A visit to my old Funcoland (an extra long cautionary tale)

Other Games
1

While I was at the Willowbrook Mall (Wayne, NJ) today, I stopped into the Funcoland I used to manage back in the day (the day being from 1997 to around 2001).

Any semblance of people that worked for the company while I was there (pre-Software Etc. buyout of Funco, and shortly thereafter) are LONG GONE … and while I do pop in there from time to time, it’s not the first place I go for games (there are closer stores in the Software Etc. family of game retails chains to my apartment).

Now, those of you who know me pretty well, know that I’m generally a loaner in terms of propping one console / company up on a pedestal. I don’t “champion” the 360 any more than I do the Wii or the PS3, and when each one does something that makes me happy, I’m usually here posting a positive thread about it (that never really get many responses) … and when they do something that confuse / anger me I do much of the same (though those threads usually get a lot more responses where I’m often called a “fanboy” of the other company(s) that I’m criticizing).

I DIGRESS.

There are some people that SEEM like a perfect fit for a “game retail” job - geek-ish, passionate about gaming culture, willing to talk customers up about games, entice them to purchase pre-orders, strategy guides etc. without being obnoxious or aggressive, etc … and there are those that may have those qualities, and ANOTHER quality that makes couldn’t make them MORE WRONG for the position of game retail customer service representative, and that quality is, un-flinching devotion to ONE SINGLE game system / RIDICULOUS AGGRESSION towards anybody who even BRINGS UP any other system.

I should have known this employee was trouble when I walked in and he was playing with the 360 demo kiosk, extolling the virtues of how much he loves the 360 to his fellow employees, and before I even put my second foot through to door asked me if there was “anything he could help me find”.

Give a guy a second to look around before you jump down his throat about that. Greet them first for the love of Christ. Say “hello” or “hi” or even “hey, how’re ya’ doing?”.

After saying “no, I’m just looking”, I left him to play with the same demos that have likely been on that kiosk since before summer … and tried to ignore him as he was playing Welcome to the Jungle (on like ZERO volume) on the Guitar Hero II demo.

After he was done and had made his way back to the cash wrap … I decided, let me give this guy the benefit of the doubt, and talk him up a bit about a game that he obviously likes.

Knowing that Funco managers had just returned from a manager’s convention (one of the employees I had hired back in the day has made his way up the ladder and manages a Funco, so I know about these things) I asked him if he had heard any new info from Activision as to whether or not the PS3 version of Guitar Hero 3’s controller would be backwards compatible with Guitar Hero I, II, and Rocks the 80’s …

… it was at that point that a guy who appeared to be just slightly geeky became a full-fledged level-10 kind of ******* that you just want to reach across the counter and strangle.

Suddenly I was bombarded with a freaking DIATRIBE about how much Sony and the PS3 sucks, and how the ONLY reason that the game WOULDN’T feature backwards compatibility was because NO developer could figure out a way to get PS2 controllers to work on the PS3’s “SUPER-COMPLICATED-TO-PROGRAM-FOR-CODE-SYSTEM”

…yes, he claimed that no PS2 controllers worked on the PS3 … and that it was because the PS3 was “hard to program for”. (Keep in mind that PS2 controllers DO work with PS2 (and in some cases PS3) games with a USB adapter.

I attempted to get a word in edgewise … but you had to see this guy to believe it - he literally went on for about 3 minutes nearly without taking a breath about how many “mistakes” Sony had made, that (and I quote) “Activision, Red Octane, and Harmonix ALL wanted to make the guitar compatible with the PS3 but that Sony told them that they couldn’t because the original games were programmed to use the PS2 controllers ‘transponders’ not the Sixaxis’s ‘bluetooth’.” and that “it would and could never be done.”

He went on further to explain to me about how all of EA’s sports games don’t even run at 60 FPS this year before I cut him the hell off (I had had it at that point - I didn’t even BRING UP EA’s SPORTS games!)

At that point in his ramblings, I literally said “woah” to shut him the hell up. I said “look, I don’t know what you’re talking about with TRANSPONDERS and BLUETOOTH … but not only CAN you use a PS2 controller on a PS3 with the right hardware - you CAN use a SIXAXIS to play Guitar Hero I, II and Rock’s the 80’s…as well as like, EVERY other PS2 game. It’s got NOTHING to do with the system being hard to program for … and the ONLY reason that the Guitar Controllers don’t work properly when used with the USB hardware is because Red Octane and Harmonix wrote code into Guitar Hero II and 80’s SPECIFICALLY to prevent 3rd party guitar controllers from being manufactured for use with the games … I know it’s not high on Sony’s priority list to fix compatibility with PS2 Guitar Peripherals to work with the PS3, as they’re currently still selling an assload of PS2’s and copies of the game because of it’s limited PS3 compatibility, but to say that it’s some kind of IMPOSSIBILITY, well, that’s just silly (I refrained from calling him a retarded anti-Sony fanboy).”

Yes, I KNOW that the game is on 360, and that it’s just peachy on that system … but I’ve already made a SIGNIFICANT investment on the game for PS2 (three games and one controller) … it doesn’t make sense for me to sell it all just to RE-BUY it for XBOX - IF the PS3 version of the controller will work with the old games (and frankly, while Activision is hush hush, the jury IS still out on that particular fact.)

The fact that the Sixaxis does function fine with all three games on the PS3 in PS2 mode is complete and total proof that there’s no “difficult programming” preventing it from happening, and even if there were … Sony can re-write the firmware for the damned thing to include better or perfect compatibility whenever the hell they want.

The problem that I’m getting at here is that biased, ignorant, know-it-all, douche-bags should NOT be working in game retail. The guy was literally yelling about how much he hates Sony when I hadn’t even mentioned whether or not I OWNED a PS3. Not only is that WILDLY un-professional (game retailers working for a corporation like Software Etc. have a responsibility to NOT show aggressive bias) but also disrespectful enough to me and insulting enough to my intelligence to the point that if I weren’t the person that I am (game-world-worldly-enough to have dealt with this “type” before) I might never shop at that store or with that company again.

I would NEVER tolerate that kind of behavior from my employees when I ran that place, and I don’t tolerate it at my movie theatre. PERSONAL OPINIONS should be stated as such when dealing with a consumer. EVEN in the EVENT that they ask an employee for “help” … the employee needs to do as much as they can to ask the consumer what THEY like and base their advice on that - not what the employee “likes”. Anything otherwise will 9 times out of 10 come back to bite the employee in the ass … because what YOU like, is what YOU like, and as knowledgeable as you think you are about games … there are ALWAYS going to be consumers that think differently. You’re not paid to impose your personal views on the public. Save the editorializing for game reviewers.

I didn’t even catch this guy’s name, but, in the event that he frequents the TWOTA message boards and stumbles upon this, he should heed this advice. Chill the hell out with your personal opinions. I might as well had been a “secret shopper” for Sony … and if I was, you’d likely no longer be employed by your company.

2

That story jogged some recollection of a trend I saw developing, and several times attempted to address, during my year and a half or so of trolling GameFAQs. As XBOX started gaining acceptance, it was frequently those recently converted from being Sony fanboys that would be the most obnoxious and pigheaded about their new idol. Kind of like the same dynamic as ex-smokers, the more entrenched one folly has been, the more volatile the reaction against it will be if it is ever accepted as folly.

If things continue the way they seem to be going in the US, XBOX will obviously gain more ignorant and unreasoned fanatics, since might (as represented by numbers in this context) still very much equates to right in the developmentally plebeian psyche. That said… the balance hasn’t been shifted enough, or for near long enough, that I don’t find anti-Sony diatribes particularly entertaining.

The last time I encountered something similar to your story there was when I finally got around to getting my 360 in February of last year, about four months after launch at a Fry’s Electronics. Right about when I said I’d get their package deal, a second sales guy had meandered over to the counter and started telling me I shouldn’t even get a 360 since, you know, of course the PS3 was going to be at least three times more powerful. He even told me he’d seen the spec sheet for it that only, well, basically insiders like himself got to see and the GPU would be TWO RSX processors…

Well since it’s my enduring policy not to engage retards in profitless debate - at least not without some kind of audience - I pretty much just nodded my head, shrugged, and kept walking towards the checkout line. Total deja-vu of the post-Dreamcast launch - pre-PS2 launch period actually, it was a surreal moment for me, being forced to an understanding of just how gullible so many people choose to be.

And for the record Frankie, I wasn’t implying you were a Sony fanboy in the other thread, I was saying that your topic was a Tekken fanboy’s. :anjou_love:

On the other hand, and since you touched on the issue here, the simple fact that you feel the need to present primarily PS3 related contributions in a forum where, what… one, maybe two other people on the entire forum might own one? That makes a statement.

I have never, and I do mean NEVER had any problem with someone liking one console more than another. I have always (and I do mean ALWAYS) been disgusted with people who routinely claim to be “unbiased” about consoles. Because without exception, abuse of the word is just a ploy to imply that their opinions are therefore more “objective”, when the reality is anything but. Bias is inescapable, and any genuine objectivity is only possible in awareness of bias rather than in it’s denial.

3

[quote=“Heretic Agnostic”]That story jogged some recollection of a trend I saw developing, and several times attempted to address, during my year and a half or so of trolling GameFAQs. As XBOX started gaining acceptance, it was frequently those recently converted from being Sony fanboys that would be the most obnoxious and pigheaded about their new idol. Kind of like the same dynamic as ex-smokers, the more entrenched one folly has been, the more volatile the reaction against it will be if it is ever accepted as folly.

If things continue the way they seem to be going in the US, XBOX will obviously gain more ignorant and unreasoned fanatics, since might (as represented by numbers in this context) still very much equates to right in the developmentally plebeian psyche. That said… the balance hasn’t been shifted enough, or for near long enough, that I don’t find anti-Sony diatribes particularly entertaining.

The last time I encountered something similar to your story there was when I finally got around to getting my 360 in February of last year, about four months after launch at a Fry’s Electronics. Right about when I said I’d get their package deal, a second sales guy had meandered over to the counter and started telling me I shouldn’t even get a 360 since, you know, of course the PS3 was going to be at least three times more powerful. He even told me he’d seen the spec sheet for it that only, well, basically insiders like himself got to see and the GPU would be TWO RSX processors…

Well since it’s my enduring policy not to engage retards in profitless debate - at least not without some kind of audience - I pretty much just nodded my head, shrugged, and kept walking towards the checkout line. Total deja-vu of the post-Dreamcast launch - pre-PS2 launch period actually, it was a surreal moment for me, being forced to an understanding of just how gullible so many people choose to be.

And for the record Frankie, I wasn’t implying you were a Sony fanboy in the other thread, I was saying that your topic was a Tekken fanboy’s. :anjou_love:

On the other hand, and since you touched on the issue here, the simple fact that you feel the need to present primarily PS3 related contributions in a forum where, what… one, maybe two other people on the entire forum might own one? That makes a statement.

I have never, and I do mean NEVER had any problem with someone liking one console more than another. I have always (and I do mean ALWAYS) been disgusted with people who routinely claim to be “unbiased” about consoles. Because without exception, abuse of the word is just a ploy to imply that their opinions are therefore more “objective”, when the reality is anything but. Bias is inescapable, and any genuine objectivity is only possible in awareness of bias rather than in it’s denial.[/quote]

I’d say that when the opportunity presents itself, I present an equal amount of Wii and 360 contributions, however, since there are a large amount of users that do the same - my contributions in those areas are either lost in the shuffle, or run the risk of being redundancies (if I see 10 threads about something I’m going to post about 360, I just respond in one instead of making another thread about the same topic).

While it hasn’t been much of a problem lately, occasionally I’m attacked by a forum user who feels the need to call me a “Sony Fanboy” … and their criteria for doing so is simply BECAUSE I post ANY positive information about Sony and their consoles/portables. What these people fail to realize (and what was I assume the major issue that I ran into with this employee) is that simply supporting one console does not mean that one can not or does not provide equal support for all of that consoles competition.

I know that it’s in human nature to have “favorites” … and it’s very easy to “get behind” what one designs in one’s own mind to be “THE BEST” … and for some reason there seems to be a propensity for people to do it with video game systems with a fervor and passion that trumps a face-painting football fan that never misses a favorite team’s game.

But the crux of my opinion in this post is that - in the arena of being a customer service representative in a game store … I think it’s VERY important to NOT employ people that can’t “turn that tendency off” ESPECIALLY when they realize that they’re dealing with somebody who doesn’t agree with them (not that I didn’t even agree or disagree with this guy … he didn’t even let me get a word in edgewise … it was my simple inquiry about the PS3 version of the game that sent him off on a tirade). It’s a simple matter of A.) Professionalism in the workplace and B.) Treating your customers with an appropriate level of respect. That day I dealt with an employee who was capable of none of the above: no restraint, no professionalism and no respect for me as a customer.

Like I previously stated, when I managed that store I made it clear to my employees that they were never to “bring their personal preferences” into a sale, and even if a customer “asked for their opinion” on a game or system, that it was always to be clarified to the customer that any advice given was “their opinion” and was no formal guarantee that the consumer would be satisfied on their own terms with said game/system/accessory. And NEVER under any circumstances should they take ANY opportunity to “attack” a customer’s “opinions” on a game/system … sure, gamers like to debate and butt heads over which system is the bestest … but seriously, would you tolerate it if you walked into ANY other retail store and somebody told you that you “shouldn’t be buying item X” because it “sucks” ?

4

Continuing this is strictly unnecessary, and I do fully realize that, but sometimes I can’t stand the idea I am being misinterpreted.

Frankie, I have yet to see anything from you that could seriously warrant the label of fanboy, and I want to be clear that I am not in any way making that accusation. You don’t actually bash XBOX 360 or anything else for that matter, at least not that I’ve noticed. But I have this developed reaction…

Somehow I’ve always found myself in the position of being partial to an underdog where any sort of videogaming platform is concerned: Atari 8-bit vs Commodore and Apple; Amiga vs PC’s and Mac, and Atari ST for the European scene; Sega Saturn vs Playstation and N64; and of course Dreamcast vs PS2.

So I had a wealth of perspective on how bizarre and ignorant the justification for someone’s allegiance to the most popular can be, in this particular microcosm of existence, by the time I dipped my toes into the online community waters of the GameFAQs message boards. My only initial motivation was to ask a question about a game, which became an attachment to the relatively small community in that game’s forum. But I sort of snapped when some troll made a thread, in the game specific forum, just to bash not only the game but also the XBOX. All of my accumulated indignation and derision - already especially keen from the recent tragedy of the Dreamcast’s “defeat” - came into focus.

I’ll be completely honest that, as much as I had a genuine axe to grind, I started trolling for other trolls mostly for the sheer entertainment value. And at that time being an XBOT on the XBOX General board was sort of ideal, since the mods really didn’t do shit to stop Sony or Nintendo trolls from invading the forum. That’s when my own personal understanding of this pecking order phenomenon really solidified, and it works something like this…

If you’re on the side of the current majority then you have a right to piss on those who aren’t, at any time and for any reason. And that right will rarely be outright challenged, by anyone. And if you are a part of some faction that is seen as weakest, then you especially do not have any right to in any way criticize the property of the stronger factions. I’m sure there’s some orthodox sociology description that is far better than my rambling but anyway…

Something I noticed about my own reactions fairly early on, was that the posts that were, shall we say, an honest troll couldn’t actually piss me off. That was like an honorable challenge for battle, fighting for it’s own sake in a cause I may believe in, yet am not ultimately concerned about. Which is not to say I took any great pride in vanquishing any of those foes, but the relentless and voluminous onslaught made the larger conflict challenging enough to stay diverting, for a while. And I’m digressing again…

It became clear to me that the real damage, in terms of enabling a climate of intolerance and injustice, is actually done not by the declared combatants, but by all the supposed moderates who perpetuate certain elements of the status quo without ever thinking about it. I saw many many posters who I knew liked their XBOX and many games on it, who would yet condemn anyone for the mere suggestion that certain games on XBOX were better than anything similar that PS2 had to offer. On the other hand, even challenging the divine truth of a statement to the same effect in favor of PS2 may actually have got one moderated.

Very few people are truly conscious of their innate sense of justice/injustice, and they will routinely mute it’s voice in the day to day reality of dealing with petty persecutions and maintaining relations with established support groups. But that voice is never completely ignored, and grievances are never actually forgotten, to say nothing of forgiven. If things change and people get the message that they now have rights they didn’t before, it will be payback time, and they will likely be as conscious - or lacking in conscience - in externalizing the stored up grievance as they were in internalizing it in the first place.

That is the reason why, for the time being, I have a higher forgiveness of rhetoric against Sony. Part of it is personal inclination of course, but also because this current order of factionalism in the console scene began with Sony. Sure there was plenty of bickering over SNES and Genesis, but at that time a lot of kids probably had just one or the other, and always knew someone with the one they didn’t have. At some point after Playstation took off, it was no longer simply a matter of what’s better or best, but that one thing was god and by default everything else sucked, and that “you” sucked if you liked something else.

Any and all hate that Sony gets so far, still falls firmly within the bounds of reaping what they have sown. And it’s not like they aren’t, even still, getting more allowances for their relative fuck-ups than MS with the 360. Or for that matter, still getting benefit of the doubt dividends on their pre-launch lies… I mean, err, marketing about the PS3. People in the media are still making comments like they think it’s somehow a given that PS3 will display significantly more power in some undefined way, which as near as I can figure is based purely on the fact that developers aren’t willing to hurt Sony’s feelings and outright correct any of their bullshit.

Which is not to say I think PS3 isn’t as powerful or even better at some things, but this nonsense has the exact same stench as the three full years of “the jury’s still out” denial over whether XBOX was, you know, actually for real more powerful than PS2. Except this time there really is no solid answer and so, of course, it’s Sony that already gets the default win apparently.

As an aside, I’m beginning to wonder if 360 even will get anything close to the code-monkey love that PS2 did. From what I gather very few (if even any) of the games out so far run the tile based rendering optimally, or use the tesselator to any significant extent. The fact that (unlike the PS2 that tended to look like shit innately) the 360 is so eminently capable at a baseline may work against it to some degree…

This really has nothing to do with you Frankie, obviously, but you directly reminded me of some things. It does come across very clearly that you want to be excited about PS3, and want to generate excitement for it, which is cool. But you can hardly be surprised if whining about egregious partisanship, coming from an injured Sony perspective, tends to fall on deaf ears. And, not to speak for anyone else on this forum or indeed alienate the many people who have great love for what the Playstation platform has delivered, but this site is after all dedicated to a series from SEGA, and that has only otherwise appeared on XBOX, which are the two primary alternatives that have been the most victimized from Sony biased factionalism. At least some unusual skew is only to be expected.

5

I was cordially invited (in another thread) to post about anything I find interesting, and this is something that qualifies…

Revisiting this topic caused me to ponder my original motivation. Perhaps the one thing I should have said was…* HEY FRANKIE! Welcome to what life was like for any Dreamcast or XBOX fan for about 5 years straight!*

And I’d be very interested to know if, during those dark times, you had ever found yourself motivated to start a topic purely to condemn an unsolicited pro-Sony tirade from some random shop clerk? Cause I will bet my life that the universe has witnessed more of that faction’s “professional” hot-air than Nintendo, Sega and XBOX retail punditry combined.

I was amused enough to share a little reminder with you Frankie, offer you some insight that being called a “fanboy” may have actual, eminently understandable causes. And because I personally have a long standing interest in spotlighting examples of how special Sony loyalty is, almost religious in it’s self-righteous blindness to it’s own nature.

In that other thread you chose to act as though I was criticising you for something I don’t care about in the slightest. Although I consider this as only instructive criticism, you may once again take this in whatever way makes you feel best so, either way… you’re welcome! :anjou_happy:

6

I hope you had fun with that little rant, Heretic. I guess your stint at troll-hunting on GameFAQs has inspired you to pick internet fights with people you don’t know. I see no other reason why you would bump a three-month old topic to shove a long-dead discussion down my throat, relating to a topic you claim you don’t care about.

Nevermind that I have no idea what you’re trying to argue anymore or what your overall point is; I truly don’t care anymore either and am far too hung-over at the moment to offer a more detailed reply. So consider whatever argument or discussion or whatever you have going here won.

On that note, since I’m late, MERRY CHRISTMAS TWOTA!!!

7

I have no win dcondition for any of it actually, other than my own amusement. You may have jumped into the role of loser, from the beginning, for choosing to take my bullshit personally. But those are your conditions not mine, and entirely your desire to see this as a “fight”.

I’m always happy enough to respond to escalation, the record will show I rarely initiate it.

8

[quote=“Heretic Agnostic”]
I’m always happy enough to respond to escalation, the record will show I rarely initiate it.[/quote]

Is that so?

Let’s go over this, just for “amusement”.

You went into a thread you had no interest in only to say “who gives a shit?” Pretty clear example of someone instigating.

I ignored your rudeness and responded as politely as I could.

You then bumped one of my old threads (making an obvious connection to my earlier response) with the intention of drawing out an old argument for amusement.

It’s a situation I find very ironic, because you made a point of claiming how irritated you are by internet trolls. And yet, “instigating arguments for the sake of amusement” is the very definition of a troll. Pretty damn ironic.

Heh, you’re right. This IS fun! :anjou_happy:

9

Frankie, Heretic, are you both okay with me closing this topic now?

10

I don’t mind.

11

It’s your board Solo, and since you ask it’s clear you want to. I bumped it only because a memory of something Frankie said here was the entire cause of my needling him in another thread. But he has made his inention to continue evading, and then misrepresenting, anything I say clear enough, so I’ll drop it.

12

Okay, great. I just didn’t want to step on any toes if there was still something left to be said.

There’s too little activity on the boards these days, so every post has it’s weight; I’d prefer it if we could keep any arguments both insightful and constructive.