anybody anal about their video games?

[LoneCynic]

Back when I was a teenager, Electronics Boutique was an awesome store, I don't think they even dealt in "used" stuff back then. It was a gamer's haven in the mall. With separate sections for PC, SNES, Genesis, Turbo Graphix 16, etc. They also had action figures, and all sorts of rare oddities and gaming related controllers and curiosities. Later, during the early Saturn and Playstation days they actually carried a limited range of import titles and converter carts for both systems, imagine that!

Unfortunately, company mergers, buyouts, the economy, the "casual gaming crowd", and "rapid velocity, quick profit used game sales" brought that little magicland gaming store to its knees. This pit of a store they call gamestop that exists in modern times can't even hold a candle to the gaming stores of fifteen years ago. 80% used games fill the store, and a good 75% of the gaming controllers and accessories are either filthy "used" messes, or "Gamestop brand" generic knockoff crap that would break on you before you even got it home.

So no, I avoid Gamestop like the plague. I will go to every Best Buy, Target, Wal*Mart, K Mart, or any other store I can possibly go to that might have a game I want before I'll go to Gamestop. They are an absolute LAST effort, and it has to be for some limited print run game that no one else has and I can pick it up new there. Even then, I'll often opt to just order it online instead and save myself the gamestop hussle and hassle.

What gets me when I even go there, under those circumstances, is the opened "New" copy they want to sell me. OR a brand new Sealed copy that has deep Box cutter slits all over it! I could not find Ultimate Shooting Collection for the Wii recently, realized Gamestop was the only store carrying it, and had to drive to three different ones before I found one that had a Sealed copy that wasn't sliced through with a box cutter.

Now, even though that seems anal, I must admit that it wasn't all in one day. I waited until I had to be in those other parts of town for some other reason and checked 3 different ones over the course of a week and a half before finding one that wasn't slashed. I'm more anal about wasting gasoline than I am about making special trips after something. But, that's another rant all its own..

[noiseredux]

Lone, as much as I agree with you (I too was a teenager in EB's heyday, and look back on that place with great memories), I still often consider GameStop to be my first resort when looking for a game. Sadly, it comes down to two key factors: 1. convenience (there's one very close to my work) and 2. price (even if I found a game I wanted at Target, Walmart, etc, it would be a hellofalot cheaper to get it used at Gamestop). However, if they really do stop carrying GBA and GC games soon, then I'll have a lot less reason to go there. Then, most of my game purchases will probably be made thru half.com, ebay, amazon, etc and of course yardsales, flea markets and the lone used retro game store in my area.