Best Buy IdeaX

[#1]

Hello, new to the forum but long time Best Buy customer so I'm not sure if this has been mentioned on here previously.

I have noticed that none of the higher end gaming PC's which are capable of playing games at higher framerates and settings have games to be demoed in store. There's no ability for a customer looking for a high end rig to test or even view the potential of the computer they are looking at. The best thing they can do is browse the desktop, local settings, and interent which doesn't even scratch the surface of what a gaming machines is capable of. In my opinion, it leaves a negative impression with the customer to find the same demo experience from a high end gaming rig as they would with a very basic desktop or laptop.

I understand that previewing certain games and software in store may seem as favoritism to certain brands and be frowned upon, but I think that a partnership with game developers to have their games featured in store to be tested on PC's made to handle them would be an asset and a valuable investment.

Along with the games, it would be helpful to have software utilities to measure and show framerates in games which would be standard across all show models on the floor for equal comparison. For example, have MSI's framerate utility Afterburner installed to measure game performance.

While this may sound involved, these are standard utilities and practices done by exactly those customers shopping for PC's at your stores on their own computers. To not have these tools available for customers is akin to car dealerships not letting their potential customers test drive their cars before purchase. It doesn't make much sense.

Anyways, that's all I have. I've been shopping at Best Buy for years and always wondered why there hasn't been a better enthusiast PC experience at your stores. One cannot treat the customers shopping for high end PC's as the same customer looking for a basic one to check their email every month.

Perhaps this will find the right reader and some changes can be made to that department.

[#2]

I agree. 

However, some stores, do have some very high end gaming systems set up. But not a lot.

Mall of America Best Buy has some outstanding displays.

However, I can write that being able to Demo a high end game creates an issue with the publisher.  They (the publisher) has to want it set up and running.  Then there is the issue of most high end games are 17+ or MA.  Sony authorized one for the VR system awhile ago.

Sometimes there will be demo versions.

Experience as a former computer seller though cringes. Your store will end up getting people that will come in and spend hours playing the games making a nuisance of themselves.  hogging the machines as it were. 

But it would be great if the game developers would work out short demo versions of their games.  Especially pre-release games. 

[#3]

I wasn't thinking so much about demos of games as much as have a Steam account assinged to the established floor models. There are even plenty of free games that could be downloaded without cost to the company. Fortnite B/R, League of Legends, Overwatch are all good examples of free/paid games that span a variety of categories to test and are rated T for Teen to boot. 

I'm not an IT expert but I would think there could be countermeasures in place to combat people attempting to "hack" the account or change settings that would be deemed innapropriate to mess with. As for the freeloaders who would just come in to play the games and hog the machines, this could be solved by the department employees of that section "unlocking" the computers for a predetermined time limit that would automatically time out the user after a certain period.

For example, if I - a potential customer - approaches a tech in the computer section and say, "Hey, I'd like to try this computer out." The employee walks me over to the machine, logs into the user with the gaming profiles set up, and walks away knowing there is a time limit set on that user, let's say ten minutes. That way the only way to continue playing would be to ask the employee again, at which it would be up to their discretion. 

I don't quite understand the arguement that game publishers would have to agree their games be set up and running. If the store is a legitimate buyer/downloader of the game, why would it matter? But then again, I've never delved into the mire of politics in the retail world. 

Don't get me wrong, I know it might be involved and everything isn't as simple as it seems. But in my opinion, when displaying an item meant for a specific purpose, the mindset should be, "How can we make this item as accessible as possible for potential customers?" Not, "Give us an overwhelming list of reasons on why we should allow our customers to get the full experience."

I should say I didn't know that some Best Buys actually did offer playable games on their systems. It surprises me that the policy isn't company wide for any stores that do have higher end rigs. All three Best Buys located within 20 miles of me stock gaming computers and laptops if considers a "gaming computer" as any machine that has a discrete GPU. None have playable games on their machines. Certainly none have sotware utilities to determine the framerates, temperatures, and clock speeds even if they did have games.

It might also be noted that without games to be demoed, a potential customer will look to review sites and youtube for examples of the parts and computers on display and their performance. Many of these reviewers do not link these products back to Best Buy but instead to Amazon or other 3rd parties. This isn't good for Best Buy as it redirects a customer you have there in store to another, perhaps more economical option, that would have bought the one there on spot should they not have been distracted. 

[#4]

When I did check out the demo at MOA the sales rep did have to unlock it for me. But he hovered, so to speak..

When you go into a store there are demos set up for PS and XBOX

I think what your after is to see the performance of the machine in a game environment.

What would make an interesting display would be

A top end machine valued around $1250 to $1499.  I use this range as a base as $2000 to $3000 machines are unrealistic for most people.

A mid range machine valued around $1000 to $1299 

A low end machine $750 to $999

With the same monitor and the same game running, even if only on demo loop. Let GeForce or AMD Catalyst choose the best graphics for performance for each machine.

the difference should be dramatic as long as the game can support the very high end grapics.

Also put out a machine that is running on integrated graphics. 

[#5]

We here you brother. The thing is with high end gaming machines, not many people have the money to buy them. I just recently posted my Idea/Suggestion to bring back the displays in the 90's with the large Monitors in the ceilings for the gaming community. They really need to shift there focus to us gamers since Toy's R US died and lots of customers wandering around. They have the potenital for a billion dollar industry in the gaming market plus sell more games and attract more customers. They focus more on Applicances and crap which are 1 time buys every 5-10 years. You buy a new game every 1-2 months. 

[#6]

I think that any display should provide the full experience of the product being sold. They don't display the latest 4k OLED panels and play old 480p documentaries on them, why would they handicap the experience on gaming PC's? They allow for tons of demos and games on their consoles, why is it any different for the PC community?

Someone who is in the market for a gaming PC doesn't care how fast it pulls up Word, or the internet. Basic navigation speed really does not have anything to do with gaming performance anyways.

Allow customers to run benchmarks and games on a few devoted display PC's of varying specs and hardware. Don't put them on display with nothing but the desktop to sample. Might as well leave them in the box.

[#7]

I agree but with better gaming displays. But the sad truth is you have people that will go into a store just to mess up an unlocked computer. There isn't much a person like that is going to do to a console.

The computers they have set up and unlocked now are really tight. 

Another sad truth is you will have people that will go in not to buy or seriously browse but to play games.  Getting in the way of real customers and make a nuisance of themselves.

What could be a good solution is to have a game demo set up similar to what Xbox and PS have where you have a choice of a few games and you can try 1 or 2 minute demo.

Perhaps you could recommend some specific benchmark tests.

WEI used to be installed with Windows. However, WinSat Forma is a great benchmark option.  However, only an idiot would allow customers to access the command prompt to run that. 

So perhaps a good  suggestion would be for the computer guys to it and post the results next to the gaming computers.   However, they would need to make it easier to read and parsing an XML document isn't eveyones forte. 

[#8]

It is unlikely we would ever do this, but would like to hear from others if they would like us to have gaming demo computers set up in our stores? Make sure to vote for an idea if you like it.