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• Retro Horror: Canadian Game Prices

  The reign of the SNES was a troubling time for me. The deluge of great games was seemingly never-ending, but I wasn't quite old enough to buy my own crack (that would come with the next generation of systems). With my family, video games were very much a Sometimes treat. Here's the main reason why: The Canadian dollar has never been a strongman—except for a brief stretch of time last year when the US dollar finally tanked entirely and the Loonie vaulted over the Greenback. The US dollar has since recovered (and I've put away the noose I wove for myself; most of my employers are American, and my bank thought I was the butt of a cruel joke), but it's not as powerful as it was in 1995. So I dished out a lot of money for SNES games. God look back on the day when Nintendo announced it was sticking to cartridges for the N64, and have pity on my broken soul. Read More... Posted Mar 05 2009, 11:22 PM by Nadia Oxford with | with 4 comment(s) Filed under: snes, rpg, final fantasy vi, retro, super nintendo, retail, nadia oxford, game prices, canada

• Will New Games Stay at $60?

  It may be hard to believe, but games are cheaper now than they've ever been; in fact, if you adjust for inflation, the cost of admission for gaming has gone down pretty drastically over time. 30 years ago, you could buy an Atari 2600 for $199, and in the mid-90s, a non-first-party cartridge game could set you back anywhere between 70 and 90 bucks--and keep in mind I didn't adjust these prices to account for the current value of the American dollar. From the 32-bit era and onwards, though, gamers got a bit of relief; it seemed like 50 dollars was going to be the standard price for a new game--which is why it was somewhat of a shock to hear that this standard would be moving up to $60 when the current-gen started just a handful of years ago. Now, the cost of a new game at retail may be a bargain when compared to what we used to pay for gaming, but with so many options available--and a lack of disposable income in the world today--you have to wonder how long it'll be before new games appear on the shelves at $50 (or lower) again. Read More... Posted Mar 03 2009, 12:00 PM by Bob Mackey with | with 5 comment(s) Filed under: retail, bob mackey, gamestop, recession, economy, game prices

• WTFriday: GameStop's Guide to Women

  Note to readers: WTFriday is a weekly feature where I find something stupid about video games and get you to laugh until it goes away. Please try to forget this is what I normally do every day of the week. I don't shop at GameStop, mainly because of their policy of treating customer like pieces of human excrement who deserve to be murdered on the spot if they don't happen to want a magazine subscription. The last time I wandered into a GameStop was out of necessity; I wanted to pick up a Game Boy Player for my GameCube, and was promptly treated like the biggest asshole on the planet for assuming one existed in the store--even though one did. My constant mistreatment at the hands of people stuck in terrible retail jobs (I speak from past experience) has made me a devoted Amazon.com customer, but more importantly, it's also made me wonder how retail monoliths like GameStop treat their casual customers when they show such contempt for devoted nerds like you or I.  Thankfully, a GameStop training video recently leaked to the Internet may just provide an answer to this query. Behold, GameStop's "Understanding and Selling to Our Expanded Audience," or, "What to Do When There's a G-G-G-G-Girl in the Store." Like all employee training videos, it's extremely patronizing, both to the intended audience and the subject itself. Most of the advice is just common sense, though it all comes packaged in a glorious corporate creepiness that involves tapping into the deepest fears and insecurities of your customers. Let's watch. Video after the cut. Read More... Posted Feb 27 2009, 02:00 PM by Bob Mackey with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: retail, youtube, video, bob mackey, wtfriday, gamestop

• Nintendo Customer Service Training Video Gives Disturbing Look Into the World of Retail

  Thanks to my friends over at the Retronauts Twitter, I've recently been made aware of a disturbing piece of Nintendo history--well, it's only disturbing because I once worked video game retail. I was never forced to watch any training videos, as the company motto of "badger all customers into buying whatever you want them to" was simple enough to remember without any formal brainwashing. However, if you happened to work as a Nintendo rep in the early 90s, a multimedia experience was necessary to inform you why Nintendo was infallible and all of your customers were wrong. Let's just forget the fact that the way old NESes loaded cartridges eventually caused most systems to stop reading them entirely--everything can be solved with a cleaning kit! And soon you will see how. Stick it to those rotten customers after the cut. Read More... Posted Feb 04 2009, 02:00 PM by Bob Mackey with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: nintendo, nes, retro, retail, video, bob mackey

• Bob's Game Invades The Nintendo World Store

  Bob, the human being who single-handedly created Bob's Game (and won't let us forget about it) continues his steady descent into madness. So why talk about this poor creature? Because his empty-headed flailing is something I'm helpless to turn away from. If you ever saw a man fall from fifteen storeys up, you'd be similarly horrified, but your eyes would trace his vertical path until the final wet thud of impact. “Bob” has put together a video of his attempt to seed the Nintendo World Store with a handful of Bob's Games. Those of you who have worked in retail will no doubt feel some memories surface like poison gas bubbles from the depths of a bad well. Bob's methods of advertising and distribution are pushy, messy and obnoxious, not unlike the homeless regular who'd turn your gas station into his own personal pulpit and deflect your threads to call the police by waving around a bag of Funyuns and declaring diplomatic immunity as a “paying customer.” When the police sirens finally cry out Bob's name from a distance, you're glad to hear them. The video gives us a look at what I'm assuming is the finished game. Interestingly, the promotion also presents the very clear reason why Nintendo won't pick up the game with a used tissue. Read More... Posted Feb 02 2009, 11:20 AM by Nadia Oxford with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: nintendo ds, retail, nadia oxford, nintendo world store, bob's game

• Video Games: Bigger, But Still Not Bigger Than Movies

  It seems like every year somebody tries to tell us that this is the year games got bigger than movies. It’s never true. Usually that headline is followed up by some cooked numbers comparing overall game hardware and software sales to just first-run movie tickets. It’s not even apples to oranges. It’s more like apples to entire vegetable aisle. This year’s take on the theme is that boxed videogame sales finally exceeded DVD and Blu-Ray movie sales in 2008. It’s a much more honest presentation than we’re used to getting with this story, but it’s still worth breaking down so we know exactly how the industries compare. Read More... Posted Jan 27 2009, 09:00 AM by Joe Keiser with | with no comments Filed under: retail, statistics, ps3, sales, joe keiser, winning at any cost, blu-ray

• Gaming: A Throwaway Hobby?

  The human race has some pretty appalling habits, this we know. But if I were to flog one of society's particularly vile traits, it would be our tendency to declare, “not my problem” as we chuck refuse into the dumpster. It's not that I'm down on trash cans. Trash cans work hard and keep our cities clean. But as a recent message board post Europe-Nintendo illustrates, when we sort our refuse we have some issues differentiating between old coffee grounds and perfectly good toys and food that will let a child, y'know, not be sad or hungry for a little while. There are certain legalities when it comes to disposal of retail products. A restaurant claims it can't do anything useful with its food at the end of the day because food poisoning risks might bite them in court some day. Likewise, returned toys might contain a dislodged part that will poke some kid in the eye. But there's something decidedly sad about throwing out dozens, maybe hundreds, of video games. Read More... Posted Jan 26 2009, 10:55 PM by Nadia Oxford with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: gamecube, retail, nadia oxford, nintendo-europe

• Indiana Mackey and the Kingdom of the Cardboard Box

  When it comes to the corporeal state of games, most of us are pretty jaded; and rightfully so. Speaking as someone who only recently realized the emptiness of carrying around a bunch of plastic junk from apartment to apartment, I've grown to welcome the age of digital downloads and its inherent lack of box-lifting.  I don't think I'm missing out on anything by not having a space-wasting DVD case for every XBLA game I have on my hard drive; and yet, certain things bring me back to the time of unbridled video game materialism that was the not-too-distant past.  Since the conveniences of Gamefly, Steam, and the XBox Marketplace have entered my life, I've cut down the time I spend in brick and mortar retailers by about 99 percent.  But on the few instances I leave the loving embrace of my apartment, I usually stumble upon an artifact of Gaming Past that's too good to pass up.  And I can't exactly ignore the tiny, capitalist gremlin shrieking in my brain.  He controls my thoughts, you see. Read More... Posted Dec 16 2008, 11:00 AM by Bob Mackey with | with 4 comment(s) Filed under: deus ex, gaming culture, retail, bob mackey, pc games, chrono trigger ds

• Does Games Writing Need To Be More Accessible?

  Writer Leigh Alexander put together a great piece for Kotaku reminding us that many of the shelf-scanning customers at GameStop are not like you or I. The average gamer doesn't pay attention to reviews. They don't know a Miyamoto from an Igarashi. And they drink blood, but they're capable of walking in the daylight. It's easy to assume that everyone within the walls of your local game retailer is a kindred spirit who will fire back with "It's-a-me!" as soon as you say, "Mario." Alexander's column reminded me that for every fruitful conversation about games I've had with an EB Games clerk, there have been ten instances of broken eye contact and embarrassed mumblings. "The World Ends With You? N-nah. Not into anime. I like Call of Duty." Alexander talks about game reviewers' tendency to keep the different tiers of gamers distanced from one another. There's not an intentional push to scare newcomers away from game publications and websites, but Alexander likens the typical video game review to a music review in Pitchfork Magazine. Someone who says, "I dig music and I want to read about music" is going to be scared away by Pitchfork's jargon-heavy breakdown of the album of the moment. Similarly, game reviews tend to reference past titles, past developers and use words and terms that a newcomer (and there are more and more of these lately) isn't going to understand. Read More... Posted Nov 25 2008, 05:10 PM by Nadia Oxford with | with 7 comment(s) Filed under: kotaku, feature, writing, retail, nadia oxford, gamestop, leigh alexander games journalism, casual gamers, hardcore gamers

• Go Commando With Your Lunch This Winter

  Hey, is anyone out there in the market for a new best friend? 'Cause I'm totally serious about pledging allegiance to anyone who pre-orders Bionic Commando from GameCrazy and gives me the bonus metal lunchbox. From the Capcom Unity blog: "Bionic Commando is all about the old school style. Neon red hair, awesome sunglasses, and now lunch boxes and patches! The lunch box is a part of a very limited run, and you can only get ‘em if you preorder at GameCrazy. The sides have Nathan swinging through the old school levels of the original BC, with the original box art on the top of one side, and the old com on the other." Like so:   Read More... Posted Nov 19 2008, 07:36 PM by Nadia Oxford with | with 4 comment(s) Filed under: bionic commando, retail, nadia oxford, gamestop, bonuses, lunchbox, gamecrazy, rad spencer, pre-order

• The Reason Why Mother 3 Never Came to America

  None. There is no good reason why Mother 3 never came to America. Oh, there are a couple of valid reasons why we never officially received Earthbound's follow-up, but they're not necessarily good. The easiest blame can be laid on finances. We are elbow-deep in the era of the Nintendo DS right now and the heyday of the Game Boy Advance is long over. Nintendo might get away with releasing all three Mother games in a DS collection, but that's obviously not going to happen in a grand hurry. By now, the universe knows that the original Earthbound bombed on the Super Nintendo. Nintendo did a beautiful, loving job with the packaging and translation, but dropped the marketing ball hard enough to cannonball clear to China. Earthbound was marketed as a cheesy science fiction game brimming with toilet humour, which it wasn't. Alas, a mass-mailing of scratch-and-sniff stickers made to smell like rancid pizza will do a lot to kill an appetite for game. Besides, after experiencing the majesty of Final Fantasy VI and Chrono Trigger, why would anyone want to fight against giant piles of barf? I sure didn't. Earthbound tanked, Nintendo made up their mind about American tastes and Mother 3 never had a chance at a ticket to America. Since the release of the translation patch, however, more than one person has claimed that maybe Nintendo's fear of another financial disaster wasn't the only thing keeping Mother 3 from the States. There was suddenly talk about in-game content being inappropriate for American audiences: the dark story, the characters (oh, the characters) and whatnot. God knows Japan has thousands of little quirks that only those born under its flag can truly appreciate, but I don't see how Mother 3 is one of them. Read More... Posted Oct 27 2008, 05:35 AM by Nadia Oxford with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: snes, earthbound, mother 3, super nintendo, retail, censorship, game boy advance, nadia oxford, profits

• Yahtzee Wannabe Warns You About the GameStop Devil

  Maybe the word "ripoff" is a little harsh. "Zero Originality" acknowledges its roots through its name alone, but it really does try to be its own thing--and, surprisingly, it succeeds. The Internet has assured me of human beings' ability to parrot whatever's popular. Can we scream about the tragedy of bad retro games without adopting James Rolfe's endearing facial expressions? Check. Can we attempt to put down the fruits of developers' loins with adorable pictures and a smooth British accent that pleases the Queen like a new corgi puppy? Check-a-rooney, though the key word here is "attempt." Zero Originality embraces Yahtzee's fast-talking manner and his special breed of stick-people, but at the heart of the videos is not a game critic but rather a game retail critic who's done his share of monkeywork behind the counter of GameStop. This disgruntled gentleman serves our game-loving species by not only warning us away from the brick-and-mortar behemoth that feeds him (or fed him), but by giving us good reasons why we should stay the eff away. Read More... Posted Sep 08 2008, 06:31 PM by Nadia Oxford with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: yahtzee, retail, youtube, fan stuff, nadia oxford, eb games, zero originality, used games, gamestop

• Listen to Video Games Live in your Car

  Tommy Tallarico isn't everyone's bestest friend, but his project, Video Games Live, is certainly worth seeing (listening to?) if it comes to your town. Video Games Live combines orchestrated versions of classic gaming tunes with recorded footage from the respective games. It's a relaxing, memorable way to spend an evening. It might not be possible to attend Video Games Live if you live out in the middle of yemesvelt with coyotes for companions; the show tends to stick to larger cities in North and South America as well as Europe and Asia. Well, hang on to your opossum pelts: this summer, EMI Classics will be distributing a Video Games Live collection over iTunes and on CD. If there's one weakness Video Games Live can be faulted for, it's the lack of retro remixes. Sure, mainstays like the Super Mario Bros theme and the famous Tetris jingles are present, but for all the leaping and yelping Tallarico does about being oldskool, you won't hear much from the pre-Playstation era at his show. At the show I attended, Tallarico mentioned he got a lot of requests for Chrono Trigger music. He finally obliged...with Chrono Cross. Ergo, don't be surprised when you look at the playlist and notice a lot of material from the current and last generation. Read More... Posted Jul 07 2008, 03:10 PM by Nadia Oxford with | with no comments Filed under: game music, retro, video games live, itunes, cd, tommy tallarico, ipod, retail