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UK's Largest Specialist Video Games Retailer Enters Administration
RogueyWon writes "The GAME Group, owners of high street chains GAME and Gamestation, which between them account for a large majority of the UK's specialist games retail market, have entered into administration. In the hours following the Group's entry into administration, hundreds of stores were closed and thousands of staff made redundant. While some of the factors behind the Group's downfall, such as stores located too close to each other and overly-ambitious international expansion, were likely unique to the UK-based company, other factors, such as price competition from supermarkets and online retailers, as well as a reliance on a fickle pre-owned games market, may have wider application."
I'm pretty good at keeping up with British words we don't use (in that way) here in the US but that went too far. "Entered administration" - bankruptcy? I've read up on "made redundant" - BOFH has used that enough I already studied the term. I'm well ahead of the average US citizen on keeping up with those terms but this one really made me think.
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Doesn't surprise me, for a variety of reasons.
As mentioned in TFS, they were crazy when it came to sotre placement. In my town, there were two GAME stores and one Gamestation all on the same shopping high street. There used to be a third GAME in a department store two minutes walk away, and there was briefly a fourth GAME directly opposite one of the current two. They all stocked exactly the same thing, with no great specialisation. What on earth did they think they were trying to acheve?
Another reason- failure to move into the online space themselves. They do do online retailing these days, but they compare poorly to the likes of Amazon. When you're sat at your keyboard, and you open two websites, and one has a betteer range and is cheaper than the other, why would you use the latter? Instead of capitalising on their huge brand presence, they just let themselves slip. their digital download service isn't even run by them- it's just a rebadge of a whole different company's website.
A bigger reason, though, was just that they weren't pleasant places to be. They're competing against souless supermarkets and anonymous online mail-order companies. So what was their solution? Become as souless and supermarket-like as possible. Cram in as many shelves as possible, with no aisle space, no demo machines, no nice displays. Gaming is obviously a hobby which a lot of people take quite seriously, but instead of trying to tap into that sense of a hobbyist community, and trying to become a hub for that (lucrative) community, they just focussed on selling as many things as possible as efficiently as possible- something they couldn't hope to win on, against their competition. Compare and contrast with Games Workshop (seller of tabletop games and models); gangs of enthusiastic hobbyists hang around in there for hours at a time, playing games against each other, organising competitions, soaking up the atmosphere. You can buy Games Workshop models cheaper online or through some of the resellers- but the flagship shop is the place to be, and so is where most people buy their stuff from.
I'm guessing this translates into US english as 'downsizing' - ?
the other day I was looking for Demon's Souls for PS3, New or pre-owned.
I found it pre-owned for 24 GBP when new from Amazon was less, around 18... Now please understand why to me their administration is _not_ surprising...
On the window of a Game store in Ireland: http://i.imgur.com/BQ8iD.jpg
While it's sad when people have to lose their jobs I do feel that it's mostly a good thing that online marketplaces are taking over the traditional store model for games (and other software too). By far the most interesting games I've played lately have been made by small independent teams. Lower barriers for entry into the business makes it easier for independents to get a shot.
Unfortunately, the online marketplaces, especially on consoles, are also in effect a monopoly on the platform. But that will likely change with time.
.: Max Romantschuk
I think administration is technically different than bankruptcy. If the latter is more like "we have to liquidate all the assets, pay our priviledged debtors, common debtors and then shareholders" the former is more likely "if we carry like this we're gonna go bust, lets give the command to a judge nominated person trying to get a grip with all our liabilities and assets... because we've been very bad at managing". I see it more as raising the white flag and asking the tribunals/state to send someone to help.
I would wager that, as much as it is to do with GAME's own failings, it is also down to two other things: the industry-wide switch to digital distribution (Steam, Xbox Live Marketplace, Playstation Store, Wii Shop Channel, App Store, Google Play, etc.), coupled with the engineered death of second-hand sales caused both by digital distribution and the game publishers and console makers alike actively taking steps to prevent resale, effectively turning your "purchase" into a "rental".
I always liked the Game stores it's probably because in Belfast there really is nowhere else that keeps a half decent selection of titles, I've had a look in a few shops like Sainsburys and HMV and seen only a few titles people mostly already will own. I'd much rather have physical copies than digital especially when my newest system a Sony Vita has such tiny memory cards.
I hope another chain can fill the void that is left or at the very least other astores start to increase their range of titles to fill the gap.
It's going to have a massive effect on unemployment in Basingstoke. The only good thing is that my daughter didn't get a job at GAME when she went for an interview there about 18mths ago.
Sigs. We don't need no steenking sigs.
Not sure what GAME uk's demise means for the australian game line, but i keep wondering how they *STAY* in business. They are consistently higher then everyone else simply for price.
Consider their biggest competitor in the retail market is probably a place called JB hifi, and in shopping centers they're often so close (physically) together that you can see the big tags advertising their price for games (Specially up coming and new release ones). Yet, GAME au's prices are always more expensive.
When they go out of business in AU, I will not be supprised. I've bought games from them (but only second hand ones, and at most 3 - typically jbhifi is cheaper for those as well). But AU's model can be summed up in 3 links:
http://www.game.com.au/diablo-iii/pc-games/DIABLO3PC
http://www.jbhifionline.com.au/game/pc-games/diablo-3/654000
http://www.game-lane.com.au/pc-mac-games/2782-diablo-iii-3-pc.html
To me, in AU, its not "how did they go out of business" its "how do they stay alive?".
Hmm.. maybe the word order in my original title could have been better... oops.
So you have an (over) saturation of stores in prime rent locations selling a commodity, poor customer loyalty thanks to GAME's own business practices, a recession, and increasing competition from supermarkets, online stores and digital downloads. GAME didn't bother responding in any meaningful way to any of these threats and so it lost a lot of money and went bust. It sucks for the employees but it really isn't a surprise that it happened.
Going into administration is probably the best chance it has of surviving. The creditors can cut the store down to size which might ultimately whip it into a survivable shape.
Video Game Retailer Modded "Redundant -1"
Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
In the UK firms can't go bankrupt, they go into administration, i.e. an administrator is appointed to either wind it down, or find someone to buy it, or keep it running as a going concern. GAME is still a going concern, albeit massively downsized. It might ultimately be wound up or it may be that it carries on existing in some reduced form. Closing a bunch of stores was inevitable in any event.
Sometimes Americans call administration "Chapter 11". This is different to bankruptcy, which is known as "Chapter 7". It's not really good international communication to use chapter numbers from a specific country's civil code, so they instead used the correct English words.
When Argumentum ad Hominem falls short, try Argumentum ad Matrem
I'm British. The terms "entered administration" and "made redundant" are in normal everyday use in Britain. I think it is reasonable to assume that the writer is British and that it would never have occurred to him that these phrases would be misunderstood by an American. I'm sure it wasn't done just to wind you up*. * I'm not sure if the phrase "wind you up" is used in the US. It means to say something with the intent to provoke.
Acres of empty boxes on display with all the stock stashed in couple of drawers at the back. Actually that's my only disagreement with you, I don't think they did anything efficiently.
Last time I went in, was to have a look at a Vita. I knew it was cheaper online, but hadn't (and still haven't) actually got my hands on one to play with it. I'd assumed due to the window sized poster, there'd be a demo pod inside, bundle deals etc. When I went in... well there was a big poster listing the not-very-good-deals, but no Vita to prod. Eventually I spotted a guy just standing holding one, I patiently 'hovered' as he chatted to the sales-guy who he seemed to know. Once he'd had his fun, Vita gets handed back to the sales-guy, who just walks off and stashes the Vita back in the storeroom leaving me standing alone on the shop floor.
If they'd wanted to survive they should have just tried something other than just not-beating the supermarkets on the price of new games, or not-beating ebay/amazon for choice/price of used games. Maybe look to see how physical book stores are hanging in there - maybe not a cafe, but some reason to wander in - maybe just a couple of arcade cabinets like the old indies used to have. Maybe let staff post their recommendations for 'classic, but overlooked' games. Ensure if somebody is holding a game box, somebody appears next to you asking if they could boot it up for you? None of this would have cost anything and to see them not even try as they crashed into administration... Oh they deserve it.
Maybe this is all for the best. Once we've removed Game and the high street is no longer saturated with mediocrity, smaller chains and indies may return and offer something better.
Chapter 11 is significantly less harsh on th business than British Administration - in CH11, a companies board can survive the ordeal, while under Administration they instantly lose everything and leave the business.
In the US, CH11 is used strategically, for example see American Airlines - they waited until they had secured a $8Billion war chest before entering chapter 11, even buying $200Billion of aircraft in the run up to the declaration. Entering chapter 11 allows them to do things like break lease agreements (they had 50 or so aircraft sitting mothballed in the desert because they had reached the end of their useful life, but continuing to pay the leases was cheaper than paying the costs associated with returning the aircraft - but in chapter 11 one of the first things they did was just hand the aircraft back in an unflyable state...).
Chapter 11 is a business tool, while administration in the UK is a severe punishment. Huge difference in aspect.
Trade-in prices is what put me off going to Game. I'd take in something recent, like, say, Street Fighter X Tekken and they'd give me maybe 13GBP for it, or 16 if it wasn't "scratched". They'd then sell it second hand for 30GBP (or 28 if it doesn't come with instructions or a box).
Meanwhile, the independent shop near it, CEX, would give me 28GBP cash, or 30GBP exchange.
Summation 2
Car sales are an area you often see it. Car dealers will cluster together. Reason is when people are shopping for a car, they are often willing to shop at multiple places and they are more likely to go to you if you are in an area where one goes to buy cars. If you are the one guy out where there's nothing else, you probably get visited less.
However what it doesn't work for is the same store. You also never see that. Competing with yourself is stupid. So while a Walmart might move in next to a Target to try and compete, it is unlikely a Target will open up next to a Target. If they decided they needed more inventory, they'd expand the store, not create a second store that mirrored the inventory of the first.
So ya you see plenty of places with lots of the same, but from different companies. Restaurants are some of the biggest. I work on campus and there's a whole street of restaurants next to it. However there are no duplicates. There is only one of each.
Big successful chains do a good bit of research on how tightly they should pack their stores. You want enough so that you are always easy to get to, so that people don't go to a competitor because you are inconvenient. However you don't want to compete with yourself. You don't want stores operating at below capacity because there are too many near each other.
It'll probably happen, but it is a long way off. People who use it tend to think it has since we tend to switch over. I rarely buy retail games these days, DD is too convenient. However that leads to a skewed perception. The majority of sales are still physical. Even for titles that are available DD, it is still mostly physical. Stardock says about 4:1 physical to DD for them.
Then you take the fact that many titles aren't available digital on consoles, and consoles are big markets. PC gamers sometimes forget since effectively every PC game is available from at least one (and usually all) of the DD services. Not so on consoles. The big games are usually retail only. Take COD MW3. Massive seller, did like a billion in sales. Not available on Xbox Live Market.
There's still plenty of retail game sales, just not enough for a monkey-fuck retarded amount of games only stores.
From your description, UK firms most certainly can go bankrupt in the US sense. Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganizes the ongoing business of the company, and chapter 7 bankruptcy is a liquidation of the company.
So... Sounds like it's just a word/name/vocabulary difference.
Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. -John Lennon
A lot of game retailers really didn't (and some still haven't) noticed DD as a growing thing. An example would be Gamestop. You'd think they'd have been in on this from the fairly early days. Their whole business is games so it would be highly relevant. Well, no they had no DD presence and ignored it until it was already huge. They are in it now, but because they bought Impulse from Stardock. It was an already established DD service, quite an old on in fact (Impulse grew out of Stardock Central which came out in 2001, and that was a consolidation of two earlier Stardock DD services). Gamestop just bought it and now runs it.
Game over.
Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
It would be great if someone used terms more familiar to those international folks who don't know British law :-)
Does it mean they went bankrupt (as summary seems to say), under investigation (which forced closing the stores), became a public administration entity (who then decided to close some of the shops), or what?
This isn't the first time that this has happened to a British game store. Back in the 1990's, a local store was set up by a local kid who had left school at 16. The local papers were hyping his store as going up may the major chains like Virgin, Dixons and HMV.
Within six months, the store had gone into liquidation with *everything* in the store being given a price tag for auction. Everything from the company sports cars in the rear car park to the front sign above the high street doors. Even the office desk and the official company directors note pad were up for auction.
The sad part was that you could see where he and the accountant had analyzed the inventory, the sales trends and price changes only to realize they were loaded with stuff nobody could buy. There was a bargain bucket filled with joysticks, game pads and other accessories.
thing was that you could see where he had done the n
Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads
There was much I enjoyed, and much i loathed. GAME did a good job of importing the american customer service model in an effort to become more profesional as it grew. It was a very sales driven environemnet, where the goal was to engage the customer, and help steer their choices. Some people like that some don't. The GAME stores were constantly in competition against each other for sales, and also against their own sales figures from previous years. Sadly, whilst the company moved towards focusing more on the customers, it failed to focus on its staff. There was no benefit to the Sales assistants in selling more, other than their manager shouted at them less. The company had a big chip on its shuoulder about staff theft as it tried to transition and exapnd from a small chain to a more profesional outfit. This led to routine searches of staff before leaving the store, and treating all staff as potentional thiefs. I agree with the above posts that what really killed GAME though,was the reduction in footfall. "Young" game buyers moved across to internet shopping a long time ago, but GAME survived on the key period of Christmas presents. December+january takings were equall to takings for the rest of the year in some concessions. With the appearance of not jsut games, but also hardware in supermarkets, this too began to ebb away. I loved checking out games at GAME when I was young. I loved working there in my early 20's. I want to say I wish it was still there, but when I think about it, I haven't been to GAME to buy anything for over 5 years. I go to browse, and catch up with friends. But never to buy. In the end, I guess I killed GAME.
Business tools that basically allow you to cheat you mean? Whats the point in a lease agreement if it can be broken so easily?
Administration isn't a punishment - it's a realistic consequence of failure.
Allowing it to be used the way the US uses chapter 11, would essentially mean that the protections for customers of the business are being abused to the point where they no longer protect the intended recipient.
I though the Yanks were the ones that really believed in 'do or die' business ideals?
It probably is analogous. Administration effectively means appointing somebody to run the company in the best interests of the creditors. That might mean winding it up, selling it off or keeping it running as a going concern. It's too early to say what GAME's administrators will do but clearly they saw no reason to keep half of the stores open presumably because they're not making enough money or the rent is too high.
yup... just look at how much trouble SCO were able to cause (and still do) when they did a strategic Chapter 11 4 1/2 years ago when they lost a lawsuit...
Donald 'Duck' Dunn: We had a band powerful enough to turn goat piss into gasoline.
Well to give an idea of their over saturation of the marketplace at one point the town of Reading had 3 Game's and 1 gamestation all with a 1/4 mile circle, about 3 years ago it dropped to 2 + 1 then 6 mths ago the gamestation shut and they rebranded a GAME as Gamestation. That is now the only open store but it has almost 0 new stock and for example the PS2 pre-owned section has 1 of it's 4 shelves completely overed in "eyetoy chat" boxes
I've read up on "made redundant"
I thought that was international. What do Americans say instead?
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
The GAME store in Dundrum, Ireland has/had (I'm not certain if it is closed) some great staff. They always seemed really into the games they sold, and never offered any kind of judgement.
I once pre-ordered WotLK expansion in Gamestop in Bray (Wicklow, Ireland) and I was excited to play it, so had taken 3 days off work and arrived the morning it launched at the shop door, just as they were opening. There were 3-4 other people there waiting for the store to open. When the clerk arrived and opened the door, you could see this look of "What a bunch of saddos" written plain on his face.
On the otherhand, the staff at GAME were totally different, offering midnight release of Cataclysm and SWTOR and other games, like MW3 & Battlefield 3 (though I didn't go to them), getting into the spirit of it and lamenting that they would have to be there for a few more hours, and thus not able to go and get playing themselves.
That GAME store definitely felt to me to be a shop by gamers for gamers.
Not only that, look at the terms themselves.
If you (or your job) has been "made redundant", it means - quite literally - that they no longer have a use for you. It doesn't matter what version of English you speak, that's the meaning of the word. It may not specifically state that would mean losing your job, but the context is there and useful - and differs from "being sacked/fired" quite significantly. It wasn't that they sacked you, they didn't need you any more. It was NOTHING you did wrong. You were simply redundant to the business. We even use terms like "redundancy money" where the business compensates you when it stops your contract because it *COULDN'T* find a use for you any more.
And to "enter administration". That means that some process has taken over to administer the business. Not bankruptcy, because we have that word too and that wouldn't be administration of the business but a final "winding up", but someone is there to administer things - presumably because they can't do it themselves.
Though the terms are not clear-as-day, they are no worse than any other English phrasing and at least hint at what they mean (I'd expect most people to understand them by the context they are used and the inference of the meaning of the words). I don't see why you can't pick up those words from context, to be honest, or just from their meaning - especially when I spend a LOT of my time looking up what the hell certain Americanisms mean because they're not at all obvious (John Doe? Really? You can't just say you don't know their names?).
Company enters Chapter Whatever? What the hell does that mean. The fifth amendment? Eh? Which one's that? What does it say? Amendment to what? Do the other 4 take precedence?
Although the answers are easy to find, they aren't anywhere near easy to infer just from the context given. English is one of the most poetic, cross-culture, verbose and diverse languages. Use it and the facilities available within it, and people can infer what you mean. Numbering everything is only logical if everyone has a reference list of what those numbers refer to and memorises it. But the word "redundant" is present and means the same in both languages - it's just a particular instance of it that doesn't fully explain the implications of your "redundancy" but that the context does.
Don't even get me started on navigation in America. Xing-Ped (Someone had to TELL me what it meant, and that it was "backwards" and I only speak English!) and 49th/50th/51st/52nd street drive me mad. It's abuse of language where it's not necessary, no imagination, nothing to make anything or anyone stand out and not using meanings have been attached to words for centuries.
In the US, CH11 is used strategically
Administration is used strategically in the UK too. 7Global, a DC/hosting provider did it while we were using their services but didn't tell us. I'm not sure how it was arranged (I think it was a management buyout while in administration) but they were in administration for 24 hours meaning they could walk away from certain contracts and debts. This also nulled our contracts with them, which our clients could have been very unhappy about because that meant we were in breach of our contracts with them by not being able to guarantee things (that were previously guaranteed by proxy via our contract with 7Global). They also moved their entire operation (which went very badly leaving us with no service for days) without letting anyone know the plan (there was a planned maintenance period that night which was down as "working on the server racks") but that is another bitter story.
lt;dr: "strategic administration" happens in the UK too, and quite often in fact but it is usually not widely reported.
It's their own fault really!
Over the years they have had an increasingly worse selection of Games. Made worse by having piles of unsold of 'Title X' from 6 months ago alongside a similar sized pile of traded in copies of the same game (with no real difference in price). My local branch seemed to stop bothering with newly released PC games a long time ago.
They completely messed up their strategy w.r.t. to Nintendo Wii and DS releases. The sections were tiny in comparison to PS3 and XBOX360 (and even PS2 and XBOX) for a long time after release - despite them having the largest userbase and, it would seem to me, having the userbase most likely to buy a game while out shopping on the High Street.
Their customer service was often awful. I've lost count of the bad advice I have overheard them give to people who have succumb to the full rotation of staff nagging them every few seconds. If I want your help I will come and ask you for it! And more recently they have seemed to stop employing as many 'gamers' (or perhaps they have just exhausted the supply with their saturation of shops) so there hasn't been anyone to answer questions about more obscure titles.
The 'grown up crèche' aspect of being able to while away a few minutes trying out the latest titles while shopping partners were looking at shoes (or whatever they did while I was looking at games) hasn't been present for quite a while now. The almost invariably powered off cabinets shoved to the corners of stores.
Finaly; Their online presence was just plain awful - it didn't seem tied to the shop brand in any way except the logo (and to some extent the uncompetitive prices).
I seriously doubt that they can come out of administration in their current form. Even with the lower overheads of fewer shops and general separation of chaff that the administrators will perform. I predict a selloff of stock at rock bottom prices from a select few well positioned stores in big cities (to generate a bit of buzz similar to what happened with the closure of Woolies) in an attempt to get the creditors something. Followed by winding up entirely.
The good that may come out of this is that there will be a space for a good independent games shop in many places - just got to find a business plan/model that'll work.
Divorced.
You are welcome on my lawn.
My home town has 2 GAME shops that are less than 100 yards apart, and a further GameStation shop less than 5 minutes walk away. This never made any sense to me. Besides, you can buy games in at least 3 other shops nearby. If this is normal, there's no wonder they are going into administration.
The demise of GAME may be sad for the staff in the shops, but for anyone else, this is hardly that upsetting. Someone else will take over, and hopefully do a better job at running their business.
Anytime you *think* you have the intellect to 'get the better of me'? Come on over here -> http://mobile.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=2734503&cid=39493361 & disprove any points I have made on hosts files there!
(Along with the thoughts & opinions of your /. peers that outnumber your craven tactics 40++:1 and actually agree that hosts files are useful for speed, security, and more of beneficial value to they and others)
You're 'so brave' doing cowardly little trollish ad hominem attack attempts, in your snide little comment there -> http://mobile.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=2734503&cid=39406223 !
Let's see how well you bear up under fire when you're challenged to disprove not only the thoughts of others on hosts files benefits they have gotten using custom hosts files, but also points I have made in favor of hosts files that have gotten myself modded up MANY TIMES here by others also (which is tough to get as an AC since /. buries our posts by default).
* It is going to be a PLEASURE annihilating you...
APK
P.S.=> So yes - that's right: I am going to make it a point to humiliate you now, worm.
Especially since you saw fit to attempt to try to 'start up' with me there with an off-topic illogical failing attempt @ ad hominem attacks directed my way there!
So - now the shoe's on the other foot, except that it will illustrate your inadequacy in things technical in computing hugely, proving this is no mere ad hominem attack on my part (only payback you merited, and best part is? YOU only did this, to yourself, worm)... apk
All affiliates and trading partners received the following email over the last few days. The appropriate "changes" section is also in GAME/Gamestation store fronts in the stores that have remained open.
A list of closed stores is here: http://www.bit-tech.net/news/gaming/2012/03/27/game-closes-277-stores/1
----
GAME Group plc (the parent company of GAME in the UK) is now in administration. We want you to know that the Administrators aim at this time is to continue trading while they seek to find a new owner for the business. In the meantime, we?ve had to make some changes. We?ve summarised them below. Some of them are temporary, some are permanent.
GAME Changes
1.Online Sales: We expect some disruption to our online services over the next few days while we make some changes. We apologise for the inconvenience this causes.
2.Refunds and Exchanges: Until further notice, we will not be able to offer refunds or exchanges for products purchased either before the administration or for products purchased from the date of the administration.
3.Pre-Orders: No new pre-orders can be taken until further notice. No refunds can be given for any pre-order deposits which have been paid. We are reviewing this over the next week.
4.GAME Reward card: We have had to suspended use of GAME Reward Cards. This means that points can be earned but NOT redeemed until further notice.
5.Gift cards: We have also had to suspend GAME gift cards. The value on these cards cannot be redeemed. If this changes, we will let you know. We apologise for the inconvenience this causes.
6.GAMEWallet: the value stored in GAMEwallet accounts will be suspended until further notice following the appointment of administrators.
7.Pre-owned Software: You can still buy pre owned products at great prices in your local store or online. If you trade in a pre-owned software item then you will still be able to accrue reward points and use your trade in to exchange for another item. You will not be able to trade in pre-owned software for cash. If this changes, we will let you know. We apologise for the inconvenience this causes.
8.Pre-owned Hardware: We have had to suspend trade in for pre-owned hardware at this time. If this changes, we will let you know. We apologise for the inconvenience this causes.
9.Click and Collect titles: We have had to suspend this service. We apologise for any inconvenience this causes.
MJA Jervis and SD Maddison have been appointed as Joint Administrators of The GAME Group plc, Game Stores Group Limited, Gameplay (GB) Limited, Game (Stores) Limited, Games Station Limited, Game (Retail) Limited and Gamestation Limited on 26 March 2012 to manage their affairs, business and property as their agents and without personal liability. MJA Jervis and SD Maddison are licensed in the United Kingdom to act as insolvency practitioners by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.
GameStation Changes
1.Online Sales: We expect some disruption to our online services over the next few days while we make some changes. We apologise for the inconvenience this causes.
2.Refunds and Exchanges: Until further notice, we will not be able to offer refunds or exchanges for products purchased either before the administration or for products purchased from the date of the administration.
3.Pre-Orders: No new pre-orders can be taken until further notice. No refunds can be given for any pre-order deposits which have been paid. We are reviewing this over the next week.
4.gamestation Elite card: We have had to suspended use of gamestation Elite cards. This means that points can be earned but NOT redeemed until further notice.
5.Gift cards: We have also had to suspend gamestation gift cards. The value on these cards cannot be redeemed. If this changes, we will let you know. We apologise for the inconvenience this causes.
6.Pre-owned Software: You can still buy pre owned products at great prices i
The fifth amendment? Eh? Which one's that? What does it say? Amendment to what? Do the other 4 take precedence?
No, to the extent that they conflict the higher numbers take precedence over the lower. They are literally a list of amendments to the original document, in the order that they apply. So you start off with an original document, then apply amendment 1, then apply amendment 2, and so on. Each subsequent amendment potentially overrides the previous ones.
Please insert coin(s) to continue...
Of course: Your off-topic harassing myself there is only making it worse for you, as well as your evading disproving points I challenged you to do regarding speed, security, & other gains users get using custom hosts files.
* Bottom-line: You're nothing more than a "forums 'ne'er-do-well'" & this running away from a challenge from myself to you for your BLATANT off-topic illogical failing attempts @ ad hominem attack directed my way is proof enough of that assertion on my part now...
These quotes from you "take the cake" here now though, lol, utterly hilarious (and more 'effete evasions' from you also):
"Why would I want to disprove any of the points you made about hosts files?" - by TheRaven64 (641858) on Wednesday March 28, @08:30AM (#39495129)
LOL, more like YOU CAN'T, despite your BLATANT cowardly off-topic attempts @ trolling myself... and you KNOW it!
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"They may all be true for all that I care - they are totally irrelevant to the topic. " - by TheRaven64 (641858) on Wednesday March 28, @08:30AM (#39495129)
Oh, & I suppose your OFF-TOPIC TROLLING cowardly little worm comments directed my way were "on topic"? Please - your illogic astounds me (pot calling the kettle black), lol!
(There's no defending yourself now troll)
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"I expect that you will now reply to this message telling me that you've 'totally destroyed me' or similar, with at least a thousand words of absolutely no relevance at all." - by TheRaven64 (641858) on Wednesday March 28, @08:30AM (#39495129)
No, you're only destroying yourself when you troll me, because this is the payback & you only did it to yourself. It's great to see you show your true trolling colors... lol!
APK
P.S.=> Thank you for showing everyone here just what you are REALLY made of (shit)... apk
Both chapter 7 and chapter 11 are forms of bankruptcy.
This isn't the first time that this has happened to a British game store. Back in the 1990's, a local store was set up by a local kid who had left school at 16. The local papers were hyping his store as going up may the major chains like Virgin, Dixons and HMV.
That does ring a faint bell. Was that the chain that was called "Star UK" or something like that?
That would have been circa 1990-91. I vaguely remember they had a branch *very* briefly open in my home town (think I must have been in there once as that was where I first saw a Mega Drive) and went bankrupt within a very short period of time.
"Slashdot - News and Chat Sites Deviant". (Click "homepage" link above for details).
Administration is used strategically in the UK too.
There's the now-common "pre-pack" insolvency here- which I would say *is* reasonably well-known about- that often results in the same people that owned the company before buying it again without having to take on its debts or obligations- sometimes more than once(!)
"Slashdot - News and Chat Sites Deviant". (Click "homepage" link above for details).
"tthey are totally irrelevant to the topic." - by TheRaven64 (641858) on Wednesday March 28, @08:30AM (#39495129)
Oh, & your OFF-TOPIC TROLLING comments directed my way here first:
http://mobile.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=2734503&cid=39406223
Were "on topic" from YOU?
(Please - lmao!)
Your illogic astounds me (pot calling the kettle black)...
(There's no defending yourself now troll - too bad you only did that to yourself... keep running too, it only shows everyone JUST what you are, a troll, nothing more...)
APK
P.S.=> That quote of yours above illustrates just how WEAK your little troll's brain really is, and how easy it is to get the best of you with ease, everytime... apk
A British one I had to look up the other day - I guessed at what the meaning was and was mostly right without the historical context: Council House.
I guessed right at government housing, but it could have had other meanings as well. If you equated it to say "Governors Mansion" it could imply that a Council House is where a member of the council lives.
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Laid off.
It's the no shame "we're letting you go because we don't need you any more" version of losing your job. Happened to me more than once, but I am proud of myself. I started on a team of eight on a contract with over 500 people. Got down to a team of one on a contract of 240. When my team (of just me) was no longer needed they put me to work elsewhere and still didn't send me home until 11 months after my job disappeared and the contract had about 160 people left. I actually work with one of the guys who lasted three months longer than me at the space center now - but both then and now we worked in different roles, we just got to know each other due to physical proximity.
There's about a dozen words to describe being gotten rid of because you're a screw up that come to mind.
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Didn't they refuse to carry recent big name titles like Mass Effect 3?
You think you can be a game retailer for long and get away with things like that?
What do I know, I'm just an idiot, right?
In one shopping centre in Essex, they had 3 stores. None of these stores sold anything that you couldn't get at the others, and the floor space in two of them was quite large.
As well as competing with themselves, there are 4 other stores in the centre that _also_ sell console games.
When my wife and I saw all of these stores open we took a bet that it would be 6 months before Game went bust. It turns out it took 18, but we were close enough.
Yes, that was the one. It was like walking through a ghost ship, or a place that had been visited by "Neutron Jack". Everything was there as it was exactly until the moment they declared bankruptcy.
Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads
The American English equivalent of "made redundant" is "laid off." As in,"The company closed one of its plants and laid off 1,000 workers" or "I got laid off from work." This is different, of course, from being fired.
And now I can say I finally got to use some of the knowledge I gained from watching the BBC version of "The Office." It also taught me what "wind up" meant, and that you can apparently be denied an office promotion if you fail a physical exam in the UK (wtf is with THAT?).
What political party do you join when you don't like Bible-thumpers *or* hippies?
It looks like 7Globals administration isn't strategic at all - they are still listed as "In Administration" on Companies House right now (entered on the 03/03/2012 for 7 Global Group Ltd and 15/03/2012 for 7 Global Ltd), with administrator appointment pending. A company cannot take itself out of administration without the administrator or court approval.
I'd move away from that company asap if I were you :)
Fair point - but it's equally as obscure as 'projects' or 'the projects' - which I believe is the US version of council houses?
Somehow I doubt that anyone in any country really refers to them as State Assisted Housing or whatever the formal name of them is.
To save time with possible follow up questions - Council Estate refers to large collection of 'council houses' (State Assisted Housing) - not the estate of Council members.
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=2751915&cid=39496339
I've never heard of anyone being denied a promotion - or anyone even having a medical exam as a consequence of promotion - before. Where did you hear that one?
Oolite: Elite-like game. For Mac, Linux and Windows
We also use "laid off" in the Uk, but it tends to refer to temporary periods, so that for instance a UK car company would lay off workers during a strike in the 1970s. I can see some confusion arising there between the US and Uk usages.
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
you can apparently be denied an office promotion if you fail a physical exam in the UK (wtf is with THAT?).
I don't remember that in The Office, and anyway it's *bollocks.
* Ridiculously untrue
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
The one that tricked me up was "Administration". I've never heard of such a procedure here in the US. There's Chapter 11 which is moderately similar, but it's the business that reorganizes itself under watch of a court, not as a government-appointed administrator stepping in to run it.
Not only that, look at the terms themselves.
If you (or your job) has been "made redundant", it means - quite literally - that they no longer have a use for you.
We call that "laid off" on this side of the pond. Quite different than just "laid", I assure you, and they're both different from "laid out", which might also involve lying down, but I always say, make love, not war. Lay offs are when a business needs to reduce its workforce. There are a lot of rules and regulations about how its done. The natural tendency is to get rid of the deadwood as cheaply as possible, but there are significant rules designed to keep things "fair". I've been on both sides of the lay off process, at least half a dozen times. One time we laid off my whole division, so I've even laid myself off.
. . . especially when I spend a LOT of my time looking up what the hell certain Americanisms mean because they're not at all obvious (John Doe? Really? You can't just say you don't know their names?)
Not to be confused with John Deer, John Handcock, Johnny-come-lately or Dear-John or just a plain John, which has several meanings, none of them particularly flattering, or even doughboy, although even you Brits ought to recognize that last one. And over here Johnny is just a friendly name for a guy named John, or sometimes any bloke.
The fifth amendment?
Not to be confused with the Fifth Amendments, although truthfully I've never quite understood the difference between Parliament and Funkadelic. And lots of people smoke Parliaments, although that's probably NOT what P-Funk was smoking.
49th/50th/51st/52nd street
Do you *really* want to go down that road? At least NYC was laid out (mostly) by people who actually SPOKE English, whereas London, for instance, was laid out by blokes who spoke SPOKE A DIFFERENT LANGUAGE ENTIRELY. And they burnt the town to the ground every few centuries and changed everything, but kept all the same road names. I mean, have to actually LOOKED at a map of London? I bet there are tourists who've been lost in there for YEARS.
And by the way, you've got your own share of odd terms. Over here a sleeping policeman is actually a sleeping policeman!
Don't get your knickers in a twist or throw a wobbly. I'm not trying to be cheeky or even twee. We could argue about 'maths', 'plasters', amongst' , 'paracetamol', 'petrol' or a bunch of other words in inverted commas, last of all, zed, for heaven sakes.
Let's forget all that and just stay mates. And by that I mean pals and not any sort of hanky-panky. Sure, we had our disagreements every now and then, and actually burning the White House was a bit beyond the pale, but we've got your backs and you've got ours. US and UK, BFF.
The US version of the Laid Off has changed over the years. Used to laid off meant you had a pretty good chance of getting recalled, be it a week later, a month later whatever. The definition has slowly changed to more or less permanent. I think the words "down sizing" were meant to fix the confusion but were a little late to the party.
I've been given a week furlough - essentially a lay off - for corporate purposes. Vacation time was seen as debt to the stock holders so they would force everyone in the entire corporation to take one occasionally to boost the stock prices. That company was so concerned about their stock value they screwed the customers on a regular basis and lost a lot of contracts over it. Pleasing stock holders cost tons of business and reputation.
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Star UK, 16-year-old, and sports cars... Cafe Society? Was that in Aberdeen?
I seem to remember the whizz-kid basically took too much money out of the business to spend on toys and hanging out with other flash people.
Stick Men
They peddled chart titles/new releases only, and made up the rest of the market with second hand titles. This is a far cry from specialist
On another note, has HMV failed yet? We could end the misery for 2 wounded animals ...
Yes. Visited the store the days before the liquidation sale was about to take place. Saw the sports cars at the back, the replica models on the desk, the luxury executive desk and chair. Sales manager types said that he had reached saturation point with just about every product range there was. There were only so many office PC systems in the city. Even fewer who needed Soundblaster cards and game controllers.
Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads
Administrators don't tend to be government appointed in most cases.
Either way, it could get very confusing - in New Zealand, we have three stages of failure- Voluntary Administration, Receivership, and Liquidation. VA is where the company believes that it may be insolvent or insolvency is imminent, so appoints an administrator to take over operations and restructure in an effort to either return to solvency or begin the process of winding down in an orderly fashion. Receivership tends to be court appointed, and happens when the company doesn't see a way to return to solvency, so a receiver takes over operations with a view to maximising the return to creditors - sometimes by continuing to run the company until a buyer can be found, sometimes by selling it in bits and sometimes by... Liquidation. I think that's analogous to chapter 7, where basically the company is insolvent, and cannot return to solvency, so its assets are sold and the company dissolved to maximise the return to the creditors. Shareholders lose a lot during this process, as they aren't first class creditors.
For a site about things like basic rights, Slashdot users sure do like to censor "dissent".
That was comedy genius! Well done that man!
Where somebody else is probing it can be done or in a place where you have no idea if it will work and you have to assume all the risks ?
No brainer.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.