So I hear all of these horror stories people tell me about how Gamestop is evil. The clerks try to force you to buy used copies instead of new ones, the trade in values are absolutely horrendous, indie games aren't represented, etc.

For the longest time, I was able to say that mine was different. The clerks were nice and knowledgeable, and would only kindly ask me if I wanted to pre-order something. Only once had there been a game that I wanted that I couldn't pre-order.

Recently, however, a game for the DS called C.O.R.E. was coming out. The publisher is one of the smaller ones, so I figured they wouldn't have it in store unless I pre-ordered it. I tried about five different times, and they never could let me. Fine. The game has now been out for two weeks, and they still don't have it. That pissed me off right there, but that wasn't enough for me to finally throw in the towel so to speak.

Today, I went to pick up my long ago pre-ordered copy of Dissida. When I get there, I expect the guy to give me the pre-order bonus that it comes with. (only a couple of additional covers, but still.) He doesn't. He looks at me like I should be leaving. I then ask him about the pre-order. He spoke to me as if I were a child asking him to check for monsters under my bed and said he didn't think there was one. (Despite the fact that these alternate covers were DISPLAYED ON THE SHELF) He then asked another worker, who didn't think there was one either. Lo and behold, they actually look, and find the damn things. He then handed them over to me, not with an apology, but with a sneer on his face as if this small concesion meant nothing. Like I was a jerk for making him spend the three seconds necesary to look for it.

The only place I've been treated worse was Wal-Mart, and at least that was excusable beacause the guy was dealing with a customer from hell.

F you Gamestop. You've finally convinced me you're evil.

(on top of that, they listed the trade in value for Dissidia, a game that came out TODAY as literally half of the price you would pay for it. When Square sends me a free copy {one of the perks of working for a gaming website} I'm going to return it to them as if it were the copy I just bought and get my money back.)

Has anyone else noticed how amazing this year has been for the DS so far? We've gotten some of the of the best games on the system ever this year with GTA: Chinatown Wars, Pokemon Platinum, and Henry Hatsworth. We've also gotten great games like Knights in the Nightmare, Peggle Dual Shot, Moon, Boing Docomodake, and Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon.

Looking forward, Scribblenauts should be one of the best games of the year on ANY platform, we're finally getting the Kingdom Hearts game we were promised, and Miles Edgeworth is shaping up to be a fun and unique adventure experience.

It's sad. The PSP, which I love, is finally getting a push in big name games (Soul Calibur, Dissidia, Jak and Daxter, Motorstorm, LBP, etc.), and I don't think it will be able to match up to what the DS is bringing this year.