20 Questions with GoGamer Jason

[+Fates 63]

20 Questions With GoGamer Jason of GoGamer.com…

 

 

1. Tell us about GoGamer.com. When was it founded, and what is it all about?

GoGamer was launched in December 2001. Actually, the name just changed from Compuexpert to GoGamer at that time. Compuexpert became our distribution name and GoGamer is our retail name. GoGamer is simply a great online retailer to buy PC / Video games and Accessories. Think of EB Games, but a bit different and with more interest in niche products and genres. And better prices!!

 

2. Is GoGamer.com strictly for any particular genre of gaming or do you cover the all the bases, sims included?

We try to cover it all. We have a huge collection of games and they range from Barbie Ice Skating to Flight Sim X. We also carry hard-to-find older titles and niche titles. We also import some games you can’t find elsewhere in the States. If console games are your bag then you may be interested to know that we just recently, with the launch of our new website, expanded our console offering a million fold. We now have thousands of console games available for all platforms instead of just a few dozen.

 

3. Do you play sims? If so, what are your favorites?

Of course I play sims! It’s what got me into gaming to begin with. It was my gateway drug as they say. I played F-117 on my mom’s old 386 machine and got hooked. In college I sold my 1965 Chevy Nova so I could buy a Pentium 100 box to play Jane’s Fighters Anthology, Mechwarrior 2 and X-Wing Gold on. I miss that car though. I think I lost my mind that semester. LOL.

 

My favorite flight-sim(s) of all time is the IL-2 Sturmovik series followed by the Flight Simulator series. I also really enjoy WOV and WOE, but the amount of add-ons for all of these titles is mind-boggling. I can’t keep up.

 

4. What genre of sims are your favorite? Flight, naval, racing, or (GASP!) The Sims?

My favorite genre is flight, followed by racing and then naval. I really like the way Silent Hunter 3 looks and feels, but I just know nothing about how to run a submarine. I’m a complete failure as a U-Boat captain. The Kriegsmarine would not have been pleased with me.

 

And The Sims is not a simulation!!! I hate it, including on our website when we put The Sims under the “simulation” category. Unfortunately, there is no easy way to describe that type of game so it always ends up under the simulation heading. Stinks. If a simmer comes to your site and enters the simulation section and sees The Sims 2 for sale he or she will doubt we know what we are talking about.

 

5. Benny Hill… Genius or fool? Elaborate.

Absolute genius in my mind. He’s the only Brit to be on American television with any regularity I think. And man, what a goofy show. It was racy by American standards. He invented the term “dirty old man”. LOL.

 

6. I’ve noticed that GoGamer.com has recently undergone a makeover. Can you tell us about that?

Oh man, this was a big project for us. Where to begin, I mentioned the improved Video Games selection earlier, but the site is a marked improvement in many ways. Most of them behind the scenes changes that make us more competitive, but you’ll notice a change in the look and feel too. Some of the changes took some of our regular customers by surprise and we had a few bugs we had to fix, but things have smoothed out considerably since launch. In addition to more console games we also carry a HUGE selection of Music and DVDs and even some consumer electronics like digital cameras and MP3 players. We are also working to offer computer hardware as well. Soon, we’ll have just about anything a gamer needs. I encourage anyone who is interested in shopping with us to look around and check out the new site.

 

7. Clear the air in the following controversy… What does it for you, ThrustMaster, CH Products, or Saitek?

Well, I don’t want to sound political here since we are a major distributor of Saitek products and I plan on carrying CH Products very soon, but I do use both. I use a CH stick or yoke with the X-52 Throttle and I just recently switched to the Saitek rudder pedals. I haven’t used a Thrustmaster stick in a long time. I never picked up a TM Cougar. Once my TM F-22 Pro died I was done with TM. Saitek has shown some real initiative lately in their stick designs which I applaud. I can’t wait to get my hands on the X-52 Pro. I also applaud CH for embracing the Ergodex technology in making their new MFP.

 

8. How does GoGamer.com support the sim community specifically?

Well, we advertise on a couple sim websites we and try to support the community by providing some prizes for contests. We also make sure to offer some great deals on sim related gear such as the TrackIR. We were the first to sell the TrackIR 4 for $149.90. We also, try to import or carry great titles and add-ons you can’t find in the States such as the IL-2 DVDs. We also just signed an exclusive distribution contract with Just Flight for MSFS add-ons. So, you won’t have to order from England to get their best products anymore. You can just come to us.

 

 

9. Will we see more sims and sim-related hardware sold at GoGamer.com in the future?

Yes, we will always carry sims and sim-related gear. I’m currently working to bring over the SHIII Med Add-on and we need to carry CH Products in the near future. We want simmers to shop with us and we’re working hard to make sure we have products you want. The world of simulation has thousands of products and we can’t possibly carry them all, but we try to bring you quality stuff at good prices.

 

10. Are Canadians real, or are they just figments of my imagination?

Canadians are real and great people, but the Canadian government doesn’t like product coming from America. They have all kinds of fees and duties levied on imported stuff. And what makes it worse is that they apply these fees in an arbitrary manner which causes many items to be refused upon delivery, which costs we have to absorb. This happened quite a bit when I was at NaturalPoint shipping TrackIRs to Canadians. When GoGamer shipped to Canada in the past it became a nightmare. We haven’t completely shut the door on Canada, but we need to find a sure-fire non-hassle way to ship to the Great White North.

 

11. I notice that beyond gaming peripherals, no hardware is sold at GoGamer.com, not even consoles. Will that change?

We will eventually sell hardware. We are working to secure a supplier for that business. And regarding consoles, we’ve experimented in the past, but they weren’t that successful. Xbox 360s proved difficult to secure and Wii and PS3 will be just as tough. All the retail channels are on allocation so it will be 6 months before they are readily available for us to grab out of distribution. And unlike what you may have heard, there is little profit in selling the consoles themselves. That’s why places like EB create these ridiculously expensive bundle deals. That way they make at least a couple bucks.

 

12. We’ve seen you active a lot in the forums of various sim sites, is that a trend that will continue, and is GoGamer.com active on other non-sim gaming sites?

I’ve been active on various websites for about a decade now. I try to hit various gaming forums to see what the scuttlebutt is. I’m usually visible as GoGamer.com-Jason so people can be exposed to our name, but I still chat about random topics I’m interested in. However, with working so much I only get to hit one or two forms a day. Plus we launched our own GoGamer.com forum which can be found at gogamerforum.com. Our forum is off to a fair start, but hopefully it will grow and contain useful content for gamers. I don’t frequent any non-gaming forum per se because they tend to just be places for people to argue, but I do hang out at the SimHQ Community Hall a bit. It’s a rather benign group of peeps. And I do read the CombatAce forums, but I usually just lurk on that one. I consider the flght-sim forums as one big forum network. One good thing that gets posted somewhere usually gets posted on the others as well.

 

13. It has been my experience that GoGamer.com has one of the best customer support policies of any video game shopping sites that I have been to. Hopefully this won’t change. Was and IS customer support a big deal to GoGamer.com?

Thanks for that compliment. We do try to provide excellent customer support and it is a big deal to us. We have had some hiccups in our new system that caused some customers some heartburn, but we’ve tried ultra hard to fix these issues quickly. Our basic policies have not changed since the launch of our new site, but some of the mechanics have. This was mainly due to increased customer security. We now have a very robust system to protect our customer’s data and credit card info. Unfortunately, that does cause customers to be better stewards of their account info with us. What’s cool is that once you have a customer account with us and use our order system once, you will see how you can easily manage your orders with us. Some people just don’t like change though.

 

14. Do you play any multiplayer or online sims, and if you do, which ones?

Yes, but not as much as I used to. IL-2 is still my favorite followed by Lock On, but I’m dying to try FSX online and have some interaction with real life ATC. I just need to find some time. LOL. I have also raced some NASCAR 2003, GTR and rFactor online. And back in the day I used to fly Falcon 4 online. F4 Campaign servers are awesome. I also founded an online squadron the 777 AVG and after a couple years of that, I joined the 4th FG. We had some really great times flying IL-2 missions.

 

15. Will the French ever win a real war or are they forever doomed to pastry making?

I have a degree in Political Science and I still don’t understand French foreign policy or military strategy, but let’s hope France doesn’t fight another war, cause every time they do we need to come rescue them. Just ask my Grandpa. LOL And for those that want to point out the Gulf War chill ax!

 

I’m kidding. 

 

16. Do you have a callsign/gamertag, or is GoGamer Jason your actual callsign?

I’m known as GoGamer.com – Jason mostly now, but my god-given (LOL) callsign is Burnin or just BV. My middle name is Vernon so I thought Burnin’ Vernon was cool. But then it was widdled down to just Burnin and then just BV. On the forums I used to be 777 Burnin AVG.

 

17. The PS2 and XBOX360 and XBOX Live have been big hits, almost a revolution in gaming, selling in the tens of millions of units in terms of games and the consoles themselves… Do you think that the added emphasis on console gaming spells the end of PC gaming as we know it and by extension, hardcore sims?

Consoles are indeed very popular, but that has been the case for a long time. However, the next-gen boxes have introduced console gaming to a PC audience like never before. But on another note, Microsoft has realized that to sell Vista, PC gaming has to be the catalyst. Gaming is the reason behind the PC’s evolution from a 386 chip to a Core 2 Duo. Microsoft is banking on PC games and is putting lots of marketing money behind the Games for Windows moniker. So, as a result, assuming DX10 is what everyone is hoping it will be, PC gaming will get a huge influx of cool titles to sustain the industry. And with regards to sims, well, it’s a mixed bag. There are only 3 maybe 4 studios that are creating custom engines to run hard-core sims on. One being Microsoft and the others being Maddox Games and Eagle Dynamics. There are some smaller outfits, but their work is not guaranteed yet i.e. any viable products on the market yet. Hopefully, these bigger studios will continue to make sims and hopefully these smaller guys can find the funding to survive. The best thing we can do is be enthusiastic about their products and give encouragement and actually buy their products.

 

18. What is the current state of PC Gaming, sims in particular, and where do you think we are headed?

I kind of answered this already, but PC Gaming is going strong, but has more competition from consoles. Sims are struggling, but will rebound in the next year or so with fresh titles. As far as an industry I think we’re headed for the era of incremental products. i.e. BOB followed by the Med and then Eastern Europe etc… Oleg has proven this method works if you sell a decent amount of content along with bug fixes. MSFS has only survived because of the cottage industry that has emerged around it. As long as you can buy add-ons and prolong the products life simming in general will not die. rFactor is a great example of how mods can make a good sim even better and boost sales.

 

19. Is GoGamer.com in it for the long haul? Can we, as gamers, come to expect to see GoGamer.com around for a long time, and to enjoy the same level of continuing support from GoGamer.com?

GoGamer is in definitely in it for the long-haul. But for us to be successful I need people to buy from us! We have a lot of competition in the retail world, but I think we bring some great things to the table. And we always have great specials such as our 48 Hour Madness and overall great pricing. I encourage anyone reading this to give us a look when shopping for games or sims. We will continue to support the sim community as much as possible. Our relationship with the sim community has been a positive one so far and we hope it will continue.

 

20. What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?

I’m not sure, but no doubt there has been a heated discussion at the Ubizoo about it. Relax people, I’m just teasing! LOL

 

Thanks for the interview CombatAce. I appreciate the opportunity to speak to fellow simmers and keep up the great work!

 

Thank you for running the "20 Questions With" gauntlet Jason… Really interesting responses. We look forward to continued support for the simulation community from GoGamer.com and, of course, to the great pricing on hard to find simulation titles and add-ons that GoGamer.com provides.