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Remember the olden days of gaming, for most of us it was the time of the Master System and NES, then the Megadrive and SNES and so on. It was also the time when gamers really depended mostly on small independent shops to buy games and get advice & news on what was coming out, new stuff and all that gubbins.
Where are they now, the local video game shops ? Mostly gone, finished off by the larger chains like GAME and the now finished Electronics Boutique.
At the end of the main street in my town the shell of the only local games shop is still there, still boarded up with the name sign hanging on the boarding, faded and broken down. There's a still a few independent shops out there, but not as many as there used to be.
Is it a bad thing ? We can get cheaper games, sales, and easier returns and so on. Games cost less. Even so, I can't help feeling that places like GAME aren’t really video games shops, that they’d just be selling whatever was popular if games weren’t so popular now.
I don’t know about everyone else, but my local shop was great, the two guys who ran it always had pre releases a week before they were out, you could play them, they gave away freebies and promotional stuff – I've still got the fluffy Sonic from Sonic 2 ! – and they always gave good advice. Not GAME and Woolworths (e.t.c.) "we want to sell this because we’re stuck with it" advice. It was the same with trade ins, you always got 70% of the retail price for any game you traded in – pretty decent that. More importantly you knew you could trust them and if you had any problems with games and trying to find hard to get titles they could always help.
I can’t help feeling that gaming has lost something with the loss of so many independent retailers, because a lot did it because they enjoyed it and were really interested in games, not like some of the sales people today.....grrrr @ Dixons :)
~~Belldandy~~
Sorry if you've seen this in the Nintendo forums but I put it in the wrong one there :)
Where are they now, the local video game shops ? Mostly gone, finished off by the larger chains like GAME and the now finished Electronics Boutique.
At the end of the main street in my town the shell of the only local games shop is still there, still boarded up with the name sign hanging on the boarding, faded and broken down. There's a still a few independent shops out there, but not as many as there used to be.
Is it a bad thing ? We can get cheaper games, sales, and easier returns and so on. Games cost less. Even so, I can't help feeling that places like GAME aren’t really video games shops, that they’d just be selling whatever was popular if games weren’t so popular now.
I don’t know about everyone else, but my local shop was great, the two guys who ran it always had pre releases a week before they were out, you could play them, they gave away freebies and promotional stuff – I've still got the fluffy Sonic from Sonic 2 ! – and they always gave good advice. Not GAME and Woolworths (e.t.c.) "we want to sell this because we’re stuck with it" advice. It was the same with trade ins, you always got 70% of the retail price for any game you traded in – pretty decent that. More importantly you knew you could trust them and if you had any problems with games and trying to find hard to get titles they could always help.
I can’t help feeling that gaming has lost something with the loss of so many independent retailers, because a lot did it because they enjoyed it and were really interested in games, not like some of the sales people today.....grrrr @ Dixons :)
~~Belldandy~~
Sorry if you've seen this in the Nintendo forums but I put it in the wrong one there :)
I am crying i seriously am
because I have got a speck of dust in my eye and its instant reflexses are to wash it out
because I have got a speck of dust in my eye and its instant reflexses are to wash it out
I hate my local games shop.
The staff are hired because they have retail experience, not games knowledge or computer skills. A customer had to point out to an assistant in there that she was showing him a sound card when he was looking for a new graphics card. The man behind the desk didn't know what Elite was, and thought that the first FPS game released was Quake.
They depress me.
The staff are hired because they have retail experience, not games knowledge or computer skills. A customer had to point out to an assistant in there that she was showing him a sound card when he was looking for a new graphics card. The man behind the desk didn't know what Elite was, and thought that the first FPS game released was Quake.
They depress me.
Wow.
"I've still got the fluffy Sonic from Sonic 2"
*****
I bought Sonic 2 a couple of weeks back, cost me seven quid. Well worth it.
*****
I bought Sonic 2 a couple of weeks back, cost me seven quid. Well worth it.
I really miss the guy I knew in our old videogame shop. He had spots all over and grumbled at you if you asked for change to play on HIS arcade machines. Whats more he was really condescending and sat around playing tomb raider when you were in the queue. Pucktit. Having said that the prices where much lower than woolworths and the shop had an enticing revolving sign on the wall above it that said 'Games, Games, Games' and changed colour from green to red. + after school you could play on these weird football games where a stripper walked in at half time and you could pull other players shorts down and there was a special 'foul' button. Forget the name (little help here?).
Anyway, congrats on the GAD.
Anyway, congrats on the GAD.
I guess you could say I'm quite lucky/unlucky in that respect, there is no big games chain company in the town close to me, no GAME, no EB, there's an overpriced Woolworths if you want to count that. No instead we have four (yes four) independant games shops all within walking distance of one another, they're used to be five too!
Remember the olden days of gaming, for most of us it was the time of the Master System and NES, then the Megadrive and SNES and so on. It was also the time when gamers really depended mostly on small independent shops to buy games and get advice & news on what was coming out, new stuff and all that gubbins.
Where are they now, the local video game shops ? Mostly gone, finished off by the larger chains like GAME and the now finished Electronics Boutique.
At the end of the main street in my town the shell of the only local games shop is still there, still boarded up with the name sign hanging on the boarding, faded and broken down. There's a still a few independent shops out there, but not as many as there used to be.
Is it a bad thing ? We can get cheaper games, sales, and easier returns and so on. Games cost less. Even so, I can't help feeling that places like GAME aren’t really video games shops, that they’d just be selling whatever was popular if games weren’t so popular now.
I don’t know about everyone else, but my local shop was great, the two guys who ran it always had pre releases a week before they were out, you could play them, they gave away freebies and promotional stuff – I've still got the fluffy Sonic from Sonic 2 ! – and they always gave good advice. Not GAME and Woolworths (e.t.c.) "we want to sell this because we’re stuck with it" advice. It was the same with trade ins, you always got 70% of the retail price for any game you traded in – pretty decent that. More importantly you knew you could trust them and if you had any problems with games and trying to find hard to get titles they could always help.
I can’t help feeling that gaming has lost something with the loss of so many independent retailers, because a lot did it because they enjoyed it and were really interested in games, not like some of the sales people today.....grrrr @ Dixons :)
~~Belldandy~~
Sorry if you've seen this in the Nintendo forums but I put it in the wrong one there :)
Where are they now, the local video game shops ? Mostly gone, finished off by the larger chains like GAME and the now finished Electronics Boutique.
At the end of the main street in my town the shell of the only local games shop is still there, still boarded up with the name sign hanging on the boarding, faded and broken down. There's a still a few independent shops out there, but not as many as there used to be.
Is it a bad thing ? We can get cheaper games, sales, and easier returns and so on. Games cost less. Even so, I can't help feeling that places like GAME aren’t really video games shops, that they’d just be selling whatever was popular if games weren’t so popular now.
I don’t know about everyone else, but my local shop was great, the two guys who ran it always had pre releases a week before they were out, you could play them, they gave away freebies and promotional stuff – I've still got the fluffy Sonic from Sonic 2 ! – and they always gave good advice. Not GAME and Woolworths (e.t.c.) "we want to sell this because we’re stuck with it" advice. It was the same with trade ins, you always got 70% of the retail price for any game you traded in – pretty decent that. More importantly you knew you could trust them and if you had any problems with games and trying to find hard to get titles they could always help.
I can’t help feeling that gaming has lost something with the loss of so many independent retailers, because a lot did it because they enjoyed it and were really interested in games, not like some of the sales people today.....grrrr @ Dixons :)
~~Belldandy~~
Sorry if you've seen this in the Nintendo forums but I put it in the wrong one there :)