Yeah, EB Sucks In Canada Too.

I love Penny Arcade‘s comics Love them. So funny, so well done, and ever-topical, I try to never miss a strip. If you consider yourself a gamer, their site is weekly required reading. So good. After reading their latest comic, I always read their posts that accompany each one, and after reading their latest , I thought I’d let Gabe know that EB sucks up here in Canada too, as I had almost the exact experience a couple weeks back.

My brother and I were both intent on picking up Guitar Hero III on launch day, both of us being hooked on GH2 previously. He was getting the 360 stand-alone title (no need for another guitar), while I was gonna pick up the Wii guitar bundle pack, so that we could either rock upstairs in the living room with the whole family (where the Wii is), or in our classic gaming ’dungeon’ downstairs (where the 360 resides), also (and more importantly), we wouldn’t have to wait for our own turn anymore! Go play your own damn copy! That was the plan.

We got there early, ‘cause I thought there would be a line up (Moki, my bro, didn’t think there would be, oh so naïve…), but there wasn’t. At first. Soon there was a line-up 35-strong, probably closer to 40 , 45, maybe more, with Moki and I at the front. Cool. I can’t recall the last time I was first in line for something this anticipated. Man I was happy we came early. The place opened up (3 minutes late, btw) and I bounced on in past the stacks of boxed GH3 bundles straight to the counter, all excited and smiling like a goofball, and I ask him if today’s the day the new Hannah Montana game comes out on DS. Hey says “huh?”, and I tell him “nah, never mind, I’m just trying to be funny, I’m just kidding. I want the Wii Guitar Hero III bundle please”, to which he quickly asks me (without missing one goddamned beat), “Got a Pre-Order?” I tell him No, he says “then we’re all sold out.” Just like that.

The frickin' place just opened, I’m the first goddamned person in the store, to buy a game that’s released that very day, and he tells me that the boxes and boxes of GHIII littering the store all around me are sold-out. What a motherlovin’ joke. I was just about speechless. “Really? Are you frickin’ serious about this? All of them?”, that was all I could say, “yep, you should have pre-ordered it.” Well, my brother got his stand-alone copy, and I got back in line, after first leaving the store in angry disbelief, and picked up Zack & Wiki (God I’m happy I did, as it is so many flavours of awesome), and we went home, with me cursing EB all the way.

Seriously, that’s just nuts, to not stock any extra copies of a game with that much drawing power, for all your walk-up traffic. WTF? I am well aware of EB’s general evil-ness, it is well documented all over the web (as well as by the aforementioned PA), but this was the first time I personally have been stung by them this bad, and its ridiculous. I could fill another couple posts with choice words for EB and what I think about this situation, but I would think its obvious how stupid decisions like this are, and only further cements their business’ reputation in gamers’ eyes as greedy, corporate, asshats that don’t give a damn about their customer base one bit. So you see Gabe, these glorified pawn shops are just as ridiculous here in Canada as they are down south, and no, its not just you.

- Kimo