The ScooterBlog

UPDATE: The Picture Album for the Pictures I took is now LIVE! It’s HERE.

Sometimes, the best thing a promotion or company can do is simply to do as it advertises. If a store says that they have 50 of an item in stock and you’re late to the party (or way back in line), that’s fine, you knew what you were in for. If the store is open from 10 am to 9 pm and you get there at 9:01, sure, you’d love some mercy for them to let you make the quick purchase, but they don’t have do by any means.

BUT, when a promotion does not do as it advertises, it leads to the customer being a bit ticked, as I was on Sunday with the Rock Band Tour promotion.

I didn’t rush myself to get down to this on Sunday. The web site said that the time was between 1 pm and 8 pm, and that the RV would be parked at Nationwide Arena for the pre-season hockey game that night (it looked rather sparsely attended … I was able to park free at a meter!). So, after I got my normal routine done with the wife, I took off to go check it out. I ended up getting down to the arena at about 5:45 pm, figuring on a sparse crowd, giving me a chance to try out this game that looks absolutely sensational!

However, to my dismay, I saw no displays turned on, I saw members of the “tour crew” as their shirts said, walking from the exhibit. They were closing it down and shutting up shop! I asked one of the guys there about the time difference, asking him why it wasn’t open until 8 pm, to which he replied it was just until “the start of the game”. (The hockey game had started at 5 pm). Needless to say, as someone wanting to see what this game was all about, and NOT meeting the demographic that MTV’s craptastic programming caters to (college aged and dumb), this Sunday was my chance to see the game, and I feel like I got shafted.

I will be posting pictures of the teardown this evening since they are on my home camera, but it goes without saying that the failure of this promotion to do as it advertised has left a very sour taste in my mouth to the point where I likely will not buy the game, at least for a while, and at least not new (let a good independent store make a few bucks, not some conglomerate). I don’t have $250 of dispensable income very often, just starting into home ownership will do that to you, so promotions like this really need to at least do as they say to give me an opportunity to find out if it’s worth my gaming collar, or if I should spend it on four other games.

Let me know if you went to see the tour in Nationwide, and if you tried to go there and had a similar experience, or if I was the only person who just sought this out, just for Rock Band.

(If that’s the case, then it’s a bad sign for their sales)!