Beast Blog

Video Games - Triple Down

For dedicated video game players, Best Buy and Circuit City are depressing. They only sell the straightforward expensive stuff. No old games, no antique consoles. No strange fourth-party peripherals. Few action figures. Toys 'R Us is slightly better but it's frankly a scary store to be in unaccompanied by a minor.

I may not stack my desktop with too many pieces of plastic. But I enjoy shopping for games in the context of game playing - at a store that stocks history and reverence for obscure electronic entertainment.

For a while, the near-East Bay had only one video game store like this - GameStop near Home Depot in Emeryville. East Bay video gaming ground zero - it was the only refuge for urban and urbane gamers alike. People selling pot-smoke reeking PlayStations and people hunting a used copy of the Phantasy Star series reissued for the GBA.

Now the number of used stimulation resellers in the near-East Bay has tripled. In the last month, two EB Games stores have opened: one on Shattuck, one on Telegraph, both near University/Bancroft. They sell nostalgia-riffic NES and SNES and Sega systems. Action figures. Hint guides. Weird peripherals. And, best of all, they sell old games. The prices on games less than a year old aren't much better than a new version, but it extends their stock back into history. If you're looking to save some money and extend the life of an old machine, a $5 copy of Tomb Raider for the Dreamcast might be just the thing.