Today I talked to Dharmesh at new Gametraders store in Carillon City Arcade about the possibility of them supporting the MASSIVE by providing a Playstation 3 and Wii. It looks like it will be going ahead, but I’ll wait for more formal confirmation.
While there I took the opportunity to take a few photos. As many of you might know I’m fairly opposed to the (price gouging) retail practises of Electronics Boutique (EB), but I do sometimes pine for a specialty video game store (rather than just the games section of my local Target or JB Hifi). Game Traders seems to fit that niche.
Gametraders seems to be more for the rounded gaming enthusiast than EB. Case in point, EB won’t deal in US or Japan region games, but Game Traders routinely imports games for general sale. Check out this photo of their DS games:
Just looking at this section of the shelf, we see Elite Beat Agents (US version), Gyakuten Saiban 2 aka. Pheonix Wright: Ace Attorney – Justice for All (Japanese version), and Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2 (US version). Also catering to the more serious game collector, Gametrader stores deal in:
all formats from Atari to the latest systems, buying, selling, trading and renting
So, check them out. Tell them Nick sent you! 😛
Note: If you want to check out the PS3, visit Gametraders Garden City of Carillon City. They both have one on display!
I just visited their shop for the first time today and bought five second-hand PS2 games in good nick:
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Gran Turismo 4 for $20
God of War 1 for $20
Timesplitters 3 Future Perfect for $30
Dragonball Z Budokai 3 for $20
Burnout 3 for $20
GTA 3: San Andreas for $30
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I thought the prices were reasonable and the more relaxed, orderly environment leaves EB for dead. There are retro game carts for sale plus the sales guy does not hit you with the BS offer you get in EB for an extended guarantee on the life of the disc.
I bought my Wii there for $399 and I got a free game worth $100, that beats the hell out of EB. EB is a good place to get ripped off, I am glad there are stores like game traders around, also JB hi-fi in the city aint too bad, they got a good range.
I feel Game traders do not offer enough for your games traded and they do not even price match at least EB Games do all this if not better, how much did Game Traders pay for people to say good things about them Game Traders are shit
Gorden:
GameTraders doesn’t pay me anything for mentioning them on my blog; I just far prefer them to other games retailer. The fact that they deal in import games makes them far more appealing to me personally.
The thing that really pissed me off about EB in the past was when Zelda: Wind Waker came out. On the *day of release* they removed the bonus disc and sold it seperately as “pre-owned” for $50, and also sold the main game as “pre-owned” for $100. That’s super-dodgy!
They’ve also recently been selling PS3s for $799 without any sort-of trade-in required. Yeah, so… I really can’t see how you can call GameTraders “shit”… unless you’re blog spamming for EB or something…
normally I speak French but I try to render comprehensible me in
English, first of all my preféré character is Hunter (Miles) Phoenix
is as very then charming here I wanted right statement as I adored
this formidable play
First time and already disappointed !!! First time I see a store selling games with unvalid cd keys inside! So I went back to the shop for exchanging or getting my money back and then, great surprise : “we are not responsible for unvalid cd keys, we can’t do anything for you, you have to contact Steam and send them a photo of the cd key, bill… on internet”. But I dont have any camera or something… and he said : “you have to bye one!”. Seriously, I still can’t believe what I heard, these guys are not professional, I’ll never come to them again: when you sell something, it has to work that’s all…
Mat:
Sounds a bit weird. Is this GameTraders in Perth City?
I remember my teenage son leaving a deposit at EB Games, Hay Street, for the WWE Game..think it was Smackdown v Raw 2007.
EB were advertising it for sale in a, unique to EB, metal tin.
When the game arrived it had no metal tin and they gave me some bullshit excuse that the supplier was the one advertising the “Unique to EB, metal tin”, not EB Games.
Sorry, you had two big posters in your store advertising the offer and soliciting deposits to “secure a copy”.
Yes, but it was the distributor that supplied those. What crap, I cancelled the order and got our deposit back.
There is a major, BIG difference between EB Games and Gametraders..and it’s woth remembering..
EB Games is a large, global, U.S. Company. All their outlets are owned by that U.S. company.
Gametraders are an Australian owned company, based in Adelaide, and their stores are owned by Australian franchisees..that’s right local Aussies own them and run them.
That’s why the service is more personal, the sales pitch is less CORPORATE and the experience as a customer is more about the gaming and less about qick, impersonal selling.
The guys at EB don’t really care if you buy or not, they still get paid their salary from EB Games Ltd. On the other hand, the guys at Gametraders have put their own money into that business (an Aussie business) and they seem to try their best to take care of their customers and have a good atmosphere in their stores.
If your an Aussie gamer then I think it’s in your long term interest interest to support the Aussie business..not the U.S. global one…simple stuff really.
No, I dont work for Gametraders and i don’t own a Gametraders store..I just know what’s better for consumers, and global U.S. operations can’t be in the best interests of Aussie gamers.
Paul: I remember how EB Games turned up and wiped the floor with local retailers (anyone remember Games’R’Us?)… then it seemed that their prices immediately went up and their range immediately went down…
Hi Mat, Gorden
Good to see you here. What EB stores are you guys working in these days? Saw you guys in the city last. Say hello to the guys at EB. I see you are still bagging out Gametraders…
I bought Battle Bugs (PC 1994) second hand from Dharmesh at Carillon yesterday and it had Empire.Monkey.b boot sector virus on the first disk. I cleaned it and imaged the disks but you’d think they’d virus scan floppies before selling them. I’m going to suggest that to him.
Hey I know Dharmesh and Cameronfrom gametraders pretty well. I met them before Carillon when they were at Carro
Good gametraders plug! I was looking for VGA cable for the Xbox-360
and went to several stores and gametraders was the only store that had it! 😀
I still don’t know why shops still insist on opening their games boxes. I want them shrink wrapped god damn you.
I have four sims games,
Sims Makin’ Magic
The Sims
Sims Unleashed
The Sims 2
Overall I paid $160 for these games. If I trade them in, what would be a reasonable price?
I disagree with anyone who says gametraders are better than EB. I haven’t personally traded in games, so i can’t say who is better on that front, but price-wise, EB has nothing on EB. Eg, the orange box. Selling only weeks after the release date in Gametraders, $60. For a new copy. EB at the same time? $94. Pre-owned.
Tell me EB is better now.
hi guys, noticed this conversation has gone idle for a while but still would like to through my point in,
i am a long time gamer, i have been spending lots of money on games every year, for PC, X360, PS3 and Wii before that had every console and have been buying games ever since NES/SNES era…
recently i have been spending easily over $1000 – 3000 dollars a year on games and thats just for the Software lets not talk about hardware, accessories, PC etc
i am an Occasional EB customer usually for accessories, Pre owned never really bought anything brand new it seems EB like to charge ridiculous prices for almost everything i mean HAZE aka 4.5 lol for $100 Brand new, Pre Owned $95…. its $89 at JB Hifi and $75 at Big W…
so Gametraders Enters the market as a 100% aussie owned and operated franchisee ran company, they operate out of several stores Australia wide etc… in 2007 during TAFE i started visiting the Carillon store after having great service and better prices from the Carousel Store in probably 2006 – 2007 cant remember exactly, since then have been getting the best Value for money ever spent on video games in the entirety of my life, Frontlines Fuel of war for $20 brand new!, DMC4 $20, Guitar Hero III for $40 all new and sealed.. this week Eb have MGS4 for $119.95 however GT have it for $99.95 and they have a Midnight Launch at Belmont Forums Reading Cinema where people can play it at 9:00!! one day before release..
also note that the UK Franchise GAME have made way over to Australia, they are abysmal take my word they are a glossier Eb buy your games for %110 of the RRP no discounts and a pathetic customer rewards service card that garners very little if none rewards for spending $1000 or more.. they also seem to try hard sell often like EB do, i noticed somebody ask for R6 Vegas, they didnt have it so they suggested to buy R6V2 cause “its a much better game”…
dont get me strated on JB Hifi either lets just say their “games specialist” at the time did not know the difference between Bluetooth and Blu Ray which i absaloutley laughed at him for..
also they introduced Pre Owned games, bought one was scratched to hell and was Faulty, the guy said oh sorry we clean them before we sell them so we cant refund or exchange for you…
i suggest if you havent been to Gametraders now is the time
they have everything there from Games, to Blu Ray to Figures, Limited Editions and IMPORTED stuff too like SSBB on Wii, Soul Calibur Legends and much more, not to mention the friendliest customer service you will see ever… which is a change because every time i go to EB or Game some opinionated Know it all geek will serve me and manage to either A: insult what i am buying or B: Recommend a much heftier priced product or extended warranty i clearly dont need…
and not to mention EB’s Ridiculous SALE’s they get Games that they have in shop that are $100 however are 49.95 Rrp and mark them down to $50, dress the fuking store up with SALE SALE everywhere and idiots buy into it, a sale is when its marked down from the RRP not their fucked up inflated price, Hit up Gametraders if u wanna see what real sale is $20 for DMC4 on PS3 and 360 that is Sale or you can be a retard and buy it for $99.95 from Eb Pre Owned !!!
if this isnt enough reason to support Gametraders or other Indepent/Australian Based retailers please support Australias Economy, do not give money to EB which are owned by its US based parent company Gamestop
Daniel
EB price match. if ur retarded enough to pay full price, then you deserved to get ripped off, Gametraders does not price match and are usually just as expensive as EB. JB HiFi would be the cheapest ive seen so far, who cares if they don’t know their shit, as long as they sell it for cheaper, i don’t really care.
But ultimately to save money you should buy online. Here’s an example, COD:Black Ops, In Aus $100+ online, you could get it for $50. If the Australian wants to be supported, they should stop ripping Australian citizens off with its ridiculous taxations.
gametraders sucks, i found that even new games have been repackaged and sold with the cd keys not working
woah it being 5 years since this post what happen to GameTraders Carillon City? i think it long gone by now. is it Close Down or Moved i really like to know
I just came from there and it was closed down. It wasn’t closed a few weeks ago. Now it’s all boarded up and gone. Pretty sad. I wasn’t notified or anything before. If anyone knows whether it’s moved please tell.
Last i talk to Dharmesh he said he moved to the street next to the japanese restaurant “Taka” but i dont think that ever happen coz most GT are going out of business this days. he properly say that to clover up that his out of business. but i dont knows why i check alot of places and there is no GT in perth city anymore. i think GAMES is the new GameTraders now. oh well good time dont last forever.