GameSpotting


 Gerald Villoria
Codes Editor
Games I'm playing: Warcraft III, Shattered Galaxy, Final Fantasy X
 Amount of sleep I'm getting: Approximately 5.2 hours a night.

Shady Retailers Are Everywhere

screenshot
Whew, that was close! She almost brought us home!
Just last week I was at my local video game retailer and was taken aback by what I had witnessed. There was a kindly looking, if somewhat-out-of-place, woman asking the "helpful young man" behind the counter whether or not her teenage son would like the game she had in hand, an RPG called Legend of Alon D'ar. His response was, "If your kid likes RPGs, that's for him." I reviewed the game for GameSpot and was none too impressed, so I readily gave my impressions of the game. But what about those millions of other times I'm not around when a lame game is being peddled to the unsuspecting consumer?

screenshot
While Burnout looks great, it's not on the same level as Gran Turismo 3.
I was equally startled when a teenager asked a different employee what the "best-looking racing game for the PS2" was and which had the "best-looking cars." The employee coyly placed his thumb and forefinger on his chin, as if in deep thought, and produced from the shelf behind him a game called Burnout. While Burnout is quite a fun, high-adrenaline racer, the fact that Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec wasn't recommended is an absolute injustice to me. I'm pretty sure all these guys know their games. They've seen hundreds and hundreds of demo movies and are allowed to learn about the products they sell by taking home evaluation copies. There's really no excuse not to recommend the best, when someone is asking for the best.

It reminded me of a time during my youth, when I was home sick from school and my well-intentioned father went to the local comic shop and asked the shyster behind the counter for a bunch of the "popular" comics. Much to my chagrin, I was greeted with a bunch of the comics the kids didn't think were "cool," like Conan (I've since outgrown my prejudice) and short-lived spoofs of other comics, like Power Pachyderms and Peter Porker, The Spectacular Spider-Ham. Of course, I pretended they were great and smiled, thermometer in mouth. Oddly enough, that comics dealer is now out of business, and while this may be a lesson in morals to store owners everywhere, that's neither here nor there.

 
 Whom do you consult before purchasing a game?

GameSpot, duh!
My favorite magazine
My friends know it all
I'm affected by advertising
I just look at the back of the box
That shifty-looking store clerk
The Magic 8 Ball

 
screenshot
I really wanted X-Men.
It's not just in their evaluation of games that retail employees have bothered me. When Grand Theft Auto III first came out, there was a huge deal going on at this retail chain regarding the sale of this violent game to minors. While I have nothing against requiring a parent's approval for minors to purchase GTAIII, I noticed that just as one child was turned down, another would be gladly handed a fresh new copy of Devil May Cry, also rated "M" for mature by the ESRB. I asked the clerk what the deal was, and his response was, "They're not the same. One is OK; the other isn't." Maybe it's a good thing that kids out there had access to Capcom's bloody-good action thriller hassle-free. But what do you parents think about this?

My advice to you is to research your gaming purchases ahead of time and rely upon your own judgments. While I'm sure you visit this site regularly to read our reviews, many of you likely just as often make impulse purchases. If you have a question that isn't addressed by the review (and it's perfectly fine to ask), check out our forums and ask other readers what they think. We pop in there ourselves, from time to time. By asking the guy behind the counter, you're relying on someone who's out to make a sale, not someone who's trying to sell you the best or most appropriate game available. If you think about it, you really can't blame them. Their job is to make sales, push stagnant products off the shelves, and reach certain quotas. Ultimately it's the responsibility of the consumers to be as informed as possible when spending their hard-earned dollars. So the decision is yours: Whom can you trust?
 

« Previous Page Next: 9-Iron God Complex »