I’m 37M from a lower middle class family and the only way to get a new game was to wait for a birthday/Christmas or trade in a bunch of my games.
No internet, just the monthly game magazines which I would flip through in the stores and see the newest and coolest games.
Never knew I should keep the boxes or the booklets, mom threw them all out and I didn’t know I should hold onto them until I wanted to trade them in for a new game. It would take several games just to get one of the newer ones, even used.
I’m older, more expendable income, now whenever I buy a game or console I’m taking it to the grave with me. I feel like the corporate trade-in market is such a rip-off I’d rather hold onto a game I would never play again instead of just sell it for next to nothing.
I was 11 when MGS:3 snake eater came out. It was like 8pm on release night (saw it advertised on g4tv) and I went to my local eb games with the money I saved up. The two guys at the counter looked at me when I asked for it, whispered to each other, then sold me the game without my parents there lol. Even threw in an eb games employee tekken shirt that I still have. Played the shit out of that game for months on end.
My experience as a kid at eb games was far from scarring. Those employees were fucking awesome.
Worst thing for me is, my birthday is Christmas eve, so I had to wait a full year to get any new games. I remember begging my mum to get me WWF Smackdown 2 for ps1 because it was on sale for like £5 in a local store, and being denied, having to wait 6 months til Xmas.
My most vivid memory of purchasing games is when I was about 10. I woke up early a few days after Christmas, to walk into town for 9am, and looking for a new game to buy. No clue what the game was that I wanted, but it was for ps1. The clerk looked at me suspiciously and said something like ‘this game is a 12 rating, how old are you?’
And I said, “I’m 13… do you really think a parent would let their kid who’s under 12, go out this early in the morning by themselves?” And i thought he was gonna deny me the sale, but he just shrugged and sold it to me. I walked home thinking I’d just pulled the heist of the century…