Game Over

GAME OVER: THE MUSIC GENRE

Details: Category: Game Over; Published on Monday, 09 April 2012 12:00; Written by Shaun Watson; Hits: 119

Oh man. This one was tough to write... and easy to write. In fact the whole nature of this little rant is about duality. At a very early age I started learning how to play guitar, but it was just a bit too early. The lessons didn't have much affect and I just sort of stopped after a while. (Would you believe I wanted to play video games instead?) Thankfully, my parents didn't get too upset about my inability to stay focused but instead let me just sort of figure things out myself. For quite some time, I never got back around to playing even though it was something I regretted more and more as the years went by - but then something happened.

GAME OVER: 2011

Details: Category: Game Over; Published on Saturday, 31 December 2011 12:00; Written by Bryan Belcher; Hits: 131

2011 was the year that Half Empty Energy Tank came into being. So it's a pretty big year for us. And while it's a been a rip roaring crazy set of events, we'll probably keep doing this till the end of time. It almost didn't happen though. I gave up over the summer. But thanks to Shaun jumping on board we really speed up the process of what we do here and since late September we've been rocking the blog like it's well oiled machine. Also thanks to Brittany, Matthew and Joseph. Who have helped me out and continue to expand the mentality of this blog. We're still tiny but we dream big so expect more craziness from me and a lot of great content from the rest of our editors. See you in 2012.

THE END OF AN ERA (FOR ME)

Details: Category: Game Over; Published on Monday, 13 June 2011 18:00; Written by Bryan Belcher; Hits: 127

Back in the 90's and before being a geek wasn't a style or for hipsters trying to do something out of mainstream. It was simply being really excited or knowledgeable about a certain subject. In a world where the internet was slow and expensive (or didn't exist for the public yet) game stores are where a lot of game geeks would meet up and talk, shop and stink up the one place they could be themselves. A kind of Mecca for geeks. Well today my original game store has closed.

Growing up with video games I was never really "into" it any more than I was going out and shooting nerf guns and riding my bike. Nintendo and Sega were present while growing up but so was Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and the X-Men. It was popular at the time and as a kid I checked it all out. It wasn't until after the Playstation and the N64 came out that I started caring about the actual games.

Enter the Game store, when I started going to this store it was a mom and pop's place called "Player's Choice" then, Babbages and then, Software Etc. before finally becoming the Gamestop we all know and "uhh go to regardless of how we feel about them" store of today. I bought all of my major consoles here, including the first one I ever preordered and paid with my own money, The Sega Dreamcast.

Seeing the empty store was a shock and it's going to be hard thinking about it no longer being around. I haven't shopped there in some considerable time though since there have been newer and closer Gamestops, including the one I worked at. But I will always remember coming back to this one. Even though it became just another Gamestop, it meant a lot to me.