying 1 copy vs 4" or "avoiding the subscription to an online service". I place a high value on the ability to play with my friends on the same couch and trash talk in the same room, which is why I even bother with consoles at all. It's often the case that the people I splitscreen with already have their own copies.

while BF3 is a much better game, my friends who lack good PCs will understandably still play COD more often, and that's solely because of the split screen. Come on, even MS and Sony have split screen in their first-party titles. And Ubisoft too.

[=sw=warlord]

Isn't this a "problem" with Steam too? Although to be fair, Steam's more secure and its frequent deals make rebuying less painful on the wallet.


Not all steam enabled games require steam.
Most games purchased on steam come with a CD key which Origin does not, Steam sales are the only reason I even have any games on Steam.

[Nero]

Speaking of Origin, I have 15 percent off any released game in the store. If you want it, let me know. :)

Edit: Origin is down. The update has bugged it, so it won't open. Don't install update if you want to play offline until they fix it.

Edit 2: Fix to the bug:
http://battlelog.battlefield.com/bf3/forum/threadview/2832654624910199797/

[Limited]

Never thought that GAME was any good tbh. Their prices were just way too high over competition (read:amazon). I've only been in the actual store a few times, and I personally didn't find anything else that much wrong. Apparently the staff are appalling though.I went off them ever since they sold me Red Dead Redemption LE with used redeem codes, on release date. Thieving bastards.

To be honest when it comes to buying DVDs and games I don't really have any brand loyalty - its all about price. I do tend to use HMV online, shipping is pretty good and I get 10% off every order, which can make it cheapest place around.

[=sw=warlord]

...Game are owned by Gamestop.

[Mr Buckshot]

...Game are owned by Gamestop.

Oh I see, didn't realize that before lol. Makes perfect sense.

Do they also sell refurbished handheld systems where the battery dies in 2 hours?

[Kornman00]

Gamestop. Where I got to buy 2nd rate console games at 3rd rate prices

[=sw=warlord]

Oh I see, didn't realize that before lol. Makes perfect sense.

Do they also sell refurbished handheld systems where the battery dies in 2 hours?
Whilst I was at Gamestation they were selling MW2 for £42.99 whilst Black ops was £36.99, PRE-OWNED.
Meanwhile second hand PSP's were £100 without any adaptors other than a usb to recharge.

[=sw=warlord]

MCV has learnt that senior members of the GAME management teams have been told to brace for the possibility of administration.
Senior staff were told at a meeting with CEO Ian Shepherd earlier this week that the chain has approximately two weeks to turn its fortunes around.

http://kotaku.com/5891946/the-future-does-not-look-like-fun-for-retail-chain-game (http://kotaku.com/5891946/the-future-does-not-look-like-fun-for-retail-chain-game)


WELP

[RedBaron]

Gamestop. Where I got to buy 2nd rate console games at 3rd rate prices

Gamestop: Where I fought back at the system and sold them a faulty 360, during double sell back price week no less.

[TVTyrant]

Gamestop: Where I fought back at the system and sold them a faulty 360, during double sell back price week no less.
mother fuckin win

[Amit]

Gamestop: Where I fought back at the system and sold them a faulty 360, during double sell back price week no less.

Hell, Yes!.

[=sw=warlord]

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/gamestation-to-be-sacrificed-as-new-company-emerges-from-game-s-ashes/093064

C (http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/gamestation-to-be-sacrificed-as-new-company-emerges-from-game-s-ashes/093064)alled it.
Game and Gamestation are gone.