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[Speevy]

My 7 year old nephew is a huge Zelda fan. He's got the Zelda collector's edition, the Zelda OoT/MQ bonus disk, and he's been wanting Wind Waker for as long as he's known about it.

Well, my sister finally picked the game up for him at Wal-Mart. Well, I called my nephew today to ask him what he thought of the game. Before I got a chance to talk to him however, I remarked to my sister about how great it is that games drop in price. I assumed she had bought the game at its current price of $34.99, or perhaps even lower. Not a chance. 50 bucks. That's absurd if you ask me. I searched their website and got a slightly better price , but that's still ridiculous. What's more, she could have bought it for 30 plus another game at any Gamestop, EBGames, or even Blockbuster.

I guess the obvious answer is "Tell her not to buy her son games from Wal-Mart." but I'm still pretty mad about this, considering how hard she works for money to buy him these games. I bought it for 50 and I think the game's worth it, but still...

 

[neptunes]

it depends how long ago she bought it and if she still has the receipt and such.

 

[jarrod]

Zelda's MSRP is still $49 and likely will remain that way until it becomes a Player's Choice title (this fall I'd imagine).

 

[Matt]

My 7 year old nephew is a huge Zelda fan. He's got the Zelda collector's edition, the Zelda OoT/MQ bonus disk, and he's been wanting Wind Waker for as long as he's known about it.

Well, my sister finally picked the game up for him at Wal-Mart. Well, I called my nephew today to ask him what he thought of the game. Before I got a chance to talk to him however, I remarked to my sister about how great it is that games drop in price. I assumed she had bought the game at its current price of $34.99, or perhaps even lower. Not a chance. 50 bucks. That's absurd if you ask me. I searched their website and got a slightly better price , but that's still ridiculous. What's more, she could have bought it for 30 plus another game at any Gamestop, EBGames, or even Blockbuster.

I guess the obvious answer is "Tell her not to buy her son games from Wal-Mart." but I'm still pretty mad about this, considering how hard she works for money to buy him these games. I bought it for 50 and I think the game's worth it, but still...

WTF are you talking about? Zelda is still $50 pretty much everywhere. I don't know where you got $35 from.

 

[NotMSRP]

So what do Walmarts do?

 

[Ninja Scooter]

when did the "new price" become $34.99? AFAIK the msrp still is and has been $49.99 since the game launched.

 

[neptunes]

it's probably a local sale

 

[Speevy]

Well I don't know about places near you guys (and I'm certainly not up on the latest MSRP's for all the games) but I have definitely seen it on the shelves in that range. Maybe I'm crazy.

90% of the games I buy are preowned, so I figure that 5 bucks higher is always the "new" price.

 

[Dice]

I will say though, that from what I have observed Wal-Mart likes to price their games completely randomly. Every other store in town either just goes with the MSRP or are pretty with it on the street value of a game, but Wal-Mart seems to just make some games really cheap for no reason and leave others at $50 even after they go into a value line or are 3 years old. It's really weird.

90% of the games I buy are preowned, so I figure that 5 bucks higher is always the "new" price.

That's usually only true of new games.

 

[Laurent]

1. Buy the 35$ version;

2. Don't open it;

3. Peel the EB Games or Gamestop price tag;

3. Return to Wal-Mart with the 50$ receipt and the sealed game;

4. Tada!

 

[Speevy]

According to Gamestop, it's 35 used, at EBGames it's 50 new. Weird. Okay, I'm obviously wrong here. Wow, they should have dropped it by now. Everything else has.

 

[Joe]

i dont buy games from wal-mart because they don't show up in the npd.

 

[Laurent]

i dont buy games from wal-mart because they don't show up in the npd.

That's the funniest thing I've read today!

 

[bjork]

Wal-Mart stores work like this:

If you manage a department (in this case, electronics), you're required to "comp shop" each week, and see what the big competitor's prices are. So you'd go to Target, Best Buy, Circuit City, etc (no mom and pops, only big chains) with a list of particular titles and items to price match. If your price is lower, it's left alone, but if your price is higher, the item in question is subject for markdowns, even to the point that you'd sell it below cost, and take a loss on it. Also, departments are sometimes (not always) granted x amount of markdown dollars, to lower prices on dog items and clear them out. So that's why electronics departments in WM stores almost always have old stereos and outdated computer parts on clearance.

I worked at one many years ago, but in the toy department. Whenever TRU had a sale on Star Wars figures, we'd sell them for like $1.99 or something, and it was below cost. Then later, I had a friend who worked at another WM, and he was my markdown buddy... I used to get new games for $6 all the time, and stuff like PSone screens for $12, scanners for $50, etc.

There is no universal markdown for WM outside of items in their monthly advertisement. Aside from that, it's all subject to the regional sales figures and whatnot.

 

[Joe]

That's the funniest thing I've read today!

noob.

 

[Laurent]

noob.

I don't buy at Wal-Mart because their service is mediocre and I rather encourage specialized store like EB Games or Gamestop. I couldn't care less about NPD and sales chart...

 

[Justin Bailey]

I don't buy at Wal-Mart because their service is mediocre and I rather encourage specialized store like EB Games or Gamestop. I couldn't care less about NPD and sales chart...

You're just further solidifying your noobness. . .

 

[Wario64]

Windwaker has always been $50...

 

[Laurent]

You're just further solidifying your noobness. . .

If you say so...

 

[Christoff Yurievich]

well this does happen though. At the wal-mart here I was wanting to pick up Kingdom Hearts since I had just gotten a playstation 2. It was a player's choice title, had been for at least 3-5 months. I went to buy it and it rang up at $49.99. I asked if there were scanning the correct product, and they were. I said no thanks and walked to gamespot.

so what he thinks happened does happen, from time to time.

 

[NotMSRP]

Service at most GS/EB are mediocre.

 

[Alcibiades]

Today some girl (17-21 yrs. old in range) at work bought the game at $50 at Best Buy, and it sells a good 1-2 copies a week...

 

[DrLazy]

Wal-Mart stores work like this....

Off topic: Walmart is evil.

Off topic 2: Anybody every buy a game, play it and either beat it quick or figure out it sucked, take it bakc to Walmart/Best buy and say it didn't work. They give you a new game- unopened. From there you take the unopened game to the Target/Mejier next door and get store credit- using the credit to buy a new game of course. A little work, and it's kinda like a gaming freedom pass w/ no charge.

 

[Wario64]

Off topic 2: Anybody every buy a game, play it and either beat it quick or figure out it sucked, take it bakc to Walmart/Best buy and say it didn't work. They give you a new game- unopened. From there you take the unopened game to the Target/Mejier next door and get store credit- using the credit to buy a new game of course. A little work, and it's kinda like a gaming freedom pass w/ no charge.

Is that a question or are you basically telling us how to scam stores?

And when you do return for a new copy of the same game, they usually open the new copy at the time of exchange

 

[jarrod]

Wind Waker sells a constant 10k or so each month... I expect that to jump somewhere around 50k once it goes PC... and maybe even 100k+ monthly this fall if it happens by then.

 

[Christoff Yurievich]

Wind Waker sells a constant 10k or so each month... I expect that to jump somewhere around 50k once it goes PC... and maybe even 100k+ monthly this fall if it happens by then.

yeah, but will Nintendo make it $29.99 or $19.99? I think $29.99 because they're stingy, but at $19.99 they'll have more people buying it.

 

[DrLazy]

And when you do return for a new copy of the same game, they usually open the new copy at the time of exchange

Really? Never happened to me. Yeah I do that occasionally, just wanted to see if I'm not the only one. It is a hassle, and usually if I really want a game I'll buy it for keeps. Not from Walmart though, the evil bastards. I buy it from Gamers, our local shop/chain.

 

[bjork]

Off topic: Walmart is evil.

Off topic 2: Anybody every buy a game, play it and either beat it quick or figure out it sucked, take it bakc to Walmart/Best buy and say it didn't work. They give you a new game- unopened. From there you take the unopened game to the Target/Mejier next door and get store credit- using the credit to buy a new game of course. A little work, and it's kinda like a gaming freedom pass w/ no charge.

Reply 1: I agree.

Reply 2: This is evil also, if you get popped.

 

[Alcibiades]

yeah, but will Nintendo make it $29.99 or $19.99? I think $29.99 because they're stingy, but at $19.99 they'll have more people buying it.

they'll do a step-by-step price drop probably, some people will wait till it's $19.99, some people will bite at $29.99, so it all depends...

Smash Brothers would sell a lot more at $19.99, but it's selling great at $29.99, so Nintendo is going to wait till sales are stagnant to finally push it down so all the $20-a-game audience gives it a boost later...

It's more profitable for them, and basically what most companies do with games. They lower the price little-by-little until it gets to $20 or clearance...

Some games like NFS: Underground are still selling well enough at $50 for EA to have kept it at $50, while it has lowerd the price on games like Return of the King and Everything or Nothing due to slowing sales...

 

[jarrod]

yeah, but will Nintendo make it $29.99 or $19.99? I think $29.99 because they're stingy, but at $19.99 they'll have more people buying it.

No doubt it'll be $29.99, Nintendo tends to do that with all their "big" games (SSBM, Sunshine, Prime, etc). Only lower performers like F-Zero or Wario seem to get dropped to $19 right away.

 

[tenchir]

My 7 year old nephew is a huge Zelda fan. He's got the Zelda collector's edition, the Zelda OoT/MQ bonus disk, and he's been wanting Wind Waker for as long as he's known about it.

You nephew is a child GENIUS!! Have him tested!

 

[MoxManiac]

I don't buy games from Wal-Mart because they don't have SHIT for a selection.

You nephew is a child GENIUS!! Have him tested!

It's impressive, but not THAT big of a deal. I think your selling 7 year olds short. Heh, I remember playing the original Zelda and Dragon Warrior on NES when I was 7-8.

 

[Speevy]

You nephew is a child GENIUS!! Have him tested!

lol, he's quite intelligent for his age. However, his skill at the game (OoT) basically amounts to fighting bad guys, doing basic box/light puzzles, and collecting things. He understood the chicken gathering thing in OoT for example, and he sold the mask. He also beat Queen Gohma got past the guards at Hyrule castle. He also knows that when in doubt, stand on it and play every song you know. hehe. I can't honestly picture him beating the whole game. But to him, doing those sections over and over again amounts to beating the game. And he might just complete the whole of Wind Waker. He's had so much fun with the demo that I almost bought the full game for him myself.

Thanks for the compliment though. I'm sure he'd appreciate that.

 

[Sho Nuff]

noob.

Nerd!

 

[DDayton]

I don't buy at Wal-Mart because their service is mediocre and I rather encourage specialized store like EB Games or Gamestop.

I still find it funny that there are several niche games carried by Wal-Mart yet not found in either EB or Gamestop... like Blowout (GC) for example.

 

[nathkenn]

walmart is evil

http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2004/07/25/rivalry_between_wal_mart_costco_also_extends_to_national_politics/

 

[Laurent]

I still find it funny that there are several niche games carried by Wal-Mart yet not found in either EB or Gamestop... like Blowout (GC) for example.

Of course I will buy games at Wal-Mart if they aren't available anywhere else. Certain games can be easily available at launch when you haven't reserve your copy at EB Games or Gamestop... For me, that was the case with Phantasy Star Online: Version 1 & 2...

 

[Spiritreaver]

I will almost always get games at Wal-Mart, why? Because I'm usually grocery shopping there as well. Only decent market nearby, so why not pick my games up there as well? Unless there's a special sale going on elsewhere Wal-Mart is generally cheaper (Okay, usually by just a few cents, but hey ) and I've never had a problem and don't quite understand people's concerns witht he store.

Like someone mentioned earlier, you can get a lot of stuff from Wal-Mart the other places don't offer, or sell out quickly in, since they're marked as a gaming store. I can't recall exactly how many Wal-Marts I've come across with GC BBAs (before the restock) that had units in. I've seen them with discontinued GBA games that I've wanted and what not. Quite cool.

Then again, if I'm impluse buying at the mall, chances are I'll go ahead and pick up something at Gamestop, but that's usually only when I know I can't get it somewhere else or have something preordered there and whatnot.