Power Up Gaming
Who would have foreseen the video game industry today, back when Pong and the Magnavox Odyssey first came out in 1972? Video games are one of the most popular forms of entertainment, especially with today’s console’s multi-entertainment features.
However, despite the current generation’s success, retro video games are still popular.
Power Up Gaming, at 490 Mapleview Drive West in Barrie, gives gamers a chance to find their favourite childhood games, to relive their favourite memories.
Launched in August 2012, Power Up Gaming’s slogan is “Revitalizing the past to captivate the future”, meaning bringing retro games along with current ones, together.
Kevin Wells is the store’s founder/owner, and says he started it up after he was laid off from his previous job.
What games can customers find? According to Wells, pretty much anything.
Wells recalls his first experience with videos games, saying the Atari 2600 and original Xbox are his favourite systems.
The best-selling system ever is the PlayStation 2 (PS2), with over 155 million unites sold. Released in 2000, the PS2 proved to be highly successful, due to its popular games, including Guitar Hero and Resident Evil. The PS2 was finally discontinued in 2013, its 13 year production remaining one of the longest for a video game console.
The PS2’s success is followed closely with the Nintendo DS, Game Boy, PlayStation, Wii and the Xbox 360.
Power Up Gaming has more than just video games and consoles.
They carry various accessories for the consoles and games.
Apart from games, systems and consoles, there are various memorabilias and trinkets for gamers.
Bruce Marion is an employee at Power Up Gaming, and says he looks at how much replay value there is in games, and says that is one of his main reasons for preferring retro games to today’s.
Achievements, from the Xbox 360, and trophies, from the PlayStation, are designed to extend the game’s longevity, to keep gamers playing that game. Achievements are designed for a mixture of in-game (like completing a level) or outside of the game’s design.
Achievements vary depending on the game. For sports, like NHL, it could be scoring 5 goals in a single period. For shooters, it could be completing a game on various difficulties, or completing a level without shooting anyone. Achievements bring players different ways of experiencing the game.
Particularly with Call of Duty, one of the most commercially successful first person shooters, it has been criticized for a lack of content, particularly its single play campaign.
For cliches in first person, shooters, take a look at this link. An actual game called “Duty Calls”, it is a free downloaded content for the main game “Bulletstorm” for the PC, essentially a parody of the Call of Duty series, but other cliches in first person shooters in general.
Various other games in today’s generation consoles have been criticized for lacking content, particularly the campaign. Some of the games include The Order: 1886, Titanfall, Ryse: Son of Rome and the Star Wars Battlefront reboot.
Wells says he prefers retro games because of their overall simplicity when learning, so one can quickly get into the game.
One of the biggest criticism’s for the current console generation is that most games no longer have the capability of local co-op split screen, where two or more gamers can be together in the same place and play the game together.
One of the best examples is Halo 5 for the Xbox One. The Halo series is one of the most popular and critically acclaimed video game series, due to its multiplayer and split screen co-op. Whether for the campaign or multiplayer, friends can experience the story and game together.
However, with Halo 5, split screen was removed, causing numerous fans of the game to take to the Internet to voice their disappointment, creating a petition asking for the developer, 343 Industries, to include split screen, arguing it is one of the most crucial aspects of the game, but it never came through.
Wells says for their Christmas party’s, he has his employees over at his house, with several consoles and games set up, making it a friendly tournament and get together.
However, retro games have had moments of problems and failures.
In 1982, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial was released in theatres to widespread critical acclaim. Shortly after, a video game based on the film was released for the Atari 2600.
However, it was given very little development time, and when it was released, it received overwhelming negative reception, mainly around gameplay and visuals. It is cited as one of the worst video game of all time and one of the biggest commercial failures in the industry.
It is seen as a major contributor in the video game crash of 1983, a recession where revenues were at $3.2 billion, but dropped by $100 million by 1985 (a drop of almost 97 per cent) due to saturation in the industry, competition of home computers and inflation.
As a result of overstock and returned cartridges, 728-thousand cartridges were buried in a landfill in Alamogordo, New Mexico, becoming an urban legend, until over a thousand copies were dug up in 2014.
Marion says he enjoys Role-Playing Games (RPG) and says the store is different for its friendly environment, where customers can come in and have conversations.
But how can a small retro store compete with a giant corporation in EB Games? They don’t.
Kevin Catania goes to Georgian College in Barrie, and says he visits the store from time to time.
He says his favourite system is the Nintendo 64 and that the video game industry has vastly changed, both good and bad.
He says retro games have much more content than today’s do, along with the systems being better quality.
Catania says his favourite current generation console is the PS4, and says the Xbox system has had numerous problems throughout its time, mainly because of its owner, Microsoft.
He says Microsoft’s mismanagement of quality and greed with customers has caused the PS4 to beat the Xbox One in sales.
For examples of problems with the Xbox, take a look at this video of Watchmojo.com’s Top 10 Xbox Fails.
Sam is a frequent customer at Power Up Gaming, coming usually once a month.
He plays mainly the original Xbox and enjoys action-adventure games.
He says those raised on the current console generation should take a look at retro games because of their entertainment value.
Some of the most commercially and critically successful games, courtesy of Metacritic, for the current or recent generation consoles (Xbox 360, Xbox one, PS3 & PS4) include:
1. The Halo Series (Science-fiction, first person shooter)
2. Red Dead Redemption (Open-world, western adventure)
3. Forza Horizon Series (Racing)
4. The Last of Us (Post-apocalyptic, survival horror)
5. The Uncharted Series (Action-adventure)
6. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (First person shooter)
7. Batman: Arkham Series (Open world, action-adventure)
8. Grand Theft Auto 5 (Open-world, adventure)
Some of the most commercially and critically successful games, courtesy of Metacritic, and TIME’s, for retro games (Atari, Nintendo, Gamecube, Playstation and Xbox) include:
1. Super Mario World (Fighting, platform)
2. GoldenEye 007 (First-person shooter)
3. Doom (First-person shooter)
4. Resident Evil (Survival horror)
5. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (Action-adventure)
6. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (Role-playing)
7. Metal Gear Solid (Action-adventure, stealth)
8. Fallout (Post-apocalyptic, role-playing)
