Ideas for Retro Game Store & Arcade Locator

[racketboy]

So I was thinking it would be nice to have a nice web app that kept track of retro game stores and arcades and let you find locations in your area.

I know there are some similar sites, but I'd like to have a more useful and usable solution.
I've talked to my developers and they've actually made similar projects before.

What features would be good to have?
Simple but useful would be preferred as things that are overly-complicated will cost more.
But lemme here what you come up with

[NSBAceAttorney]

Obviously searching by location but...

-Printable Directions
-Search By Game
-Location Reviews

Just a few ideas, if this happens, I'll do all I can to promote it.

[racketboy]

on "search for game", you mean for arcades, right?

[puke_face]

Google maps is pretty good. Sometimes their directions can be off by a little bit, but they have some pretty awesome developers.

[Ack]

Wasn't there a website that had already been working on this? Like a "Retromap" or something like that? I seem to remember one.

[Luke]

The thing that GameStop does so well on their site is keeping track of inventory. It's about a two hour round trip to my nearest retro store, so I'd love to be able to check a a store's inventory, which isn't as difficult as people make it out to be.

The basics of what I'd like to see for a web app for retro game stores:
Store location/hours/phone number/website
Google Earth view
Directions to store
Store specialty, if applicable
Game inventory of store, including prices of games/consoles
Customer reviews of store
Announcements of any specials/discounts/sales for the store
Mobile access (blackberry/iphone compatibility)


That's all I can of for now.

[Snickerd00dle]

if at all possible pictures of inventory and or store

[newt42]

- Search by Consoles
- Search by Store Quality
- "Click Here to Find the 10-50 Locations Nearest You!"
- An app of this for iPhone, Palm Pre, Blackberry etc.

[equalsign]

I'd be down. How would non gaming dedicated stores fit in? There's a chain in Utah called Graywhale Entertainment that buys and sells music, movies, and games. They usually have a somewhat decent collection of retro gaming stuff (pre Xbox, PS2, Gamecube), but nothing like a retro game store would have. I go there for my retro fix quite often. Would we list Play N Trades too?

[HellHammer]

Awesome idea.

I'd only REALLY want reviews and pictures of each place. Some retro game shops are great, but most are terribly overpriced. At the same time, some arcades have great game selections and communities, yet have consistently broken buttons and coin slots.

Again, it's a really great idea and I've got several places to contribute if RacketBoy decides that he wants to take this on, himself.


...Hint, hint.