No troubles at all here.
1 person I've spoken with at my store who says he is having some freezes, probably due to overheating.

I'm voting with my pocketbook and have taken my business elsewhere.

I've got no problem with that at all. It's your money, you should spend it how and where you want to.

I'm certainly not going to sit here and defend a store I've never been to with employees I've never met. Personally, I think I work at a very good store. I left my previous job because of the excellent staff at this store and the belief that the manager there had a great deal to teach me. I get a lot of personal satisfaction out of selling games to people.

I don't have too much going on yet.
So far my biggest accomplishment (though it didn't get the most points) was making a black pearl in hexic. I think half those points came from a game of Madden, which I borrowed for one evening and promptly took back. Pretty, but really complicated, and no way I was going to make significant progress in a few days.

Do you see anything wrong with taking all the used games that don't have scratches, shrink wrapping them, and selling them as "new" for full price?  What's the difference?

The difference is what the store paid to have the item in inventory and the fact that it would be a practice deliberately hidden from the customer.  You have the right to not want a new game that's been opened but you also have the appropriate information to make that decision at time of purchase whereas in the scenario you posited above you wouldn't.

I personally don't see it as a big deal, but I do respect the opinion of those that do. I guess to me it is kind of analagous to buying a new car and expecting the odomoter to be at zero miles, which it never is (at least in my experience).

I think the game is just gorgeous so far. My kids and I spent about 15 minutes just flying around her home and messing with stuff.

I like that the action so far isn't too frantic and that many enemies you can avoid by moving away from them. I had a little bit of trouble with the one guy in the demo that you have to hit with one attack then switch form and use something else (trying to avoid spoilers).

I like the puzzle aspects of it, but if the action gets too twitchy Ill be in trouble.

No offense to you intended, misguided, but it just seems like a policy that is outright deceptive to the customer.

I don't think it is deceptive per se, since the customer is under no obligation to purchase an opened copy. It certainly doesn't hurt (and I do this) to make sure that having an opened copy is acceptable to the customer and offering to shrinkwrap it. I always explain that it is the last one we have and most people are glad to have the last one. Sometimes they don't want it.

As for the possibilty of an employee having borrowed a title, a store has so many titles and so few employees that it doesn't seem like a big deal to me, personally. It's a CD, not a pair of underwear *shrug*. Now, if I got it home and it had a ton of scratches, then yeah I'd be annoyed.

ya misguided, plus they also let their employees take out games for a set time as well so you can sometimes get that copy.  if it were just the one "last" copy it wouldn't happen nearly as much.  i once returned an opened "new" game that someone picked up for me, and they had the nerve to respond with another, equally opened "new" copy.  needless to say i walked out with the cash.

again warning this may be a product of a lousy gamestop, but watch out for it ive heard a few complaints.

I know, I work at Gamestop. Sometimes more than one copy gets opened for a variety of reasons, for instance, a box goes missing from the floor temporarily and another copy gets opened to put one on the floor. As for the employees borrowing games, that shouldn't be an issue because (at least in our store) only one copy of any title can be out at one time and they just take the disc from the already opened copy. I currently have a copy of Kameo that I borrowed.

Just yesterday we got in some new bags with an adhesive strip on them. Now when we sell the opened new copy, they will be sealed in one of these bags. This makes it easier for us and provides protection to the customer.

Guys, you can invert the axis in game from the options menu. I just did it last night to use Chilla's ice spikes.

The opening level you guys are talking about, I'm not done but was playing it last night. How does the game change after this. The frequent saves are a blessing, because I'm dying an awful lot. The game is beautiful, but I'm not a platform gamer and I'm wondering how hard is it going to be later?

I don't see people buying the DS as a replacement for the 360. Yes the PSP is more expensive, but it is also a closer approximation graphically to the 360 than the DS. Also, we're talking about money people have already committed to spending in theiir minds, so paying 249 instead of 399 is actually a bargain from that standpoint. PSPs are starting to really fly out of our store now.

Personally, I've been pushing Gamecubes to a lot of parents. Cheap as all get out, and some great looking games.

When discussing the launch, I think we really need to separate out the logistics from the hardware. I don't think there's anybody here, Hetz included, who wouldn't scratch their heads and wonder what the heck is up from a logistical standpoint. If you don't agree, try working the front lines for a couple of days and explaining to customers that paid for their systems months ago why they aren't going to have one in time to put under the tree.

I think the hardware problems are being overblown, and the launch lineup is reasonably solid if not awe-inspiring, but the logistics of this whole think flat out stink.

I'm very pleased so far. I've really enjoyed PGR3. Spent some time with Crimson Skies. Need to get more in with NFSMW (though what I have seen was a lot of fun). Hexic is a big time-sucker.

For the most part, there is no actual product on the floor, to prevent theft.
When a game comes in, if it isn't on the floor already, one copy is opened. The books and discs are removed and put in cd sleeves and filed in a drawer, while the empty case is put on the wall.

If someone wants to purchase the last copy of a new game in the store, they will be given this copy.

A couple of things here. First of all, they should be willing to shrinkwrap it on request if you like. Second, even better is to not worry about that and have them note on the receipt that this is the "gut" or open copy. Then, if you need to return it for some reason, you should be able to.

Any retail store is only as good as the people that work there.

I thought Frame City Killer was also 2006.

Is this Dark Corners of the Earth or the other one?

Edge is a good read, IMO.

We got the streets, suckahs!

*runs*

I have only played a very little bit near the beginning of the game, but that part was trivially (we're talking Dungeon Siege) easy. It was fun though. It may well get tougher later.

Crystal Quest was an incredibly addictive game I used to play on my Apple ][...perhaps the most popular game ever on that machine. You had a circular disk that you moved around the screen (2d...you looked straight down and could see the entire play field) picking up gems while avoiding all sorts of enemies (static and moving). When all gems were collected, you had to exit through a goal. Some might remember this for the feminine "sigh" that was played whenever you exited a level through the goal.

Check out this report about Xbox Arcade from IGN

Crystal Quest? In.
I'd love to know what game Q Entertainment is providing.

Seeing how 95% of the players will be villains and only about 5% will prolly stick with their old chars, I highly doubt pvp will be meaningful in anyway.

I think this is a very legitimate concern.

Masterminds were the first set I tried, and at first I was really enamored with them, but long term, I don't want to do that much managing. I'm finding that I enjoy my Dominator far better.

Just can't be bothered to go through the atrocious combat that has remained unchanged.

ROFL...yeah, whatever  :roll:

The core of the gameplay is very similar to CoH, though the playstyles of the archetypes in CoV are different (and in some ways, you could say better...for instance, I think they learned their lesson from CoH and made the ATs have less overlap).

While the above poster is certainly entitled to his opinion, there are many of us that absolutely love the combat in CoH. It really *is* the game, so if you don't like that, then you'd do well to find something else to do.

There are some major new features in CoV, though, including bases for hero and villain groups (and the crafting-related stuff for upgrading your bases), and of course, hero vs villain PvP.

Oh pff, it's copyright 2002.  Dredging up a comic that old or fuck, posting any Penny Arcade comic is just as bad a geek sin as the cliche 'M$'.

I'm suing this thread for infringing upon my T$R trademark

Probably Eliza or Wumpus on TRS-80.
A lot of the other titles here bring back memories, though.

Anybody play Crimson Skies: High Road to Adventure?
I'd love to be able to play that...better yet, I'd love to see a new game in the franchise but I'm not sure who even holds the right to the license at this point.

What you may end up wanting to do is get something like this
http://www.x2vga.com/

Then you can use the dvi connection for your computer.
*shrug* I don't know.

I'm sure you'll figure it out and congrats on getting a great monitor.

Basically, more than 3 SOs of the same type will be nearly worthless.

Yeah, the videos I've seen for this have looked remarkable...what's the gameplay like in this series?

Shouldn't be a problem- the monitor comes with S-Video and Composite video inputs.  And when you get a next gen console that supports DVI or HDMI out it also comes with a second DVI input so you should be all set!

Since when? Mine doesn't have a second DVI, nor does Dell's website mention it. If it had one, I would have gotten a second one.

Typing on a 2005 (on my mac) as we speak, but I actually just bought Gateway's new 21 incher for my PC. The reason I went with the Gateway was because of the component input, as I'm planning ahead for a console purchase. I'm using the DVI port for my PC.

Regardless you got a great price on the 2005 and I think you'll be happy with it.

Started playing Grim Fandango for the first time a couple of days ago.

I believe it is because you can have CoV without having CoH and vice versa.

Bingo. It isn't an expansion in that sense. CoV can be purchased and played without CoH. They're separate games in the same sense that identical twins are separate (alike yet different)...of course with one being the evil twin.

Those look really nice.  :shock:

Oh certainly! More than willing to give it a chance as things go along.
I'm really anxious to see how Burnout is going to look on 360 as well.

I dunno...I've watched X360 trailers/videos for NFS, PGR, Full Auto, and Ridge Racer, and that was the order that they impressed me in from high to low.

I like the concept of Full Auto, I just didnt think it looked all that great as a game. I wish I could put my finger on it, but I can't...I just can't shake the feeling that when Full Auto 2 arives, it will be good, but that this one will be a better tech demo than a game.

Mind you, that's purely a gut instinct from brief bits of footage.

Yeah it was amazing....but here's my question about this...

Seems to me like the mod community was huge for Morrowind, not only in doing things to tweak game balance and fix bugs but also in extending the replayability. Will you be able to use those on the Xbox if you have the hdd or are you outta luck?

I wouldn't say Crash Mode is harder, it just uses slightly different mechanics.

Just like in Burnout 3, there were one or two crash mode events that really gave me a hard time and I had to replay dozens of times to get gold. But the vast majority of crashes were winnable with just 3 or 5 or maybe 10 tries.

I've found that the difficulty in the crash events in PSP's Legends is extremely wonky. Most events are trivial...crash into the obvious spot and rake in the damage and gold on the first try. Others seem downright impossible. I'm certain I've done paradise peril 50+ times, and come within 300 or 400 bucks of the 400k target a couple of times.

looks nice!

Heheh...well, the xbox at the gamestop by where I work now has XMen legends in it, instead of Revenge, and I broke my PSP doing...of all things...a crash junction called Paradise Peril.

So no more crash junctions for me

See, I like the crash mode in Revenge (though I've only tried a few levels of it). The fact that you can check traffic into strategic places really adds to it for me. With Legends (which I'm making the presumption is much closer to B3 ) it's more a case of trying to get your car to the right spot...often with frustratingly little room for error.

Played around witrh this on an xbox earlier...it seemed fun.
There wasn't a whole lot of skill involved , which for me is actually a good thing. I was worried you'd have to pull off all these intricate button moves like in a fighting game. Could you talk about the difficulty settings and progression through the game?

I still remember playing a bit of Wizardry VII: Crusaders of the Dark Savant way back in the day.  Wow that was a looooong time ago!.

But it would be neat to have a Wizardry game for the DS!

Dude...I remember playing Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord...a LOT.
Go look it up young'un

The dual screen ought to work really well for a wizardry style game.

Well, I wish I'd bought it at CompUSA, because I've always had good results whenever I used their repair cntractor (the one time I did have an issue, it was quickly resolved to my satisfaction). I bought it at Target, though, because everyone else I could find was sold out at the time.