Nintendo Universe writes:
Following store closures last week, Darren Kerwin shares fond memories as a Gamestation customer.
Gary Green said: Gamestation was a chain of retail shops in the United Kingdom selling new and used games. Gamestation was founded in 1993 in York, UK, and by 2002, it had 64 stores across the United Kingdom. Gamestation’s primary competitor was GAME, who were generally considered one of the most expensive retailers for games.
Gamestation’s main method of attracting customers was to put on more special offers than its competitor as well as focusing on pre-owned games and larger discounts on older titles. Gamestation would also usually beat GAME’s prices by at least 5%, with new releases at GAME typically charged at £39.99, while Gamestation would set their prices at £37.99 for the same titles.
We now chase the best price for games, and will take a copy that is a few quid cheaper off the internet rather than venture out. You can also pre-order knowing that you won’t end up in a queue around the block come COD launch night, and be forced into a conversation about the merits of the TAR gun over the SCAR with a guy who looks like he only eats breakfast cereal.
These things have chased us from perusing the shelves of games in an actual, real-life shop, with windows and people in them and stuff, into the arms of a digital realm which also might have windows and also has people, but they tend to be less real and more naked.
"queue around the block come COD launch night, and be forced into a conversation about the merits of the TAR gun over the SCAR with a guy who looks like he only eats breakfast cereal"
This really made me chuckle :)
Word Through The Grape-Vine Is GAME and Gamestation Will Be Allowing Gamers To Purchase Guild Wars 2 For £0.99 From Tuesday
Turns out both my game and the gamestation where i live are being saved, but then again my city is very busy.
I worked at Gamestation in 2003 and back then the shop was a lot better than Game because of the different types of consoles it offered and the tradins too. I remember a 15 year old lad coming in with a Mega drive game (cant remember the name of the game) but he said he found it in the loft and did not want the game and wanted to trade it in and he got £29 for it which shocked me when I traded it in for him and he was more than happy with that.
But at that time Game did not offered this service and some of the consoles I saw come throght the door that people did not was was unreal I saw some very rare consoles and ended up picking up my Amiga 32 from there too.
But on top of the trad ins and retro consoles the games were well priced and the console bundles they offered were far better than Game.
But since Game bough the Gamestation brand they have taken away the good bits from the company and made them into a Game store with the Gamestation name and this is part of the reason why people have been going else where to other shops for there games and consoles.
For me I think the new owners should look at the history of the 2 company's and close down all the Game stores and make them a Gamestation and bring back the retro look and feel they had as well as all the new hardware and software it offered. If they do this and compete in the market with the likes of Zavvi, HMV, Tesco, Asda ect in terms of price I think they could make it a big success again.
I remember the first Gamestation store that opened a few miles from where I lived. It had a few glass cabinets with GBA games, Sega Megadrive games, NES Games, etc. There were retro consoles in the shop window and a few shelves with other retro games.
The store was always packed when went in. When ever I go in now, it's desolate... There are also 2 GAME stores under the same roof as this Gamestation and only the one GAME has customers. I used to go to Gamestation all the time because they would have a ton of games compared to GAME, but now it's just the same store with a different store design...