The future of TGA PART 1

[Andy]

Part 1: My father and the Game Zone saga.

Dear Friends,

I wanted to write an open letter to all members of TGA to inform you of some recent developments and inform you on the direction and future of the store.

There were some surprises I was waiting to unveil but due to recent developments (which will be detailed below) I believe this is the right time to make the announcements.

My Father

Before I start discussing business, I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for your continued prayers, support and encouragement for my father. This past month has been an absolute nightmare. However, things are looking up. The good news is that my father has been discharged from the hospital and is now home. Because of his limited mobility and inability to care for himself, I have taken an indefinite leave of absence from my job and moved back in with my parents to help care for him.
I will spare you the details of our battles with Medicare, and sum it up as follows: I Thank God for the medical training I have received during my 10 year tenure in law enforcement. Since we do not have a nurse/ hospice care, I am doing everything from tending to my father’s personal care to injecting him with medication.

My father is undergoing 32 radiation treatments so I am transporting him to the Lahey Clinic daily (about a 25 minute trip) for this purpose. Due to his limited mobility it is a necessity that I am the one that does this, in the event that a medical emergency arises.

My father has battled cancer for 10 years and it was looking pretty bleak after his initial admittance to the emergency room a month ago. He survived 3 heart attacks at the hospital, pacemaker surgery and brain surgery.

For a while it looked like we were going to loose him. But due to everyone’s prayers support he pulled through. The day that everyone posted get well wishes on the website really encouraged him and cheered him up and I believe was an instrumental part of his motivation to get better, come home and beat this disease.

So thank you everyone! I truly appreciate all you have done, I am truly honored and humbled by your kindness and support. Thank you Thank you Thank you!!


Now… the bad news…

TGA VS GZ

I spent the entire weekend moving from my apartment to my parents house. The move was a last minute plan that had to executed that weekend. Plainly put: Moving sucked. It took us 3 straight days to move everything, but it got done. A special thanks to my brother and his son Craig for all his help.

At the end of my move, I drove by the store to head back to the highway. When I did so, I saw A DDR EXTREME MACHINE INSIDE GAMEZONE. The implications of this are huge due to the history of my dealings with the owner of Game Zone which I will detail as follows:

For some reason there has been some healthy business competition between Game Zone and TGA. It started when the owner of GZ came to my store on my opening day and started telling me that my business would never make it and I would be closed within a month. He future stated that an arcade and import store had no market especially in Woonsocket and that I was crazy for even attempting it.

6 months later Game Zone opens an arcade to mirror the success of TGA. After the arcade opens, I meet with the owner on friendly terms in an attempt to extend the hand of friendship. He tells me that I should not feel threatened by his arcade. My arcade has inspired him to open a "Classic Arcade" which will include no music games, for doing so would be an insult to me and put us in direct competition.

When the arcade opens we discover a DMX machine.

My staff and I go to his grand opening to show support at which time he says, "Well, the arcade distributor assured me that I had to have a music game to make money, so I got only one. I have no intention of opening a music arcade like you. This is the only music game I will get"

Not feeling to much pressure from a DMX machine I play a few games, go back to TGA and again offer my services for free promotion and support.

During this time a GZ employee posts a message on megatokyo.com that his store is in direct competition with TGA.

A few months later I discover that they got a Pump it up machine. I meet with the owner again and he says, "Well, I wanted to get a dance game to make more money. Hey at least it’s not a DDR machine. If I got a DDR machine I would be in direct competition with you and that would not be right."

After they get the pump machine, a group of Game Zone customers come over to TGA, smear human Feces on our DDR pad and run back to game zone. They also say how much better GZ is because they have better machines and are cheaper.

To cut to the chase, GZ gets 3 more music games and ultimately gets DDR Extreme. Jose and Rob go to play a few games, and show some support, in spite of the blatant slap in the face. Even the TGA regulars like DR J go over and play a few games. They discover that the pads are not responding.

After Rob and Jose leave GZ, the owner of GZ comes into TGA and starts yelling a random customers saying that TGA owes him $200 for "Burning out 8 of his sensors." I speak with the owner of GZ and he apologizes for flying off the handle. He told me that one of his employees told him that Rob brown came into GZ with the intent of breaking all of his machines. He based this on the fact that all of his GZ customers keep saying how good TGA is. And that we are getting more business than he is. He went on to say that TGA is like a cult and that my customers are all loyal to me and he thinks it’s stupid. He doesn’t see why my customers are not coming to his store and it must be because we have formed a conspiracy against his store.

I assured him that I have supported him every time he bought a new machine. Even though we had an agreement that he would not get music games, he did. Now he got a DDR machine and is charging 50 cents in an attempt to undersell me.

The owner admits that getting DDR Extreme will hurt my business but he said that he is going to raise his price to a dollar after the first month. He also said that the reason he got DDR Extreme is because he is in so much debt he can’t feed his family.

Although this was extremely underhanded, again, wanting to extend the hand of friendship, I ask him what I can do to help. He tells me that his sensors are not working and since we are experts on DDR pads, he asks me to help him. I tell him that in the spirit of friendship, I will send Rob and Jose over to fix his pads for free.

The "8 burned out sensors that Rob Brown broke" were actually caused by the sensors not being plugged in. Not only did Rob and Jose fix the machine ,and recondition it, they showed the staff our "tricks and mods" to make the pad more accurate.

Worried by the loss of business, the continued broken promises, insults underhanded scheme to get me to fix his pads for free, I felt some sight reassurance that the purchase was made because he was broke and wanted to feed his family. I thought everything would be ok and that maybe once again, we could work together.

The following day, our new staff member Ben goes into GZ with his friend, in the spirit of partnership, after school before coming to TGA for his shift. While in GZ, the GZ employees, not knowing that Ben is a staff member starts saying that TGA fixing the pads was a ploy. They have no intention of raising their price. Their mission is to "Put TGA out of business"

The "Not having enough money to feed his family" was also a lie. The owner has made it clear to many people that he has enough money to buy an Initial D machine ( retail price $30,0000.00) and will be doing so shortly.

I will be honest, their DDR machine has hurt our business. We have lost all of our local customers. Even thought the machine is bootleg (it really is) has synching problems and the pads don’t work. A majority of the locals don’t care and are attracted to the 50 cent price. Rob and Jose and others have assured me that TGA survives due to our "Core customers" that drive and go through great lengths to get to TGA. They are right, our core customers always do the flat rates anyway, so my mind is put at ease.

So friends, where do we go from here? Well, as a Christian, I forgive him. I will continue to make amends and not get angry. As a person I am hurt. I really wanted to be friends with this guy and I really thought that we could work together. Why does this person continue to take advantage of me and lie to me? Why do his employees continue to badmouth me? I never wanted to make any of this public, but I believe that you have a right to know what the true story behind this was.

I won’t however, fall for his lies again and give him free tech support. I will channel this energy to make TGA better than ever. I have some surprises for everyone, which will be announced tomorrow. So stay tuned. Also, please post your thoughts on this, I would like to see what you think of the news.

As always, I remain, truly yours,

Andrew E McGuire

[Harmonixer]

First off, Andy, I would like to say that I am happy about your father. It is great that he is doing so well, and he is still in my prayers. I believe I speak for the entire forum community when I say what good news this is.

On a completely different note, I am sorry about what has been going on with GZ. Just having become a TGA customer in July, I did not know anything of Gamezone. Hell, I didn't even know it existed until I actually looked up in the car on the way to TGA. I don't blame you for being hurt by what they've done. Hell, I'm a bit hurt by it, I <3 TGA. I whole-heartedly agree with Rob and Jose. TGA will always have its core customers, no matter what. I don't think you have to worry about losing any of us anytime soon. :).

So...yea..those are my thoughts.

~Fin

[Garrett]

I am absolutely apalled! I don't know why anyone would want to trick you Andy. I'm a loyal TGA customer and I think that what Rob and Jose said was true, core customers will support you, me being one of them. I'll do my best to make it down there and support you guys. But what to do about GZ? I know that you probably don't want us getting revenge, and I don't think we should do anything extreme, but there has to be some way we can, without doing anything immoral, get back at them. Whatever happens, I and the other core TGA members are behind you 100% Andy.

[Yao]

Andy, you know me as a Catholic, so i know what you want to be doing. But you can only turn the other cheeck so many times before you get slapped too often. As a law enforcment agent, you know that if they were to vandalize the machine again, you can easily pin something to them.
Billy Brown and I went to that arcade not too long ago to see if we could play a game of PIU. Every one of their music games, sans DMX, was turned off and supposedly "broken". I believe they were just turned off so they wouldn't have to hear the noise. Such behavior is bad for business.
I know that you want to support your fellow man, especially since they are in the same boat as you, but you can only take so much. We all remember when you got screwed over before, and we don't want to see someone outside of a business relationship with you screw you over again. You've had, quite frankly, a hellish few months now, and this is (pardon my french) complete bullshit.
I for one, will be boycotting GameZone from here on in. Andy, you may no support the decision, but it's the only way to stop core customers from moving sides.

Besides, do they think they can find a DM or IIDX Machine? Not bloody likely

[DJ_Midnite]

Andy, It's great to hear your dad is getting better than he was. I have an amazing amount of respect for you for doing what you have done for him. You are truly a great person.

As for GZ...

As a TGA customer who has gone to GZ, I can say that TGA is a much better atmosphere, No wuestion about that. And the fact that there manager has to be so underhanded as to trick a buiosness that he is copying is just plain crappy. But we will stay strong through these times.

TGA is a family, As Rob and Jose said, It's core members who make TGA what it is. I make a 50 minute drive from Leominster on a pretty consistant basis to be down there. And I plan on continuing this more than ever since I get my licsence soon.

I for one do not fear GZ and will not support them any more regardless of what it may be for. I will not become part of the sell out community they are becoming.

[DJ_Midnite]

Andy, you know me as a Catholic, so i know what you want to be doing. But you can only turn the other cheeck so many times before you get slapped too often. As a law enforcment agent, you know that if they were to vandalize the machine again, you can easily pin something to them.
Billy Brown and I went to that arcade not too long ago to see if we could play a game of PIU. Every one of their music games, sans DMX, was turned off and supposedly "broken". I believe they were just turned off so they wouldn't have to hear the noise. Such behavior is bad for business.
I know that you want to support your fellow man, especially since they are in the same boat as you, but you can only take so much. We all remember when you got screwed over before, and we don't want to see someone outside of a business relationship with you screw you over again. You've had, quite frankly, a hellish few months now, and this is (pardon my french) complete bullshit.
I for one, will be boycotting GameZone from here on in. Andy, you may no support the decision, but it's the only way to stop core customers from moving sides.

Besides, do they think they can find a DM or IIDX Machine? Not bloody likely

Unless it's from channel beat... :::Giggles:: heh, Channel beat, Thats a funny website...

[Ishbo]

I am happy about your father And.

But GZ, man.. wow. AM I astonished or what? That was foul what they did.

[apd]

Urgh. I can't say this isn't surprising though... besides yourself, Andy, I haven't really met any other arcade owners that really take pride in their work and do it with noble intentions - to just share the fun. I'm sick of entertainment driven businesses that care more about profit than the enjoyability they provide.

In any case, a few of my friends were planning on buying some old sega saturn stuff from them next time we came up, but I'll point them in the direction of this story and I seriously doubt they'd want to give them business after reading it. :gator: Some people... sigh...

Anyway, I'll be up at the store again tommorrow for the first time in way too long (school!), and I left you a PM reminding you about the keyboardmania stuff from last time. Can't wait to be up there again :D

[BigMulattoTeddyBear]

Andy, the owner of GZ is a friend of my dad and recently he came to our house for a cookout and proceeded to ask me about what makes TGA have such a vast amount of "core customers". I replied I have no clue, and he began to make inferences and I attempted to be as vague as possible. I repeatedly gave answers like "who knows", "possibly", "that's hard to say", all your basic magic eightball answers. Then he began to ask me which games the customers played more and I; not thinking he would have done what he has, answered "DDR". I feel very much responsible and I wholeheartedly apologize Andy. If I would have anticipated such a thing happening, I would have kept my mouth shut.

[nevernever]

I'm really happy about your father Andy.. I remember the bad news about him the past few months.. I'm so glad he's recovering well. :)


That's so low of the GameZone owner. It really is. Just remember the golden rule of karma..

What goes around comes around.

He's going to end up screwing things up in the end. I'm not trying to predict his future.. but seriously... karma, man.

Good luck Andy. I haven't been up to TGA much lately (been fixated in Newport due to work, lots of time with family and other things) but I hope to get up there soon. I have no excuse not to besides the fact that I'm busy very often :/

[Junior Asparagus]

I feel very much responsible and I wholeheartedly apologize Andy. If I would have anticipated such a thing happening, I would have kept my mouth shut.

You absolutely shouldn't feel responsible. The GZ guy said he wasn't going to get music games, but he ended up doing it, which is a perfectly acceptable (if a bit dishonest) thing to do. At that point, I definitely would not have extended the hand of friendship over to their store. The fact that they got a DDR machine at all puts them in direct competition--even if the owner WAS a nice guy--so that move was probably a bit naive. But nothing can be done about that now. If the owner over there is going to be petty and immature about running a business, then that's his problem. Although some people may visit the store to check it out, you can probably assume that none of the regular customers of TGA will offer much business advice to him. You've worked hard to get where you are now. If he asks why customers are so loyal to TGA, you should just respond, "Because the employees vindictive morons." :D Things'll be fine.

Glad to hear your father is doing well.

[Juggatard]

it's official, GameZone is run by a two-timing cocksucker.

[Dr. J]

it's official, GameZone is run by a two-timing cocksucker.



he is not a cocksucker,he is a liar, he did lie about saying "im not gonna get any music games, dont worry about it" and crap like that, i still cant believe they got a DDR Extreme machine, that is wrong of them in my opinion.

[Chew13acca]

Ladies and gentlemen, i believe we have many courses of actoin available to us.

However, do to the fact that GZ employees are watching this probably as we speak, i am removing the list of ideas.

Sorry

[CreemyNougat]

#15
Allow pdas. Public displays of affection. You have couches... ;)

You do NOT want to encourage me to get...affectionate...with my girlfriend at TGA.
Just trust me.

:gator:


As for viable alternatives, I don't think GZ is too promising. It lacks TGA's atmosphere, and it will never be able to "convert" any regular TGA customers. And I haven't seen any games worth staying there all day for, and if this DDR machine is as crappy as everyone's saying, there still aren't any there.

You don't catch flies with vinegar. And GZ's business ethic is f*cking rank.

[Stax Kazama]

Glad to hear that your dad is doing beter. I hope everything is going well with him.

As far as GZ..thats just wrong on so many levels. What vile people....stuff like that pisses me off.
I've only been in there once before, and I can say now that I wont go in there again. Its a crappy store anyways, with even crappier machines.

[aurora beam]

wow, that's absolutely disgusting. o_O;;;

i sent in a nintendo so i could get the 72 pin connector replaced .. it's been like 2 months already and they haven't done anything, it's kind of bothering me?

it's too bad TGA and GZ can't merge, that would make for a kick ass arcade. of course, competition is competition, and usually it'll work out for the best. don't worry.. things will turn out fine.

[Amadeus]

First off, it's good to hear that you you're father's doing better, I have an aunt who has been going through cancer and just within the past year she's been really going down and it's a big stress on everyone, especially my mother who is very close to her and has recently had to cope with the idea of losing her, so I have an idea of what you're going through and good news is great news...I didn't know about it before as I'm a TGA Newb, but my thoughts and prayers are with you..

Anyways on the GZ topic I have a funny story about that...when I went there with my brother we were trying to find TGA for the IIDX tourny since we'd never been there before, or even in woonsocket before for that matter, and we saw the music machines in the gamezone so we thought this must be it, we walked in there and I could tell it was a really weird, empty atmopshere feeling, and we asked them where TGA was and I didn't notice it then, but they looked kinda angry that we asked and were pretty rude to us in general... so we fled and had good times in TGA d:D.
And Andy you are a better man than I to be able to put up with those assholes, I probably would've started a mini war with the feces thing and all the scamming they're doing....It's f*cking bullsh*t...but you've kept your cool and therefore I believe you will keep your loyal gamers :) .

[Craz]

Andy, i am very happy about hearing that your father is making progress. I will continue to give my blessings

As for GZ, fuck em. Honestly, if they get ID, which i doubt they will and if they do it will only attract a crowd of actual hardcore racers because that game requires dedication, then i will admit i will play a game or two(im a hardcore race gamer, what can i say?) . But TGA has a laid back atmosphere that GZ can only wish to recreate. Those who go to GZ from TGA will be back. GZ's games are NOT in any condition to be played (as shown from our visit there one time). GZ can try to put TGA uner, but it only feels like a video game store with games in it, not a real arcade. TGA is just fine, and will always be fine. GZ is just begging for business.

[Yao]

i can do #9, but i ain't payin for damages. We could wait for em to run a tourny for something, and go and sweep it in the name of TGA, assuming there are no entry fees or things of that nature

[Andy]

I want to thank everyone for the continued support and encouragement. You guys (and girls) are the best!

As TGA members, I think the best plan of action is to be professional and wish them the best and avoid anything that would make us look unprofessional or be unethical.

As a fellow small business owner, I really do want Game Zone to survive and be profitable. I would prefer they do it without music games, but hey, what can I do? I support any decision they make to further the industry. What I do not support is the stealing of the unique aspects of TGA.

TGA is not a mega huge arcade and video game store. TGA is a small place that caters to people that have a special interest in certain aspects of gaming Imports and Bemani. A place to call home, your second bedroom, your hangout. A place where you are welcomed and we are glad to see you.

I sometimes envision TGA using the same traditional layout of other stores: No furniture, slat walling, a sales counter.. etc. But I think TGA would lose it’s "home away from home / living room" appeal. Before the GZ thing happened I had already started to re-arrange TGA and do some serious cleaning.

I think the best thing for TGA to do, is to make continued improvements. Improvements that will counteract the damage done by GZ. I want to expand upon this unique TGA atmosphere and I think people will like the new improvements and direction.

If you think about it we have come a long way, so why stop now? I will post some of the future plans tomorrow on part 2. In the spirit of professionalism these ideas do not include renting furniture or selling American games. These are some ideas that are unique to TGA have been on hold for a while due to finances.

What you can do to help TGA, is spread the word, invite new people and provide your thoughts and opinions on the new ideas. Any unique ideas you have, I would ask that you PM them to me so they don't get hijacked.

Thanks again everyone, and I will keep you posted.

Andy

[Sal the Ref]

I feel very much responsible and I wholeheartedly apologize Andy. If I would have anticipated such a thing happening, I would have kept my mouth shut.

Don't blame yourself. If his intent was to rip off TGA, he would have gotten the machine in there one way or the other.


I think that what is the case is that the guy's business is going down the toilet and this is just a desperate attempt to keep afloat. I mean, seriously, who the fuck has a furniture rental place in the same room as an arcade? A business failure who probably couldn't sell bottled water to a man dying of thirst, that's who. So what he does is rip off a successful company in the area in a blatant attempt to steal their business for the purpose of making another pathetic attempt keeping himself afloat.

In the long term, I wouldn't worry. His business strategy is to throw shit against the wall and see what sticks. Obviously, nothing has so far, so this probably won't either. I'd say it's just a matter of time before the dumbfart puts himself out of business one way or the other, anyway.

In the meantime, my suggestion to both TGA Staffers and core customers alike would be to avoid GZ. This jack-off is obviously a pathological liar and by avoiding his store, bullshit accusations will be avoided as well. (Well, he'll probably still make them, but at least he won't be able to twist the truth around.) It may also be prudent to consider banning GZ staffers for similar reasons, but that may open a can of worms, too.

And maybe it's just me, but if my family was starving and I had $30 grand, I sure as hell wouldn't spend it on an arcade machine...one way or the other, is that the kind of person who's business you want to support?

[Echoes of PAIN]

This whole thing is just too funny, and very stupid. I say "FUK GZ!" fo sheezy. They can't even touch us, seriously. I mean LOOK! we HAVE our own WEBSITE for god's sake. We've been doing great as a friendly community and we will keep striving. TGA has gone through hard times, and this GZ battle is nothing but a pillow fight. For we are better than them, in SOOOOOO many ways in which i'm sure you all know (ex: we have REAL friends lol).

God Bless to Andy's father. and GOD BLESS TGA!

lol o and you know whats REALLY REALLY funny? They're probably reading this RIGHT now and they're probably crying about it.

YEAH YEAH YEAH GAME ZONE! CHECK OUT WWW.CHANNELBEAT.COM and you'll find PLENTY of shit that you'll need. I'M SERIOUS! thats where ALLLLLLLL TGA's stuff came from. There, i said it.

[Craz]

Wll if they DO get an Inial D machine and im assumeing it will be ver 3, sinc ei doubt a new ver 1 or 2 will be 30 grand, ill be sure to rape the high score times in the name of TGA.

And any, you know that Time Machine they got? The Mame Emulator with a cool GUI? Place a few phone calls if GZ becomes that much of a prick and im sure Konami or Nintendo will have a few things to say to them.

[Junior Asparagus]

As TGA members, I think the best plan of action is to be professional and wish them the best and avoid anything that would make us look unprofessional or be unethical.

This is definitely the best course of action. You're running a business, so sometimes you're going to run into competition. In those cases, you just have to look out for #1. Concentrate on your own affairs, make it the best place it can be, and don't worry about what they're doing, unless it DIRECTLY involves you (like vandalism or whatever). Although them getting music games may make them dishonest, it's not like it was illegal or anything. So you just have to maintain the notion that TGA is a better environment for people to play.

It's also important not to get into a panic over what they're doing. I know I've preached it before, but the most important thing in maintaining a business is fiscal responsibility. I'm sure you have some great ideas for the store, but just make sure you can pull them off.

[Ghost]

yeah, me and jose raped the high score lit with tga and fgz as our initials, their employees, try as they might could not manage to fix the sensors i "blew out" so me and gi josie went down and repaired them in thirty seconds flat......pwnd

[ShadowNinja]

Wow....here's Andy's original post...I'm gonna go from here... > .<

Dear Friends,

I wanted to write an open letter to all members of TGA to inform you of some recent developments and inform you on the direction and future of the store.

There were some surprises I was waiting to unveil but due to recent developments (which will be detailed below) I believe this is the right time to make the announcements.

My Father

Before I start discussing business, I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for your continued prayers, support and encouragement for my father. This past month has been an absolute nightmare. However, things are looking up. The good news is that my father has been discharged from the hospital and is now home. Because of his limited mobility and inability to care for himself, I have taken an indefinite leave of absence from my job and moved back in with my parents to help care for him.
I will spare you the details of our battles with Medicare, and sum it up as follows: I Thank God for the medical training I have received during my 10 year tenure in law enforcement. Since we do not have a nurse/ hospice care, I am doing everything from tending to my father’s personal care to injecting him with medication.

My father is undergoing 32 radiation treatments so I am transporting him to the Lahey Clinic daily (about a 25 minute trip) for this purpose. Due to his limited mobility it is a necessity that I am the one that does this, in the event that a medical emergency arises.

My father has battled cancer for 10 years and it was looking pretty bleak after his initial admittance to the emergency room a month ago. He survived 3 heart attacks at the hospital, pacemaker surgery and brain surgery.

For a while it looked like we were going to loose him. But due to everyone’s prayers support he pulled through. The day that everyone posted get well wishes on the website really encouraged him and cheered him up and I believe was an instrumental part of his motivation to get better, come home and beat this disease.

So thank you everyone! I truly appreciate all you have done, I am truly honored and humbled by your kindness and support. Thank you Thank you Thank you!!


Now… the bad news…

TGA VS GZ

I spent the entire weekend moving from my apartment to my parents house. The move was a last minute plan that had to executed that weekend. Plainly put: Moving sucked. It took us 3 straight days to move everything, but it got done. A special thanks to my brother and his son Craig for all his help.

At the end of my move, I drove by the store to head back to the highway. When I did so, I saw A DDR EXTREME MACHINE INSIDE GAMEZONE. The implications of this are huge due to the history of my dealings with the owner of Game Zone which I will detail as follows:

For some reason there has been some healthy business competition between Game Zone and TGA. It started when the owner of GZ came to my store on my opening day and started telling me that my business would never make it and I would be closed within a month. He future stated that an arcade and import store had no market especially in Woonsocket and that I was crazy for even attempting it.

6 months later Game Zone opens an arcade to mirror the success of TGA. After the arcade opens, I meet with the owner on friendly terms in an attempt to extend the hand of friendship. He tells me that I should not feel threatened by his arcade. My arcade has inspired him to open a "Classic Arcade" which will include no music games, for doing so would be an insult to me and put us in direct competition.

When the arcade opens we discover a DMX machine.

My staff and I go to his grand opening to show support at which time he says, "Well, the arcade distributor assured me that I had to have a music game to make money, so I got only one. I have no intention of opening a music arcade like you. This is the only music game I will get"

Not feeling to much pressure from a DMX machine I play a few games, go back to TGA and again offer my services for free promotion and support.

During this time a GZ employee posts a message on megatokyo.com that his store is in direct competition with TGA.

A few months later I discover that they got a Pump it up machine. I meet with the owner again and he says, "Well, I wanted to get a dance game to make more money. Hey at least it’s not a DDR machine. If I got a DDR machine I would be in direct competition with you and that would not be right."

After they get the pump machine, a group of Game Zone customers come over to TGA, smear human Feces on our DDR pad and run back to game zone. They also say how much better GZ is because they have better machines and are cheaper.

To cut to the chase, GZ gets 3 more music games and ultimately gets DDR Extreme. Jose and Rob go to play a few games, and show some support, in spite of the blatant slap in the face. Even the TGA regulars like DR J go over and play a few games. They discover that the pads are not responding.

After Rob and Jose leave GZ, the owner of GZ comes into TGA and starts yelling a random customers saying that TGA owes him $200 for "Burning out 8 of his sensors." I speak with the owner of GZ and he apologizes for flying off the handle. He told me that one of his employees told him that Rob brown came into GZ with the intent of breaking all of his machines. He based this on the fact that all of his GZ customers keep saying how good TGA is. And that we are getting more business than he is. He went on to say that TGA is like a cult and that my customers are all loyal to me and he thinks it’s stupid. He doesn’t see why my customers are not coming to his store and it must be because we have formed a conspiracy against his store.

I assured him that I have supported him every time he bought a new machine. Even though we had an agreement that he would not get music games, he did. Now he got a DDR machine and is charging 50 cents in an attempt to undersell me.

The owner admits that getting DDR Extreme will hurt my business but he said that he is going to raise his price to a dollar after the first month. He also said that the reason he got DDR Extreme is because he is in so much debt he can’t feed his family.

Although this was extremely underhanded, again, wanting to extend the hand of friendship, I ask him what I can do to help. He tells me that his sensors are not working and since we are experts on DDR pads, he asks me to help him. I tell him that in the spirit of friendship, I will send Rob and Jose over to fix his pads for free.

The "8 burned out sensors that Rob Brown broke" were actually caused by the sensors not being plugged in. Not only did Rob and Jose fix the machine ,and recondition it, they showed the staff our "tricks and mods" to make the pad more accurate.

Worried by the loss of business, the continued broken promises, insults underhanded scheme to get me to fix his pads for free, I felt some sight reassurance that the purchase was made because he was broke and wanted to feed his family. I thought everything would be ok and that maybe once again, we could work together.

The following day, our new staff member Ben goes into GZ with his friend, in the spirit of partnership, after school before coming to TGA for his shift. While in GZ, the GZ employees, not knowing that Ben is a staff member starts saying that TGA fixing the pads was a ploy. They have no intention of raising their price. Their mission is to "Put TGA out of business"

The "Not having enough money to feed his family" was also a lie. The owner has made it clear to many people that he has enough money to buy an Initial D machine ( retail price $30,0000.00) and will be doing so shortly.

I will be honest, their DDR machine has hurt our business. We have lost all of our local customers. Even thought the machine is bootleg (it really is) has synching problems and the pads don’t work. A majority of the locals don’t care and are attracted to the 50 cent price. Rob and Jose and others have assured me that TGA survives due to our "Core customers" that drive and go through great lengths to get to TGA. They are right, our core customers always do the flat rates anyway, so my mind is put at ease.


So friends, where do we go from here? Well, as a Christian, I forgive him. I will continue to make amends and not get angry. As a person I am hurt. I really wanted to be friends with this guy and I really thought that we could work together. Why does this person continue to take advantage of me and lie to me? Why do his employees continue to badmouth me? I never wanted to make any of this public, but I believe that you have a right to know what the true story behind this was.

I won’t however, fall for his lies again and give him free tech support. I will channel this energy to make TGA better than ever. I have some surprises for everyone, which will be announced tomorrow. So stay tuned. Also, please post your thoughts on this, I would like to see what you think of the news.

As always, I remain, truly yours,

Andrew E McGuire


First of all, I feel bad for your father. Having had two family members suffer from cancer, I know how you feel, and sympathize with the both of you. Here's to hoping for a full recovery.

Now then, the essay you posted up there has a few problems, namely:
1.)You speak in an incredibly phony way - "Oh, I'm Christian, I'm a poor victim here, I'm hurt that he would start an arcade in the same city as me, I'm very dissapointed in him." That, my good sir, is total B.S. and anyone who can't see that, need to open their eyes.
2.)You have no reason whatsoever to be "dissapointed" in the owner of GameZone. Competition in business happens, get used to it. You have NO right at all to preach to your customers about how evil this man is. The owner of GameZone started his game store about 2 years ago. THERE HAS NEVER BEEN A GAME STORE IN WOONSOCKET BEFORE. A few months after he opened, Game Crazy came to town; John (the owner of GZ) didn't whine or complain, he stuck it to them, and tried to keep a competitive edge. Some months after that, GameStop came to town. Know what? He didn't whine to his customers about how evil either of these companies where. Want to know why? It's because he's a true business man, and his store still thrives despite having TWO main competitors in the city. He has friendly contacts with both stores, and all three stores help each other out when possible.
3.)Half the stuff you said either a. Has nothing to do with GZ directly, you just paint a very biased picture, twisting the truth, or b. TOTALLY UNTRUE.

Anyway, let's dissect your disgusting little story here shall we?

6 months later Game Zone opens an arcade to mirror the success of TGA. After the arcade opens, I meet with the owner on friendly terms in an attempt to extend the hand of friendship. He tells me that I should not feel threatened by his arcade. My arcade has inspired him to open a "Classic Arcade" which will include no music games, for doing so would be an insult to me and put us in direct competition.
-Yeup, that was totally his plan at the time, he truly wanted to open up a classic arcade. Sadly, he soon found out that nobody *played* classic games anymore; opening a classic arcade obviously wasnt an option. Guess what! Music and racing games are extremely popular, and that's the only reason he's buying them now. Like I already said, two game stores already "copied" him in this city, the only difference between you and him is tht he has the maturity not to whine and preach about it.

After they get the pump machine, a group of Game Zone customers come over to TGA, smear human Feces on our DDR pad and run back to game zone. They also say how much better GZ is because they have better machines and are cheaper.
-aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahahahahahah ahaaa that is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. Anyone who believes that has to be an idiot. Besides, even if it WAS true, you said it was GZ customers who did this, and I can assure you, this fictional act of vandalism was not sanctioned by any of the GZ staff. Besides that, TGA customers have written on GZ walls with sharpy, bad-mouthed other customers in GZ, and have commited various other acts of stupidity. Obviously these people are a minority, and hopefully Andy does not sanction them, though, judging by Andy's character, I'd bet good money they were.

After Rob and Jose leave GZ, the owner of GZ comes into TGA and starts yelling a random customers saying that TGA owes him $200 for "Burning out 8 of his sensors." I speak with the owner of GZ and he apologizes for flying off the handle. He told me that one of his employees told him that Rob brown came into GZ with the intent of breaking all of his machines. He based this on the fact that all of his GZ customers keep saying how good TGA is. And that we are getting more business than he is. He went on to say that TGA is like a cult and that my customers are all loyal to me and he thinks it’s stupid. He doesn’t see why my customers are not coming to his store and it must be because we have formed a conspiracy against his store.
-This is very sad, but I think it's understandable that the owner would be angry about his DDR machine not working, after all, it worked up until the kid played it, and TGA custumors are constantly doing disgusting things like this, so what was he to assume? Anyway, he apologized to the kid extensively, and let him, and some other TGA customers play the dance games for free.

The following day, our new staff member Ben goes into GZ with his friend, in the spirit of partnership, after school before coming to TGA for his shift. While in GZ, the GZ employees, not knowing that Ben is a staff member starts saying that TGA fixing the pads was a ploy. They have no intention of raising their price. Their mission is to "Put TGA out of business"
-THIS is also ridiculous and untrue. I know this because I myself have suggested putting you out of business - the owner assured me that he had no intention of doing such a thing, even though he easily could. Unlike your business which relies almost completely on arcade machine profits, John's got two OTHER businesses making thousands of dollars a week; he could easily afford to leave ALL of his arcade machines on free play indefinately; you should be thankful he hasn't killed your business already, pretentious fool.

The "Not having enough money to feed his family" was also a lie. The owner has made it clear to many people that he has enough money to buy an Initial D machine ( retail price $30,0000.00) and will be doing so shortly.
-Well, that machine is an investment, that's what most racing fans told him to buy, so that's what he's doing. You've never had any experience running a real business, let alone multiple businesses, so I wouldn't expect you to understand how he borrows money from his other stores to support one another, and how he has to pay them back sometime to keep them afloat. You saying that he told you that "he doesn't have enough money to feed his family" is obviously a blatant lie on your part. How could he buy such a big building, and keep it stocked with tens of thousands of dollars of videogames, furniture, and electronics, and not have enough money to feed his family? We all know that YOU'RE not stupid enough to believe anything like that, so it's inconceivalbe that he would tell you anything of the sort.

So friends, where do we go from here? Well, as a Christian, I forgive him. I will continue to make amends and not get angry. As a person I am hurt. I really wanted to be friends with this guy and I really thought that we could work together. Why does this person continue to take advantage of me and lie to me? Why do his employees continue to badmouth me? I never wanted to make any of this public, but I believe that you have a right to know what the true story behind this was.
-If by that you mean "I'm not a true Christian, I'm a lying, sheming spawn of satan, and I'm here to spread blatant lies to hurt my competition's business," then yeah, I'm right there with you on that one.

To think that just a few days ago, John was telling me how you weren't a bad guy at all, and how he thought you two would soon be friends, and that he was hoping to start a larger arcade with you soon....ugh......you sir, are truly disgusting. I'm sorry to tell you this, but it's totally true.

To the rest of the people here:
I can't see how you could believe half the stuff Andy has said here, it really amazes me. It also amazes me how you go personally attacking GameZone's owner, my father, with NO proof whatsoever as to his motives, or his business ethics.

Jr. Asparagus, and the few others who didn't resort to attacking my father: Thank you for being especially reasonable, intelligent people. I hope you go far in life.

[DJ_Midnite]

All I can say to you man is that you are calling a man who has given us a place to go and gave us all new friends a liar. This in turn, I'll put this in the most non explitive terms possbile, Makes you a bigger banana head.

You expect us to believe someone who I know is telling the truth on most of these accounts and for the others I take his word for.

When in the store a few months back, Pre PIU and right after DMX, Your father asked me and a friend which we would prefer to see in his store, DDR or Pump It Up, And said that if PIU didnt work that he would buy DDR anyways. So for him to tell andy he had no intention of getting any more dance machines was a blatant lie. So you sir can leave the boards in peace or deal with the rest of the faithful customers Andy has backing him on this.

[ShadowNinja]

All I can say to you man is that you are calling a man who has given us a place to go and gave us all new friends a liar. This in turn, I'll put this in the most non explitive terms possbile, Makes you a bigger banana head.
Remember Hitler? All of his followers thought he was a great guy too; being a nazi was like belonging to a nice country club - you had commrades, club houses and meetings to attend, and a mission in life. All of Hitler's followers thought he was the greatest guy ever, that is, until he showed his true colors, and started KILLING PEOPLE. I'm not calling Andy a Hitler, he's not that bad a guy, I'm just telling you people that not EVERYTHING he says is absolute truth, and I was having a hard time coming up with an anology there ^^;;

You expect us to believe someone who I know is telling the truth on most of these accounts and for the others I take his word for.
Nah, I was pretty sure that almost everyone here would believe Andy, I just thought I'd post the other side of the story, for the people on here who would actually consider my story, instead of blindly disregarding everything I said (thanks for reading it at least though, and for not getting vulgar/loud in your response ^^; )

When in the store a few months back, Pre PIU and right after DMX, Your father asked me and a friend which we would prefer to see in his store, DDR or Pump It Up, And said that if PIU didnt work that he would buy DDR anyways. So for him to tell andy he had no intention of getting any more dance machines was a blatant lie. So you sir can leave the boards in peace or deal with the rest of the faithful customers Andy has backing him on this.
Heh, like I said in my post above, my father had NO intention of getting ANY music games at first. It is QUITE possible that he told Andy that he wasn't getting a DDR. But, you know, PIU wasn't making any money alone, so I'm sure my dad's opinion on getting a DDR changed, and well, he bought a DDR machine. I'm sorry to say this, but when you have a business, and people start competing with you, you can't take personal offense to it, like Andy has done here.

Thanks again for your polite reply ^_^

[Amadeus]

Half the stuff you said either a. Has nothing to do with GZ directly, you just paint a very biased picture, twisting the truth, or b. TOTALLY UNTRUE.
Oh yeah, and you wouldn't have a biased opinion being his son, since you're such a saint of truth.

Obviously these people are a minority, and hopefully Andy does not sanction them, though, judging by Andy's character, I'd bet good money they were.
And you're one to judge andy because.....

-This is very sad, but I think it's understandable that the owner would be angry about his DDR machine not working, after all, it worked up until the kid played it, and TGA custumors are constantly doing disgusting things like this, so what was he to assume?
Just to let you know, since you oboviously assume you know everything, and since you know close to nothing the DDR machines and other bemani games brake more often than any other games, they weren't sabotaged by TGA, and since Rob fixed them I doubt he would've broke them on purpose just to fix them for free...

I myself have suggested putting you out of business - the owner assured me that he had no intention of doing such a thing, even though he easily could. Unlike your business which relies almost completely on arcade machine profits, John's got two OTHER businesses making thousands of dollars a week; he could easily afford to leave ALL of his arcade machines on free play indefinately; you should be thankful he hasn't killed your business already, pretentious fool.
So you've suggested putting an innocent, overly nice, friendly arcade out of busniess and this helps your argument of you knowing everything and being totally neutral how?? Not to to mention abusing andy's reputation to an extent that I can't take your crap anymore, get out of this forum asshole...

-If by that you mean "I'm not a true Christian, I'm a lying, sheming spawn of satan, and I'm here to spread blatant lies to hurt my competition's business," then yeah, I'm right there with you on that one.
Calling Andy, whom everyone here on this forum loves for bringing our dream of TGA to life, a lying spawn of satan is the most immature, fucking underhanded piece of bullshit I've ever heard, and I'm sure anyone here would back Andy on this by saying you should leave here and let us be peaceful...

Jr. Asparagus, and the few others who didn't resort to attacking my father: Thank you for being especially reasonable, intelligent people. I hope you go far in life.
And you, sir have attacked the one person on here we all respect and like, with totally immature and ignorant remarks so I have zero respect for you, which only gives me less respect for your father as well. And I agree with DJ Midnite that everyone else here will back us up...
(Also I apologize for the swears but I felt they were necessary in this situation...)

[ShadowNinja]

Oh yeah, and you wouldn't have a biased opinion being his son, since you're such a saint of truth.
Exactly correct. ^_^ I'm no "saint of truth," but I didn't lie in my reply. Do you really believe that we send random customers over to spread "human feces" on your machines? Your incredible intellect truly astounds me.

And you're one to judge andy because.....
I'm one to judge Andy because...hmmm.....let's see....he's publicly lying about/defaming my father? Oo Wow, that was a hard one to figure out too, eh genius?

Just to let you know, since you oboviously assume you know everything, and since you know close to nothing the DDR machines and other bemani games brake more often than any other games, they weren't sabotaged by TGA, and since Rob fixed them I doubt he would've broke them on purpose just to fix them for free...
I totally knew that already, but thinks for refreshing my memory. I wasn't saying that Rob broke it; I was saying that although it was a sad misunderstanding on my father's part, that it wasn't too hard to see how he would jump to the conclusion that rob broke it, since it was working fine before used it, and because we have a small group of TGA customers that come in once in awhile and cause trouble. Once again, I KNOW Rob didn't break it, and from the time I saw him at our store, he seemed like a farily good kid ^_^

So you've suggested putting an innocent, overly nice, friendly arcade out of busniess and this helps your argument of you knowing everything and being totally neutral how?? Not to to mention abusing andy's reputation to an extent that I can't take your crap anymore, get out of this forum asshole...
Oh, that doesn't help my argument at all, I was just telling the truth. And I don't think it can be considered abusing Andy's reputation, when everything I said was true... :D

Calling Andy, whom everyone here on this forum loves for bringing our dream of TGA to life, a lying spawn of satan is the most immature, fucking underhanded piece of bullshit I've ever heard, and I'm sure anyone here would back Andy on this by saying you should leave here and let us be peaceful...
1.)It wasn't TOO immature, considering Andy lied there, with the obvious intent of getting you people angry at my father, which resulted in my father being called a "cocksucker," among other things. (Id rather be called a spawn of satan than a cocksucker anyday...)
2.)How was it "underhanded?" There was no sneaky/shady business going on right there, I said it right in the open....what you said didn't even make sense XD
3.)I'm sure Andy WILL be on here to say "oooh let's be peaceful friends" as that would further his nice-guy image, helping him in this case...I'd like to point out that after all you people called my father names, and said how much he sucks, and started plotting to "get back" at us, Andy didn't say anything to stop it, instead he said "oh, thanks for the support everyone! you're all so nice!" Yeah, Andy's the coolest of the cool.

And you, sir have attacked the one person on here we all respect and like, with totally immature and ignorant remarks so I have zero respect for you, which only gives me less respect for your father as well. And I agree with DJ Midnite that everyone else here will back us up...
(Also I apologize for the swears but I felt they were necessary in this situation...)
1.)Andy brought it upon himself by lying, and by egging you all into insulting my father's good name.
2.)I'm sure everyone here WILL back you guys up, I don't really care, I just came here to defend my family from Andy's blatant lies.
3.)Swear all you like, why would I care? XD

Thanks for your reply ^__^

[shinigami_2057]

-aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahahahahahah ahaaa that is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. Anyone who believes that has to be an idiot. Besides, even if it WAS true, you said it was GZ customers who did this, and I can assure you, this fictional act of vandalism was not sanctioned by any of the GZ staff. Besides that, TGA customers have written on GZ walls with sharpy, bad-mouthed other customers in GZ, and have commited various other acts of stupidity. Obviously these people are a minority, and hopefully Andy does not sanction them, though, judging by Andy's character, I'd bet good money they were.


You think we're stupid for believing that "made up" story, but we're all supposed to believe that you are telling the truth? Talk about hipocracy.



I myself have suggested putting you out of business - the owner assured me that he had no intention of doing such a thing, even though he easily could. Unlike your business which relies almost completely on arcade machine profits, John's got two OTHER businesses making thousands of dollars a week; he could easily afford to leave ALL of his arcade machines on free play indefinately; you should be thankful he hasn't killed your business already, pretentious fool.

HI ARROGANT OVERCONFIDENT DOUCHE ^____^
You call TGA competition for GZ, and say that to stay in competition your father had to buy music games, and yet you proceed to say that you could kill our business. Make up your mind already.


-If by that you mean "I'm not a true Christian, I'm a lying, sheming spawn of satan, and I'm here to spread blatant lies to hurt my competition's business," then yeah, I'm right there with you on that one.

Wow. That was the most fucking arrogant, stupid, and downright disrespectful thing you could say about Andy. Grow the fuck up.

To sum it up... leave here and don't come back.

[shinigami_2057]

And please tell me where Andy was blatantly lying here... you're throwing out pretty random accusations of TGA "problem customers," and have not backed this up, but when we say there are problem GZ customers, noooo... that can't be true! :O

[ShadowNinja]

You think we're stupid for believing that "made up" story, but we're all supposed to believe that you are telling the truth? Talk about hipocracy.
I think you're stupid for believing that story because it MAKES NO SENSE. Are you trying to tell me that we had random people go into your store, spread crap all over a machine, then say "HAHAHAH GZ IS CHEAPER YOU GUYS=T3H SUCK!!111" and NOBODY IN YOUR STORE DID ANYTHING TO STOP THEM?! That...makes no sense at all, I'm sorry.

HI ARROGANT OVERCONFIDENT DOUCHE ^____^
You call TGA competition for GZ, and say that to stay in competition your father had to buy music games, and yet you proceed to say that you could kill our business. Make up your mind already.

Hello! ^____^
I didn't call TGA competiton for GZ, how could we be competing when it's impossible for our arcade to go out of business, even when we could make NO money on it, and still keep it open? Oo What I was saying was, in order for our arcade to be PROFITABLE we needed music games. I said we could easily put you out of business because of the plain fact that we could run a FREE arcade if we wanted to, if the owner hated you guys, like Andy seems to be insinuating.

Wow. That was the most fucking arrogant, stupid, and downright disrespectful thing you could say about Andy. Grow the fuck up.

To sum it up... leave here and don't come back.

Yeah well, sorry about that, but when somebody gets people to call your dad an "ignorant cocksucker," by LYING about your father in public, it makes you a little angry, so I think you can understand why I had to plug Andy right there. (You DO love and respect your dad right? Oo )

And please tell me where Andy was blatantly lying here... you're throwing out pretty random accusations of TGA "problem customers," and have not backed this up, but when we say there are problem GZ customers, noooo... that can't be true! :O
Like I said above, I said Andy was lying, because that story MADE NO SENSE. Another problem I have with Andy, is the way he gets you angry at the OWNER of his competition, when, if anybody, it's the competitions customers who have done wrong. My dad has NEVER complained to his customers about how evil Andy/you guys are, even though some of you ARE pretty problematic. Anyway, Besides the story not making sense, we don't have any diehard customers like TGA does, who would do this kind of thing. Do you see a bunch of GZ customers backing me up here? No...I didn't think so.

Anyway, thanks for your reply too, you people are really talkative! ^^

[Harmonixer]

Shadow Ninja person? Just...shush. You are calling us immature? I believe that you, my friend, need to grow up. Looking at your number of posts, it is blatantly obvious that you simply joined these forums to bash Andy's original post, and to start trouble.

If you were as mature as you claim, you would not have come here, and just let it go, because doing this only causes more arguments, and more trouble. k thx.

[Amadeus]

Just to tell you I think it was Juggs who called your father a cocksucker and I believe Juggs has called everyone a cocksucker at somepoint... ;)
Also you keep saying that all you say is the truth, and that everything andy said is a lie but how can we believe you when you attack our friend with no evidence, and you're under the obviuosly biased opinion of protecting your daddy?? you only filter out when you want to hear and believe, and are obviously immature and not half as intelligent as you think you are little kid...
I'd love to dispute this further, unfortunatly I have to go to work now, so please do everyone a favor and leave, no one else wants you here and you need to take an argumentation and debate class....

[ShadowNinja]

Just to tell you I think it was Juggs who called your father a cocksucker and I believe Juggs has called everyone a cocksucker at somepoint...
Also you keep saying that all you say is the truth, and that everything andy said is a lie but how can we believe you when you attack our friend with no evidence, and you're under the obviuosly biased opinion of protecting your daddy?? you only filter out when you want to hear and believe, and are obviously immature and not half as intelligent as you think you are little kid...
I'd love to dispute this further, unfortunatly I have to go to work now, so please do everyone a favor and leave, no one else wants you here and you need to take an argumentation and debate class....

Juggs....oh yea, that guy ^^;;

It's true that I have no proof to back this up, but since all of Andy's stories make no sense, well, I think it's fairly obvious to anyone with an IQ over 30 that I'm telling the truth.

Even if I was only a QUARTER as intelligent as I thought I was, I'd still be 100 times smarter than the likes of you, so you need to hold your tongue, ignorant little child.

[ShadowNinja]

Shadow Ninja person? Just...shush. You are calling us immature? I believe that you, my friend, need to grow up. Looking at your number of posts, it is blatantly obvious that you simply joined these forums to bash Andy's original post, and to start trouble.

If you were as mature as you claim, you would not have come here, and just let it go, because doing this only causes more arguments, and more trouble. k thx.

I didn't call all of you immature, just the ones that deserved it.

It's blatantly obvious that I joined just to bash Andy's original post, because that's blatantly true. I'm sorry, but Andy was begging for this with his post.

I don't remember calling myself mature at all in my post but....I had to come here, because Andy is a liar, and he's lying about my FATHER...sorry if defending him makes me immature, I guess it's just part of my nature to defend my families honor...

I totally agree that it's kind of useless arguing here, since it seems im not getting through to any of you, thanks for being polite in your post though, I appreciate it. ^_^

[Harmonixer]

I totally agree that it's kind of useless arguing here, since it seems im not getting through to any of you, thanks for being polite in your post though, I appreciate it. ^_^

It's a HELL of a lot more than you deserve. Oh, and what makes this whole thing even more pathetic is that you are obviously watching these boards like a vulture, just waiting for a reply to feed you more material to argue about.

It is probably not my place to be asking this since it is Andy's post, but the next Moderator that sees this and has the ability: Please lock this thread. It is no longer producing anything positive.

[ShadowNinja]

It's a HELL of a lot more than you deserve. Oh, and what makes this whole thing even more pathetic is that you are obviously watching these boards like a vulture, just waiting for a reply to feed you more material to argue about.
I don't have to watch these boards like a vulture when you awesome people respond every 30 seconds to defend your beloved TGA; whenever I'm done responding to someone, a new friend shows up to talk to me! :p

It is probably not my place to be asking this since it is Andy's post, but the next Moderator that sees this and has the ability: Please lock this thread. It is no longer producing anything positive.

When the hell did it produce ANYTHING positive? It was negative from the START, which is why I'm here in the first place. Because of that, I agree, someone kill this thread. ^^

Oh, btw, Detective Conan/Case Closed is an awesome show, props on the sig/avatar! ^_____^ "one truth will prevail!" XD
*sigh* havent watched that show in awhile though...oh well ;__;

[ShadowNinja]

Oh...and amadeus, or w/e your name is.....

Also you keep saying that all you say is the truth, and that everything andy said is a lie but how can we believe you when you attack our friend with no evidence, and you're under the obviuosly biased opinion of protecting your daddy??

The same way you can say everything that I say is a lie, and everything Andy says is the truth when YOU'RE under the biased opinion of protecting TGA, and your god Andy, all without evidence.... :D

[Juggatard]

Since the maturity level of this thread has dropped to an all time low, I present you, the DANCING COCKSUCKER TRIO!

da-na-na-na-na-na-na!

FUCK YOU.

[DJ_Midnite]

Since the maturity level of this thread has dropped to an all time low, I present you, the DANCING COCKSUCKER TRIO!

da-na-na-na-na-na-na!

FUCK YOU.

Juggz, A winner is you ^_^

[ShadowNinja]

Juggz: Yeah, because you spread maturity wherever you go :P

Midnite:........Yatta!!! XD XD XD *gives midnite 5 points* ;)

[Juggatard]

Juggz: Yeah, because you spread maturity wherever you go :P

Midnite:........Yatta!!! XD XD XD *gives midnite 5 points* ;)

I'm glad you know me as a person.

Judging people from the internet is bad.

Unless they're gamezone dimwits.

[ShadowNinja]

lol, i was only kidding, hence the " :P "

Anyway, you said "FUCK YOU!!!" to me first, so I think i was pretty friendly considering... = \

So yeah, I was only joking ^_^

[Juggatard]

lol, i was only kidding, hence the " :P "

Anyway, you said "FUCK YOU!!!" to me first, so I think i was pretty friendly considering... = \

So yeah, I was only joking ^_^

Never put a z at the end of my nickname again and we're cool.

[ShadowNinja]

lol, *agreed* XD

[Garrett]

My biggest question is why you called your father, "the owner" and "John" in your post. I don't know about you, but I definitely don't call my dad "Tim" whether I'm posting online or not. To me, that makes it sort of difficult to even believe he is your father. But anyway, I shall conclude by saying this:

It is most probable that there has been a fair share of lying done by both Andy and "your father", and so I think this should be brought to a diplomatic conclusion with a friendly meeting with formal apologies from both parties.

[ShadowNinja]

Eh, I only called him by the name "John" so people who have been to GZ before, not knowing that my dad owned it, would have a better possiblity of knowing who he was (if they had talked to him or something.) I called him "The owner," just to avoid confusion I guess. Then at the end, I called him "dad" or "father" or w/e, just so people would know who this message was coming from ^ -^

And...hurray for diplomatic solutions! ^^

And, thanks for being polite in your post...thanks alot for admitting that there's a slight possibility that Andy may also have commited a wrong doing here. I think you're the only person I've seen on this board who has ever admitted that ^^;;

Oh, and uh....FLCL is the best show, ever. XD

[CreemyNougat]

As jovial and friendly as you seem to have become, Ninja...

Fuck off.

All you've succeeded with in your overstated flaming is ensuring that your father's store has lost a customer. I've been perfectly willing to still go to GZ for a bit and get in a couple of games of whatever's there, and maybe pick up some used console games. But I don't think I'll be setting foot in there again.

As for you supposing that Andy plays the religion card for sympathy, let me say right now that I am FAR from religion's biggest fan, but I still respect the beliefs of anyone who respects mine. A "fake" Christian wouldn't have been troubled by a link posted to a site about "Dance Dance Resurrection," which was a satire of sorts on Christianity that incorporated DDR. From his posts in that thread alone, it's plain that Andy is not "fake" Christian, nor does he use his religion to elicit sympathy from pricks like you.

Andy is upset at the apparent and supposedly unfounded animosity between himself and your father. Could part of that be Andy's fault? I'll admit that it's possible, even though I've never seen the man show the slightest hint of negative or aggresive emotion.

Andy did not make a post to "whine" about ANY fucking thing. You seem to forget that the largest reason TGA succeeds is its family-like atmosphere. Every customer knows Andy, and these boards are the easiest way to communicate to a large number of people at once. Maybe Andy just wanted to share some news about what's been going on with the business that many people think of as a second home.

But then again, what the fuck do I know? I'm just a brainwashed member of a fucking cult, right?

I certainly hope you developed your own business ethic instead of inheriting it. If your father's is similar to yours, it's a wonder your family isn't bankrupt. If he really is just a good-natured businessman, try learning a fucking thing or two.

[ShadowNinja]

Fuck off.
No, I don't think I will actually. Thanks for your suggestion, I appreciate it and everything, but no.

Andy is upset at the apparent and supposedly unfounded animosity between himself and your father. Could part of that be Andy's fault? I'll admit that it's possible, even though I've never seen the man show the slightest hint of negative or aggresive emotion.
Well, good job admitting that ^ .^

Andy did not make a post to "whine" about ANY fucking thing. You seem to forget that the largest reason TGA succeeds is its family-like atmosphere. Every customer knows Andy, and these boards are the easiest way to communicate to a large number of people at once. Maybe Andy just wanted to share some news about what's been going on with the business that many people think of as a second home.
I don't think it's called "news" when someone totally lies about another persons business, but hey, maybe I need a new dictionary huh?

But then again, what the fuck do I know? I'm just a brainwashed member of a fucking cult, right?
Not much, apparently.

I certainly hope you developed your own business ethic instead of inheriting it. If your father's is similar to yours, it's
a wonder your family isn't bankrupt. If he really is just a good-natured businessman, try learning a fucking thing or two.
Oh, he is, which is why I'm angry with Andy right now.

From an older post of yours in this thread:
You don't catch flies with vinegar. And GZ's business ethic is f*cking rank.
See? Andy's post got LOTS of replies like this, and my father has done nothing to deserve it. I'm sorry for my rudeness in my post to Andy, but I was pretty angry with him, and besides that, he deserved it.

Have a nice day ^_^

[CreemyNougat]

Gee, sorry I believe a man who's given me no reason to do otherwise.
Maybe I should believe you, since you know, you're a prick and all.

[ShadowNinja]

oh gee, you're right, we really did come over and smear crap all over your machines, its like our hobby....[sarcasm, i usually wouldnt point sarcasm out, but since Im talking to you, i fear you'd miss it if i didn't]

Anyway, maybe a reason for not beleiveing him would be that....let me see, his story doesn't make sense at all!!! wow! what a bad reason, I can see why you'd believe him despite it. Read my original post again, if that doesn't cause you to doubt at least SOME of Andy's lies, then well, there's no helping you I guess.

[Harmonixer]

Anyway, maybe a reason for not beleiveing him would be that....let me see, his story doesn't make sense at all!!!

You keep saying that, yet you seem to have never stated any evidence. Juggs, I apologize for borrowing a few of your lines, but HAY GUYZ! AM I RITE?!

To any who wish to respond further to any of this bullsh*t, I am in no way a moderator, but I request that no one else responds to this thread until a moderator comes and takes the appropriate action. This thread is not productive, nor has it ever been. It is now merely upping the post counts.

[CreemyNougat]

No one ever said that you or your father had ANYTHING to do with any incidents involving feces.

[ShadowNinja]

You keep saying that, yet you seem to have never stated any evidence. Juggs, I apologize for borrowing a few of your lines, but HAY GUYZ! AM I RITE?!
Of course there's no hard evidence, where the hell would I get that from?! YOU guys don't have any hard evidence either. But, do you really believe that a larger business would send it's customers over to spread crap on your machines? On the mchines of a smaller store? A store with old carpeting, holes in the floor, and bad ventillation? Do you think we'd actually want to hurt you MORE? In my original post, I said why the rest of Andy's story was doubtable, why don't you actually try reading it hmm?

Again, I totally agree this thread isn't producing anything good, I've said what I wanted to say, and now I'm just repeating what I've already said repeatedly to different people who are too lazy to read the above replies.

Nougat: Totally true, but Andy threw it into his post, and got people worked up about it, making our business look bad, when we didn't do anything. Why even bother posting it? You COULD argue that he was just sharing news, but in my opinion, he did it out of malice for us, which is one of the reasons I'm angry with him. We don't go telling OUR customers "WOW, those TGA kids who left signs here saying how much we suck are reall a-holes!" We DONT say this, because we know it'd hurt your business, and we have no intention of doing so.

Anyway, I'm done arguing with you guys, I have nothing personal against any of you; I just feel that Andy posted his original message with the sole intent of making our business, and my father, look bad through lying. Obviously our opinons differ on this, making arguing any further useless, since neither of our parties has any hard evidence to back us up. I just posted to let you see our side of the story, now that it's there, and I'm obviously not changing you people's minds, I'm done.

Peace be with you all, and I hope you at least CONSIDER that Andy was lying in his original post. Thanks for reading ^ -^

[Stax Kazama]

Personally I think this had gone on long enough. Can we just leave this thread alone now? Flaming and hostility is all that will come out of it.

I wish my mod powers worked so that I could lock this and it could be done and over with.

[ShadowNinja]

yeah...don't worry about it, I'm done responding anyway, nothing good is comig out of it anyway right? ^^;;

[CreemyNougat]

Andy's goal is not to defame anyone's business or put anyone OUT of business.
He wants to have a place where kids can go and feel at home and have a good time. Money is far from his primary concern.
Any feelings he has about GZ are there because it seems like GZ is trying to put HIM out of business.
Honestly, TGA had the arcade idea first, (even if your father had intended one, Andy implemented it sooner) and didn't set up to compete with GZ. TGA's games are all imports from Japan that aren't found in retail game stores in the US. Any neutral observer can see that after TGA became popular, GZ began a bemani-like arcade. I'm not insinuating any actual cause/effect relationship, but the two events undeniably occured in that order. As a subjective observer, any TGA customer would inevitably get an inkling that GZ was trying to rip TGA off somehow.
Note, I'm not saying that's true.
But look at the facts and consider the feelings they could inspire in a crowd devoted to TGA.

TGA has its immature asshats, and I do not condone anything any of them may do to interefere in GZ's business. I have been a customer of both stores myself. Even so, TGA CUSTOMERS have nothing to do with Andy himself. I can assure Andy did not tell anyone to mess with GZ, nor would HE condone it, either.

You came to this forum and insulted a man everyone here loves. Is that really the way to bury a hatchet and start healing wounds? You went straight for the salt-shaker instead of looking for band-aids. Think about the attitude you presented in your first post in this thread because you assume everyone ELSE is in the wrong.

[ShadowNinja]

eh...damn, I feel obligated to respond when someone says something to me, but I swear to God, this is the last one, no matter WHAT the next person says (gotta let this thread die sometime) XD

Anyway, I understand where you people are coming from, and thanks for considering where Im coming from on this. I understand that the people from TGA who commit acts against GameZone are in the minority, Ive talked to a few people there, and they were all friendly, including Andy; but I'm still not comfortable with the fact that Andy made a post that questioned the business ethics of our store, as this would obviously rile up the select few TGA'ers we're talking abot here, and we really don't need any extra trouble from them. Besides that, I think Andy didn't tell the exact truth in every case. I don't HATE Andy or anything for doing this, but I'm still unhappy that he'd do it. In any case, I hope the people from TGA and GameZone can get along sometime in the future....

Alright, I'm done for real now, no matter what. So don't take offense if anyone replies and I don't respond alright? ^^;; See you all later, and play on! ^_^

[shinigami_2057]

Okay, now I think something at least possibly constructive came out of the last few posts.

Yay!

[CreemyNougat]

The reason for the vitriolic responses you received was your blatant and vicious attacks against Andy's character. Much typing could have been saved by showing civility from the start.

[ShadowNinja]

Sorry about that, but i was angry about all the attacks on my fathers character that Andy (maybe inadvertantly) spurred with his post, but you're obviously right here, I should have calmed down before responding to Andy. Anyway, I'm happy for the happy ending here. ^ -^

Alright.
NOW.
IM.
REALLY.
DONE.
seriously. XD *runs away from the computer to make it physically impossible to respond again*

[CreemyNougat]

Glad that the hostility's settled. Maybe instead of disappearing, work could being on maybe fostering a DECENT relationship between the stores.

[ShadowNinja]

damnit Nougat, had to respond huh? :P

Anyway, yeah, the relationships not that good right now, but I don't think much can be done to fix it online, I'll just go over there and talk to people in person once in awhile, that'd probably be more helpful, I'll talk to Andy to, and see what's going on with that aspect ^^

[Juggatard]

This thread is now about DJ Format.

DISScuss.

[Garrett]

Dj Format is the man. I love his stuff so much I wanna crap my pants.

And I'm glad this whole TGA vs. GZ thing is at least sort of kind of going towards diplomacy. NOW I HOPE BRYAN COMES BACK, READS THIS AND LOCKS IT!!!

[Great For Dipping]

Holy Competition, Batman!!

Well Robin, that's just the way business goes.

Back when McDonald's first opened up, they had come in with a totally innovative idea. A sit down restaurant which specialized in a quick method of preapring the food to be served right away. Everything in Mcdonald's - from the Fryalator to the fountain soda's was damn near unheard of in food service until then. And it worked. People came, checked it out, and in a short time, McDonald's had managed to rake in a small fortune.

So along comes a guy by the name of King. King drops in at McDonald's, himself a budding food service entrepreneur, and the idea strikes him. If this guy Ray Crock can do it - well by God, so can I! So King gathers his resources, gets his hands on a few pieces of speedy food servicing equipment, and opens up his own place, Burger King, right across the street.

Enter a high school dropout named Dave Thomas, looking to make a quick buck. Stops in for lunch one day, the bulb goes on, and before you know it - Wendy's is blossoming right down the street.

TGA is McDonald's. The idea of an arcade fitting as many music sims into one place as possible worked, and it made money - so someone else is going to do it. If you cannot face the fact, then the line of an entrepreneur is not for you.

Ever been to Old Orchard Beach, in Maine? Two arcades, right across the street from the other. Both have DDR, both have Top Skater. Wasn't always that way. But one made money. It's called market research.

Truth be told - I've been to TGA. I've been to Gamezone. TGA regulars treated me like shit. Eric S. was a fucking ass and a half to me. Some of his friends weren't any better. I got fed up - I went to GZ. They were kind - they were welcoming - and I had just come from lunch, so they had no clue I had been at TGA.

Frankly, I don't think any of you - not the customers, not the owners, not the employees are handling this with any level of dignity or maturity.

Get your new machines, I'm done putting gas into my car and using it to put money into the pockets of people who don't understand how the business world works.

[CreemyNougat]

The money is yours to spend.

But before you insult TGA for its lack of business sense...
Remember that TGA was never intended to be a money making machine, or a goldmine, or a brilliant innovation to create a fortune of wealth.

It's too bad that you were treated badly at TGA. The place, as I said before, has its fair share of morons, and it's a shame that that's what you were exposed to there.

Please remember, people. TGA is home away from home, a place for teens to hang out and a have a good time. There are very few places that teens can go and have a good time without having to have people assume that they're up to no good. TGA lacks that judgemental mindset.

Andy's not in this for the money. He's in it for the friendship, the community, and the fun.

[Juggatard]

I thought I told you, this thread is now about DJ Format.

[ZOOT]

Remember Hitler?
GODWIN SMASH

[ShadowNinja]

Well everyone I just wanted to end this thread with a quick history/ the very real truth / and my future goals.

I have taken a great interest in this thread and while my son may have been somewhat insulting is some of his words I do still have great pride that he took his time to do so. If anyone knew my son they would know it takes alot for him to take interest in my affairs, so its truly a blessing in disguise. Also,I hope Andy takes the time to read this as I am unsure if what he states is intential lies or if he truly misunderstood me from the beginning and all along the way.

first a quick history:

About 2 years ago I started gamezone. I did this because my furniture business was operating at a strong level and I had employees running the business pretty much without me. So I found myself with alot of extra time- much as I do now, although I can tell more of my time may be required soon. So I started thinking of ways to keep busy all the while earning extra money. Gamezone did well at launch and we grew quite quickly. Then two major corporations opened similar businesses within the city and yes sales dropped- I was bothered, just as Andy may be with me, but I realized that it was life unfortunately and that I had to combat this by increasing inventory/lowering prices and trying different concepts within the store. The talk of creating a game room in the back was talked about but I really wasn't sure if it would be worth all the cost. So we waited. Now I am not saying that Andy took my idea. That would be impossible as we didn't know one another. He started TGA and yes word got to me. I knew nothing of music games as I am an old timer who loves a good ole game of galaga anyday over DDR- Please don't throw stones its just my game of choice, and I know you would say I am crazy for liking Galaga over DDR butits more my speed( I have to left feet you know!) Anyway, once I saw that kids were still into arcades (TGA) I decided that maybe it was time to start my own. My desire to start an arcade was in no way to hurt Andy but rather a way to increase revenue to combat the lower revenue being made since the opening of Game Crazy and GameStop. ( See I didn't bash either of these 2 stores I simply intended to bring back some of that business they took by giving my customers one more reason to shop with me rather than with the others. This is positive competition.) And so the concept began and the ordering of some machines was placed...

The very real truth:

I did go into TGA to meet Andy. To see how he was doing. Was this spying???... Well I did tell him I was starting a small game room also so I would say no...Was my visit to TGA just to say hi...no I really wanted to see how many kids were taking interest in playing arcade games and what type of business Andy was operating. But the intent to put him out of business was not our purpose nor is it now. But lets be honest: none of you would want to go to work and invest your time and effort for nothing. This is America and one does enjoy being paid for their efforts. I enjoy being paid as well. So yes it was my desire from the get go to have as many people as possible come in to GZ and have a good time for themselves while making business great for me.

At first classics is all I wanted. I envisioned a place were all MY old favorites lined the wall, PacMan, Galaga, Gorf, Berserk, Missle Command, Popeye, Tempest, Asteroids, Wizard of Wor(Ya that early synthesized voice was total awesome then and quite funny now). Anyway my dream was to bring back what had faded away and to add to the atomsphere some tunes could have been pumped into the room from greats like Boston, Foreigner,Led Zeppelin, and more...The thought still really excites me and brings back great memories of being a kid hanging out with my pals in the very first arcades of our times. It was truly magical. So yes at first no music games were really planned for GZ and i told Andy we were getting classic machines. Was it a lie then...No...I changed my mind...Why...you tell me! Want to come over and listen to some Zeppelin?

I placed my first order for games and the arcade I bought games from told me not to get my hopes up as it was his idea also at one time to bring back his favorites but now that he has been operating a successful arcade in the size of about 10,000 square feet, he too had to realize early on that the days of old are pretty much gone...To bad I think as coperate America was much smaller and there were great times indeed...but anyway it was he that told me I had to have at least a few of the new beat games to get kids to come in. I purchased my Dance Maniax from him and once we had a few machines set up it was obvious that people liked the music games. Not that my KOF2003 did poor, in fact it was right up there in a near second but people really played Dance Maniacx more. I too found out why you guys like'em so much. I used to drive by and see a people dancing, swaying, and moving their arms around wildly and yes I did for awhile think it looked pretty strange to play these games...not an insult by the way but as a person looking in not understanding the fun behind them, it did seem a bit weird. But even this old dog can learn new tricks and now I agree they are cool.

I would have loved to charge a dollar like andy but after a short while, in fact the very next day some people from TGA came over and while they said they liked some songs and quickly pointed out every flaw- sensor not perfect, song list shorter , machine therefore not as good as manix 2- therfore my thought mustn't be worth a dollar so I lower to a quarter!
This is not done to cut andy's throat but to give you your monies worth.

Time goes by we get more games -Most came from EBAY and yes I got F---ed on alot of them. People come in and see half the machines not working and rather enjoy the ones that are they once again put down my attempts not understanding that I didnt purposely purchase damaged machines and getting a compant to fix them takes time- My NeoDrum is just now coming back after being out in repair for about 8 weeks!( I know NEO DRUM! its not Drum Mania- But hey it has the same five pads to strike, and now has a foot pedal too- So before everyone here shouts and puts things down again, I really must ask you- What is so bad about another game thats similar to drum mania,assuming you like drum mania, if it offers new songs to challenge you?)
To be honest its not that TGA as some loyalist that confuses me- thats cool- every store should have its core of customers you they treat right and in return the customers go to them, but its the putting down of some really cool games just because they are not Brand Konami- thats the confusing thing for me. I for one think that if a company comes out with an item thats just as entertaining as another why not enjoy it too.
I love my sony playstation, but if nintendo puts out a real good game I would play that to- no reason to stick with just one, i'd miss out on alot of good titles if I did- Thats why I own all 3 top systems- and sure most of you do also!

Truth, before the summer I saw that DDR was still the most played game around...not just at TGA but at other arcades as well. I decided at this point that I needed a true stage dance type game- Having asked about every kid around pump it up or DDR- and getting about 99 out of 100 to say DDR- I still opted to get a pump it up in the hopes that it would offer something new to try to conquer and as a way to ensure that everyone had a reason to visit both myself and Andy. Believe me I was warned not to get PIU and to get DDR several times- But I went out and spent $4500- Yes way over what its worth but not being able to find one drove the price up- Up to this point I really don't think a lie had been made to Andy and hopefully we are all in agreement with that- time passed and the summer came to an end- My arcade did ok but not up to my expectations. My racers and gun games pulled me through but I noticed all my music games earning SHIT! My Dance Maina that once earned close to $100 per week dropped down to about $20 and my GREAT PIU earns a whooping $8-$12 per WEEK. Holy shit world here I come! Ok I'm tired and my mind is racing but I'm trying to be honest here- why? Well because I don't want anyone one to think I'm not- And yes I want you all to come hang out at my place- and if you don't well that sucks but life goes on-So Guess what,when I told andy I didnt really care about music games well now that I invested thousands of dollars into them and they are erning less then if I had a job cleaning toilets at McDonalds, then yes I decided that I had to get DDR to get anyone who cares at all about such games into GZ to play that as well as my other ones. My core customers aren't into it that much- Why because those who like music games play DDR I assumed and therefore had no reason to come to GZ- Am I a bad guy for wanting your business? I hope not- I have gone out of my way to try to get something for everyone. and to put up walls and fix up the store abit so you wouldn't feel like you are dancing in a furniture store. I mean not that it would be that bad- Andy himself started off in a coffee shop, but nonetheless I have tried to create a better atomsphere for you guys to hang out. Is it the same as TGA, no- TGA is a club and as such has that home feeling- thats cool!- but on the same token I have created a nice place to hang with your pals and play some games just the same. I always am willing to listen to advice given to me- unless you tell me to go F- myself or something in that tone- anyway thats the truth-

I never told anyone to put shit on andy's pads- not saying it didnt happen but I personally can't imagine someone doing that- I can only assume if andy had to clean shit it was because someone stepped in it and then played DDR-

The day after I got DDR Rob Brown came and jumped hard on the pads- 2 pads were completely out and yes I did go yell at TGA as I thought it was done on purpose only because so many times I have seen the attitude on this board ( Yes I do of course read as I am very curious of what goes on- no crime i hope-) anyway- i found out he didnt do it on purpose- my right pad does have a problem before hand- I did very much so apologize and when I spoke to andy that night on the phone I explained to him I was sorry as well. I did not ask for his help, but he did offer his by saying he would send Jose and rob over to look at them- and for that I was shocked as I can't say I would have done the same- so hats off to Andy I really do think he is a nice guy- To think he would help me fix the very machine that puts us in competition is great- I even thought that a larger arcade created by both myself and Andy would have been a possiblity if we both agreed at some point-

The next day Ben? says I said it was a ploy to have andy fix my pads and I really intend to put him out of business.
No thats not true- if theere is any truth in this then Ben must be the Asian kid that was playing at GZ that next day as when he asked me if DDR would be $ .50 from now on I replied no its just a special but next month it would go up probably to .75 not a dollar as I always try to have the best deal- again no crime I hope- in fact when Andy told me he wasn't really upset with my DDR but that he thought it kinda messed up to price it so low at .50 I didnt tell him the price would be a dollar next month- but stated that the .50 was just a month special and the price would go up just as I had priced all my games at a quarter when I first got them and raised their prices after about a month!
Anyway when I told who I assume now to have been BEN, that it would go up to probably .75 guess what he complained! i couldn't believe it, once again I try to do something to make playing here fun and affordable for kids and he complains- so I tell him he is crazy why complain as he never complained about payin $1.00 at TGA - and he tells me ya but thats TGA, here it should be .50 as its more fun at TGA so its worth a dollar!!! Ok I guess thats cool if thats your place but I too want a cool place for all to play at- so at that point I didn't sya I was trying to put TGA under- I said fine go pay $1.00 but I told him it was my intent to get alot of good games here and to make it the best arcade in town so it was his lost- agian- no crime I hope- who doesn't want to try to be best- if I can then greatm, if TGA is best with you then fine. All Im trying to do is to be the best as as Andy is. And as they say let the best man win- now thats not to say one really has to lose but surely one of us will end up with what most consider to be the better of the two places. I'm sure andy will remain in business just as much as I'm sure I will- the question really is where more people will choose to have fun at. I wish the best of luck to andy, but hope I create the better of the 2 spots- thats all- truth spoken-

My goals:

TO fix the 2nd floor of my building, to put furniture back where it belongs and to move the game room upstairs allowing me to bring in even more things for all to do- To show Anime on 12' screens one certain days and music videos on others, to expand our playing area to include consoles- just like I used to long before anyone else- to setup a larger snack bar with popcorn and pizza slices, and provide plenty of sitting area to allow the playing of great board games like pirateer, or GO- , and ultimately to create the back room (upstairs has alot of room with a few partitions here and there) -the CLASSIC BACK ROOM where all my old favorites will play along with music from my time- sure I might be the only one in there but hell, Im gonna have one hell of a good time! So that is all there is to it-

ANALOGY: for those who didnt want to read my very long, run on sentences, with sometimes incoherent meaning-( its like 3:30 am and Im f-ing tired so don't make fun of my spelling or grammer please!

anyway: McDonalds sells hamburgers and they do quite well. I am married to a women named Wendy and being a business man (Not a huge one unfortunately) I decide to open shop. I notice alot of people tend to eat, so I think! I will open a food shop. Ii open wendy's across the street from McDonalds. I sell great tasting fries and thick shakes, and healthy liver bugers. Customers come in and enjoy the fries and shake, but I notice not to many burgers are selling, in fact some are growing mold in the freezer. hmm- My customers tell me my shakes are great but I really should buy beef patties. What! I love my liver burgers- time passes, more liver spoils. hmm , maybe beef is what people eat today. So I go get 100% beef patties ( ok in this analogy- maybe I should say 10% beef patties) like McDonalds! And wanting to earn a propit to feed my family (not that I can't , I simply want to feed them more often!) I decide i must create an incentive to have McDonalds customers come over to try my delicious burgers- and spend the rest of their money on my hot gloden fries and thich rich shake too! So I creat the $.99 menu! Ya this might seem the cut throat thing to do but businesses do it every day to the best of the ability. Hell Walmart's EVERYDAT LOW PRICE has gotten them most everyone money- Thats why their the biggest place around- They have everything you need to get all in one place at a great low price- anyway I am tired but want everyone to understand that I do truely think Andy is a nice guy as a person- I think some of the things he said were twisted abit because he is probalby abit bitter- he doesn't want to fail any more than I do- or because somethings were told to him that weren't totally true- anyway I hope all works out for both of us and as McDonalds and Wendys and Burger King have sat across from one another for years and the onwers of those businesses probably all vaccation together, all the while trying to keep their burger shop the best!

Good Night- Hope to see some of you soon-and please for anyone who still chooses to hate me silence is best- please try to refrain from making negitive comments at this point- if you truly feel this way just continue to give Andy 100% of your support as I really do not need anyone who is that angry with me coming over- You know I sometimes eat at McDonalds, -great chicken nuggets, Sometimes Wendys-Great Chicken Sandwich- but when I asked for extra sweet and sour the other day from McDonalds and was told they had to charge me extra after just spending about $20 I din't call them names or threaten them, I simply said ya sure, whatever, and now I simply go to Wendys instead!
GoodNight!

[Juggatard]

The end of your post made me hungry. The classic arcade thing, with classic rock, and everything sounds like a really good idea, we need more games like that.

[Juggatard]

damnit Nougat, had to respond huh? :P

Anyway, yeah, the relationships not that good right now, but I don't think much can be done to fix it online, I'll just go over there and talk to people in person once in awhile, that'd probably be more helpful, I'll talk to Andy to, and see what's going on with that aspect ^^

okay, I know, two posts in a row, but jesus, when I meet you I am shaking your hand. That was the most sensible idea ever.

[Junior Asparagus]

Just a few things from the GZ owner's post first:


To be honest its not that TGA as some loyalist that confuses me- thats cool- every store should have its core of customers you they treat right and in return the customers go to them, but its the putting down of some really cool games just because they are not Brand Konami- thats the confusing thing for me. I for one think that if a company comes out with an item thats just as entertaining as another why not enjoy it too.

The Konami-brand loyalty is entirely true, but that's because Konami is basically the only company that puts out consistently good quality music games. You ask why people don't enjoy games from other companies if they are "just as entertaining"; well, that's basically because 9 times out of 10, they are NOT as entertaining. Actually Pump It Up is one of the non-Konami games that does well in some places. There is a growing number of Pump It Up fans in the area, especially with the PIU Exceed machines in Providence and Warwick. (I actually spent last night playing Pump It Up with some friends.) The fact that your PIU machine wasn't making much money wasn't because no one likes the game--it was because it was an old and inferior version. You really do have to do your research when there are dozens of versions of the same game.

Second, the classic game room is a decent idea, but realize that the core audience who will play those games is different from the ones who visit GZ and TGA to play games, most of the time. I'm one of the older people in this whole community and I don't even really play them that much. So I don't know how much you can expect.

OK, that's all. If any of the TGA people are angry at me for actually giving this guy advice, I guess I'm sorry. Having been a moderator for arguments both online and real-life for many years basically makes me try to be as objective as possible. I don't know the GZ guy, and until I find out that he's an ass in real life, I'm not going to treat him as such. Proponents of both sides have been incredibly immature (at least in this thread), but I don't doubt that both places can mutually coexist, just like all the fast food places. So I'd just encourage everyone to calm the hell down (which has happened a bit), formulate your own opinions whatever they may be, but just keep it to yourself when you act on it. If you don't want to go to GZ, don't. If you don't want to go to TGA, don't. But please try to be respectful to any and all other people who also make those decisions. The name-calling got tiresome really quickly.

Anyway, good luck to everyone and go watch the Pats and Sox kick some ass today.

[DJ_Midnite]

Just a few things from the GZ owner's post first:



The Konami-brand loyalty is entirely true, but that's because Konami is basically the only company that puts out consistently good quality music games. You ask why people don't enjoy games from other companies if they are "just as entertaining"; well, that's basically because 9 times out of 10, they are NOT as entertaining. Actually Pump It Up is one of the non-Konami games that does well in some places. There is a growing number of Pump It Up fans in the area, especially with the PIU Exceed machines in Providence and Warwick. (I actually spent last night playing Pump It Up with some friends.) The fact that your PIU machine wasn't making much money wasn't because no one likes the game--it was because it was an old and inferior version. You really do have to do your research when there are dozens of versions of the same game.

Second, the classic game room is a decent idea, but realize that the core audience who will play those games is different from the ones who visit GZ and TGA to play games, most of the time. I'm one of the older people in this whole community and I don't even really play them that much. So I don't know how much you can expect.

OK, that's all. If any of the TGA people are angry at me for actually giving this guy advice, I guess I'm sorry. Having been a moderator for arguments both online and real-life for many years basically makes me try to be as objective as possible. I don't know the GZ guy, and until I find out that he's an ass in real life, I'm not going to treat him as such. Proponents of both sides have been incredibly immature (at least in this thread), but I don't doubt that both places can mutually coexist, just like all the fast food places. So I'd just encourage everyone to calm the hell down (which has happened a bit), formulate your own opinions whatever they may be, but just keep it to yourself when you act on it. If you don't want to go to GZ, don't. If you don't want to go to TGA, don't. But please try to be respectful to any and all other people who also make those decisions. The name-calling got tiresome really quickly.

Anyway, good luck to everyone and go watch the Pats and Sox kick some ass today.


Chris Guen is my hero :D

I'm glad to see that alot of this has been cleared up, Or atleast it seems that way to me. I hope that this can be some the fight that cleared things up and maybe some type of common ground can be reached as far as a friendship goes. I hope this is a sign of things to come as far as this whole incident goes.

[Amadeus]

I am very happy that this was resolved so well, and that people such as GZ owner and Junior Asparagus were able to handle it more maturely than I...I should seriously stay out of things like this :rolleyes: ..but also that the similarities here are pretty abundant and I wish good luck upon both businesses...(alright too mushy time to leave)

[Craz]

Juggs....oh yea, that guy ^^;;

It's true that I have no proof to back this up, but since all of Andy's stories make no sense, well, I think it's fairly obvious to anyone with an IQ over 30 that I'm telling the truth.

Even if I was only a QUARTER as intelligent as I thought I was, I'd still be 100 times smarter than the likes of you, so you need to hold your tongue, ignorant little child.

IQ over 30? Ok, i had to stop reading after that to say this. You have some nerve to come on these boards and trash, in the most 'respectable' way, andy, TGA, and the people who go to TGA. You come on here with this "Dont be mad at me, im all smiles and sunshines, im just the messenger" and try to discredit the store by stiring up trouble and tring to get members of the forums to be all "OMFG YOU FUCKING SUCK AT LIFE" so you can show a level of immaturity to other places and say "look at the way the TGA customers act." Dont act like this isnt in the back of your head. I know GZ has threads on other forums where potential customers are. I have been with TGA since they opened. Even before that when andy came to Lazerzone 3(i beleive) and announced the store. Once TGA went to its new location, GZ only had a few Neo Geo machines which i went over and played once in a while. Not a bad place to go to play some clasics. But once they went out and got EZ 2 DJ(after TGA got IIDX 7th style i beleive.) and DMX 1st mix(after TGA got 2nd mix) i lost respect for your fathers store. Tring to rival a store by buying bad rip offs of good games(not including Pump,which you should upgrade to exceede) is not a way to run a business. Your father should focus on getting different games such as Initial D(which ill prolly go play because im a big racing gamer) or other games that would draw a crowd. Your father is amied at taking business from TGA by buying mirror games of the ones TGA has. Not going to work in short. So you better tell your father to get his own ideas for an arcade and stop stealing them from TGA.

P.s: OMFG YOU FUCKING SUCK AT LIFE
-craz

[Harmonixer]

Craz, what the hell are you doing? The thread had died down. You had no reason to come back on and continue to talk trash, when everything had been made peaceful again. Next time, read the reast of the thread before you reply.

[Juggatard]

For further refrence, craz, it was LZ4.

[Stax Kazama]

Craz, that was really uncalled for.

[ShadowNinja]

IQ over 30? Ok, i had to stop reading after that to say this. You have some nerve to come on these boards and trash, in the most 'respectable' way, andy, TGA, and the people who go to TGA. You come on here with this "Dont be mad at me, im all smiles and sunshines, im just the messenger" and try to discredit the store by stiring up trouble and tring to get members of the forums to be all "OMFG YOU FUCKING SUCK AT LIFE" so you can show a level of immaturity to other places and say "look at the way the TGA customers act." Dont act like this isnt in the back of your head. I know GZ has threads on other forums where potential customers are.
Actually, I didn't want to make any TGA people look immature at all, that's just the way I argue; in a sarcastically polite way....it seems to annoy people, such as yourself ^__^ I just wanted to state my opinion is all, some people state their opinion openly vulgarly, I use the sarcastic approach when I'm angry. Also, we over at GZ don't have a forum of our own....

But once they went out and got EZ 2 DJ(after TGA got IIDX 7th style i beleive.) and DMX 1st mix(after TGA got 2nd mix) i lost respect for your fathers store. Tring to rival a store by buying bad rip offs of good games(not including Pump,which you should upgrade to exceede) is not a way to run a business. Your father should focus on getting different games such as Initial D(which ill prolly go play because im a big racing gamer) or other games that would draw a crowd. Your father is amied at taking business from TGA by buying mirror games of the ones TGA has. Not going to work in short. So you better tell your father to get his own ideas for an arcade and stop stealing them from TGA.


Im sorry, but as was already said ONE GAZILLION TIMES, tga WASN'T, contrary to what you apparently believe, the first arcade with music games in it. My father, and like fifty other people, have already explained why we now have music games. Like Elyas said, read the whole thread before posting please....

P.s: OMFG YOU FUCKING SUCK AT LIFE
-craz
Sorry, but I find your opinion to be flawed, very much so in fact. XD

[Craz]

Apoligize guys, computer i was on at shcool sucked balls and displayed everything horizonatily (I dunno why but that was one hell of a scroll bar) and i didint see the page 4 untill now. (bell rang at the last 3 sentenses of my post)

My bad, i apoligze once more

P.s: thanks juggs. 3 was our uber cool FS :P

[ShadowNinja]

haha ^^;;

hmmm...the board wants at least 10 characters for a message....! whoops, I guess this'll do it. XD

[Juggatard]

Apoligize guys, computer i was on at shcool sucked balls and displayed everything horizonatily (I dunno why but that was one hell of a scroll bar) and i didint see the page 4 untill now. (bell rang at the last 3 sentenses of my post)

My bad, i apoligze once more

P.s: thanks juggs. 3 was our uber cool FS :P

No, craz. You did not attend 3. 4 was the dynamite rave FS. 5 was the end of summer bash.

[framerate]

BLAHBLAHBLAH
COOL IT.

TGA roxxorz my boxxorz and i love making the 45 minute ride to TGA, slappin' down 20 bucks and sitting in front of IIDX for 6 hours straight. I love hearing 4 different J-pop songs at the same time, and that hole in the front room.
TGA rocks.
________
Half-baked (http://half-baked.com)

[Dr. J]

shadowninja, you are such...........i cant even say it right now becuz i can get in trouble by the moderators, but, you disgust me. you think you are so smart and everything and what andy said is true, your father mad a PROMISE. he is supposed to KEEP the PROMISE. ( ARE THE CAPS LOCK WORDS BIG ENOUGH FOR YOU SO YOU CAN READ AND UNDERSTAND??) from the sign of breaking a PROMISE, i guess he aint a honest buisness man, andy was so nice to you guys, he tried to help you guys out so much, WE fixed your pads for free, we play you machine sometimes to be nice and help you guys out but nooooooooo, you have to keep on starting this, after andy being so nice to you in all, what do we get??? SHIT ALL OVER OUR PADS! and where were those kids from and where did they come from??? THEY CAME FROM GAMEZONE!


you disgust me...........

[Ishbo]

shadowninja, you are such...........i cant even say it right now becuz i can get in trouble by the moderators, but, you disgust me. you think you are so smart and everything and what andy said is true, your father mad a PROMISE. he is supposed to KEEP the PROMISE. ( ARE THE CAPS LOCK WORDS BIG ENOUGH FOR YOU SO YOU CAN READ AND UNDERSTAND??) from the sign of breaking a PROMISE, i guess he aint a honest buisness man, andy was so nice to you guys, he tried to help you guys out so much, WE fixed your pads for free, we play you machine sometimes to be nice and help you guys out but nooooooooo, you have to keep on starting this, after andy being so nice to you in all, what do we get??? SHIT ALL OVER OUR PADS! and where were those kids from and where did they come from??? THEY CAME FROM GAMEZONE!


you disgust me...........

Look it's okay. Everyone deserves a rant. Just next time no foul language alright? You can defend TGA without naughty words my child xD SO yea. ShadowNinja needs to die in a fire. Thanks Garrett for that quote. See? I no foul wording. xDDD

[Dr. J]

Look it's okay. Everyone deserves a rant. Just next time no foul language alright? You can defend TGA without naughty words my child xD SO yea. ShadowNinja needs to die in a fire. Thanks Garrett for that quote. See? I no foul wording. xDDD



ok ishbo, i wont use any foul language anymore, i just needed to get it out of my system lol

[framerate]

i think that the _-_-_-_ on the pads should be referred to as: poo/feces/the shot heard 'round the world/dookie
or just: :mouse:
________
Vapir oxygen (http://oxygenvaporizer.com)