So here in the UK, the last major video gaming shop named GAME, is closing down. (they may exist a bit in Sport Direct, who own them, but all the last independence store have closed). Its a sad day, I mean that particular gaming shop hasn’t really been the same the last few years and neither was it my favorite, GameStation/Virgin Megastore, where my fav.
It is sad that the towns and shops in general are slowly dieing, I mean I think the high street will survive in the big cities, but town are really struggling now. Maybe I’m showing my age, but I enjoyed and look forward to going shopping. Its clear the combination of being able to buy it all off the Internet and the slow move away from physical media to digital is the main reasons.
But for people who never knew life before the net, you have to remember back then most of the information of whats out and new, would come from word of mouth, magazine and what was in the high street shops.
You could be in the shops for a good few hours looking through the games, this was the only time to see them, nuts hay! You also have to trust what it said on the box, when game said, “Amazing high detail 3d graphics” and only having a small stamp size image of the game to make the judgment of what it was telling you was true. It why so many games annoyingly would put cut screen graphics on the back on the box, not the gameplay graphics!
Then there was the market stall and even special Computer markets that would sell loads of used PC from business for cheap, it was always fun walking around them, seeing all this tech I would love to have. Its where I use to get my black floppy disks from these markets and then there was the classic Public Domain sellers.
The PD sellers would have even less info for you to make the judgment of what the game is, sometime it be just the name and type of game, like “Bounce – a 2d platformer” (actually a good little game, but no idea of the type of graphics) I remember these being only a quid or six for fiver. So I use to always pick up the 6 games, you could also buy clip art, software and magazine disks from these guys.
Its shame the internet has kinda killed this fun, you can now find all the info you want on games, watch video footage, even download demo instantly and check it out. No waiting for a magazine to drop though the post for the 2 or three demos. The old days of that kinda mystery are gone.
I have mixed feelings about it, as progress is progress, the internet is amazing bit tech and has allowed user group to connect and people with same hobby come together, plus the amount of resource particularly for Amiga is dam impressive.
But at the same time its a shame the fun and mystery of what you would see in you local gaming shop is gone. There are of course the specialist gaming retro shops, second hand stores and the odd big Retro gaming show/market that run in the Uk. But its not quite the same as the classic gaming shops of the uk and seeing things like the top 10 best selling games, or the odd sale you would find for game and the joy of finding a gem.
So maybe this is all just one man’s nostalgia for the past kicking in, I still sad to think the big gaming shops are gone and likely never really coming back, what memories do you have, discuss on Amigaworld.net
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