(Update is at the end)

It’s true. Gamestop no longer sells new games. At least mine doesn’t. A while back I went there to purchase a copy of Burnout Paradise, only to find that not only was the used price almost as much as the new price, but the new games were already opened, and the disks were out of their cases. Now, I understand the desire to thwart theft. But to take away a consumers joy in opening a new game is like a kick in the nuts.

Yes, this is a rant. But it’s also a warning: Don’t buy new games from Gamestop. ‘Cause they ain’t new. That copy of Burnout Paradise? The disk they put in the case on checkout was scratched and had fingerprints on it. SCRATCHED, AND FINGERPRINTS. Do you know what that means? That means I payed full, new price for a USED game. Sure, no one had played it before, but if it is scratched and smudged, it is used. It is not new. Needless to say I made them give me a refund immediately. I then went to Wal-Mart and bought the game there. It actually still had the shrink wrap on it, imagine that!

Yesterday I visited Gamestop again, this time on a quest for Valkyria Chronicles half off, new. I love a good deal. However, I was once again greeted with whole shelves of new games…opened. It was horrific. Worse than the scariest Resident Evil moment, the goriest Dead Space scene. I knew I what I was getting into. But I just really wanted the game now.

So I bought the game. I get home, and try to get the two stickers on the case off, one touting the sale, the other the sale-price. Since the stickers were on the GAME CASE ITSELF, my “new” game now has sticker residue, that annoying white paper and sticky glue residue you can never get off, right across the front. That is my brand-new game. I should have had it shipped to me online, where the deal applied as well. I should have waited and then been rewarded with the pleasure of opening an actual new game – with no scratches, fingerprints, or sticker residue.

This is not to mention the attitudes of the associates or the complete ripoff they call a “trade-in program,” often times only giving $0.35 or less for a game. Yes, seriously. One of my games they wanted $0.10 for! I’m not idiot, I had only brought said games to Gamestop because I couldn’t get rid of them anywhere else – but 10 cents? I said no thanks, I’ll sell them for $1 easily at a yard sale this summer.

But that doesn’t bother me nearly as much as them opening all their new games, taking out the disks, and then putting the empty, opened cases out and calling “new”. What utter bullshit. How dumb do they think we are?

And the most insulting part is this: After you buy a “new” game, they then look for the disk, hastily and carelessly throw it in the case, slap the case shut, and then put a piece of tape across the case, taping it shut. What purpose does that serve other than to say “Hey, watch as we tape this shut right in front of you and claim it’s new, idiot.”

Oh, that left residue on the case as well. I’m grateful that I got Valkyria Chronicles for 50% off, but if Gamestop is going to continue to ravage all their new games, I’d like them to respect their customers enough to at least stop labeling them as new. Because they’re not. Buy a new game as a gift for someone from Gamestop, and they’ll look at it and think you’ve given them a used game. They’ll know you have, from the un-shrink wrapped box to the scratched and smudged disk. They’ll know.

/rant off

Update: GameStop Sells Played Games As New, Sources Say, Practice Could Be Illegal