Rumor: Gamestop Wii Kiosk To Require Credit Card?

[wraggster]

We got an interesting insider email (via the notoriously reliable third-party source of an anonymous friend of an also anonymous manager) of what went down at the recent Gamestop manager's conference. The details spilled, while all firmly in the rumor file, are pretty interesting as an inside glimpse into how the nation's biggest game store is reacting to next gen. Namely: the Wii kiosk will require a credit card to use in store, Zune won't be doing gaming in the near future and Gamestop hates Sony.

First of all, according to our insider, the managers were told that only GameStop would be receiving the Wii demo units. He said the reason for that was because GameStop is going to require customers to give over a credit card as collateral in order to play one of the Wii units. Nintendo apparently tried using various security methods for the Wiimote, but couldn't really find one that didn't hamper the experience." I'm not sure why they're not using the wired Wiimotes we all saw at E3 and GC06, but okay.

Another tipster emailed us to tell us that Gamestop was getting the only Wii kiosks as a thank you for selling the most Nintendo consoles, for what it's worth.

Microsoft also said at the conference there were no plans to do anything for Zune in regards to gaming, but that it might lie in wait in the future. This apparently explains why Gamestop will sell the Zune: "GameStop is just trying to get cozy with Microsoft, and selling the Zune is an easy way to do that."

Finally, which consoles are Gamestop's managers most excited about? According to our tipster, Nintendo and Microsoft both garnered standing ovations. However, everyone sat still and tight-lipped when Sony took the stage. To be fair to Sony, though, this largely seems to be an issue of them failing to buy off the managers: "They pretty much half-assed the conference, not really having anything playable and only giving the attendees a couple aging Greatest Hits games (Shadow of the Collosus? Really?). Microsoft, on the other hand, brought Gears of War for people to play and also told the managers that they'd be sending them the Gears Collector's Edition and Viva Pinata when they came out. Nintendo came with playable Wii units and told the attendees they'd be sending them 3 good upcoming DS games, the Wii Classic Controller, and 7500 Wii points. This obviously isn't anything big, but seems to be another example of Sony seemingly not really caring about anything other than Blu-Ray and silly rhetoric."

Yeah, more bribery, Sony! Anyway, we've asked Nintendo for a response, but they are still "looking into it."

[gotmilk0112]

THAT IS FCKED UP!!!

who the hell would give game-stop your CREDIT CARD just to play wii?!?!?!?!?!?!?

thats like "hey! give us your social security number and we will let u play ps3 for 5 minutes!" or "hey you! want to play a wii? then give me your bank account number and password PIN #!"

gamestop has gone over the edge. and into the deep end.

[Kramer]

Yeah then they go out the back and photo copy your card lol.

But I dont think this will happen in Australia.

[fg-54]

soooo, on the first paragraph, the last 4 words are"and gamestop hates sony" is that true? well, suck for sony.

[philr359]

thats just illogical, what possible reason could they use to support that?? i for one don't trust the info.

[weaselboy246]

why not just give a 20$ bill as colateral? :P

[ICE]

because the controller is evidently worth like 3 times that.

[azz1844]

Why not have each Wii-mote connected to a strong, but flexible wire, and advertise that an alarm will go off if this wire is broken or disconnected from the Wii-mote?

[Pope]

I'm not really sure how viable that is anyway...

I work at Gamestop and I've seen a picture of the Wii demo set up. The wiimotes were hooked up to long cables, about 3 ft long or so, which were attached to the demo case. Granted this was just a picture, more or less a "this is what it should look like when we get the systems in."

And.. newsflash, most places require you to hand the cashier a credit card and they swipe it. Not everywhere allows you to swipe your card yourself. And if something happens to go wrong, the cashier has to take the card and type it in manually (easy to copy the number that way, if you wanted to). That's why when you purchase something with a credit card, you put your signature on a reciept.

If you've ever gone bowling or played pool, they TAKE your driver's liscence and keep it until you're ready to leave. They do this so you don't steal their equipment or run out without paying or something.

I'm not trying to defend the company here, just saying how it's.. really not a big deal for them to hold someone's credit card. I just think it's a bad and probably false concept cuz kids (99% of the people who'll wanna play on it) will have to bug their parents for a credit card just so they can play around on a system for a short while. Plus not every customer has a credit card, so I highly doubt that's the case. They'd ask for a driver's liscence if they asked for anything. That'd only turn away the kids without a parent or guardian nearby or people who are driving without a liscence.