When we were grocery shopping last week, Myria mentioned wanting a Nintendo DS hand-held. I only barely knew what it was, kind of a big brother to the Game Boy, but it was no surprise that she wanted one. Myria has always been the bleeding edge gamer :)
From this…
But these buggers are expensive - somewhere in the $130 range and we just didn’t have the resources for it. As we got into the car I suggested that she trade in her Game Cube (which hadn’t even been turned on in over a year) and all its games plus whatever else she could find. Gamestop has three stores in our area and we had traded games there before.
The look on her face was priceless. In fact she kind of just went away for a while. Finally she turned to me. “I never even thought of that!”
So home we went, where she put everything together that she wanted to exchange. She packed everything into a couple of bags and we headed back to the store. She was hoping to get $40 or so for the trade-ins which would bring the price down to something we could manage. I thought $60 was more likely but in either case it would be fine. As it turned out, the Game Cube and its assorted peripherals (connectors, controller, memory, etc…) gave us $123 and change so all we had to lay out for the DS was the princely sum of about $6. Pretty cool!
...to this!
There was a small glitch. Once she got the thing home and charged and started playing with it, Myria discovered there was a stuck pixel about in the middle of the screen. That means that pixel was stuck in one color and didn’t change as things changed on the screen. So we went back a couple of days later and exchanged it - no hassles, no problems. Now everything works perfectly.
I did want to put in a plug for Gamestop though, as always, your mileage may vary. In a time where it seems very few people know much about the product they’re trying to sell, the folks here (at least in the store we usually go to) really know their stuff. They know the game consoles and the games inside and out. Not only that, but they are unfailingly pleasant to deal with. In terms of good service, they are head and shoulders above most other establishments I deal with on a regular basis.
And I’m afraid that’s it. Neither of us are feeling too spiffy; I suspect we’re coming down with something and I’m going to be a lump today :) I’m going to watch movies and knit and not do much of anything else.
Game on!
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I am very, very pleased that you’ve had such good luck with the GameStops around you. Personally, I will go around, through, or without to avoid giving my money to a GameStop. The ONLY time I go there is when they have something I want desperately that I absolutely cannot get any where else - including online. My relationship with them has been ... troubled, you could say. The staff at the store closest to me is inadequate and incompetent. The store is always a mess, and I can never find anything.
That being said, I’m still glad you had a good experience. I’m lusting over a DS myself, and will probably get one as soon as the game I want for it comes out.
Colleen - I’m sorry to hear that your experience has been so poor. As I mentioned, there are three in our immediate area, including two in New Hampshire where there’s no sales tax :) That said, the one we usually deal with, our favorite, is in Massachusetts which tacks on an additional 5%. To me, that 5% is a big hairy deal (yes, I’m cheap!), but the MA store is worth it.
What game are you waiting for?
Wow this must be the Year of Good Deals for y’all [knock wood]. Why is it that just when you think winter is over and spring has finally made it we all get sick? The bugs last hurrah?
OW I need fore-arm massage. I’m going to have gut out the rest of my Olympic knitting…this might be one of those heart warming giving it your all stories; if I finish.
Fix some of that marvelous miraculous Rice noodles a la maison du loupe et tortue. It’s practically a chicken soup cure! Stay warm and get lots of rest.
Aarlene - Sorry to hear your forearms are bothering you during your knitting marathon. Don’t try and gut anything out - don’t risk hurting yourself, is what I mean to say :)
Funny you should mention the rice noodles - I just finished a bowl of them with ginger, mushrooms and green onions in a slightly spicy broth. It was pretty durned tasty :)
Robbyn: Sweetie and I are waiting for Xenosaga for the DS. It’s an RPG. It’s slated for a summer 2006 Japanese release, and as soon as it hits North America, I’ll be picking up a spankin new DS to play it on. Hopefully by then they’ll have dropped in price a bit. For now, I stick with my Gameboy Advance.
Colleen - Hmmm - sounds interesting :) I inherited Myria’s GBA, though I don’t really qualify as a gamer. Still, it’s fun to queue up Tetris or Zelda once in a while :)
