The greatest console of all time is making it's way back on big-box retailer shelves. Happy Days Happy Days.
OK, so what am I talking about? Well according to some reputable news outlets, the mega game retailer, GameStop, is going to stock PS2's again. As of right now, the news stories only mention accepting consoles; $25 for a complete console and $20 without cords. Nothing about games, but it only makes sense that they sell games as well. I mean, if someone is looking to buy a videogame console of any kind, they most likely want games to play on it. Sure, there are the guys who's console crapped out on them and they need to replace it, or they want a variant, or some other situation, but I'm going to guess that that makes up less than 10% of the population.
Anyways, this is great news for me. I LOVE the PS2. I have both the fat and slim version, I have about 1000 games for it with plans of having a complete North American collection, the sheer variety of games that were on it made it popular with every demographic, the component cables are relatively cheap because they're the same as the PS3 component cables, and just love every aspect of it. If I'm lucky, I can still find a PS2 game on the shelves of Walmart. That happened to me this last summer. Even though it's 2 generations old, it was supported up until the release of the PS4, and with the 7th generation lasting so long, that's a major testament. To see that it's still relevant makes me so happy.
I'm happy that GameStop is accepting PS2s once again. When I buy PS2 games, I typically have to buy them online, and while it's great to have a box of 20 games show up on my door step, there's something special about going into a store and picking up the game. I could always go to a small time independent store, but there aren't really any around me, but GameStops are everywhere. That makes it all the easier to get access to them. But I do take this as a blessing and a curse. As we know, GameStop is a little cruel to it's used games. They don't really care about "complete in package" and damage the cases with their stickers. I enjoy getting stickers from the small time guys because it's like history and the story of that copy, and they tend to come off easy. GameStop on the other hand is just common and don't come off easily. Also, they throw out the inventory they can't move. It's not like food that expires, they're plastic and it can theoretically sit forever. If you can't sell it, then drop the price. Do a steam sale of "was $10, now it's $1, but while supplies last." I'm thinking I might have to give my local GameStops my contact info and say "hey, if you plan on throwing it out, I'll buy it off you for 90% off the original asking price." If it doesn't become part of my collection, I'll do "rescue game adoption," or something. I have an eBay store, I'll sell game lots to collectors like me. lol
I really hope this works out. The PS2 is my favorite videogame console of all time. GameStop, please respect the PS2. Well, this has been Happy Gamer, signing off, and heroes get remembered, but legends never die. The PS2 is a legend.
