1 00:00:01,000 --> 00:00:03,210 (wind blowing) 2 00:00:41,480 --> 00:00:43,650 (gentle music) 3 00:00:49,090 --> 00:00:50,430 - So, I'm walking down the video game isle 4 00:00:50,430 --> 00:00:52,430 at Toys R Us, there's the glass next to me 5 00:00:52,430 --> 00:00:54,400 with all their games behind in and I remember 6 00:00:54,400 --> 00:00:55,970 walking and seeing the GhostBusters logo 7 00:00:55,970 --> 00:00:58,030 on the little placard, stopping, turning 8 00:00:58,030 --> 00:00:59,130 and slamming my finger on the glass going 9 00:00:59,130 --> 00:01:00,700 "What is THAT?" 10 00:01:00,700 --> 00:01:02,300 My mom was like, "That's a video game." 11 00:01:02,300 --> 00:01:02,910 And I was like "What's a video game?" 12 00:01:05,440 --> 00:01:07,510 - The first time I bought a game 13 00:01:07,510 --> 00:01:09,980 with my own money it was Donkey Kong 14 00:01:09,980 --> 00:01:13,620 for Atari 2600, and I saved up pennies... in penny rolls. 15 00:01:15,820 --> 00:01:17,120 Although, I remember the game was so hard 16 00:01:17,120 --> 00:01:19,720 I was crying because I had spent my money 17 00:01:19,720 --> 00:01:21,020 on this and the game was too hard. 18 00:01:21,020 --> 00:01:23,860 (laughing) 19 00:01:23,860 --> 00:01:26,860 - I don't remember the specific first game that I bought, 20 00:01:26,860 --> 00:01:30,330 but I remember really looking at digital as a platform 21 00:01:30,330 --> 00:01:31,900 with the Xbox Live Arcade. 22 00:01:34,040 --> 00:01:36,470 - Technology is one aspect of why it took so long 23 00:01:36,470 --> 00:01:38,670 for digital adoption to be a thing, but I think 24 00:01:38,670 --> 00:01:42,310 that if you were to examine other media 25 00:01:42,310 --> 00:01:43,980 that you'd see a similar story, which is 26 00:01:43,980 --> 00:01:46,580 that digital scares the old dinosaurs 27 00:01:46,580 --> 00:01:48,280 who are in charge and they don't know how to do it, 28 00:01:48,280 --> 00:01:50,650 and at first they freak out over piracy, 29 00:01:50,650 --> 00:01:51,950 but then Napster gets bought by Best Buy or whatever. 30 00:01:58,490 --> 00:02:01,500 - I opened in November of 2005, 31 00:02:01,500 --> 00:02:03,800 the day after Black Friday that year. 32 00:02:03,800 --> 00:02:05,870 I actually had the Clifton police call me 33 00:02:05,870 --> 00:02:08,140 one morning, 5 o'clock in the morning, 34 00:02:08,140 --> 00:02:09,910 are you the owner of this store front? 35 00:02:09,910 --> 00:02:12,710 I'm like, yes I am. I haven't opened yet. 36 00:02:12,710 --> 00:02:15,040 He was like well, it's a good thing 'cause there's a car lodged in the front of your store. 37 00:02:16,180 --> 00:02:18,050 I'm like 'ha ha, who is this?' 38 00:02:18,050 --> 00:02:20,920 I come down here and there's a giant, gaping hole 39 00:02:20,920 --> 00:02:22,520 in the storefront. 40 00:02:22,520 --> 00:02:24,450 The car was gone, but it had left 41 00:02:24,450 --> 00:02:26,590 a hole that you could literally 42 00:02:26,590 --> 00:02:28,690 just humpty dum, just walk straight through, 43 00:02:28,690 --> 00:02:30,230 and that was about three weeks 44 00:02:30,230 --> 00:02:30,890 before I was ready to open. 45 00:02:33,730 --> 00:02:35,860 - I've been here about nine and a half years. 46 00:02:35,860 --> 00:02:39,100 I got hired as a mechanic to fix PS2s and PSPs, 47 00:02:39,100 --> 00:02:40,640 at the time they were hot. 48 00:02:40,640 --> 00:02:43,410 We had coffee shops on both ends 49 00:02:43,410 --> 00:02:44,740 and in between, middle of the block, 50 00:02:44,740 --> 00:02:47,280 there's a motorcycle club. 51 00:02:47,280 --> 00:02:49,340 I don't necessarily wanna mention the motorcycle club 52 00:02:49,340 --> 00:02:51,410 by name, but they were kinda messin' with us at first 53 00:02:51,410 --> 00:02:52,820 when we moved in. 54 00:02:52,820 --> 00:02:53,950 I guess tryin' to see what we were doing, 55 00:02:53,950 --> 00:02:55,780 but now they know we sell fun, they're one 56 00:02:55,780 --> 00:02:56,820 of our good customers as well. 57 00:02:59,290 --> 00:03:02,560 - Yeah, well when we first opened it was kinda unique 58 00:03:02,560 --> 00:03:04,060 because there's bars across the street 59 00:03:04,060 --> 00:03:05,630 and we would be here til like two, three, 60 00:03:05,630 --> 00:03:06,660 in the morning, just gettin' the place in order, 61 00:03:06,660 --> 00:03:08,660 workin' in the back fixin' stuff 62 00:03:08,660 --> 00:03:10,500 and people would roll in super drunk 63 00:03:10,500 --> 00:03:12,070 from all the bars. 64 00:03:12,070 --> 00:03:14,070 - He never wanted to close the store, ever, 65 00:03:14,070 --> 00:03:16,310 and we have bars across the street. 66 00:03:16,310 --> 00:03:19,510 You can't physically, mentally be open 24 hours a day 67 00:03:19,510 --> 00:03:21,780 and be there all the time. 68 00:03:21,780 --> 00:03:23,610 - My wife worked up an off sheet. 69 00:03:23,610 --> 00:03:25,910 We were sleeping here actually most nights. 70 00:03:25,910 --> 00:03:27,180 Don't tell the landlord that. 71 00:03:27,180 --> 00:03:28,920 - I'd been a cook my whole life. 72 00:03:28,920 --> 00:03:30,790 The reason I got here is because my last job, 73 00:03:30,790 --> 00:03:33,160 after 16 years, got new owners and they fired me, 74 00:03:33,160 --> 00:03:36,660 and to start over in that industry at my age sounded crudy 75 00:03:36,660 --> 00:03:38,560 so we took a chance and did this. 76 00:03:38,560 --> 00:03:40,360 I tell people all the time, if I sold socks 77 00:03:40,360 --> 00:03:42,000 I'd have gone crazy a long time ago, 78 00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:43,830 so if you're gonna do somethin' that's gonna take 79 00:03:43,830 --> 00:03:45,800 all your time, you might as well do somethin' 80 00:03:45,800 --> 00:03:47,140 enjoyable and it helps that it's a fun industry to be in. 81 00:03:49,340 --> 00:03:52,810 - The name, Thrillhouse Games, comes from The Simpsons 82 00:03:52,810 --> 00:03:55,080 episode, the one where everyone wants this game, 83 00:03:55,080 --> 00:03:58,710 Bonestorm and Milhouse is like, oh man! 84 00:03:58,710 --> 00:04:00,650 It's so awesome and I've only entered my name: 85 00:04:00,650 --> 00:04:01,480 - Thrillhouse. 86 00:04:04,120 --> 00:04:05,350 - When somebody calls and is like, hey, 87 00:04:05,350 --> 00:04:07,060 do you have an XBox One? 88 00:04:07,060 --> 00:04:09,530 Yeah, I've got a 24k gold plated one 89 00:04:09,530 --> 00:04:11,590 and it's like $700. 90 00:04:11,590 --> 00:04:14,000 They're like, you're outta your damn mind. 91 00:04:14,000 --> 00:04:16,130 (laughing) 92 00:04:16,130 --> 00:04:19,170 - When is was 15 or 16, everyone was going 93 00:04:19,170 --> 00:04:21,600 to career days and everyone knew what they wanted 94 00:04:21,600 --> 00:04:23,740 to do exactly and I was like, I'm gonna move 95 00:04:23,740 --> 00:04:26,640 to California and start a video game store. 96 00:04:26,640 --> 00:04:28,680 - Pink Gorilla is one of Seattle's oldest retro game stores. 97 00:04:28,680 --> 00:04:30,610 It's 13 years old. 98 00:04:30,610 --> 00:04:33,150 I've been here for about seven years now 99 00:04:33,150 --> 00:04:35,320 at this point, and owned it for about two and a half. 100 00:04:35,320 --> 00:04:36,690 It's been really rewarding. 101 00:04:36,690 --> 00:04:37,720 I didn't think I wanted to be a business owner, 102 00:04:37,720 --> 00:04:39,450 but I love it. 103 00:04:39,450 --> 00:04:39,990 I don't think I could go back now. 104 00:04:43,390 --> 00:04:44,890 - Attention gamers. 105 00:04:44,890 --> 00:04:47,460 Rent, buy, sell and trade at Game Zone. 106 00:04:47,460 --> 00:04:50,200 Trade in or sell your old games and systems for cash. 107 00:04:50,200 --> 00:04:52,270 Game Zone is your headquarters for PlayStation 2 , 108 00:04:52,270 --> 00:04:54,900 XBox, Nintendo, GameCube, GameBoy SP and more. 109 00:04:54,900 --> 00:04:56,410 Check out our selection of popular titles 110 00:04:56,410 --> 00:04:58,070 as well as hard to find games. 111 00:04:58,070 --> 00:04:59,440 Don't throw away your old game system. 112 00:04:59,440 --> 00:05:01,180 Game Zone can fix it. 113 00:05:01,180 --> 00:05:03,550 We're the area's only shop to specialize and repair 114 00:05:03,550 --> 00:05:05,480 a PlayStation 2 and we could restore 115 00:05:05,480 --> 00:05:07,020 your scratched game CDs and DVDs. 116 00:05:07,020 --> 00:05:09,350 Be sure to visit our new location 117 00:05:09,350 --> 00:05:11,550 at 270 Essex Street in Salem, Massachusetts. 118 00:05:11,550 --> 00:05:13,620 Game Zone, we've GOT game! 119 00:05:13,620 --> 00:05:17,730 - $25,000 for 30 days to advertise. 120 00:05:17,730 --> 00:05:20,630 You know how many games I can buy for $25,000? 121 00:05:20,630 --> 00:05:21,960 Do people watch TV anymore? 122 00:05:24,900 --> 00:05:28,340 I opened this store just 25 years ago 123 00:05:28,340 --> 00:05:32,880 because I had so many people knocking at my mail order business. 124 00:05:32,880 --> 00:05:35,880 I had a mail order business called Master the Game 125 00:05:35,880 --> 00:05:39,180 in the back of... EGM and Game Pro. 126 00:05:39,180 --> 00:05:41,880 This was like in 1989. 127 00:05:41,880 --> 00:05:44,790 I had my address up here, which is required. 128 00:05:44,790 --> 00:05:48,290 I started to get people knocking at my warehouse 129 00:05:48,290 --> 00:05:51,290 saying, we saw your ad, we drove up from Beverly, 130 00:05:51,290 --> 00:05:54,800 we drove up from Salem, we wanna buy these games 131 00:05:54,800 --> 00:05:57,230 that aren't at Child's World or Toys R Us. 132 00:05:57,230 --> 00:06:00,070 These people, they were in my warehouse 133 00:06:00,070 --> 00:06:03,540 and they're climbin' ladders to get stuff 134 00:06:03,540 --> 00:06:05,910 and I'm sayin', I'm gonna have a lawsuit on me. 135 00:06:05,910 --> 00:06:09,180 Most of the customers were coming from this area... 136 00:06:09,180 --> 00:06:13,080 So, I figured I'd bring the games to them. 137 00:06:13,080 --> 00:06:16,150 Game Zone is right in the heart of downtown Salem, 138 00:06:16,150 --> 00:06:18,720 right in the middle of all the tourist attractions 139 00:06:18,720 --> 00:06:21,960 and we get quite a bit of people enjoying Salem 140 00:06:21,960 --> 00:06:24,530 for their holiday, their vacation, and they pop in 141 00:06:24,530 --> 00:06:26,260 and just admire our... museum. 142 00:06:28,700 --> 00:06:31,570 Salem does a great job of doin' festivals 143 00:06:31,570 --> 00:06:34,840 and poet readings and restaurant weeks 144 00:06:34,840 --> 00:06:37,140 and parades and marketing that get people 145 00:06:37,140 --> 00:06:39,910 into Salem on a regular basis. 146 00:06:39,910 --> 00:06:42,710 When I first opened up it was just Halloween. 147 00:06:42,710 --> 00:06:45,050 Now, it's pretty much year round. 148 00:06:45,050 --> 00:06:48,220 It's pretty cool to have seen it over that 26 years 149 00:06:48,220 --> 00:06:50,320 blossom to a full year round attraction. 150 00:06:55,820 --> 00:06:57,360 - This building has, including me, 151 00:06:57,360 --> 00:06:59,590 there's three retail locations. 152 00:06:59,590 --> 00:07:02,230 There's a hairdresser and a tailor 153 00:07:02,230 --> 00:07:05,300 and upstairs there's a internet company. 154 00:07:05,300 --> 00:07:08,500 So I've been a tenant here for 14 years now 155 00:07:08,500 --> 00:07:11,870 and before I moved in it was a jewelry store. 156 00:07:11,870 --> 00:07:14,410 And actually the previous tenant died here. 157 00:07:16,950 --> 00:07:18,680 So, the jeweler would hang out back here, 158 00:07:18,680 --> 00:07:20,480 have his lunch. 159 00:07:20,480 --> 00:07:23,250 He had a one-way mirror, a nice little seat here, 160 00:07:23,250 --> 00:07:25,990 set up a counter and he could sit back here, 161 00:07:25,990 --> 00:07:29,160 relax, keep an eye on his store. 162 00:07:29,160 --> 00:07:32,860 The UPS driver came in and found the store empty, 163 00:07:32,860 --> 00:07:35,060 walked back here and found him dead 164 00:07:35,060 --> 00:07:37,500 while he was having his lunch 165 00:07:37,500 --> 00:07:41,100 right here in this spot, right where I keep the vacuum. 166 00:07:41,100 --> 00:07:43,840 Now I have a vacuum in this poor bastard's place. 167 00:07:43,840 --> 00:07:46,010 (gentle music) 168 00:07:50,110 --> 00:07:52,450 When we picked this store, one of the things we liked 169 00:07:52,450 --> 00:07:55,880 about it is that the chandaliers is fit in with Salem 170 00:07:55,880 --> 00:07:58,820 and video games and Resident Evil. 171 00:07:58,820 --> 00:08:00,620 Some of these cases are left over 172 00:08:00,620 --> 00:08:03,160 from when it was a jewelry store 173 00:08:03,160 --> 00:08:05,030 and then we were able to buy some of our own. 174 00:08:05,030 --> 00:08:07,160 We lucked out and got some Nintendo 175 00:08:07,160 --> 00:08:08,100 store fixtures from Lechmere. 176 00:08:10,300 --> 00:08:13,440 Everybody that grew up in this area remembers Lechmere. 177 00:08:13,440 --> 00:08:16,040 They were a small region electronic store 178 00:08:16,040 --> 00:08:18,440 here in the New England area. 179 00:08:18,440 --> 00:08:20,110 Best Buy has actually taken over their spot. 180 00:08:22,010 --> 00:08:24,450 I was lucky enough to be over there 181 00:08:24,450 --> 00:08:27,150 when they were moving 'em out and I inquired 182 00:08:27,150 --> 00:08:28,880 about what they were gonna do with them 183 00:08:28,880 --> 00:08:31,550 and they offered 'em to me. 184 00:08:31,550 --> 00:08:35,120 When I opened up, 26 years ago, my store was called, 185 00:08:35,120 --> 00:08:38,260 Master the Game, because I had a mail order business 186 00:08:38,260 --> 00:08:40,860 by the same name, so I stuck with that name 187 00:08:40,860 --> 00:08:43,570 for about seven, nine years. 188 00:08:43,570 --> 00:08:46,170 My wife didn't like Master the Game name 189 00:08:46,170 --> 00:08:49,070 and we were driving down Route One, 190 00:08:49,070 --> 00:08:51,340 there was a billboard and it had like this 191 00:08:51,340 --> 00:08:55,580 neon green hurricane and it said, "get in the zone" 192 00:08:55,580 --> 00:08:58,180 and she said, you gotta name the store Game Zone 193 00:08:58,180 --> 00:08:59,850 and that's gonna be your logo. 194 00:08:59,850 --> 00:09:01,920 So, kept the wife happy. 195 00:09:03,590 --> 00:09:05,750 (gentle music) 196 00:09:11,830 --> 00:09:16,060 When my wife passed away the first week or so 197 00:09:16,060 --> 00:09:19,430 I didn't even come into the store, it was so brutal, 198 00:09:19,430 --> 00:09:21,840 and I found sympathy and companionship with Corky. 199 00:09:23,770 --> 00:09:25,270 On the way down we'd talk out 200 00:09:25,270 --> 00:09:27,280 a lotta the issues and problems. 201 00:09:27,280 --> 00:09:30,280 He was like my security blanket. 202 00:09:30,280 --> 00:09:32,010 He just showed up all the time and wanted 203 00:09:32,010 --> 00:09:33,620 to come to work. 204 00:09:33,620 --> 00:09:35,780 The people like him and the kids would like him 205 00:09:35,780 --> 00:09:38,790 and he kept the girlfriends busy 206 00:09:38,790 --> 00:09:42,020 while the boyfriends were browsing for video games. 207 00:09:42,020 --> 00:09:44,190 (gentle music) 208 00:09:50,430 --> 00:09:53,300 - As a predominantly console gamer Xbox Live Arcade 209 00:09:53,300 --> 00:09:55,140 was really kind of like the window like oh yeah, 210 00:09:55,140 --> 00:09:57,340 I can download this game. 211 00:09:57,340 --> 00:09:59,610 The seven generation of consoles was really 212 00:09:59,610 --> 00:10:02,440 the rise of XBox 360 PS3 and Wii. 213 00:10:04,380 --> 00:10:07,150 - Certainly, Steam existed before that, 214 00:10:07,150 --> 00:10:08,880 but I'd argue that was more of a niche market 215 00:10:08,880 --> 00:10:10,450 for a while. 216 00:10:10,450 --> 00:10:12,750 The first game I bought digitally was Snood 217 00:10:12,750 --> 00:10:14,460 back in college. 218 00:10:14,460 --> 00:10:17,590 It was sort of a big deal to throw in that $2 219 00:10:17,590 --> 00:10:20,330 or $5 or whatever it was and upgrade from trial to pro 220 00:10:20,330 --> 00:10:22,530 or whatever the terminology was. 221 00:10:22,530 --> 00:10:25,100 - Digital marketplaces couldn't succeed 222 00:10:25,100 --> 00:10:27,170 before that time period because the technology 223 00:10:27,170 --> 00:10:28,370 just wasn't there yet. 224 00:10:28,370 --> 00:10:30,670 If you think about the hard drives 225 00:10:30,670 --> 00:10:34,410 that you used to use, like pre 2005, I mean, 226 00:10:34,410 --> 00:10:37,750 getting something that was over 64 gigabytes 227 00:10:37,750 --> 00:10:39,810 was outrageously expensive 228 00:10:39,810 --> 00:10:42,720 and games are large files. 229 00:10:42,720 --> 00:10:45,090 The idea that you could have a digital marketplace 230 00:10:45,090 --> 00:10:47,290 was just not feasible because these boxes 231 00:10:47,290 --> 00:10:49,020 didn't have the hard drive space to store 232 00:10:49,020 --> 00:10:51,030 all this information. 233 00:10:51,030 --> 00:10:54,060 - You could buy video games on your XBox 234 00:10:54,060 --> 00:10:55,430 over the internet. 235 00:10:55,430 --> 00:10:58,200 That was just a new concept for a long time. 236 00:10:58,200 --> 00:10:59,970 I think it took a long time for people 237 00:10:59,970 --> 00:11:03,540 to wrap their heads around the idea 238 00:11:03,540 --> 00:11:06,370 of paying money to download a game 239 00:11:06,370 --> 00:11:09,480 in the same way it was, and I'd argue 240 00:11:09,480 --> 00:11:11,150 until the iPhone, that people wrapped 241 00:11:11,150 --> 00:11:14,150 their heads around paying money for a song. 242 00:11:14,150 --> 00:11:16,480 - iTunes and digital games for Apple didn't really 243 00:11:16,480 --> 00:11:19,750 come about until around 2009, 2010, when the iPad 244 00:11:19,750 --> 00:11:21,520 debuted on the market. 245 00:11:21,520 --> 00:11:23,260 Mobile would never be where it is today 246 00:11:23,260 --> 00:11:24,090 if you had to go to a store and buy 247 00:11:24,090 --> 00:11:25,230 a physical copy. 248 00:11:25,230 --> 00:11:27,360 That's why mobile is huge. 249 00:11:27,360 --> 00:11:29,360 - It used to be like a one gigabyte download 250 00:11:29,360 --> 00:11:32,600 was an incredible, incredible amount of time 251 00:11:32,600 --> 00:11:35,170 and effort and you could probably pop down 252 00:11:35,170 --> 00:11:37,610 to the Best Buy and buy the game 253 00:11:37,610 --> 00:11:40,110 before you could finish downloading it at home. 254 00:11:40,110 --> 00:11:41,610 - Yeah, you just put your fingerprint down 255 00:11:41,610 --> 00:11:43,040 and you just keep spending the money. 256 00:11:43,040 --> 00:11:45,410 It's super easy. 257 00:11:45,410 --> 00:11:47,850 Digital stores are all about convenience 258 00:11:47,850 --> 00:11:49,850 and that is awesome for gamers 259 00:11:49,850 --> 00:11:51,150 who have families, who have jobs, 260 00:11:51,150 --> 00:11:52,590 who are in school. 261 00:11:52,590 --> 00:11:54,460 Maybe you don't have time to go down 262 00:11:54,460 --> 00:11:56,220 to the local store and pick up a game. 263 00:11:56,220 --> 00:11:57,560 But, you're sitting on the couch, 264 00:11:57,560 --> 00:11:58,260 it's Friday night. 265 00:11:58,260 --> 00:11:59,590 You've got the weekend. 266 00:11:59,590 --> 00:12:01,500 You're like hmmm, what am I gonna play? 267 00:12:01,500 --> 00:12:03,330 You can just go to the digital marketplace and browse 268 00:12:03,330 --> 00:12:05,300 and who knows, maybe you'll discover a game, 269 00:12:05,300 --> 00:12:06,270 a developer or a publisher that you've 270 00:12:06,270 --> 00:12:08,140 never heard of before and that's 271 00:12:08,140 --> 00:12:10,140 what's awesome about digital. 272 00:12:10,140 --> 00:12:12,270 - So, let me set the stage a little bit. 273 00:12:12,270 --> 00:12:15,340 It's the mid 1980s, Nintendo comes outta nowhere, 274 00:12:15,340 --> 00:12:17,280 at least to us Americans. 275 00:12:17,280 --> 00:12:18,180 While they're at the height of their power, 276 00:12:18,180 --> 00:12:20,020 there is a video game shortage. 277 00:12:20,020 --> 00:12:23,020 There is a chip shortage in 1988. 278 00:12:23,020 --> 00:12:25,720 There's a great Chicago Tribune article 279 00:12:25,720 --> 00:12:29,220 that called it the oil crisis for computers. 280 00:12:29,220 --> 00:12:31,290 I remember Peter Main, the Senior Vice President 281 00:12:31,290 --> 00:12:33,060 of Sales and Marketing at Nintendo, he had 282 00:12:33,060 --> 00:12:34,430 this big announcement where he said 283 00:12:34,430 --> 00:12:36,600 that Nintendo was not gonna be able to meet 284 00:12:36,600 --> 00:12:40,170 10%, 15% of their demand that year. 285 00:12:40,170 --> 00:12:42,640 One of the benefits today of digital distribution 286 00:12:42,640 --> 00:12:45,810 and the way that video games are made and sold 287 00:12:45,810 --> 00:12:47,810 is that you are not going to have a situation like 288 00:12:47,810 --> 00:12:50,210 the chip shortage in 1988. 289 00:12:50,210 --> 00:12:52,580 For the first time, people are making games 290 00:12:52,580 --> 00:12:54,880 for Nintendo systems out of their homes now. 291 00:12:54,880 --> 00:12:57,520 That is huge. 292 00:12:57,520 --> 00:12:59,290 Minecraft would not have been possible 293 00:12:59,290 --> 00:13:01,790 in a physical only realm. 294 00:13:01,790 --> 00:13:05,660 What Walmart buyer would've seen Minecraft 295 00:13:05,660 --> 00:13:08,360 in like 2003 or whatever, and gone like yeah, 296 00:13:08,360 --> 00:13:10,130 we'll order a million units of that. 297 00:13:10,130 --> 00:13:12,500 No, absolutely not. 298 00:13:12,500 --> 00:13:15,240 Now that we're able to communicate directly 299 00:13:15,240 --> 00:13:17,610 with the player, we're able to experiment 300 00:13:17,610 --> 00:13:19,540 and do much more interesting things 301 00:13:19,540 --> 00:13:22,780 and things are better than they've ever been 302 00:13:22,780 --> 00:13:25,150 right now and don't let anyone say otherwise. 303 00:13:25,150 --> 00:13:27,320 (gentle music) 304 00:13:36,090 --> 00:13:40,060 - I think there's no way you can say 305 00:13:40,060 --> 00:13:42,430 that games aren't more varied right now than ever before. 306 00:13:42,430 --> 00:13:45,830 Digital distribution plays into the fact that we're so varied 307 00:13:45,830 --> 00:13:47,340 and so diverse right now in the fact that anyone can make anything. 308 00:13:47,340 --> 00:13:48,870 If you have an idea for a video game, if you have something you enjoy, 309 00:13:48,870 --> 00:13:50,840 chances are there's another person out there 310 00:13:50,840 --> 00:13:52,740 who's gonna enjoy it, too. 311 00:13:52,740 --> 00:13:55,010 So, you can sit there and you can spend six months on it, 312 00:13:55,010 --> 00:13:56,380 you can spend six years on it. 313 00:13:56,380 --> 00:13:58,850 You can make this game that you think's 314 00:13:58,850 --> 00:14:00,580 gonna be amazing and you can get it out to the people. 315 00:14:00,580 --> 00:14:01,920 There is no longer a Nintendo seal of approval 316 00:14:01,920 --> 00:14:03,650 to worry about. 317 00:14:03,650 --> 00:14:05,220 You can make this game and you can put it out as an app. 318 00:14:05,220 --> 00:14:06,350 You can put it up on Steam. 319 00:14:06,350 --> 00:14:07,690 You can go and put it on ID and XBox. 320 00:14:07,690 --> 00:14:10,260 You can get this game out there to people. 321 00:14:10,260 --> 00:14:12,330 PAX originally, right, was such a community thing 322 00:14:12,330 --> 00:14:13,560 of, cool, we're gonna go there and we're 323 00:14:13,560 --> 00:14:15,500 gonna play Mario Kart Double Dash. 324 00:14:15,500 --> 00:14:16,560 We're gonna go there and we're gonna play 325 00:14:16,560 --> 00:14:19,500 Smash Brothers and now you go to PAX East right now 326 00:14:19,500 --> 00:14:20,440 you go around this and what is it? 327 00:14:20,440 --> 00:14:23,200 It's all indie games. 328 00:14:23,200 --> 00:14:25,410 - Horizon Chase Turbo is a throwback to arcade 329 00:14:25,410 --> 00:14:27,580 racing games from the '90s. 330 00:14:27,580 --> 00:14:30,350 So, it basically it brings back the feeling 331 00:14:30,350 --> 00:14:31,710 of playing a racing game with your friends 332 00:14:31,710 --> 00:14:33,310 on the couch. 333 00:14:33,310 --> 00:14:37,750 - Floor Kids is a break dance battle game 334 00:14:37,750 --> 00:14:40,420 and it also kinda has some fighting game components 335 00:14:40,420 --> 00:14:42,090 where you got combos and you gotta learn those combos 336 00:14:42,090 --> 00:14:43,990 and who has strengths. 337 00:14:43,990 --> 00:14:46,560 - Hitch Hiker is a narrative PC/console game... 338 00:14:46,560 --> 00:14:49,400 It's an inner journey about relationships, 339 00:14:49,400 --> 00:14:53,400 It's an adventure game, a narrative driven adventure game. 340 00:14:53,400 --> 00:14:55,540 We're started from a team of four people... 341 00:14:55,540 --> 00:14:58,510 to around 15 people at the end of the development. 342 00:14:58,510 --> 00:15:01,010 - There's four co-founders of the company, 343 00:15:01,010 --> 00:15:03,850 animation, music, programming. 344 00:15:03,850 --> 00:15:06,780 - It's five people, like one and a half coders, 345 00:15:06,780 --> 00:15:09,080 like two artists, one author for the story, 346 00:15:09,080 --> 00:15:12,490 he's actually American, and me. 347 00:15:12,490 --> 00:15:13,960 - Oh I mean, the move to digital has just opened 348 00:15:13,960 --> 00:15:15,560 so many doors. 349 00:15:15,560 --> 00:15:18,530 It's way more good than bad. 350 00:15:18,530 --> 00:15:21,000 When games were retail only, that was 351 00:15:21,000 --> 00:15:24,630 a significant barrier of entry for anyone 352 00:15:24,630 --> 00:15:27,100 who actually wanted to make it sell games. 353 00:15:27,100 --> 00:15:30,000 - A lot of new delves now go to digital marketplaces 354 00:15:30,000 --> 00:15:32,470 with foregoing the physical copy 'cause it could mean 355 00:15:32,470 --> 00:15:34,340 it's a lot easier to do. 356 00:15:34,340 --> 00:15:36,610 - Okay, I need to talk to a manufacturer 357 00:15:36,610 --> 00:15:37,710 about making the discs and making the cases 358 00:15:37,710 --> 00:15:40,280 and getting the artwork for the pamphlets. 359 00:15:40,280 --> 00:15:41,350 Then I need to talk to the platform holders 360 00:15:41,350 --> 00:15:42,920 about distribution. 361 00:15:42,920 --> 00:15:44,720 Like, all of those steps are something 362 00:15:44,720 --> 00:15:46,650 that's super daunting to somebody 363 00:15:46,650 --> 00:15:49,660 who just has a really amazing creative idea for a game. 364 00:15:49,660 --> 00:15:51,290 - You gotta worry about stealth space, right. 365 00:15:51,290 --> 00:15:53,430 You gotta worry about what is Walmart 366 00:15:53,430 --> 00:15:56,000 actually gonna stock. 367 00:15:56,000 --> 00:15:58,770 That space is limited and expensive, so a lotta AndiDevs 368 00:15:58,770 --> 00:16:01,540 don't have the money they need to be there. 369 00:16:01,540 --> 00:16:03,470 - We also envision a digital copy, but it's much 370 00:16:03,470 --> 00:16:05,340 more complicated. 371 00:16:05,340 --> 00:16:08,680 They need to be at least 25 to 30 bucks. 372 00:16:08,680 --> 00:16:13,250 If not, you don't have a viable business. 373 00:16:13,250 --> 00:16:15,720 - We're really a small team and we have 374 00:16:15,720 --> 00:16:17,420 a limited amount of resources, so when we have 375 00:16:17,420 --> 00:16:18,920 those resources we wanna put 'em all 376 00:16:18,920 --> 00:16:21,990 to the most exciting new feature or new modes 377 00:16:21,990 --> 00:16:24,330 or DLC, we'll see. 378 00:16:24,330 --> 00:16:26,290 - We could only be able to develop games 379 00:16:26,290 --> 00:16:28,700 because of the digital distribution. 380 00:16:28,700 --> 00:16:32,270 It's way more expensive to distribute a game physically 381 00:16:32,270 --> 00:16:35,040 and it's way more accessible for independent developers 382 00:16:35,040 --> 00:16:38,410 like us who are basically starting to understand 383 00:16:38,410 --> 00:16:40,440 the market and developing our first game. 384 00:16:40,440 --> 00:16:43,140 So, probably Horizon Chase would not exist 385 00:16:43,140 --> 00:16:43,850 without digital distribution. 386 00:16:51,820 --> 00:16:53,690 (soft music) 387 00:16:58,790 --> 00:17:00,530 - How long have you been collecting Sega Saturn? 388 00:17:00,530 --> 00:17:02,560 - A couple years. 389 00:17:02,560 --> 00:17:05,070 - Did you have a Saturn when the Saturn was popular? 390 00:17:05,070 --> 00:17:06,830 - I did not, but my cousin did, so I played 391 00:17:06,830 --> 00:17:08,170 a lot of the stuff that they had, 392 00:17:08,170 --> 00:17:09,640 especially like virtual Saturn. 393 00:17:09,640 --> 00:17:11,710 It's probably one of the most played ones they had. 394 00:17:11,710 --> 00:17:13,470 - But you started the collecting more years afterwards? 395 00:17:13,470 --> 00:17:14,940 - A couple years after. 396 00:17:14,940 --> 00:17:17,080 Going through all the stuff, flea markets, eBay, 397 00:17:17,080 --> 00:17:18,850 everything, to kinda get the best deals. 398 00:17:18,850 --> 00:17:20,450 - Do you care to share why you're trading 399 00:17:20,450 --> 00:17:21,850 your collection in at this point? 400 00:17:21,850 --> 00:17:23,890 - I haven't played them in a while 401 00:17:23,890 --> 00:17:26,120 and also it's the next stage in my life. 402 00:17:26,120 --> 00:17:28,860 I'm getting married, gotta find my own place, so. 403 00:17:28,860 --> 00:17:29,460 - Well, congratulations. 404 00:17:31,460 --> 00:17:32,330 If I haven't congratulated you before. 405 00:17:34,530 --> 00:17:37,000 When you did your appraisal, personal appraisal 406 00:17:37,000 --> 00:17:40,070 for the value of the system, did you come up with a number? 407 00:17:40,070 --> 00:17:42,900 - Between like 11 and a half and 12 of the whole thing, 408 00:17:42,900 --> 00:17:45,810 but being realistic I know that you have to make 409 00:17:45,810 --> 00:17:47,780 your own money and everything, so I was thinking 410 00:17:47,780 --> 00:17:50,010 more like six and a half to seven, 411 00:17:50,010 --> 00:17:51,950 a little bit around half. 412 00:17:51,950 --> 00:17:54,320 I would throw these two in 'cause I'm getting rid 413 00:17:54,320 --> 00:17:55,980 of all the now link stuff whatever 414 00:17:55,980 --> 00:17:57,920 and there's also this virtual vital remix 415 00:17:57,920 --> 00:18:00,090 which a lot of people don't know, 416 00:18:00,090 --> 00:18:02,920 was also a long version and worth somethings. 417 00:18:02,920 --> 00:18:03,790 And I also have the Knights with 3D controller, 418 00:18:03,790 --> 00:18:04,990 which is also-- 419 00:18:04,990 --> 00:18:05,930 - Right, you have the-- 420 00:18:05,930 --> 00:18:07,160 - No Knights log there. 421 00:18:07,160 --> 00:18:09,360 - Yeah, that's great. 422 00:18:09,360 --> 00:18:12,530 Okay, well I think we've got a deal. 423 00:18:12,530 --> 00:18:14,100 We can do it. 424 00:18:14,100 --> 00:18:16,140 Thank you, thanks for bringing it in. 425 00:18:16,140 --> 00:18:18,310 (guitar music) 426 00:18:25,980 --> 00:18:28,920 How many games do we have in the store? 427 00:18:28,920 --> 00:18:31,220 Well if you were to walk around in this upper level here, 428 00:18:31,220 --> 00:18:32,750 you'd probably find somewhere in the neighborhood, 429 00:18:32,750 --> 00:18:35,120 I'm really just estimating this, 430 00:18:35,120 --> 00:18:37,730 probably about 7,000 games 431 00:18:37,730 --> 00:18:39,990 and I'd say that because there's everything from Pong 432 00:18:39,990 --> 00:18:42,000 to PlayStation four here and in a lot of cases we have 433 00:18:42,000 --> 00:18:45,130 duplicates because some titles are very popular 434 00:18:45,130 --> 00:18:48,700 but if you go into the storage area downstairs, 435 00:18:48,700 --> 00:18:51,570 you're probably in that 25 to 30,000 games area. 436 00:18:54,080 --> 00:18:55,510 All right, watch your step 437 00:18:55,510 --> 00:18:56,340 and watch the air conditioning unit. 438 00:19:03,420 --> 00:19:06,790 I moved in here 11 years ago and I remember in this giant, 439 00:19:06,790 --> 00:19:09,890 empty basement where we have the same amount of space 440 00:19:09,890 --> 00:19:12,330 down here as we have upstairs, I was like, what a steal. 441 00:19:12,330 --> 00:19:13,530 I'm getting all of this extra space 442 00:19:13,530 --> 00:19:14,700 that I'll never even use. 443 00:19:17,130 --> 00:19:20,230 So this was 444 00:19:20,230 --> 00:19:22,840 traded in, we actually had a customer being us a whole 445 00:19:22,840 --> 00:19:25,010 bunch of sealed games, we've put it in a protective case 446 00:19:25,010 --> 00:19:27,410 because people that collect sealed games, they'll look for 447 00:19:27,410 --> 00:19:29,880 things like this T seal. 448 00:19:29,880 --> 00:19:32,950 Don't like, even the plastic on the sealed game to be 449 00:19:32,950 --> 00:19:34,850 messed with so as soon as we get something like this, 450 00:19:34,850 --> 00:19:38,550 we put it in a box protector and 451 00:19:38,550 --> 00:19:41,320 usually we put it on Ebay because 452 00:19:41,320 --> 00:19:43,730 people, like I said, are not going to walk into the store 453 00:19:43,730 --> 00:19:46,490 and just say here's $1,000. 454 00:19:46,490 --> 00:19:48,160 What's the most expensive game you have. 455 00:19:48,160 --> 00:19:49,430 That probably is the most expensive game we have in the 456 00:19:49,430 --> 00:19:50,300 store right now for sale. 457 00:19:50,300 --> 00:19:52,170 (light music) 458 00:19:55,400 --> 00:19:57,940 The world of digital distribution, it's changed the 459 00:19:57,940 --> 00:19:59,510 world of keeping brand new video games in the store, 460 00:19:59,510 --> 00:20:02,040 at least in my store. 461 00:20:02,040 --> 00:20:05,850 I don't really have the same drive or need to keep 462 00:20:05,850 --> 00:20:08,550 those shelves full of today's brand new releases 463 00:20:08,550 --> 00:20:11,150 or this month's brand new releases because 464 00:20:11,150 --> 00:20:14,260 most of these kids are getting their stuff from their couch. 465 00:20:14,260 --> 00:20:19,030 I mean I would say our store is 80% used games and 466 00:20:19,030 --> 00:20:22,330 10% new games and the other 10% is merchandise. 467 00:20:22,330 --> 00:20:24,900 That's a big change from what it was when I opened. 468 00:20:24,900 --> 00:20:28,270 When I opened, I'd say it was probably 40% new games 469 00:20:28,270 --> 00:20:31,310 and 50 to 60% in used games and very, very little 470 00:20:31,310 --> 00:20:33,810 merchandise, I wasn't stocking Plushies and board games 471 00:20:33,810 --> 00:20:34,880 and comic books and things at that time. 472 00:20:37,150 --> 00:20:39,950 I would say that we get more traded in than we sell. 473 00:20:39,950 --> 00:20:42,550 I could never possibly keep up with the inflow 474 00:20:42,550 --> 00:20:44,290 of trade ins. 475 00:20:44,290 --> 00:20:46,020 During the course of a day, 476 00:20:46,020 --> 00:20:48,190 we'll probably buy anywhere between 500 and 477 00:20:50,730 --> 00:20:54,430 15 hundred dollars worth of stuff from people. 478 00:20:54,430 --> 00:20:58,030 There are days where it's so busy, the island where we do 479 00:20:58,030 --> 00:21:01,500 our sales just looks like Fred Sanford's backyard. 480 00:21:01,500 --> 00:21:04,570 It's just a heap of boxes and controllers and dirty wires 481 00:21:04,570 --> 00:21:06,840 and things. 482 00:21:06,840 --> 00:21:10,580 The trade ins here are, I wanna say mostly cash trade ins 483 00:21:10,580 --> 00:21:14,220 and I think it's because, well, people need cash, right? 484 00:21:14,220 --> 00:21:16,320 If you can find a place like a pawn shop that's going to 485 00:21:16,320 --> 00:21:17,450 give you cash for your items, that's always the first place 486 00:21:17,450 --> 00:21:19,290 you wanna go. 487 00:21:19,290 --> 00:21:21,520 They don't get as much in cash as they would for credit. 488 00:21:21,520 --> 00:21:23,220 I'm sure most of the game stores you've talked to do the 489 00:21:23,220 --> 00:21:25,390 same thing but if it brings in more trade ins, 490 00:21:25,390 --> 00:21:26,990 it's good for us. 491 00:21:26,990 --> 00:21:29,330 Ultimately, a business like this can't survive without 492 00:21:29,330 --> 00:21:32,130 a constant influx of product and it's gotta be new stuff. 493 00:21:32,130 --> 00:21:35,200 I can't keep the same games in the display cases for too 494 00:21:35,200 --> 00:21:36,840 long or people that are here just to shop are gonna get 495 00:21:36,840 --> 00:21:39,870 tired of looking at it. 496 00:21:39,870 --> 00:21:42,480 I like being able to have a constant influx and then 497 00:21:42,480 --> 00:21:44,910 being able to rotate all of those items for my customers 498 00:21:44,910 --> 00:21:46,210 who, you know, wanna spend the cash instead of take it. 499 00:21:49,920 --> 00:21:52,820 Before I opened the store, lots of people were collecting, 500 00:21:52,820 --> 00:21:54,560 that Atari generation, Atari and Caleco, 501 00:21:54,560 --> 00:21:55,720 up to the NES. 502 00:21:55,720 --> 00:21:58,390 Those guys, 503 00:21:58,390 --> 00:22:00,860 as they got older, stopped being interested in it 504 00:22:00,860 --> 00:22:02,930 or stopped collecting, now this group of people 505 00:22:02,930 --> 00:22:06,470 is interested in NES up to SNES 506 00:22:06,470 --> 00:22:09,740 but this group of people is not at all interested in that. 507 00:22:09,740 --> 00:22:11,540 I think this stops and I think it goes 508 00:22:11,540 --> 00:22:13,170 (fart noise) 509 00:22:13,170 --> 00:22:15,410 like that and at some point, you're not collecting 510 00:22:15,410 --> 00:22:17,010 'cause there's nothing to collect and the generation 511 00:22:17,010 --> 00:22:19,950 that you played didn't have physical media. 512 00:22:19,950 --> 00:22:21,420 There's nobody that's going to be collecting 513 00:22:21,420 --> 00:22:23,420 Xbox One S games. 514 00:22:23,420 --> 00:22:25,750 90% of that is going to be digital, right? 515 00:22:25,750 --> 00:22:27,820 There's no 516 00:22:27,820 --> 00:22:29,560 collecting, there's nothing to collect. 517 00:22:29,560 --> 00:22:31,730 It certainly, my game store gets nothing from that, right? 518 00:22:31,730 --> 00:22:32,790 There's nothing to sell them. 519 00:22:34,330 --> 00:22:34,900 It's done so, 520 00:22:36,860 --> 00:22:39,230 I wouldn't say it's peaked 521 00:22:39,230 --> 00:22:42,170 but I would say that there's an end to where it can go 522 00:22:42,170 --> 00:22:44,470 and that the base of collectors that have something to 523 00:22:44,470 --> 00:22:47,010 collect is getting too old to care and there's less and 524 00:22:47,010 --> 00:22:48,010 less of them of it to care about. 525 00:22:49,580 --> 00:22:51,680 (light music) 526 00:23:00,450 --> 00:23:02,060 - When I first started buying digital games, I always 527 00:23:02,060 --> 00:23:04,390 felt like, what am I actually buying? 528 00:23:04,390 --> 00:23:07,400 It's just rights to use software, really. 529 00:23:07,400 --> 00:23:10,030 - To me, I don't really see that many benefits. 530 00:23:10,030 --> 00:23:11,600 The biggest benefit is that you don't have to get up off 531 00:23:11,600 --> 00:23:13,940 your couch 532 00:23:13,940 --> 00:23:16,170 and that's sort of where it ends for me. 533 00:23:16,170 --> 00:23:17,740 - I would never buy a movie on cable on demand but it 534 00:23:17,740 --> 00:23:19,740 always comes up. 535 00:23:19,740 --> 00:23:22,110 I have a daughter so I always wanna like show her some of 536 00:23:22,110 --> 00:23:24,750 the classic Disney movies but you can't rent the Disney 537 00:23:24,750 --> 00:23:26,580 movies because they're always buy, like, 538 00:23:26,580 --> 00:23:28,880 Beauty and the Beast, the original, buy only for 25 bucks 539 00:23:28,880 --> 00:23:29,920 or whatever it is. 540 00:23:29,920 --> 00:23:31,690 Well, if I buy it, what happens? 541 00:23:31,690 --> 00:23:33,920 Do I just have it on my cable box? 542 00:23:33,920 --> 00:23:35,760 How long can you really watch that for? 543 00:23:35,760 --> 00:23:38,030 What do you own? 544 00:23:38,030 --> 00:23:40,460 That's one of the reasons why I like physical copies 545 00:23:40,460 --> 00:23:43,130 of things because it's like, okay I know this is my copy. 546 00:23:43,130 --> 00:23:45,700 I can watch it whenever I want, like, I don't wanna copy it, 547 00:23:45,700 --> 00:23:47,540 I don't wanna like distribute it, you know, or anything. 548 00:23:47,540 --> 00:23:49,440 I just wanna be able to watch it. 549 00:23:49,440 --> 00:23:51,040 - It's becoming increasingly obvious to me that the 550 00:23:51,040 --> 00:23:53,340 definition of ownership is changing. 551 00:23:53,340 --> 00:23:56,010 Owning something digitally doesn't feel really like 552 00:23:56,010 --> 00:23:58,450 ownership but it definitely feels 553 00:23:58,450 --> 00:24:00,510 much more like a timeshare. 554 00:24:00,510 --> 00:24:03,020 - I think when you buy digital, there's always, 555 00:24:03,020 --> 00:24:05,520 at least for me, a little bit of hesitation, I'm like, 556 00:24:05,520 --> 00:24:06,990 well, okay, if I buy this now and I delete it, am I gonna, 557 00:24:06,990 --> 00:24:09,120 am I gonna get it back? 558 00:24:09,120 --> 00:24:10,790 Am I gonna be able to download it again? 559 00:24:10,790 --> 00:24:13,530 Is that license still gonna be mine? 560 00:24:13,530 --> 00:24:18,100 - As a fairly young person, I never was hesitant to put 561 00:24:18,100 --> 00:24:20,970 my credit card information into a storefront. 562 00:24:20,970 --> 00:24:24,110 You know, I knew what a secure storefront 563 00:24:24,110 --> 00:24:27,140 was versus unsecure, you know, I knew not to, like, 564 00:24:27,140 --> 00:24:29,910 reply to emails with my personal info or whatever. 565 00:24:29,910 --> 00:24:32,350 - When you buy a digital game, 566 00:24:32,350 --> 00:24:35,280 you're just buying a license to use that digital game. 567 00:24:35,280 --> 00:24:38,150 You are not buying the game itself. 568 00:24:38,150 --> 00:24:39,790 I was one of the dumb people who bought, 569 00:24:39,790 --> 00:24:41,090 I think it was Pac-Man, 570 00:24:41,090 --> 00:24:43,660 on the original Xbox. 571 00:24:43,660 --> 00:24:47,230 They shut original Xbox servers down in like, 2007. 572 00:24:47,230 --> 00:24:49,060 You can't access that content anymore, you can't even 573 00:24:49,060 --> 00:24:51,600 re-download the $10 copy of Pac-Man 574 00:24:51,600 --> 00:24:52,700 that you bought back then. 575 00:24:52,700 --> 00:24:55,600 I didn't own Pac-Man. 576 00:24:55,600 --> 00:24:59,040 Microsoft gave me permission to download Pac-Man 577 00:24:59,040 --> 00:25:02,010 and they had the rights to pull that whenever they wanted. 578 00:25:02,010 --> 00:25:03,680 - I sell gift cards, I don't know why the hell I do. 579 00:25:03,680 --> 00:25:06,010 There's no money in it. 580 00:25:06,010 --> 00:25:09,020 I literally make a dollar, two dollars a card. 581 00:25:09,020 --> 00:25:11,350 Some day I'll probably come to my senses. 582 00:25:11,350 --> 00:25:14,690 These gift cards for the younger kids is their copy 583 00:25:14,690 --> 00:25:15,990 of the video game. 584 00:25:15,990 --> 00:25:17,930 They've been just conditioned. 585 00:25:17,930 --> 00:25:21,930 Is their N64 game, their PlayStation 2 disc. 586 00:25:21,930 --> 00:25:24,270 Even though when you try to educate 'em and say, 587 00:25:24,270 --> 00:25:28,140 you know, hey kid, I've been doing this for 26 years. 588 00:25:28,140 --> 00:25:31,140 You're gonna grow out of it, you're gonna get interested 589 00:25:31,140 --> 00:25:33,540 in cars, women, you're gonna come in here and wanna 590 00:25:33,540 --> 00:25:35,780 sell me a system and I'm gonna ask you, 591 00:25:35,780 --> 00:25:37,510 where are all your games? 592 00:25:37,510 --> 00:25:41,350 You know, and you're not gonna have any games to sell. 593 00:25:41,350 --> 00:25:43,150 - Say you make a, say you buy a game and you figure out 594 00:25:43,150 --> 00:25:45,650 after two days, wow, I made a mistake. 595 00:25:45,650 --> 00:25:48,460 If it's on a disc, you can trade that game in to Gamestop 596 00:25:48,460 --> 00:25:50,590 or a mom and pop shop or trade it to someone 597 00:25:50,590 --> 00:25:54,160 or put it on Ebay and get maybe 80 to 90% of the 598 00:25:54,160 --> 00:25:56,230 purchase price back if you do it quick enough. 599 00:25:56,230 --> 00:26:00,530 There's a lot less flexibility with digital media 600 00:26:00,530 --> 00:26:02,500 'cause it's attached to either the physical system itself 601 00:26:02,500 --> 00:26:05,170 or your account. 602 00:26:05,170 --> 00:26:08,980 - Very often, people, when trading in their games will, 603 00:26:08,980 --> 00:26:11,410 you know, say enthusiastically that, it's like, 604 00:26:11,410 --> 00:26:13,680 oh, I have this game and this game 605 00:26:13,680 --> 00:26:16,750 on the system and 606 00:26:16,750 --> 00:26:20,490 that doesn't really add tangible value to the thing. 607 00:26:20,490 --> 00:26:25,060 Those digital downloads are tied to some account. 608 00:26:25,060 --> 00:26:27,130 It's not a licensing that's transferrable. 609 00:26:27,130 --> 00:26:29,400 It's not an artifact that can be passed from one hand 610 00:26:29,400 --> 00:26:30,730 to the other. 611 00:26:30,730 --> 00:26:33,830 Yes, you have those things but now no one else can. 612 00:26:33,830 --> 00:26:35,870 - Downloading has no value. 613 00:26:35,870 --> 00:26:38,070 They bring in systems and they're like, I have 50 games 614 00:26:38,070 --> 00:26:40,210 on this, how much you gonna give me? 615 00:26:40,210 --> 00:26:41,410 Nothing, I'm gonna give you the same price as if you had 616 00:26:41,410 --> 00:26:43,580 nothing on it. 617 00:26:43,580 --> 00:26:45,980 - I just like being in control of when I can play it 618 00:26:45,980 --> 00:26:47,180 and how I can play it. 619 00:26:47,180 --> 00:26:49,650 Let's say, I don't know, 620 00:26:49,650 --> 00:26:52,620 I get the newest generation console and I wanna be nice 621 00:26:52,620 --> 00:26:55,620 to a relative or a friend, it's a lot easier to transfer 622 00:26:55,620 --> 00:26:57,090 your collection to someone else if you have 623 00:26:57,090 --> 00:26:59,730 the physical version. 624 00:26:59,730 --> 00:27:02,830 - It eludes me that people can live their lives buying 625 00:27:02,830 --> 00:27:06,370 simply digital product and never, ever have a manual 626 00:27:06,370 --> 00:27:09,100 or a disc or a case or something to put in a bookshelf 627 00:27:09,100 --> 00:27:11,440 that says that's yours. 628 00:27:11,440 --> 00:27:13,710 Man, remember when video games required a manual? 629 00:27:13,710 --> 00:27:16,340 Remember when you couldn't finish that game, 630 00:27:16,340 --> 00:27:18,050 unless you had the manual because there was a certain 631 00:27:18,050 --> 00:27:20,610 bit of information that was only in the manual. 632 00:27:20,610 --> 00:27:22,550 That's something that I think is not happening so much 633 00:27:22,550 --> 00:27:24,650 in video games these days. 634 00:27:24,650 --> 00:27:27,350 Developing a game or creating a certain special situation 635 00:27:27,350 --> 00:27:29,460 in a game that requires you to think outside of the game 636 00:27:29,460 --> 00:27:32,390 itself is sort of waning a little bit. 637 00:27:32,390 --> 00:27:34,500 - So they have, like, the remake of MGS one 638 00:27:34,500 --> 00:27:36,630 for the Gamecube. 639 00:27:36,630 --> 00:27:40,000 In the game at one point you're asked to call this character 640 00:27:40,000 --> 00:27:42,570 and Snake asks like, how do I know the number? 641 00:27:42,570 --> 00:27:44,210 And the Colonel breaks the fourth wall by telling you to 642 00:27:44,210 --> 00:27:45,340 look at the back of the case. 643 00:27:48,640 --> 00:27:51,780 - I've had a fear for a long time that the youth of today 644 00:27:51,780 --> 00:27:53,850 would not be exposed to things 645 00:27:53,850 --> 00:27:55,520 outside of their comfort zone. 646 00:27:55,520 --> 00:27:58,690 That they would only interact with the media that was 647 00:27:58,690 --> 00:28:01,320 algorithmically pushed to them or marketed to them. 648 00:28:01,320 --> 00:28:04,530 I try really hard not to be, you know, 649 00:28:04,530 --> 00:28:07,330 an old person who thinks that something was better 650 00:28:07,330 --> 00:28:09,700 in the old days but the one concession I give myself 651 00:28:09,700 --> 00:28:13,600 is that I don't think that young people are being 652 00:28:13,600 --> 00:28:16,200 forced to expose themselves to media that maybe isn't 653 00:28:16,200 --> 00:28:17,870 their first choice anymore. 654 00:28:17,870 --> 00:28:20,810 When I was growing up, you know, I didn't have cable TV. 655 00:28:20,810 --> 00:28:23,740 We had, like, five channels and I might watch some bad 656 00:28:23,740 --> 00:28:27,510 TV show that wasn't necessarily my first choice but 657 00:28:27,510 --> 00:28:29,620 I would get something out of it or I would discover 658 00:28:29,620 --> 00:28:32,290 something that was older or weirder. 659 00:28:32,290 --> 00:28:35,760 I think that you become a more well rounded, interesting, 660 00:28:35,760 --> 00:28:38,660 creative person if you're exposed to media that isn't 661 00:28:38,660 --> 00:28:41,360 pushed on to you necessarily by 662 00:28:41,360 --> 00:28:43,960 people with corporate interests. 663 00:28:43,960 --> 00:28:47,300 - Video games are always going to be taking up more space 664 00:28:47,300 --> 00:28:49,670 and more space and more space 665 00:28:49,670 --> 00:28:52,940 and internet speeds are never gonna catch up to them. 666 00:28:52,940 --> 00:28:55,740 You're gonna be spending more and more on internet just to 667 00:28:55,740 --> 00:28:58,650 download games and at some point you're gonna say, hey, 668 00:28:58,650 --> 00:29:00,310 this is too much. 669 00:29:00,310 --> 00:29:01,450 I'm just gonna go buy the physical copy again. 670 00:29:04,290 --> 00:29:06,350 - We still have developing nations 671 00:29:06,350 --> 00:29:09,160 where internet connections might be iffy 672 00:29:09,160 --> 00:29:11,660 or not even nationwide. 673 00:29:11,660 --> 00:29:13,860 What about the military? 674 00:29:13,860 --> 00:29:16,730 If you're in a fort operating base in Afghanistan, 675 00:29:16,730 --> 00:29:19,700 internet might not be the best to get a new game. 676 00:29:19,700 --> 00:29:21,740 There's parts of the US, in the sticks that don't have 677 00:29:21,740 --> 00:29:23,240 the best internet. 678 00:29:23,240 --> 00:29:24,810 You might be pro digital distribution living 679 00:29:24,810 --> 00:29:26,470 in silicon valley, 680 00:29:26,470 --> 00:29:27,310 maybe not somewhere in West Virginia. 681 00:29:30,540 --> 00:29:33,080 - I have a lot of people that still don't have internet. 682 00:29:33,080 --> 00:29:34,650 They live in an area that just can't get 683 00:29:34,650 --> 00:29:36,550 high speed internet. 684 00:29:36,550 --> 00:29:39,350 It's not fast enough, it cuts out. 685 00:29:39,350 --> 00:29:42,690 I live in a valley and there's no signal. 686 00:29:42,690 --> 00:29:45,390 I take this issue kind of personally 'cause I can't get 687 00:29:45,390 --> 00:29:47,730 high speed internet where I live. 688 00:29:47,730 --> 00:29:50,860 My house is on a double yellow line and so it's not 689 00:29:50,860 --> 00:29:53,530 like I'm on a gravel road or single lane little dirt road 690 00:29:53,530 --> 00:29:55,570 out in the country, you know. 691 00:29:55,570 --> 00:29:58,910 I've had so many people say, that don't have internet, 692 00:29:58,910 --> 00:30:01,510 that they need to update their console and things like that, 693 00:30:01,510 --> 00:30:03,880 that I actually have a TV set up here. 694 00:30:03,880 --> 00:30:06,380 I had this extra space here, had an extra TV, I was like, 695 00:30:06,380 --> 00:30:09,580 let's put this up here for people that need to update 696 00:30:09,580 --> 00:30:12,250 their console if they don't have access to high speed 697 00:30:12,250 --> 00:30:15,260 internet, they can update, download their DLC. 698 00:30:15,260 --> 00:30:17,760 Some people will bring their Xbox in, set it up, 699 00:30:17,760 --> 00:30:19,490 start the updates, hand me the controller 700 00:30:19,490 --> 00:30:20,230 behind the counter, hey, I'll be back, 701 00:30:20,230 --> 00:30:22,060 I'm going to Wal-Mart. 702 00:30:22,060 --> 00:30:24,670 - I honestly still get a lot of customers that don't have 703 00:30:24,670 --> 00:30:28,700 solid internet at home so even selling an Xbox One console 704 00:30:28,700 --> 00:30:31,940 for instance, you actually need the internet initially 705 00:30:31,940 --> 00:30:34,880 to set up the system at all so we'll actually do a lot of 706 00:30:34,880 --> 00:30:37,510 set ups here in the store for the customer so they can get 707 00:30:37,510 --> 00:30:39,680 their system ready to play whenever they get home 708 00:30:39,680 --> 00:30:42,580 instead of being frustrated that they can't set it up at all 709 00:30:42,580 --> 00:30:44,080 because they don't have, you know, 710 00:30:44,080 --> 00:30:46,120 a good internet connection. 711 00:30:46,120 --> 00:30:48,560 - People will call me and be like, is the TV open so I can 712 00:30:48,560 --> 00:30:51,590 update and yeah, yeah, it's open, come on down. 713 00:30:51,590 --> 00:30:53,260 This has gotten a lot of use in that aspect. 714 00:30:54,900 --> 00:30:57,530 (light music) 715 00:30:57,530 --> 00:31:00,830 - I think what's missing from digital storefronts versus 716 00:31:00,830 --> 00:31:03,940 like a mom and pop shop is human curation. 717 00:31:03,940 --> 00:31:08,010 The current curation system that we have is 718 00:31:08,010 --> 00:31:10,010 not working. 719 00:31:10,010 --> 00:31:12,350 - It's so incredibly difficult for some of these indie devs 720 00:31:12,350 --> 00:31:14,820 to get people to just see their game. 721 00:31:14,820 --> 00:31:17,720 It could be the most amazing indie darling game ever 722 00:31:17,720 --> 00:31:20,490 but if all you get is one feature article on a blog 723 00:31:20,490 --> 00:31:22,720 that specializes in indie games, you're never gonna 724 00:31:22,720 --> 00:31:23,820 make your money back and then you might not ever be able 725 00:31:23,820 --> 00:31:25,530 to make another game again. 726 00:31:25,530 --> 00:31:28,700 - On PlayStation, every week, tons of games 727 00:31:28,700 --> 00:31:31,500 with absurd names that have no business being there 728 00:31:31,500 --> 00:31:33,500 and sure, a lot of them are gonna be great. 729 00:31:33,500 --> 00:31:35,070 There's gonna be a lot of ones that are terrible. 730 00:31:35,070 --> 00:31:36,100 That aren't, that are just rip off, that are just trying to 731 00:31:36,100 --> 00:31:37,840 get your money. 732 00:31:37,840 --> 00:31:39,510 There are so much there, somebody has to separate the 733 00:31:39,510 --> 00:31:41,840 wheat from the chaff. 734 00:31:41,840 --> 00:31:45,380 - Steam, much like YouTube, much like most of the internet 735 00:31:45,380 --> 00:31:49,220 right now is skewed toward popularity as opposed to 736 00:31:51,190 --> 00:31:54,720 actually understanding the user, that has just kind of 737 00:31:54,720 --> 00:31:57,760 resulted in popular people continuing to be popular. 738 00:31:57,760 --> 00:32:01,400 Whereas if I go into a mom and pop store and 739 00:32:01,400 --> 00:32:04,060 the person behind the counter is like, well versed in 740 00:32:04,060 --> 00:32:07,230 a lot of titles, you know, I might be able to mention 741 00:32:07,230 --> 00:32:08,270 a game that I like and they'll be like, oh man, have you 742 00:32:08,270 --> 00:32:10,570 tried this one. 743 00:32:10,570 --> 00:32:12,940 - Usually the people who are running, especially independent 744 00:32:12,940 --> 00:32:15,880 stores, you know, they are running it because it's what 745 00:32:15,880 --> 00:32:17,680 they're passionate about, it's something that they have 746 00:32:17,680 --> 00:32:19,350 you know, their deep knowledge of. 747 00:32:19,350 --> 00:32:21,980 All the algorithms in the world on the internet 748 00:32:21,980 --> 00:32:24,750 saying like, hey, if you like this, you'll probably like 749 00:32:24,750 --> 00:32:27,820 this too, I mean, it can't really replace someone who really 750 00:32:27,820 --> 00:32:30,620 knows you and knows, you know, what you're interested in. 751 00:32:30,620 --> 00:32:32,390 - You wanna talk to the person, ask them their opinion 752 00:32:32,390 --> 00:32:35,200 of the game, try to find out like a face to face. 753 00:32:35,200 --> 00:32:38,070 If you could build a trust with the customer that says, 754 00:32:38,070 --> 00:32:41,170 I'm not gonna tell you this is good just for you to buy it. 755 00:32:41,170 --> 00:32:42,900 You know with the internet, it's like, if you've ever gone 756 00:32:42,900 --> 00:32:46,170 across a message board, it's either super angry or super 757 00:32:46,170 --> 00:32:48,810 in love, there's no in between but if you go and talk to 758 00:32:48,810 --> 00:32:51,580 real people in a social environment where you're just 759 00:32:51,580 --> 00:32:53,280 knockin' ideas back and forth, sometimes you get a better 760 00:32:53,280 --> 00:32:55,250 read on what it is that you want. 761 00:32:55,250 --> 00:32:57,750 If I'm talkin' to you, you're probably way more likely to 762 00:32:57,750 --> 00:33:01,690 be honest with me talking like this than if you were online, 763 00:33:01,690 --> 00:33:03,520 you could say whatever you want behind a keyboard with a 764 00:33:03,520 --> 00:33:05,460 blank face, you're gonna be more passionate online and 765 00:33:05,460 --> 00:33:08,160 say things that, just to get your point across 766 00:33:08,160 --> 00:33:08,660 and lotta more hyperbole. 767 00:33:11,060 --> 00:33:12,970 - My name's Frank Stancheck, I'm the owner at Classic 768 00:33:12,970 --> 00:33:15,070 Game Junkie at 111 Southeastern road in 769 00:33:15,070 --> 00:33:16,970 Glenside, Pennsylvania. 770 00:33:16,970 --> 00:33:19,810 We're located just outside of northeast Philadelphia. 771 00:33:19,810 --> 00:33:22,880 We opened in 2010 and it was very stressful. 772 00:33:22,880 --> 00:33:24,850 We actually hit the ground running because we were already 773 00:33:24,850 --> 00:33:26,610 doing business out of a shed in the back of my house 774 00:33:26,610 --> 00:33:28,380 when we first started. 775 00:33:28,380 --> 00:33:30,620 - They spent about three years out here. 776 00:33:30,620 --> 00:33:32,920 You would see him out here, two, three, four, five o'clock 777 00:33:32,920 --> 00:33:34,720 in the morning just workin', workin', workin' 778 00:33:34,720 --> 00:33:36,960 and trying to get things goin'. 779 00:33:36,960 --> 00:33:38,930 - In the shed it was cars coming up all the time, 780 00:33:38,930 --> 00:33:41,030 people in and out all in the hours of the night 781 00:33:41,030 --> 00:33:45,200 and in a suburban area, you don't do that. 782 00:33:45,200 --> 00:33:47,940 - Well, yeah, the neighbors basically reported us because 783 00:33:47,940 --> 00:33:50,740 we had a bunch of people comin' in to the back of the shed. 784 00:33:50,740 --> 00:33:52,840 The cops came, they came up back in it and all they see 785 00:33:52,840 --> 00:33:55,280 is a shed filled with Nintendo games and stuff 786 00:33:55,280 --> 00:33:57,810 and essentially they said, look, we understand you're trying 787 00:33:57,810 --> 00:33:59,950 to make ends meet, everybody's trying to run a business 788 00:33:59,950 --> 00:34:03,520 but you're gonna have to find a place to actually do this. 789 00:34:03,520 --> 00:34:05,220 You should get a shop. 790 00:34:05,220 --> 00:34:07,050 - But it wasn't until that day we got the letter from 791 00:34:07,050 --> 00:34:10,320 the township saying you had to cease and desist. 792 00:34:10,320 --> 00:34:12,590 But we kept goin' anyway, you know. 793 00:34:12,590 --> 00:34:14,760 - I found them a spot in an area that I liked. 794 00:34:14,760 --> 00:34:16,660 I like Glenside. 795 00:34:16,660 --> 00:34:18,830 - Everything in the whole place was yellow. 796 00:34:18,830 --> 00:34:20,900 It was yellow because it was old, it was yellow because 797 00:34:20,900 --> 00:34:23,740 it was yellow, it was yellow because it smelled like yellow. 798 00:34:23,740 --> 00:34:25,910 So the whole place was just like fallin' apart. 799 00:34:25,910 --> 00:34:28,680 - It was just overwhelming on him. 800 00:34:28,680 --> 00:34:31,710 He was in a car accident, Francis was in a car accident 801 00:34:31,710 --> 00:34:34,480 and he developed a degenerative disorder. 802 00:34:34,480 --> 00:34:37,780 Every one of his discs came out slightly. 803 00:34:37,780 --> 00:34:41,920 His lower spine was pressing on a sciatica really bad. 804 00:34:41,920 --> 00:34:45,230 He couldn't physically walk and I was pregnant 805 00:34:45,230 --> 00:34:48,530 with my son and I had my son in September, he had surgery 806 00:34:48,530 --> 00:34:52,430 in November and it still hurt really bad. 807 00:34:52,430 --> 00:34:55,240 He was going to be put on disability. 808 00:34:55,240 --> 00:34:56,900 - I got herniated discs up and down and, 809 00:34:56,900 --> 00:34:58,070 yeah, can't use my left hand some days. 810 00:35:00,510 --> 00:35:02,980 - He could go on total disability 811 00:35:02,980 --> 00:35:05,280 which he elected not to do and it was already done deal 812 00:35:05,280 --> 00:35:07,010 with his back and all. 813 00:35:07,010 --> 00:35:10,780 - Opening a business was pretty much the only option. 814 00:35:10,780 --> 00:35:13,650 You don't have to be sitting in a chair all day. 815 00:35:13,650 --> 00:35:17,290 He was on the ground a lot and he was suffering a lot. 816 00:35:17,290 --> 00:35:20,660 It was a whole family effort, it wasn't just me and his dad. 817 00:35:20,660 --> 00:35:23,060 It was mom, dad, brothers, cousins, family friends, 818 00:35:23,060 --> 00:35:23,460 everyone was helping. 819 00:35:25,830 --> 00:35:27,170 - Well I came, what, 'bout, 820 00:35:27,170 --> 00:35:28,940 two years later, year later? 821 00:35:28,940 --> 00:35:31,340 - Yeah, that's when, you know, we decided we needed the 822 00:35:31,340 --> 00:35:33,640 extra help because we were really gettin' kinda bigger 823 00:35:33,640 --> 00:35:34,880 than we expected. 824 00:35:34,880 --> 00:35:37,610 - I kinda had to beg to get in here. 825 00:35:37,610 --> 00:35:40,880 - I was a Assistant Manager, I was a Supervisor. 826 00:35:40,880 --> 00:35:43,050 Okay, I had a lot of people under me 827 00:35:43,050 --> 00:35:45,850 and I had a lot of equipment that I was responsible for. 828 00:35:45,850 --> 00:35:48,460 I didn't know all that when I got to those places. 829 00:35:48,460 --> 00:35:51,190 I don't firmly believe you have to know everything about 830 00:35:51,190 --> 00:35:54,760 a industry or a business to work it, you know? 831 00:35:54,760 --> 00:35:56,700 If you just have the common sense for it, that's all. 832 00:35:56,700 --> 00:35:59,230 It's a learning experience every day. 833 00:35:59,230 --> 00:36:01,570 Even to today, you know, I been there like five years. 834 00:36:01,570 --> 00:36:04,170 I know games, you know, you gotta listen 835 00:36:04,170 --> 00:36:07,310 and things like that and you'll get the just of it. 836 00:36:07,310 --> 00:36:09,440 - I said, well, you know, it's a super charity case here 837 00:36:09,440 --> 00:36:11,110 and you're-- 838 00:36:11,110 --> 00:36:13,010 - Well pretty much got one foot in the grave already 839 00:36:13,010 --> 00:36:14,610 but you know, we'll let you come up here and help out. 840 00:36:14,610 --> 00:36:15,950 - He keeps telling me I'm about 80. 841 00:36:15,950 --> 00:36:18,890 - Yes, he is technically my boss. 842 00:36:18,890 --> 00:36:20,720 We kinda like don't think of it that way. 843 00:36:20,720 --> 00:36:22,920 You know what I mean, it's not like that. 844 00:36:22,920 --> 00:36:26,860 - So I had my guy make me a Nintendo Ice Hockey 845 00:36:26,860 --> 00:36:29,730 figurine guys and all the tape deck glory 846 00:36:29,730 --> 00:36:31,570 and he made some orange and black. 847 00:36:31,570 --> 00:36:35,000 - Actually when he was a baby, not even a couple months old, 848 00:36:35,000 --> 00:36:36,940 I used to lay on the floor in front of the television 849 00:36:36,940 --> 00:36:41,110 with him and watch Flyers constantly 850 00:36:41,110 --> 00:36:42,610 then he would cry and I would get angry because I 851 00:36:42,610 --> 00:36:45,010 couldn't hear the game, you know? 852 00:36:45,010 --> 00:36:46,750 (laughter) 853 00:36:46,750 --> 00:36:49,620 I don't think he can do anything without the family. 854 00:36:49,620 --> 00:36:51,950 We kinda hold it together and he knows that. 855 00:36:51,950 --> 00:36:55,920 We're all a viral part of his, you know, operation. 856 00:36:55,920 --> 00:36:57,520 Anybody could tell if you come into the store. 857 00:36:57,520 --> 00:36:59,560 We're very close. 858 00:36:59,560 --> 00:37:01,560 - We get tons of people from out of state, out of country, 859 00:37:01,560 --> 00:37:02,630 as a matter of fact. 860 00:37:02,630 --> 00:37:05,200 People from Germany, Britain, 861 00:37:05,200 --> 00:37:07,070 some people from, surprisingly, India, which was a real 862 00:37:07,070 --> 00:37:08,700 shocker to me. 863 00:37:08,700 --> 00:37:11,040 A lot of people from the UK. 864 00:37:11,040 --> 00:37:12,440 A lot of customers from there and they're usually pretty 865 00:37:12,440 --> 00:37:14,540 happy and they say they don't have too much stuff like 866 00:37:14,540 --> 00:37:16,840 this back home for some reason. 867 00:37:16,840 --> 00:37:19,180 That always surprises me, I thought this was kind of 868 00:37:19,180 --> 00:37:20,780 everywhere right now, I thought retro was pretty big, so. 869 00:37:22,220 --> 00:37:24,120 (light music) 870 00:37:31,220 --> 00:37:33,960 - Well the creation of Rocket League really depends on how 871 00:37:33,960 --> 00:37:37,660 far back you want to consider the genesis of the game. 872 00:37:37,660 --> 00:37:40,200 Technically you could look back at 2008 as really 873 00:37:40,200 --> 00:37:42,840 the beginning of Rocket League and before. 874 00:37:42,840 --> 00:37:44,300 - We built the company by working on 875 00:37:44,300 --> 00:37:46,170 other people's projects. 876 00:37:46,170 --> 00:37:49,110 They would hire us to work on parts of their games 877 00:37:49,110 --> 00:37:51,380 and in the meantime we were always working on our own 878 00:37:51,380 --> 00:37:54,450 products 'cause we wanted to have that independence of 879 00:37:54,450 --> 00:37:57,550 owning something that we've created and it was also very 880 00:37:57,550 --> 00:38:00,250 important for us to self publish and have the independence 881 00:38:00,250 --> 00:38:01,960 of being able to do that. 882 00:38:01,960 --> 00:38:04,360 - Rocket League is actually a sequel to a game 883 00:38:04,360 --> 00:38:07,190 called Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket Pog Battle Cars. 884 00:38:07,190 --> 00:38:08,630 - We shortened the Rocket League, 885 00:38:08,630 --> 00:38:10,400 really good move. 886 00:38:10,400 --> 00:38:13,700 - I was working on Unreal Tournament 2004 with Epic Games. 887 00:38:13,700 --> 00:38:16,370 We were playing around with cars that can jump 888 00:38:16,370 --> 00:38:18,970 and we didn't really know what we were gonna make out of 889 00:38:18,970 --> 00:38:20,310 cars that can jump and fly. 890 00:38:20,310 --> 00:38:22,140 (laughs) 891 00:38:22,140 --> 00:38:23,840 Someone threw a ball in the game and we just couldn't 892 00:38:23,840 --> 00:38:25,380 stop playing it after that. 893 00:38:25,380 --> 00:38:27,950 It was gonna be a combat game before that and we were like, 894 00:38:27,950 --> 00:38:29,420 no, this is the game, this is so much fun, we couldn't 895 00:38:29,420 --> 00:38:31,280 stop playing it. 896 00:38:31,280 --> 00:38:34,250 - It's a fantasy sport game. 897 00:38:34,250 --> 00:38:37,720 It's like a fun game that doesn't take itself too seriously. 898 00:38:37,720 --> 00:38:38,730 It's kinda like Remote Control Car Soccer. 899 00:38:41,330 --> 00:38:43,560 - That's really at its core what Rocket League is now. 900 00:38:43,560 --> 00:38:45,770 It's also soccer based video game, it was physics based, 901 00:38:45,770 --> 00:38:47,700 it was multiplayer. 902 00:38:47,700 --> 00:38:49,470 - We looked at having a publisher work with us. 903 00:38:49,470 --> 00:38:51,740 It would've been nice to go retail even then 'cause 904 00:38:51,740 --> 00:38:54,710 retail was very strong, this is 2008. 905 00:38:54,710 --> 00:38:58,080 The game was just such a crazy idea that 906 00:38:58,080 --> 00:38:59,480 no one was interested in picking it up. 907 00:38:59,480 --> 00:39:02,020 They didn't even have a genre for it. 908 00:39:02,020 --> 00:39:04,350 So we self published and the only way to do that was 909 00:39:04,350 --> 00:39:06,320 through digital. 910 00:39:06,320 --> 00:39:10,520 That game did very well amongst the people that found it. 911 00:39:10,520 --> 00:39:12,590 One of the problems, especially in the early days of digital 912 00:39:12,590 --> 00:39:14,530 was discoverability. 913 00:39:14,530 --> 00:39:16,630 It's easy to get buried in the store. 914 00:39:16,630 --> 00:39:18,400 We obviously didn't do it right, like, 915 00:39:18,400 --> 00:39:20,000 no one is saying it's a bad game, they're just not being 916 00:39:20,000 --> 00:39:22,270 able to find it that well. 917 00:39:22,270 --> 00:39:25,440 - We learned a lot about what that game meant to people 918 00:39:25,440 --> 00:39:27,910 who played it religiously and realized what elements of the 919 00:39:27,910 --> 00:39:30,380 game didn't get people interested. 920 00:39:30,380 --> 00:39:32,810 - Seven years later we started to get serious again. 921 00:39:32,810 --> 00:39:35,580 Let's build this again, let's do it right. 922 00:39:35,580 --> 00:39:37,580 A lot of things in the world were changing as well, 923 00:39:37,580 --> 00:39:39,220 the landscape. 924 00:39:39,220 --> 00:39:41,960 Store fronts were getting better at advertising what 925 00:39:41,960 --> 00:39:44,260 products are on there and we had this game we already knew 926 00:39:44,260 --> 00:39:47,260 was good so all we had to do was take advantage of the 927 00:39:47,260 --> 00:39:49,800 change in society's view on digital games and really 928 00:39:49,800 --> 00:39:50,930 quirky indie games. 929 00:39:54,800 --> 00:39:56,970 The launch of the game was insane. 930 00:39:56,970 --> 00:39:58,670 We broke every PlayStation Plus download record 931 00:39:58,670 --> 00:40:01,610 in the book immediately. 932 00:40:01,610 --> 00:40:05,750 That kind of immediate access to the game as is a result of 933 00:40:05,750 --> 00:40:08,350 digital distribution was very overwhelming. 934 00:40:08,350 --> 00:40:10,450 We launched Rocket League with a development team 935 00:40:10,450 --> 00:40:13,490 dedicated to only Rocket League, fewer than 15 people 936 00:40:13,490 --> 00:40:16,120 and now practically our entire studio is dedicated to 937 00:40:16,120 --> 00:40:18,890 the game and we're almost at 100 people now. 938 00:40:18,890 --> 00:40:21,960 Now being just a digital only game didn't necessarily 939 00:40:21,960 --> 00:40:25,270 stamp us as being a small, low quality product. 940 00:40:25,270 --> 00:40:28,130 There's some really amazing games out there that have, 941 00:40:28,130 --> 00:40:30,670 you know, kind of come out of nowhere and didn't have a 942 00:40:30,670 --> 00:40:34,410 major team or push and only distributing digitally and 943 00:40:34,410 --> 00:40:36,980 was a massive success. 944 00:40:36,980 --> 00:40:38,140 It really gave us some advantages that we didn't have 945 00:40:38,140 --> 00:40:38,350 the first time. 946 00:40:40,810 --> 00:40:42,980 (guitar music) 947 00:40:46,590 --> 00:40:49,120 - So basically, the library's mission is to have a record of 948 00:40:49,120 --> 00:40:51,730 the creative output of the United States. 949 00:40:51,730 --> 00:40:54,390 The important cultural, historical, 950 00:40:54,390 --> 00:40:57,160 creative record of what's been generated by the 951 00:40:57,160 --> 00:40:59,570 citizens of the United States. 952 00:40:59,570 --> 00:41:01,600 This building was designed to essentially serve as a 953 00:41:01,600 --> 00:41:03,800 preservation factory. 954 00:41:03,800 --> 00:41:07,540 To digitize older analog formats and to bring in 955 00:41:07,540 --> 00:41:10,680 new born digital formats which we would then ingest into 956 00:41:10,680 --> 00:41:11,180 our digital repositories. 957 00:41:14,510 --> 00:41:17,320 So I work in the moving image section of the Motion Picture 958 00:41:17,320 --> 00:41:20,050 Broadcast and Recorded Sound Division. 959 00:41:20,050 --> 00:41:22,820 We are tasked with collecting moving image in various 960 00:41:22,820 --> 00:41:25,190 formats from 35 millimeter film 961 00:41:25,190 --> 00:41:28,460 to video broadcast formats. 962 00:41:28,460 --> 00:41:32,700 Really old formats such as paper prints which is basically 963 00:41:32,700 --> 00:41:36,540 like an old silent film printed on a roll of contact paper. 964 00:41:36,540 --> 00:41:39,140 When silent films were being submitted for copyright, 965 00:41:39,140 --> 00:41:40,810 the library wasn't accepting film so they would send in 966 00:41:40,810 --> 00:41:41,210 these rolls of paper. 967 00:41:50,050 --> 00:41:53,420 Here we have some consoles that have been gifted to us. 968 00:41:53,420 --> 00:41:56,120 You know, we have our classic Nintendo zapper. 969 00:41:56,120 --> 00:41:58,390 The federal government's own zapper. 970 00:41:58,390 --> 00:42:01,960 We got three boxes worth of Nintendo Power. 971 00:42:01,960 --> 00:42:03,600 The complete run, starting actually with Nintendo 972 00:42:03,600 --> 00:42:05,900 Fan Club news. 973 00:42:05,900 --> 00:42:07,870 When the games come into the library, it's 974 00:42:07,870 --> 00:42:09,400 where they end up. 975 00:42:09,400 --> 00:42:11,140 Somewhat temperature and humidity controlled here. 976 00:42:11,140 --> 00:42:12,070 It's better than a basement. 977 00:42:15,280 --> 00:42:16,510 The Library of Congress has a video game collection 978 00:42:16,510 --> 00:42:19,150 because video games are one of the most powerful, 979 00:42:19,150 --> 00:42:21,880 modern testaments to American creativity. 980 00:42:21,880 --> 00:42:24,120 I mean, video games are hugely influential. 981 00:42:24,120 --> 00:42:28,290 Certainly, on moving images and film and television. 982 00:42:28,290 --> 00:42:31,120 I think any modern blockbuster that you see has, you know, 983 00:42:31,120 --> 00:42:32,230 direct references to video games. 984 00:42:34,290 --> 00:42:36,460 We really need to have some kind of a record of what 985 00:42:36,460 --> 00:42:39,300 video games are, what video games were 986 00:42:39,300 --> 00:42:43,240 and how it informs everything from film to politics. 987 00:42:43,240 --> 00:42:46,040 How we interact with each other, how we interact with 988 00:42:46,040 --> 00:42:49,840 our environment, I mean, Pokemon Go, for example, 989 00:42:49,840 --> 00:42:52,410 it gave people the ability to sort of get out and explore 990 00:42:52,410 --> 00:42:55,080 their town or their community through the means of 991 00:42:55,080 --> 00:42:57,380 essentially playing a video game 992 00:42:57,380 --> 00:42:59,650 and actually, you know, this building, the Packard campus 993 00:42:59,650 --> 00:43:01,890 was a big Pokemon Go site. 994 00:43:01,890 --> 00:43:03,690 People were just driving up into our parking lot 995 00:43:03,690 --> 00:43:05,930 trying to capture Pokemon because they were hanging out 996 00:43:05,930 --> 00:43:07,760 in front of the front door of this building. 997 00:43:07,760 --> 00:43:10,060 You know, games, just from the fact that they're sort of 998 00:43:10,060 --> 00:43:12,570 like ever changing, ever developing, it's nothing that 999 00:43:12,570 --> 00:43:14,330 you can really like latch on to and say like, this is 1000 00:43:14,330 --> 00:43:16,540 the definitive thing, it's like ever changing. 1001 00:43:16,540 --> 00:43:19,170 - Things like Inkarus and Pokemon Go 1002 00:43:19,170 --> 00:43:21,810 are just straight up impossible to preserve 1003 00:43:21,810 --> 00:43:23,540 in their original form. 1004 00:43:23,540 --> 00:43:26,750 You can preserve the fact that this world is here 1005 00:43:26,750 --> 00:43:29,250 and that there are these things that can happen but you 1006 00:43:29,250 --> 00:43:31,680 can't preserve the interactions between people or the 1007 00:43:31,680 --> 00:43:33,490 events or that sort of thing. 1008 00:43:33,490 --> 00:43:37,160 You can record them and that's about as good as you can get. 1009 00:43:37,160 --> 00:43:39,390 - Games have all kinds of different functions. 1010 00:43:39,390 --> 00:43:41,730 It's not just telling a narrative story. 1011 00:43:41,730 --> 00:43:44,700 You know, trying to put it all back together to show 1012 00:43:44,700 --> 00:43:47,000 like a library researcher in a hundred years, 1013 00:43:47,000 --> 00:43:49,200 this is what Pokemon Go was, 1014 00:43:49,200 --> 00:43:51,740 gets a little more complicated. 1015 00:43:51,740 --> 00:43:53,440 There are gonna be questions that can only really be 1016 00:43:53,440 --> 00:43:56,580 answered by the collecting community and the 1017 00:43:56,580 --> 00:43:58,180 gaming community and people who are passionate 1018 00:43:58,180 --> 00:44:00,610 about that content. 1019 00:44:00,610 --> 00:44:03,050 - My name is Frank Cephaldi, I'm the founder 1020 00:44:03,050 --> 00:44:05,220 of the Video Game History Foundation. 1021 00:44:05,220 --> 00:44:09,260 We're a 501C3 nonprofit that's dedicated to, 1022 00:44:09,260 --> 00:44:11,460 well, preserving video game history, but really more 1023 00:44:11,460 --> 00:44:14,530 specifically in making sure that researchers, 1024 00:44:14,530 --> 00:44:17,860 both professional and amateur have access to the materials 1025 00:44:17,860 --> 00:44:20,870 they would need to tell the story of video game history. 1026 00:44:20,870 --> 00:44:23,700 Things like behind the scenes materials, you know, 1027 00:44:23,700 --> 00:44:26,310 design document, even the source code itself for some 1028 00:44:26,310 --> 00:44:28,310 of these games, the marketing material, 1029 00:44:28,310 --> 00:44:30,910 the surround in it, you can't tell the complete story 1030 00:44:30,910 --> 00:44:33,810 of a game unless you have all that surrounding materials. 1031 00:44:33,810 --> 00:44:36,980 So we're doing what we can to address that 'cause 1032 00:44:36,980 --> 00:44:38,690 movie historians have it easy. 1033 00:44:38,690 --> 00:44:41,120 There are film archives that have this kind of thing 1034 00:44:41,120 --> 00:44:44,660 but there's not really much in the way of accessible 1035 00:44:44,660 --> 00:44:47,130 video game stuff right now. 1036 00:44:47,130 --> 00:44:49,600 I like to call myself an archivist and a historian 1037 00:44:49,600 --> 00:44:52,530 with a game dev day job 'cause it turns out 1038 00:44:52,530 --> 00:44:54,800 that's not really a job that pays bills or anything. 1039 00:44:54,800 --> 00:44:57,570 On Mega Man Legacy collection, I was the producer and 1040 00:44:57,570 --> 00:45:00,110 the director and I did all the UI and stuff. 1041 00:45:00,110 --> 00:45:01,840 Sorry it's not better. 1042 00:45:01,840 --> 00:45:05,850 Really my focus on that project was contextualizing 1043 00:45:05,850 --> 00:45:08,650 the games beyond just playing them. 1044 00:45:08,650 --> 00:45:11,650 - Their approach to it was like, okay we're gonna basically 1045 00:45:11,650 --> 00:45:14,750 approach this like the Criterion Collection of this, 1046 00:45:14,750 --> 00:45:16,720 you know, the Criterion Collection, we're going to put out 1047 00:45:16,720 --> 00:45:17,920 a video game like, that's what we want this to be. 1048 00:45:17,920 --> 00:45:19,260 We want it to have the game, 1049 00:45:19,260 --> 00:45:21,090 we want you to be able to play the game like you 1050 00:45:21,090 --> 00:45:23,530 could on an old tube TV, we wanna have as much 1051 00:45:23,530 --> 00:45:27,330 contextual artwork and packaging and everything. 1052 00:45:27,330 --> 00:45:30,140 - I always liked the idea of, you know, having a library 1053 00:45:30,140 --> 00:45:31,840 of the stuff I've worked on on a bookshelf 1054 00:45:31,840 --> 00:45:33,910 just a proud trophy case. 1055 00:45:33,910 --> 00:45:37,310 For Mega Man Legacy Collection, I just went all in and 1056 00:45:37,310 --> 00:45:40,680 tried to get as much of the material that existed 1057 00:45:40,680 --> 00:45:43,020 that I could just to put it on my shelf. 1058 00:45:43,020 --> 00:45:46,120 I just wanted some representation of this work that I'm 1059 00:45:46,120 --> 00:45:49,120 incredibly proud of and the 1060 00:45:49,120 --> 00:45:52,330 biggest win for that is here's the actual game. 1061 00:45:52,330 --> 00:45:54,830 I've only ever done one physical game. 1062 00:45:54,830 --> 00:45:57,500 I wouldn't be surprised if this is also the last game 1063 00:45:57,500 --> 00:45:59,530 that's physical that I've worked on. 1064 00:45:59,530 --> 00:46:02,100 There was a follow up, I would say, to Mega Man Legacy 1065 00:46:02,100 --> 00:46:04,400 called the Disney Afternoon Collection, similar collection 1066 00:46:04,400 --> 00:46:05,810 with Disney themed games from Capcom. 1067 00:46:05,810 --> 00:46:08,370 There's no physical version 1068 00:46:08,370 --> 00:46:11,710 of that game so the only thing I have is 1069 00:46:11,710 --> 00:46:14,710 this slap bracelet that was given out as a promotional 1070 00:46:14,710 --> 00:46:17,720 item in storage which is the only thing I know of for 1071 00:46:17,720 --> 00:46:20,020 the game so you know, slap bracelet. 1072 00:46:20,020 --> 00:46:20,490 If you remember those. 1073 00:46:23,220 --> 00:46:25,490 - We currently have about 35 hundred games in our 1074 00:46:25,490 --> 00:46:27,160 collection here at the Library of Congress. 1075 00:46:27,160 --> 00:46:30,660 I think in 2016 we got 1076 00:46:30,660 --> 00:46:34,670 about 50 games out of 750 titles released. 1077 00:46:34,670 --> 00:46:38,040 We aren't getting any games that are just digitally 1078 00:46:38,040 --> 00:46:39,610 distributed, we're only getting games that are physically 1079 00:46:39,610 --> 00:46:42,280 available, so. 1080 00:46:42,280 --> 00:46:44,780 I mean we have hundreds of film negatives from the 1081 00:46:44,780 --> 00:46:47,550 Disney collection and Disney comes to us all the time 1082 00:46:47,550 --> 00:46:51,450 saying like, hey we're doing a 4K release of Snow White 1083 00:46:51,450 --> 00:46:53,520 or we're doing, you know, a Blu-Ray of the original 1084 00:46:53,520 --> 00:46:55,890 Cinderella, we need that original camera negative that 1085 00:46:55,890 --> 00:46:58,790 we have deposited with you for safekeeping. 1086 00:46:58,790 --> 00:47:01,790 They know that they can rely on us to sort of like be 1087 00:47:01,790 --> 00:47:04,430 the keepers of that thing that they're gonna eventually need 1088 00:47:04,430 --> 00:47:05,700 so that they can then make more money. 1089 00:47:05,700 --> 00:47:07,700 (laughs) 1090 00:47:07,700 --> 00:47:09,970 - You know, we should be treating video games the way that 1091 00:47:09,970 --> 00:47:11,700 way that we treat film. 1092 00:47:11,700 --> 00:47:14,140 We should be restoring video games from their source 1093 00:47:14,140 --> 00:47:17,040 material and keeping them in print. 1094 00:47:17,040 --> 00:47:19,310 The film foundation has a stat, I think it's 80% of 1095 00:47:19,310 --> 00:47:22,850 American cinema made before 1930 is gone 1096 00:47:22,850 --> 00:47:25,850 and I don't mean like, you can't buy it on DVD, 1097 00:47:25,850 --> 00:47:29,090 I mean it does not exist in this world anymore. 1098 00:47:29,090 --> 00:47:32,590 - While I was still in college in 2008 I got a job at 1099 00:47:32,590 --> 00:47:36,530 Epic Games working as a tester on Gears of War two. 1100 00:47:36,530 --> 00:47:39,830 After that, around 2010, I was in my senior year in college, 1101 00:47:39,830 --> 00:47:40,800 I started Mighty Rabbit Studios. 1102 00:47:43,470 --> 00:47:45,670 I was paying the people that would work with me 1103 00:47:45,670 --> 00:47:48,980 very, very, very little for the first two years until 1104 00:47:48,980 --> 00:47:52,480 we got our first game Saturday Morning RPG onto the market. 1105 00:47:52,480 --> 00:47:55,450 I'm Josh Furst and this is Mighty Rabbit Studios. 1106 00:47:55,450 --> 00:47:58,080 We made Saturday Morning RPG for the Uvio. 1107 00:47:58,080 --> 00:48:00,690 We wanna show you our office. 1108 00:48:00,690 --> 00:48:02,890 After that came out, I was able to boost money a little 1109 00:48:02,890 --> 00:48:04,890 bit but not much 'cause the game didn't really make 1110 00:48:04,890 --> 00:48:08,830 anywhere what it needed to be considered a success. 1111 00:48:08,830 --> 00:48:12,170 It really bothered me as a developer that the games 1112 00:48:12,170 --> 00:48:15,170 that I had poured all this time and effort into making 1113 00:48:15,170 --> 00:48:18,440 were only available digitally. 1114 00:48:18,440 --> 00:48:20,370 Any of the services that were hosting these things, 1115 00:48:20,370 --> 00:48:22,840 I mean the original IOS version of Saturday Morning RPG 1116 00:48:22,840 --> 00:48:25,310 is gone, it doesn't exist anymore, you cant get it. 1117 00:48:25,310 --> 00:48:28,510 I can still go into a Gamestop right now, 1118 00:48:28,510 --> 00:48:30,680 I can pull out Gears of War two, I can take the manual out 1119 00:48:30,680 --> 00:48:33,550 and I can flip to the size four font of my name in the 1120 00:48:33,550 --> 00:48:34,920 back of that manual that says I worked 1121 00:48:34,920 --> 00:48:37,560 on this physical thing. 1122 00:48:37,560 --> 00:48:40,560 It just really makes the thing that you've worked on real. 1123 00:48:40,560 --> 00:48:43,930 It's so hard to like, you know, make a plea toward 1124 00:48:43,930 --> 00:48:46,070 video game rights holders to hold on to their stuff 1125 00:48:46,070 --> 00:48:49,500 because it's like, hey, can you 1126 00:48:49,500 --> 00:48:54,310 spend significant money and resources on something 1127 00:48:54,310 --> 00:48:56,740 that you don't see the value in yet? 1128 00:48:56,740 --> 00:48:58,740 It's really the responsibility, I think, if you're working 1129 00:48:58,740 --> 00:49:02,520 on art like games or whatever that, like, 1130 00:49:02,520 --> 00:49:05,020 you take things home and you put 'em in a shoebox under your 1131 00:49:05,020 --> 00:49:07,050 bed or whatever you need to do. 1132 00:49:07,050 --> 00:49:09,620 What you should do if you work on games is just start 1133 00:49:09,620 --> 00:49:11,760 a box and just put everything in the box. 1134 00:49:11,760 --> 00:49:13,390 That's the best thing you can do. 1135 00:49:13,390 --> 00:49:16,130 Steal from work, that's how things get saved 1136 00:49:16,130 --> 00:49:16,900 is you steal them from work. 1137 00:49:21,670 --> 00:49:23,640 - For us, releasing Rocket League as a digital only 1138 00:49:23,640 --> 00:49:25,740 product was a no brainer. 1139 00:49:25,740 --> 00:49:28,310 We actually never imagined, in the beginning, that it 1140 00:49:28,310 --> 00:49:30,910 would be available physically at all. 1141 00:49:30,910 --> 00:49:32,780 The reason we decided to do the retail copy of Rocket 1142 00:49:32,780 --> 00:49:35,620 League is because digital distribution is taking over 1143 00:49:35,620 --> 00:49:37,880 but there's still a massive amount of people out there 1144 00:49:37,880 --> 00:49:39,850 that don't have the things necessary to make access 1145 00:49:39,850 --> 00:49:41,720 to the game possible. 1146 00:49:41,720 --> 00:49:45,020 - There's a lot of people that just miss physicality 1147 00:49:45,020 --> 00:49:47,990 in games, there's a lot of people that want that box, 1148 00:49:47,990 --> 00:49:50,160 that want to know that they own that thing because 1149 00:49:50,160 --> 00:49:53,900 in 10, 20 years, PSN might go down and they won't have 1150 00:49:53,900 --> 00:49:55,970 access to that 10 or 15 dollar game that 1151 00:49:55,970 --> 00:49:57,940 they purchased anymore. 1152 00:49:57,940 --> 00:49:59,640 I don't wanna be disrespectful to the games but there's a 1153 00:49:59,640 --> 00:50:02,810 lot of bad games that reach retail. 1154 00:50:02,810 --> 00:50:04,640 There's going to be people that want to go back and play 1155 00:50:04,640 --> 00:50:06,850 your game in a legitimate manner and they're not 1156 00:50:06,850 --> 00:50:09,220 going to be able to and it sucks that they're gonna 1157 00:50:09,220 --> 00:50:12,650 be able to play some really bad games in a legitimate 1158 00:50:12,650 --> 00:50:16,760 manner but not a really great game 1159 00:50:16,760 --> 00:50:18,790 and I just think that from a preservation standpoint, 1160 00:50:18,790 --> 00:50:21,560 that's just a little irresponsible. 1161 00:50:21,560 --> 00:50:23,600 - Well I think for a lot of companies, you know that you 1162 00:50:23,600 --> 00:50:26,900 have this percentage of the population, percentage of 1163 00:50:26,900 --> 00:50:30,670 gamers who are really, really loyal to physical media. 1164 00:50:30,670 --> 00:50:32,770 They know that there's gonna be this loyal population 1165 00:50:32,770 --> 00:50:35,070 that's gonna buy it either for the second time or 1166 00:50:35,070 --> 00:50:37,380 will finally put, you know, push this final whatever 1167 00:50:37,380 --> 00:50:40,010 it is, 20% or so on board. 1168 00:50:40,010 --> 00:50:42,320 - Many physical stores, depending how long they've been in 1169 00:50:42,320 --> 00:50:45,990 business, have very strong customer bases and are able 1170 00:50:45,990 --> 00:50:48,220 to reach out to those people and recommend that game 1171 00:50:48,220 --> 00:50:50,960 to someone who may have been reluctant to do so online. 1172 00:50:50,960 --> 00:50:52,990 We actually have customers that refuse to connect to the 1173 00:50:52,990 --> 00:50:54,860 internet for their gaming. 1174 00:50:54,860 --> 00:50:57,800 They prefer to support local brick and mortar shops. 1175 00:51:00,170 --> 00:51:04,100 - When you're on a display stand inside of a retail store, 1176 00:51:04,100 --> 00:51:07,210 you have the opportunity to sell your product to somebody 1177 00:51:07,210 --> 00:51:10,080 who maybe doesn't live in the digital ecosystem at all 1178 00:51:10,080 --> 00:51:13,080 and there are still millions of those video game consumers 1179 00:51:13,080 --> 00:51:16,050 out there and Sionix knows this, they're not stupid 1180 00:51:16,050 --> 00:51:18,350 and they're like, well we have a massive audience here 1181 00:51:18,350 --> 00:51:21,120 but we could have an even bigger audience if we're at 1182 00:51:21,120 --> 00:51:23,190 retail and that's why you sometimes see games that are 1183 00:51:23,190 --> 00:51:26,030 successful on digital finally take the leap to retail 1184 00:51:26,030 --> 00:51:28,590 once they have a critical mass. 1185 00:51:28,590 --> 00:51:30,800 - The latest figures I've heard, it's still 70% 1186 00:51:30,800 --> 00:51:33,230 of all game owners still buy some form of 1187 00:51:33,230 --> 00:51:35,770 video games physically. 1188 00:51:35,770 --> 00:51:37,840 That's still a lot of people when you consider just how many 1189 00:51:37,840 --> 00:51:40,140 hundreds of millions of people out there are playing 1190 00:51:40,140 --> 00:51:41,640 video games in some form or another be they on mobile 1191 00:51:41,640 --> 00:51:44,680 phones or consoles or PCs. 1192 00:51:44,680 --> 00:51:46,950 It's like a rite of passage almost to get that 1193 00:51:46,950 --> 00:51:49,020 physical copy out. 1194 00:51:49,020 --> 00:51:52,320 A manual we can read, you know, something we can touch. 1195 00:51:52,320 --> 00:51:55,590 Just giving people something that they can have and do with 1196 00:51:55,590 --> 00:51:58,860 as they please, not something that can be taken away. 1197 00:51:58,860 --> 00:51:59,990 - I do think that the physical game 1198 00:52:02,090 --> 00:52:03,830 and I think this is gonna change very soon 1199 00:52:03,830 --> 00:52:06,930 but I think it adds legitimacy to a title 1200 00:52:06,930 --> 00:52:09,500 which is strange because you think like, okay well 1201 00:52:09,500 --> 00:52:11,340 physical is sort of in the past and not what, 1202 00:52:11,340 --> 00:52:13,840 and not where we're going but I do still think that 1203 00:52:13,840 --> 00:52:16,080 there's some kind of, you know, 1204 00:52:16,080 --> 00:52:18,480 this is legitimizing this title, this is saying like, 1205 00:52:18,480 --> 00:52:20,710 it's worthy of a physical release. 1206 00:52:20,710 --> 00:52:22,620 - When I got into games, in the beginning there wasn't 1207 00:52:22,620 --> 00:52:24,250 really a digital channel. 1208 00:52:24,250 --> 00:52:26,250 I mean when I was dreaming about, oh I'd like to have 1209 00:52:26,250 --> 00:52:29,820 a game company, my dreams were walking in to a store 1210 00:52:29,820 --> 00:52:32,190 and seeing it on a shelf and that's what I dream, 1211 00:52:32,190 --> 00:52:35,830 like, I want my game to be on the shelf one day 1212 00:52:35,830 --> 00:52:37,930 and it's funny 'cause by the time I got to where we 1213 00:52:37,930 --> 00:52:39,530 were actually shipping our own games, it was like, 1214 00:52:39,530 --> 00:52:42,400 okay we should do this all digitally. 1215 00:52:42,400 --> 00:52:45,040 So it was a very proud moment when I was able to put it 1216 00:52:45,040 --> 00:52:48,070 out retail because I finally got that moment of being able 1217 00:52:48,070 --> 00:52:49,880 to walk in the store and see my game on the shelf and that 1218 00:52:49,880 --> 00:52:51,610 was very, very important to me, specifically. 1219 00:52:53,510 --> 00:52:55,610 (light music) 1220 00:52:57,320 --> 00:52:59,890 (laughter) 1221 00:52:59,890 --> 00:53:04,290 - You kinda forget how cool of a town you have until 1222 00:53:04,290 --> 00:53:09,060 you're flooded, inundated by tourists or Halloween. 1223 00:53:09,060 --> 00:53:12,830 It's like Mardis Gras but everyone has costumes on. 1224 00:53:12,830 --> 00:53:15,900 You know, they're here, they want somethin' to remember 1225 00:53:15,900 --> 00:53:19,840 Salem by, I have customers that come in every year 1226 00:53:19,840 --> 00:53:23,580 religiously and one customer told me, every time he plays 1227 00:53:23,580 --> 00:53:26,180 the game, that music comes on, 1228 00:53:26,180 --> 00:53:29,420 not only does he remember Salem during Halloween, 1229 00:53:29,420 --> 00:53:32,320 but he remembers our game store. 1230 00:53:32,320 --> 00:53:35,120 Other people buy a game when they hear that music, 1231 00:53:35,120 --> 00:53:38,660 they remember they were in Johnny's Basement, 1232 00:53:38,660 --> 00:53:41,360 you know, when mom was cookin' spaghetti, it all 1233 00:53:41,360 --> 00:53:42,430 comes as a flashback. 1234 00:53:45,230 --> 00:53:48,900 The whole memory of the first time playing it, 1235 00:53:48,900 --> 00:53:52,370 their childhood, it all flashes in front of 'em. 1236 00:53:52,370 --> 00:53:55,710 I really don't sell video games, I sell memories. 1237 00:53:55,710 --> 00:53:58,540 Or I sell your childhood back to you. 1238 00:53:58,540 --> 00:54:00,280 - Yeah a lot of the carts come with their own markings, 1239 00:54:00,280 --> 00:54:02,850 usually names and phone numbers. 1240 00:54:02,850 --> 00:54:05,220 I did get a copy of Qix that had written on it: 1241 00:54:05,220 --> 00:54:07,290 "This game sucks." 1242 00:54:07,290 --> 00:54:09,190 I'm like, but I like Qix, I found that kind of offensive. 1243 00:54:11,890 --> 00:54:15,860 I'm guilty of sometimes, I guess, being a little jaded 1244 00:54:15,860 --> 00:54:18,060 'cause I see this stuff everyday. 1245 00:54:18,060 --> 00:54:20,470 People are jumping into collecting, oh I want this top 1246 00:54:20,470 --> 00:54:22,200 10 list, I want to experience these things, these are 1247 00:54:22,200 --> 00:54:24,100 supposed to be the best. 1248 00:54:24,100 --> 00:54:27,410 You have other people who want the game that they played 1249 00:54:27,410 --> 00:54:30,440 with their brother and it's not necessarily even a good game 1250 00:54:30,440 --> 00:54:33,210 but that was the goofy game that they rented from the game 1251 00:54:33,210 --> 00:54:36,820 store this one memorable weekend, that was the experience. 1252 00:54:36,820 --> 00:54:40,320 They see some game they haven't seen in years, decades, 1253 00:54:40,320 --> 00:54:44,390 it triggers a waterfall of remembrance in their mind of 1254 00:54:44,390 --> 00:54:47,590 playing this at this time in this place with this person 1255 00:54:47,590 --> 00:54:51,030 and they typically can't help but exclaim it, 1256 00:54:51,030 --> 00:54:54,200 you know, it's like, oh look at this, oh the game! 1257 00:54:54,200 --> 00:54:55,200 You know, that's great, I mean that's 1258 00:54:57,970 --> 00:55:01,370 so gratifying 'cause that's really what it's all about. 1259 00:55:01,370 --> 00:55:02,810 The joys of remembrance. 1260 00:55:05,080 --> 00:55:07,910 - Yeah, I mean, I see almost everyday somebody walk into 1261 00:55:07,910 --> 00:55:11,780 the store and they're blasted with this nostalgic, 1262 00:55:11,780 --> 00:55:14,190 you know, image of things that they still haven't, 1263 00:55:14,190 --> 00:55:16,360 they say, I haven't played a Nintendo game since I was, 1264 00:55:16,360 --> 00:55:19,060 you know, 13 but there it is, I have Mike Tyson's 1265 00:55:19,060 --> 00:55:21,130 Punch Out sitting right in front of me, I can buy it. 1266 00:55:21,130 --> 00:55:24,360 They discover, wow, these video games have really touched 1267 00:55:24,360 --> 00:55:27,130 my life in a way that I didn't realize, you know? 1268 00:55:27,130 --> 00:55:29,130 I remember that when I was a kid, I played that with my 1269 00:55:29,130 --> 00:55:30,870 buddy in college, we drank way too much while playing that 1270 00:55:30,870 --> 00:55:33,070 game one night, who could forget? 1271 00:55:33,070 --> 00:55:35,880 So you kinda get to come back and relive those moments. 1272 00:55:35,880 --> 00:55:37,510 Sometimes, and for many of us, times that were a little 1273 00:55:37,510 --> 00:55:38,880 less stressful than they are today. 1274 00:55:41,580 --> 00:55:44,350 - People wanna come in and browse, they really don't know 1275 00:55:44,350 --> 00:55:46,750 what they're looking for. 1276 00:55:46,750 --> 00:55:49,660 Half the fun for the retro video game collectors 1277 00:55:49,660 --> 00:55:51,720 is the hunt. 1278 00:55:51,720 --> 00:55:54,360 The coolest stories that these guys tell me, 1279 00:55:54,360 --> 00:55:58,000 'cause they gotta tell somebody, is, oh I was at this 1280 00:55:58,000 --> 00:56:01,900 yard sale or this flea market, it's not about the game, 1281 00:56:01,900 --> 00:56:05,200 it's about how they came across the game. 1282 00:56:05,200 --> 00:56:09,380 I come across that gem that I had as a kid 1283 00:56:09,380 --> 00:56:11,940 that I didn't even remember 1284 00:56:11,940 --> 00:56:15,450 until the label jumped out at me. 1285 00:56:15,450 --> 00:56:16,780 That's the stories that people share with me. 1286 00:56:28,290 --> 00:56:30,500 - 10 years ago and I'm still in New Jersey 1287 00:56:30,500 --> 00:56:33,430 when I tried unsuccessfully to date some girls, 1288 00:56:33,430 --> 00:56:37,700 not one thought that retro game collecting was cool 1289 00:56:37,700 --> 00:56:39,740 or that it was something that they 1290 00:56:39,740 --> 00:56:41,610 would be comfortable with. 1291 00:56:41,610 --> 00:56:42,680 Like, you always hear people say, oh I remember playing 1292 00:56:42,680 --> 00:56:43,380 Duck Hunt, that's fine 1293 00:56:45,440 --> 00:56:47,510 to remember that game to them but it's weird 1294 00:56:47,510 --> 00:56:49,520 having a wall of those games. 1295 00:56:49,520 --> 00:56:51,120 I remember one girl walking in 1296 00:56:51,120 --> 00:56:53,320 to my apartment on a second date 1297 00:56:53,320 --> 00:56:55,650 and seeing my retro video games, she said to me, 1298 00:56:55,650 --> 00:56:57,360 oh this is 40 year old virgin stuff. 1299 00:56:57,360 --> 00:56:59,360 Never saw her again. 1300 00:56:59,360 --> 00:57:02,430 It's just interesting to finally be around people that 1301 00:57:02,430 --> 00:57:05,100 are in your world that love what you love and I think 1302 00:57:05,100 --> 00:57:07,570 that's one of the draws of the retro game store still 1303 00:57:07,570 --> 00:57:10,440 is that you can talk to the shop owner, you can talk 1304 00:57:10,440 --> 00:57:13,040 to other people walking in and there's a camaraderie 1305 00:57:13,040 --> 00:57:15,570 there, you commiserate on a hobby that you love and 1306 00:57:15,570 --> 00:57:18,140 you're passionate about because retro video games 1307 00:57:18,140 --> 00:57:21,850 is such a small minority of the overall video game market 1308 00:57:21,850 --> 00:57:24,320 share, it's probably five percent 1309 00:57:24,320 --> 00:57:26,420 and if they put out a new NES cart, they'd sell like 1310 00:57:26,420 --> 00:57:27,920 a thousand of 'em. 1311 00:57:27,920 --> 00:57:29,560 The Call of Duty sells a million, Madden sells 1312 00:57:29,560 --> 00:57:31,890 millions of 'em. 1313 00:57:31,890 --> 00:57:33,330 The scales are just totally different. 1314 00:57:33,330 --> 00:57:36,660 Everyone wants what's new and what's best and 1315 00:57:36,660 --> 00:57:38,700 the weirdos like me want the games that are 30 years old. 1316 00:57:40,830 --> 00:57:43,170 (electronic music) 1317 00:58:04,320 --> 00:58:05,460 - I think my first console was Nintendo 64 1318 00:58:07,730 --> 00:58:12,100 and I'm here to find more games and controllers for it. 1319 00:58:12,100 --> 00:58:14,830 I wanted to come and check out the culture and like 1320 00:58:14,830 --> 00:58:18,100 the panels and some of the events going on. 1321 00:58:18,100 --> 00:58:20,640 I think it'll be real fun to see some of the museum stuff. 1322 00:58:20,640 --> 00:58:23,840 There was a panel coming up about having more female 1323 00:58:23,840 --> 00:58:25,540 voices in the game world and I thought 1324 00:58:25,540 --> 00:58:27,110 that one looked interesting. 1325 00:58:27,110 --> 00:58:28,250 We also wanna see peanut butter gamer. 1326 00:58:28,250 --> 00:58:30,680 (laughs) 1327 00:58:30,680 --> 00:58:33,450 I come here for the little accessories and collectible 1328 00:58:33,450 --> 00:58:35,720 type things like Ameebo cards, shirts, art and that 1329 00:58:35,720 --> 00:58:37,360 sort of thing. 1330 00:58:37,360 --> 00:58:39,730 If you're here you can examine the object, you can see 1331 00:58:39,730 --> 00:58:41,990 exactly what's wrong with it, you know from the person 1332 00:58:41,990 --> 00:58:44,160 selling it, hey, it's missing this component. 1333 00:58:44,160 --> 00:58:47,230 You don't have to open a dispute or email back and forth. 1334 00:58:47,230 --> 00:58:48,730 It's a more immediate transaction and 1335 00:58:48,730 --> 00:58:49,270 that is very appealing. 1336 00:58:52,140 --> 00:58:55,640 - I just really just love being around a large amount of people 1337 00:58:55,640 --> 00:58:57,910 passionate about the same things I'm passionate about. 1338 00:58:57,910 --> 00:58:59,140 I mean really that's all conventions are 1339 00:58:59,140 --> 00:59:01,650 at their core, right? 1340 00:59:01,650 --> 00:59:03,650 - We see a lot of young people in the store and they 1341 00:59:03,650 --> 00:59:05,950 absolutely do buy stuff and it's funny because sometimes 1342 00:59:05,950 --> 00:59:09,050 they buy things that maybe us veterans might 1343 00:59:09,050 --> 00:59:11,220 consider kinda silly. 1344 00:59:11,220 --> 00:59:13,960 They want to buy a copy of E.T. because they've heard it's 1345 00:59:13,960 --> 00:59:16,530 a terrible game and so they don't have an Atari yet 1346 00:59:16,530 --> 00:59:19,470 but they wanna buy this seven dollar copy of E.T. 1347 00:59:19,470 --> 00:59:21,570 because they've heard it's so terrible and it's only 1348 00:59:21,570 --> 00:59:24,740 seven dollars so they take steps, baby steps to get there 1349 00:59:24,740 --> 00:59:27,710 but I've definitely seen a lot of kids come in and buy 1350 00:59:27,710 --> 00:59:30,080 like an NES. 1351 00:59:30,080 --> 00:59:32,640 - I absolutely feel like internet culture is driving, 1352 00:59:32,640 --> 00:59:36,420 you know, a resurgent interest even amongst young kids 1353 00:59:36,420 --> 00:59:37,480 in the old stuff that they never even 1354 00:59:37,480 --> 00:59:39,790 experienced themselves. 1355 00:59:39,790 --> 00:59:42,450 It's funny, kids come in and like, do you have this game 1356 00:59:42,450 --> 00:59:44,720 for Nintendo, like I'm really nostalgic for it, 1357 00:59:44,720 --> 00:59:46,130 I'm like, I don't think you know what that means. 1358 00:59:51,660 --> 00:59:54,170 - I've seen something happen and a place like Portland 1359 00:59:54,170 --> 00:59:57,040 is a great example where you see the next generation 1360 00:59:57,040 --> 01:00:00,540 after me, 16, 17 year old, they love 1361 01:00:00,540 --> 01:00:03,380 retro video games, they love the franchises. 1362 01:00:03,380 --> 01:00:04,980 They love Mario, they love Legend of Zelda. 1363 01:00:04,980 --> 01:00:07,080 They love Sonic. 1364 01:00:07,080 --> 01:00:10,950 That doesn't necessarily mean they love the original 1365 01:00:10,950 --> 01:00:13,050 media in form that video game was originally was 1366 01:00:13,050 --> 01:00:15,020 released on. 1367 01:00:15,020 --> 01:00:18,060 They'll adore that franchise 30 years from now. 1368 01:00:18,060 --> 01:00:19,260 Doesn't necessarily mean they have to go 1369 01:00:19,260 --> 01:00:20,060 own the original cartridge. 1370 01:00:22,690 --> 01:00:26,270 - I think I mostly, other than buying things for older 1371 01:00:26,270 --> 01:00:29,030 consoles, which obviously then you've got to go to a 1372 01:00:29,030 --> 01:00:31,640 store or a collector or someone online and like buy the 1373 01:00:31,640 --> 01:00:35,040 physical things, I think I mostly download games now. 1374 01:00:35,040 --> 01:00:37,880 Most of my recent games have been downloads. 1375 01:00:37,880 --> 01:00:41,580 - We care about physical media because we grew up with it 1376 01:00:41,580 --> 01:00:42,810 and that's why we are passionate about it because it 1377 01:00:42,810 --> 01:00:44,850 connects them to our childhood. 1378 01:00:44,850 --> 01:00:47,420 You know, we remember blowing off that NES cartridge 1379 01:00:47,420 --> 01:00:50,260 and putting it into the system or Atari 1380 01:00:50,260 --> 01:00:53,590 or taking a disc and putting it into a PlayStation. 1381 01:00:53,590 --> 01:00:54,860 I think the younger, younger generation, 1382 01:00:54,860 --> 01:00:56,030 I have a son that's nine, 1383 01:00:58,300 --> 01:00:59,630 I don't know if they're gonna care as much because 1384 01:00:59,630 --> 01:01:01,230 what do they grow up with, you know? 1385 01:01:01,230 --> 01:01:04,340 They grew up with an iPad, you know, iPhone. 1386 01:01:04,340 --> 01:01:07,870 I think that ingrains into people's memory and I think 1387 01:01:07,870 --> 01:01:08,470 they're gonna care less about it. 1388 01:01:11,510 --> 01:01:15,110 People that loved Elvis when he was big in the 60s 1389 01:01:15,110 --> 01:01:17,520 and 70s and he died in the late 70s, 1390 01:01:17,520 --> 01:01:20,890 maybe that original RCA Elvis record was worth $100 1391 01:01:23,290 --> 01:01:26,390 20 years ago, maybe it's worth $20 now, maybe it's worth 1392 01:01:26,390 --> 01:01:29,430 10 because there aren't the same amount of new Elvis 1393 01:01:29,430 --> 01:01:31,800 collectors come in and replace the ones that are either 1394 01:01:31,800 --> 01:01:34,130 selling off their collection, getting out of it or 1395 01:01:34,130 --> 01:01:36,100 literally dying off. 1396 01:01:36,100 --> 01:01:38,870 The rarity of the media is only one factor. 1397 01:01:38,870 --> 01:01:41,040 There has to be interest in it. 1398 01:01:41,040 --> 01:01:43,710 - I worked at Luna Video Games 1399 01:01:43,710 --> 01:01:46,380 kind of as a General Manager and we see a lot of young 1400 01:01:46,380 --> 01:01:49,210 people there as well just like we're seeing here. 1401 01:01:49,210 --> 01:01:51,450 I think a lot of them do wanna immerse themselves 1402 01:01:51,450 --> 01:01:55,550 in the culture, they wanna be part of it but because 1403 01:01:55,550 --> 01:01:57,390 of things like digital releases, they don't necessarily 1404 01:01:57,390 --> 01:02:01,060 need to own those cartridges and those games but a lot 1405 01:02:02,660 --> 01:02:06,400 of young people come here and they buy shirts or prints 1406 01:02:06,400 --> 01:02:10,300 or things that are recognizable to them and they feel like 1407 01:02:10,300 --> 01:02:13,240 they're part of that community, that's how they express 1408 01:02:13,240 --> 01:02:15,910 it as opposed to starting these massive collections 1409 01:02:15,910 --> 01:02:17,740 that are now out of the price range of, well frankly, 1410 01:02:17,740 --> 01:02:18,140 a lot of people. 1411 01:02:21,880 --> 01:02:23,780 - I prefer to get my games on a digital medium 'cause 1412 01:02:23,780 --> 01:02:26,490 I typically play them on my computer now or on my 3DS 1413 01:02:26,490 --> 01:02:29,860 and it's just significantly more convenient. 1414 01:02:29,860 --> 01:02:33,430 I can download a multi-gigabyte game in like, five minutes. 1415 01:02:33,430 --> 01:02:35,730 - Buying physical copies is definitely a little bit more 1416 01:02:35,730 --> 01:02:38,560 nostalgic for me, I love having the physical copy so I 1417 01:02:38,560 --> 01:02:40,370 bought like a physical copy of Horizon and Sky Rim when 1418 01:02:40,370 --> 01:02:42,730 it came out remastered 1419 01:02:42,730 --> 01:02:44,940 but if the deal's a little bit better online, 1420 01:02:44,940 --> 01:02:45,570 I will usually download it. 1421 01:02:48,540 --> 01:02:51,280 - I think the future of conventions in game stores 1422 01:02:51,280 --> 01:02:53,580 in general in my opinion will depend upon 1423 01:02:53,580 --> 01:02:55,980 how many generations does it get passed down to? 1424 01:02:55,980 --> 01:02:57,680 Like you said, you do see 12 and 13 year olds buying it. 1425 01:02:57,680 --> 01:02:59,650 They probably had their parents that grew up with a NES. 1426 01:02:59,650 --> 01:03:01,550 What happens next? 1427 01:03:01,550 --> 01:03:03,920 - Yeah, what happens when they have kids? 1428 01:03:03,920 --> 01:03:06,290 How much do they hold on to this things that their 1429 01:03:06,290 --> 01:03:08,830 parents passed on to them? 1430 01:03:08,830 --> 01:03:11,560 A good comparison, though, might be like, I love 80s music. 1431 01:03:11,560 --> 01:03:14,930 I was not alive in the 80s but I love 80s music and I 1432 01:03:14,930 --> 01:03:19,870 can't see myself just forgetting that I like 80s music. 1433 01:03:19,870 --> 01:03:22,870 Maybe I don't play nearly as much 80s music as my parents 1434 01:03:22,870 --> 01:03:27,410 did, so if I have children, they get a little bit of that 1435 01:03:27,410 --> 01:03:31,220 and maybe it just sort of passes down in like a slower 1436 01:03:31,220 --> 01:03:33,820 and slower stream but I don't see it just stopping 1437 01:03:33,820 --> 01:03:35,450 after the next generation. 1438 01:03:35,450 --> 01:03:37,890 - To your point though, 80s music, 1439 01:03:37,890 --> 01:03:39,490 how are you listening to that? 1440 01:03:39,490 --> 01:03:42,430 Digitally, YouTube, Pandora, or the original cassette? 1441 01:03:42,430 --> 01:03:44,700 - You know what, that's a great point actually 1442 01:03:44,700 --> 01:03:47,900 'cause I do all my music through streaming so 1443 01:03:47,900 --> 01:03:49,300 that's a great point. 1444 01:03:49,300 --> 01:03:51,400 - So if I wanna listen to Tiffany, I love Tiffany, 1445 01:03:51,400 --> 01:03:53,710 if I wanna listen to Tiffany 20 years from now, 1446 01:03:53,710 --> 01:03:55,710 I probably won't get that old cassette that my sister had. 1447 01:03:55,710 --> 01:03:58,440 Or that Whitney Houston tape, I'll just stream it. 1448 01:03:58,440 --> 01:04:00,410 So that's the thing, Super Mario Brothers, 20 years 1449 01:04:00,410 --> 01:04:02,780 from now, again, there'll be 20 ways to play it and the 1450 01:04:02,780 --> 01:04:06,050 cartridge will be the least convenient way to play it. 1451 01:04:06,050 --> 01:04:08,320 - There are plenty of people who are totally willing to 1452 01:04:08,320 --> 01:04:10,690 spend five dollars on Super Mario Brothers again 1453 01:04:10,690 --> 01:04:12,190 but the issue is, and they've already spent that 1454 01:04:12,190 --> 01:04:14,890 five dollars four different times. 1455 01:04:14,890 --> 01:04:17,660 So the streaming service is a way for them to be like, 1456 01:04:17,660 --> 01:04:20,370 look, we get it, you want this game still and you bought 1457 01:04:20,370 --> 01:04:22,300 it a bunch of times already, 1458 01:04:22,300 --> 01:04:23,770 you don't have to do that anymore. 1459 01:04:23,770 --> 01:04:25,870 You can just have all of them and just pay, 1460 01:04:25,870 --> 01:04:27,310 you know, like a Netflix model. 1461 01:04:27,310 --> 01:04:28,470 - And it follows the movie path, right? 1462 01:04:28,470 --> 01:04:31,440 It's like, I bought it on VHS, I bought it on DVD, 1463 01:04:31,440 --> 01:04:33,380 I might've even gotten it on Blue-Ray. 1464 01:04:33,380 --> 01:04:35,080 I don't wanna touch the thing and I don't wanna buy it 1465 01:04:35,080 --> 01:04:36,880 anymore. - Right. 1466 01:04:36,880 --> 01:04:38,750 - But like, I will pay for a subscription service 1467 01:04:38,750 --> 01:04:39,150 that has it. 1468 01:04:42,150 --> 01:04:44,960 - When you get older your priorities change. 1469 01:04:44,960 --> 01:04:48,660 Maybe you don't wanna own all these pieces of plastic 1470 01:04:48,660 --> 01:04:50,300 and paper, maybe it's not a priority so you get rid of 1471 01:04:50,300 --> 01:04:50,700 those games. 1472 01:04:53,030 --> 01:04:56,170 Will there be a generation behind me that will step in 1473 01:04:56,170 --> 01:04:59,100 and collect these games and wanna preserve them to the 1474 01:04:59,100 --> 01:05:01,810 same extent that I wanted to do that? 1475 01:05:01,810 --> 01:05:06,340 My head says no because it's like any other hobby 1476 01:05:06,340 --> 01:05:07,480 and sometimes some hobbies die out. 1477 01:05:10,450 --> 01:05:12,850 (light piano music) 1478 01:05:20,530 --> 01:05:22,930 - I spent my whole life collecting video games 1479 01:05:22,930 --> 01:05:25,530 from pack ratting them away when I was young 1480 01:05:25,530 --> 01:05:27,770 to trying to fill up every little possible gap 1481 01:05:27,770 --> 01:05:30,500 in every single possible collection. 1482 01:05:30,500 --> 01:05:33,470 I have every physical game that Sega ever made in the 1483 01:05:33,470 --> 01:05:35,940 United States, every one. 1484 01:05:35,940 --> 01:05:39,210 Every master system, Sega Genesis, Saturn, 1485 01:05:39,210 --> 01:05:40,710 Game Gear, Dreamcast, 1486 01:05:42,750 --> 01:05:47,050 Peko, Sega CD, 32X, all of 'em, every single one. 1487 01:05:47,050 --> 01:05:50,890 I think about physical media probably more than most people 1488 01:05:50,890 --> 01:05:53,690 do I think more than most people do and that's the 1489 01:05:53,690 --> 01:05:55,460 reason why I opened a museum. 1490 01:05:57,200 --> 01:05:59,460 (ambient music) 1491 01:06:05,570 --> 01:06:08,470 The end goal of the museum, it would be a be all, 1492 01:06:08,470 --> 01:06:11,010 end all of the industry so it would have an archive 1493 01:06:11,010 --> 01:06:14,110 of every game and console and accessory that ever came out. 1494 01:06:14,110 --> 01:06:16,620 Where industry people could come out and give lectures and 1495 01:06:16,620 --> 01:06:19,520 teach you about the industry. 1496 01:06:19,520 --> 01:06:23,090 The National Video Game Museum is the country's first 1497 01:06:23,090 --> 01:06:26,290 dedicated video game museum. 1498 01:06:26,290 --> 01:06:28,460 It's not part of a wing of other things, 1499 01:06:28,460 --> 01:06:31,060 it's not a section of video games, 1500 01:06:31,060 --> 01:06:33,530 it is the all inclusive history of video games 1501 01:06:33,530 --> 01:06:34,570 specifically devoted to that industry. 1502 01:06:38,870 --> 01:06:41,110 Well, it's the National Video Game Museum so it's 1503 01:06:41,110 --> 01:06:43,980 about what you would expect which is a physical museum 1504 01:06:43,980 --> 01:06:45,910 that has displays that teach you about the history of 1505 01:06:45,910 --> 01:06:46,340 video games. 1506 01:06:48,650 --> 01:06:51,950 - When we founded our first convention in 1999, 1507 01:06:51,950 --> 01:06:54,820 the museum was a part of that and the museum was simply 1508 01:06:54,820 --> 01:06:57,890 pieces of a collection, maybe 30 pieces. 1509 01:06:57,890 --> 01:06:59,520 - They used to tour it around at like, E3, CES. 1510 01:07:02,060 --> 01:07:04,260 We're talking like, one of a kind items, 1511 01:07:04,260 --> 01:07:08,170 original developer notes from Atari, prototypes of games. 1512 01:07:08,170 --> 01:07:11,970 You know, these are guys who were among the earliest 1513 01:07:11,970 --> 01:07:16,070 video game collectors and had been collecting not just the 1514 01:07:16,070 --> 01:07:18,140 games but the material and things like that. 1515 01:07:18,140 --> 01:07:21,650 I mean John Hardy has told me stories of actually 1516 01:07:21,650 --> 01:07:24,880 dumpster diving at Atari, not just saying that but like 1517 01:07:24,880 --> 01:07:27,020 actually going to Atari's office and 1518 01:07:27,020 --> 01:07:28,920 going in their dumpsters. 1519 01:07:28,920 --> 01:07:31,760 - It certainly was a project of passion. 1520 01:07:31,760 --> 01:07:35,160 All the years of collecting and then traveling with our 1521 01:07:35,160 --> 01:07:37,960 things, that just suddenly became a museum on the road. 1522 01:07:37,960 --> 01:07:38,700 What finally made me say, 1523 01:07:41,430 --> 01:07:45,800 I wanna open a museum was getting old, time is running short, 1524 01:07:45,800 --> 01:07:48,640 and we need to find a place to put all of these 1525 01:07:48,640 --> 01:07:50,810 things and keep them so that people can enjoy them 1526 01:07:50,810 --> 01:07:52,740 every day as opposed to whenever we happen to be at a 1527 01:07:52,740 --> 01:07:54,380 specific event once a year or whenever. 1528 01:07:56,920 --> 01:08:00,750 (chatter) 1529 01:08:00,750 --> 01:08:02,550 - One of the reasons that we decided that we needed to 1530 01:08:02,550 --> 01:08:06,190 build a video game museum is nobody else had. 1531 01:08:06,190 --> 01:08:08,530 - For years we wondered why hasn't somebody done this 1532 01:08:08,530 --> 01:08:10,230 before, right? 1533 01:08:10,230 --> 01:08:13,570 Sean will often cite that there are two carrot museums 1534 01:08:13,570 --> 01:08:16,270 in the United States dedicated to carrots 1535 01:08:16,270 --> 01:08:17,870 but there was not one video game museum dedicated 1536 01:08:17,870 --> 01:08:20,010 to video games. 1537 01:08:20,010 --> 01:08:22,070 You know, like, the Smithsonian has their section 1538 01:08:22,070 --> 01:08:24,910 of video games, the Strum Museum of Play up in Rochester 1539 01:08:24,910 --> 01:08:27,150 which we went to, it was a beautiful museum 1540 01:08:27,150 --> 01:08:29,680 but it's a toy museum and they have a floor that's 1541 01:08:29,680 --> 01:08:31,480 dedicated to video games but you don't go there just 1542 01:08:31,480 --> 01:08:32,820 to see video games. 1543 01:08:32,820 --> 01:08:34,690 It shouldn't just be a timeline. 1544 01:08:34,690 --> 01:08:37,160 It shouldn't just be why is Nintendo important. 1545 01:08:37,160 --> 01:08:39,190 It really needs to be a full thing so that no matter 1546 01:08:39,190 --> 01:08:42,390 how old you are, no matter what piece of video gaming 1547 01:08:42,390 --> 01:08:45,430 has touched your life, you can learn way more about that 1548 01:08:45,430 --> 01:08:46,430 than anything else that you can think of. 1549 01:08:48,730 --> 01:08:50,640 Let's put the exhibits that we think will have the most 1550 01:08:50,640 --> 01:08:52,840 impact, the ones where we can teach people something 1551 01:08:52,840 --> 01:08:56,140 and also allow them to sort of enjoy themselves. 1552 01:08:56,140 --> 01:08:57,780 So you're not just sitting there learning about it 1553 01:08:57,780 --> 01:08:58,880 but you actually get to experience it. 1554 01:09:01,850 --> 01:09:05,920 We have a 1985 replica bedroom. 1555 01:09:05,920 --> 01:09:07,850 You can go in, you can jump on the bed, 1556 01:09:07,850 --> 01:09:10,790 you can use the zapper to play Duck Hunt, you know, 1557 01:09:10,790 --> 01:09:13,260 you can rummage through the drawers and find baseball cards 1558 01:09:13,260 --> 01:09:16,490 from the 80s or look through the vinyl albums or 1559 01:09:16,490 --> 01:09:18,700 pick up the skateboard, you know, the concept of 1560 01:09:18,700 --> 01:09:21,300 everything in the museum is to make it as visceral 1561 01:09:21,300 --> 01:09:24,170 as the feeling of playing video games themselves. 1562 01:09:24,170 --> 01:09:27,040 And the reason why that setting is important is because 1563 01:09:27,040 --> 01:09:29,340 what you're playing is something nobody would be playing 1564 01:09:29,340 --> 01:09:32,640 anymore either, you know, playing on this giant 1565 01:09:32,640 --> 01:09:35,680 console that takes cartridges and has a joystick with 1566 01:09:35,680 --> 01:09:38,250 just one button on it kind of puts you in that frame of 1567 01:09:38,250 --> 01:09:41,750 mind like, okay well, if this is what they were playing with 1568 01:09:41,750 --> 01:09:43,990 and I look around, now I got a kind of a better 1569 01:09:43,990 --> 01:09:45,460 understanding of what the world was like at that time. 1570 01:09:47,860 --> 01:09:50,100 Similarly we have an 80s arcade and the 80s arcade 1571 01:09:50,100 --> 01:09:52,530 is meant to look like the arcade that you would've 1572 01:09:52,530 --> 01:09:55,630 seen in 1983. 1573 01:09:55,630 --> 01:09:58,800 It's playing 80s music, it's neon black lights, 1574 01:09:58,800 --> 01:10:00,110 that you know, you would never see anymore 1575 01:10:00,110 --> 01:10:02,570 and the whole idea is to put you there. 1576 01:10:02,570 --> 01:10:04,180 You've seen Frogger, you've see Donkey Kong, 1577 01:10:04,180 --> 01:10:06,180 you know everything about Mario 1578 01:10:06,180 --> 01:10:07,750 but now you're standing where those characters 1579 01:10:07,750 --> 01:10:09,180 were first introduced. 1580 01:10:09,180 --> 01:10:11,020 This is exactly what it was like for people that 1581 01:10:11,020 --> 01:10:13,150 got to see it for the first time. 1582 01:10:13,150 --> 01:10:15,420 It would be easy to say well couldn't I have a 3D model 1583 01:10:15,420 --> 01:10:18,020 of something like that where you could kind of move through 1584 01:10:18,020 --> 01:10:21,230 it but there's just something about the feel of those things 1585 01:10:21,230 --> 01:10:24,500 and the smell of those things and the sound that you have 1586 01:10:24,500 --> 01:10:25,800 to be standing there to really get it. 1587 01:10:25,800 --> 01:10:26,500 That was the whole point. 1588 01:10:29,830 --> 01:10:33,000 - You can see pictures all day long of something but to 1589 01:10:33,000 --> 01:10:35,470 see it up close, maybe even get to interact with it 1590 01:10:35,470 --> 01:10:37,980 is a huge part of it. 1591 01:10:37,980 --> 01:10:40,980 There's so much back story to the industry with the people 1592 01:10:40,980 --> 01:10:43,650 who created the industry and the games. 1593 01:10:43,650 --> 01:10:46,180 It's important to get that out there. 1594 01:10:46,180 --> 01:10:48,750 - The store is a little bit like a museum and I would 1595 01:10:48,750 --> 01:10:50,560 imagine most game store owners feel that way especially 1596 01:10:50,560 --> 01:10:52,560 if your stocking used products. 1597 01:10:52,560 --> 01:10:54,690 If you have products that are 20 or 30 years ago sitting 1598 01:10:54,690 --> 01:10:57,130 on a shelf, 1599 01:10:57,130 --> 01:10:59,930 guaranteed someone's gonna look at it and go, I had 1600 01:10:59,930 --> 01:11:01,400 that when I was a kid, you know, and they wanna 1601 01:11:01,400 --> 01:11:02,930 talk about it. 1602 01:11:02,930 --> 01:11:05,240 We've sometimes turned into curators 1603 01:11:05,240 --> 01:11:07,110 while we're on a sales floor. 1604 01:11:07,110 --> 01:11:09,570 I have the same conversations here with customers that 1605 01:11:09,570 --> 01:11:11,980 I have with people that are visiting the museum. 1606 01:11:11,980 --> 01:11:12,940 Very similar conversations. 1607 01:11:20,250 --> 01:11:22,950 Typically what you would see in a museum are priceless 1608 01:11:22,950 --> 01:11:26,490 works of art or one of a kind pieces that have some 1609 01:11:26,490 --> 01:11:30,160 kind of artistic significance that you want to make sure 1610 01:11:30,160 --> 01:11:33,200 that is preserved and shared to the public so that everyone 1611 01:11:33,200 --> 01:11:36,030 can experience witnessing that on their own. 1612 01:11:36,030 --> 01:11:38,870 They're looking at the before times, you know, 1613 01:11:38,870 --> 01:11:42,340 things that existed in a time before I was born or a time 1614 01:11:42,340 --> 01:11:45,040 that my parents were playing games or a time that 1615 01:11:45,040 --> 01:11:46,780 no longer exist again and they're extinct. 1616 01:11:48,580 --> 01:11:50,850 (ambient music) 1617 01:11:53,590 --> 01:11:55,250 (chatter) 1618 01:12:06,230 --> 01:12:08,200 (guitar music) 1619 01:12:44,300 --> 01:12:46,940 It's on everybody's mind and no matter what they tell you, 1620 01:12:46,940 --> 01:12:50,710 you are now where Barnes and Noble is or 1621 01:12:50,710 --> 01:12:53,140 Blockbuster was just a couple years ago. 1622 01:12:53,140 --> 01:12:55,810 Where Sam Goody was 10 years ago. 1623 01:12:55,810 --> 01:12:58,320 You're there now, what are you gonna do? 1624 01:12:58,320 --> 01:13:01,650 Are you going to stop selling games and sell something else? 1625 01:13:01,650 --> 01:13:05,260 Or are you gonna try to hang in there with what's left? 1626 01:13:05,260 --> 01:13:06,190 And I think if you're trying to hang in there with 1627 01:13:06,190 --> 01:13:06,660 what's left, 1628 01:13:08,230 --> 01:13:09,760 (exhales) 1629 01:13:09,760 --> 01:13:12,300 lots of us are gonna go away in five years. 1630 01:13:12,300 --> 01:13:14,870 - I've had people ask me for advice for opening up their 1631 01:13:14,870 --> 01:13:17,540 own game store and in general 1632 01:13:17,540 --> 01:13:21,210 my advice to people when they ask me that is just don't. 1633 01:13:23,440 --> 01:13:25,980 - I would open up a coffee shop before opening up a 1634 01:13:25,980 --> 01:13:28,050 retro game store at this point in time. 1635 01:13:28,050 --> 01:13:30,320 The amount of people interested in the original media 1636 01:13:30,320 --> 01:13:33,350 form of retro games is growing smaller year by year 1637 01:13:33,350 --> 01:13:35,920 and plus some of us already got it, we got most of what 1638 01:13:35,920 --> 01:13:39,590 we're gonna want so what am I gonna buy from you? 1639 01:13:39,590 --> 01:13:42,230 - When I lived in Los Angeles, I went to smaller, 1640 01:13:42,230 --> 01:13:44,530 locally owned stores all the time. 1641 01:13:44,530 --> 01:13:47,070 Unfortunately I haven't found one here in my current 1642 01:13:47,070 --> 01:13:50,470 neighborhood because, sadly, they're going away because 1643 01:13:50,470 --> 01:13:53,070 they're getting either, you know, dominated by the other 1644 01:13:53,070 --> 01:13:55,270 retailers or like all retail, it's getting dominated 1645 01:13:55,270 --> 01:13:55,940 by online shopping. 1646 01:13:58,440 --> 01:14:02,280 - If I see a mom and pop store for games, yeah I would be 1647 01:14:02,280 --> 01:14:04,680 incredibly interested in looking at that. 1648 01:14:04,680 --> 01:14:08,920 To me it's almost like going into a vintage music shop, 1649 01:14:08,920 --> 01:14:11,960 though, you know, it's a reminder of the old way of doing 1650 01:14:11,960 --> 01:14:13,190 things and it's nostalgic more than anything. 1651 01:14:15,590 --> 01:14:19,560 - It's tough, things have dried up and the customer base 1652 01:14:19,560 --> 01:14:22,030 is much more savvy now than it was five or 10 years ago. 1653 01:14:22,030 --> 01:14:23,900 The world has moved on and doesn't need 1654 01:14:23,900 --> 01:14:26,570 this anymore, you know, I 1655 01:14:26,570 --> 01:14:28,170 just don't need it, 1656 01:14:28,170 --> 01:14:31,040 you know, everybody's living in a world now where 1657 01:14:31,040 --> 01:14:34,080 it's on their computer or it's, I don't need that piece. 1658 01:14:34,080 --> 01:14:37,020 - I think the desire's always going to be there 1659 01:14:37,020 --> 01:14:40,620 but it is receding from the mainstream because, 1660 01:14:40,620 --> 01:14:44,090 more and more there's people who it's just not a priority 1661 01:14:44,090 --> 01:14:49,190 for them and that's okay but it's sort of sad to see 1662 01:14:49,190 --> 01:14:53,260 because it is frustrating when games that I really love 1663 01:14:53,260 --> 01:14:54,330 don't have something I can hold on to. 1664 01:14:57,070 --> 01:14:59,500 - I don't understand why there are still physical movies 1665 01:14:59,500 --> 01:15:02,670 but I think games are different because I think games are 1666 01:15:02,670 --> 01:15:06,140 a much more personal experiences and I think people 1667 01:15:06,140 --> 01:15:10,010 want to have a physical remnant of the time that they 1668 01:15:10,010 --> 01:15:12,350 spent in that world. 1669 01:15:12,350 --> 01:15:15,390 The equivalent of your vacation photos or whatever. 1670 01:15:15,390 --> 01:15:19,660 I think people want a physical reminder of that time. 1671 01:15:19,660 --> 01:15:21,460 As opposed to the two hours they spend in the theater 1672 01:15:21,460 --> 01:15:24,530 or whatever, you know, the 40 hours they spent in this 1673 01:15:24,530 --> 01:15:27,070 game's world that, you know, probably affected them a lot 1674 01:15:27,070 --> 01:15:27,770 more than most movies do. 1675 01:15:29,830 --> 01:15:32,340 Looking around at all the physical media, there's a lot 1676 01:15:32,340 --> 01:15:35,510 more exciting than just browsing on your computer screen 1677 01:15:35,510 --> 01:15:37,540 even though it may be more efficient on the computer, 1678 01:15:37,540 --> 01:15:39,540 there's somethin' cool about just getting like, 1679 01:15:39,540 --> 01:15:42,280 sidetracked, getting lost, like I compare it with video 1680 01:15:42,280 --> 01:15:45,280 stores, that was the entertaining part, it was kind of 1681 01:15:45,280 --> 01:15:47,620 more fun than even watching the movie sometimes, it was 1682 01:15:47,620 --> 01:15:48,990 just be able to just walk around and look at all the movies 1683 01:15:48,990 --> 01:15:51,320 that you could watch. 1684 01:15:51,320 --> 01:15:53,590 - My personal plan here is to continue to do that 1685 01:15:53,590 --> 01:15:56,360 community type of a thing where we just keep having 1686 01:15:56,360 --> 01:15:58,300 more and more events, I try to do as many things as I can 1687 01:15:58,300 --> 01:15:59,200 with the space to keep people coming. 1688 01:16:01,430 --> 01:16:03,430 Again, it's just, it's always gonna be a smaller and 1689 01:16:03,430 --> 01:16:06,240 smaller base and the great ones, I'm sure like record 1690 01:16:06,240 --> 01:16:09,410 stores now, the great record stores, there's probably, 1691 01:16:09,410 --> 01:16:11,580 maybe there's 50 of 'em in the country, maybe every state 1692 01:16:11,580 --> 01:16:13,510 has one that everybody knows about that they go to 1693 01:16:13,510 --> 01:16:17,180 but you can't have three or four in the same town. 1694 01:16:17,180 --> 01:16:20,820 - Running a game store or any sort of like small business 1695 01:16:22,520 --> 01:16:26,190 in a niche market is not a way to get fabulously wealthy. 1696 01:16:29,590 --> 01:16:31,900 It's something you do not because you're an entrepreneur 1697 01:16:31,900 --> 01:16:32,500 but because you're an enthusiast. 1698 01:16:33,930 --> 01:16:36,100 (guitar music) 1699 01:16:50,350 --> 01:16:52,150 (footsteps) 1700 01:17:04,060 --> 01:17:06,160 (door creaks) 1701 01:17:10,700 --> 01:17:12,970 (machine whirs) 1702 01:17:15,570 --> 01:17:17,480 (door creaks) 1703 01:17:20,750 --> 01:17:23,180 - I couldn't take half the merchandise in if we didn't 1704 01:17:23,180 --> 01:17:26,550 have this machine, they're so scratched up. 1705 01:17:26,550 --> 01:17:28,790 It takes out the scratches, it buffs out the scratches, 1706 01:17:28,790 --> 01:17:30,660 so to speak. 1707 01:17:30,660 --> 01:17:34,230 You can resurface a disc, three, four times and at that 1708 01:17:34,230 --> 01:17:36,630 point it's not gonna do any good. 1709 01:17:36,630 --> 01:17:39,160 It's just really thin. 1710 01:17:39,160 --> 01:17:41,530 It's like a wafer, you can just see it thinnin' 1711 01:17:41,530 --> 01:17:43,470 out each time. 1712 01:17:43,470 --> 01:17:45,940 But if people take care of their disc then they don't 1713 01:17:45,940 --> 01:17:46,470 need this machine. 1714 01:17:47,840 --> 01:17:50,110 (ambient music) 1715 01:17:58,180 --> 01:18:02,250 As long as I'm havin' fun, I don't think I'll retire. 1716 01:18:02,250 --> 01:18:05,060 You know, I won't be buyin' a Lamborghini anytime soon 1717 01:18:05,060 --> 01:18:08,360 but I didn't get into this to make a lot of money, 1718 01:18:08,360 --> 01:18:11,030 it's a fun business, it's actually an addictive business. 1719 01:18:13,600 --> 01:18:16,300 The thing that I like about being in business, it allows 1720 01:18:16,300 --> 01:18:19,700 you to have the lifestyle that you want. 1721 01:18:19,700 --> 01:18:22,870 Bringing my dog to work, making the decisions, 1722 01:18:22,870 --> 01:18:24,980 even though they're small decisions, but I'm in charge 1723 01:18:24,980 --> 01:18:26,110 of my own destiny. 1724 01:18:28,850 --> 01:18:33,250 I'm a skier, I have an RV and my girlfriend and I 1725 01:18:33,250 --> 01:18:36,320 with our two dogs travel around the east coast, just 1726 01:18:36,320 --> 01:18:39,260 skiing, sleeping in ski resort's parking lots, 1727 01:18:39,260 --> 01:18:42,330 gettin' up the next day, gettin' first tracks, 1728 01:18:42,330 --> 01:18:44,200 we're hitting every mountain on the east coast 1729 01:18:44,200 --> 01:18:46,700 that has three chairlifts or more. 1730 01:18:46,700 --> 01:18:48,800 That's what I'd be doing full time if I didn't have 1731 01:18:48,800 --> 01:18:49,600 a retro video game store. 1732 01:18:51,740 --> 01:18:53,170 As long as there's snow on the ground. 1733 01:18:53,170 --> 01:18:54,110 I would ski in dirt. 1734 01:18:56,640 --> 01:18:58,780 - My mother thought I spent too much, she was really right, 1735 01:18:58,780 --> 01:19:01,880 I spent way too much money in my college years on video 1736 01:19:01,880 --> 01:19:03,980 game stuff when it should've been spent towards, you know, 1737 01:19:03,980 --> 01:19:05,950 tuition for example. 1738 01:19:05,950 --> 01:19:06,480 She was the, 1739 01:19:08,850 --> 01:19:12,590 sort of the final gate for me in opening the store. 1740 01:19:12,590 --> 01:19:14,990 So I went through all the checks, I went through my wife. 1741 01:19:14,990 --> 01:19:17,900 I checked our finances but I had to finally get through 1742 01:19:17,900 --> 01:19:20,060 my mom, if my mom said, you have my blessing to do this, 1743 01:19:20,060 --> 01:19:21,530 I was gonna do it. 1744 01:19:21,530 --> 01:19:23,200 Both my mom and dad were very proud when I opened 1745 01:19:23,200 --> 01:19:25,370 the store and it had been open for a while 1746 01:19:25,370 --> 01:19:28,740 and they both lived just long enough to see the museum 1747 01:19:28,740 --> 01:19:32,480 open which was important to me 1748 01:19:34,710 --> 01:19:37,320 and I know that they were really proud of that too. 1749 01:19:37,320 --> 01:19:39,450 - There's been nothing like this, being able to wake 1750 01:19:39,450 --> 01:19:42,420 up every day, know I'm goin' to a place to share my 1751 01:19:42,420 --> 01:19:45,360 store with other people who share the same interests as me. 1752 01:19:45,360 --> 01:19:47,690 I mean, it's amazing, the sights, the sounds, the video 1753 01:19:47,690 --> 01:19:49,960 game music playing in the store, all that stuff 1754 01:19:49,960 --> 01:19:51,900 makes me excited to be able to wake up and know I get to 1755 01:19:51,900 --> 01:19:53,930 go to that place every morning. 1756 01:19:53,930 --> 01:19:56,670 I mean, granted, any work becomes work for everybody but 1757 01:19:56,670 --> 01:20:00,400 I can't think of a better place and as long as I can make 1758 01:20:00,400 --> 01:20:02,610 it last I'm gonna continue to wake up and go there 1759 01:20:02,610 --> 01:20:05,080 and really enjoy what I get to do every day. 1760 01:20:05,080 --> 01:20:06,880 I get to spend time with my family everyday, for better 1761 01:20:06,880 --> 01:20:09,910 or for worse, this is a 1762 01:20:09,910 --> 01:20:11,780 once in a lifetime opportunity for most people, 1763 01:20:11,780 --> 01:20:14,450 to get to live their actual dream that they had 1764 01:20:14,450 --> 01:20:16,950 when they were a kid and if it lasts 10 more years, 1765 01:20:16,950 --> 01:20:19,890 great, if it lasts 20, amazing, if it lasts one, 1766 01:20:19,890 --> 01:20:22,130 then I had a hell of a good time doing it. 1767 01:20:22,130 --> 01:20:24,400 (ambient music) 1768 01:20:47,990 --> 01:20:50,250 (machine whirs) 1769 01:20:53,660 --> 01:20:55,560 (light music) 1770 01:21:10,340 --> 01:21:13,510 ♪ Fighting the war ♪ 1771 01:21:13,510 --> 01:21:17,780 ♪ We can never win ♪ 1772 01:21:17,780 --> 01:21:21,390 ♪ Trying to flee ♪ 1773 01:21:21,390 --> 01:21:25,320 ♪ The pain that's within ♪ 1774 01:21:25,320 --> 01:21:29,060 ♪ Still hanging on ♪ 1775 01:21:29,060 --> 01:21:33,060 ♪ To hold what is lost ♪ 1776 01:21:33,060 --> 01:21:36,900 ♪ Trying to carry on ♪ 1777 01:21:36,900 --> 01:21:39,970 ♪ No matter the cost ♪ 1778 01:21:39,970 --> 01:21:43,640 ♪ There's one thing ♪ 1779 01:21:43,640 --> 01:21:45,940 ♪ That makes me come alive ♪ 1780 01:21:45,940 --> 01:21:47,480 ♪ When you're by my side ♪ 1781 01:21:47,480 --> 01:21:51,350 ♪ To get everything ♪ 1782 01:21:51,350 --> 01:21:53,180 ♪ Together with me ♪ 1783 01:21:53,180 --> 01:21:57,350 ♪ When I'm weary take the road ♪ 1784 01:21:57,350 --> 01:21:59,160 ♪ Play that movie ♪ 1785 01:21:59,160 --> 01:22:01,160 ♪ I want you to smile ♪ 1786 01:22:01,160 --> 01:22:02,660 ♪ Shut out all the worries ♪ 1787 01:22:02,660 --> 01:22:05,000 ♪ Stream away for a while ♪ 1788 01:22:05,000 --> 01:22:06,800 ♪ The look you had ♪ 1789 01:22:06,800 --> 01:22:10,770 ♪ In your eyes back then, We'll pretend ♪ 1790 01:22:10,770 --> 01:22:14,240 ♪ It's 85 again Play that tape ♪ 1791 01:22:14,240 --> 01:22:16,840 ♪ Make me feel like I'm whole ♪ 1792 01:22:16,840 --> 01:22:20,580 ♪ Take me back again to see the look of that chrome ♪ 1793 01:22:20,580 --> 01:22:23,450 ♪ The power of love is back on the screen ♪ 1794 01:22:23,450 --> 01:22:25,980 ♪ And we'll have ♪ 1795 01:22:25,980 --> 01:22:27,650 ♪ 85 again ♪ 1796 01:22:29,420 --> 01:22:31,560 (synth music) 1797 01:22:52,880 --> 01:22:56,880 - The reason we love something has to do with something 1798 01:22:56,880 --> 01:22:59,950 more than sheer technical achievement or historical 1799 01:22:59,950 --> 01:23:03,550 significance, it has to do with how fun it is and that's a 1800 01:23:03,550 --> 01:23:06,390 very nebulous quality. 1801 01:23:06,390 --> 01:23:08,390 It's hard to define but it's very fun to try 1802 01:23:08,390 --> 01:23:10,760 and grapple with. 1803 01:23:10,760 --> 01:23:14,500 - I think there's something about a physical copy, 1804 01:23:14,500 --> 01:23:17,640 like being able to pick it up and look at it, 1805 01:23:17,640 --> 01:23:20,970 it's like a snapshot of the time it was released, you know, 1806 01:23:20,970 --> 01:23:23,710 especially if you grew up with that, like whenever I see 1807 01:23:23,710 --> 01:23:26,810 a stack of NES games come in, I can get like an idea 1808 01:23:26,810 --> 01:23:29,450 of this person and how their life was almost, like he was 1809 01:23:29,450 --> 01:23:31,580 playing Batman just like me, you know, we were both 1810 01:23:31,580 --> 01:23:34,120 into Battle Toads probably at the same time. 1811 01:23:34,120 --> 01:23:36,720 I wonder what makes people sell it in the first place, 1812 01:23:36,720 --> 01:23:38,990 like what makes you move on from it, that's the 1813 01:23:38,990 --> 01:23:41,060 bigger question to me. 1814 01:23:41,060 --> 01:23:44,530 - We all love experiencing games with other people. 1815 01:23:44,530 --> 01:23:47,030 If you are like, hey I can't afford to buy this game 1816 01:23:47,030 --> 01:23:48,970 and I'm like, but I want you to try it, I can loan 1817 01:23:48,970 --> 01:23:51,440 you my disc and then you can give it back to me. 1818 01:23:51,440 --> 01:23:52,770 - I literally have video games sitting in a bank 1819 01:23:52,770 --> 01:23:52,970 vault right now. 1820 01:23:54,640 --> 01:23:58,580 How is that good for humanity? 1821 01:23:58,580 --> 01:23:59,340 What does that serve? 1822 01:24:01,480 --> 01:24:05,180 Literally locking away video game history. 1823 01:24:05,180 --> 01:24:07,950 It doesn't make any sense, it doesn't make any sense. 1824 01:24:07,950 --> 01:24:10,150 - I think the industry's gonna change a little bit in the 1825 01:24:10,150 --> 01:24:13,360 next 10 years, I think we're gonna see maybe less of a 1826 01:24:13,360 --> 01:24:16,130 focus on newer games having physical media but you know, 1827 01:24:16,130 --> 01:24:18,300 that's why we don't sell only video games. 1828 01:24:18,300 --> 01:24:21,000 We sell lots of video game merchandise 'cause the game 1829 01:24:21,000 --> 01:24:22,970 community's not going anywhere, people are always gonna 1830 01:24:22,970 --> 01:24:25,900 be into video games and I'm not looking 1831 01:24:25,900 --> 01:24:27,140 for global domination. 1832 01:24:27,140 --> 01:24:28,970 (laughs) 1833 01:24:28,970 --> 01:24:31,010 - This is a personal anecdote, so I don't know how many 1834 01:24:31,010 --> 01:24:34,550 had this experience also but my wife and I, 1835 01:24:34,550 --> 01:24:37,510 I wanted to show her a Miyazaki movie. 1836 01:24:37,510 --> 01:24:39,450 "My Neighbor Totoro," she had never seen it. 1837 01:24:39,450 --> 01:24:42,120 We went on Amazon, it's like, oh you can't rent 1838 01:24:42,120 --> 01:24:43,990 "My Neighbor Totoro." 1839 01:24:43,990 --> 01:24:47,760 I looked and there's one local video store left in 1840 01:24:47,760 --> 01:24:52,000 the east bay, they have every Miyuzaki movie there 1841 01:24:52,000 --> 01:24:55,630 and like, we now have a video membership and we rent 1842 01:24:55,630 --> 01:24:59,870 a movie every week from humans. 1843 01:24:59,870 --> 01:25:02,710 - I had a paper route, my parents were like this, 1844 01:25:02,710 --> 01:25:04,940 they liked gamin' but I think they thought I was gonna 1845 01:25:04,940 --> 01:25:07,950 like rot my brain, so as a rule of thumb, I might get 1846 01:25:07,950 --> 01:25:10,480 two games on Christmas and like one for my birthday 1847 01:25:10,480 --> 01:25:12,750 but that was clearly not enough. 1848 01:25:12,750 --> 01:25:15,150 Street Fighter Two, I like literally, was like, 1849 01:25:15,150 --> 01:25:16,350 the day it comes out, I'm gonna have the money with 1850 01:25:16,350 --> 01:25:16,890 my parent's help or not 1851 01:25:19,060 --> 01:25:21,830 and I think that's where I got most of my like, work 1852 01:25:21,830 --> 01:25:23,790 ethic from, like, I don't need you for my hobby. 1853 01:25:25,230 --> 01:25:25,630 It was fun. 1854 01:25:26,830 --> 01:25:29,500 (laughs) 1855 01:25:29,500 --> 01:25:31,600 (synth music)