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.