I hear the sky is blue. Can anyone corroborate this rumor?

@regis100 - I cannot be certain as I am inside a building and this sky appears to be white. We need to notify NASA or some other government moniker that can help us! Quickly!

@ninja dog - Yes and no. They open up one new copy to use as a display. The disc or UMD is placed on a shelf behind the counter. Once they run out of new copies, they sell the display copy as "new" with a the price of a new copy. It's considering "gutting" around these parts and most people hate it, including myself.

If they ever pull that on you, throw some glitter in the air and knock over the magazine rack.

I don't know if it is still policy, but store employees did (maybe they still do) take home the discs from opened new games and bring them back where they were sold as new. I never accept an opened copy from gamestop for that very reason.

I stopped buying "gutted" games from Gamestop a while ago, just because I did hear the games are played and I did get a game that looked like it was used in the past. If you are getting a used game, you should be paying used prices for it, at least in my opinion. The only store I buy gutted games from now is FYE, the few times I have bought them gutted there was because it was the last copy and the game was deeply discounted (i.e. like half off or more) and the games I have purchased from them that were open were in perfect shape, the game, manual, inserts, etc. are put into a clear wrap that seals and to open it you either have to tear it open or cut it open, unlike Gamestop's where they are just CD sleeves. I've always had good experiences with FYE, but I've heard some people getting bad games from them as well, so I tend to stick with the stores I know are good.

One thing I have noticed. In theory, Gamestop's policy is to gut one game, just so they can have it on display and not risk having the game stolen. However, I've been in more than one Gamestop where all of their games were gutted, no matter what game was taken to the counter, all they had were open copies and I've also been in a few Gamestop's where I've actually seen the employees opening up a box of brand new games, with multiple copies of the same title.

Definitely true, and not just for display purposes.

Yeah, it's definitely true. I have several friends who work at a Gamestop around here, and they 'borrow' games, take them home to play them, and return them when finished. As far as I know, those games are still sold as a new copy.

I don't buy anything from Gamestop anymore. I've been tempted to stop in to get a new subscription to Gameinformer because mine ended several months ago, but it's not worth it.

me too im done with them i am either ordering on amazon or going to bestbuy from now on

I think they do. I don't trust a new game to be "new" if it isn't inside the case with the wrap around it when I get it. Seems to happen more at Gamestops that are in a mall than a stand alone building.

OMG! Someone opened a game before you got a chance to bring it home and open it 30 minutes later! The game is completely ruined! It's contaminated and now you will gain no satisfaction from your purchase!

I hear that Barnes & Nobles sells books that other people have picked up, touched and read the back cover too.

I don't even see why this is an issue to anyone unless they have OCD. People complain nonstop about Gamestop, but it's not like there aren't other options out there. 9 times out of 10 there's going to be a Walmart, Target, or Best Buy within a stones throw from a Gamestop.

@eldergamer, read the back cover? I've read whole books there.

The problem with those who believe that you should be paying used prices for gutted games is that you've forgotten you are buying from GameStop. Used games at GameStop are only maybe $5 less than new anyway :/

They don't do this with PC games. At least the last 2 PC games I bought from them were not opened BUT I did buy them within a week or so of release so maybe they didn't have time?

My Gamestop guts pretty much every copy of console games. They can't for PC (the rent out) because once the cd key is used its no good to anyone else.

This was years ago, but I bought Castlevania SOTN from Gamestop for PS1 new and it was a gutted copy. They assured me it was new etc and just opened for "security purposes". I got it home and while I was going through the manual I found a copy of someone phone bill they had used apparently for a bookmark in the manual...

I won't say that I have never bought from GameStop since, because that isn't true, but for the people saying "ooooh big deal you didn't get to open it yourself" I call bullshit. At that point it was a "used" game whether or not they let an employee "borrow" it, or double dipped and sold it as new twice. Yeah it's only 5 bucks, but it's also fraud.

Lots of stores sell used items as new. If it still can be passed off as new, or someone is willing to pay...of course the store is going to sell it as new to get full retail price.

Ahh, I forgot about the "if everyone does it, it makes it right" clause. Good catch CD6405!

gutted is not really the term for it as it's not like it is missing anything. it's just been open and of course, thus not making it sealed brand new. they also do it to prevent theft as I was told but also new games are from people who return/exchange a game for the same one or another so gamestop just prints a sticker for it as New and moves on.