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Inspired by CAGcast 100 and living near San Jose I had the opportuniy to check out my old local GameStop which was just renovated into the GameStop Tournament Center and just had their inagural Madden 08 tournament this weekend. First of all I have to say without a doubt it's easily the most presentable GameStop I've ever seen hands down. It's also a huge jump from the cave it resembled before its facelift. From the wall to wall kiosks to the fancy lighting to the flashy tournament stage they obviously tried their best to make this GameStop not look like your average GameStop. Rest assured though this is still a store with capitalism at its heart although the stage makes an immediate impression as soon as you walk in.

The tournament area itself is part stage/part kiosk with a total capacity of 24 stations and 4 giant flat screens for the spectators. On one side of the stage are the brackets where competitors sign up and everyone can track the tournament's progress. Madden 08 for the 360 was used and 30+ players competed 1 on 1 for the grand prize of a $1000 GameStop shopping spree. And yes the competition was open to anyone so basically whoever was there first and wanted to compete got in. Of course winning would be another matter entirely...

In speaking to the official moderator/judge of the tournament Jaysen the level of competition was fairly high and and in the beginning it was a total pwnage fest with very under qualified players getting hammered by the hard core players in the first couple of rounds. By the 3rd round things got serious with the trash talk at an all time high and the threat of fisticuffs between competitors very imminent. Of course with $1000 on the table only for first place most people would be on edge as well. Fortunately things stayed relatively civil throughout and the final two rounds were pretty intense as players were calling plays in the blink of an eye and game scores stayed pretty low. Interestingly enough the final two ended up being 2 brothers in their late teens/early 20's competing against each other for the grand prize, a very happy home for them this day presuming they get along.

In the end it was a fairly enjoyable tournament which definitely brought local gamers together and while viewing the whole tournament (4+ hours) was only possible for the biggest Madden fans, it was definitely a good sign of things to come. I asked Jaysen why this GameStop was chosen to get the first tournament center and his reply was simply that they were the largest GameStop near a Metropolitan city (4000 sq ft), that's it. I asked about future tournaments and a manager their said they are planning a Guitar Hero III tournament next month with a Halo 3 tournament to follow soon after, eventually hoping to have 2+ weekend tournaments every month. Guitar Hero III and Halo 3 are probably going to attract much more attention than Madden so I'll definitely be looking forward to those, though to compete I will probably need some brass cojones and/or liquor.

Attached is a picture of me in front of the GameStop in San Jose which unfortunately did not permit me to take indoor photos due to those darn company policies but I imagine it won't be hard to find a photo or two of the inside from the press.



CheapyD also forwarded me a link to another blog that somehow managed to get inside pics (I'm just a mere mortal), check out the inside below:

http://gameqablog.com/2007/12/gamest...nt-center.html

I hope you enjoyed my report and if you have any questions or comments let me know. Thanks and Happy Holidays CheapyD & CAG!

sinewav


Update - 12/20/2007
I forgot to mention that all the competitors in the Madden 08 tournament got a custom 360 Madden faceplate just for signing up, not the best prize but still a pretty sweet extra just for playing, so they may do this or other types of schwag for their future tournaments. -HS

Sounds very cool. Too bad it is on the other side of the country

Seeing as how the prize for 1st was $1000, was there an entrance fee and how much was it?

Thanks a ton for going out and taking a look.

Originally Posted by SpecTrE3353 Sounds very cool. Too bad it is on the other side of the country Seeing as how the prize for 1st was $1000, was there an entrance fee and how much was it?

Since they picked San Jose mainly for its size so if you have a GameStop/EB Games nearby that is pretty big (>3000 sq ft) chances are they will be getting one soon as well since their sales will go up the more centers they open.

There was ZERO entrance fee so it was totally free to compete or observe. Their Guitar Hero III tournament next month is also free and will carry a similar $1000 shopping spree. Of course the Madden 08 Tournament was the very first one so that could change, but for now it's free to compete.

as expected, Madden was their choice like predicted. *sigh* here's hoping stuff other than Halo 3, Madden, Smash Bros, and whatever else craze is allowed for competition... like fighting games, which make the most sense.

pfft, i'd never enter a sports tournament. might be worth the drive if they ever have a tourney i'd want to play in, though.

Thanks for the info, cool story. I don't think there will be one of those at the GSs that are near me, I think the size of the tournament area was just as big as the whole stores are here.

I was told by a manager that they cant have tournaments at any location for M rated games, so that meant all halo tournaments were a no go.

Cool, I hope they roll this out to every major city in the US. Unfortunately we have a ton of GS stores in Indy but most are very small stores. I think our biggest stores are only 2,000 to 2,500 sq ft.

This would definately get more customers into GS rather than Best Buy.

I have to say that GS is HUGE, most of the 20 GS's around me are not more than 1600 sq ft.

Where in San Jose is this? Is this over by the Valley Fair/Santana Row area?

They just opened one of those in my area too. Here's the pic I took:

Nice! Is that a NEW GAME they're playing?!

I see that this generates buzz, but I don't see how throwing a party and giving away $1,000 is going to generate revenue or pay for the rent on a huge Gamestop--let alone pay for that gaming stage setup. The only way I can see it working is if they get sponsors to help defray all of these costs. Sure you'll sell some more games to the people who come for the tournament, but I'd be surprised if that covered the grand prize--unless you sold a lot of used copies of a particular game.

But take GH3 for example--that store will sellout in a matter of minutes of they have any GH3 with or without a tournament.

Using the old maxim:
Stage 1: build a huge gaming stage in a Gamestop
Stage 2: ???
Stage 3: Profit

I don't get what stage 2 is.

Originally Posted by Cursor I see that this generates buzz, but I don't see how throwing a party and giving away $1,000 is going to generate revenue or pay for the rent on a huge Gamestop--let alone pay for that gaming stage setup. The only way I can see it working is if they get sponsors to help defray all of these costs. Sure you'll sell some more games to the people who come for the tournament, but I'd be surprised if that covered the grand prize--unless you sold a lot of used copies of a particular game. But take GH3 for example--that store will sellout in a matter of minutes of they have any GH3 with or without a tournament. Using the old maxim: Stage 1: build a huge gaming stage in a Gamestop Stage 2: ??? Stage 3: Profit I don't get what stage 2 is.

I would imagine that this is just a part of their marketing scheme. It's to get people to come there, have fun, and talk about it (kind of how we are talking about it right now). Giving away $1000 is nothing for them.

This, however, will not make up for the substandard service one gets at the other locations around the country.

Originally Posted by CouRageouS Nice! Is that a NEW GAME they're playing?!

What?! You never said anything about a new game!!

Originally Posted by CouRageouS Nice! Is that a NEW GAME they're playing?!

well, since it came out on VC a week or two ago, technically, yes, it is a new game

that's pretty sweet

Speaking of square footage I have noticed a couple gamestops move to larger locations but only use maybe a third or a half of the locations actual size. Wonder if some of those were planning for renovation, I haven't been to any of them for awhile now and I don't plan on going back (not much of a fan of gamestop), mom and pop shops FTW.

Originally Posted by CouRageouS Where in San Jose is this? Is this over by the Valley Fair/Santana Row area?

Yeah that looks like the one close to it on Stevens Creek.