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The Tale of Wal-Mart, Jack, and Bully
GamePolitics is reporting on something that seems like a simple decision: Wal-mart is no longer accepting pre-orders for unrated games. As a 'family-friendly' establishment, it makes a certain amount of sense. The catch is that, in the eyes of many, one of the U.S.'s largest retailers is bowing to pressure from Jack Thompson. The company denies these claims, with Kotaku running a short discussion with John Simley, Wal-mart spokesperson. From that article: "Simley says it has nothing to do with Bully, but rather is the outcome of discussions that the company has been in for 'weeks if not months' about how to handle rating pending titles. Bricks and mortars stores have never accepted pre-orders for RP titles, he added. 'I'd like to give credit to Jack Thompson, but there are a lot of Jack Thompsons out there and we are just listening to our customers,'"
I don't understand the problem here.
Anyone else think the comments just weren't rendering right before they turned off ABP and saw ads?
... now get the rest of the RP games out there off the preorder list. If you're going to do it for violent or racier games, then I expect to see every unrated, family safe Disney game get the same treatment before release.
"Common sense will be the death of us all"
I actually agree with this. I wouldn't necessarily allow a kid to preorder a game that might be rated M or above (unless it was named 'Elmo's Adventure' or the such). Similar to movies, I wouldn't want a young kid to get a R or higher rated movie just because when the preorder was out it was "unrated." At least they finally take the ESRB seriously for what they were created for.
The most terrifying words ever uttered: "There are a lot of Jack Thompsons out there."
Anonymous Luddite: "What do you think of the dehumanizing effects of the Internet?"
Andy Grove: "Not Much."
Wal-Mart has always had this stance. I doubt Jack has anything to do with it. I still remember back when Mortal Kombat came out and they didn't carry the Genesis version because there was blood in it. But they had the SNES version becuase it was colored gray (sweat).
This sig isn't original enough, it's time to come up with something witty...
Why do people fall for the whole preorder scam? Giving a store your hard earned money months in advance for something you have yet to recieve is foolish - once you factor in interest you are paying *more* for the game than you would if you just waited until release day - and there are *never* shortages of games on release day.
I understand that this seems incredibly bogus, and I agree. However, you have to understand where Wal-mart does the bulk of its business, in my experience. This decision didn't come down to affect scientifically enlightened locations like Silicon Valley or New York City. These are areas where if the local church objects, there will be mass boycotts and negative media attention, because EVERYONE in town goes to that church. And, of course, the local church will object to anything that sounds like it's not a) conservative, b) WWJD, c) wont someone think of the children, etc.
stuff |
Who cares if Wal*Mart is the largest retailer. God, what is with men and size?! Look, I live in Texas where Wal*Marts are a plenty, but I rarely shop there. I shop at the local HEB (Texas only grocer). HEB has much higher quality fruits and veggies. Yes, I know I could get better prices at Wal*Mart, however, the quality is crap since Wal*Mart bids at the lowest bidder.
You see, the great thing about this country is the freedom to choose where you go to buy food (or in this case - video games). Size means nothing, contrary to what most men and some (okay, most women) think.
Yes! I listen to NYC Speedcore and do math at 3AM. I suggest you try it too.
Disney won't get held to the same treatment; they're a big corporation with lots of money.
Just so you know... rules, such as they are, are meant to keep you little people in your place. The wealthy and the corporate elite are above the rules because if they weren't, they would lose money and then they would take their business to other, more cronyi^H^H^H^H^H^Hfriendly nations overseas.
It's time we put an end to this "fairness" crap and put the needs of the herd aside for the needs of the alpha dogs in the pack. Rules stifle profits, innovation and progress.
Sincerely,
Your friendly neighborhood satirist
--- Grow a pair, liberals... stop letting the Republicans bully you!
No one knows how the army of Jack Thompson clones were formed. It is up to you to destroy them using whatever weapons you can get ahold of before they destroy the video game industry forever. Dodge lawsuits and incoherent rantings while fighting your way through an undending army of Jach Thomsons on your quest to take out the person or persons behind this evil plot! Fun for the entire family!
Seriously though Wal Mart was already pretty much guaranteed to not have the game you were looking for anyway. I don't see this affecting the game industry at all.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
See, your whole point is invalidated by you saying that I *could* have put it in an account somewhere and earned extra money. I didn't. Therefore you cannot say that I paid more money than I should have in the scam. I was going to spend $50 + tax. I spent exactly $50+tax, and I did not take it from my savings account to do so, I took it from my non-interest-earning checking account. Also, you can't just pull numbers like 7 months out of thin air, I preordered it two days before release. The time it would take to calculate how much was "lost in inflation" in those two days is insignificant. Your theory is a sound one if you mention that it is potentially costing more, but you cannot deal in absolutes like that.
The problem with Wal-Mart being the largest is that they, all by themselves control sizable portion of the retail market.
It's extremely common for companies to make special versions of products specifically tailored to Wal-Mart's specifications, probably the most visible example of this is sanitized versions of music CDs but it also occurs in other product segments.
For many companies who can't or don't want to make a special version of a product just for Wal-Mart they may opt to just make all of their product to Wal-Mart specifications.
Without a doubt, even if you never shop at Wal-Mart, they have some control over what you are able to buy.
A birthday party went horribly wrong yesterday when a goat at the Winnipeg Zoo was killed by its herd in front of the birthday girl.7 58119-sun.html
from http://winnipegsun.com/News/Winnipeg/2006/08/16/1
I've always said, we need background checks on all goats entering the zoo! Somebody please think of the children.
He might as well have said, "I'd like to give credit to that asshole, but there are a lot of assholes out there and we are just listening to our assh^H^H^H^H customers."
I really couldn't care less what Wal-Mart does or does not sell. I refuse to shop there for anything anyway.
Walmart may sells pre-orders for games early on their website, but Walmart as a whole doesn't really have a pre-order system, that's why guys were camping out for 2 days in my local walmart last November for a 360.
The fact is this news is a nothing but a news story that signifies a "win" for Thompson. It's a pretty sad thing too because it will hurt the industry if everyone did this.
First how many games get their ratings in the last weeks of development? The game my company is releasing in weeks got it's rating about two monthes ago. I've personally had preorders for over a year or two in advance at some stores, back when it's RP.
However even worse is this. Now there's legislation in the works detailing how the ESRB needs to handle the game. They want to play through the game in such a variety of ways to such an extent that it will be impossible to even get a rating before the game goes gold, because a minor change in the code may cause them to rerate the game. So if those rating system changes go into effect and major retailers (Gamestop for instance) choose to do the same thing, the pre-order window will decrease significantly or games will go gold and be held back for 2-3 monthes because they need time to get pre-orders.
The bottom line is that while Walmart doesn't really do preorder in store and loss of online pre-orders probably won't kill it, it could start to strangle the industry if major retailers (I'm thinking Best buy, EB and gamestop) adopt the same stance. Not that they would, but if it happens....
I wish there was a footnote when acronyms are used. This is an ongoing problem with Slashdot. What does "RP" stand for -- can someone please define it? I tried to trace the articles but that cleared up nothing.
He misspelled "lawyers".
It's a simple matter of complex programming.
Walmart is neglecting to realize that a large percentage of the market is over 21 and they are usually the one buying the games; dad buys the game for junior because he wants to play TOO!
This is a dumb move by Wal-Mart. If there is a consumer demand for something, why limit yourself? They are a company and as a company (especially retailers), they have to listen to consumer demand. Regardless of their ability to artificially create a consumer demand just by CARRYING a product, do they honestly think consumers will just start buying 'Mickey Mouses Big Adventure' instead of going elswhere for 'GoreFest 3000: The Revenge'??
Honestly, this move will cause consumers to look elsewhere or purchase online. The consumer demand will move to other markets and eventually ignore Walmart entirely (over time). Why purchase my Playstation for Christmas at Walmart when I have to go to Gamestop for the games?? Consumers are lazy and they want to be able to get everything in one place... this was the Walmart ethic. When they start limiting their video game stock, they will be limiting their video game console sales. This is also bound to affect other electronic sales as well as a result of impulse electronic purchases lost.
Ignore Walmart and just start going to Fry's.
This is my sig. There are many like it but this one is mine.
That Wal-Mart's PR guy is nimed "Simley". I look at that and immediately think Smiley, and picture them interviewing that big flying smiley face. Gives me a chuckle.
I don't really see anything in your post about how will it kill the industry. Sounds to me like it will just kill pre-ordering. People who want the game will still buy it, pre-order or not.
There are only 10 kinds of people in this world... those who understand binary and those who don't
Who the heck preorders their games from Wal-mart anyway? Wal-mart sometimes takes up to a week to get "new" games in stock. All this does is make Wal-mart lose some sales to Gamestop, EB Games, Gamecrazy, Best Buy etc.
I'd pre-order every single copy myself.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
Many companies rely on pre-orders for expected sales number. In addition stores like Gamestop order and distribute games based almost soley on preorder numbers. A store that gets 5 pre-orders gets something like 7 total games, a store that gets 1 preorder will likely see 2 games.
In addition if games don't get the word out fast (first week), many stores start cutting down on copies shown. If game X sells 1 million copies, and game Y sells 500,000 copies, game X will retain more shelf space longer.
Months or weeks? I mean which is it? It's either one or the other. On the one side, months, it means that it hasn't been affected by Bully. On the other, it means that they have.
To the tune of... well, you figure it out:
...
Will the real Jack Thompson please stand up? I repeat, will the real Jack Thompson please stand up?
We're gonna have a problem here.
You all look like you've never seen a censor before, jaws all on the floor, like that time John Romero burst through your door and started making you his bitch worse than before he made Quake, putting his Daikatana in you,
it's the return of the, oh wait, no way, he didn't just say what I think he did, did he?
And Dr. Suess said, nothing you idiot! Dr. Suess is dead, locked in my basement!
Gamer boys love Jack Thompson (chigga chigga chigga), "Jack Thompson, I'm sick of him look at him, grabbing the media's you-know-what, sucking the press's you-know-who", "Yeah, but he's so cute, though!"
Yeah, I probobly got a couple of screws in my head loose, but no worse, than what's going on in your parent's GameCubes. Sometimes, I just wanna get on TV and ban everything, but can't, but it's cool for Joe Lieberman to put stickers on your music "My warning's on your album, My warning's on your album, and if I'm lucky, I can ban evil music"
And that's the message we deliver to lazy teens, and expect them not to know what a prostitute's business is. Of course they gonna know what whoring is, by the time they hit tenth grade, they get C-Span don't they?
"We ain't nothing but columnists" well, some of us communists, who cut away other people's (snip) content
But if we can cut shots of cleavage and gore, then there's no reason why we can't stop a man and another man from marrying (ewww!)
If you hate the constitution, I got the antidote,
women put your burkhas on, sing the chorus and it goes,
I'm Jack Thompson, I'm the real Thompson, All the other Jack Thompsons are just imitating,
so will the real Jack Thompson please stand up, please stand up, please stand up.
(repeat 3x)
Will Smith don't gotta cuss in his rap to sell his records.
Well, neither do you. So sit down and shut up.
You think I give a damn about your rights? Half of you gamers can't stomach me, let alone stand me "But Jack! What if you win, wouldn't it be fascist?"
So? You think the fatherland needs your internet-tubes?
So you can, download your Britney Spears? Shit, Christina Aguilera better put some clothes on, so I can watch my NFL with Michael Powell and Tipper Gore, and hear them argue about who censored Janet Jackson first,
You little bitch, put half-time to shame, "Oops, my wardrobe popped, tee hee", I should make it legal to download her audio on MP3, and show the world you can't make money without your PR machine.
I'm sick of you little boy and girl gamers, all you do is annoy me, so I have been sent to destroy you
And there's a million of us just like me,
Who preach like me, who don't give a fuck about your rights like me,
Who dress like me, walk, talk and censor like me,
And just might be the next best thing but aren't quite me!
I'm Jack Thompson, I'm the real Thompson, All the other Jack Thompsons are just imitating,
so will the real Jack Thompson please stand up, please stand up, please stand up.
(repeat 3x)
"One of the larger companies in the States" ? Eh?
Or maybe the number 1 or 2 largest company in the world, depending on the day?
+5 Insightful, really!
no text here
But Disney isn't going to "accidentally" include a sequence where you murder prostitutes and bathe in their blood in the next "Learning With Nemo" title
No, you're right. They're going to "accidentally" include photographs of naked women in their animated movies:
http://www.snopes.com/disney/films/rescuers.htm
So it's good to give Disney the benefit of the doubt and not Rockstar.