Yes, there's something better than a trade ins program.

It's called "eBay." Maybe you've heard of it.

Trade-ins at the major retail chains almost always suck. They usually present two kinds of offers: trade in X number of games to get (insert "hot" new title here), or they buy your games for very little money. Also in the case of the former situation they almost always exclude a
large number of games from, uh, "participation", so you never get to dump your library of EA and Eidos Interactive titles anyway. I used to trade at EB all the time just because I had little money and wanted to get the newer games, but after doing this for a few years I started
to feel genuinely preyed upon, especially after looking through their "previously played" shelf which has prices only about $1-$3 shy of the retail prices. Anger. Anyway, I finally found an alternative - http://gametz.com. It lets you list your game collection online, view the collections of others, and propose exchanges with other gamers. Basically for me it feels like an expanded version of what we all did back in gradeschool - trade games with other gamers, not to make a profit, but because we had become sick of our old games, and our neighbor had become sick of his (different) old games. The site does charge a membership fee, but fortunately offers free membership for I think 30 days, more than enough time to get a few trades in. Anyway, I urge anyone fed up with the retail "trade" system to give gametz a chance - obviously the more people in the network, the more potential trades.

-Kaocrat

I hate trade-ins, dude. I really do.

I hate how fuggin' UNFAIR GameStop and EB are regarding trade-ins. You'll see used-ass games that other places will sell for $20, and those two stores'll have 'em for twice that much. Greedy bastards. It's also pretty lame how they'll give about half the game's brand-new price in credit, then sell the used game for only $5 cheaper than new. Ugh. Greedy, greedy bastards.

On a related note, I've been hearing my friends tell me that the suggested retail price of $29.99 for Mega Man Anniversary Collection for PS2 has been beefed up to $44.99 by the two aforementioned stores... is this not irrefutable proof of their evil?!?! >:(

The fact that my girlfriend worked for one of those two companies for about three years--and that I've worked as a X-mas temp for the same company--means that I *KNOW* things sensible gamers were never meant to know. Horrible evil things which tore at my sense of duty and compassion--however warped--in my soul, which put me at odds between doing a good service to my gaming brethren out there, and shafting them cruelly just to keep my steady paycheck... SUCK.

(It also means I had three years of game purchasing with my woman's hefty employee discount, and that, dear friends, is what is known as "teh r0xx0rz".)

But the worst thing about trade-ins has less to do with the Satanic companies that employ them, and more to do with me: even knowing the unthinkable truths behind these stores' policies, I'll still trade-in my games, because I am one sorry broke-ass individual, and whatever helps me complete a beefy $50 price-tag ain't exactly anathema in my book. While I'll usually trade-in games I don't care for, sometimes I'll be a fool and trade-in a game I really should've kept. If I'm lucky, I'll be able to buy it back, once I come to my senses, which is why I'll *NEVER* be getting rid of the likes of Suikoden II or Valkyrie Profile or Shadow Hearts or Soul Reaver, etc., etc.

In that respect, I'm like the steward of Gondor, sending my unloved son off to die at the hands of the orcs, only to realize the bitter truth--my beloved son!!--once it's too late (and my mouth is full of blood, and the singing hobbit is crying). Major brownie points to anyone who gets the reference. ^__^

Peace.

-The Absu-

I bought the game Kingdom Hearts for $20 because everyone told me it was cool. I played it for 4 hours and got really sick of it. Enough 15 minute long obligatory cut scenes! enough crappy combat! Don't you hate it when your character has abunch of normal ass combat moves and all the enemies have awesome moves ripped off from The Matrix? That's what got to me about The Bouncer. Anywho, down to the bottom of my gaming shelf KH went for several months The other day, I tried pawning it off at EB. They gave me $7 of store credit for it. I bought a (much much more satisfying) Lord of the Rings game with it. Those EB bastards. Not that I cared TOO much. I was just happy to get rid of my KH game. I'm not listening to my RPG whore of a friend ever again. He loves the game and returned Splintercell instead of giving it to me. Damn. I'll just wait till I see Splintercell for $15 at a bargain bin. In conclusion, EB is composed primarilly of thieves an whores.

-THC (I want my $13 back EB)