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Intellivision Lives!, But Not At GameStop

By Spencer . September 6, 2010 . 3:47pm

Intellivision Lives!, But Not At GameStopSpecialty retailer Gamestop usually has no problem with retro compilations. They even sold Intellivision Lives! for consoles, but they won’t stock the upcoming Nintendo DS version. The official Intellivision Facebook page posted this message.

 

“Our publisher heard today that GameStop will not be selling Intellivision Lives! for DS. They say that the 30-somethings that shop there ;may find it appealing’ but apparently they don’t feel it is for their target (younger) clientele. As soon as we hear, we’ll let you know what decent, upright, quality stores will be carrying it.”

 

The Intellivision had an odd controller, which was more like a calculator than a joystick. Players would put an overlay on top of the numeric keypad for each game. This made a genuine Intellivision experience difficult to replicate. And this is also what makes the Nintendo DS version neat for Intellivision fans. Virtual Play Games created a touch screen Intellivision pad complete with the overlays for each game.

 

Intellivision Lives! comes out on September 16.

 

Thanks for the tip Denpa no Sekai!


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  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_2TACPHIKEL57T67R5C2Z5X5ERU Flailthroughs

    Even if you don’t have a strong opinion on the role of used games in the video game market, there’s still plenty of things to dislike about Gamestop. I gave up on them when I got given the “You should’ve preordered” spiel one too many times, only to go home and have their website still show an item as in stock at that location for days.

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/David-Harris/100001216130300 David Harris

      Yes, they have it in stock, because they still have the copies that were pre-ordered and not yet picked up. Hell, my store still has Madden 09 reserves. Just because they have one to sell to a reserved customer doesn’t mean they have to have one to sell to an unreserved customer… as a matter of fact, that’s the whole point of reserving.

      • Justinzero

        If the item is reserved, it shouldn’t be counted as available retail stock :PThe problem here obviously lies in your inventory system. No store should still have product “reserved” for customers planning to pick up a game that came out over a year ago. Flailthroughs’ point is that the official online information tells him something completely different than what he’s being told in store. At the end of the day, this spells nothing but inconvenience on his end and pompous logic as an explanation… as a matter of fact.

        Not really good for business, is it? At least you have the kids to fall back on.

        • http://flailthroughs.blogspot.com Flailthroughs

          “Just because they have one to sell to a reserved customer doesn’t mean they have to have one to sell to an unreserved customer… as a matter of fact, that’s the whole point of reserving.”

          From my perspective the point of reserving in most cases is to get a hold of my money long before they actually have to give me anything concrete for it. But you’re right: they don’t have to sell me anything. And I don’t have to buy anything from a store that gives me this line any time I’m trying to buy a major game on day of release when I can drive less than half a mile in any direction to Target or Wal-Mart.

          If it were a niche title that the store was only going to get a few copies of in stock, I could see this as being a reasonable answer- and I’d reserve a copy to make sure I got it. But the most recent game I was looking for when I got this response was Bioshock 2. And it wasn’t that much later, maybe a week, that there were new copies on the shelf and ready to buy. Which leads me to think that “You should’ve preordered” is GameStop’s official strategy to convince people that they should be handing over as much of their money in advance as possible.

          “If the item is reserved, it shouldn’t be counted as available retail stock :P”

          Exactly. If there aren’t any to buy then there aren’t any to buy; at least keep preordered titles out of general circulation. Otherwise I’m left with little but an impression that I’m being lied to in order to push the preorder program.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Daniel-Kursave/837394382 Daniel Kursave

    stuff like this worries me; i dont like the idea of retailers telling me what i can buy

    • mach

      It’s their store, they can sell whatever they want in it. I suppose you also get mad when the hardware store tells you they don’t sell groceries.

      • http://www.facebook.com/people/Daniel-Kursave/837394382 Daniel Kursave

        1) no need to be rude
        2) what your saying doesnt exactly coincide with my complaint; it me more like being upset that the grocery store doesnt stock milk anymore because they dont care for it

        • mach

          No, it’s more like the grocery store saying they don’t stock specialty, imported salsa because not enough customers buy it. If stocking the salsa results in a loss of money on their part, there’s nothing unreasonable about them choosing not to carry it.Gamestop has more than enough consumer data to decide what is and isn’t likely to sell. If a title like this isn’t going to sell well, they can choose not to stock it. They’re not telling you what you can and can’t buy. If you want to buy the game, buy it somewhere else. Simple. As. That.

          • mirumu

            I see where you’re coming from, but I don’t think it’s quite that simple. If they don’t stock the specially imported salsa I like then as you say, I’ve no choice but to buy elsewhere. Since I’m having to go somewhere else for the salsa anyway though then I might as well just buy my milk, bread, meat and vegetables while I’m there.An EB store near me decided titles like Valkyria Chronicles, Lost Odyssey and Disgaea 3 wouldn’t sell and didn’t get in any copies. It’s their store so they can sell what they want. Ultimately though since they lacked many of the games I wanted I just didn’t go there anymore. It lost them sales for Bioshock 2, Heavy Rain, Assassin’s Creed 2, and Dragon Age at the very least.Not everyone will be like me of course, but I doubt Gamestop’s consumer data takes this sort of thing into account.

  • MarkMario

    I would buy it and I’m not that old -.-

  • JustaGenericUser

    “Gamestop won’t be selling it”

    There goes 90% of the sales right there.

  • Thiefofhearts

    What a coincidence, I rarely find Gamestop to be appealing. Gotta keep up the streak I guess.

    So, if their target market is a “younger audience”, then why do they sell “The Bachelor DS” – a game based on a show made for Soccer Moms amongst tons of shovelware “casual” games that no kid or teen would touch?

  • http://denpanosekai.blogspot.com denpanosekai

    Thanks for posting this Spencer. I hope many other gaming blogs pick up this story as well!

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Aarachnid-Malik-Davolcanese/1548060424 Aarachnid Malik Davolcanese

    There needs to be some sort of online store, like amazon.com, where publishers can sell their games directly to the consumers. They’d make more money that way, I think; the wouldn’t lose 8 percent to the store (or whatever that magic number is). I also think many lower-budget games could get out there to the public more and you wouldn’t have to worry about certain stores not carrying your game, of which this isn’t the first occurrence. Plus almost everyone under the age of 50 likes/knows how to buy stuff online. It’d make things a lot simpler methinks.

  • http://www.siliconera.com Jenni

    That’s a shame. They lost two sales from me, because I plan to buy one copy for myself and one as a gift for my DS-owning mom who loved Intellivision.

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