As the economy continues to dip as low as Hermes doing the limbo, once thriving businesses are forced to declare bankruptcy and even close up shop for good. And so it went for Gamecrazy and its parent company, Hollywood Video/Movie Gallery.

I am no economist. All the economic theory I know I picked up on the streets listening to the Wu Tang Clan, so I can’t tell you if the the Hollywood Video/Movie Gallery business model was destined to fail as we transition into the age of Netflix and digital downloads. However, I am a gamer and I can tell you the loss of Gamecrazy hurts us all.

I worked for Gamecrazy six years ago. My third day on the job was the midnight launch of Halo 2. I worked there until soon after the launch of the Xbox 360. I have first hand experience with the way Gamecrazy did things. I talked with District Managers and Regional Managers as they explained the Gamecrazy philosophy. I watched as the company grew to the point that it seemed like it was going to challenge mighty Gamestop for supremacy. After I left, I would still pop in from time to time to various Gamecrazy stores. Even after all the employees I knew had long gone and no one knew that I had worked there once upon a time, I was still treated with respect.

Gamecrazy seemed like the last big-time alternative to the evils of Gamestop. Yes, Gamecrazy was a giant corporation that, at its worst, pimped used games and pushed trade ins, MVP’s, and pre-orders with the best of them. For me, though, their prices always seemed a little more fair than Gamestop. You got a little more for your trades and they dropped the price of used games more than $5. A stack of games that would get you $20 at Gamestop would often get you $35 or $40 at Gamecrazy.

Since the stores were not generally in malls, you didn’t have to worry about 5,000 bored teenagers milling about, killing time on the demo stations. You could generally have a conversation with the Gamecrazy store associate and they often knew their games pretty well. They would also take the time to remember your name and what kind of games you liked. Sure, it might have all been a sales tactic so they could sell you an MVP card or a pre-order, but I like walking into a store and getting recognized by the employees. I like when employees see me as a person and not just another transaction.

I went into a Gamecrazy yesterday and the place had been gutted. Most of the stock had been sold off as the store tries to liquidate its remaining stock. Walls that had been filled to the brim with games had been stripped down to next to nothing. The DS section was down to the games that have those crappy generic cases, Xbox 360 had a whole lot of copies of Call of Duty 3 and not much else, there were stacks of old Guitar Hero guitars, and everything was 20- 30% off. The store was just starting to take down names of people that wanted to purchase the fixtures and display cases. The lone employee tried to frantically answer everyone’s questions as he went about his business with a sad desperate look in his eyes.

I went in expecting to take advantage of some deals, but left feeling sad and ashamed.

Gamecrazy did not deserve to die. Its employees shouldn’t be out looking for new jobs. They should be happily selling you MVP cards and trying to get you to try Bayonetta.

Goodbye Gamecrazy.

You will be remembered.

"Actual Game Graphics (as seen by my memories)"

As the internet makes everyone’s voices heard more and more, whether it be through comment systems, forums, or social media sites, it’s interesting to see the different patterns that develop. One I’ve taken note of in the last couple of years is the inaccuracies of our memories. Yes, I say “our” because I’ve fallen into this same trap from time to time just like everyone has.

Most people have games they remember loving long ago, but haven’t played in years. It can be a sad truth to find out that games you use to love don’t stand the test of time, but it can also be fascinating to see just how different reality is from our aged memories.

This curiosity is one of the motivations behind our Friday Old Games series. Sometimes we battle against our own memories as I did when reviewing Super Star Wars: Return of the Jedi; a game my memories would have me believe is fantastic, but in reality is a pretty shoddy licensed game. Other times, we want to set the record straight on games like Goldeneye that have been put on a pedestal for merits that are no longer relevant today.

In many peoples’ experience (including my own), a lot can be attributed to finances. When you are a little kid with little to no source of income, you don’t have a lot of options when it comes to gaming. Even so much as renting a game can drain all the money you have. And when you’ve gone and spent all the money in your possession, it better be justified. While you might not feel it’s worth it to spend time on a poor quality game now, back then there was no turning back. You already spent all your money and now you’ll drain every ounce of fun the game has to offer, regardless of how much bad design it’s buried under.

Fortunately, there are a lot of great games that hold up really well. But in order to find out which ones truly stand the test of time, we can’t rely solely on memories.

I’ve heard many people complain about both the supposed increase of licensed games today and how they wish Nintendo would bring back their “Seal of Quality“. This is something that always gives me a bit of a chuckle as the first thing that enters my mind is Yo! Noid. Not only is it an NES platformer based on the mascot of a pizza chain, it’s also one of the many terrible games sporting Nintendo’s old “Seal of Quality”. The NES is a great system with many wonderful games. However, there are also plenty of licensed games and plenty of terrible games with a false assurance of quality printed on them.

One of the most common comments displaying memory failure I hear in this generation are regarding graphics. While some are intentional exaggerations, many people look at a game with graphics they don’t find satisfying and honestly believe they don’t look any better than that of the previous console generation. I’m not saying it’s impossible for that to be true, but more often than not it’s based on inaccurate memories.

To illustrate, I’ll relate a specific example in which I fell into this same trap. I once rented Tales of Symphonia on the GameCube. While I didn’t put a ton of time into it, I enjoyed its visual style. Four years later, the sequel released on the Wii. When I saw the trailers I thought to myself, “These graphics don’t look any better than the first game.” I honestly believed that until I then looked up screenshots of the original. Below is my memory’s lie, completely exposed.

"My memory would have me believe these look identical."

Unfortunately, it’s not just random people on the internet making these mistakes where few will read them. Even people from large media outlets let their memories get the best of them. A recent offense came in the form of Destructoid’s Final Fantasy XIII review with the quote, “…if this is the future of the franchise, that future is incredibly bleak indeed.” Like Final Fantasy XIII or not, the next inevitable non-online entry will most likely play nothing like it. Even if we just look at the last few games in the main series (IX, X, and XII), we can see just how incredibly different each game is, making “the future of the franchise” something you can’t effectively predict. But alas, the reviewer’s memory betrayed him.

While some may have better memories than others, we all make mistakes. The next time you’re in a discussion or even writing on your own blog about something from an old memory, take a step back. Think for a second on the subject. Ask yourself, “Are things really the way I remember them?” And of course, when in doubt, do your research! Look at images of the old games that supposedly look just as good as this generation’s, research facts about gaming history, and re-play that game you use to love to see if it still holds up.

This day isn’t about us. It is about a mutual love and respect for Sega’s final and greatest console, The Dreamcast.

On that note, I asked around within the gaming communities I am a part of to see what others remember about the console. Come along with me and enjoy “Thoughts from Around the Internet”.

“The thing I remember most about the Dreamcast was the launch, because I had just started working at my local Babbage’s (they’re all GameStops now, I believe). I’ve never experienced a more exciting launch than when I got to be the guy handing out the consoles to the waiting fans.

I remember on Sept. 10, work was slow at Babbage’s, because every employing was carrying their newborn Chao around in their VMU.

Nothing earth-shattering, I know. But when I think of the Dreamcast, that’s the memory that springs to mind. Happy times.”

-Justin McElroy, Joystiq.com

“I was living in my first apartment away from home and trying to get into the routine of eating right, managing my money, and getting good sleep for my the job.

My roomate was working as manager for Game Crazy at the time and when Tony Hawk came out it ruined any responsible plans I had made. My entire existence for the next month was dedicated to playing, watching, and talking about this game anyway I could.

I remember it as one of the few times I was completely obsessed about a game to the point of unhealthiness! Dreamcast was new then, exciting, and I for one really liked the console design and feel. A fun, fun time in gaming for my friends and I.”

-Kyle Stevens, Kirby Krackle

“I remember the Dreamcast came out on a Thursday. I was living with my buddy Matt in Seattle at the time. He pre-ordered a DC and on the Thursday it came out, we both called in sick to work.

We headed down to EB Games, he bought the DC and Soul Caliber, I bought a controller and Power Stone. We went back to our place, hooked it up, and proceeded to spend the rest of the day playing those two games, ordering in pizza and drinking beer and having a great time. That’s my fondest memory of the Dreamcast!”

-Jim Demonakos, Emerald City ComiCon

“I was so excited about the Dreamcast, maybe more than any other console launch up to that point. Things were looking truly next gen, and it looked like this would be the big comeback we all wanted to see Sega have.

I waited in line at 4 in the morning in a mall food court outside of a Software Etc, which later became Game Stop. Got my DC, ran home, and proceeded to play Soul Calibur for roughly 3 days straight.  Took all my sick days off.

In a way, the Dreamcast represents the last real time I have really gone crazy on launch day.

Soul Calibur was soooo great at the time. Played the living crap out of that game. I played a lot of NFL 2k as well, and later became enchanted by titles like Ready to Rumble, among others. Crazy Taxi also ate a bunch of my free time.”

WD – What is your fondest memory of playing the console?  With friends/family?

“Probably the little home grown SC tournaments I’d have with friends an family. For me, that game defined the Dreamcast in kind of a Wii Sports on the Wii sort of way, but in a much cooler way.

Also, the first time I played NFL 2K with a friend over a modem was a really cool experience. There had never been anything like that on a console before and we could see the future as a result.”

-Scott Johnson, My Extra Life

“Back then I was writing for a Polish console magazine, Neo Plus. You can say I got it at launch. While I enjoyed Soul Calibur it wasn’t enough to pay for the console with my own money. The game that made me buy a DC was Crazy Taxi. It looked great and it was so awesome to perform all the crazy stunts while listening to “All I Want”.

I believe that Shen Mue was the best game on DC and one of the best ever made. You could spend long hours mastering your fighting technique, racing forklifts or just wandering around the city. Its production values were unmatched for some time as well. Oh, and I liked QTEs.

Crazy Taxi was frantically incredible, Street Fighter 3, MvC and Guilty Gears looked amazing in 2D and felt that way as well. Thanks to Virtua Tennis I learned that you can earn cash by beating other people in video games. Also, Metropolis Street Racer was the only racing game I wanted to play for a long, long time. Actually, when I was working from gog.com HQ (Warsaw, Poland) at the beginning of this year I was living at my friend’s apartment. When I found out that he had a DC I ordered used MSR and Virtua Tennis 2. Great games.

So, a friend of mine had a small store in Krakow, Poland selling video games. I was there almost every day just to hang out and play some games with the other guys. I remember that Virtua Tennis was a major hit in our community, with Street Fighter and Marvel vs Capcom following. I can’t recall any specific moment but I’m still in touch with some of the guys I met back then and we often chat about the days when gaming was something more than just sitting alone and pwning newbs.”

-Marty Kawa, games journalist turned developer and marketing guy

“Video game consoles were always a point of contention in my family- ever since i lost my Game Boy Pocket in a supermarket (along with Pokemon Red), my mother always told me that every video game system I own has to be bought with my own money- no one else’s. It was her way of instilling responsibility in me, but also put forth a sense of pride to the handhelds and consoles I bought forthwith.

I bought a replacement gameboy pocket, a gameboy color, but never owned a console of my own. I would be able to borrow a friend’s Nintendo 64 from time to time, but with the new generation of consoles on their way, my focus turned to the Dreamcast- the “It’s Thinking” commercials at the time had me in awe (seriously, look them up on youtube. They had charm.). I loved sonic, i loved Sega games in general, so a fondness grew for the system. I wanted to get one quite badly.

In the summer, my friend and I would make the trek, three miles in the hot sun to a nearby Sears with a demo station of Crazy Taxi 2 tucked away in the corner of the electronics department. We would play that game endlessly, to the point that the Sears employees would have to kick us off of the system. I vowed to my friend that I would buy a Dreamcast, to avoid the trek uphill in 100 degree weather.

I saved money. I recycled cans in my neighborhood- bags and bags of cans would be systematically cleaned and crushed to maximize the size of the trash bags before they would be stuffed into my mother’s car, to be driven to a recycling center a town or two over (i had actually called all the recycling places in town to try and find the best prices on aluminum cans). I’d do extra chores around the house, even some for neighbors for small amounts of money.

I kept as much of the money as i could, saving the money until I realized I could buy a refurbished Dreamcast from Gamestop. My mother drove me over one saturday afternoon and watched as I recieved the refurbished console, one controller, and a VMU in a non-descript white box. I held on to that box for dear life, cherishing my first real console as we got into the car. It was my new baby.

My mother paused, smiling as she saw the glee i had holding the system. “How happy are you right now?”

“Very” I replied, a sheepish grin forming on my face as i held it in my hands.

“Did you buy a game for it?” she asked as we pulled out of the parking lot and into the street.

I paused. My jaw dropped as I realized I had only enough money to buy the console and the VMU, and nothing else. My mother laughed, and drove me to Blockbuster. I ran around the aisles, finally picking out a copy of Shemnue from one of the lower shelves and running to her with a happy smile. The glee I had on my face playing that game is one I can still recall- even more so less than a month later, when my friend and I bought a copy of Crazy Taxi 2 to play together.

I still hold a soft spot for Shemnue and Crazy Taxi. To this day, that same Dreamcast works like a charm, and the joy and pride I have for the system goes a bit further than most- it was the first console I bought with my own money. I even named it- Naomi, after the arcade board it was built upon.

Naomi still has a place beside the newer generation of consoles, sitting ontop of the Wii, displaying it proudly as to show the first console I had poured my blood, sweat and tears into.”

-Daniel Orta, Team Mayhem Productions

“It was only a year ago that I first exposed myself to the majesty of the Dreamcast. I was too enamored with Nintendo around the time of the console’s release to pay attention to the praise it was drawing. Sadly, I only began experimenting with new consoles with the release of Sony’s Playstation 2 in 2000.

While visiting Chicago last November, a good friend from the area and I stopped by a retro game store. They had a Dreamcast in stock for around $30. It just so happened that I had $30 bucks so I splurged. Needless to say, I fell in love shortly after plugging it in and skating across the colorful landscape of Jet Grind Radio. Sorry for not doing that sooner Sega! I hope we can still be pals.”

-Wesley Johnson, InsulinFunk.net

For more thoughts on the console from our favorite community, the JPAG, check out this thread on their Facebook page.

"Mappy is Clearly Evil"

Editor’s Note – The following is a story as my shaky memory recalls it from my childhood. All factual errors are due to mankind’s ongoing struggle against an imperfect mind.

Around the time that Jesse started grade school, our mom finally noticed just how much he had been playing the NES. It was a LOT. Basically, any waking moment that he could get his grubby little mits on it, he would throw down with some “Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!!”.

The rule was put in place that he was only allowed to play on the weekends. The up side was that we had just found a video store that did 99cent rentals on all their NES cartridges. For a couple years, we had a great time trying out lots of different games. Usually they were ones we saw in Nintendo Power or EGM, but every once in a while, we would choose something completely at random that caught our eye.

I can’t remember which one of us decided to pick up “Mappy-Land”, the console-only sequel to the arcade game, but I’m pretty sure it was Jesse. We booted up the game to find a cheesy platformer in which you were a cartoon mouse trying to collect ice cream cones or other various objects depending on the level, then reach the end of the stage with said collected objects. When you got to the end of the level, if you hadn’t collected every single ice cream cone, or didn’t do it fast enough, you would get a message that said, “Sorry Mappy, but you are late for the Birthday Party.” Replace “Birthday Party” with various other obligations the mouse-cop was probably dreading attending in the first place and you get the gist of what was a terrible game.

The next game we put in did not boot. Instead, the console would reset over and over again.

Nowadays, we know that replacing the PIN connector on an NES is a cheap and simple way to make it run like new again. As kids, we knew nothing about that. All we knew was that from the time we rented “Mappy-Land” onward, our NES never worked the same. Looking back, it was probably just a dirty cartridge, being a rental, but we could rarely get it to boot up in such a way where it wouldn’t get stuck in a reset loop.

For years, we hated Mappy and all (both) of his gaming titles, blaming him for the destruction of our beloved console. Even today, we joke about how horrible his crimes against our gaming youth were. The moral of the story is, keep your gaming gear in good condition so you don’t have your own “Mappy Incident”.