I don't get the hate for Gamestop's reprints. Yeah, it is slightly dodgy to preopen new copies of Xenoblade/Metroid Prime Trilogy and sell them as used... But so what? In the end, it does nothing but increase the supply of a game that was highly sought after. Which does nothing but drive prices down. Which is exactly what happened. How is that bad in any way? The only ones who got hosed were the ones who either stockpiled copies in order to profit (which is worse than the claim against Gamestop) and those that bought the reprinted copies right away and didn't bother to return them when they saw what had happened.
Believe me, I HATE a lot of the things that Gamestop does. I hate their terrible TIVs. Their pushy sale tactics that prey on uninformed customers. Their push of retailer exclusive-DLC. Their practice of selling opened games as new. I HATE it all. But the Xenoblade reprint (and original print)? That is one of the most awesome things that any video game retailer has done in the past decade. They took an awesome game that might never have seen the US light of day, and brought it over. And when it looked like the only way to play said game would be to pay exorbitant reseller prices, they reprinted the game and brought the market price down to reasonable levels again.
You don't want to pay Gamestop's inflated prices? Good! You shouldn't. Just wait. The price will come down due to the increased supply, and then a ton of people will be able to get it for a more reasonable price. Just like what happened with the other reprints.
While I agree with the general consensus that GS is evil and their tactics are deplorable, I disagree with your view that reprints are an awesome event. Most CAGs will wait and wait and wait for the best price possible to get in on a copy of a game. Sometimes, that wait results in not owning the game and what generally happens is
A) Whining about not getting the game
B) Whining about used copy prices of a game
C) Whining about resellers jacking up prices of a new copy of the game.
Support the developers --
If you really wanted the game, you would have known about it a long time ago and bought the game straight out within a few months time (usually down 1/3 of the original MSRP with a sale). There will be the 5-10% of the people who genuinely did not know about game and missed out on the opportunity to purchase the game before it sold out, but that is usually very rare. A majority of the people who miss the game can either not afford MSRP, or choose not to pay MSRP (I fall into the latter).
If we talk about second chances and reprints, I'd much rather have the developers/publishers implement the following pattern:
1) Physical release on the games' debut.
2) When the game sells out and a reprint has been approved, release as a digital only. Those who really want the game, can own it and play it. That will also preserve the original print of the game and its value in the community.
As a gamer and collector, I'd like to believe that the games I purchase will hold value down the line, especially with the niche games I purchase. Do I expect every game (COD, FPS, Sports games come to mind) to hold value? No, but with niche games like RPGs, they dont mass produce them as they don't sell nearly as many as the other genres. Games like FF XIII are sitting on the shelves because square-enix has grossly over-printed the game (Granted the series has sucked recently).
