My local GameStop...

[purpleravenhawk]

You can't find any game you might be looking for cuz they're not alphabetical anymore. There's no order at all. And their selection has evaporated, unless you're looking for the four most popular new releases. Yet, their prices are as high as ever, even higher on some things. There was one game that was $60 brand new, and it was $55 used. Wtf? confused  

[Iakun]

From what I've seen people say online, Gamestop seems to be s**t. Here in Canada, Gamestop is EB. They're s**t too. Expensive prices, crap value for trade in games etc. If you want certain games and at good prices, in most cases you'll have to resort to online purchases.

I will say this though, if it weren't for EB I don't know what I'd do for game shops. I don't know of any other game shops around.  

[xwhateverxdudex]

It's because there are next to NO real gamers anymore.

Everyone's so preoccupied with what's the "latest and greatest" that they forget that video games are suppose to be fun and entertaining.

Old games that should be considdered good still are dropped like garbage and forgotten about.

Heck, the current definition of "Hardcore gamer" seems to be nothing more then "rush through as much as possible, and then whether it's finished or not, sell it off to buy the next release" and that's just pathetic.

These people aren't real gamers. They're gaming hacks.

And it's because of them, that game shops have become such garbage dumps themselves.

No one really cares about the games themselves anymore.

Don't believe me? Purple did a poll a little bit back. Amost every person that voted, said that they had never finished any of their games, or at best had only finished just a couple.

That's just pathetic... simply pathetic...  

[purpleravenhawk]

The GameStop here used to be better. Not great, but better than now.

And it's true about the poll. It was a national poll company I used. I was curious. Now I'm sad. xp  

[xwhateverxdudex]

Sadly the stores are just doing what they need to, to survive.

It's those stupid "gaming hacks" that only care about the latest releases.

If you want to curse someone, curse their customers.  

[Rinioa]

We have EB games & Gamestops here in Kentucky. There is only one gamestop in my town though, and it's exactly the same as you were mentioning, Purple.

There is one in another city over that tends to carry a lot of random and rare stuff. They actually still carry PSOne games, which from what I was told by my husband hardly anywhere does that nowadays.

I've never really been a gamer. But, my husband used to be and still is -to an extent- ... he's a little too busy with work for games. But, when he does play them he becomes obsessed and normally stays up all night to complete it or whatever. blaugh ......But we don't even go to Gamestop anymore. We buy stuff on Wal-Mart.com if we want a new game.

{eclectic princess; rinioa}

 

[xwhateverxdudex]

Sadly that's true... online is the only place to find stuff these days.  

[Iakun]

Well wait a minute, Moonracer has a lot of games she plays and doesn't finish a lot of them. In her case it's about time and not having much of it. I wouldn't be so quick to call people pathetic over that. I've quit on a few games because they simply didn't vibe with me. I didn't like the story, or the gameplay or whatever else.

I don't consider myself a "real gamer" whatever the heck that's supposed to be. I just buy a game every now and then, almost always an rpg, and just enjoy it. Does that make me a gaming hack? Of course I care about games; with a ps3 and 360, I'm spending at least 60 bucks per game so they better be good.  

[purpleravenhawk]

Rini: That is incredible. I've never seen any retailer, other than second-hand places, that still carry PS1 games. eek

Iakun: I understand about time issues, believe me. It often takes me months to finish a game that dude breezes thru in a few days. I don't think dude was talking about people who simply lack time; I think he only meant people who purposely don't finish games. The part that I was talking about that makes me sad is the huge number of people who never finish any games at all or only a few. It sounds like you're saying you've only quit a few, so I don't think you're in that category. (And I certainly meant no offense.) If you don't like a game for some reason, then it makes sense to quit; but if a person doesn't like any games, maybe gaming isn't for them.

Whatever your definition of gamer, I think it's strange to spend money on so many games that you're not going to finish. If it were just a few, or even half, it wouldn't seem so weird. My view is: If you enjoy games but don't finish them, you're a player (kind of like the definition of casual gamer); but if you finish almost every game you start, you're a gamer.

I look at it like books. If someone told me they loved reading and had read tons of books but never finished any of them, I would say they were not a reader, and I doubt anyone would argue with me. I realize books aren't quite the same as games, but they both have endings and goals to reach.

Now, having said all that, it occurs to me that there might be a striking similarity to this lack of ambition in dude's gaming style. He does have a nasty habit of restarting games over and over until he feels like he can play it perfectly, and he does have a game in his collection that he likes to break out every now and then, just to replay a certain level. I've always felt that was strange and pointless.

Maybe it all depends on your focus in a game. Me, I'm a story person. Like with books, I need a solid story and compelling characters to keep me interested in a game. That's not to say I don't occasionally enjoy the crazy action-y games sometimes, but mostly I need something to keep my brain busy as well as my fingers. Some people seem only interested in frenetic action and memorizing moves and blowing s**t up.

No one's ever been able to give me a satisfactory definition of "hardcore gamer." And maybe dude's diatribe was a little elitist for someone who doesn't have the time constraints that some of us work with. But for me, the point I was trying to make was simply that I think it's sad that so many people don't enjoy finishing any games they start, as if they only cared about sampling the different kinds and moving on.  

[Tybarious]

I guess I've never really been a real gamer, first I started kinda late (N64 was my first platform) and in hensight that was the last true platform nitendo catered to the gaming community in my opinion (gamecube was and is such a disappointment even though it has a few good titles). Well to be honest, N64 wasn't my first, my parents had an atrai 2600 that I would play with as a little kid but it didn't stir my interest.

Second, I havn't finish all the games I've ever started but unlike others I havn't traded in any of my old games for newer stuff. So I guess in that sense I'm more of a semi-gamer.  

[Rinioa]

Quite often I'll start playing a game and will refuse to finish it simply because I don't want to see it ending. Though, it's very rare for me to even pick up a game to start out with unless it's something like Soul Calibur or the Sims. I'm much more into Simulation games like Sims, Sim City than things like RPG. I simply get bored leveling up/grinding/etc. I loose interest in the storylines because they're just too long to hold me. I always said that if they just made every video game into a movie or a manga I'd be much more interested. lmao. Like Kingdom Hearts. I only played through the first one, then read the rest via Manga. My husband has the entire Kingdom Hearts collection and has played through them all, currently playing the DS one... can't remember the name but it's the one where you play as Roxas. Anyway....

{eclectic princess; rinioa}

 

[Moonracer]

At my defence since I was brought up. *chuckles* Thanks bro you did make a valid point with me life has gotten so crazy I don't have the time I once did to devote to a game. However, that doesn't mean the game will never get finished it just means it takes me longer to finish one for example I finally finished Chaos Legion not to long ago and that game I've had going for several years...though I could have beaten it a long time ago I just had to get something and build it up...then never use it in the final boss battle. *chuckles* Funny how that happens at times.

As for a "real Hardcore Gamer" um I believe anymore the word has lost it's meaning much like Paladin and such words. But an old hardcore gamer was one of those that played those games where they had to have a sheet of paper and pencil near them to map out the path they took to the treasure and stuff, had to figure out the puzzles themselves, and just all around play the game themselves without help. Now days you have cheat codes and in game help and such that it's so much easier now days. Not to mention the creators are seriously lacking in some areas.

Anyway I think this web comic sums it up pretty well....

http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=282

I sit and nod to this comic.  

[xwhateverxdudex]

I shall post an appology regarding the very strong terms that I used.

I did not intend to say that ALL people that don't finish their games aren't real gamers.

I was ONLY refering to those that "play games as quickly as possible, sell those games for new ones whether they're finished or not, just so they can brag about how many games they've played"

If there was any misunderstanding, I'm sorry.

Gomennasai
ごめんなさい
*bows*  

[purpleravenhawk]

Ty: I don't think you have to have played the older stuff to be considered a gamer, but if you've never finished any of your games, that might put you out of the running. xd Lol @ semi-gamer.

Rini: I've played some games that I thought would've made much better movies or something. But it sounds like Mike is a real dedicated gamer. I've only played the first KH, but I loved it, and I will get to the others eventually. *determined face*

Moon: Congrats on finishing another game! I know how hard that can be when you don't have the time. And how annoying it is to put hours of work into something you end up not needing for the final fight. I agree that "hardcore gamer" may have lost its meaning, but maybe that depends on how you look at it.

I like VGCats. xd But I think there's too much hate on casual gamers these days. I play games that are widely considered "casual games", and some of them are quite difficult, not to mention fun.

Historically speaking, the only reason original gamers played games that were so hard and worked so much to beat them was because there was nothing else. Those tough games were all that existed; there were no other choices. That doesn't make them good, although many of them were; it just makes them the only choice. For most of them, if they were made today, they wouldn't get far. The reason the "golden age of gaming" is considered golden is because of the rose-colored glasses of nostalgia. Just like cartoons from when you were a kid - most of them were crappy, but because you grew up with them, they're awesome. xd There are still plenty of "hardcore" games being made. Are they as tough as the first video games? Probably not, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Part of what made early games so tough was lazy programming, technology limitations, and the fact that creators knew they had a limited audience who would put up with anything if they wanted to play. "Great" games were just as hard to come by back in the day as they are now. And I could tell you about some truly bizarre old games that we would've called "casual games" today. xd But between nostalgia and the fact that there are so many more games altogether now, it makes the modern scene look worse than it actually is. There's nothing wrong with making easier games for people who like easier games. But excluding those people from the gaming community because they don't play the same games in the same way that the original gamers did would be unfair. Call them "casual gamers" or semi-gamers or whatever, but they're not ruining the market.

*gets off soapbox*  

[xwhateverxdudex]

One of the things that make games harder "back in the day" was a lack of save points.

And that's one change that I'm glad they made ^.^