Video Game Stores

Once upon a time, the only place to buy video games was the place where you went to buy... computers! That's right. Only computer stores sold video games, and even then, the games rack was usually jammed in the dusty corner between the printers and the spreadsheet software. And yes, it used to be sold in little plastic baggies, hand-packed by the guy who brewed it up.

Now, you can get games everywhere... even Wal-mart and Target. But, ignoring the stores that don't really focus on games, there are four categories of video game stores these days:

• Online
• Dedicated game stores
• Game rental stores
• Big-box retailers

The internet is bursting with online presences that specialize or strongly feature gaming. Just punch the name of your favorite video game into a search engine like Google and you'll see that they aren't hard to come by.

Some examples are familiar names like GoGamer, EBay, Half.com, and Amazon. Lesser-known? How about IntellivisionLives and Videogameimports.com?

As you'd guess, these stores are the best place for both bargains and weird crap that you'd never find anywhere else. If you've just got to have that Hello Kitty-themed Dreamcast, this is the only place you'll ever find it. Just beware the shipping charges.

The Mom-and-Pop video game store is a rarity these days. Instead most dedicated game stores are franchises that inhabit malls and miscellaneous retail-heavy locations. They tend to be small, high-turnover operations that keep tight inventories and sell both used and new games to a young male audience. You can usually sell your used games at these stores, as well as buy new and used consoles and accessories.

Some of the well-known stores in this category are GameStop, Player's Choice, and EB Games. Also notable are frou-frou game boutiques such as New York's highbrow gaming salon "Multimedia 1.0."

The big advantage to buying here is that the staff tend to be like you, only even gamier. (Sorry, guys.) Yes, their hygiene may be questionable, but their commitment to gaming is not. These clerks tend to know their product well, and they can generally help you to find a game you like quickly and with a minimum of marketing fluff. Beware, though, they also can have their biases - some are the gaming equivalent of the guy at the indie record store who rolls his eyes every time you mention a band that's sold more than 10 records (High Fidelity, anyone?).

And of course, these stores sell used games, which is a great way to pick up last season's hot games at a huge discount.

These stores specialize in renting games and movies to entertainment-hungry homes. They include GameCrazy and Blockbuster. You won't find the biggest selection here, but obviously, this is the best place to try before you buy. If you loved a game and are lusting after the sequel, but the reviewers all hate it, it's time to visit one of these places so you can get your fix without the horrible aftertaste of "Ewwww, I actually own this piece of sequelized crap!"

The service is consistent and it's a nice way to pick up both kinds of mind candy in the same place. You can often buy new and used games at these stores, too.

You can argue that these retailers don't really focus on games - but they do feature games prominently in their inventories and advertising, so we discuss them here.

"Big box" is a term often used to describe the large warehouse-style retailers that deal in electronics, appliances, computers, and media (and by media, we mean music, DVDs, and games). You probably see their fliers every week in your newspaper.

They include Best Buy, Circuit City, CompUSA, and Fry's (online known as Outpost). Also of note are the office supply big-box retailers such as Office Depot, OfficeMax, and Staples. And we'd be remiss not to mention media wholesaler MediaPlay.

These are often great places to find big hit games, sometimes at a discount, while also grabbing any gaming or computing supplies that make your heart go flutter-flutter.

So that's the gaming retail world in an almost-certainly-too-brief nutshell. Go out there and spend your heart out!

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