Support NeoGAF

[GDJustin]

I don't believe that this actually happened and I certainly don't believe its company policy.

 

[ChrisReid]

wow. Somebody needs to kick that guys ass. I take it Fry's doesn't put a limit on the amount of copies one can buy?

Yeah, the Fry's Ad says Limit 1 on Madden. This is totally bogus. Even if some crazy District Manager got this idea in his head, it's surely against company policy and a massive refund transacted into a store's computer would generate big red flags and people would get fired.

 

[xsarien]

I don't believe that this actually happened and I certainly don't believe its company policy.

Well, far be it from Manabyte to actually offer some kind of proof outside of his word and some anecdotal evidence.

 

[Madame M]

People who buy Madden every year should pay $50 anyway.

APPROVED.

 

[Wario64]

People who buy Madden every year should pay $50 anyway.

APPROVED.

at least until this year

$60 next gen madden starting november!

 

[meelk]

Bullshit. Stores have policies agaisnt vendors doing this type of shit. Even though its not illegal, I cant imagine a 16 year old peon working at EB giving a shit enough to do this type of thing for corporate.

thats why a 16 yr old peon doesnt do it. A manager or asst. manager does.

 

[meelk]

I don't believe that this actually happened and I certainly don't believe its company policy.

Well, bluntly, you are wrong. I've done this myself when I managed a store.

 

[Zeo]

Proof and reasoning is cool!

 

[meelk]

Yeah, the Fry's Ad says Limit 1 on Madden. This is totally bogus. Even if some crazy District Manager got this idea in his head, it's surely against company policy and a massive refund transacted into a store's computer would generate big red flags and people would get fired.

Where do you think the district manager gets his instructions from? This kind of thing comes directly from corporate.

 

[Nintendo Ate My Children]

Bullshit. Stores have policies agaisnt vendors doing this type of shit.

Oh, my yes. Because retail store policy is never broken, having been writ large in stone by lightning, carrying the full weight and force of absolutely nothing.

 

[Teddman]

It would be illegal, or at least a violation of Fry's store policy, if Fry's stipulated "No dealers" (as I often see in circulars) for this sale.

 

[Ninja Scooter]

and i bet that same EB's will tell you "Hmm, did you preorder?" if you go in there today and ask for a copy of Madden. Fuck EBs/Gamestop. I can't imagine why ANYONE would want to shop their anyway.

 

[meelk]

Its retail life, get over it.

 

[dskillzhtown]

Proof and reasoning is cool!

Not on GAF

 

[Wario64]

limit 1 per customer...those peons must have had a hell of a trip

 

[Ristamar]

limit 1 per customer...those peons must have had a hell of a trip

...Or the register biscuits just didn't give a fuck.

 

[ManaByte]

Well, far be it from Manabyte to actually offer some kind of proof outside of his word and some anecdotal evidence.

Huh? I'm not Olimario and don't stalk people with a camera, so I don't have photographic evidence.

 

[xsarien]

Huh? I'm not Olimario and don't stalk people with a camera, so I don't have photographic evidence.

So you saw the employees hop in the EB Dangermobile, rally on down to Fry's, each by as many copies as they could afford (or Fry's would allow), and drive back to their own store and sticker them?

Or maybe the game is just POPULAR?

 

[fennec fox]

This is about the the Nth thread where Mana makes up some bold story then acts all surprised and miffed when people ask him for actual proof.

 

[CB3]

Damnit i hope fry's still has copies left when i go at 6:00. If not im gonna have to pray that circuit city still has some left.

 

[ManaByte]

So you saw the employees hop in the EB Dangermobile, rally on down to Fry's, each by as many copies as they could afford (or Fry's would allow), and drive back to their own store and sticker them?

Or maybe the game is just POPULAR?

No, when I was at Fry's I heard from someone else there that the EB guys bought up what Fry's had and I went down to EB and they had a stack of PS2 and Xbox versions behind the counter with Fry's tags on them.

And Wario, you won't see sticker residue because they'll use the heat gun they use to re-shrink games to heat the Fry's tags off the copies before they resell them.

 

[madara]

is that even legal?

see, while you idiots are worrying about EA being evil, you're buying your latest lameass little japanese RPG from the devil himself. Shame on you all.

WTF? I know reading in video game is abit scary at first :lol

 

[HomerSimpson-Man]

Wow, that's just lame.

 

[Ninja Scooter]

WTF? I know reading in video game is abit scary at first :lol

reading about what? Some spikey haired, doe eyed little 13 year old misunderstood orphan who has to "save the world" again? No thanks.

 

[daegan]

I've never, ever heard of anything like this and it all sounds more than a little bit crazy.

 

[meelk]

I'm just going to repeat my post people apparently missed
AS AN EB STORE MANAGER I WAS INSTRUCTED TO DO THIS ON AT LEAST ONE OCCASION BY CORPORATE.
It DOES happen.

 

[Amused_To_Death]

No, when I was at Fry's I heard from someone else there that the EB guys bought up what Fry's had and I went down to EB and they had a stack of PS2 and Xbox versions behind the counter with Fry's tags on them.

And Wario, you won't see sticker residue because they'll use the heat gun they use to re-shrink games to heat the Fry's tags off the copies before they resell them.

I can see this actually happening, but not as you initially described it. Maybe EB needed few extra copies and asked few people to run to Fry's and get them. Or maybe the EB guys bought it for themselves or friends. You made it sound like an army of EB employees raided the Fry store and bought every Madden in sight. It also could be Fry's employees wanting to blame EB for having so few copies. I can see them using 20% of their inventory as loss leaders, but they're not going to sell every Madden they get below wholesale.

 

[Alcibiades]

Is there even a lot of Madden hype this year?

I went to EBgames today and the store was pretty quite... moms asking for GBA's and stuff like that... lots of Madden copies behind the glass... I thought it would be packed and stuff but maybe everybody got it during midnight (if they had one)...

I pre-ordered Nintendogs (including the pre-order baggie bonus)...

 

[123rl]

123rl: Madden 2006 is sold to gamestores at around $45 or so. Fry's is using it as a loss leader, to bring people in to buy not only Madden but other products they'll make better profit from.

Really? I had no idea they'd make so little on it (or even sell it at a loss)

I was just under the assumption that every game is bought at wholesale for a roughly similar price (65-75% of the retail price). I'm surprised that some games have so little markup per unit, although I guess the argument for it is that they sell so many Madden games that the retailers can afford to make profit less per unit

(or EA are so profit-hungry that they demand more money from the retailers and wholesalers for games that they know will sell well)

 

[WasabiKing]

Listen, if there is no proof of this, I'm locking this thread. Please, no more "sky is falling topics" if you truly cannot prove any of this.

 

[ManaByte]

Listen, if there is no proof of this, I'm locking this thread. Please, no more "sky is falling topics" if you truly cannot prove any of this.

We have an EB manager here in the thread saying Corp made him do it in the past. This is something that happens:

I'm just going to repeat my post people apparently missed
AS AN EB STORE MANAGER I WAS INSTRUCTED TO DO THIS ON AT LEAST ONE OCCASION BY CORPORATE.
It DOES happen.

 

[Teddman]

I'm inclined to believe meelk, as he posted the following on 7-29-05, long before this topic hit the boards:

I ran EB in North Charleston SC for 4 years. I was so glad to get out of that hell hole.

http://www.ga-forum.com/showthread.php?p=1707332#post1707332

 

[BuddyC]

I myself have seen this occur, it happened when my EB didn't receive enough copies of Lunar 2: Eternal Blue to fill pre-orders, so they trotted on down to the local GameStop.

But ...that doesn't verify ManaByte's story.

 

[ManaByte]

I myself have seen this occur, it happened when my EB didn't receive enough copies of Lunar 2: Eternal Blue to fill pre-orders, so they trotted on down to the local GameStop.

But ...that doesn't verify ManaByte's story, nor does it excuse him from long-ignoring the cries of "PROVE IT" from the first page, including my own.

I don't have any photographic evidence to prove that something happens on a regular basis happened with Madden 06. I don't carry a camera everytime I go to the store.

 

[BuddyC]

Can you even prove this?

Haha! That's what I said.

Again, I ask...

Guys, seriously, it's an accusation that is being made with absolutely no proof of it. How can we believe it to be true?

Holy shit! EB guys are taking me away from my computer! I'm fighting to type this message! Please send word out of my abduction by EB employees! Oh no! Gamestop employees too! WTF?!?!? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

So can you actually prove this? Or are you just assuming since Fry's was sold out of the XB and PS2 versions?

Proof and reasoning is cool!

At the very least, you could try to acknowledge the repeated attempts to determine the validity of your claims.

 

[Matlock]

Getyo ass online BuddyC

 

[ManaByte]

At the very least, you could try to acknowledge attempts to determine the validity of your claims.

I posted this:

No, when I was at Fry's I heard from someone else there that the EB guys bought up what Fry's had and I went down to EB and they had a stack of PS2 and Xbox versions behind the counter with Fry's tags on them.

And Wario, you won't see sticker residue because they'll use the heat gun they use to re-shrink games to heat the Fry's tags off the copies before they resell them.

 

[BuddyC]

I posted this:

I'm not going to get into a flame war about this, mini-pizzas are at stake.

But you posted that after all those posts I quoted, and more, asking for proof - before that, you kept on posting, even though people were already asking, ignoring them as if nothing was wrong, until halfway down page 2.

 

[Matlock]

Nobody piss off Jeremy! He might threaten to sue again!

 

[xsarien]

I'm not going to get into a flame war about this, mini-pizzas are at stake.

Elio's? I'm usually not a fan of frozen pizza, but Elio's frozen Sicilian...God. I can eat stacks and stacks of that.

 

[ManaByte]

I'm not going to get into a flame war about this, mini-pizzas are at stake.

But you posted that after all those posts I quoted, and more, asking for proof - before that, you kept on posting, even though people were already asking, ignoring them as if nothing was wrong, until halfway down page 2.

I wasn't ignoring them. I wasn't home right then. I couldn't reply to the thread until I got back.

Nobody piss off Jeremy! He might threaten to sue again!

Fuck lock this post now.

 

[Matlock]

Fuck lock this post now.

WHAT THE FUCK
SO MANY MADDENS
FRY'S IS OUT

WAL-MART MUST HAVE STOLEN THEM

 

[WasabiKing]

closed for stupidity.

- Even if it was done in the past, there is no "concrete proof" of this happening here. I can't BELIEVE I'm defending EB Games and their past atrocities (selling repackaged games as new for starters), but this is not a fair accusation

- Matlock, you can sit on your hands for 3 days. There's no need to attack Manabyte in this thread. As a self-proclaimed senior member of this board, you know better