Gamestop To Increase Focus On Phones And Tablets Instead Of Video Games

(2024 Update: Source Link broken and lost.)

Popular US video game retailer GameStop has announced that it plans to increase its focus on both smartphones and tablets, rather than video games. GameStop CEO Paul Raines calls the bold new move GameStop 3.0. Raines says the company will close around 2% of its current retail stores. GameStop will be opening Spring Mobile and Simply Mac stores instead. Spring Mobile will cover AT&T-branded phones and Simply Mac covers Apple products. They will open over 200 Spring Mobile stores and 20 Simply Mac stores… and only 20 Mac stores because there’s already something called Apple Stores that covers that base just fine.

So my thoughts on this matter of utter importance and magnitude? I don’t care.

Way to build up the moment for a response like that, but the truth is I honestly don’t care what happens to Gamestop. Fact is I haven’t bought anything from a Gamestop – or rather, they call it EB Games up here in Canada – but I haven’t bought anything from a Gamestop in a year or so? The last major purchase I can remember making there was WWE ’13 when it launched.

And that’s it. I might have made a couple more minor pick-ups like battery charges or Steam cards or something, but other than that, my only real gaming purchases are usually from the flea market, the occasional trip to the Value Village thrift store, or Best Buy. And if I’m really, REALLY desperate, I will usually dabble online as a last resort.

So personally speaking, I honestly do not give a rat’s ass whether they decide to go from Gamestop to Tabletstop or MacStop or Pitstop or BathroomBreakStop. Doesn’t really affect me in the slightest because right now, they’re not carrying anything that I’d want. (2017 Edit: A statement that is even more true nowadays, what with half the store space dedicated to collectibles and those stupid Funko Pop things.) I don’t have any of the current gen or next gen consoles, so that doesn’t concern me. I’ve got an original Wii, but their selection of games is rather shit. They’re not carrying any stock for the older consoles; not even PS2 or Xbox Original or anything of the sort… so, if that’s the direction they want to go, then whatever. It’s their brand, their company, they could do whatever they want. I’ve got alternatives. I’m not going to shed a tear if they go away.

That having been said, I have to question their decision in going from Video Games To Tablets And Phones and things of that nature. I have to question whether that’s really a good idea to jump into a market that, let’s be honest, everyone’s doing it. Apple Stores, Best Buy Mobile, Amazon, The Zoo. They already got that market covered and happily done. And yeah, I understand that sooner or later, gaming-dedicated machines will be a thing of the past and we’ll be able to game on any conceivable electronic device from tablets and phones to televisions to video receivers and cable boxes to wristwatches and alarm clocks. It is going to happen, you can’t ignore it.

However, at the moment, gaming-dedicated machines – and I’m talking the consoles and handhelds – they’re still selling reasonably well, there’s still an interest in that sort of thing, and Gamestop, for better or worse, has that corner of the market covered. And they want to give that up to go into a market that is already inhabited by several other entities? Especially since, from my perspective at least, when people go to a Gamestop – or rather, IF they go to a Gamestop, because more often than not, unless it’s the EB Games in downtown Montreal, NOBODY is going to these things around my neck of the woods – they’re not checking the feeble selection of tablets and mobile phones they have on display; they’re checking out the, you know, GAMES. After all, they are called GAME-Stop, right? Right?

Maybe there’s a bigger picture missing that we don’t know about. Maybe the Gamestop monkeys know something we don’t. Maybe they’re doing this to jump ahead and be a little more proactive or something. Maybe the Gamestop monkeys enjoys all the negative press from all the stupid stuff that they pull and this is just the latest stunt to try and get that attention and spotlight focused on them… or maybe… just maybe… we don’t care either way.

Well, I don’t care; I don’t know about you, but… yeah, that’ll be interesting, either way. I suppose…

Oh, by the way, how’s MovieStop doing these days? Is that any good? Does anybody know about MovieStop? Has anyone ever heard of MovieStop? Anyone…? Any takers…? Hello…?

Hmm… I guess not.

Random Thoughts On… That Morphin Life Thing

You know, for a show about morphin, there sure isn’t a lot of it.

For some reason, I felt “compelled” (or rather, had nothing better to do) to check out JDF’s YouTube series that has him skydiving, doing the con thing, and the drama over his wife’s Muay Thai adventure… and I’m just “meh.” I suppose it’s nice to know there’s a tender side to JDF when he isn’t being a public douchebag and a cancer to Power Rangers and I suppose the show is good enough to appease both his supporters and the drones drinking the JDF Kool-Aid, but I got bored with this one pretty quickly. Nothing interesting, nothing worthwhile, nothing that can’t get out of some other reality-based documentary series with more appealing subject matter.

JDF fans might take a liking to it, but I’m gotta give the thumbs down on this one.

BOOK REVIEW – Mad Dogs, Midgets, And Screwjobs (2013)

Neglected to mention this, but a couple weeks ago, I picked up this book from the bookstore and it’s actually quite a bit of an interesting read. Yeah, it’s a wrestling related book about the history of wrestling in what they call the Montreal territory… and yes, they do cover the Montreal Screwjob that everyone and their pet pygmy marmosets have covered since forever, but then there’s a look back at all the various Quebec-born talent and a lot of memorable stuff tied to the territory, such as the 1997 match between Jacques Rougeau and Hollywood Hogan (that Hogan lost!) and the Pat Patterson brunch segments that aired in francophone markets (if you speak French, look them up on Youtube; they’re fucking hilarious). Of course, there’s a feature on the current scene as well (as current as the book allowed, at least.)

No doubt the authors of this book went to maticulous detail dwelling into the history of Montreal’s contributions to professional wrestling, but there were moments where I wished they dwelled into some topics a bit more in-depth. Sure, the thing with Bret, Shawn, and Vince have been covered to death, but I doubt plenty of people knew about the original Montreal Screwjob from 1931 between Ed Lewis and Henri Deglane. Would’ve been nice to know more.

As it is, though, this was actually a nice little read and an interesting look into Montreal wrestling.

Random Thoughts On… WCW’s Big Bang

Some of you folks might have already seen this, since it’s been floating around for years, but this is the poster for what would’ve been the first WCW PPV event under the Fusient Media buyout had that not fallen through. For those who don’t know, before Vince bought WCW in 2001, the other major player who came close to buying it before backing off was Fusient Media Ventures, a group of investors headed by Eric Bischoff. The deal between Fusient and TimeWarner was actually close to completion and had to go through due dilligence before being finalized and made official, but when TNT head Jamie Kellner shitcanned all wrestling programming from the Turner networks, Fusient backed off and Vince soon bought it for dirt cheap.

Considering how the fallout of WCW being acquired by WWFE and how the latter subsequently blew the biggest potential feud in the history of the business, I often wondered how things would have turned out if Bischoff got his way and the Fusient deal was a success. How would Eric had handled the rebirth of WCW if he had gotten his mitts on it? Would he have had better success with it than Vince did? Or would it be doomed to fail?

Something worth thinking about, I suppose…

WWE Extreme Rules 2014

Note: I talked about the PPV on the recent DTM-Cast, but for those who want a text version, here it is. Not up to snuff in formatting, but it’s workable, I suppose.

I wanna talk about the recent WWE PPV… wait, they don’t call them PPVs anymore, do they? They’re called specials… well, anyway, I wanted to talk about the recent WWE “special” from last week… the so-called Extreme Rules event. By the way, that’s pretty much the main thing I’m talking about here.

And with that, some of my random thoughts on the Extreme Rules event from last weekend.

Continue reading “WWE Extreme Rules 2014”