Topic: The Chit Chat Thread

Happy New Year everybody. My 2020 was started by a bottle of Prosecco exploding in my kitchen. I'm personally taking that as a sign that it's going to be an extravagant year.

Happy New Year, I had a pleasant New Year's Eve, I listened to LBC and had a celebratory pint down the pub (Death by Chocolate, anyone?).
Planning to listen to a lot of John Scofield in the New Year, and play a lot of the Souls games and a bit of Bloodborne, I'd like to complete the Old Hunter's DLC, bucket list wish of mine.

Happy New Year everyone! Have a brilliant year and play lots of super games! 🎉

@RogerRoger Bonus day awarded to do it this year too!

This is not something I would get myself, but I thought anything celebrating the UK video game industry is worth a shout out.

https://metro.co.uk/2020/01/07/royal-mail-uk-video-games-stam...

They do look like they have put some thought into what titles have been selected.

@get2sammyb not sure if this too cool for school and would be something you put on the site?

@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy Thanks! Think I need more caffeine!

@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy I did have a look, but got distracted reading about The Witcher 3 being back in the charts! 🥴

Oooof, not looking good for GAME with upto 40 stores closing down.

@JohnnyShoulder Yeah, not great. It's nice to have a dedicated gaming shop on the high Street. Despite GAME's various problems, I'd be sad to see them completely disappear.

@JohnnyShoulder @crimsontadpoles
A shame but not massively surprising. Since the last rescue they've spent more time concentrating on stocking assorted tat rather making their offering a better retail experience.

With the advent of the digital age, I foresee physical media eventually taking a complete backseat and being phased out, which will only further fuel digital companies like Amazon, who will sell codes (like they already do in a lot of cases)

For one, it's bad for business, as physical media can be resold between individuals. Good for consumers, bad for companies. Secondly, physical discs are reaching critical limitations as far as data being stored. You've already got games like Red Dead Redemption taking 2 discs, with FFVII remake said to also be two discs. With next gen around the corner, this could easily turn into 3-4 discs, and lets be honest, I'm sure a lot of people wouldn't really want that.

Digital libraries are now a respected commodity to own, with new consoles respecting that, by incorporating previous libraries from the previuos gen consoles, and supporting them in the new console, so as to match the likes of steam for storage of your purchase history.

I'm not sure if this will be the absolute last generation to use physical media, but I'm sure at some point in the fairly near future, it will be phased out entirely.

I feel for Game. I get everyone's gripes but hard to undercut the prices of online stores. I still think there is a space for a brick and morter video game store on the High Street but I don't think people have figured out the model yet to be honest.

I think also the rise of CEX has contributed a little to Game's downfall. Game have been undercut on both fronts - new games are cheaper on the internet (as are preowned ones) but Game always had the pre-owned side for the high street browsers. But CEX has done the preowned thing much better, frankly, leaving Game stuck in the middle, unable to specialise in any area, other than trying to explain games to elderly relatives at Christmas.

I'll miss Game, even though they've messed me about in the past.

EDIT That last sentence makes them sound like an ex-lover

@Gremio108 Have you been cheating on GAME with CEX?

That does sound a bit wrong.

@JohnnyShoulder We're just friends I swear

@Gremio108 Here in Glasgow, we have a CEX across the road from Game. There just isn't any reason to go into Game. Unfortunately it has resulted in the death of Geforce Games, our local independent. I'd love to be given a reason to spend money in Game but they aren't making it easy.

@Gremio108 Greggs and Metro Bank saw you holding hands and kissing with CEX.

@nessisonett GAME and CEX are even closer together in Cambridge, as they're right next door to each other. That GAME is quite small and cramped, with a lot of the space being taken up with figurines and merchandise. On the other hand, the CEX is fairly large and spacious, and has a good variety of games.

Then there's the Argos just across the road from them, which often has new games cheaper than GAME.

My eldest son had a couple of friends round for a sleepover last night. They could have played anything they liked, the PS4 was set up for them and everything.

They chose to play Golden Axe on the MegaDrive Collection. I was impressed.

@Gremio108 little did you know they were playing it ironically at your expense