Have just noticed some ridiculously trite flash games being sold for fifteen on Impulse and realized there is no way they are going to be able to stay in competition with other digi dealers unless they start pulling the Hansic, under-handed, rug pulling they always have to get to where they are now.

So I just wanted to see if anyone could guess at what corrupt methods GameStop will now use to run digital distribution for everyone.

I personally think that they're going to cry foul that they are being undersold and set thousands of lawyers in motion looking for the one piece of red tape that will force everyone else to legally have to raise their prices up to match GamePulse's.

If anything Impulse has got a lot worse since GameStop took over and I don't see that changing. Clearly like most retailers they haven't a clue how to use digital distribution properly. Steam, D2D, GamersGate and yes even GOG are going to bury them. Impulse were only ever competitive because of Stardock fan's loyalty, with Stardock no longer in charge there is no reason to keep using the service.

I'm pretty sure Gamestop is well aware of this but I've got a feeling that they're going to pull a crappy stunt that is going to suck everyone else down the drain with them.

Maybe the description of them being number two was not a description of their popularity in the DD market but the euphamism for shit which would apply rather nicely

Hope Steam doesn't get too big for their britches.

Over here in Zealand retail shops sell bargain bin games at horrendous prices because one or two other greedy retailers found legal reasons to force them to match up to them and not attempt to undersell.

I personally think pricing should be left to the outlet's owner only and not liable to be politically manipulated by surrounding retailers.

I think the only way to keep retailers from going out of control is taking notice of new retailers opening with overpriced merchandise and then end consumer's boycotting that retailer so that they collapse before the other retailers are forced to follow suit. They weren't so bad as Stardock. I mean they had cheeky pricing even as Stardock but Stardock was very fair with me in several instances.

The last game I got from there was SPaZ because I wanted to fund the developers to help get them out of Beta.

I'll have to wait and see if Gamestop results in negative influence on the other digi shops.

The question is should I re-install that POS client just to try Demigod out again? Nah, probably not...

Honestly, I actually rather like Impulse.

However, like Steam, I refuse to use it for big-name purchases unless they're on sale uber cheap. Generally Impulse and Steam are used for "ooh, $2 game!"

I can see how some of their game options are over priced though, yes. (hence the only shopping sales.)

Christ if someone in the US is calling them overpriced lord knows what the international prices are now.

Was just asking myself the same question. First I thought Hanseatic League, but that might me a huge stretch on my part.

Are we talking about the Hanse? In german there is an adjective (hanseatisch), which describes more a behaviour of north germans (stoic, quite, dry-witted). Btw, the Hanse wasn't only in the coast area, also cologne (connected via the rhine) was a hanse city. It would be new for me if there is negative meaning, here it stands more for positive business behaviour.

I got the term from "The Patrician III" - merchants from the colonial period that used underhanded means (such as hiring pirates to sink competitors' ships) to get ahead of the competition.

Starting to wonder though if "Hansic" is fictional and exclusive to The Patrician.

I'd claim it to be a case of translation gone wrong.
The term you're searching for is 'Hanseatic'.

Sources:
http://www.yourdictionary.com/Hanseatic:
'Webster's New World College Dictionary, 4th Ed
Han·seatic
adjective
of the Hanse or the towns that formed it
Origin: ML hanseaticus'

http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com:
'Main Entry: han·se·at·ic
Function: adjective
Usage: usually capitalized
Etymology: Medieval Latin Hanseaticus, from hansa'