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Many of you may have noticed by now, or atleast one or two of you anyway, that I have not been posting on here so much lately. Well some of you know that I am employed by a certain four lettered competitor that doesn't actually compete directly with Special Reserve in Cardiff, though mainly because Special Reserve are one of the last videogame companies to open a store in Cardiff, and that is why I haven't been online so much lately. What with waking up early, getting home late, and eating and drinking very little during the course of the day, as well as losing weight, I've had very little time to play games and come online. It hasn't stopped me completely though. I am online now (obviously) and only this morning I had a go on the original Mario Bros (the one where you have to hit enemies from the platform below) on my Game Boy Advance whilst travelling on the bus.
Anyway, I'm sure you don't want to hear about my life in videogames retail, so I'm going to talk about something different. Infact, I am going to talk to you about videogames retail, though not my life in it, before you start getting confused. I'm going to talk about the difference between being a fan of games and consoles, and actually promoting them. I didn't think there would be much of a difference between the two, but there is, and a lot of it involves lying through teeth.
This doesn't mean that working in retail involved conning the customers though. After all, if you give a customer good advice, they're likely to return and ask more advice and probably purchase from you again. The advice given to a customer usually varies depending on the customer's likes and dislikes. After all, if a customer is looking more so at the Playstation 2 games than the X-box, it is very unlikely that advising a GameCube game is likely to get a sale for the customer.
Lets just say I was asked, as a videogames fan, to promote a certain console, for the sake of not wanting this topic to turn into a console wars topic, I'll choose the X-box, for which I have only played a little. I would briefly describe it as being a decent games system made by Microsoft. It has decent games like Halo and Jet Set Radio Future, and can play DVDs. It is also great as it doesn't need memory cards to save games on, but portability wise, it's not so good, weighing near half a tonne and being the size of the Cyberdemon off Doom II! The variety of games isn't that great at the moment, though many releases are due out soon, and the controllers aren't that great. But it is a decent console nonetheless.
However, if I was to describe the X-box to a customer who seemed very interested in the console, I would describe it as an incredible game system with the ability to present much better graphics than the GameCube and Playstation 2 (slight exaggeration there). The console is cheaper than the Playstation 2 and has some of the best games around, such as Halo and Project Gotham Racing, as well as other X-box exclusive titles such as a rival game to Super Mario Sunshine, Blinx, due out soon. The controller is brilliant for first person shooters and the ability to save games without the aid of memory cards is a brilliant money-saving bonus. With the purchase of a DVD remote, DVD movies can be watched with high quality picture and sound to rival the Playstation 2's inbuilt DVD capabilities...and I'd go on to mention the deals that the company I work for offers.
The difference between the two statements is that I haven't mentioned any downpoints in the promoting paragraph and have made it sound better than the major competing brand. I said all that without ever owning an X-box and with only having very short goes on one. But I can make it sound great to a customer without actually lying, just exaggerating on some points, which really does sell the console. I have done the same with Playstation 2, and to a lesser extent (where going by lack of experience is concerned) with GameCube and Game Boy Advance.
Ofcourse, not everyone will be so convinced as they'll have asked a sales assistant in another videogames retailer and they'll give different information. Or maybe the customer wont have a clue what saving, DVD, or any other jargon is. It takes a good judge of character to sell games and consoles, and is not as easy as it sounds.
Do you think you could sell a console, going against your own judgements, promoting a console you either have no experience on, or completely dislike? Do you really think you could do it? I have to do it every day and I'm sure the sales assistants at Special Reserve stores know how difficult and frustrating it can be to try and keep a smile on your face as you explain what a Playstation 2 memory card is for the fiftieth time! I enjoy it though. It gives me more of an insight to what goes on behind the scenes when it comes to videogames. I get to see a whole list of release dates, hear of information that no member of the public is allowed to know (I'm not going to say, nor confirm what, but something is going to happen with the X-box very soon!) and I also get to see representatives from various developers such as Codemasters, even if I only get to say hi and pass them onto the manager.
It's an interesting business, videogames, and I hope to stay in the business for a long time yet.
Anyway, I'm sure you don't want to hear about my life in videogames retail, so I'm going to talk about something different. Infact, I am going to talk to you about videogames retail, though not my life in it, before you start getting confused. I'm going to talk about the difference between being a fan of games and consoles, and actually promoting them. I didn't think there would be much of a difference between the two, but there is, and a lot of it involves lying through teeth.
This doesn't mean that working in retail involved conning the customers though. After all, if you give a customer good advice, they're likely to return and ask more advice and probably purchase from you again. The advice given to a customer usually varies depending on the customer's likes and dislikes. After all, if a customer is looking more so at the Playstation 2 games than the X-box, it is very unlikely that advising a GameCube game is likely to get a sale for the customer.
Lets just say I was asked, as a videogames fan, to promote a certain console, for the sake of not wanting this topic to turn into a console wars topic, I'll choose the X-box, for which I have only played a little. I would briefly describe it as being a decent games system made by Microsoft. It has decent games like Halo and Jet Set Radio Future, and can play DVDs. It is also great as it doesn't need memory cards to save games on, but portability wise, it's not so good, weighing near half a tonne and being the size of the Cyberdemon off Doom II! The variety of games isn't that great at the moment, though many releases are due out soon, and the controllers aren't that great. But it is a decent console nonetheless.
However, if I was to describe the X-box to a customer who seemed very interested in the console, I would describe it as an incredible game system with the ability to present much better graphics than the GameCube and Playstation 2 (slight exaggeration there). The console is cheaper than the Playstation 2 and has some of the best games around, such as Halo and Project Gotham Racing, as well as other X-box exclusive titles such as a rival game to Super Mario Sunshine, Blinx, due out soon. The controller is brilliant for first person shooters and the ability to save games without the aid of memory cards is a brilliant money-saving bonus. With the purchase of a DVD remote, DVD movies can be watched with high quality picture and sound to rival the Playstation 2's inbuilt DVD capabilities...and I'd go on to mention the deals that the company I work for offers.
The difference between the two statements is that I haven't mentioned any downpoints in the promoting paragraph and have made it sound better than the major competing brand. I said all that without ever owning an X-box and with only having very short goes on one. But I can make it sound great to a customer without actually lying, just exaggerating on some points, which really does sell the console. I have done the same with Playstation 2, and to a lesser extent (where going by lack of experience is concerned) with GameCube and Game Boy Advance.
Ofcourse, not everyone will be so convinced as they'll have asked a sales assistant in another videogames retailer and they'll give different information. Or maybe the customer wont have a clue what saving, DVD, or any other jargon is. It takes a good judge of character to sell games and consoles, and is not as easy as it sounds.
Do you think you could sell a console, going against your own judgements, promoting a console you either have no experience on, or completely dislike? Do you really think you could do it? I have to do it every day and I'm sure the sales assistants at Special Reserve stores know how difficult and frustrating it can be to try and keep a smile on your face as you explain what a Playstation 2 memory card is for the fiftieth time! I enjoy it though. It gives me more of an insight to what goes on behind the scenes when it comes to videogames. I get to see a whole list of release dates, hear of information that no member of the public is allowed to know (I'm not going to say, nor confirm what, but something is going to happen with the X-box very soon!) and I also get to see representatives from various developers such as Codemasters, even if I only get to say hi and pass them onto the manager.
It's an interesting business, videogames, and I hope to stay in the business for a long time yet.
I'm not trying to lose weight, just because of my change of lifestyle (as in I'm not at home able to eat pizzas all day), the weight is just dropping off. I would rather retain my normal figure, atleast I wouldn't have to wear a tight belt to keep my trousers up anymore!
Mind you, I expect some people would find it very comical for my trousers to fall down in busy store hours. But it ain't gonna happen.
Mind you, I expect some people would find it very comical for my trousers to fall down in busy store hours. But it ain't gonna happen.
You're trying to lose weight and I'm trying to put it on.
How doe's it feel over there?
How doe's it feel over there?
the nintendo gamecube coming in at the cheapest of the lot and some of the greatest exclusive games around. The smaller controllers are easy to hold and can only be described as an extension of your arm as they are the best controllers around and the smaller disks of GC mean less loading times and less pirated games which in turn means no money loss by companies happy to develop games. The graphics are easily better quality than PS2 graphics and rival that of the x-box. Having many top game designers creating gc exclusives such as resident evil and the fact that Nintendo own the rights mario, zelda, starfox, donkey konhg and the pokemon licences, what better console to have sitting in front of your TV.
See, i could sell a games console, no prob
See, i could sell a games console, no prob
Many of you may have noticed by now, or atleast one or two of you anyway, that I have not been posting on here so much lately. Well some of you know that I am employed by a certain four lettered competitor that doesn't actually compete directly with Special Reserve in Cardiff, though mainly because Special Reserve are one of the last videogame companies to open a store in Cardiff, and that is why I haven't been online so much lately. What with waking up early, getting home late, and eating and drinking very little during the course of the day, as well as losing weight, I've had very little time to play games and come online. It hasn't stopped me completely though. I am online now (obviously) and only this morning I had a go on the original Mario Bros (the one where you have to hit enemies from the platform below) on my Game Boy Advance whilst travelling on the bus.
Anyway, I'm sure you don't want to hear about my life in videogames retail, so I'm going to talk about something different. Infact, I am going to talk to you about videogames retail, though not my life in it, before you start getting confused. I'm going to talk about the difference between being a fan of games and consoles, and actually promoting them. I didn't think there would be much of a difference between the two, but there is, and a lot of it involves lying through teeth.
This doesn't mean that working in retail involved conning the customers though. After all, if you give a customer good advice, they're likely to return and ask more advice and probably purchase from you again. The advice given to a customer usually varies depending on the customer's likes and dislikes. After all, if a customer is looking more so at the Playstation 2 games than the X-box, it is very unlikely that advising a GameCube game is likely to get a sale for the customer.
Lets just say I was asked, as a videogames fan, to promote a certain console, for the sake of not wanting this topic to turn into a console wars topic, I'll choose the X-box, for which I have only played a little. I would briefly describe it as being a decent games system made by Microsoft. It has decent games like Halo and Jet Set Radio Future, and can play DVDs. It is also great as it doesn't need memory cards to save games on, but portability wise, it's not so good, weighing near half a tonne and being the size of the Cyberdemon off Doom II! The variety of games isn't that great at the moment, though many releases are due out soon, and the controllers aren't that great. But it is a decent console nonetheless.
However, if I was to describe the X-box to a customer who seemed very interested in the console, I would describe it as an incredible game system with the ability to present much better graphics than the GameCube and Playstation 2 (slight exaggeration there). The console is cheaper than the Playstation 2 and has some of the best games around, such as Halo and Project Gotham Racing, as well as other X-box exclusive titles such as a rival game to Super Mario Sunshine, Blinx, due out soon. The controller is brilliant for first person shooters and the ability to save games without the aid of memory cards is a brilliant money-saving bonus. With the purchase of a DVD remote, DVD movies can be watched with high quality picture and sound to rival the Playstation 2's inbuilt DVD capabilities...and I'd go on to mention the deals that the company I work for offers.
The difference between the two statements is that I haven't mentioned any downpoints in the promoting paragraph and have made it sound better than the major competing brand. I said all that without ever owning an X-box and with only having very short goes on one. But I can make it sound great to a customer without actually lying, just exaggerating on some points, which really does sell the console. I have done the same with Playstation 2, and to a lesser extent (where going by lack of experience is concerned) with GameCube and Game Boy Advance.
Ofcourse, not everyone will be so convinced as they'll have asked a sales assistant in another videogames retailer and they'll give different information. Or maybe the customer wont have a clue what saving, DVD, or any other jargon is. It takes a good judge of character to sell games and consoles, and is not as easy as it sounds.
Do you think you could sell a console, going against your own judgements, promoting a console you either have no experience on, or completely dislike? Do you really think you could do it? I have to do it every day and I'm sure the sales assistants at Special Reserve stores know how difficult and frustrating it can be to try and keep a smile on your face as you explain what a Playstation 2 memory card is for the fiftieth time! I enjoy it though. It gives me more of an insight to what goes on behind the scenes when it comes to videogames. I get to see a whole list of release dates, hear of information that no member of the public is allowed to know (I'm not going to say, nor confirm what, but something is going to happen with the X-box very soon!) and I also get to see representatives from various developers such as Codemasters, even if I only get to say hi and pass them onto the manager.
It's an interesting business, videogames, and I hope to stay in the business for a long time yet.
Anyway, I'm sure you don't want to hear about my life in videogames retail, so I'm going to talk about something different. Infact, I am going to talk to you about videogames retail, though not my life in it, before you start getting confused. I'm going to talk about the difference between being a fan of games and consoles, and actually promoting them. I didn't think there would be much of a difference between the two, but there is, and a lot of it involves lying through teeth.
This doesn't mean that working in retail involved conning the customers though. After all, if you give a customer good advice, they're likely to return and ask more advice and probably purchase from you again. The advice given to a customer usually varies depending on the customer's likes and dislikes. After all, if a customer is looking more so at the Playstation 2 games than the X-box, it is very unlikely that advising a GameCube game is likely to get a sale for the customer.
Lets just say I was asked, as a videogames fan, to promote a certain console, for the sake of not wanting this topic to turn into a console wars topic, I'll choose the X-box, for which I have only played a little. I would briefly describe it as being a decent games system made by Microsoft. It has decent games like Halo and Jet Set Radio Future, and can play DVDs. It is also great as it doesn't need memory cards to save games on, but portability wise, it's not so good, weighing near half a tonne and being the size of the Cyberdemon off Doom II! The variety of games isn't that great at the moment, though many releases are due out soon, and the controllers aren't that great. But it is a decent console nonetheless.
However, if I was to describe the X-box to a customer who seemed very interested in the console, I would describe it as an incredible game system with the ability to present much better graphics than the GameCube and Playstation 2 (slight exaggeration there). The console is cheaper than the Playstation 2 and has some of the best games around, such as Halo and Project Gotham Racing, as well as other X-box exclusive titles such as a rival game to Super Mario Sunshine, Blinx, due out soon. The controller is brilliant for first person shooters and the ability to save games without the aid of memory cards is a brilliant money-saving bonus. With the purchase of a DVD remote, DVD movies can be watched with high quality picture and sound to rival the Playstation 2's inbuilt DVD capabilities...and I'd go on to mention the deals that the company I work for offers.
The difference between the two statements is that I haven't mentioned any downpoints in the promoting paragraph and have made it sound better than the major competing brand. I said all that without ever owning an X-box and with only having very short goes on one. But I can make it sound great to a customer without actually lying, just exaggerating on some points, which really does sell the console. I have done the same with Playstation 2, and to a lesser extent (where going by lack of experience is concerned) with GameCube and Game Boy Advance.
Ofcourse, not everyone will be so convinced as they'll have asked a sales assistant in another videogames retailer and they'll give different information. Or maybe the customer wont have a clue what saving, DVD, or any other jargon is. It takes a good judge of character to sell games and consoles, and is not as easy as it sounds.
Do you think you could sell a console, going against your own judgements, promoting a console you either have no experience on, or completely dislike? Do you really think you could do it? I have to do it every day and I'm sure the sales assistants at Special Reserve stores know how difficult and frustrating it can be to try and keep a smile on your face as you explain what a Playstation 2 memory card is for the fiftieth time! I enjoy it though. It gives me more of an insight to what goes on behind the scenes when it comes to videogames. I get to see a whole list of release dates, hear of information that no member of the public is allowed to know (I'm not going to say, nor confirm what, but something is going to happen with the X-box very soon!) and I also get to see representatives from various developers such as Codemasters, even if I only get to say hi and pass them onto the manager.
It's an interesting business, videogames, and I hope to stay in the business for a long time yet.