07.September.2014

Remember the days of going down to your local gaming shop, waiting outside in the cold for it to open, running in and picking up the first copy of the game you want you see, throwing money at the cashier and running home to play your holy grail? What happened to that feeling? All of a sudden the feeling of going out and physically purchasing games is quickly becoming a thing of the past, with all the modern ways you can now get a hold of games, gaming shops may be a thing of the past in the next 10 years and that would be so depressing. With digital copies of games being the preferred choice for most gamers especially those on PC, physically having a box and a disk isn't as appealing as it used to be, especially since now most games, even console, require you to install a portion of it. So why sit there with a disk and install a portion when you can save yourself the trip down to the game shop and just install the entire game?

For PC gamers there is only one real way to get games and that is the Steam platform by Valve. If you are a PC gamer or even if you aren't you have most likely heard of Steam. It has thousands of games a click of a mouse a way, put in your bank details and done your game is downloading. Now I'm quite a sucker for Steam with my steam library having over 100 games in it, so i can give a fair view that Steam as a way of getting games is probably the most convenient platforms available. Steam sales are a big draw in and many people think "why should I pay £30/$50 on a game from GameStop when i can get it on Steam for like $20" this is true the value you get with some Steam sales is amazing, speaking from experience here, I got Skyrim, Far Cry 3 and Just Cause 2 all for less than £10/$20 which is why I am a sucker for Steam. But for the oder generation of gamers this is not what they want, many gamers still love the trips down to the game shops, picking up games, looking at the back of cases, talking to staff and generally being 100% more social than us modern day gamers who have everything at out finger tips thanks to the internet and digital copies.

With Steam being one of the first mainstream digital platforms for games, many other game companies have followed suit with EA coming out with Origin and Ubisofts Uplay, how long will it be before printing CD's becomes a thing of the past and hardrive sales skyrocket due to the terabytes of gaming platforms and games we will have to download? Other companies have used the success of Steam to produce their own websites selling games, CD keys for Steam games and in some cases movies. It seems the digital age is upon us and the physical age is dying out faster than the Dodo.

Now I'm not saying this is a bad thing, Steam and the similar platforms have made everything so easy for gamers and even those who didn't game, giving them access to new ways to play which is fantastic for the gaming community. We have seen a very sudden rise in server population on hundreds of games that have recently become available on Steam and similar platforms, not only do they give you access to games far more easily they show you similar games for you to try which broadens your gaming horizon. But I will never forget my trips to the gaming shops and talking to the staff about games, I'll never forget 1 trip on New Years Eve when I went in for Arma X Anniversary Edition I scraped the price tag of £30 together went to the counter and spent probably 30 minutes on a cold winters evening talking to the guy behind the counter about the game and other games, when we finally remembered i was purchasing a game he put it through the counter pressed some keys and said "that will be £15" I thought he had got it wrong but paid the £15 non the less it was only after saying thanks and goodbye i looked at the receipt and saw he had actually put a 50% discount on it and wrote "Awesome dude" on the receipt. That is probably one of my favourite trips to my local Game shop and a lot of people wont have similar experiences. It's a shame to see so many game retailers in financial trouble because of the digital age.

If you want more information on anything you have read above you can send us a message over on the Facebook page and next time you're walking by your local game shop just go inside and wander around a bit talk to the staff because it's service you will not get anywhere else.

~ Mike