GameQuestDirect.com: An All-Around Great Video Game Shopping Experience!
Written: Nov 10 '06
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I like video games that don't require me to think. I don't want to build a theme park and I don't want to go on missions. I don't even want to play sports. I want to pop bubbles, play some Pac Man, and play the occasional game of Wheel Of Fortune. Hey - if I wanted to think, I'd stay at work for an extra hour each day! So when we recently purchased an XBox 360 system (which has a shocking and criminal shortage of non-thinking, puzzle-type games), it dawned on me that I can play some XBox games on the XBox 360. I went online to see what games I would like. Right away I found a game I had to have. Ultra Bust A Move! I found it on a great site called GameQuestDirect.com.
The Site:
The site (www.gamequestdirect.com) is a fairly professional site. I've shopped with this site before and it's more professional-looking now than it was a year ago. The first thing that grabs your attention at the homepage is the large red box that features three things: New Releases (new video games), Pre Orders (items you can pre-order that haven't yet been released) and Best Sellers (games that have been popular with the masses). The vast majority of the homepage is taken up by Featured Titles, which are games that either "hot sellers" or "new releases". Most of these games have prices that are below what you would pay at most retail stores.
The bottom third of the homepage consists of "Hot Deals" which are games that are 25% or more off their original prices. An example of this is the Bust A Move Deluxe for the Sony PSP, which had an original price of $39.99 and is now being offered at $24.99.
Other things that can be found on the homepage are:
-Sign-up for email list
-Order tracking
-Video game ratings check
-Help
-Contact Customer Service
-Search
Buying or Browsing Games, Accessories or Hardware:
All of the games sold on GameQuestDirect.com are brand new and factory-sealed. This statement is displayed at the bottom of GameQuestDirect.com's homepage. This is not a site that sells refurbished hardware and accessories or used games.
If you are looking to browse games, hardware and accessories by platform (in other words, the game system), all of the systems are listed along the right side of the page (for example: Nintendo DS, Playstation 2, Nintendo Wii, etc.). There is even a section titled Old School, which features games, hardware and accessories for Sega Saturn, Super Nintendo and even the original Nintendo 8-Bit system. You can click on the platform, and a new listing will appear in gray next to it, that lets you then narrow your search. For example, if you are looking for Nintendo DS puzzle games, you would first click on Nintendo DS, then click on Nintendo DS Puzzle Games. A listing, with pictures of the items and their respective prices, will then display. When I did this, it showed me 25 puzzle games available for the Nintendo DS. It also lists games that are out of stock, but this isn't a big deal because the words "out of stock" are displayed in red next to the item - so you won't have to wonder if what you are looking for is in stock or not.
I think that the selection of games at GameQuestDirect.com is good. I have been able to find three games so far over the past year that I have not been able to find at stores in my area such as Best Buy, Circuit City, etc. These games are: Wheel of Fortune for Playstation 2, Jeopardy for PlayStation 2 and my most recent purchase, Ultra Bust A Move for XBox. I see lots of games in stock on this site that I have never seen at my local retailers, and rarely see at the used video games stores such as EB Games.
The selection of hardware and accessories is also good at GameQuestDirect.com. I think it's pretty neat that I can buy things that are LONG off the regular market such as a brand new Nintendo 8-Bit system in my choice of three colors for only $39.99 or over 150 Sega Dreamcast games. The selection of most of these older items isn't top-notch, but they're still brand new and they're still more than you'll find at your local brick and mortar stores. The selection of newer games and accessories is also good at GameQuestDirect.com, and I find that they have a better selection of newer accessories than stores like Target and Sears, although a lot of the XBox 360 accessories I was browsing this week were out of stock.
The Order Process:
It's easy to add a product to your virtual shopping cart. Just click on the red "Add To Cart" button and the item will be added to your "cart". Once you've done that, if you are done shopping, you can proceed to checkout to enter your payment and shipping information, or you can return to shopping. Shopping on this site is as easy as shopping on any other site and I've experienced no hang-ups.
This last time that I shopped, I went to the site, chose my item, entered my payment and shipping information and received my confirmation email all in under ten minutes.
Search Function:
I like the search function at GameQuestDirect.com. For example, if I want to know what platforms entertain any version of the game Bust A Move (and there have been several versions for several platforms over the years), I can just type in Bust A Move and the site will give me a listing of all of the Bust A Move games that it not only has currently for sale, but most of the titles that have ever been available. (I know that Bust A Move comes in a title for Super Nintendo, but that particular game does not come up in my search.) You will know right away which games are available to purchase at the site, as those games have prices next to them.
Prices:
The prices at GameQuestDirect.com are very reasonable. The PlayStation 2 Wheel of Fortune title I selected was $18.99. The PlayStation 2 Jeopardy title was $19.99 and my XBox Ultra Bust A Move was $18.77. As far as I'm concerned, under $30 for a title that I can't find in stores near me is a bargain. So under $20 is a steal for me. I also find that a lot of the current popular games (such as XBox 360 Dead Rising) are a few dollars cheaper than retail stores - we paid $59.99 for this title at Sears, and GameQuestDirect.com has it for sale for $57.77.
Shipping Costs, Shipping Methods and Payment Types Accepted:
The cost for one game to be shipped via UPS Ground is $5.99, with 50 cents added to that cost for each additional game. The cost for one game to be shipped via USPS Priority Mail is $6.99, with 50 cents added to that cost for each additional game. There are a total of eight shipping options available at the site for customers in the U.S. If you want to know what the cost to ship any item is, click on the "Estimated Delivery Date" for any individual item and a chart will pop up that gives order processing times, shipping options, shipping costs and estimated delivery dates. The site states that there could be an additional charge for game consoles or accessories and that they will contact you for shipping rate approval before the customer is charged.
GameQuestDirect.com ships internationally but accepts orders to other countries only via email to customers with a PayPal account.
Credit cards accepted are: Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Discover. You can also pay via PayPal.
Gift wrapping with a personal message is also available.
Returns are accepted on unopened, sealed items only. If you receive an item damaged in shipment, you should not open the item and contact Customer Service for instructions.
More About My Experience:
My most recent order was placed on a Sunday. I received an order confirmation email within a few minutes. My order shipped on Tuesday and I received it on Friday. This was with UPS Ground shipping - not bad at all. The item was packaged neatly in a padded waterproof UPS envelope. And my game wasn't knocking around loose in that envelope...they packaged the UPS envelope around the video game box so that it wouldn't be loose in the envelope. My item was in perfect condition with a packing slip that did not include my credit card information (this is a plus!).
I can't remember exact details from the other two times that I ordered from GameQuestDirect.com, but I do remember that I found what I was looking for and that the shipping was fast. If either experience had been bad, I would have remembered and would have not returned to the site to make a purchase!
As it turns out, I am not able to play my Ultra Bust A Move game on my XBox 360 because I was told by someone at a local game store that I would be able to play this game on my XBox 360. Once I updated our XBox 360 to be able to do play some XBox games, I found out I was unable to play this particular game.
I will definitely be returning to GameQuestDirect.com for more games in the future, as soon as I get some straight answers from Microsoft themselves regarding what original XBox games I can play on our XBox 360. I would rather find great, factory-sealed games online at a more than fair price than run from store to store trying to find them! Two thumbs up for a great website!
Recommended:
Yes
What product did you purchase or try to purchase? Ultra Bust A Move
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About the Author
Member: Stacey
Location: Northeast Ohio
Reviews written: 1122
Trusted by: 491 members
About Me: Sick of my neighbors already, and they just moved in a few weeks ago.
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