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"Top 10 Raw Deals for Gamers" - Wired/Kohler article

ZealousD

Makes world leading predictions like "The sun will rise tomorrow"
Even more of a ripoff than the 360 memory is the 360 wifi adapter. $100 is waaaaaay too much. Wifi comes standard on the DS Lite, which is only $30 more!
 
I've bought 5 4000 points code from that german seller at a little more than half price, I love points. everything on live for the next 6 months or so will be half price for me.
 

kbear

Member
Label said:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqQaCfdRbjo

It always bugged me the whole time I was playing the game, that I could not have this power.

I would of even got it as DLC if they gave you the choice, such bull.
wow the gigawatt blades are sick...he kind of animates like wolverine when he takes out the claws. would have loved to use them...disgusting tactic from gamestop/sony
 

Label

The Amiga Brotherhood
Jax said:
I'm sorry but that is farking annoying. I'm in australia so no gamestop, aka no gigablade thingmajig. !!!!!!!! ahhhhh...





FREE DLC SUCKERPUNCH NOW!

Agreed x10!

I am in the UK so there was also no way for me to pre-order to get these Gigablades, was so annoying when I found out.

They look so damn cool!
 

dallow_bg

nods at old men
Firewire said:
Don't understand the $5.00 increment complaint about Sony in #1. First they bitch about having to add more funds than what a game would actually cost, but in Sony's case you don't really need to add funds if you use a credit card. As long as your CC is linked to your account you can buy whatever game for whatever its worth without leaving anything extra in the wallet.

This is the reason why I will never use PSN cards.
I never bought one until I got a $50 card on "clearance" for $40 at a big chain.
Free $10 bucks, sure.

Not nearly as good as the XBL Points deals I've gotten though.
 

Kintaro

Worships the porcelain goddess
As an owner of inFamous and of the blades...

...I've used them twice. By accident. You hit with them once and they go away. Does it still suck it's not DLC yet? Sure. Something to get hyped over? Not at all.
 

Label

The Amiga Brotherhood
Scottlarock said:
I've bought 5 4000 points code from that german seller at a little more than half price, I love points. everything on live for the next 6 months or so will be half price for me.

Link to this seller please? :)
 
8. GameStop-Exclusive Powers

In Sony’s inFamous, Cole McGrath learns electric superpowers by frying enemies. Except for the Gigawatt Blades power, which he learns by you paying money to GameStop.

Giving out plastic tchotchkes in return for putting down a reservation fee on an upcoming game is a nice touch, but working out a sweetheart deal with a retailer to hold back in-game abilities unless a player hands over five bucks ahead of time is downright sketchy. Not to mention the fact that if you miss the preorder deal, it’s impossible to unlock the content at any time thereafter. GameStop gets more preorders, Sony gets advertising sponsorship and the rest of us get a gimped game.

UBISoft takes this to a new level with AC2

Reserve Assassin's Creed 2 and receive a GameStop exclusive code to unlock one of the Renaissance's most prestigious monuments, the Palazzo Medici. You will receive exclusive access to this majestic building, and the freedom to discover the treasure hidden within it's ancient walls. Available for online and in-store customers while supplies last.

nq64np.jpg


http://www.gamestop.com/Catalog/ProductDetails.aspx?product_id=74508
 

Kintaro

Worships the porcelain goddess
_dementia said:
Good calling out Guitar Hero, but they should also mention RB's segregation with the Beatles DLC and unexportable tracklist

^

This too, but I guess since the game isn't out yet, can't include it. They love their Rock Band over there though.
 

ElyrionX

Member
360 accessories (including the HDD) should be #1.

Also, I fail to see any mention of Scamco in that article at all.
 

Label

The Amiga Brotherhood
SolidSnakex said:
UBISoft takes this to a new level with AC2



http://i40.tinypic.com/nq64np.jpg[/im]

[url]http://www.gamestop.com/Catalog/ProductDetails.aspx?product_id=74508[/url][/QUOTE]

What the fuck.

This better be available for us in the UK, otherwise I shall be pissed.

[QUOTE=Archie][url]http://shop.ebay.com/merchant/gamerbuddy[/url][/QUOTE]

Cheers :D
 

dallow_bg

nods at old men
SolidSnakex said:
UBISoft takes this to a new level with AC2



http://i40.tinypic.com/nq64np.jpg[img]

[url]http://www.gamestop.com/Catalog/ProductDetails.aspx?product_id=74508[/url][/QUOTE]Wow they suck.
They suck so much suckiness suck.
 
Raist said:
Good article, completely agreeing here.

Small note, this



is incorrect. You can't add an amount lower than $5, but you're not restricted to $5 increments. You can add the exact amount of a game's price (provided it is higher than $5) if you directly try to buy it isntead of adding funds ia the main menu.
Agreed. The article makes it sound like you have to add money to your wallet in five dollar increments before you buy anything. Whatever I have purchased has always been a one-time transaction. A done deal paying exactly what it's valued at and having nothing left over.
 

Kintaro

Worships the porcelain goddess
Archie said:
That's mostly The Beatles being bitches with their licensing.

Yeah, but you can't rag on Sony for giving retailers a bigger slice of the pie with PSP Go and not include this. Either way, it's a "raw deal" to the consumer right?
 

Archie

Second-rate Anihawk
Kintaro said:
Either way, it's a "raw deal" to the consumer right?
It is and I personally hate it, but as resident Harmonix fanboy, I am required to white knight them at every opportunity. :p
 

DrXym

Member
Digital download services like Steam should be on this list. Prices on Steam are a joke, especially in Europe. #5 says download prices same as physical but in reality it's more like a 50% markup.
 

Big-E

Member
Funny money is my biggest gripe. I buy a far less amount of shit on 360 compared to Steam and PSN solely due to this issue. The next Xbox better get rid of this awful bullshit.
 

drakesfortune

Directions: Pull String For Uninformed Rant
I agree with all of it, except part of point number one. The reason these guys make a minimum charge is because they lose their ass in credit card fees if you're not ponying up at least $5. I believe the minimum fee on a credit card transaction is 20 to 30 cents or something like that. So if you buy a $2 thing, the credit card company is taking 10 to 15 percent at that price.

Microsoft space bucks are the worst. I absolutely hate their setup. They purposely made the points difficult to follow in the hopes you'd disassociate your points from what you paid for them, and therefore spend more. It's the equivalent of the used car salesman approach.

SolidSnakex said:

Wow, that really pisses me off. And I'm not pissed at GameStop, they are doing what any business would do, which is to try to gain advantage. I'm pissed at Ubi for doing something like that and screwing over everyone who buys the game somewhere else. That's really lame.
 

theBishop

Banned
I have a hard time seeing PSP Go as a ripoff compared to so many other things happening right now. It's an $80 premium over the existing unit, and it's got a lot of new features. Compared to the 360 Elite or 160GB PS3 which are $100 premiums and only add $15 worth of extra storage.

Or compared to the Wii, it packs nearly comparable hardware, 16GB flash, and a screen into a pocket sized device.

The Go can only be seen as a ripoff compared to the existing model. And I think most people see it as more attractive despite having "less features" (if you consider UMD a feature...).

Also, how is "Nintendo sitting on games" a ripoff or raw deal? They're not gouging or taking something away from customers. If they don't think it's worth localizing those games, why should they have to? Sony still hasn't localized Afrika, and I don't view that as a "raw deal".
 

theBishop

Banned
drakesfortune said:
Microsoft space bucks are the worst. I absolutely hate their setup. They purposely made the points difficult to follow in the hopes you'd disassociate your points from what you paid for them, and therefore spend more. It's the equivalent of the used car salesman approach.

They're switching to real monies for the full game downloads. Maybe they'll transition to greenbacks for everything.
 

squicken

Member
MS funny money is the reason everything on XBL Marketplace is cheaper than on PSN. Wait for sale on points, buy a bunch, save money.

Beats the lost fractions of pennies I would have earned in interest.
 

Red

Member
Big-E said:
Funny money is my biggest gripe. I buy a far less amount of shit on 360 compared to Steam and PSN solely due to this issue. The next Xbox better get rid of this awful bullshit.
I just bought 12,000 MS points for $90 this past week. You're missing out.
 
theBishop said:
I have a hard time seeing PSP Go as a ripoff compared to so many other things happening right now. It's an $80 premium over the existing unit, and it's got a lot of new features. Compared to the 360 Elite or 160GB PS3 which are $100 premiums and only add $15 worth of extra storage.

Or compared to the Wii, it packs nearly comparable hardware, 16GB flash, and a screen into a pocket sized device.

The Go can only be seen as a ripoff compared to the existing model. And I think most people see it as more attractive despite having "less features" (if you consider UMD a feature...).

Also, how is "Nintendo sitting on games" a ripoff or raw deal? They're not gouging or taking something away from customers. If they don't think it's worth localizing those games, why should they have to? Sony still hasn't localized Afrika, and I don't view that as a "raw deal".

No matter how you spin it, $250 for a handheld sub-PS2 in 2009 is a rip-off, even moreso because it's sharing shelf space with a larger-screened SKU for $80 cheaper.

And the PSP hardware is hardly on the same level as the Wii, even if devs treat them that way.

And Nintendo sitting on games is a raw deal for gamers in North America who, you know, like playing games instead of twiddling their thumbs during dry spells. It's pretty inexcusable from a publisher Nintendo's size.
 

drakesfortune

Directions: Pull String For Uninformed Rant
theBishop said:
They're switching to real monies for the full game downloads. Maybe they'll transition to greenbacks for everything.

Yeah that's certainly a step in the right direction, but aren't they still charging full price for these downloads? It'll be a cold day in hell before I buy a download for the same price as a retail disk. In fact, I'll gladly pay more for retail disks because they at least retain some value, where a digital download is worth precisely zero dollars the instant you buy it.
 

Archie

Second-rate Anihawk
theBishop said:
They're switching to real monies for the full game downloads. Maybe they'll transition to greenbacks for everything.
They are actually using both for full games. Hopefully that includes all marketplace content in the future.
 
Alaskanbullworm said:
The funny money is awesome for us living in NY state (and other states that charge tax for online stuff). We don't get charged tax when we buy stuff from Ninitendo or MS online, but PSN does since it deals with real money. Not to mention the deals you can find for the cards and there are stores finally not charging tax for buying them, whereas we'll get charged for buying points online. I say it's great personally.


I agree that there should be smaller points for buying as well.

When I buy points from Wii Shop or DSi Shop, I get charged tax at 8.25%, which for 1000 Wii Points ($10) is 83 cents.
 

DuckRacer

Member
Funny money rocks, if only because I got $40 worth of points for free from Amazon, $15 from Coke and McDonalds, etc. Plus I also bought $100 worth of points for $60 a week ago, which means everything I buy for at least the next year – map packs, RB DLC, XBLA games, etc – is essentially 40% off. I like PSN's system of just plainly outlining how much something costs to you in real-world money, but there's no deals or promotions on the level of what's going on with XBL points.
 

Concept17

Member
Jax said:
I'm sorry but that is farking annoying. I'm in australia so no gamestop, aka no gigablade thingmajig. !!!!!!!! ahhhhh...





FREE DLC SUCKERPUNCH NOW!


Don't worry. They're pretty useless. I think I used them maybe twice through the entire game. Upgrading melee is really all you need.
 

Monroeski

Unconfirmed Member
Shurs said:
Hooray for lists!



This is why I hate lists. Quips replace insight.

There is no mention of pressure from retail for price parity between disc and digital download releases. Why ignore this point? Also, I get taxed for my PSN purchases.
Because regardless of WHY they cost the same, it's still pretty shitty that they cost the same?
 

Zoso

It's been a long time, been a long time, been a long lonely lonely lonely lonely lonely time.
Lots of good things on the list. I'm currently dealing with #10. My 20GB HDD is almost full and I need a new one, but there's no way in hell I'm paying $140 for the 120GB.
 
Wasn't the issue with Demigod because of stardock screwing up the online component in general? I heard that the game still had issues after all the hubub that pinned all the problems on piracy.
 

RiverBed

Banned
You don't have to add anything in PSN wallet unless you are buying somehthing less than $5. Over that you can just purchase and PSN will take only the exact amount from your bank account so You'll always end up with 0 in your wallet.

Also, another shout out how great it is to use real money for PSN. I fucking hate these 'we'll confuse you everytime you want to buy!' shitfuck tricks in online stores.
 

No_Style

Member
Kintaro said:
This. In fact, you forget you even have the power.

I'd completely forgotten about it! Did they print special discs for GameStop? I thought it was a code or something, but Google yielded no such luck. =/
 

jvm

Gamasutra.
I know it's been said, but the whole "can't add but in $5 increments" thing for PSN purchases really drives me crazy. It's quite simple:

1) Buy something under $5, you have to add at least $5 to your wallet.

2) Buy something over $5, pay exact price.

This isn't rocket science, and a few minutes test-buying a few things would make it obvious.
 

DMeisterJ

Banned
Wow @ #6. Just buy a 3k.

jvm said:
I know it's been said, but the whole "can't add but in $5 increments" thing for PSN purchases really drives me crazy. It's quite simple:

1) Buy something under $5, you have to add at least $5 to your wallet.

2) Buy something over $5, pay exact price.

This isn't rocket science, and a few minutes test-buying a few things would make it obvious.

Exactly. It's not like there is too much of worth on there under 4.99 anyway.
 

Zzoram

Member
The 360 wifi adapter was on sale in Canada for $69.99 last weekend. Still overpriced, but not by much at that point. It's pretty comparable with USB wifi adapters at that price. I hope it soon gets permanently cut to that price.

I expect the 120GB HDD to drop to $100 soon too, since the Elite is scheduled to drop to $299 Pro pricing, and the 60GB is phasing out. I wonder if they'll make a $100 120GB HDD + Headset + 3mo LIVE starter bundle to replace the current $100 60GB HDD + Headset + 3mo LIVE starter bundle when it is sold out.
 

Saerk

Member
I'd be hesitant to put in the wifi adapter and the funny money. If you have any knowledge of networking then you can find a far cheaper alternative. I turned a $20 router into a wifi bridge that I use for the XBOX. There are simplar ways that anyone should be able to figure out if they read the directions that are still cheaper. The thing about the funny money is that there is little reason to ever pay full price for anything. I think I've payed full price once. Target often has sales on points for $15 for $20 worth. Some dude on ebay is selling $50 worth for $30. There have been many internet opportunities like the dream car event. There was the get two movie tickets if you buy a $20 point card (movie tickets counted for ~$24 worth towards any movie). I've gotten at least two $20 cards when buying new games. Points are good if you plan ahead and wait for deals.
 
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